We Put WordPress vs Magento to the Test: Which Is Best for You?
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Which is Better, Magento or WordPress?
Magento and WordPress are both powerful, scalable open-source software for building websites. They both offer free versions (although you’ll still have to pay for your own hosting), and they both offer increased functionality if you’re willing to pay. So, you might be wondering:
What’s the difference between Magento and WordPress?
Magento is better for driving sales, while WordPress is better for marketing your website or online store. WordPress can support powerful ecommerce features, but they don’t come built-in to the platform like with Magento.
In this article, we’ll weigh the pros, cons, and unique features of each platform so you can find the right online store builder for your needs. If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick snapshot:
Now, let’s get started!
What Are Magento and WordPress?
Magento is an enterprise level ecommerce platform, meaning it’s best suited for large websites who need advanced features. Magento is a less user-friendly platform than WordPress, meaning you’ll either need to be comfortable handling some technical elements yourself, or have the budget to outsource to a Magento expert to help your site reach its maximum potential. And that potential is huge – Magento handles over WordPress, on the other hand, requires a smaller budget and less technical skill than Magento. Magento demands a lot of resources and offers a lot of power in return, while WordPress is more of a sliding scale – it can be just as powerful as you need it to be. WordPress is fairly DIY and developer friendly, and allows you to start small and grow. That said, you’ll still want to have some beginner knowledge of coding! WordPress is the better choice if your main focus is marketing your site with great content.
When you choose between Magento and WordPress, you won’t have to sacrifice ecommerce for content marketing features, or vice versa – both platforms can do it all. It’s just that each platform has a particular area of expertise.
Pros and Cons
| WordPress Pros | WordPress Cons |
|---|---|
| ● WordPress isn’t dedicated solely to ecommerce, which means you can create an ecommerce store that also excels in areas like content marketing. ● Depending on the hosting provider you choose, you can auto-install the WordPress software and themes with no technical skill. | ● Ecommerce functionality doesn’t come built into the WordPress software – you’ll have to install the free WooCommerce plugin first. ● WordPress offers infinite possibilities for features – but you’ll have to install each one separately. |
| Magento Pros | Magento Cons |
|---|---|
| ● Ecommerce functionality is already built into the Magento software when you download it, including a ton of useful sales and inventory features. ● Magento is a more scalable and powerful platform, so it can support large stores and help smaller stores grow. | ● Magento is not a beginner-friendly platform, so you’ll want to be comfortable with code before using it. ● While Magento itself is free, costs can add up quickly because it’s built for such large sites – outsourcing for tech and design help may put a strain on your budget. |
Magento vs WordPress: How Are They Different?
Ease of Use
WordPress is easier to use than Magento, because the WordPress software was made to be accessible for both beginners and developers alike. Magento is geared more towards professional developers, or large businesses that are able to outsource their web development to experts. Magento scored a mere 2.5/5 in our research for ease of use, as opposed to WordPress’ 3.3.
Some web hosts also offer easy WordPress and Magento installation, meaning you can install your site in under five minutes. Bluehost offers one-click WordPress installation, so the process requires no effort on your part – and it’s included free when you sign up for a Bluehost account. WordPress itself recommends Bluehost as a top hosting provider, so you can trust that the two platforms make a great team.
Ecommerce
Magento is the more powerful platform for selling online, although both Magento and WordPress are highly capable ecommerce platforms. Magento comes with excellent sales features already built in, including:
- Recently viewed and compared products
- Free shipping options
- Create different price points for different customer groups, such as wholesalers and retailers
- Add multiple images per product listing
- One-page checkout
In a world with WooCommerce plugin for WordPress, which will help you grow your ecommerce website and drive sales – and you won’t need as much technical knowledge as you would with Magento.
Marketing and Content Management
WordPress is better than Magento for marketing and content management. In technical terms, WordPress is literally a content management system, and it started out as primarily a blogging platform. These days, you can make any type of website you want with WordPress, but those roots in blogging mean that WordPress is equipped to handle massive amounts of content and media. With Magento, you’d have to use a custom extension to support blogging, because it’s not an inbuilt feature.
Themes and Design Customization
Both WordPress and Magento have strong design capabilities, but the type of theme you’ll want depends on your website type. Both platforms offer ready-made themes that don’t require any coding, as well as custom themes that demand the skills of a pro developer. On both platforms, ready-made themes are cheaper and easier, while custom themes are higher quality and more unique.
For WordPress users, the WooCommerce-specific plans, the Storefront theme will come preinstalled.
Magento users, on the other hand, will probably want to use a paid, custom theme to fit their large enterprise-level sites. Larger ecommerce sites are also more prepared to budget for a custom theme, which can cost anywhere from $600 to $25,000.
Magento vs WordPress: How Are They Similar?
Security
Because customers often enter their card info on ecommerce websites, it’s easy to assume that an ecommerce-specific platform like Magento would have tighter security measures than WordPress. But both WordPress and Magento are both highly secure platforms, for ecommerce purposes and just in general.
Both Magento and WordPress have been around for a while, so they’ve gone through their fair shares of security updates. And both platforms offer a wide variety of plugins and extensions that you can use to increase your website’s protection. That said, a website’s security also depends heavily on its hosting provider.
For example, both Bluehost and Siteground offer free SSL certificates, which encrypt information sent over the internet so that data can securely travel from a user’s browser to your web server.
Some hosting providers offer even more than just SSL protection. Bluehost customers can purchase SiteLock security at a discount off the retail price.
SiteLock is an anti-malware tool that scans your website to identify and prevent any hacker attacks or other security risks. SiteGround runs an Intrusion Prevention System, which can identify any users trying to bruteforce your passwords, and then swiftly disable access to the attacker’s IP address.
It’s also important to remember that both WordPress and Magento periodically roll out updates with new versions of the software – and it’s up to you to keep an eye on your dashboard and install updates when they appear, otherwise you might leave your site vulnerable to hackers.
Help and Support
WordPress and Magento both offer community-based support forums (WordPress Support and Magento Forums), where you can search through thousands of posts and hear from other users of all skill levels, around the world. WordPress and Magento are both hugely popular and have been around for a while, so even if you don’t find what you’re looking for in their official forums, chances are someone on Quora or Reddit has already answered your question.
But because WordPress and Magento are both open-source platforms, the majority of professional help and support you get will usually come from your hosting provider, and not from the platforms themselves.
Bluehost and SiteGround both offer 24/7 phone and live chat support, as well as knowledge bases of their own where you can read articles written by in-house teams. In fact, both Bluehost and SiteGround earned perfect scores of 5/5 in our hosting research for help and support.
Can I Use Magento and WordPress Together?
Actually, yes! If you want the best of both worlds – that is, of blogging and ecommerce – you can integrate a WordPress blog in Magento. Say you’ve got a stunning WordPress blog that brings your products to life, but you don’t want to direct customers away from your Magento store in order to see the blog. This is the ideal solution!
Free tools like FishPig allow you to integrate WordPress and Magento themes and features, and you can also create a smooth blog-to-cart experience where products featured on WordPress have direct links to a customer’s Magento cart. The Magento and WordPress integration is a fairly new idea, so you might be happier sticking to the platform that you like best – but the possibilities of this combination are definitely exciting!
Magento vs WordPress: Final Thoughts
Both Magento and WordPress offer secure, scalable website building solutions. But the ideal platform for you depends on your priorities – so let’s recap:
Magento vs WordPress: The Differences
- Ease of Use – WordPress is more user-friendly than Magento.
- Ecommerce – Magento is a more powerful ecommerce solution.
- Marketing and Content Management – WordPress is a better marketing and content solution.
- Themes and Design – WordPress offers better free themes, while Magento’s paid themes are ultra-professional.
Magento vs WordPress: The Similarities
- Security – For both platforms, security ultimately depends on your hosting provider.
- Help and Support – Both WordPress and Magento offer community forums for support.
In short, Magento is best for creating large ecommerce stores, while WordPress is best for creating content-driven websites.
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