Advancement in technology has changed various aspects of the corporate world. While businesses have started making use of the benefits of being visible online, e-commerce startups have managed to excel by providing an ideal shopping experience to customers.
Since the Coronavirus pandemic, people have started opting for online stores more than ever. As a result, a whole lot of software has emerged to offer e-commerce shopping platforms and application development. For example, Magento development services provide the required functionalities to build a feature-rich online store by working on efficient designs, bigcommerce returns, and development processes, which in return, have increased the Magento development services’ demand among online store developers.
However, the more options for e-commerce development emerge, the more difficult it becomes to choose the suitable one. Since every software has its good sides and bad sides, you can be the one choosing the right one for your business. For that, we are offering a comparison between Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, the three most popular e-commerce development applications for your startup.
Comparison between Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce
Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce are three of the most popular software offering all the required facilities to users. However, businesses often need clarification about which one to use the most when it comes to working on an e-commerce store.
1. What Are Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce?
Let’s talk about Shopify first. Shopify is one of the most popular SaaS e-commerce platforms, having numerous features and convenience as much as you need. The best thing about Shopify is that if you have just started your business, it is the best option for you.
Magento, on the other hand, started as an open platform, but it has now become expensive enough that only big companies can obtain it. It is currently available in two forms: Magento Commerce (designed for enterprise-level businesses) and Magento Open Source (a free-to-download software). It is now being used at big companies like Ford and Nestle. According to a report, 62% of businesses use Magento, while 38% use Magento 2 platform for online selling.
BigCommerce, another popular SaaS e-commerce platform, is considered good for mature and medium-sized businesses intending to expand themselves more. Sometimes, platforms like BigCommerce can limit their feature set, forcing you to opt for another reliable platform. But if you have invested little money at the start of your business journey, then opting for BigCommerce is one of the most common things to do. Also, BigCommerce can serve you a lot of confidence on the plate as it has a track record of serving various companies like Woolrich, The Economist, Skull Candy, etc.
2. Expense for Utilization
Whenever you opt for an e-commerce platform, the first thing you need to understand is your budget for using an e-commerce platform. You can narrow down your choice depending on your budget. So, let’s discuss the expenses using Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce.
- Shopify: Shopify is a great option for every small and medium-sized business. One of the many reasons why Shopify is considered suitable for multiple e-commerce businesses is because it offers various pricing depending on the complexity of the market or features businesses and brands want to utilize. Its simplest plan costs $39 a month and offers as few functionalities as possible. On the other hand, the advanced plan costs between $105 to $399 per month. But Shopify Plus costs $2000 every month.
- Magento: Magento is mainly an open-source platform. But, only the open-source version is free to use and, therefore, designed for small startups. Although Magento’s open-source e-commerce software helps to provide the best online store, the Magento Commerce platform offers special features to accelerate sales. At the same time, its premium version starts at $22000 every month.
- BigCommerce: It is considered an inexpensive and convenient platform to consider. The most basic plan of BigCommerce is $29 every month, which can go higher, and you can get a more advanced plan at $79. It also offers another expensive plan, which starts at $299.95 every month.
3. Hosting Process
Hosting is one of the most crucial things to consider when it comes to choosing a software-providing e-commerce platform. If your store has outstanding hosting only, then your store will operate smoothly, resulting in satisfying the customers. On the contrary, if you do not have a good hosting system, it can result in site outages and receiving multiple security threats. That will negatively affect your online store’s reputation. So, discussing Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce’s hosting system is vital before opting for anyone.
- Shopify: Shopify has a cloud-based hosting system, and whenever an e-commerce business decides to take up a Shopify plan, it includes hosting. It is helpful in various ways. One of the benefits of Shopify hosting is that you do not need to opt for third-party hosting as you get an integrated hosting system. Another reason why businesses mostly opt for Shopify hosting is that numerous users are part of one core price, and consumers mostly do not complain about its speed and cherish its smooth way of operating.
- Magento: Magento’s hosting system is on-premise, tempting brands to opt for Magento development services. It means that Magento operates on physical computers on-site. It can also act as a third party, or it is available in the Cloud, too. So, the Magento customers mostly deal with a big hosting company. One of the main things to notice about Magento is that its hosting ability depends on how you use the platform. So, all you can do is choose the right hosting provider.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce is a hosted e-commerce platform that runs on a server and does not require any web hosting. Also, you do not need to install any additional software to keep it running.
Conclusion
When it comes to building a user-friendly e-commerce store, you can find numerous development platforms free to download. Since your budget is a big deciding factor for the smooth running of your business, you also need to choose the right software, offering the best service depending on the budget.
As a web developer, you’ll want to explore the array of web development tools and platforms geared towards creating robust e-commerce websites. These platforms can provide you with essential resources and functionalities that are not only budget-friendly but also capable of delivering top-tier services tailored to your financial constraints.
So, whether you opt for Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento development services, analyze your business needs first, then choose the right software.
