Magento vs WooCommerce – Which one is Better?

Whether someone needs to find out about the day’s weather, or get some help with their fitness goals, or simply needs to find a good restaurant in a new locality they are visiting, there is some or the other web or mobile app to help them. Once they have used these tools to gather information, they do not always go to the physical store now, as was the norm earlier. They complete most of their purchases from their desktop or phone.

If you are a business owner who is targeting online business from customers instead of wanting to get them to buy from your physical store, then the most important tool you need is a good e-commerce platform. This would enable the customer to complete the transaction conveniently and securely so that you can dispatch after getting confirmation of the order. There are two popular e-commerce platforms which are generally favored by many business owners or webmasters – Magento and WooCommerce. Like many other web app development products, these two platforms also have their loyal supporters. Let us look at them a bit costlier and try to do an unbiased comparison.

The first point of difference is that Magento is an open source platform, whereas WooCommerce is an open source platform built on top of the WordPress website builder. So, while both are open source platforms, WooCommerce is par for the course and comes with the territory when you have used WordPress to build your website.

But for a user, the first and more important point of comparison is the cost involved. This is especially true for a small company that is just starting off. Although the prices are not available for open viewing, users have informed that the paid version of Magento is quite costly, but that cost provides you with lots of features and good support. On the other hand, WooCommerce is available free with WordPress, but you have to pay separately for domain names, SSL certification etc.

The next point of comparison that is more important for a business that is just starting off is how easy (or difficult the platform is to use). Resources would be limited, so it is expected that the business owner wouldn’t be able to employ specials for every aspect of the business, like website development or app development, and would be likely to be handling everything on their own. So the platform for e-commerce must be easy to set up and use. In our opinion, Magento has some incredible features but those features would be better harnessed by someone who has a knowledge of the development process. Because of its automatic link to WordPress, WooCommerce is comparatively easier to use. You need to become conversant with the installation and use of plugins.

The final point of comparison is how well they stack up a few years down the line when your business has grown. We already spoke of the comparatively higher setup costs for Magento. This is replicated when you try to scale up for most users. On the other hand, WooCommerce gives you some more options to keep your costs low while you are expanding, allowing you to plan for the addition of more features and incorporating more application development features.