Magento Vs WooCommerce: Which Is Right For Your Business?

Magento Vs WooCommerce: two of the most used e-commerce website solutions on the market, between which it’s difficult to make an informed and professional choice.

We advise clients regularly on the best solution for their business. Each platform has its own features, pros and cons: that’s why it’s essential to rely on an expert’s advise.

So, in this article, we are going to compare Magento Vs WooCommerce, in terms of:

• Performance
• Product Management
• Security
• Plugins and Extensions
• Price
• Features

Keep reading to easily figure out which option can fit your business the most.

Magento: The Powerful Open-source CMS for E-commerce

Magento is one of the most widely used e-commerce platforms, thanks to its wide range of features and functionalities.

It’s not by chance that it has been chosen by some big international companies as Coca Cola, Charlotte Tilbury, and Burger King.

As a matter of fact, it offers two different editions of the platform, namely:

1. Magento Open Source

Firstly, there’s the free platform version, a community edition that provides the basic functions to run an e-commerce website.

Yet, the users can still improve the functionalities by using the available marketplace’s extensions. The capabilities of this open-source version mainly include:

• The built-in checkout;
• Different payment and shipping tools;
• Mobile shopping features;
• Multi-store management;
• Product, order, tax, and customer management.

2. Magento Commerce

Secondly, Magento offers also the premium paid edition, full of further out-of-the-box features, ideal for those businesses that are ready to upgrade their websites.

Among its main pivotal tools are:

• Professional reporting and analysis dashboards with an intelligent reporting system;
• An integrated drag-and-drop page builder;
• An optimized cloud-based hosting;
• Smart shipping options;
• A user-friendly interface, designed according to the most cutting-edge trends in UI/UX design.

WooCommerce: The Most Popular E-commerce Platform

WooCommerce and WordPress are a powerful combination those looking for robust and customizable e-commerce platforms.

As a WordPress’ plugin, everyone can easily turn their WordPress website into an e-commerce store. We’re still talking about a flexible and open-sourced platform, whose main features are:

• Cross-selling and up-selling options;
• Exporting all products through the CSV exporter;
• Managing the redesigned payment method area;
• A remarkable CMS for blogging and marketing campaigns;
• Official extensions and themes, both free and paid, from search tools to payments and shipping ones;
• Unlimited customization of pages, blocks, and design elements, as well as currencies, languages, and measure settings;
• Analytics Report with a huge number of filters and categories.

Magento Vs WooCommerce: a Professional Comparison

1. Performance

In terms of platform performance, it’s impossible to proclaim a winner. Each solution must be evaluated in the context of:

• The features and extensions you choose;
• The web hosting provider;
• The use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN):
• The images’ optimization level.

2. Product Management

• WooCommerce offers an easy approach to it, as managing both physical and digital items is quite simple, especially for those who are familiar with WordPress;
• Magento, on the contrary, offers several features that WooCommerce wouldn’t give you without additional extensions, like wish lists, product customization and reviews.

Therefore, WooCommerce seems to be the best choice if you don’t need any advanced feature but just some extensions, above all if you run a small business.

Nevertheless, Magento offers some advantages in terms of more complex functionalities, in particular when it comes to running a medium or big company’s e-commerce website that requires more specific product management features.

3. Security

Both Magento and WooCommerce would allow you to implement several security measures, mostly through extensions, but you should be aware that Magento offers even some dedicated security patches.

The drawback is that Magento’s security patches aren’t so easy to apply.

If you take security seriously and you have some budget to get help, Magento is surely the best choice, also thanks to its latest Free Security Scan Tool, which allows to:

• Monitor the whole website;
• Update the malware patches;
• Identify any unauthorized access.

4. Plugins and Extensions

In terms of plugins and extensions, you should bear in mind that both the platforms offer a lot of functionalities, so we’re going to see them a little bit more into detail.

Magento

Magento offers a mix of free and paid extensions in terms of:

• Customer support;
• Payments and security;
• Marketing;
• Accounting and finance;
• Shipping and fulfillment;
• Site optimization. 

The main drawback? Surely, the fact that you’ll need a Magento developer’s help when it comes to installing the extensions properly, even if – in a way – this might end up being an advantage in terms of development results.

WooCommerce

Also WooCommerce would offer you a similar wide range of extensions to customize your website, although at a lower price.

Yet, sometimes, lower prices mean a lower range of options: so, we suggest you opting for them just if you aren’t looking for complex professional extensions – for instance, if you are setting up a small business.

5. Price

Then, when it comes to prices, just bear in mind that:

• Magento’s Community Edition is open-source and free of charge, but if you’re interested in the Enterprise Edition, the Gold Support package will cost you more than $22,000 a year, while the Platinum Support package costs even more. Such a sum can seem overwhelming, and deciding which extensions you actually need requires a deeper understanding of all the available options – usually, with an expert’s help;
• WooCommerce, on the other side, is a completely open-source platform, which offers some premium extensions that usually require annual subscriptions, as the Table Rate Shipping extensions (at $99), the ShipStation Integration (starting at $9 per month), and the Distance Rate Shipping (for $79). You can check all the additional prices and subscriptions at this link.

6. Features

Last but not least, we’re going to compare some of the two platforms’ main features, namely the:

• Inventory management: both platforms make you add as many items as you want;
• Coupon codes and discounts: Magento offers the possibility to create discounts and import the coupon codes, while WooCommerce has a more basic feature in this regard;
• Templates and themes: both platforms afford you several themes and templates, both for free and paid;
• Multi-language support: Magento supports several built-in languages, while in WooCommerce you have to buy the WPML plugin;
• SEO tools: Magento offers a little bit stronger SEO extension that would make your store rank properly in the search engines, as well as drive more traffic.

Conclusions

Having said that, choosing a winner between Magento and WooCommerce isn’t so easy, as the decision really depends on several criteria and business’ needs, including the required performance, security, price, and overall budget.

Hence, just take into consideration that your decision should be based on the developing skills you have – or want to get by hiring an in-house or nearshore development team: WooCommerce, in fact, is simpler to use for those who are already familiar with WordPress, while Magento requires some more expertise.

To sum up:

Therefore, if you are going to start a small business with a quite low budget, the most suitable option might be WooCommerce; on the contrary, if you plan to run a global brand, Magento is one of the best available platforms.

In any case, you may need the help of a team of expert developers to figure out which is the best option and structure for your e-commerce website.