Magento vs. WooCommerce vs. Shopify
Magento or WooCommerce or Shopify?
Shopify offers web hosting, unlimited bandwidth, over 6,000 integrations, and more to businesses of any size.
Try Shopify free for 3 days, no credit card required. By entering your email, you agree to receive marketing emails from Shopify.
Why choose Shopify over Magento and WooCommerce
| Key features | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| 24/7 support | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Sell online and in-store | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Business capital | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Custom domain | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| SEO features | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Hosting | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Sell worldwide | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Multi-currency support | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Mobile-friendly | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Fraud protection | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Integrated checkout | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Integrated fulfillment network | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Email marketing tools | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| App Store | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
| Mobile app for merchants | Magento | WooCommerce | Shopify |
Start selling with Shopify today
Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools and services you need to start, run, and grow your business.
7 things Shopify can do over Magento and WooCommerce
Build your own store
Shopify offers a drag-and-drop feature for building your online store. On Shopify, you can add, remove, or reorder anything on your website with just a few clicks. Since Magento is built for enterprise companies, you’ll likely need to hire a developer to set up your website. Although WooCommerce offers an easier setup than Magento, you’ll still need to connect hosting, plug-ins, and more to create a secure website. Shopify bundles it all together, removing the need to look outside the platform.
Allow easy customization
When comparing Magento vs. WooCommerce vs. Shopify, you’ll be pleased to know that Shopify lets you customize various aspects of your website. After installing a Shopify theme, you’ll be able to customize the colors, images, fonts, layout, currency, and so much more using the theme editor. In contrast, Magento requires the use of third-party extensions for customization, while WooCommerce themes aren’t as simple to customize as Shopify’s. Shopify’s contemporary themes are affordable too.
Offer the best experience
Shopify takes user experience very seriously. Shopify has a team of performance experts working to make Shopify stores load as fast as possible. By comparison, Magento and WooCommerce don’t have direct control over site speed. When you build a website on either platform, its speed is dependent on the hosting service you get. Most web hosts will offer you a shared server, which means you’ll share space with other websites. If your site is slow, your user experience is bound to suffer.
Dropship affordably
Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify all support dropshipping. On Magento, users looking to dropship have to pay a flat rate of $249 USD for the Dropship extension. The WooCommerce Dropshipping extension costs $49 USD. On Shopify, you can choose from various dropshipping services to start selling without inventory. For instance, the Shopify-owned platform Oberlo has a free plan that lets you dropship without any monthly or annual subscription charges.
Sell in multiple languages
Want to present your online store in multiple languages? You’ll need to add your own language code if you’re on Magento. WooCommerce recommends using an extension called Multilingual Press that costs $99 USD a year for up to three languages. In comparison, Shopify allows you to enable multiple languages from your admin and create separate URLs for your translated content. You can also use Shopify’s international domains product to target buyers in specific markets.
Add new functionality
Shopify offers over 6,000 apps designed to expand the functionality of your online store. You can find apps for customer support, marketing, product sourcing, and more. When comparing Shopify to Magento and WooCommerce, Magento offers approximately 4,000 extensions to its users, while WooCommerce has more than 550 extensions for its merchants. Shopify’s extension collection of apps lets you better manage your online or in-person store.
Build for the future
Shopify allows you to build dynamic stores for tomorrow’s consumers. You can take advantage of AR and VR apps, 3D product rendering, native video, and more to deliver a memorable customer experience.
Why merchants choose Shopify over Magento vs. WooCommerce
Free subdomain
Shopify offers a free subdomain on .myshopify.com with every subscription. If you don’t want to have your own domain name just yet, you can use the Shopify subdomain to promote your business.
No code store builder
Although Shopify offers CSS and HTML editing, you won’t need to code to build a website on the platform. With simple drag-and-drop functionality, Shopify is a no-code store builder anyone can learn to use easily.
Marketing best practices
From a built-in blog component to email marketing to social media posting, Shopify offers a range of marketing tools to attract and convert customers. You can also leverage Shopify’s SEO features to optimize your online store for search.
Launch products with confidence
Shopify is an excellent choice for product launches. With reliable hosting and uptime, you can count on Shopify to keep your store up during high-traffic days. Having no downtime is crucial for delivering a great customer experience.
Active community
Shopify is dedicated to helping all businesses thrive on its platform. The Shopify ecosystem includes a community forum, a marketplace to hire experts, and more. Merchants of all sizes can rely on Shopify's ecosystem to guide them through the business setup process.
24/7 support
Shopify support is available 24/7, no matter which plan you’re on. You’ll also have access to help docs, webinars, blog posts, and online courses to guide you along the way.
Affordable option
Shopify has an in-house payment processor called Shopify Payments. On all plans, there are no gateway transaction fees when using Shopify Payments, making it a more cost-effective solution.
We’ve been able to build something in 3 years that a lot of brands haven’t actually gotten to in 10 years.
Learn More About Shopify
Compare Shopify
See how Shopify compares to other platforms
Shopify Community
Learn from business owners on the Shopify forums
Shopify Help Center
Find answers to all your Shopify questions fast
Start selling with Shopify today
Try Shopify for free, and explore all the tools and services you need to start, run, and grow your business.
FAQs
Which is better: Magento vs. WooCommerce?
Magento has an advantage over WooCommerce in terms of features and scalability. However, WooCommerce is much easier to use and has a strong CMS, which Magento lacks. Shopify is better than Magento and WooCommerce for those looking for an easy setup, reliable hosting, and more. Shopify’s theme editor allows you to customize your website in only a few clicks. And with unlimited bandwidth, Shopify works nicely for companies planning to scale up quickly.
Which is better for ecommerce: Magento vs WooCommerce?
Magento is meant for enterprise companies, whereas WooCommerce was built for adding ecommerce functionality to WordPress websites. On the other hand, Shopify was built specifically for ecommerce. With an intuitive online store builder, hosting, built-in fraud detection, thousands of apps, and many more features integrated into one platform, Shopify makes it simple to create and run an online store. Shopify is also better for product launches, as it can handle high traffic volume, uptime, and more.
Magento vs. WooCommerce: which is better for security?
Both Magento and WooCommerce offer security features. However, they require extensions or plugins to set up certain elements, like an SSL certificate. Shopify is an excellent option for security, as it provides SSL certificates, has a built-in fraud detection feature, and is PCI DSS compliant. Shopify’s security mechanisms also detect and restrict account access when unusual activity is identified. In these cases, you have to confirm your identity as part of the login procedure.
Page last updated: January 24, 2022
What’s the best commerce platform for you?
Learn why thousands of businesses migrate to Shopify every year.