Are you considering selling your first products on the internet? Or are you thinking about switching to a better eCommerce platform for your online store? If either of these scenarios applies to you, you’ve come to the correct spot. We’ll compare PrestaShop vs Shopify in this post to help you decide which online store builder is better for your ecommerce business.
Let’s have a look at these two platforms now, without further ado!
Who’s PrestaShop and Shopify?
PrestaShop is an open source ecommerce platform that can be used to create anything from a simple online store to a full-fledged shopping cart. PrestaShop is a scalable solution for e-commerce merchants, with a large add-on market and a solid set of in-built capabilities.
Shopify, on the other hand, is a full-featured SaaS platform. It’s the most popular online store builder on the market, and for good reason. It offers one of the most comprehensive eCommerce toolkits among its competitors. Its drag-and-drop store builder is extremely user-friendly, and you can add an unlimited amount of products to your store.
Shopify also connects smoothly with a wide range of third-party plugins, payment gateways, and marketplaces. So, whether you’re a tiny business or a large corporation, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to take advantage of omnichannel selling to its maximum potential.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of PrestaShop and Shopify
Let us begin with PrestaShop…
PrestaShop Pros
- PrestaShop is free to download and install, and once you’re up and running, you might just have to pay a small monthly fee.
- The open-source nature of PrestaShop allows you to extend and personalize your business as needed.
- When you acquire PrestaShop’s basic edition, you’ll have access to a wealth of functionality. Inventory management, product management, an online shopping cart, analytics, reporting, and so on are just a few examples.
- Customers can create accounts, and you gain access to a variety of store administration choices, including tools for handling orders (if you want).
- PrestaShop’s add-on market has thousands of modules to choose from.
- You have full control over the security measures you use to safeguard your online store.
PrestaShop’s Cons
- Because anyone can make and sell PrestaShop modules, your own web design may clash with theirs. As a result, technical problems are more likely to occur.
- You are responsible for resolving any issues with the help of the community on your own.
- Additional themes or modules are available for a fee. Getting the functionality you seek could cost several hundred dollars!
- There is a substantial learning curve if you want more than a basic business. If you don’t have the necessary technical knowledge, you may need to hire a developer.
- You’ll need to set up your own hosting, web domain, and security.
Shopify’s Pros
- Shopify comes pre-installed with great website security.
- A large number of add-ons and themes are available, making it simple tocustomize and enhance the functionality of your store.
- The store builder on Shopify is extremely user-friendly.
- Shopify has great store and inventory management options, even in its lower tiers. When it comes to eCommerce tools, it’s one of the best on the market.
- Shopify offers a diverse selection of payment gateways.
- Shopify works smoothly with all of the main social media sites and marketplaces.
Shopify’s Cons
- If you don’t require all of Shopify’s services, it could be an expensive monthly subscription.
- You have a restricted number of staff accounts and store locations with which you can connect. You’re limited to only 15 staff accounts, even if you’re on the advanced program.
- Shopify’s customization possibilities aren’t as broad as PrestaShop’s, with only a few free themes to choose from.
- The built-in blogging platform on Shopify is fairly simple.
PrestaShop vs. Shopify: Key Differences
Both Shopify and PrestaShop include a robust collection of eCommerce capabilities that make displaying, selling, and managing your products a breeze. Let’s have a look at how their primary features compare…
Managing your Products
PrestaShop and Shopify, as we’ve already mentioned, allow you to rapidly create and edit products, categorize them on your store, and list them for your customers to browse. You can set their rates, make their information public, and specify order conditions and delivery information.
You may even sell customizable goods that allow customers to upload files to assist you better understand what they’re looking for!
Store Management
Shopify gives you everything you need to start and maintain a successful online business. However, if you want to use their more advanced services, you’ll have to pay for one of their higher-priced levels.
You can do the following using Shopify and PrestaShop:
- You can list and sell as many things as you want.
- Customers can register for an account.
- You have the option of providing refunds.
- Take care of order fulfillment.
- Keep track of your stock.
However, there are notable variations between the two platforms when it comes to shop administration functions…
A free SSL certificate is included with all Shopify stores (on all payment plans), which PrestaShop does not. They do, however, provide people the option of adding one, but you’ll have to buy it separately.
Over 100 payment gateways are available with Shopify. Some of these similar functionalities can only be integrated through a paid-for module in PrestaShop.
PrestaShop allows you to manage many stores from a single backend. Shopify, on the other hand, only allows you to manage one e-store from your dashboard. You can, however, link your account to four to eight physical retail locations (depending on your chosen payment plan).
You may establish as many staff accounts as you want for free with PrestaShop. Shopify, on the other hand, has a 15-item limit (even on its advanced plan).
SEO and marketing
You may create and manage discounts, coupon codes, special offers, and free shipping campaigns using either platform. Furthermore, you can integrate your store with your social networking sites. Needless to say, this is a fantastic way to promote your items, increase traffic, and raise brand awareness.
Customers can also post product reviews on your website using Shopify. They also make it simple to improve your site for SEO, increasing your chances of appearing higher in Google’s search results over time.
PrestaShop, on the other hand, allows you to rewrite your URL and has specialized sections for optimizing your web pages for SEO. They also have a number of commercial SEO plugins that will automatically fill up your meta tags. You can also get free and paid modules that let users submit product reviews on your website.
Customize your Storefront
There are over 70 professional-looking themes available on Shopify. They’re all mobile-responsive and designed by world-renowned designers. It’s simple to establish a sophisticated-looking store with these. However, you are not limited to the appearance of your theme; you may easily personalize practically every aspect of your website. Plus, having access to HTML and CSS means you can be as creative as you want (providing you boast some coding know-how).
There are, however, only eight free templates available. The rest of Shopify’s themes are ‘luxury,’ with prices ranging from $140 to $180.
You also have complete control over the appearance of your online store using PrestaShop. Thousands of themes and templates are available in PrestaShop’s add-on store (both free and paid-for).
PrestaShop has a number of templates that are tailored to specific sectors. You can filter results by template style and/or business industry to find a theme that matches your demands. Pets and animals, for example, electronics, cuisine and restaurants, fashion and shoes, and health and beauty are just a few examples!
Multi-Language Possibilities
Shopify supports over 50 languages, with the option to translate your own (if necessary), whereas PrestaShop supports over 75. Isn’t it impressive?
Reports and Analytics
Shopify includes a simple dashboard that displays critical sales, order, and traffic statistics. As a result, you can keep track of your company’s performance at a glance.
You can also run traffic and referral analytics to discover where your visitors are coming from and how they found your store. This is in addition to product reports, which include information about your store’s development, best-selling products, and items that aren’t as popular, among other things. These reports can then be exported and sent to your bookkeeper. On top of that, Shopify has a Google Analytics integration.
Similarly, PrestaShop gives you access to sales, customer, product, and marketing metrics and data.
PrestaShop vs Shopify: Ease of Use
Shopify guides you through the whole process of starting and running an online store. It’s quite user-friendly for newcomers. Choosing and tweaking Shopify themes is simple, and adding products is simple as well.
On the other hand, PrestaShop is essentially an open-source e-commerce platform. So, if all you want to do is start a simple web business, you won’t require much technological expertise. However, if you want to develop a more advanced internet store, you’ll need to know how to code. Alternatively, you might employ a developer to help you realize your concept. Alternatively, you may need to invest extra on modules to expand your store’s capabilities.
In short, setting up an e-store using PrestaShop is far more difficult than with Shopify.
PrestaShop vs Shopify: Pricing
Let’s examine how much PrestaShop and Shopify will cost you now that we’ve explored all they have to offer…
Shopify
Shopify is paid on a monthly basis. There are four pricing tiers, each aimed at business owners at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey, such as those who are establishing a new firm, growing a business, or scaling an existing one.
At this point, we’d like to remind out that each of these programs comes with a 14-day free trial.
The Shopify Lite Plan is a cost-effective way to get started with Shopify
You may start selling online for $9 per month on Facebook or any website or blog that allows you to list things and accept credit card payments.
The Basic Shopify Plan
The Basic Shopify plan, which costs $29 per month, includes all of the essential features you’ll need to get started, including:
- Products are limitless.
- With a blog, you can create your own online store.
- There are two accounts for employees.
- Selling through several channels
- Your e-shop can be linked to up to four real store locations.
The Shopify Plan
The Shopify plan, which costs $79 per month, gives you the flexibility you need to expand your business. You’ll also have access to five staff accounts, the ability to generate professional reports, and the ability to interface with five retail shop locations, in addition to all of the above capabilities.
The Advanced Shopify Plan
This results in a price increase to $299 per month. You may, however, create 15 employee accounts, connect up to eight store locations, use Shopify’s powerful report builder, and take use of third-party calculated shipping prices.
Other Points to Consider
If you have a large business, the Shopify Plus package may be beneficial. This bundle covers all of your sophisticated enterprise requirements and comes at a bespoke price. If you’re interested, you may get in touch with them personally for further information.
You should also pay attention to Shopify’s transaction fees. All payment providers except Shopify Payments will charge you these fees. These fees range from 0.5 percent on the Advanced Shopify package to 2.0 percent on the Basic Shopify package. There are also credit card processing costs, which start at 2.9 percent + 30 cents for online credit cards.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop is an open-source e-commerce solution, as previously stated. As a result, you can download it for free. There are no monthly fees or a percentage of your sales taken away, so you can start selling for very little if you’re willing to put in the extra effort.
However, you may choose to purchase add-ons and premium themes from PrestaShop’s marketplace to enhance the functionality of your business. Many of the most helpful plugins start at approximately $50, while premium themes can easily cost $100. However, Amazon and eBay connections are both $299 and $289, respectively.
You’re also in charge of getting your own web hosting. As a result, this is another expenditure to consider and include into your budget. While some companies offer hosting for as little as $2.59 per month (DreamHost), more advanced hosting for larger stores may cost you more. You might also consider purchasing an SSL certificate, which costs roughly $90 per year.
PrestaShop vs Shopify: Customer Support
PrestaShop offers live chat, email, and phone support to its customers. PrestaShop’s forum also has a large user community with whom you can communicate. You can find answers to your queries here, as well as discuss any issues you may have with other PrestaShop users and developers.
Shopify provides email, live chat, and phone assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They take pleasure in offering some of the greatest customer service in the industry. There is also a lot of community assistance available online.
Shopify vs. PrestaShop: Which eCommerce Software is Right for Your Business?
We’re delighted to announce that, when comparing PrestaShop and Shopify, both offer a superb collection of functionality for managing your online store, inventory, and selling online. Furthermore, both provide a scalable eCommerce experience, which is a plus!
It all comes down to usability and technical competence, as well as your financial constraints.
As a hosted service, Shopify makes things simpler for you. Hosting and security are provided, and you can personalize your store using a tried-and-true drag-and-drop editor. Technical issues are rare, but when they do occur, you can count on Shopify’s customer service staff to resolve them. This all-inclusive service does, however, come at a cost. As a result, your budget may be a constraint.
PrestaShop, on the other hand, has the potential to be extremely cost-effective in the long run. You’ll only have to pay for hosting, your domain name, and an SSL certificate once you’ve paid for all of your initial purchases and have the functionality you require. PrestaShop, on the other hand, has a much steeper learning curve and is best suited for web developers.
PrestaShop, on the other hand, has endless alternatives in terms of integrations, customisation, and functionality if you have the necessary know-how.
