Shopify vs Magento: Which Is Best for Ecommerce Startups

Shopify and Magento: what is what?

When it comes to eCommerce, you have endless options on how to set up your store and what eCommerce platform to choose. And in almost all expert tips and top lists you will find Shopify and Magento.

Magento and Shopify are two of the most popular eCommerce platforms used by thousands of e-merchants. You should know the key details of their underhood and main benefits to choose between them.

Let's start an overview with brief introductory info.

Shopify

From the idea of the online store for snowboarding equipment to the development of a new eCommerce platform — that is how Shopify was born.

It was founded in 2006 in Canada, and today it powers over 1.75 million businesses worldwide.

Since this time, the company has launched several additions to the store-building services, including Shop Pay (payment service), Shopify Capital (a cash advance service), Shopify Studios (TV and film production service), Shopify Fulfillment Network (shipping & logistics service), Shopify Chat (native chat function 'merchants-customers').

Also, during this time Shopify managed integration with Amazon, as well as integration partnerships with Facebook, Google, Snapchat, JD.com, and Alipay for providing multichannel selling. Criticism campaigns, legal affairs, and a case of data breach didn't pass it. But no matter what, today it is among the top 3 largest Canadian companies by market capitalization.

Magento

Open source and unrivaled flexibility are the key Magento features for which it is known. It was originally developed in California, with assistance from volunteers and contributors. The Magento platform was a kind of promisingmulti-purposing CMS until it was bought by eBay. The latter was highly focused on eCommerce and tailored Magento to this domain.

‍Acquired by Adobe in 2018, Magento remains Open source.

‍Today it provides two platforms: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce. The latter is available in the on-premises version or as a PaaS. It's a fully-featured solution with enhanced options, including optimized cloud architecture, and hosting AI-powered analytics and merchandising.

Magento Open Source is a freely used e-commerce platform that allows developers to extend its functionality, introducing new features and upgraded ones, fixing bugs, enhancing test coverage, and suggesting points for optimization. Such an ever-evolving 'open-minded' ecosystem.

It delivers all the basic eCommerce capabilities for creating an online store from the scratch (but requires some programming knowledge to be well set up).Magento is mostly tailored to medium-sized and large businesses because of its advanced customizability and scalability.

Magento vs Shopify: pros and cons

Both Magento and Shopify platforms allow you to sell, ship, and process payments. Let's look at the pros and cons to see which eCommerce platform is right for your business.

Magento: open-source, customizable and packed with powerful features

Magento powers thousands of retailers with the best eCommerce experience. It provides great opportunities to build unique products: there are no limitations to how you can design your online shop.

High flexibility and scalability, built-in functionality, advanced SEO, and other benefits allow you to craft your online store.

Shopify: out-of the-box, hosted and easy-to-use

Shopify is viewed as the easiest-to-use platform in the market while giving users the full feature set required to build and manage an eCommerce website.

You don't care about hunting for third-party hosting. Shopify is hosted shopping cart that has already been set up on the platform. The user only needs to do a few easy steps to get the store up and get access to the full toolset for customizing the design, creating a product catalog, setting prices and payment methods, etc.

Ok, that's the good news. The bad news next (just specific features that may cause some difficulties or limitations)

Magento: free, powerful and reliable but for tech-savvy only

Magento implies your own hosting, installation, and configuration. Hence, it requires at least a medium level of web development skills to be well set up. You should be familiar with programming or just hire a Magento eCommerce specialist.

Shopify: easy-to-use but costly + limited control

Essential features in Shopify are extra paid via extensions. Moreover, you are not exactly in full control of your online store because it is hosted on servers owned by Shopify.

Ecommerce platforms key differences

Shopify created an open-source template language Liquid, which is written in Ruby. Magento is a PHP-based platform. But let us outline obvious differences that lay just beneath the surface and will help you to make a quick comparative evaluation of the two platforms.

Which is the right platform for you?

To shape a perspective of your eCommerce product, choose the right solution, and create its development plan you should know what platform will cover your needs.

For small eCommerce businesses and startups, it's crucially important to fit in a limited budget and use resources rationally. Big eCommerce players face their own challenges, including scaling, automation, and migration to new enhanced platforms.

Magento or Shopify? Both platforms provide opportunities to run and grow eCommerce businesses. We for our part share with you Freshcode Magento experts insights.

Magento is B2B marketplace solution that targets SMBs and Enterprises. And it has no competitors in this niche.

I think Magento is probably not the best idea for a startup. This technology is really powerful and provides a rich feature set and customization abilities. But such a mechanism requires resources and professional skills that may be too costly while starting a business.

Though, if you have sufficient start-up capital or funding, Magento would become a great booster for your eCommerce business.

Take into account that it's pretty labor-intensive and time-consuming, because, as I mentioned, it requires a high level of tech expertise. Experienced Magento developers can consult you on many issues (just as good as solving them), from FAQs to backend architecture and Magento PWA benefits.

In my experience, business owners are ready to invest in high-cost Magenta support and hire Magento developers in 90% of cases. The reason is simple: the outcome is worth it.

Sam Hetman

Head of Recruitment
& Magento Expert
at Freshcode

I am a dedicated Magento fan and proud to be a member of the community. I did my best to improve my knowledge and skills and got several Adobe Magento certificates (backend, JS, and solution specialist). And so I became Team Lead Magento Developer.

Magento is truly the best PHP framework solution and best CMS for eCommerce development. It is about personalized online stores withunique designs catered to your needs. Shopify is completely cloud-based, as well as a BigCommerce SaaS solution. And there are no customization abilities that Magento provides to create really exclusive online shop.

Considering Magento's commitment to optimal modularity, it's a very adaptable and robust eCommerce platform.

Well, I try to keep up with the times and keep abreast with considering ever-evolving Magento's advanced features. It opens new boundaries for eCommerce development. And it's great.

Oleksandr Panchenko

Magento Developer
at Freshcode

In the U.S., eCommerce sales are expected to exceed $1.3 trillion by 2025 (it's more than triple what they were less than a decade ago). Doubtless, yоu have some great products to offer the world. And the task is to be armed with the best eCommerce tools to deliver them perfectly and earn the trust of e-customers.

Here is where Freshcode comes into play. We start with calculating the 'score' of each platform's benefits on a case-by-case basis. Market research helps us puzzle a clear picture of all updates and new features, while the discovery phase for the particular project allows us to find the strengths and weaknesses of each solution.

So, how can you opt for the e-commerce platform and turn the big idea into reality? Here is a brief step-by-step guide on how to choose the right eCommerce solution:

Summary

Over 3 years, retail eCommerce sales are projected to reach $4,9 trillion, and there are no signs of online shopping slowing down. As the business owner, you should keep abreast of the latest technology and market trends, including store-building platforms.

Creating an eCommerce digital product to drive sales, find customers, and manage day-by-day business processes is a great start. We just assist you to power it with top-notch online tools and stick to the budget.

Magento development is our prior direction in the eCommerce area, but together we can explore different services to run and grow your business, choosing the best one. If you want to know more about our Magento expertise and project delivery process, we offer you a free consultation (and warm welcoming) ❤️

We are always glad to have a little talk about the thriving eCommerce market and its perspectives through the prism of market trends. Please, fill out the form on our website or contact the Freshcode representative on Linkedin.