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If you’re looking to get started with e-commerce and you aren’t sure where to begin, you may ask yourself which is the better platform, WooCommerce or Magento. The truth is that neither one is better. They’re just different, and they do different things.

To figure out which is the best solution for your e-commerce business, it’s important to understand the difference between the two, what each one does well and not so well, and what features each platform supports.

This handy article will explain everything you need to know to make the best decision. So, let’s settle the old WooCommerce vs. Magento debate once and for all without further ado.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is the most popular, most user-friendly e-commerce solution for WordPress websites.

With almost half a million online stores running WooCommerce, it is one of the most popular solutions for online selling today. An, it’s more user-friendly than other alternatives, including Magento.

Whether you are new to WordPress or have been using the CMS for years, the easy-to-learn, simple-to-use U.I. of WooCommerce makes it easy to get your store up and running without the need for much technical know-how.


What is Magento?

Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform geared towards larger businesses and independent websites.

The platform offers non-WordPress website owners the ability to add a ton of advanced e-commerce functionality without the need to add a bunch of complicated code to your website on the backend.

Unlike WooCommerce, Magento has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s nothing you can’t manage, and if your business is handling large volumes and heavy traffic Magento might just be the best overall solution.

It’s well worth the time to learn it.

Features

WooCommerce

WooCommerce supports a massive variety of extensions allowing you to add functionality to your online store with only a few clicks. Due to the sheer size of the open-source WordPress library, you can be pretty confident that there will be a plugin to add the feature you want to your WooCommerce site.

In terms of payment processing WooCommerce allows you to enable almost all payment options for your customers, including all major credit cards, debit cards, Visa-Debit, PayPal, etc.

There are dozens of themes available to customize WooCommerce even further. There are plenty of free themes available for download, as well as a bunch of premium paid themes that look super-polished and add advanced features and functionality.

What’s more, WooCommerce also supports an unlimited number of products, meaning that you’ll be able to grow whenever you’re ready without ever needing to pay more money.

All things considered, when you factor in all of the available extensions, WooCommerce can be pretty much whatever you want it to be.

Magento

Magento includes some efficient API’s allowing it to integrate with most third-party solutions easily. It also has a user-friendly dashboard with built-in themes and layout options, meaning that you won’t need to spend extra money on a front-end developer to code the look and feel of your online store.

The most significant feature of Magento might be the scalability of the platform. No matter how big your store grows, Magento will manage the demand with ease (as long as your hosting is also up to the challenge). Like WooCommerce, you can add unlimited products to your store, and Magento offers arguably the best product creation and customization tools available on the web today.

Magento also allows for easy guest checkout and features PayPal, and Authorize.net integration, allowing your guests to purchase from your store confidently.

Performance

Both WooCommerce and Magento have the power to perform exceptionally well but require optimal conditions to perform their best.

Various external factors play a huge role in your website’s overall load speed and performance including, your hosting speed and reliability, how optimized your product images are, and whether or not you are using a Content Delivery Network or CDN.

Because all of these factors are pivotal is impossible to say which is the best e-commerce platform in terms of performance, both can be great or sub-par; it really depends on you.

Security

The best website in the world is worthless if it gets hacked or hijacked, and so security, now more than ever before, is of the utmost importance to the operation and success of your online business.

Both WooCommerce and Magento offer state-of-the-art security protocols to ensure that your customer’s details always remain encrypted and secure when the purchase through your site.

That said, Magento goes above and beyond in this capacity by frequently rolling out dedicated security patches, whereas WooCommerce is open-source which makes it more flexible but can be less secure.

Pricing

WooCommerce is entirely free. So, there can be no argument about which e-commerce platform offers the best value.

However, if you start buying premium themes, widgets, and plugins, the costs can quickly add up. All-in-all, WooCommerce is excellent right out of the box, but if you want it to be customized specifically for your site, then you should expect to spend at least some money for the extensions you need to achieve your vision.

On the other hand, Magento offers a free community-based version, but to get the most out of the platform, you’ll almost certainly want to go for one of the premium paid options that can only be accessed by speaking with a Magento customer service rep.

Given everything Magento can do for you, the paid versions start at meager prices, and even the top-tier paid version of Magento is not that much. Prices often change, so be sure to check with a Magento agent today for the latest pricing.

Ultimately, if you have a website running on WordPress, then WooCommerce is the best option, and it’s free. Still, if you have an independent, proprietary, or self-hosted website, then Magento also offers great value for what it can offer you and your business.

So who’s the winner?

After considering both platforms, the final answer to the Magento vs. WooCommerce debate is that neither is better than the other; both are different and are each great solutions for two very different types of websites.

If you have a WordPress store, then WooCommerce is by far the best e-commerce solution available, and you shouldn’t think much more about it. So go ahead and install WooCommerce, and within minutes you’ll be up and running, selling, and securely accepting payments. It really is that easy.

If, on the other hand, your website is not built on WordPress, then chances are the best solution is going to be Magento. There are some other options available, but none really match up against these two e-commerce powerhouses.

Now that you know what each platform excels at, you can make the best decision and pick the perfect e-commerce solution for your website.

Now all that’s left to do is sit back and watch the sales come in.