Magento and Shopify – how much do they cost me
If you want to create or renovate your online store, one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself is: how much does it cost?
The answer depends on many factors, including the platform you choose, the features you want, the design you prefer, and the level of customization you require.
In this article, we introduce you to two of the most popular and powerful e-commerce platforms on the market: Magento e Shopify.
Magento and Shopify: the main differences
Magento and Shopify are two very different platforms, both technically and commercially.
01.
Magento is an open source platform, which you can download for free and install on your server while Shopify is a commercial platform, which offers you a paid service.
02.
Magento requires you to have technical skills to configure, customize and manage your platform while Shopify is easier and more intuitive to use, even with little web development experience.
03.
Magento offers you greater flexibility and freedom to customize, thanks to its modular architecture and extensive ecosystem of extensions; Shopify offers you a more standardized and limited solution, with less ability to modify source code or add functionality.
04.
Magento allows you to manage complex, scalable websites with thousands or millions of products, variants, categories and languages; Shopify allows you to manage simpler, more straightforward websites with fewer products and configurations.
Costs to consider.
Now that you know the main differences between Magento and Shopify, let’s see what costs you need to consider when building your modern e-commerce with either of these platforms.
Licensing costs.
As we said, Magento is an open source platform, which you can download for free in its Open Source version (formerly Community Edition). However, there is also a paid version, called Commerce (formerly Enterprise Edition), which offers additional features for large businesses.The cost of the Commerce license depends on the annual turnover of your online store and can range from 22,000 to 125,000 per year.
Shopify, on the other hand, is a commercial platform, offering you different paid plans according to your needs (prices updated to August 2023):
- Basic at €28 per month
- Shopify at €78 per month
- Advanced at €384 per month
There is also a higher plan, called Shopify Plus, which offers additional features for large businesses.The cost depends on the transaction volume of your online store and can range from 2,000 to 40,000 per month.
Hosting costs
As we mentioned, Magento is a platform that requires you to provide your own hosting for your online store.This means that you need to choose a reliable, secure, and high-performing hosting provider that can support the traffic and complexity of your website, and the cost of hosting depends on the provider you choose and the plan you subscribe to. In general, you can expect to spend 10 to 100 euros per month for a shared hosting or VPS, or 100 to 500 euros per month for a dedicated or cloud hosting.
Instead, Shopify offers you the hosting service along with your subscription plan: this means you don’t have to worry about finding a hosting provider or paying additional fees for your hosting, while still maintaining good speed, security and reliability for your website.
Design costs
Magento offers greater flexibility and freedom of customization, but it also requires high technical skills to modify the source code or create your theme from scratch.If you do not have these skills, you can choose from the many themes available on the market, both free and paid.
Shopify, on the other hand, offers you a more standardized and limited solution that is also simpler and more intuitive to use: you can choose from the different themes offered by Shopify that are usually priced between 0 and 180 euros.
Functionality costs
Magento is a platform rich in native features, which you can extend and enrich with the many extensions available on the market, both free and paid: in general, you can expect to spend from 0 to 500 euros for a Magento extension.
Shopify, on the other hand, gives you a platform with more essential and basic functionality, which you can expand and enrich with the different apps available on the market, both free and paid, usually with costs ranging from 0 to 60 euros per month depending on the app.
Transaction costs
Magento is a platform that allows you to integrate any payment method you prefer, without charging any fees on your sales, however you must take into account the fees charged by your payment gateway or bank for each transaction made on your website: these fees vary depending on the provider you choose and the volume of your sales.
In general, you can expect to pay a fixed percentage (1% to 3%) plus a flat fee (0.10 to 0.30 euros) for each transaction.
Shopify offers its own integrated payment method, called Shopify Payments, and you must take into account the fees charged for each transaction made on your website-these vary depending on the plan you subscribe to and the country in which you operate.
You can expect to pay a fixed percentage (2.4% to 2.9%) plus a flat fee (0.30 to 0.30 euros) for each transaction.
If you want to use another payment method other than Shopify Payments, you must also pay an additional fee to Shopify for each transaction.
Magento and Shopify: conclusions
Magento and Shopify are two very different platforms, our advice is to rely on Tidycode for the development of your eCommerce site: as certified and professional experts we will be able to advise you on the best solution for you.
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