Shopify Vs. Magento: Which Ecommerce Option is Best? (Infographic)

Selecting the right ecommerce platform can make all the difference for your online store. It can make it easier for you to manage inventory, drive more traffic and satisfy customers.

Magento and Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) are two of the best available ecommerce platforms for businesses today. Each has its own set of advantages and it’s sometimes tricky to choose between them.

Divya Dube, ecommerce subject writer at Mofluid, a Magento mobile app extension company, has provided an in-depth comparison between the two platforms.

Shopify Vs. Magento Comparison

Features

Both platforms provide inventory management for online stores. But Magento fairs better in offering a larger pool of themes and templates, and greater number of apps and add-ons.

Shopify, on the other hand, scores big on its blogging functionality.

Ease of Use

It’s easy to use both Magento and Shopify.

Shopify is easier to install and set-up than Magento. It however has a closed platform with restricted flexibility. This is where Magento gains an edge. It provides more flexibility thanks to its Open Source Nature.

Support

As far as support is concerned, Shopify offers 24 x 7 help, allowing you to communicate via email, phone and other means.

On the contrary, Magento provides no support in the Community Edition. Vendor support is available only in the Enterprise Edition.

Hosting and Security

Shopify has clear hosting and security advantages over Magento. It takes care of hosting and provides a free domain name.

Magento requires you to set-up your own hosting and cheaper packages may not help. It may also require a dedicated server and CDN.

Marketing

Both Magento and Shopify come enriched with SEO features. But Magento has far superior marketing capabilities.

It provides comprehensive newsletter subscription, built-in extensive promotion options as well as detailed analytics and statistics reports.

But unlike Shopify, it doesn’t have any social media properties.

Cost and Pricing

As for cost and pricing, Magento has a free community edition on offer. Also, paid themes are available for as low as $1.

Shopify doesn’t have any set-up fees, and plans starting from $9-$299 a month are available. It also doesn’t require you to pay any bandwidth fees.

Its paid themes starting at $80 are quite expensive, though.

Conclusion

To sum up, Magento provides more flexibility while Shopify is the easier to use solution, according to infographic below. Magento provides superior built-in marketing functionality whereas Shopify comes with more support.

Magento lags behind in support while Shopify doesn’t provide customization.

Images: Mofluid.com

This article, "Shopify Vs. Magento: Which Ecommerce Option is Best? (Infographic)" was first published on Small Business Trends