Magento vs. WordPress -Which is Best for an Online Store?

• Magento Overview

• WordPress Overview

• Magento vs. WordPress Comparison for Ecommerce

• Magento vs. WordPress -Which Is Best for an Ecommerce Store?

Magento Overview

Magento is an enterprise level ecommerce platform. It is specifically designed to build an online store and offers many native ecommerce features.

The Magento platform was released in 2008 and is now adopted by Adobe Inc. The ecommerce software offers an extensive catalog of features. You get third-party extensions to enhance store functions.

It lets you create highly customized ecommerce websites. You can add unique shopping experiences across various selling channels.

Magento has been the leader in the ecommerce industry for over a decade. As a seller, you get the best functionality and support for your store.

Some essential points on Magento ecommerce:

• It is an open-source platform.
• Build on PHP and the Zend framework.
• Offer a wide range of built-in ecommerce features
• Highly scalable for business growth
• Order managing
• Integrated payment gateways
• Multi language & multi currency support
• Business Intelligence

You also get next generation ecommerce technology with:

• Headless Commerce
• Omnichannel selling
• Integrated Amazon Sales Channel
• Progressive Web Applications

Magento comes in two primary editions called the Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. We also have the Adobe Commerce Cloud designed for large-scale ecommerce businesses.

Magento is the ultimate platform for all ecommerce business sizes. It allows integrations for B2B and B2C ecommerce.

WordPress Overview

WordPress is a content management system (CMS). It is a popular blogging platform used by 43.2% of websites worldwide.

WordPress was released in 2003 as a blog publishing system. You can use it to create and publish web pages that focus on content.

WordPress is not an ecommerce platform, so you cannot build professional online stores with the platform. It does not offer built-in ecommerce features by default.

However, it allows plugins to integrate some ecommerce functions. The plugins have built-in tools to sell products on your WordPress website.

Some essential points on the WordPress CMS platform:

• It is an open-source CMS platform
• Build on PHP and uses a MySQL database
• Does not have core features for ecommerce
• Allows plugins for ecommerce like WooCommerce
• The backend does not require heavy development
• Hard to customize ecommerce plugins on WordPress

WordPress is not intended to sell products online. The software works primarily for content creation.

If you want to sell products on your WordPress site, adding ecommerce plugins is helpful.

Top three ecommerce plugins for WordPress:

• WooCommerce:

A popular open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress. It offers themes and extensions to set up an ecommerce store on your WordPress website.

• WP Shopify:

WP Shopify allows you to sell your Shopify products on the WordPress site. It lets you sync your Shopify store data as a WordPress post.

You get a Shopify Buy button on the front end to create a shopping cart experience. It means that customers can buy your products from the WordPress site.

• BigCommerce:

BigCommerce is an independent commerce platform where you can sell products online.

You can use BigCommerce as a plugin for a WordPress website. The WordPress site acts as the front-end for selling products. You get native ecommerce features from BigCommerce on the backend.

Magento vs. WordPress Comparison for Ecommerce

1. Dedicated Ecommerce

Magento is a dedicated ecommerce platform with built-in functions for an online store. You can create and run multiple storefronts using the platform.

You can sell hundreds of thousands of products using Magento. The core functionality of the software is to build unique ecommerce websites.

WordPress is suitable for blogging, not ecommerce. It is not a dedicated platform for online selling. WordPress can integrate ecommerce plugins to sell online. However, you can’t create a professional ecommerce website.

You will get simple purchase functions with the plugins on WordPress. It includes a shop button, payment options, and order tracking.

You cannot build an advanced ecommerce website that can handle a large inventory. For that, opt for a dedicated ecommerce platform such as Magento or Shopify.

2. Ecommerce Features

Magento is packed with out-of-the-box features for ecommerce. You get an extensive list of Magento features to build a fully functioning online store.

Some of the primary Magento features include:

• Inventory & Order Managing
• Ecommerce Site Builder
• Catalog Managing
• Marketing and Promotions
• B2B Functions
• Headless Commerce
• Progressive Web Applications
• Payments & Financing
• Reporting & Business Intelligence

WordPress does not have any out-of-the-box features for ecommerce. You have to use the WooCommerce plugin features or any other option.

That’s how you can add a few ecommerce features to your WordPress site. You don’t get advanced features when selling online with WordPress + WooCommerce.

3. Design

Magento offers thousands of free & paid design themes for your ecommerce website. You can choose a theme based on your niche and branding.

Magento allows you to modify the themes to fit your brand & aesthetics. You can get the themes from the official Magento marketplace.

There are third-party sites like ThemeForest that offer unique & custom Magento themes and templates.

WordPress offers thousands of themes for content and blogging. You get a wide range of WP ecommerce themes to create an online store.

The WordPress themes have to fit well with a plugin like WooCommerce. The integration should also allow some customizing to fit your brand.

4. Ease of Use

Magento is an easy platform to use once you know the system. It offers a clean dashboard and easy navigation to perform daily admin tasks.

You do have to meet Magento system requirements to host your website. Magento web development requires advanced coding skills.

WordPress is much easier to learn, and you can figure out the system quickly. It is built for non-tech savvy users with no coding requirements.

You get a user-friendly dashboard for publishing blogs. It does not have any ecommerce operations on the dashboard. You have to learn how the ecommerce plugin works on WordPress.

The ecommerce tasks have to be handled by the WooCommerce backend.

You may also face limits to customizing the WordPress site. Even with plugins, you cannot display a large number of products.

The ecommerce functions are limited on a WordPress site integrated with WooCommerce.

You will require many WordPress plugins to do simple ecommerce tasks on WordPress. It is tedious & not optimized to sell products online.

5. Security

Magento has a more robust ecommerce security than WordPress. The platform offers the latest security updates. The security features are specific to e-commerce attacks.

You get Magento PCI compliance to help protect cardholder data. Magento also offers the latest security features for combating ecommerce threats.

It includes firewalls, 2FA, and regular security patches. You can use advanced password protection on admin accounts.

Magento offers a security scan tool to monitor your site for malware. There are software releases for security to protect your store.

WordPress only offers basic security features that are not focused on ecommerce. The plugins and ecommerce extensions add more security threats.

Processing sensitive cardholder data is riskier on WordPress. Your site is more vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. It can lead to hefty fines and damage to your site due to server failures.

6. SEO

Magento offers native SEO functions to optimize your store ranking. The top SEO features include:

• Product descriptions
• Metadata
• Page URLs
• Product & categories URLs
• Sitemaps
• Image optimization
• Internal links & redirects
• Site navigation

Magento lets you optimize site speed, which boosts SEO & conversation rates. You can opt for a reliable Magento hosting provider for fast page loading time.

You can optimize product details and images with keyword-rich content. It lets you add blogs and smooth checkout funnels optimized for SEO.

WordPress allows SEO plugins for the website. You can use Yoast SEO, WP Rocket to optimize your website. It is hard to manage product descriptions specific to an online store.

7. Marketing and Content Management

Magento offers CMS capabilities that are specific to ecommerce. You get a page builder with drag and drop functions. It allows you to create unique pages to turn site visitors into buyers.

You also get a built-in CMS to create & edit pages based on your requirements. It provides AI powered A/B testing of content. Use it to build highly personalized & targeted content for customers.

Some of the primary ecommerce CMS features include:

• Schedule & preview content updates
• Add relevant product recommendations
• Template editor
• Cross channel content
• Tailor the content with customer segmentation
• AI and machine learning to optimize content
• Content marketing tools

WordPress is a CMS platform with tools to create highly optimized content. However, the tools are not focused on ecommerce. You can only build content that works for publishing blogs.

There are no native CMS tools that work for ecommerce. You have to use plugins like WP Shopify or WooCommerce to optimize product content. Even then, you cannot manage large amounts of product or category content. WordPress has many limitations to ecommerce content management.

8. Site Development

Magento development requires high technical skills. Check out the Magento Solution partners, where you get certified Magento developers.

Magento programming is complex to learn. You cannot build a website without technical knowledge.

With a suitable Magento agency, you can customize the store to fit business demands. Learn how to find the best Magento Agency here.

WordPress site development is much easier in comparison to Magento. You can use widgets & plugins to customize the posts and themes.

However, the ecommerce plugin is challenging to develop for WordPress. It has limited options for developing ecommerce features. You can only build a basic store.

Plugins like WooCommerce or WP Shopify are used to develop your site. You have to find the suitable developers for the specific ecommerce plugin.

9. Flexibility & Customizing

Magento is open-source and offers a lot more flexibility to customize. The Magento community has hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide.

The platform allows developers to create highly unique & personalized websites. You can build different selling channels that suit your target audience.

The Magento system can handle high levels of customizing. You have to ensure that you optimize site speed while making site changes.

WordPress and Ecommerce plugin flexibility is limited when compared to Magento. It does not allow high flexibility to customize a store. You only have the features provided by the ecommerce plugin.

10. Plugins & Extensions

Magento has thousands of plugins to enhance store functionality. You can find them on the Magento Marketplace or sites like Amasty.

The best Magento plugins will automate store managing tasks. You can reduce accounts & order management. It also allows better site visibility with SEO extensions.

WordPress also comes with a wide range of plugins. Although, ecommerce specific plugins have to be taken into account.

For small ecommerce tasks, you will require plugins. Every added plugin can create risks of cyber attacks in WordPress.

The plugins may not be compatible to integrate with the WordPress system. It makes it much harder to enhance the website’s functionality.

11. Pricing

Magento platform comes in three pricing plans:

• Magento Open Source:

It is the free edition of Magento and the most popular one. The majority of sellers use it, and it suits all business sizes.

• Adobe Commerce:

It is designed for large-scale ecommerce enterprises. The starting price is $22,000/year.

• Adobe Commerce Cloud:

It is designed for large-scale ecommerce enterprises that require built-in cloud hosting. The starting cost is $44,000/year.

You also have to pay for Magento development and hosting costs. Magento is a complete ecommerce solution to build a professional online store.

WordPress has an edition that is free to download and use. The paid plans include personal, premium, business & ecommerce. If you are focused on ecommerce, you can go for the ecommerce plan.

The ecommerce plugins such as WP Shopify & WooCommerce have specific costs.

You also have to include the costs for:

• WordPress hosting
• Ecommerce security
• Developers hourly fees
• Themes and extensions

Magento vs. WordPress -Which Is Best for an Ecommerce Store?

Magento is the ideal option to build an ecommerce website. It has all the features required to create exceptional shopping experiences for customers.

The core functionality of WordPress is content management. Even with plugins, it is not optimized for ecommerce. You may have to add many external tools to get a basic ecommerce experience.

The choice about which ecommerce system you should take depends on your specific business requirements. Magento is suitable for merchants with a growing business. The platform allows internal support & global scaling.

WordPress is helpful if you want to focus on content. It lets you add small products and start as a beginner to the ecommerce market.

However, WordPress is best to create content driven websites. For a professional ecommerce store, Magento is recommended.

If you require a CMS and an ecommerce system, we recommend combining Magento and WordPress. Both are strong software solutions for their specific use.

To learn more about Magento, check out the MGT-Commerce blog. For more ecommerce comparions, checkout Shopware vs Magento.