Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Magento

For several years, selling products/services on e-commerce platforms has become a significant marketing tactic for having an established name under each business niche. 

According to recent eCommerce development statistics by Forbes, the e-commerce industry’s growth has risen from 431.4 billion in 2022 to 511.8 billion in 2023 – which leaves us with no choice but to agree more on the importance of selling online. 

But the growth of online business only comes with complexities, right? And when it comes to eStore setup, choosing between Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce is the one and most crucial. The note to consider is that there is never a perfect but custom solution required for your business needs. 

In today’s comparison guide between the three most preferred eCommerce platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. We will walk you through a perfect roadmap starting from their overview, features, security, add-ons, and pricing plans that make you choose your business’s e-commerce solution. 

Let’s put on the first paddle!

WooCommerce vs Shopify vs Magento: Comparison

Features	WooCommerce	Shopify	Magento
Ease of Use	Easy	Easy	Difficult
Scalability	High	More With Plus	Require Dedicated Developer
SEO	Integrated with WordPress	Built-In + Inbuilt Analytics	Built-In
Site Performance	High	Better With Plus	Require Dedicated Developer
Customer Service	Yes (Support Form)	Yes (With Enterprise Edition)	24×7
Getting Used By Big Brands	Phlearn, Orange, Daelmans Stroopwafels	Kylie Cosmetics, Tesla, Gymshark	Tommy Hilfiger, HP, Bvlgari
Plans	Free	$29/mo	Free

Overview of Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Magento

Get introduced first! In this section, you’ll learn the current success statics of those e-commerce platforms racing on – with quick facts and a table of pros and cons.

Shopify Overview

Shopify is an eCommerce platform founded in Canada by Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake in 2004. 

2023 Shopify statics by Popupsmart shows that 6,312,392+ Shopify Plus Stores are online with 1,000,000+ businesses across 175+ countries. Shopify helps companies sell their products/services online and make thriving revenue with a global client base.

Shopify provides a 15-minute quick online store setup, making it a first-preference eCommerce website builder. Shopify offers subscription-based monthly plans for online business stores, starting from Basic Shopify Plan at $29/month, Standard at $79/month, Advanced Shopify a $299/month, to Shopify Plus at $2,000/month.

With Shopify, a business owner doesn’t have to worry about hosting services. The purchasing process of a custom domain with Shopify is available in simple 3 steps with pros of; infinite merchandise creation, unlimited file storage, discount codes, two accounts for admins, 24/7 support, and much more. 

Quick Shopify Fact to Consider

Only 5% to 10% is the current Shopify success rate – meaning out of 100 Shopify stores, only 5 to 10 businesses succeed. 

If you need to become more technical with online selling terms, connecting with an experienced Shopify development company or hiring a dedicated Shopify developer to build your online store is suggested.

Pros and Cons of Shopify

Pros	Cons
Social networks and WordPress blog integration.	Fees on Payment processing and transaction.
Easy custom domain name buying.	Need for optimal URL Structure for Search Engine Optimization.
Tons of both free and paid WooCommerce themes.	No access to Marketing Automation.

WooCommerce Overview

WooCommerce is a free, open-source eCommerce plugin to integrate with WordPress. WooCommerce was founded in 2011 by three innovative individuals named Adii Pienaar, Magnus Jepson, & Mark Forrester.

Globally, over 6.3 million websites created in WordPress are using the WooCommerce plugin, showing 1 out of 5 WordPress sites built with WooCommerce. 

Setting Up a WooCommerce eStore takes 10-20 minutes; the WooCommerce plugin offers an entirely free source to connect with a WordPress site and run a successful store. 

If you want to add some additional features, there are 770+ free and paid extensions WooCommerce offers. But what about the theme you’ll set on your WooCommerce store?

Since WooCommerce is customizable and familiar for each WordPress website, 30,000+ free and tons of other paid themes are available for setting up an online store.

Quick WooCommerce Fact to Consider

According to a recent study by the Aberdeen Group, 1 second of delay in the load time of your WooCommerce store can result in a reduction of 7% in generating a conversion.

Even if WooCommerce provides these multi-functionalities, there are multiple factors to consider while setting up a store, such as image optimization, URL structure optimization, and keeping PHP updated is necessary. 

If those terms don’t sound familiar, consult your business requirements with a WooCommerce development agency.

Pros and Cons of WooCommerce

Pros	Cons
WordPress and WooCommerce both are completely free and open source.	Extra add-ons can conclude expensive for small businesses.
WooCommerce Shop Offers 100% customizable themes and web templates.	It may need a programmer occasionally as it is open-source.
Customer and store administrator accounts are supported.	If considering WooCommerce web templates from marketplaces like Envato and Themeforest, an individual must wait for the particular support team.

Magento Overview

Magento is an open-source platform for developing e-commerce stores, launched in 2008 by Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner in Culver City, California. 

By getting impressed with the upgraded customisation Magento Commerce offers, just two years after launching, eBay bought 49% of the company. Then, on 21 Aug 2018, Adobe acquired Magento and renamed it Magento – Adobe Commerce at $1.68 billion.

The current appearance of 2,39,000+ live websites online on Magento (Adobe Commerce) platforms with development of 62% in Magento 1 and other remaining 38% in Magento 2 as per BuiltWith statics.

Multinational companies, including Olympus, Cox and Cox, and Vizio also consider the use of Magento 2. Magento open source offers multiple built-in functionalities, with easy language and currency changes, creating detailed reports, and discounts on particular products.

Magento provides a range of extensions and templates where you can change the HTML or PHP code to add specific features to your store.

Quick Magento Fact to Consider

Building a Magento e-commerce website is profitable for small businesses and established business models but also complex and more expensive than other e-commerce web development builders. 

If you are a non-coder, then Magneto is not a preferred choice for you for implementing some customization is necessary as only five themes are available on Magento Marketplace, of which three are free and the other two are paid. 

Also, point of sale (POS) support is unavailable, so scaling business in this can get relatively more complicated if you are unfamiliar with coding. Even though you want to use Magento – you can share your requirements with an experienced Magento store development company and figure out the best for your business. 

Pros and Cons of Magento

Pros	Cons
High flexibility and limitless customization	Magento development can get expensive
Omnichannel support & it’s great for mobile	High technical barriers
Magento has a community to help you	Time-consuming setup procedures

Ease of Use

‘Is that eCommerce platform a good fit for me?’ – We have multiple checkmarks listed below, with which you can conclude the same! Even if you are a technical/non-technical person looking to start a business/are intermediate in this eCommerce selling/ or even an established business aiming of scaling up. 

Ease of Use in Shopify

4 out of 5 Shopify testers consider Shopify the most accessible eCommerce development platform, which puts it on the level of Wix and GoDaddy with drag-and-drop store builder and additional in-built functionality. 

Why Shopify is Great Choice to Pick?

1. Once you sign up on your Shopify account, you can get immediate access to 70+ free themes and go for the paid ones, which are easy to implement without any back and forth of additional design skills.
2. Using Shopify also benefits you with an in-house POS system, making the brick-and-mortar and pop-up shops selling easy. Currently, there is a non-additional cost to access this POS system. You can directly access the POS system from your dashboard. 
3. In addition to easy Shopify payments integration, this ecommerce marketplace is also packed with rich-featured 3,500+ add-ons, which helps with relatively additional features of email marketing, payment gateways, and shipping software.

Ease of Use in WooCommerce

As WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin and not a builder, the ease of development depends on the theme builder you use to create the WordPress website. 

Why WooCommerce is Great Choice to Pick?

1. Unlike third-party eCommerce builder platforms, WooCommerce doesn’t hold a risk of losing data associated with the platform. You can manage your data related to customer purchases, order history, and tracking unpaid purchases and WooCommerce inventory hassle freely. 
2. After your online store has gone live, any design or development customization can cost you if you have built that using coding. Still, WooCommerce benefits you with this too by easy product pricing editing from the WooCommerce dashboard itself.
3. While you keep your WooCommerce plugins and themes updated, a security check is necessary to ensure a smooth interface without any web loading glitches due to updates. WooCommerce also implements these security features by making the CMS environment more reliable and safer.

Ease of Use in Magento

If you are not a coding person, it’s not easy for sure! Magento is also an e-commerce web development platform but is preferred for professional developers with extensive experience with Magento as its setup, development, and customization are required. 

Even if Magento CMS is your preferred ecommerce development, you can connect with a Magento development services partner or freelance Magento developer.

Why is Magento Still a Great Choice to Pick?

1. Magento Content Management System is highly adaptable for creating, modifying, and managing each type of content. Even if you want to use pre-created templates or be creative and want to make your own custom one, Magento’s store CMS makes it a straightforward interface. 
2. As 55% of website traffic visits are from a mobile device, keeping your online store user-friendly is essential. Magento is good at this point as it is well-equipped with responsive web designs that automatically adjust to store layout. 
3. The Magento community is vast enough of designers and developers who proactively create new themes, modules, and extensions, making this ecommerce builder more and more user-friendly.

Security

‘Do eCommerce platforms use my or my users’ data?’ – Let’s hop on the security walls offered by Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce and pick out the most secured one for your business!

Security Assurance by Shopify

When it comes to Shopify, you can’t question its security, as it provides a default SSL certification for each store that assures a safe and threat-free shipping experience.

Shopify allows traffic redirection on HTTPS instead of HTTP and helps monitor and detect any malicious attempts by tracking IP addresses, securing online stores from security threats, and protecting customer data.

This SSL certificate ensures store security while processing personal data and consumer payments. Besides, your customers experience safety while browsing your website.

Moreover, Shopify is PCI-DSS compliant, enabling your site to accept all credit card payments with the newest regulations. You can also begin implementing credit and debit card payments.

Security Assurance by Magento

If you have a team of experienced Magento developers, having a secure Magento environment is not an issue, as they keep launching security patches and timely edits. 

Magento offers two advanced platforms, including Magento 1 and Magento 2, for eStore development, where Magento 1 is considered less secure than the other Magento version. 

In addition, Magento Commerce Cloud offers multiple security extensions that can predict and block threats, scan changed files, and strengthen password security. 

Security Assurance by WooCommerce

The WooCommerce website is based on WordPress CMS, so the security standard is similar to the WordPress environment. 

Undoubtedly, there are millions of websites hosted on WordPress. Still, a single installation of a non-encrypted plugin or theme can affect the entire WordPress web. However, your WooCommerce store, which is why including best practices for choosing secure website hosts and packages is necessary. 

You can also hire or convey your requirements to a dedicated WooCommerce development team that monitors the entire back-end scenarios and places a secure code snippet when required. 

Performance and Scalability

Let’s see how long-term success you can consider with those e-commerce platforms.

Performance & Scalability of Shopify

The standard Shopify is the best fit for small to medium businesses. Still, if your sales are scaling higher, then the Plus version of Shopify is an excellent choice, as it can handle a higher volume of traffic and sales than a primary Shopify platform can.

The Plus version of Shopify offers integration with LaunchPad automation tools enabling businesses to scale multiple operations efficiently, including large order volumes, high traffic, and time-sensitive promotions.

Performance & Scalability of WooCommerce

Unlike Shopify, hopping on any WooCommerce premium extension is optional for handling and scaling high-volume traffic. From starters to well-established sites such as The Home Depot, Mint Mobile, UPS, and many others, consider using WooCommerce. 

According to Semrush, The Home Depot has monthly 185.1M + visitors and revenue of $37.257B in the quarter ended on April 30, 2023. This displays the proven WooCommerce analytics in handling products, high traffic and sales volume, and inventory. 

Performance & Scalability of Magento

Since Magento 1 was approved as a robust, scalable platform, Magento 2 has turned out even better for handling increased traffic and sales without bothering the pressure on the server. 

Both Shopify and Magento offer complete control for customizing every element of the web store design, tailored to the unique shopping experience per the business needs. 

Yes, Magento requires a particular individual to handle the store, but it also benefits from built-in SEO features that ensure the optimization of all pages.

Design and Customization

The web theme must be precise per your brand identity, right? Let’s hop ahead and check on the same with the customization options each of those e-commerce platforms offers!

Design and Customization Features in WooCommerce

It’s all customizable! From basic WooCommerce to adding premium themes and web templates, all can be modified to enhance your site’s appearance and functionality.

WooCommerce themes such as; WooCommerce Block themes, Divi, OceanWP, Botiga, and Astra are the five most preferred premium themes which integrate well with WooCommerce very well.

You can customize each portion from header to footer, product category, menus, and product page with particularly WooCommerce-tailored themes. There are also some free themes/templates whose builder you can consider to create a fully functional WooCommerce online store.

Design and Customization Features in Shopify

Yes, you can customize each section, but Shopify charges for it – which is for moving to the Plus version. From the basic to the standard Shopify version, you can set theme palettes according to logo colors, and pages will be shaded accordingly. 

But with the Shopify Plus version, you can customize the checkout pages too that match your other web pages layout and create a familiar appearance for customers during the checkout process:

Comparing Shopify Basic Plan With Shopify Plus, Here Are Some Additional Customizing Options It Currently Offers:

Shopify Plus Custom Field Option: 

Enables to add custom fields to the checkout page, dropdown menus, text fields, and checkboxes. 

These features can be an additional sales generation attribute by collecting customer information such as gift messages, special days, and custom engraving requests.

Shopify Plus Multilingual Checkout Option: 

Be ready to double your eCommerce sales with Shopify!

Because we’re Shopify’s basic plan used to cover only five multilingual checkouts, Shopify Plus has entered the marketplace with checkout availability in 20 different languages. 

Shopify Plus Custom Pricing Option:

You’ll be able to do that with different prices for different shipping regions, cart contents, or any other factors now with Shopify Plus!

Design and Customization Features in Magento

The Magento Abode Commerce platform offers two default themes; the first stands as a blank one for the custom theme creation, and the other one, Luma, as a demonstration theme. 

As Magento is an open-source platform, you can also create and add a custom Magento template – but if you need so, you’ll need assistance from a Magento developer to create a custom Magento web template from scratch and then for the quality assurance procedure. 

There are also eCommerce development companies available that can provide you with Magento integration, custom theme development, and scaling high traffic to eStore. 

SEO Functionality

Rank higher, gain higher – whether it’s about traffic, revenue, or mail subscribers list. Let’s check on which one will make you stand out and first on Google.

SEO Features of Shopify

Shopify platform offers specific SEO adjustments to optimize store development for better SERP rankings. Shopify app also offers default SSL certification, which makes the user feel secure on the checkout page.

Here are some of the most common Shopify SEO recommendations:

1. Remove duplicate URLs
2. Create keyword-added blog content with informational intent
3. Add structured data of product, Article, & BreadcrumbList
4. Use compressed images
5. Remove unnecessary Shopify apps
   

SEO Features of WooCommerce

Although WooCommerce is a plugin, its SEO capabilities depend on WordPress SEO abilities. Adding SEO plugins tailored for WooCommerce, such as Rank Math, All in One SEO, SemRush, SEO Press, and Squirrly SEO, are recommended to make the eCommerce marketplace reach a higher SERPs position.

Here are some of the most common WooCommerce SEO recommendations:

1. Optimize Product and Category Page Titles
2. Use Meta Descriptions
3. Optimize Product Slugs
4. Add Categories and Tags
5. Write Unique Product Descriptions

SEO Features of Magento

Magento is a good eCommerce marketplace to consider when seeking high SEO ranking in search engines, including Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It includes in-built SEO techniques for optimizing category pages for each product page simultaneously. 

Here are some of the most common Magento SEO recommendations:

1. Customize Anchor Text for Navigation Links
2. Edit Page Titles
3. Avoid content duplication with canonical URLs
4. Content management for organic link-building and traffic
5. Customize H1 Tags

Add-ons

‘Any additionals I can get?’ – it’s common to ask this out as we don’t know when a sudden requirement can arise, and these add-ons help. Well, there are multiple offers by Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify – let’s review them!

Add-ons Shopify Offers

With 8,000+ apps, Shopify handles multiple add-ons at a time, and we suggest you install 30 apps at a time. Most of all, add-ons can be added within a few clicks enabling you to achieve more sales, trust icons, and social icons that increase your client base.

Must-Have Shopify Add-Ons:

1. Tidio
2. Growave
3. Recharge
4. Bold Membership
5. Frequently Bought Together

Add-ons WooCommerce Offers

56,000+ WordPress plugins support woo commerce, which can be utilized for personalizing SEO, lead generation, marketing, and navigating users. If you want tailored WordPress plugin development, you can also connect with a dedicated team. 

Must-Have WooCommerce Add-Ons:

1. WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway
2. WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor
3. Amazon Pay
4. WooCommerce Direct Checkout
5. WooCommerce Checkout Manager

Add-ons Magento Offers

New Magento has the most potent eCommerce marketplace having 6,000+ both free and paid add-ons that let you improve inventory and shop functionalities, making the eStore platform excessively functional. The add-ons can be added for accounting and finance, content customization, and customer service.

Must-Have Magento Add-Ons:

1. Magento 2 SEO Extension
2. Magento 2 B2B Extension
3. Magento 2 Checkout Extension Suite
4. Magento 2 Multiple Store View Pricing
5. Magento 2 B2B Registration Form

Pricing

All checkmarks are done! Now let us help you with the price offers you can grab straight from their official website.

Pricing Plans Available on Shopify

• Shopify Starter: $5/month + 5% and 30¢ per transaction.
• Shopify Basic: $39/month + 2.9% and 30¢ per transaction.
• Shopify: $105/month + 2.6% and 30¢ per transaction.
• Shopify Advanced: $399/month + 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction.
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2,000/month, + transaction fees

Pricing Plans Available on WooCommerce

The WooCommerce plugin is free, but you’ll need a hosting server and domain name before setting it up. Below are some of the options you can consider:

• Dedicated Hosting: $89.99 – $739.99 per month
• Cloud Hosting: $2.99 – $360 per month
• Shared Hosting: $2.95 – $13.95 per month
• VPS Hosting: $2 – $110 per month
• WordPress Hosting: $2.95 – $16.99 per month

Pricing Plans Available on Magento

• Web hosting: $14.99 to $39.99 per month
• Domain: $10 to $20 per year
• SSL certificate: $50 to $600 per year
• Transaction fees: 2% to 4% per transaction for payment platforms and credit card processing fees

Which eCommerce Platform Would You Choose to Build Your Online Store?

Hope you got way out of this with our comprehensive eCommerce comparison guide. 

Still, we understand that each business has its unique requirements. For small businesses well established, choose Shopify Standard Version. When you already have high-volume traffic/sales WooCommerce and Magento are two eCommerce platforms to choose from. 

Expect that if you want to take less time to figure out the best eCommerce platform to build your eCommerce store, you can connect with our experienced ecommerce developers.