Magento is a great option if you are just starting your ecommerce website. Magento is a popular platform for building ecommerce websites. It has over 260,000 merchants and offers a wide range of customizable features.
Open-source software is not a closed source product. Its true potential lies in the knowledge of its users. Don’t let that sound like a problem.
There are many alternatives to Magento that may be the best fit for your needs. We’ve compiled a list of the top Magento alternatives to help you avoid having to go through all the options.
Let’s get started!
Shopify
Shopify is the most well-known eCommerce platform on the market. As such, we included it in our top Magento alternatives. Shopify powers more than 1,000,000 businesses around the world and offers a wide range of features that allow for managing and running online stores.
The platform allows you to create an ecommerce website right from scratch, and manage sales and product inventories. Shopify offers over 70 themes that can be customized to make branding easy for your online storefront. Shopify comes with a complete blogging platform, access to your site’s HTML/CSS and a code editor so you can modify your store as often as you wish.
Shopify is also known for being extremely scalable. This means that any business size can benefit from the solution. Shopify also offers the option to purchase a domain if you don’t yet have one.
Shopify also has a strong network of developers and merchants, which means that there are many resources available to help newcomers get off the ground.
Shopify offers everything, including a complete blogging platform, HTML and CSS editing, mobile optimized themes and SSL certification. There are also 100 payment gateways. Support for multiple languages, automatic tax calculation and email marketing are all possible. You can also drop ship, sell on Facebook, and optimize your SEO. Analytics and reports make it easy to sell.
Features
Full blogging platform
Edit the source HTML or CSS
Mobile-optimized themes are available for eCommerce
You can choose from over 70 themes
Get a free SSL Certificate
A forgotten checkout recovery tool
100 payment gateways
Shipping can be free
Shopify supports multiple languages
Flexible shipping rates are possible
Automated tax calculation
Customers groups, profiles and accounts
Email templates for email marketing
Dropshipping integrations
Facebook Selling
Discounting and gift cards
Credit for Adwords
SEO optimization tools
Inventory management
You can list unlimited products, including digital ones, and you can sell multiple variations of them.
Shopify is a fully-hosted platform
An analytics dashboard that allows you to create and export product reports
24/7 Support via email, chat and phone
Pricing
Shopify offers three pricing levels. Although there is no free plan, Shopify offers a 90-day trial period. This is the longest of all the Magento alternatives. You don’t even need a credit card. This trial is worth a try if you are unsure.
Basic Shopify is $29 per month – This includes all the essentials you need to start a new business.
Shopify is $79 per month – Get all the tools and support you need to grow your company with Shopify. You can create and accept gift certificates and get professional reports.
Advanced Shopify: $299 per month – This grants you access advanced features to scale your business. Third-party shipping rates can be calculated and advanced report builders are available.
Shopify Payments charges a transaction fee for online and in-person credit card transactions. However, these fees are reduced with Shopify’s more expensive plans. They start at 2.9% + 30c for each sale. All other payment providers, except Shopify Payments, will be charged an additional 2%.
Pros
Support available 24/7
A generous trial period
You can access thousands of apps that will enhance your site’s functionality
Analytics and SEO built-in
It is easy to use
Shopify is easily scaleable as your business grows
A wide range of features
Cons
There is no free plan
Transaction fees are added to your subscription cost.
Some add-ons or plugins have a price tag
Shopify themes that are easier to customize than others are some of the most popular.
Who is it best for?
Shopify is a popular solution for online selling. Shopify is ideal for companies looking to scale and need advanced tools. You can easily upgrade your site using the built-in tools. However, you can also integrate plugins and extensions from third parties.
Wix eCommerce
Some Magento alternatives can be used as standalone solutions. Wix, a fully-hosted website builder, also offers an amazing package for eCommerce store owners. Wix is an easy-to-use and intuitive e-commerce storebuilder.
Wix is one the most popular ecommerce tools on the market. Wix is a website builder that makes it easy to create the perfect website. Wix ADI offers professional assistance in building the perfect website. It uses artificial intelligence to guide you.
There are more than 500 templates available to choose from. You’re sure to find the right theme for you. Dropshipping integrations are available, along with secure payment options, shipping rules and multichannel selling possibilities. You can also get shipping and tax estimates to make it easier to manage your store.
Features
You can choose from over 500 templates for online stores.
Wix themes offer customizable design that you can modify using the drag-and-drop editor
Dropshipping Integrations available
Secure payment solutions
Wix supports multichannel sales
Shipping rules can be set
Wix offers shipping and tax estimates
Pricing
Wix’s eCommerce features can be unlocked with their Unlimited plan.
Unlimited Storage: $14 per Month, 10 GB
eCommerce: $17 per month, 20GB storage
VIP: $25 per month, 20GB storage
Pros
It’s simple to create a digital shop and sell online with a Wix website.
Its interface is extremely intuitive
Wix offers very affordable plans
There are many customization and template options.
Cons
Wix has limited scalability. Wix does not offer the features necessary to grow your online store into a large enterprise.
Wix’s blog, for instance, has very basic content management capabilities.
Wix has a smaller number of features than other Magento alternatives such as BigCommerce and Shopify.
Who is it best for?
The Wix store builder is a great choice if you are new to selling online. It’s easy to use and provides plenty of support. This solution will make it easy to set up your website quickly and create a beautiful store.
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is an ecommerce platform specifically designed for large-volume enterprise brands. This SaaS version is more advanced and can handle up to 8,000 orders per minute. It also allows for management of up 10 stores. A dedicated success manager will be assigned to you!
To make the most of Shopify Plus, it is important to be familiar with Shopify’s Liquid language.
Merchants with sales below $800,000.00 per month will pay $2,000 monthly licensing fees
Shopify Plus is unlikely to be a good choice if you are looking for an easy-to use and beginner-friendly Magento alternative.
Shopify Plus is the best choice for businesses looking to improve their online presence. This service is designed for large companies that have a lot of online sales. This tool can be expensive so you may not be able to make the most of it.
Square Online
Square Online is the best place to begin if you are already familiar with selling offline but feel it’s time for an upgrade to an online strategy. Square Online is best suited for people who want to create a great digital presence for their brick and mortar store. It connects with the existing inventory management system in your offline store.
Square offers a lot of additional tools, such as bookings for restaurants or other solutions for specific verticals. It is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to go online. You don’t have to pay anything for your first store. And you can always add more functionality as you need it. Square comes with access the backend, which allows you to manage multiple products and employees.
You have many plugin options to take your online store to the next step. Square can be a bit confusing if you aren’t familiar with Square. You might find the back-end more difficult than other alternatives. Also, you need to keep in mind that there will be a transaction charge.
Pricing
If you are already using Square to process and manage offline payments, the Square online sales solution is most useful. It is possible to instantly sync inventory between the two environments and keep track in one place. If you have an existing Square account, the Square online store can also be used for free. You will be charged a 2.5% transaction fee. This can quickly add up. You can also add functionality to your store, which will increase the cost.
Pros
Square users already using Square will find it convenient
For beginners, it is free to use until you require an upgrade
Square is easy to use, if you’re familiar with it.
AI functionality included
Combining inventories online with offline
Many business management tools available
Cons
Only available for Square customers
There are not many customization options
Who is it best for?
Square Online is a great option if you already use Square to manage your offline payments. It allows you to sync both your offline and online inventory, and keeps track of your business across multiple locations. This is a great solution for anyone looking to add specialty features to their solution, such as booking restaurants.
Ecwid
Ecwid is an established tool for selling eCommerce products. It’s easy and quick to get online with this simple solution. Ecwid is a better alternative to building a website from scratch. It plugs into your existing CMS. This service is for you if you have a website that you are happy with and want to make it more functional so you can sell your products.
Ecwid is flexible and easy to use. You get basic ecommerce functionality free of charge. The discounted prices are a great value for your business as it grows. You can also use a variety of plugins and integrations to complement Ecwid, especially on WordPress.
Higher-priced Ecwid products include mobile point of sales functionality, social media selling and advertising on Google, Facebook and Snapchat. Mailchimp allows you to link your email marketing strategy with Ecwid.
Pricing
Ecwid pricing starts with a free package. Basic functionality is available for free. There are also premium packages. Venture costs around $15 per month. If you pay annually, you can get it down to PS12.50. You can expect to pay more for the features and functionality that you require. The Business product costs PS35 per month, while the “Unlimited” product costs PS99 per month.
Pros
Plug easily into existing websites
Convenient backend with many customizations
Multi-channel selling options to increase profit
Available in many languages
There are no restrictions on the product options
App development and support for mobile apps
Cons
Best for smaller businesses
Limited Free Plan
Who is it best for?
Ecwid is a great way to sell products from your online store. This powerful product can help you save money on your sales strategy. It is also available in multiple languages and across different platforms.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an extremely scalable online storebuilder. It’s also well-known, like Shopify. BigCommerce offers more sales tools than its competitors, and it combines these features along with advanced SEO and multichannel integrations. This solution is ideal for those who want to grow large businesses.
The company’s mission is to enable growth. They were founded in 2009 and have since helped to facilitate over $25 billion in merchant sales across 120 countries.
This Magento alternative offers a variety of eCommerce templates, just like Shopify. This makes it easy to customize the look of your store. The company also offers bulk import and export capabilities, making it easy to re-platform your store from other eCommerce sites. Over 20,000 stores have been helped by their catalog transfer team to migrate their content from other platforms to BigCommerce.
BigCommerce allows you to access responsive and customisable ecommerce templates, super-fast web hosting and streamlined checkout experiences. There are even Google Shopping integrations. You can print or save shipping labels and access detailed reports. This allows you to sell across multiple channels without any unnecessary complexity.
Features
Access to responsive and customizable eCommerce templates
Web hosting that is secure and quick
Your subscription includes a shared SSL certificate
Google Shopping integrations and email marketing
One Touch checkout for an easy online purchase, with PayPal
Recovery tools for abandoned carts
Discount coupons and other tools
Reviewers can leave product reviews
Shipping can be free
Shipping labels can be printed and saved
Access to eCommerce analytics and detailed reports
Multichannel selling includes social media, in-person and online.
Pricing
BigCommerce offers three pricing levels. There’s also an enterprise option available for larger companies. To receive a personalized quote, however, you will need to contact BigCommerce.
You can also get a free 15-day trial. All plans include unlimited files, bandwidth, bandwidth, and staff accounts. There are no transaction fees and customer support is available via live chat 24/7.
These pricing plans for BigCommerce are:
Standard: $29.95 per month, Billed annually
Plus: $79.95 per month, billed annually – this is the best way to grow your business because it unlocks more marketing tools
Pro: $299.95 per month, Billed annually – BigCommerce’s most comprehensive plan is the best for scaling your business
Pros
BigCommerce is an extremely scalable eCommerce platform
You have access to a wide range of built-in features
Multichannel selling
Hosting is fast and secure
Marketing tools and SEO
You can get a free trial
There are no transaction fees
Support available 24/7
Cons
BigCommerce’s sophisticated features can sometimes compromise its ease-of-use
It is much shorter than other free trials.
There is no free plan
You can’t exceed a certain annual sales limit. If you reach the threshold, your subscription will be terminated.
Who is it best for?
BigCommerce is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a platform that’s highly customizable and has all the features needed for multi-channel sales. You don’t have to worry about transaction fees, so you can concentrate on keeping your costs low. You can also choose from a variety of marketing and SEO tools to help you grow.
BigCommerce Enterprise
The BigCommerce Enterprise package targets larger companies and corporations. It’s also custom priced. This package is for users who require high bandwidth and more complicated selling requirements.
This plan includes advanced product filtering, price list, unlimited API calls and BigCommerce account management and consulting. Priority support is also included. BigCommerce claims that the cost of this package is lower than Shopify Plus due to its complexity.
Who is it best for?
BigCommerce Enterprise provides all the functionality you would expect from the BigCommerce standard solution but with infinite scaling. BigCommerce Enterprise is the right choice for you if your business accepts a lot of payment on a regular basis. Bonus guidance is available to help you get the most out of your solution.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open source eCommerce tool for WordPress users. WooCommerce powers more than 30% of all online shops!
WooCommerce is an open-source alternative to Magento’s free program.
WooCommerce offers a wide range of tools to help you build your online store. There are no restrictions on the products you can sell, as well as variations and orders.
WooCommerce doesn’t have transaction fees and, as is the case with many open-source solutions it’s completely free to download. You should expect to pay hosting and for your domain name.
WooCommerce turns your WordPress website into an online sales platform for digital and physical products. It’s easy for you to access many extensions and customization options while still using WordPress CMS. A wide variety of themes, product filtering tools and unlimited images, products and galleries are all available. You can also use the built-in payment processing. Customers can create an account and manage their inventory from the backend.
Features
WordPress offers many content marketing features.
You can also sell digital and physical products, as well as subscriptions.
More than 400 extensions available
Any page can be embedded with products or checkouts
Unrestricted customization
You have a large selection of themes to choose from
Filtering and sorting products
Unlimited images, galleries, products
Built-in payment processing
There are many shipping options available, and you can choose flexible shipping rates.
Customers can choose to either create an account or checkout as a guest.
Inventory management tools
Email templates
Shop managers can be added
SEO optimization tools
Analytics and reporting
Pricing
WooCommerce is an open-source, free ecommerce platform. However, WooCommerce extensions can be purchased for between $0 and $299.
Pros
Its open-source nature allows for full customization
It is free to use
It is built on WordPress’s trusted platform
Access to many blogging and content management tools
There are no transaction charges
Add-ons can enhance the functionality of your store.
It is a flexible solution
Many plugins are free
Cons
Limited customer support
WooCommerce is a difficult learning curve for newbies.
This feature is only available to WordPress users
To get the best out of it, you will need some technical knowledge
Volusion
Volusion was established earlier than the Magento alternatives. Volusion was originally created as an online shopping cart software in the late 1990s. It now powers over 180,000 merchants through its all-in one solution.
Volusion is a website builder, marketing and SEO company, just like BigCommerce and Shopify.
Volusion is an excellent tool for online sales. Volusion offers a variety of customizable and responsive themes that will impress all audiences. It also includes product category pages and website structuring tools. You can search for keywords on your site and edit content without any code. If you are a developer, you can also use the CSS editor.
Volusion offers more than a custom domain, barcode generator and customer accounts. It also has a tax rate calculator and customer order management. Volusion also has secure site checkouts with SSL certification and SEO tools. You can get reports and access reports from your campaigns, as well as customer reviews.
Features
Responsive and customizable themes
Pages relating to product categories
Site search functionality
A custom domain
Content editor, no back-end programming knowledge necessary
Access to a CSS Editor
Customer order management
Secure site with online shopping, including SSL certificate
A barcode generator
Inventory and stock management tools
Customers accounts
Calculator for tax rates
Reviews can be left by customers
SEO tools
Multichannel and social selling with Amazon and eBay
Analytics, reports, and tracking of ROI
Giftcards, Deal of the Day, Newsletter, and Discount Tools
Pricing
Volusion offers three pricing plans. One is an annual discount, while the other is a Prime plan that allows for custom pricing. You can also get a 14-day trial for free.
Volusion plans are similar to BigCommerce in that they limit the number of products you can sell, and how much money you can make per year before you have to upgrade.
Every package includes unlimited bandwidth and zero transaction fees
Personal: $26.10 per Month, One Staff Account. You can list up to 100 products on your website and make up to $50k annually in revenue.
Professional: $71.10 per Month, Five Staff Accounts, You can list up to 5,000 products on the site and generate up $100k annually in revenue
Business: $269.10 per Month, 15 Staff Accounts, Unlimited Products, up to $500k Annual Revenue
Pros
Support is available 24/7 via chat, email, chat and support tickets.
You can get a free trial
There are no transaction charges
It is easy to use. New users receive helpful prompts upon their first use of the platform
You have access to dedicated account managers who can help you set-up your store
Volusion is fast and secure.
Cons
Volusion’s pricing plans limit how many products you can list on a site. This makes Volusion’s base plan less flexible than other Magento options.
Only customers who are on the Professional program or higher can call for support.
You have very few content management options
Volusion offers fewer templates than its competitors.
Who is it best for?
Volusion is an excellent choice if you are looking for a website building tool that provides beautiful templates and a great user experience. There are many ways to improve customer service, including the ability to allow customers to create their own accounts.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop was launched in 2007 and is an international shopping cart solution. It’s a good alternative to Magento. PrestaShop supports more than 300,000 stores around the world and is Europe’s most popular eCommerce software.
PrestaShop, an open-source program that uses the Symfony Framework and offers more than 600 features as well as over 5,000 themes and website modules.
PrestaShop offers thousands of templates to choose from. This makes it easier to find the right template for your brand. With a wide range of features and modules, you can extend the functionality of your store to suit your needs. Everything is also highly customizable. Multi-language sellers can have their store built in more than 75 languages.
PrestaShop’s backend environment makes it easy to manage products, customer relations, and website analytics all from one place. Business owners can also use social sharing and blogging tools to help them build their online presence.
Features
There are thousands of pre-made templates
Prestashop’s many features and modules make it easy to increase the functionality of your online shop.
It is highly customizable
Prestashop is available in 75 languages
All your products, orders, customer relations, and website analytics can be managed from one central location.
Solid social sharing and blogging capabilities
Pricing
PrestaShop can be downloaded for free. You will need to pay web hosting, domain names, and possibly expensive add-ons. To get the most out this platform, you may need to hire an agency or expert if your technical knowledge is limited. PrestaShop may be a better option for you than the fully hosted Magento Alternatives.
PrestaShop also offers a hosted version for 24.90 euro per month. This might be a better option if you are looking for a SaaS solution.
Pros
It is free to download
It is highly customizable
There are many integrations that you can choose from
Access to a strong user group
Access to comprehensive support materials
Cons
Support for customers is expensive
Developer skills are essential
Integrations with the hosted version are limited
Who is it best for?
PrestaShop is affordable and easily scalable. PrestaShop is easy to set up a shop in different languages and can be customized in many ways using third-party integrations.
OpenCart
OpenCart is another open-source Magento alternative. OpenCart is an open-source solution that can be customized with no monthly fees. It also has a strong administrator dashboard. This platform allows you to manage multiple shops. OpenCart offers a variety of themes and modules that you can use to create your online store.
OpenCart gives you access to over 13000 themes, so you can choose the one that suits you best. OpenCart offers many shipping and payment options, as well as a lot of support. You can create multiple stores from one admin dashboard.
OpenCart supports unlimited products and categories, website backups and customer reviews. OpenCart allows you to reward clients with coupons and points, as well as manage discounts.
Features
Access to more than 13,000 modules and themes
There are many shipping options and payment gateways to choose from
Both community and OpenCart’s dedicated customer support are available
A simple-to-use dashboard for administrators
Tools for user management
Multi-store support
Tools to create and manage discounts, coupon codes, reward points, special offers, and other promotional items
Website restoration and back-up
Unlimitless products and categories
Reviews can be left by customers
Pricing
OpenCart is available for free download, however some modules and themes can be purchased at a charge.
Pros
There are many integrations.
It is free to download
OpenCart’s open source nature makes it highly customizable
Access to an active community of over 110,000 members
Cons
Your web hosting, maintenance, and development are your responsibility.
A limited number of marketing features are available.
It is not the fastest solution available.
Who is it best for?
OpenCart is an excellent tool for beginners looking to create a fully customizable store. The backend is easy to manage, and you can also access the community for guidance and support.
Magento
Magento was founded in 2007 and quickly caught the attention of many of eCommerce’s most prominent players. It was eventually purchased by eBay/X.comemrce, in 2011. Adobe eventually bought it in 2018.
Magento comes in two versions:
- Magento Open Source – This is the original Magento Community Edition and it’s free to download.
- Magento Commerce: Formerly called the Magento Enterprise Edition. This was initially intended for enterprises with developers and had a high price.
Magento encourages small businesses to sign up for their SaaS platform. Many small businesses use the open-source version, especially business owners who have the programming skills to get the most out it.
Pricing
Magento is an open-source option that can be downloaded and used, but it’s not free to use. Budgeting is necessary for web hosting, domain name registrations, add-ons and SSL certificates. This includes any payment processing fees. To provide a simpler service, many Magento alternatives include these costs in their packages.
Ideal for medium-sized to large businesses
Installing and managing a website takes a lot of time, money and effort, especially when you consider all the work involved in developing it. Magento works best for larger and mid-sized businesses that have web developers to help them with these tasks.
This solution is probably not the best for someone who is just starting out.
Technical Requirements
You will need to meet certain hardware and software requirements depending on which version of Magento you are using. These requirements are listed in the installation guide of the Magento version that you are using.
These are only a few of the requirements:
- Operating System: Linux Distributions
- Memory: Your machine will need at least the specified amount RAM
- Web Server: Apache, Nginx
- MySQL Database
- Scripting Language: PHP
- Composer: A package manager is needed for PHP to develop extensions for Magento and contribute to the existing code
- SSL Certificate: In order to enable secure HTTPS protocols, you will need to buy a valid, not-self-signed certificate
It is also important to use a current web browser. Chrome, Edge, and Safari are all options. Not to be forgotten, Magento will stop supporting software and stopping security patches in June 2020. This may be another reason to consider Magento alternatives.
Features
Magento offers a wide range of features, even in the open-source version.
- A seamless checkout, payment and shipping system
- Mobile optimized shopping
- Selling globally
- Catalog management tools
- An extensive app marketplace
- Customers can purchase instantly
- Site search
The Magento Commerce subscription includes more features, such as:
- B2B functionality
- Advanced marketing tools
- Visual merchandising
- Loyalty tools for customers
- Previews and content staging
- Business intelligence dashboards
- Technical support
- Cloud availability
- Monitoring performance
Magento’s Takeaway
Magento may be a challenge if you don’t have a web developer to help you customize it. You might also want to compare Magento with other SaaS models, since the open-source version lacks many features.
Now that we have an idea of what we are comparing, let’s look at our beginner-friendly Magento alternatives.
Are You Looking for a Magento Alternative?
We hope you find this list of Magento alternatives useful in starting your own research. Magento is a great choice if you are a web developer or have a programmer in your team. Magneto is an affordable, highly customizable solution.
Shopify and BigCommerce are good options if you want something simpler, but with the same level of customization and eCommerce features. Wix Store, which is slightly less expensive, can also be a great starting point for your eCommerce journey.
