WooCommerce or Magento? Which is better: WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal? How to create an eCommerce website on WordPress? Such questions are regularly asked!

So, creating your own online store is a serious step in developing your own online business. Whether you are selling physical products or digital products, you are interested in keeping the process as simple as possible.

Next, the question arises: which online store engine to use – WooCommerce or Magento? 

On one hand, WooCommerce ensures the scalability and flexibility of the WordPress scene.  On the other side, Magento encourages influential tools for creating the brand.

Both of these platforms allow website owners to begin selling online quickly. That is why it is complicated to choose one. Hence, we are here to assist you!

 

Online store engine – WooCommerce or Magento

 

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is designed for use with WordPress. In fact, WordPress recently acquired WooCommerce, so you can now expect even more powerful integration between the two. WooCommerce integrates seamlessly with any WordPress theme. You will even be provided with a step-by-step guide on how to connect WooCommerce to any WordPress template. There are many themes out there that are already prepared for using WooCommerce, so all you have to do is install the plugin.

 

Magento

Many big businesses run Magento, which brings them good results but to successfully use this platform, you need to be almost a programmer. The average web website owner or business owner won’t even know where to start. Magento is a kind of standard for large enterprises, but it is redundant for small companies. If you need to change or fix something, you will eventually have to hire a Magento eCommerce website development company.

 

What to use – WooCommerce or Magento?

So, two of the most popular eCommerce platforms on the market today are WooCommerce and Magento. Both have strengths and are suitable for different needs. Magento is a standalone product currently owned by eBay and WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin. They have the backing of their strong communities: WordPress users for WooCommerce and eBay Magento supporters. If you are thinking about starting an online business, these two platforms undoubtedly deserve your attention.

 

1). General

Both WooCommerce and Magento are open-source products. This means that the source code is freely available to everyone. You can use this code and modify it to create a product that works just for you. WooCommerce and Magento earn through additional services that you are more likely to acquire as your business grows.

It should be borne in mind that the website customization is because both WooCommerce and Magento are self-hosted. If you opt for a server-side solution (for example, through Shopify), you will experience the benefits of quickly creating an online store with just a few clicks of buttons, plus you won’t have to worry about website security. However, your customization options will be severely limited. Thus, WooCommerce and Magento are both perfectly suited for setting up your own online store.

Finally, the most important thing when setting up an online store is, of course, the products and communication with your customers. WooCommerce and Magento allow you to upload unlimited products and manage them efficiently. You can also add a blog to do some SEO work.

 

2). Launch

Starting any business comes with hurdles, but the eCommerce platform you choose shouldn’t be a problem for you. Obviously, if you are already a WordPress user and want to add an e-commerce element to your website, then it makes sense to opt for the WooCommerce e-commerce plugin. In this case, you will not need to get used to a different interface or transfer the website to another platform. Even if you don’t have a WordPress website yet, WooCommerce is still perfect for beginners. WordPress is surprisingly easy to use and WooCommerce is just an extension of it. Setting up your website with WordPress is also easy due to the large number of plugins available. In addition, WooCommerce has a video tutorial to help you with the setup.

Magento’s frontend is also very easy to use and comes with a video tutorial and documentation. It has a complete installation wizard. However, Magento’s complexity comes in when you want to add extensions to your website. At this point, you will have to consider hiring a Magento specialist.

 

3). Expenses

Initially, both e-commerce platforms are free (although there is an Enterprise Magento version). You can download them and start building your store right away.

However, you will find that things like a full range of payment options besides PayPal and bank transfers, which are essential if you want to grow your business, WooCommerce is limited to basic options, plugins, and extensions.

However, if you’re growing, adding Magento extensions is also necessary and you’ll have to fork out as well. Expert Magento developers are harder to find than WordPress developers, even though you really need to install the extensions correctly. These costs also need to be considered.

From the very beginning, you need to think about your long-term goal and your budget. You have to think about your needs – will you require additional features that Magento provides, as opposed to WooCommerce? And if so, are you willing to invest additional funds now, rather than spend money on migrating your website to Magento in the future?

 

Let’s take a look at these features in more detail.

 

  • Functional

With any e-commerce platform, you should be able to have a cart function and the ability to load an infinite number of products and categorize them. You will get these basic features with both WooCommerce and Magento. But which of these platforms allows you to further customize your store and provide your customers with added convenience when shopping from you?

Magento wins here. You can sell more (cross-sell and up-sell), compare products, add discount codes, and use the advanced filter to navigate your products. In addition, if you have more than one store, you can view them all through one account. This is great for creating localized versions of your store.

WooCommerce is simpler and great for those just starting out. You can rate products and suggest bestsellers or drive sales through the available widgets, but anything even more complex will require an add-on. However, keep in mind that since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, it can work with an array of other WordPress plugins. Navigation is tricky, but not nearly as difficult as Magento, as you will only be able to filter by one attribute.

Whether you choose WooCommerce or Magento, you will be able to view Google Analytics for both platforms. It’s important to see the success of your business as a whole and to look at individual elements and use that to strategize across your portfolio.

Thus, if you make a choice based solely on functionality, Magento has a more solid foundation. However, to improve your website, you will need to invest more. You have access to Magento Connect, which offers thousands of website extensions, but you need a developer to install them properly.

WooCommerce also offers extensions via WordPress plugins that are much easier to manage and some are even free. For example, WordPress SEO by Yoast to move up the search engines, Askimet to filter spam, and Gravity Forms to create forms on your WordPress website.

Ultimately, if you can afford to hire someone to improve your website, then Magento extensions are worth taking. But you won’t be able to do it yourself and save money on it.

 

  • Topics

What makes both WooCommerce and Magento attractive to developers and internet business owners is that they are customizable. The first thing to choose when setting up is your website theme. WordPress and Magento have thousands of free and paid themes to choose from. They all come with their own features, such as responsive layouts for all device sizes and demo content that you can simply download and import into your website. Many WordPress themes use their ability to integrate with WooCommerce as a special feature.

  • WooCommerce or Magento: Your choice

Magento is very popular with large businesses and institutions that run e-commerce websites on behalf of their clients. Magento is a scalable solution, so it is ideal for those with ambitious plans or a successful online store. It has many basic features and also, once installed by the developer, great extensions. However, you will need a large budget to set up a Magento store.

WooCommerce by WordPress is ideal for small businesses and those with little experience. It gets the job done selling your products and as you grow you can add many more plugins. It is also the best solution if you are already used to the WordPress interface.

 

It’s important to remember that Magento was designed specifically for e-commerce stores. However, this does not mean that WordPress plugins and extensions are less effective. WooCommerce is not a standalone CMS, but it is powered by WordPress, which means a lot to us WordPress fans.

Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. However, if you are experiencing any of the platforms, then, share your experience with us. Which one are you using? How is it beneficial to your website? 

We would like to hear from you. Thanks for reading!