Surely two of the most popular software platforms for web shops are Magento or WordPress. Anyone who wants to start a webshop and is hesitating between using Magento or WordPress should keep in mind that both software platforms have their own advantages and disadvantages. In this blog we will tell you more about them.
Magento as webshop software
The software platform Magento is the most suitable webshop system for large and professional webshops. Magento was developed as an e-commerce platform and has incredible features at its core by default. Think of categorization, product comparisons and various ways to work with discounts. A Magento shop is more scalable than WordPress and adjusting the software as sales grow is easy(er). Moreover, Magento is also more suitable for multi store management, i.e. to manage multiple webshops from one environment.
Because of the complexity and sheer number of features, managing a Magento Web store does become a bit more difficult. The web development level will be too high for novice IT professionals. Because web development is more specialized, Magento developers are more expensive than WordPress developers. Anyway, a Magento store will be much more expensive than a WordPress store. This applies to both initial costs and periodic costs such as hosting (shared hosting is not an option with Magento, after all).
Woocommerce as webshop software
WordPress is the world's largest content management system (CMS) on which websites run. Plugins allow you to add webshop functionality to your site. By far the best and most popular plugin is WooCommerce. Compared to Magento, it is not very difficult to set up a WooCommerce shop. Since WordPress is a much lighter system, hosting also costs less.
Keep in mind that WordPress is not, like Magento, built as an e-commerce system. WordPress is more content-driven and made for easy content publishing. As a result, WooCommerce is also somewhat less complete in terms of functionality than Magento, so you're more likely to need plugins or custom solutions.
Similarities and differences
Are you considering choosing Magento or WordPress as your shopping cart software? Then it is good to consider several factors. For the most important factors, we will discuss the differences between Magento and WordPress.
Size of the webshop
One of the main differences between Magento and WordPress lies in their suitability for large and complex web shops. Magento was created as an e-commerce platform, while WordPress is a CMS with possible additional webshop functionalities. If you want to make a WooCommerce environment as extensive as a Magento environment, the whole thing will eventually begin to falter. You are building too much on top of a foundation that was not originally designed for this purpose. If you want a large and professional webshop (now or in the future) it is therefore better not to choose WordPress.
Costs Magento or WordPress web shops
The costs of Magento or WordPress web shops vary widely. They depend on a lot of factors, of course, such as the size of the store and the level of customization. But in general, Magento is a lot more expensive. The simplest Magento shops cost at least 15,000 euros, but somewhat more complex webshops are quickly between 30,000 and 100,000 euros. WordPress web stores are usually several times cheaper.
Complexity
Magento is more complex shopping cart software than WooCommerce, with Magento 2 being even more complex than Magento 1. This has implications for both development and maintenance. You will have to outsource this to web developers (and that involves costs). Of course, this can have a big impact on making the choice between Magento or WordPress.
Maintenance and safety
Regular maintenance is necessary to keep Magento or WordPress web shops safe. This is because both software systems are open source. Because the source code is public, malicious people can more easily exploit any security holes. For a WordPress online store, with little customization, you may still be able to do the maintenance (updating WordPress, the theme and plugins) yourself. With Magento, this is such specialized work that you will have to outsource it to a web developer. In practice, WordPress websites also contain such a degree of customization that a maintenance contract is often necessary for this as well. However, the cost of maintenance is a lot lower with WordPress.
Links for Magento or WordPress
You can link your webshop CMS to other software systems such as accounting software, a payment system or a CRM system. For both Magento and WordPress, there are sufficient webshop links available for the most common software systems. It may happen that WordPress or Magento is missing a link so you will have to have it made yourself. Roughly speaking, the number of links for both systems is the same.
Plugins and extensions for Magento or WordPress
Magento is built as an e-commerce platform. As a result, you need fewer extensions (pieces of software that add functionality) than with WooCommerce web shops (called "plugins" there). However, entrepreneurs who choose Magento often have very different requirements than people who take WooCommerce. As a result, Magento shops overall often have more extensions than WooCommerce shops plugins. Therefore, if you want to achieve the same in WooCommerce as in Magento, you will need many more plugins.
Hosting
Magento is a much heavier system than WordPress. This has implications for hosting. (Cheaper) shared hosting will often do just fine for WooCommerce online stores. If you have a Magento webshop, then VPS, dedicated or hypernode hosting is necessary. As a result, your monthly costs will also be a lot higher.
