Shopify vs Magento 2: Which Ecommerce Platform is Best?

Magento and Shopify are often pitted against one another for the title of best ecommerce platform. Each has its pros and cons. The reality is, they’re different tools best suited to different use cases. Before we get into the details, here’s a quick overview of each platform.

What is Magento 2?

Magento 2 is a powerful ecommerce platform that’s ideal for large ecommerce websites and complex integrations. It’s a tool with a lot of customisation options, but you’ll need an expert developer to get the most out of it.

It’s an open-source platform that’s free to use. Adobe also offers paid versions, called Adobe Commerce and Adobe Commerce Cloud, but we won’t be getting into that today.

Read more about our Magento 2 services here.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a user-friendly website platform ideal for smaller businesses. It offers subscription plans and bespoke packages for larger businesses (Shopify Plus), and boasts 24/7 support.

Read more about our Shopify services here.

Pricing

It’s no surprise that costs are usually the first thing people think about when comparing platforms. Shopify and Magento’s pricing models are quite different, so let’s get into the details.

With Shopify, you’ll be paying a monthly subscription. The platform offers three main pricing tiers, ranging from £25 for a basic package, to £344 for advanced. This cost includes hosting fees, as all Shopify websites are hosted by Shopify itself.

On the other hand, the Magento platform is free, but there are often set-up costs for integrations and extensions. Magento will also be heavier on the development side of things, which will raise costs both for initial development and ongoing support.

Unlike Shopify, Magento is self-hosted, so you have the freedom to pick where to host your site, although this is another cost to take in account. Many of our Magento clients choose to take advantage of our Magento optimised servers or commission their own dedicated server.

Customisation & Functionality

When dreaming of your new website, you probably have a distinct design in mind, with a range of key features. How easy is it to turn these into reality?

Magento 2 offers unparalleled levels of customisation and lots of bespoke functionality. Due to its nature as an open-source platform, developers can easily create all types of extensions and tailor designs to your specifications. Magento benefits from a huge range of useful extensions built by people all over the world which can add extra functionality to your site. These range from CRM integrations, to loyalty schemes, to online reviews – the choice is endless.

In contrast, Shopify’s customisation options fall a little short. Storefront design is limited by certain themes, and the extension store, while large, doesn’t offer as much bespoke functionality as Magento. Custom pages about your team, company history, or other services aren’t generally offered out of the box, and you’ll need to find extensions for these (which may not quite fit the design you’re looking for) or use a developer to build the pages for you.

On Shopify, customisation is sidelined in favour of ease-of-use, with a drag and drop functionality that’s very friendly for users with no coding knowledge. While you can still create a stunning ecommerce experience on Shopify, the lack of custom options could mean this isn’t the right platform for you.

Inventory & Shipping

The extensive functionality of Magento makes it ideal for large catalogues with lots of configurable products or product attributes. Its detailed inventory management system lets you create an unlimited number of product types with custom fields and multiple inventory sources. This can be really important for businesses with complex requirements when it comes to products or stock management. Shipping rules in Magento follow on from this, and costs can be calculated by weight, distance, product type, size, and more.

On the other hand, Shopify is better for more straightforward product types, as you’re limited to three configurable attributes per product. This isn’t an issue for many businesses, but can prove difficult for larger operations. Shipping rules are similarly limited unless a third party add on is used, which often costs more.

Payment Gateways

Magento includes PayPal, Braintree and Bank Transfer by default and allows the use of any payment gateway with no fees other than those charged by the provider itself.

Shopify includes a propriety payment gateway called Shopify Payments, which comes with your subscription. However, for third party payment providers Shopify charges fees of up to 2%, on top of the provider fee. This can be expensive, particularly for sites with a large number of transactions.

Security

Both platforms offer advanced security, which is necessary for running an online store and keeping customers’ information safe.

On Magento, you’ll need to buy and install an SSL certificate. This can be handled by your hosting provider or developer. The platform also releases quarterly patches, which provide key security updates and bug fixes. These need to be manually applied by a developer, which can mean extra costs that month.

Shopify itself provides SSL certificates for its stores, and they’re managed with your hosting. You won’t need to worry about remembering to patch Shopify, as it auto-upgrades regularly. This also makes any new Shopify features available to you immediately, which is a great benefit.

Well, which one is best, Shopify or Magento 2?

Both platforms are totally different, and you’ll need to weigh up what works from each platform for your site. If you’re a business just starting out with a straightforward inventory, then Shopify would be a great option for you. If you’re a larger business needing lots of custom features, then Magento is the way to go.

Take a look at the chart below for a quick summary of what each platform does well.