In this article we make a comparison between PrestaShop and Magento, two of the main customer management systems (CMS) in the world. Once you have understood the characteristics of each of them, you can decide on the one that best suits the needs of your project.
Comparison chart
| Prestashop | vs. | Magento |
| Small and medium businesses | Market reference | Medium and big businesses |
| Easy | Installation | Complex |
| High level of security | Security | High level of security |
| Fairly comprehensive, may require installation and integration of features with external platforms. | Search Engine Optimization options | Lots of resources and features to help ensure your store ranks in organic search. |
| Easy | Back-end management | Complex |
| Free | Price | Free, with the possibility of purchasing additional support plans and add-ons. In addition, there is the version of Magento Commerce with an annual subscription. |
| Support material is always available and the possibility to book consulting sessions with PrestaShop Advisors. | Support | Active technical support 24/7. In addition, it has a very active community. |
| The platform has hundreds of templates, free and paid. | Themes and templates | It has hundreds of templates, free and paid, from Magento Marketplace and third-party sites. |
| 4000+ extensions and plugins | Extensions and add-ons | More than 4000 extensions and plugins available in the Marketplace. |
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Main differences between PrestaShop and Magento
Choosing the platform that will be used to sell is the first decision that must be made in the design phase of any ecommerce. In this section, we compare two of the most popular CMS for creating online stores: Magento and PrestaShop.
Ease of Use
The big difference between the two lies in the ease of use. PrestaShop is simpler and therefore more suitable for small companies who do not have the means to outsource the management of ecommerce to the hands of experts. On the other hand, Magento is more suitable for companies that are in growth, as well as medium-large companies, who are perhaps already established in the online world.
A concrete example is the open-source shopping cart. In the case of PrestaShop, this function can be customized in several ways directly by the user and without requiring the intervention of a qualified programmer. That is why PrestaShop is best suited for small business owners or freelancers.
On the other hand, companies that have a team of web developers at their disposal can afford to build their own shopping cart, using Magento. At this point, PrestaShop has a more user-friendly design, while Magento is considerably more technical and complicated for novice users.
Functionality
PrestaShop has more than 500 built-in functions. It has all the basic characteristics that an entrepreneur needs to start his online business. The key performance indicators (KPI) take into account all the PrestaShop functions to improve the statistics structures.
In addition, PrestaShop includes ecommerce analytics, which allows users to analyze traffic and guide business strategies. This data makes it possible to increase conversion rates and business revenue. Another important point to note is that PrestaShop supports integrations to export product listings directly to websites like eBay, Amazon, Google Shopping, and other popular marketplaces.
Supported Inventory Size
Magento is ideal for those who have an ecommerce business with a wide variety of products. This CMS is perfectly optimized to handle large quantities of articles and numerous product categories. This is why many businesses such as large auto parts, appliances, or electronics retailers often turn to Magento.
In the case of PrestaShop, it is especially suitable for a small to medium-sized ecommerce store, which does not have too many products. It is a great option if the ecommerce has up to around a hundred products, especially if their categories are organized linearly. However, there may be drawbacks if the number of products starts to grow.
Catalog Management
Both ecommerce platforms are very efficient from this point of view and allow comfortable management of categories and menus. They also offer positive shopping experiences for the customers. Magento is a bit more complicated when it comes to catalog management and product insertion.
However, it does allow greater flexibility for complex products, since it allows configuring different types of products, advanced management of attributes, and combinations. Even so, with PrestaShop, it is also possible to manage attributes, characteristics, and combinations but in a simpler way.
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Modules and Extensions
Magento offers more additional features, although the range of extensions has always been vast. In recent times, a new Magento marketplace has been launched that offers almost 3,000 extensions, both paid and free. This number is expected to increase over time.
In the case of PrestaShop Add-ons, the Marketplace offers 5,000 modules with responsive themes and other services to meet the needs of its users. You can find very cool modules in the Marketplace that will allow you to boost your ecommerce business.
Customizability
Regarding customization options, the themes available in PrestaShop are elegant, professional, and can be found in many different styles. Users can choose from over 3,000 PrestaShop templates, both free and paid, which include additional responsiveness features and allow you to change the color of the theme, menu, graphics, and front editor.
In the case of Magento, the available themes have a modern look and the categories are well organized. The only downside is that there are only 14 themes on the official Magento Marketplace. However, you can look for new templates on pages like Theme Forest or Template Monster and choose the one that best suits your brand.
Performance
Performance is inversely proportional to the size of the catalog and the number of unique visitors per day. In the case of medium or small catalogs, Magento is the slowest and consumes the most resources on average. As the number of products and visits increases, it is necessary to use caching modules in both Magento and PrestaShop. To achieve good performance, it is advisable to have expert programmers.
Security
Since they are open source ecommerce platforms, the exposure of both Magento and PrestaShop to potential hacker attacks is considerable. The key to being able to have a little extra security is to keep the platforms constantly updated. It is very rare that there are attacks and when they do occur it is because the platforms are obsolete (when they are not updated with the latest security patches). Overall, they are both secure platforms.
Site Management
The administration and management tools of the store are two key aspects that can make you decide on one or the other. While PrestaShop makes the configuration and administration options of the store very intuitive and simple, the variety of options that Magento offers is superior. However, both platforms have a simple interface, which allows easy configuration and management of online stores. The learning curve of Magento is higher than that of PrestaShop, so the latter is recommended.
Tech Support
One of the reasons why Magento is perhaps still the most popular CMS on the market is because it has more advanced SEO marketing features than PrestaShop. Regarding tech support, Magento also has an advantage, since it has a very large community of developers, capable of always providing the information and answers that users are looking for.
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Overview
Thanks to its ease of use and the availability of completely free modules that are configured, PrestaShop is the ideal option for small and medium sized companies that sell a limited number of products. However, Magento is also a good platform for large companies that require more advanced features, either to have full control over online store customization or because they can afford to pay a team of developers.
Already using Magento and convinced by PrestaShop?
PrestaShop is a great option for all businesses because it combines digital growth with business intelligence. If you want to start an ecommerce store with Prestashop, feel free to talk with us. Our team can develop the perfect store for your business which will include all the necessary features to ensure your success:
- Graphic Themes: We will develop the design that best reflects your brand and fits in your industry.
- Mobile Responsive: PrestaShop stores display beautifully across all screens and devices.
- Payments: Choose from over 50 world-class payment solutions and gateways.
- Shipping: Give your customers reliable, local shipping options around the world.
- Shop Creators: Let us create your store as you have imagined, without any limit. Everything is customizable!
- Go International: Grow your business with a store that is localized for multiple markets.
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