Magento vs. PrestaShop Comparison: Choose The Best E-commerce Platform

Magento or PrestaShop? If you are thinking about setting up an online store, you will probably consider both systems. Each of them fulfills different business needs. The question is which one will be more suitable for you? Read our Magento PrestaShop comparison to make the right decision.

Magento vs. PrestaShop – Basic Information

Magento

Magento is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms worldwide, offering extended functionalities for the most demanding online vendors. It enables, e.g., customer segmentation, setting different promotion types, or numerous integrations with payment and delivery systems. In 2015, the new main Magento version was released – Magento 2. Due to the end of Magento 1 support in 2020, currently, Magento 2 is a default platform version.

Read more about Magento 1 end of support

PrestaShop

Similarly, like Magento, PrestaShop is an Open Source e-commerce platform. It is prevalent in Poland, where nearly 30% of online stores are based on this CMS. It is beloved by the users thanks to the well-kept balance between extended functionalities and an easy-to-use administration panel. PrestaShop has dozens of default options; however, they can be upgraded without obstacles using additional modules.

PrestaShop vs. Magento – Similarities

Before pointing out the central systems’ differences, it is worth analyzing what they have in common. Both platforms work in the Open Source model, which means that their users don’t have to pay any license fee. Magento and PrestaShop are self-hosted platforms – you can install them on any server. Even though PrestaShop dominates some domestic markets, the worldwide popularity of both e-commerce platforms is quite similar.

Magento 2 vs. PrestaShop – Differences

Now, let's find out the core differences between both systems, which will help you choose your business's right content management platform.

1. PrestaShop vs. Magento – Costs

PrestaShop is entirely free-of-charge; however, it will be challenging to set up a well-functioning online store without investments in paid PrestaShop templates or additional modules. The costs of the essential functionalities fluctuate between 50 to 200 euro. Thus, the final cost of setting up PrestaShop-based e-commerce depends on your needs. On the other hand, Magento pricing is more complicated because there are three different software types:

1. Magento Open Source Edition – the most popular, default, free-of-charge software version.
2. Magento Commerce Edition – the paid version dedicated to highly extended e-commerce. The yearly fee starts from 22 000 dollars. The price rises along with the revenue of the online store.
3. Magento Commerce Cloud Edition offers the same functionalities as Magento Commerce Edition; however, it is based on the cloud. The yearly fee starts from 40 000 dollars.

It is worth pointing out that Magento allows pricing negotiations. As a result, final prices are set individually. The truth is that there is no official pricing list on the Magento website. The given costs base on the numerous information from vendors using paid Magento versions. However, usually, the Magento Open Source Edition is far enough for most online stores.

2. Magento vs. PrestaShop – Accessibility

Without a doubt, PrestaShop is easier to use than Magento. The platform management is vastly simplified; thus, users with poor programming skills can successfully edit the online store and apply non-complicated changes. On the other side, Magento is known as one of the most extended e-commerce platforms. Hence, it requires advanced technical skills for proper functioning. However, those inconveniences are paid back by the well-designed architecture, which gives vendors and e-commerce designers nearly unlimited possibilities. Remember that you will need an experienced Magento developer for professional installation, configuration, and platform upgrades.

3. PrestaShop vs. Magento 2 – Functionalities

Both e-commerce platforms offer extensive functionalities for building complex online stores. PrestaShop has everything that you need to set up e-commerce. However, it is Magento that provides more advanced functionality for demanding vendors. One of them is the Multiple Website Development option (Magento multistore). Using this, you can easily manage a few online shops from one admin panel. The point is that the functionality is free of charge. Additionally, Magento offers advanced analytics and sales reports, an automated e-mail system, and many more.

4. Magento vs. PrestaShop – Templates

PrestaShop themes are elegant, professional, and stylish. You can choose between +3 000 of them. Most of the themes have additional functionalities and are dedicated to specific industries. In the case of Magento, themes are available on Magento Marketplace. Similarly, as for PrestaShop, you can find different themes, categories, and functionalities. In both cases, you can decide to make your graphical design. However, this operation requires advanced skills and is more cost-consuming.

5. PrestaShop vs. Magento – Security

Both Magento and PrestaShop were made with the view to provide top security for their users. If you take due care to on-time security updates, install only verified modules, and regularly monitor your platform, you don’t have to worry about online store security.

6. Magento 2 vs. PrestaShop – SEO

If you want to increase organic traffic to your online store, you must remember about search engine optimization. Responsiveness and page speed are critical factors from both – SEO and performance sides. You have to consider external links, content, technical optimization, but they are not strictly connected to the CMS choice as responsiveness or page speed. Both Magento and PrestaShop offer dozens of SEO-related functionalities, which can help in increasing the organic visibility of your e-commerce in search results.

7. PrestaShop vs. Magento – Community and Support

As PrestaShop and Magento work in the Open Source model, they gathered massive communities around the platforms. In both cases, the community deals with the reported technical problems, prepare upgrades, and works on general software improvement. In the case of Magento Commerce versions, the vendors can rely on professional 24/7 technical support provided by Adobe. On the other hand, PrestaShop offers technical support for all users; however, it is paid in all cases.

Magento PrestaShop Comparison – Summary

Both Magento and PrestaShop are e-commerce platforms that will help you with setting up successful online sales. Thanks to the vast personalization options, you can build a platform well-suited to your business needs. The core differences between those content management systems are their accessibility for beginners and advanced edition possibilities. PrestaShop is more recommended for the least experienced users with poor technical abilities. On the other hand, Magento will be suitable for sellers with bigger budgets who think about advanced functionalities and hire development teams.

For the summary, take a quick look at the short comparison of key platforms’ features.