Introduction
By allowing users to develop websites and fully functional eCommerce stores without coding, website developers and content management systems have entirely changed the way we create and consume content as well as they have also changed how we buy and sell products online.
You’ll find hundreds of eCommerce platforms and tools designed for businesses and individuals based on their requirements, budget, and technical experience. While some are developed especially for eCommerce, others are multi-purpose. We have various eCommerce platforms available so it can be challenging to know where to start.
In this article, we will learn about the best eCommerce platforms – Magento and WordPress and help you choose the right platform for your business. As we speak about Magento vs WordPress, both are powerful platforms when it comes to eCommerce application development. Magento and WordPress are scalable and open-source software that allows developers to build feature-rich websites easily. Both platforms offer free versions and provide increased functionality if you’re willing to pay, else you only have to pay for your own hosting.
Today we’re going to discuss the features and benefits of the two most popular and in-demand solutions – Magento and WordPress and help you to make a quick and right decision for your business depending on your project requirements. So without any further ado, let’s get started!
If you’re in a rush, just have a look at the snapshot given mentioned above:
Magento vs WordPress: Definition
Magento
Magento is a highly extensible enterprise-level eCommerce platform that is open-source and allows developers to build large websites with advanced features and functionalities. It is just like WordPress with numerous dedicated features trusted by thousands of store owners ranging from small businesses to large multinational corporations. If we compare Magento with WordPress, Magento is less user-friendly as it requires some sort of technical elements whereas WordPress can be easy to use even if you’re a newbie.
You can also hire a dedicated Magento developer who is experienced and skilled enough to help your website reach its maximum potential. You’ll be surprised to know that Magento handles more than $100 billion in gross merchandise volume annually. It is a great choice if your aim is to increase eCommerce sales.
Apart from this, Magento offers a high level of customization and functionality that helps business owners and merchants to flexibly set up their online stores based on their requirements and offers rich features like marketing, multi-store management, mobile commerce, generating reports, and other essential tools.
As a dedicated eCommerce platform, Magento offers several built-in functionalities that are required to build and run an online store which includes functionalities like multi-store management, product comparisons, coupons, product tiers, and much more. However, if we talk about security, Magento’s security is way better than WordPress third-party extensions.
WordPress
WordPress is an open-source and user-friendly blogging platform and is widely used as a content management system. It is popular for providing an easy-to-embed plug-in architecture and helping developers to enhance the website visually. WordPress is one of the most popular CMS used by businesses and helps them to achieve basic functionality through various third-party plug-ins such as Easy Digital Downloads plugin and WooCommerce plugin.
As we mentioned earlier, WordPress is user-friendly, so even if you’re a newbie in this field, you can easily build your eCommerce store in the least time possible. Do you know, business giants like eBay, Forbes, and Sony also use WordPress for their blogs? Yes, you heard it right! Many such businesses tend to use WordPress for some or other reasons.
Despite this, WordPress needs a minimal budget and less technical experience as compared to Magento. If you’re new in this field, it will be ok if you don’t have much technical experience, you only need beginner knowledge of coding and that’s it, you’re all good to go!
Magento vs WordPress: Pros and Cons
| Magento Pros | Magento Cons |
| 1. Omnichannel support and mobile-friendly features | 1. Magento has a large and complex structure. |
| 2. You can easily optimize product pages and descriptions using the Magento enterprise edition | 2. It requires a large investment of time and knowledge |
| 3. It allows you to extend your platform and build unique branded experiences | 3. Requires more technical skills and experience |
| 4. Magento is a powerful and scalable eCommerce platform that supports large stores and helps smaller stores expand | 4. Magento is slow because it uses unwanted extensions, themes, and customizations |
| 5. Magento has in-built eCommerce functionalities so you’re not required to install everything while working with Magento because all the functionalities will be by default installed when you download it | 5. It requires more space while hosting on a shared server which makes the website performance slow |
| WordPress Pros | WordPress Cons |
| 1. It allows you to modify and completely customize the sites | 1. WordPress websites have poor SEO ranking |
| 2. You’ll get a variety of themes to make your website stand out from the rest | 2. It needs frequent updating |
| 3. Even if you don’t have enough technical skills, you can still build amazing feature-rich websites easily with a little coding knowledge | 3. Customization needs coding |
| 4. Easy to use and work with | 4. Low-security features |
| 5. Updates are easy | 5. WordPress website can go down without any notice |
Magento vs WordPress: Main features
Magento
1. Open-source platform
Magento is a free and open-source platform that allows developers to adapt and build high-level and feature-rich websites for your eCommerce store.
2. Analytics and reporting
This is one of the most popular and important features of the Magento platform as it allows you to make precise analytics reports and offers to help you with a thorough analysis. Also, it offers Google Analytics support.
3. SEO-ready
Magento offers great SEO features which allow you to easily change selected functions that are essential to process your search engine at a great level.
4. Built-in features
Magento comes with great built-in features, functionalities, and tools using which businesses can expand and scale easily.
5. Large community
It has a large and active community who are also ready to support and advise users at any stage of development.
WordPress
1. High Flexibility
WordPress offers you the flexibility to create any type of website such as a travel blog, personal blog, photoblog, and much more using WordPress themes and plugins.
2. User-friendliness
WordPress is a platform widely used by developers who are new in the development field. It is easy to start with as you’re not required to have a high-level technical experience, only basic coding knowledge is enough. You can easily set up and install WordPress sites in the least time possible and easily customize it.
3. WordPress language
When you plan to work with WordPress for your online eCommerce store, you’ll get more than 70 languages using which you can create your own blog or website by multi-language.
4. In-built comments
You’ll be surprised to know that WordPress comes with in-built themes and plugins that allow you to create your blog’s personal and business depending on your requirements.
5. SEO friendliness
It is an SEO-friendly platform which means it will help your business to grow and fetch high search ranking for your websites.
Wrapping Up
In closing, we would like to mention that there is no clear winner in the battle of the best eCommerce platform as Magento and WordPress both are great platforms when it comes to building an eCommerce store. You just have to make sure that you’re choosing the one that suits your requirements and implementing it correctly.
