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The five critical differences between Magento 2 and Shopify Plus are:

  1. Magento has an open-source version, while Shopify does not.
  2. The enterprise versions of Magento and Shopify both cost thousands of dollars per month, but only Shopify includes lower tiers for smaller businesses.
  3. Magento offers more customization options than does Shopify.
  4. Shopify supports payment methods such as Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and even cryptocurrency.
  5. Magento can be more technically challenging to use than Shopify.

E-commerce stores have enough on their plate already — social media, SEO (search engine optimization), marketing, and more — without worrying about which e-commerce platform to choose.

If you're looking for a complete e-commerce platform that can handle everything your business needs, Shopify is one of the best solutions out there — but it's not the only option. Below, we'll discuss two of the top e-commerce solutions, Magento 2 vs. Shopify Plus, so you can make the decision that's right for your business.

Looking for a powerful, user-friendly e-commerce data integration platform that plays well with Magento and Shopify? Get started today with your 7-day pilot of Integrate.io.

What Is Magento 2?

Magento is a highly popular e-commerce software platform, with more than 200,000 Magento stores currently in operation. First launched in 2008, Magento was acquired by Adobe in 2018.

The first version of Magento was the aptly-named Magento 1. In 2015, the company released the Magento 2 upgrade, which offered improvements and new features such as mobile-friendliness, faster load times, new technologies, and more.

The Magento platform comes in several variations you should know about:

  • Magento Open Source: The basic version of Magento is an open-source platform for e-commerce businesses. Thanks to Magento's open-source nature, Magento developers can write their own extensions or choose from various third-party apps and add-ons.
  • Magento Commerce/Adobe Commerce: Magento 2 Commerce (rebranded as Adobe Commerce after the acquisition) is a paid e-commerce platform as a service (PaaS).
  • Magento Commerce Cloud: Magento 2 Commerce Cloud, also known as Magento Enterprise Edition, is a hosted platform version of Magento that runs in Amazon Web Services cloud hosting.

What Is Shopify Plus?

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that helps businesses of all sizes, from small to enterprise-level, run their own online store. Unlike Magento, Shopify does not offer an open-source version. Instead, Shopify provides multiple pricing tiers (more on those later) for e-commerce businesses with different needs.

In particular, Shopify offers the advanced Shopify Plus version, which it calls "enterprise-grade solutions for high-volume merchants and large businesses." Shopify Plus partners include major retailers such as Heinz, Crate & Barrel, and Dressbarn using the platform to manage their e-commerce stores. Shopify Plus automatically handles concerns such as website hosting, infrastructure, security patches, performance testing, and more.

​Magento 2 vs. Shopify Plus: Features and Functionality

How do Magento 2 and Shopify Plus stack up in terms of features and functionality? Below are some of the crucial points of comparison.

  • Customizability: The Magento frontend is easily customizable, with many storefront themes available and a library of "design patterns" such as buttons and scrollbars. Although Shopify does offer many Shopify themes and templates, the fact that it's not open-source makes it less customizable by default.
  • Payment options: Shopify payment methods include credit cards, PayPal, Facebook Pay, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and even cryptocurrency. Shopify provides a list of payment gateways for different countries and currencies. Magento payment methods include credit cards, checks, money orders, bank transfers, and cash.
  • PCI compliance: Both Magento and Shopify are compliant with the PCI DSS data security standards for processing payment card information.

Magento 2 vs. Shopify Plus: Pricing

The free open-source version of Magento 2 is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that can't afford to spend a fortune on their e-commerce websites. However, this comes with a catch: Businesses that use open-source Magento will need to handle their own technical and customer support because they're not paying for it.

Unfortunately, Adobe is tight-lipped about the cost of the enterprise version of Magento, with potential customers needing to schedule a demo. However, various third-party sources suggest that the annual cost of a Magento enterprise license could be anywhere from $22,000 to $125,000.

Shopify pricing is more transparent: Users in the Basic, Shopify and Advanced tiers are charged a monthly fee of $29, $79, and $299, respectively. After that, the cost of Shopify Plus takes a major leap at $2,000 per month, plus additional costs for higher-volume businesses.

Beyond the costs of Magento or Shopify software licenses, you'll also need to consider potential other expenses — such as transaction fees, web development, and design, SSL certificates, and domain name registration — that are involved in running an e-commerce store.

If you're spending a lot on your e-commerce platform, you'll need a cost-effective solution for data integration. Integrate.io pricing is based on the number of connectors in your data pipelines so that you always pay the same rate no matter how much data you consume. See for yourself today with a 7-day pilot of Integrate.io.

Magento 2 vs. Shopify Plus: User Reviews

Thus far, we've compared Magento 2 vs. Shopify Plus for your e-commerce business in terms of features and pricing. But what do real users have to say in Magento and Shopify reviews?

On the business software review website G2, Magento Commerce has received an average of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 457 reviews. Marketing assistant Chantel P. gives Magento 4.5 stars, writing:

"Once learned, the platform is easy for us to navigate and make quick edits and adjustments to our website and product listings. We like not always having to consult a developer for assistance when making changes... The learning process was a bit difficult, and some edits seem outdated as compared to other options that are out there. I think a more user-friendly layout on the backend would be nice... Magento has greatly helped our web presence and ability to reach more people. Our profits have certainly improved and it's helped eliminate some of the busywork that we previously did manually."

In Magento reviews, many users praise the platform's customization options and the ability to deploy a self-hosted solution. However, common complaints include challenges with the platform's ease of use and technical configuration.

Meanwhile, G2 users have given Shopify Plus an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars, based on 234 reviews. In a 4-star Shopify Plus review, chief revenue officer Rozin P. complements the platform's many features:

"Shopify Plus has an incredible amount of "pluses". Our business personally loves the lower transaction rates, ability to move into global markets easily, workflow customization, and dedicated support network (that we use a lot). It's a big no-brainer to upgrade, especially if you're at a specific revenue level... There are some fundamental issues with Shopify's ecosystem, specifically how a customer's data is stored. For example, if a customer chooses to play three different orders using three different emails, you have no hope of ever combining those accounts or those orders... Take the time to learn the system and make your life easier. If you're doing a lot of work, there's always an automated way to ease it."

How Integrate.io Can Help With Magento and Shopify

Whether you go with Magento 2 or Shopify Plus, using an e-commerce platform will help you gather vast quantities of data about your customers — from the frequency of website visits to their satisfaction with their most recent purchases. The only question is: How can you start analyzing this data and mining it for valuable insights? The answer lies in a powerful yet user-friendly data platform like Integrate.io.

Integrate.io is an ETL (extract, transform, load) and data integration solution that helps transfer data from a wide variety of sources into a centralized data warehouse for fast and easy analytics. With a drag-and-drop visual interface and more than 140 pre-built connectors and integrations — including both Magento and Shopify — Integrate.io makes it easy for e-commerce companies of any size, industry, or technical level to build custom automated data pipelines. 

Want to learn how Integrate.io can enhance your e-commerce business? Get in touch with our team of e-commerce data experts for a chat about your business needs and objectives, or to start your 7-day pilot of the Integrate.io platform.