PrestaShop and Magneto are two of the most widely used open source E-Commerce solutions. Both have robust features, including SEO features and analytic capabilities, but they differ in various ways. These differences could help you determine which of these solutions is best for you.
PrestaShop has one basic, free version. You can download the application and be up and running in minutes. The basic PrestaShop package gives you is the ability to start selling in little time with no technical skills. It is mainly used by small and medium-sized business that have little IT infrastructure because PrestaShop doesn’t need one.
Magento has three offerings, one free and two that must be purchased. Magento’s free version can be easily installed as well, but configuring it for your shop requires some technical expertise. They do have technical support to assist you in this, even with the free version.
PrestaShop offers over 3,500 add-on modules and themes to offer you additional functionality and to enable you to customize the look of your shop. They also require little to no technical expertise to install and are available for purchase. Though they aren’t free, they are fairly inexpensive. Magento also has add-ons for their free version but has far less then PrestaShop. Some of Magento’s add-ons require some advanced skill.
Both are optimized for search engines, but research suggests that PrestaShop has more hits on Facebook while Magento interfaces more with Twitter. Magento’s free version does not have built-in security, does not have gift options, and does not have full-page caching. PrestaShop’s basic version is not mobile ready. Both can be translated into multiple languages and both are used internationally.
If you have no IT infrastructure, servers, or a dedicated IT staff, PrestaShop is probably the better choice for your business. The cost, ease of installation and customization, and its security features make it easier and faster for business owners who are not technically savvy to get their online shop up and running.
Both shopping cart systems can get the job done, but PrestaShop is easier to manage. PrestaShop is PCI compliant, where Magento’s free version is not. Its paid versions are targeted towards larger businesses with their own IT infrastructure, which means that PrestaShop does require you to pay for web hosting if you don’t have internal servers that enable you to host it yourself.
If you do have some technical expertise, Magento would certainly be a good choice. However, the free version has far less features than the basic PrestaShop version, even without the additional features that have costs attached.
