Projected trends in eCommerce have been completely trounced over the last two years as multiple industries successfully pivoted their business models to embrace online sales in response to skyrocketing consumer demand caused by pandemic lockdowns and quarantine measures. In 2021, consumers in the United States are anticipated to spend more than $933 billion on eCommerce platforms. This trend is expected to continue, with just over 23% of total retail sales anticipated to flow through eCommerce platforms.
For businesses looking to adjust their business model or that are just getting started with online sales and looking for the right eCommerce platform for their web presence, we’ve assembled a comparison of two of the top-rated web tools, WooCommerce and Magento. In this article we’ll break down each platform, provide a pricing comparison, and perform a detailed feature comparison, giving our audience a deeper insight into which might be a better fit for their business needs.
Why Does Your Online Business Need to Use an eCommerce Platform?
We’ve reached a point in the modern economy where we assume every service- or sales-focused company has a web presence. If you are a product-focused brand, your website shouldn’t be built only around your inbound lead generation strategy but also provide a solid sales channel for an increasingly eCommerce-focused consumer base. Through a properly configured and deployed platform, a business can expect to see significant sales growth flow through the site, helping to stabilize bottom-line profitability. It’s therefore important to pick an eCommerce platform that meets your organizational needs and sales goals.
To help your marketing team choose between two of the leading tools, we’ll cover:
- What is WooCommerce?
- What is Magento?
- WooCommerce vs. Magento Pricing Overview
- Site Performance
- Plugins and Extensions
- Ease of Use
- Security
- WooCommerce vs. Magento Expert Reviews
- The Overall Winner
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Hear From Industry Experts
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What is Magento?
The Magento open source eCommerce platform is a part of the Adobe Experience Cloud suite of products. It got its start as an online commerce tool in 2007 as a project created by the company, Varien. It was an immediate favorite of developers, winning multiple awards in the first few years after it was introduced. Varien’s platform was first acquired in 2011 by eBay, only later to be released by a private equity firm in 2015 as its own entity. At this point, Magento 1 evolved and the development team released Magento 2. Seeing value in the eCommerce platform, Adobe folded Magento 2 into its Enterprise CMS platform in 2018.
While Magento is largely used to build out and act as a framework for eCommerce websites, there is also a plugin for WordPress, allowing the eCommerce platform to be used with some customization on a WordPress hosted website. Magento stores are known for:
- Multiple methods for using the platform (Open source, On-premise, Cloud-hosted)
- Streamlined and easy to use admin control panel
- Complex templates for product configuration options
- Mobile accessible with touch-screen capabilities
- Open-source platform keeps the platform innovative and relevant versus the competition
- Multi-store management
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|
WooCommerce |
Magento |
|
Developer Hourly Rate |
Between $60-$150 |
Between $65-$150 |
|
Basic Site Cost |
$1,000-$3,000 |
$20,000 |
|
Custom Site Cost |
$3,000-$15,000 |
$45,000-$100,000 |
|
Enterprise Site Cost |
Upwards of $100,000 |
More than $100,000 |
The issue of comparing pricing for these platforms is tricky, given that much of the cost lies not in the eCommerce platform, but rather in the framework of the website being used as the medium of delivering the shopping experience to the customers. That said, developers specializing in integrating each platform into user websites and maintaining the resulting eCommerce solution will base the cost on hourly rates. The developer cost on an hourly basis is roughly the same, but we found that many cost breakdowns have WooCommerce sites coming out more affordable, especially for customized solutions, because the platform is primarily a plug-in being folded into existing or new WordPress sites. Magento, while it can be deployed and customized as a plug-in, is often considered more expensive as a tool because it’s more likely to be used to build out an eCommerce-focused website, which will increase the development costs drastically. The tricky part about projecting Magento costs, in fact, is that there isn’t a fixed license fee, but rather a sliding monthly cost based on the user’s Gross Sales Revenue.
Which Option is Better?
WooCommerce is lightweight and easier for developers to work with, resulting in less developer cost overall. WooCommerce site costs will stem mostly from site fees and processing fees for transactions, costs that technically would be absorbed in some way regardless of which eCommerce platform was deployed. While each platform is touted as a tool that can technically be used completely free aside from hosting fees, behind the scenes Magento’s pricing model is more complex in that full functionality is only unlocked by using a paid version versus the free community version, at which point the costs become variable based on sales volume.
Site Performance
Research shows that the time a website takes to load has a significant impact on buyer behaviors, with pages taking longer than three seconds to load bleeding up to 53% of mobile traffic. An eCommerce site’s ability to quickly process orders and transactions, therefore, is a key feature that we must consider in this comparison.
Unfortunately, in researching these two platforms, we found multiple comprehensive comparisons online that referenced performance data from 2016 to gauge performance differences between the two platforms. In terms of software development, comparing the 2016 versions of these products to the products currently on the market doesn’t take into account how differently these technologies work in 2021, or how much has changed in the way websites are hosted and managed.
A more realistic approach to assessing the site performance of sites using either eCommerce platform solution, an approach that we and other outlets have chosen instead, deals with the factors beyond the eCommerce platform itself that impact performance:
- Web hosting provider services ultimately impact your page’s load speed
- Hosting services must be able to offer optimization as your site traffic grows and evolves
- Proper optimization of product images can impact site performance
- The number and quality of other plugins and modules on your site can impact your eCommerce page load speed
- Leveraging a content delivery network (CDN) can greatly improve site load speed.
- Optimizing and customizing site design for mobile devices first will greatly improve speeds on all devices
Which Option is Better?
It’s a tie. While statistics and data do exist testing the site speeds and load times of thousands of consumer eCommerce platforms currently operating on the web, these studies are better indicators of hosting company performance and developers’ ability to properly build and optimize the content on a website than they are indicators of the performance offered by either of the eCommerce platforms we’re comparing here today.
Plugins and Extensions
The eCommerce platforms under consideration in this discussion are frameworks providing a basic shopping experience for users of your website. In order to truly flesh out the user experience and buyer’s journey, developers must leverage the plugins and extensions available for each platform in order to add functionality and a more meaningful experience overall.
Each platform has its own community and marketplace of tools that can be accessed, and we’ll take a closer look at each now.
WooCommerce Plugins and Extensions
Unlike the dedicated eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Magento, WooCommerce is itself a plugin that can be added to a WordPress website to add eCommerce functionality. In this way, a WooCommerce focused website will necessarily need to fold in a number of other plugins and extensions, ensuring a highly customized end product for the consumer.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Highly customizable experience |
Dependant upon other plugins for full functionality; less functional out of the box |
|
Might decrease overall costs with free plugins |
Could significantly increase overall site cost |
|
Allows small developing businesses access to powerful tools for growth without paying for unnecessary services or functionality |
Magento Plugins and Extensions
Unlike WooCommerce, Magento is a full eCommerce platform out of the box designed to act as a foundation for your website. Beyond the community edition, the paid versions of Magento come fully equipped with a number of features that are relegated to plugins in other eCommerce solutions, such as grouped items, reviews, pricing rules, and other features WooCommerce users will have to rely upon third-party add-ons in order to provide.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Paid platform less dependent upon plugins for standard functionality, making plugins a way to truly enhance the platform |
Makes the platform more expensive upfront |
|
The functionality and performance enhancements gained through plugins and extensions creates a better user experience |
Harder to integrate; requires a developer to help install and manage |
Which Option is Better?
On a purely out-of-the-box comparison, Magento has more in-built functionality and less reliance on plugins. Further, the enhancements a Magento developer can achieve through the online community and marketplace offset the more expensive platform. While a more flexible overall model, WooCommerce relies on and will therefore have more costs sunk into third-party solutions to meet basic functionality expectations of consumers.
Ease of Use
At a time when businesses are having to do more with less and DIY content management systems are the default website platforms for a majority of small- to medium-sized businesses, ease of use is a strong influence in how we rate software solutions. As high-ranking eCommerce platforms that appear almost by default in best eCommerce solution wrap-ups, it’s interesting that WooCommerce and Magento have such different approaches. In both cases, however, it’s important to remember that these platforms are open source, highly customizable, and require some technical expertise to manage and implement.
WooCommerce Ease of Use
Despite being an open-source platform, the WooCommerce plugin was designed with a robust and easy-to-navigate back-end that works within the standard WordPress site admin dashboard.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Designed with skilled and unskilled users in mind |
Complexity only comes through the use of premium themes and plugins |
|
Highly customizable through standard WordPress controls and integrates with many free themes and paid themes to provide flexible site appearance options for online shops |
|
|
Helpful Setup Wizard in the new version that walks users through complete eCommerce store setup |
Magento Ease of Use
By all accounts, Magento is not designed for new, inexperienced professionals starting a new storefront. Instead, it’s built for established eCommerce sites to transition from small self-managed sites into medium-to-large online stores and thus often require a developer to assist in the transition process and to make modifications and updates.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Robust solution for large-scale established eCommerce sites, helping them to upgrade and increase revenue |
Not built for new users without experience setting up eCommerce sites |
|
|
Extensions require developers to install and maintain |
Which Option is Better?
WooCommerce is the better platform when it comes to ease of use for small-scale platforms. This is where many businesses will start and cut their teeth on eCommerce. However, it’s important to keep Magento in mind as the business grows and to have a plan for transitioning your eCommerce platform as it grows towards a platform knowing you will have to hire dedicated developers to maintain it.
Security
With cybercrime running rampant across the internet, we would be remiss if we didn’t address each platform’s approach to security and the approach taken towards the safety and integrity of the sales and user financial data that will be gathered and secured in the course of processing and fulfilling sales.
WooCommerce Security
As a plugin dependent upon the WordPress security infrastructure, it’s important to understand if you’re using WooCommerce that your website will only be as secure as the plugins and themes that you’ve used to deploy your site. If you’re using a managed WordPress site, your hosting service will often be the provider of your SSL certificate and the path to securing your site with an HTTPS server. You can also add layers of security and oversight through the use of plugins and extensions, further increasing your site costs overall.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
WooCommerce itself is extremely secure and well-maintained by its team |
Dependent upon the security measures implemented by third-party service providers and software developers |
|
|
Most hacks of WordPress eCommerce sites are a result of user error in configuration or a vulnerability in a theme or plugin on the site |
Which Option is Better?
WooCommerce is the better platform when it comes to ease of use for small-scale platforms. This is where many businesses will start and cut their teeth on eCommerce. However, it’s important to keep Magento in mind as the business grows and to have a plan for transitioning your eCommerce platform as it grows towards a platform knowing you will have to hire dedicated developers to maintain it.
Magento Security
As a platform that can be built into a fully functional website, Magento takes advantage of Adobe’s industry expertise in ensuring the platform is built with security and data integrity in mind. The platform includes by default a number of options other platforms rely on plugins to provide and benefits from Adobe’s practice of releasing security-focused updates and patches on a regular schedule.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Regularly releases dedicated security patches |
While internally secured, still exhibits exposure through third-party hosting service |
|
The platform is built with many security measures included as standard that are only accessible as plugins on other platforms |
|
Which Option is Better?
Because there are less exposed vectors for attack in Magento, and the platform releases regular security-focused patches and updates, Magento has a clear advantage over WooCommerce sites when it comes to the security of data.
WooCommerce vs. Magento Expert Reviews from Ecommerce Business Leaders
To this point, it’s fairly clear that WooCommerce is a winning choice for small businesses, startups, or businesses looking to build out their first eCommerce platforms as affordably as possible. Magento, on the other hand, is the refined solution for established eCommerce sites looking to evolve and grow and requires fairly significant investment either in in-house manpower and time or the equivalent investment in third-party developers. These sentiments held true when we posed the same question to our community of developers and eCommerce professionals.
In fact, the divide that appeared in the feedback rarely reflected a true preference of one platform over the other, but rather reinforced this idea that each platform was the best at meeting the needs of very different and defined audiences.
With WooCommerce acting as the foundation for a much higher percentage of online stores over other eCommerce solutions currently, it is clear from agencies and businesses alike that small businesses’ demand for a robust eCommerce solution outpaced that of enterprise and large-scale sites in the marketplace.
“WooCommerce is one of the only eCommerce solutions that offer true freedom and flexibility in an online store. With self-hosted data and files, the only limitations you’ll find with WooCommerce are your development team’s abilities. It’s built on the most popular CMS in the world, so its administrative panel will be familiar to many. Not to mention, the base installation is absolutely free. It can be used for almost any purpose and is surely the best solution for SMB/SME.”
—Jantzen Zenor, CEO, Phvntom Inc.
“I believe WooCommerce is better because of the user-friendly interface and integration with WordPress. Since so many developers already know how to use WordPress the learning curve is not as steep for WooCommerce.”
—Cecelia Bennett, Director of Web Development, Blue Ridge Media Company
“WooCommerce is a better platform for merchants that have smaller inventories (less than 5,000 products) and need some customizations. While Magento works great for larger inventories, it requires much more heavy lifting out of the box than Woo. WooCommerce has wide support for any customizations and add-ons.”
—Anita Schott, Marketing Strategist, G3 Group Agency, LLC
“WooCommerce is a better option for businesses and individuals looking to set up their own eCommerce store for a couple of reasons, the main reason being that WooCommerce is used far more than Magento so the individual will be able to easily find documentation or developers if needed. Developers for Magento are often more expensive than they are for WooCommerce, so if budget is important then WooCommerce is your better option. While the core software for both is free, WooCommerce gets my approval because all of their plugins, themes, and developers are cheaper than Magento. However, if you are looking for scalability, then Magento might take the crown because Magento is an excellent solution for enterprise-level stores.”
—Ryan O’Donnell, President and Founder, Limitless Web Developers, LLC
“WooCommerce is the best eCommerce platform choice for most small and medium businesses. This is because it has a large developer community that makes accomplishing most tasks without custom programming possible. That means it’s an affordable eCommerce platform that companies can afford. Magento is a decent platform but does not have the developer community backing in to make it affordable. It’s a more complex platform that’s scalable but also complex and expensive, requiring custom programming to accomplish most goals.”
—Nick Leffler, Owner, Loclweb
“WooCommerce is a flexible and reliable platform for most small- and mid-sized businesses and organizations, with the same flexibility of WordPress for the admin and the developer. It is also much easier to gain support and apply upgrades than Magento, which is wonderfully robust but requires a deeper skill set.”
—Jacqueline Sinex, Managing Director, WEBii
The Overall Winner
Our focus in this comparison was to compare the overall quality and features of two of the more popular eCommerce platforms in use by online stores across all industries and to provide guidance for companies looking to open or enhance their online storefronts. Our findings are that for small businesses and businesses looking to open a new storefront online, WooCommerce is the better overall starting option.
The cost of development overall is lower, as WooCommerce is a plugin that easily integrates into the design process of a managed WordPress website, and it is perhaps one of the easiest interfaces available, easily integrating into the WordPress admin dashboard. While it doesn’t come with as much out-of-the-box functionality, the right mix of free and paid extensions and plugins can provide a WooCommerce site with all the functionality necessary to keep pace with Magento’s default features.
Performance isn’t a factor in this decision, as both platforms can be equally optimized and impacted at the service provider and hosting level. While security is a concern for any site hosted through WordPress, the platform is often quick to address vulnerabilities that appear, but ultimately it’s up to your development team to ensure all plugins and modules are patched and updated constantly, just as with any other software. The community fully supports both platforms but reflects the clear preference for WooCommerce and its flexibility and usability for small businesses to get up and running.
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|
WooCommerce |
Magento |
|
Cost |
✅ |
|
|
Performance |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Plugins and Extensions |
|
✅ |
|
Ease of Use |
✅ |
|
|
Security |
|
✅ |
|
Community Feedback |
✅ |
|
|
Overall Winner |
✅ |
|
To learn more about how to launch your own eCommerce site, or to identify a B2B service provider that can help execute your strategic online store launch, visit the UpCity marketplace to find top-rated WooCommerce and Magento development partners.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
After laying out this comparison, a few questions seemed to come up multiple times by users, questions that we felt would be helpful to share with our own readers to guide them in choosing between these two eCommerce powerhouses.