Magento vs. Shopify - We compare both store systems

The e-commerce market in Germany generated sales of around 79.7 billion euros in 2023. According to an HDE forecast, turnover will increase even further in 2024 and reach around 86.7 billion euros. Fittingly, according to a survey by the British market and opinion research institute YouGov, around 91% of respondents in Germany alone store in an online store at least once a year.

Store software comparison: which store system suits your project

The right shop system is a cornerstone for your success

These figures speak for themselves. Online stores are a real success factor in business. In any case, if they are suitably structured, sustainably built up and permanently maintained. Because the competition in this online business sector is eminently high. Everyday competition is omnipresent in every sector. If you want to hold your own on the market with your online store, you have to make the right decisions. The store system is of particular importance in this respect.

Shopify Agency Latori GmbH - Your specialists for store systems and online stores

Online stores for solutions are now available on the market by the dozen. As an online store owner, you are spoiled for choice. If you make the wrong choice, this can have fatal consequences: you will not be successful. As a specialist for store systems and online stores, we at Shopify Agentur Latori GmbH know exactly what is important in a store system. In addition to a target group-specific appearance and an individual character, the focus is always on the cost-benefit factor. However, the decisive factor for the choice of a store system is always your goals and the associated requirements for your online store. In this regard, there are plenty of questions that you need to ask yourself as a store owner.

Typical examples of questions of this type are, for example:

• How extensive and complex is the range of goods offered online?

• How many variations do you offer within a product range?

• What are the requirements for the technical connection?

• Do you sell only in Germany, in the entire German-speaking area or worldwide?

• Which payment options can be offered to customers?

Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs. Shopify - the crucial question

Two of the most popular and widely used e-commerce platforms are undoubtedly Magento and Shopify. As an open source solution, Magento was far ahead in favor for quite a long time. However, for some time now, more and more online owners have been opting for Shopify. Even though the two systems differ massively in many ways, it is still not easy as a rule to make a clear decision for or against one of the shop systems. The problem with this is that once you've made the wrong decision, it's not only marked by frustration and a lack of success, but also usually involves financial losses and a considerable amount of time.

Our goal: we offer you a multi-value decision-making aid

As your competent partner when it comes to online stores, we will introduce you to the character, structure and possibilities of the two store systems Magento and Shopify below. This - of course objective - comparison reveals the respective advantages and disadvantages, introduces you to the individual options and highlights the most important distinguishing features. Our aim is to offer you a real decision-making aid as to whether Adobe Commerce (Magento) or Shopify is the right e-commerce platform for your online business.

Brief portrait: Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Open source solution with a large community

The Magento shop system is designed as an open source platform for the e-commerce sector. The platform has more than 200 solution partners and more than 250,000 brands and merchants. Magento also works closely with a large number of industry partners. These develop extensions and applications for the Magento platform. Magento is used in both B2B and B2C environments. The focus is on medium-sized users with a sustainable online strategy. Since the introduction of Magento 2, however, Magento has also established itself in the enterprise segment as one of the leading shop solutions. Accordingly, Magento's software base is flexible and functionally balanced. For supplementary or additional functions, around 6,000 features and modules are available in the Magento Connect module marketplace. As a Magento user, however, you must have programming skills. In addition, you are responsible for the hosting yourself.

Brief portrait: Shopify

Extensive technical skills or prior knowledge are not required at any time

In contrast to the open source solution Magento, Shopify is an externally hosted application service provider (ASP). Shopify is structured as an all-in-one solution that includes all the necessary features, from web hosting and front-end design to handling payment processes. With the help of automated processes, your online store can be launched via the system. The functionally oriented and comparatively easy to control shop system offers attractive features and tools around analyses, reports, SEO assistants or even marketing instruments, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. With tools such as Facebook Ads, social media integration and Google Ads, you receive valuable support both in the care of existing customers and in the acquisition of new customers. The basic management of your online store via Shopify does not require extensive technical skills or prior knowledge at any time.

Shopify vs. Magento - These are the differences

The two store systems are similar in some ways, but they also have some key differences, which we'll explain in more detail below. Weigh the differences and features to decide which store solution is right for you.

Important properties and features

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Adobe Commerce focuses on the product.

• Magento is designed as an open source solution.

• You can choose between the free community version and the paid version.

• A modular software technology is used

• Layout and functionality are strictly separated from each other.

• A large, worldwide community provides optimal support.

• The main focus of Magento is on the product or on different types of products.

• Magento already offers many functions and features in the free community version.

• Intuitive operation is standard.

• The program structure is SEO-friendly.

Shopify

Functionality, operation and support convince all along the line

• Shopify is an e-commerce website builder with comprehensive functionality.

• A large app store can be used to extend the functionality of your online store.

• The store system is extremely easy and fast to use and control.

• Guaranteed support around the clock.

• Excellent for small and medium-sized businesses.

• No programming knowledge is required.

• You can choose between different cost models.

Costs and tariffs

Both store systems offer different plans:

The operating costs for 5 years for a Magento store (Adobe Commerce) are significantly higher compared to Shopify Plus. Here you have to reckon with about 700,000 euros over the entire period. In comparison: With Shopify Plus, under 400,000 euros are realistic.

Setup and support

Magento

Installation is easy to realize. In terms of Magento setup and configuration, you need to distinguish between Magento 1 and Magento 2 versions. In the following, we present the standard installation for Magento 1. In the end, the shop system Magento 1 should then be installed without sample data in a folder or directory with the name Magento. The installation can be divided into a total of four stages.

1. Download Magento.

2. Set file permissions for the setup wizard.

3. Create an individual or your personal database.

4. Run the setup wizard.

Once the installation is complete, you can immediately switch to the front-end or back-end. If you use Magento 2 instead, you can use two different installation methods. You can either use a web-based installation wizard or use a command line tool.

The actual setup of Magento 1 or Magento 2 takes a lot of time. Magento is without question an extremely solid e-commerce platform with powerful features and capabilities. However, it should be noted that Adobe Commerce (Magento) is not necessarily suitable for beginners and amateurs. For users with little to no experience in technology and programming, the store system poses a serious challenge. It is not for nothing that Magento itself recommends that smaller companies and newcomers in particular should leave the setup of Magento to professional partner agencies. While the daily workflows can be more easily understood and executed during operation, the actual setup and individual customization processes are comparatively complicated and time-consuming.

Without experience and the appropriate knowledge in web development, it will be very difficult to create or implement an online store. If you want to do the setup and customization yourself, you will definitely have to delve deep into the matter around the source code and programming. This costs time and in most cases also nerves. By the way: You don't necessarily have to use Magento exclusively for a store. Rather, you can also use Magento to control several stores simultaneously with one backend. This variant is then called Magento Multistore.

The support of Magento leaves wishes unfulfilled. As with the majority of well-known open source solutions, Magento's support and customer service is virtually non-existent. Only enterprise clients can enjoy 24/7 phone support and a so-called webticket support. Otherwise, you will have to be satisfied with the information and resources that you can find on Magento's website. You can also get support from the active user community in the relevant forums. Alternatively, you also have the option of attending a Magento training course. Some of these courses are even free; however, courses with expert status cost up to $3,500.

Shopify

In just a few minutes, you can set up your online store via Shopify. For the uncomplicated registration you only need a store name, a valid email address and a password. The first orders can then already be accepted as soon as you have accepted the tariff you want and at least one payment method is activated by you. The extent to which the respective setup steps actually work properly in practice is shown to you in detail by means of error and success messages. A special button (view store) allows you to take another look at your store at any time before it is published.

High service quality and consulting competence. The Shopify shop system also provides user-friendly features for a move from another platform. The in-house app Cart2Cart, which is listed in the Shopify App Store, makes such a move extremely easy. In addition, you can access a CSV table for exporting your product data. Whether you're setting up a new site or moving from another platform, you can always get expert help from Shopify gurus as part of our comprehensive customer service. You can reach the support team by phone, e-mail or live chat. In addition to this special assistant, a help center with relevant information material, 24/7 customer service, free webinars, and various video tutorials are also available. Additional and, above all, up-to-date information is available via an e-mail newsletter.

Operation and control

The two store systems also differ in terms of operation and control:

Themes und Templates

Magento and Shopify also differ when it comes to themes and ready-made templates. These are the most important features of the themes and templates at a glance:

Hosting

Magento

Magento proves to be immensely flexible and can be used free of charge as an open source variant, but you have to take care of the hosting yourself. In addition to the resulting costs, you have to pay particular attention to the fulfillment of certain requirements. For updates and extensions of Magento alone, a server sometimes requires up to almost two gigabytes of RAM. The requirements with regard to the PHP memory limit are also eminently high. The selection of a suitable hoster is therefore an essential building block for successful work with Magento.

Shopify

Hosting is always included directly in your Shopify subscription and is provided via a subdomain (here: myshopify). In this regard, you basically have unlimited bandwidth at your disposal. You can buy a new domain as well as use an address already included in your portfolio. The hosting itself focuses on forwarding email addresses; Shopify does not offer real email hosting. Anyone who knows a bit about the matter that hosting always primarily depends on the constant availability of the respective website, fast loading times and, last but not least, a functioning data backup. Shopify ensures this by using an integrated content delivery network. However, you have to do without an uptime guarantee in this context.

Security

Magento

One very important fact regarding comprehensive security first of all: Magento does not support self-signed security certificates. However, in order to use HTTPS, you definitely need an SSL certificate. This is supported in both the front-end and the back-end. Even in the standard version, Magento offers the option of an SSL-only strategy here, in which an encrypted connection between the Magento application and the end user's browser ensures secure communication. The SSL successor protocol TLS (Transport Layer Security) is also supported here. Basically, Magento supports SSL-only strategies with corresponding HTTPS connections based on modern TLS connections.

When it comes to data encryption, Magento consistently relies on the absolutely secure hash standard SHA-256 and on AES-256. The latter standard is generally still considered unbreakable today. The PCI-DSS standard ensures secure payment processing. To support you as a user in complying with this particular standard, the so-called Magento Secure Payment Bridge is integrated into Magento. This special application contributes to secure payment processing. However, you can only implement the Magento Secure Payment Bridge with the help of the Enterprise Edition. The application basically functions separately from the actual e-commerce platform. This allows you to make changes to the functions of the core platform without affecting compliance with the standard.

The Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) is also important in this context, as it relates directly to Magento. This standard is the basic prerequisite for being allowed to manage payment-relevant data from customers at all. The following aspects are relevant here:

• Compliance with the PCI-SAQ questionnaire (stands for Payment Card Industry - Self-Assessment Questionnaire), which addresses security best practices.

• Credit card data or other payment-related customer data must never be transmitted or stored unencrypted under any circumstances.

• Unauthorized parties must never see unencrypted payment-related customer data in an unencrypted state.

• Despite encryption, payment-related customer data is subject to further tough security rules.

Integrated patch management also plays an important role in security. The regular application of patches helps to close security gaps. In the recent past, patches prevented admin accounts from being hijacked, log files from being read and, for example, cross-site scripting attacks (XSS) from being carried out. The latest patches are available for download on the official Magento download site. Regular updating can easily be extended to the extensions as well. To keep track of all possible patches or updates here, you can use the Magento Forum about updates; here you will find all relevant information in this regard. A useful option with regard to security is also the possibility to assign roles and rights specifically. This way, the respective admin rights can also be assigned exactly where they are required.

Shopify

When it comes to security, Shopify relies on extensive measures and offers several advantages compared to other systems. For example, your online store is always automatically PCI-certified. In addition, Shopify provides you with a free SSL certificate. This enables you to provide both your sensitive data and buyers' sensitive information with the highest level of protection and security. Overall, Shopify provides you with the following security measures:

1. Securing payment and customer data with a 256-bit SSL certificate. This security standard is usually also used by banks. But you don't have to buy the certificate yourself. It is already fully included in the Shopify fee. The "HTTPS" in the online store address confirms the presence of an SSL certificate.

2. In order to identify any security gaps and deficiencies in the system and close them as quickly as possible, Shopify uses the platform and the company Hacker One as a community. In well over 1,000 customer programs, a total of around 72,000 vulnerabilities could be fixed through the initiative of Hacker One (as of July 2018).

3. Shopify creates daily backups on its in-house, well-secured servers. This ensures that your store data and sensitive information is ever lost.

4. The system itself and all Shopify stores involved comply with the important Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. This is a special set of rules for payment transactions, with the focus here on the processing and security of credit card transactions. This set of rules is fully supported by all established credit card organizations. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards contain the essential requirements that define a network as PCI-compliant. For example, Shopify has these functions and tasks as part of the PCI-DSS standard:

   • the creation and management of a secure network.

   • the explicit securing of payment data.

   • the use of proven effective anti-virus programs.

   • continuous monitoring and constant execution of functionality tests with regard to the entire network.

   • the definition of and compliance with strict data and information security requirements.

5. The issues surrounding the transfer of personal data from countries in the European Union to the USA now play a major role. Shopify consistently follows the latest industry standards here and also prepares carefully and on time for corresponding adjustments. Example GDPR rules: this set of rules, which came into force in May 2018, was incorporated into Shopify's services posthaste and transparently.

SEO Optimization and Online Marketing

Magento

Equipped with a good SEO functionality out of the box. A good position on Google and Co. are essential for success on the web, especially for online stores. The store solution Magento offers you a cleanly structured technological basis in this regard, in which all essential components and the most important parameters with regard to onpage optimization are automatically taken into account from the outset. For example, Magento provides directly by default, maintainable metatags, speaking URLs, automatic rewrites individual page titles as well as an integrated XML and HTML sitemap. Furthermore, Magento supports the integration of Google Analytics as an effective tracking tool. In addition, the system already has good SEO functionality from the basic concept. The crucial means for an effective search engine optimization can be found in the template settings as well as in the basic configurations. Moreover, you can increase the SEO performance with additional measures respectively modules and measures.

Magento also offers its users valuable tools and functions in the online marketing area. For example, the "Featured Categories" extension displays certain items as sample products in a selected subcategory. In addition, extensions are optionally available, which ensure that Magento is also well prepared for future developments in e-commerce. The connection to Facebook via the "Facebook Connect Social Shopping" function is also possible at any time. Modules such as "PSMext", on the other hand, ensure reliable connections to price search engines.

Important Magento features in the area of online marketing

• Vouchers: you can create flexible voucher codes and use them for targeted offline sending.

• Customer groups: group and promote your customers by demographic values and location.

• Targeted display of recently compared and viewed items: this will show your online store visitors that other users are also shopping with you.

• Display of related products, cross-sells and up-sells: this provides inspiration for more purchases.

• Send wish lists via email: this allows your customers to share the items they want with other users.

• Permanent shopping cart: when customers leave your online store, the shopping cart is automatically saved.

Shopify

In the digital world, both efficient and effective online marketing must be an indispensable part of the business concept. After all, every online store is always dependent on potential customers noticing and finding its own store in the first place. First and foremost, search engine optimization (SEO) is an elementarily important marketing measure. Shopify provides online store owners and website operators with an easy-to-implement SEO optimization. This optimization includes the areas of online store, categories and products. You can adjust the URL, title tag, alt tag and meta description. As part of this SEO procedure, Shopify automatically creates an XML sitemap. This makes your online store or your products and services better indexed by search engines. It is also possible to optimize a possibly integrated blog accordingly for search engines. After all, high-quality SEO optimization also ensures indirect customer acquisition for the blog.

Shopify also focuses on social media. For example, Shopify allows you to implement or create a social media network with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Google easily and at any time. Using the "buyable pins" function or the Facebook Shop, visitors from Pinterest are redirected directly to your online store to purchase the respective products. Depending on the chosen tariff, you as an online store operator have the option to send gift cards and discount codes to customers as well.

These are the most important links of Shopify at a glance:

1. Shopify and social media platforms
   The focus here is primarily on the two interfaces Facebook and Pinterest. Shopify uses the comparatively new "buyable pins". These enable you to buy desired products via Pinterest as well. The pins lead visitors directly to your online store. If you want, you can also synchronize Shopify with the Facebook store.

2. Shopify and Amazon
   Shopify has also created an interface with Amazon. This makes it easy to connect your online store with Amazon. Adding such a widely used and popular sales channel to your store usually gives you increased visibility for your products and services. The administration of the interface or the new sales channel is designed to be extremely simple. All you need to do is enter all the important data about your products into Shopify. You can then easily synchronize this with your Amazon account and transfer it to the products listed there. This saves a lot of time. Otherwise, you would have to manually copy the respective data there or even laboriously type it in on Amazon. More features of Shopify in conjunction with Amazon:

   • synchronization of your inventory across all sales channels involved. This means that you always receive the correct remaining quantity on Amazon as well as on other sales platforms used.

   • detailed reporting by Shopify about your revenue and the most profitable sales portals in your portfolio. Thanks to this information, a precise analysis of success is possible.

   • You can create product listings on Amazon directly from the Shopify user interface.

   • items already existing on Amazon can be listed under the seller's name with just a few clicks.

   • via the Shopify interface you can directly manage your Amazon orders and shipments.

   • product photos or defined variants of a product that exist in Shopify can also be synchronized with Amazon without any problems.

   • You can also use Shopify to set exclusive reserve inventory and special pricing that will be exclusive to this commerce platform.

3. Shopify and your own website
   You can use Shopify to connect your online store to any blog or website via a sales button that you set up. Through this button, the visitors of the blog or website can then buy the products directly from you. At a glance: the features and benefits of Shopify

   • numerous options for easy SEO optimization

   • more SEO applications are available in the Shopify store.

   • social media buttons are supported.

   • a wide variety of promotional options (gift cards, discount codes, etc.) can be used.

   • Discount codes can be set up in different variations.

   • with the Shopify Buy Button, you can turn external blogs or websites into a new sales channel.

   • you can also design your own apps and use them as a sales channel.

Conclusion of the comparison between Magento and Shopify

Magento undoubtedly convinces with its flexibility and versatility. However, the price of the paid Enterprise Edition is comparatively very high. With the open source version, you also get a solid and reliable product with many extensions, themes and individual customization options. But to really use the store system effectively according to your own ideas, you need programming knowledge. For this reason, it is always advisable to entrust a professional agency with the setup.

Shopify, on the other hand, not only offers you an easy and quick start, but also convinces with user-friendly options. This is because you can make individual changes or incorporate data with this "all-in-one" e-commerce solution entirely without programming knowledge. That's why Shopify is also a good solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

Which store system you ultimately choose depends not least on your capacities, resources and individual requirements.