Together with Shopify and WooCommerce, Magento is one of the largest e-commerce platforms on the market. Hundreds of thousands of online stores have been launched with this software!
However, among its many advantages, we recognize some weaknesses, which should be considered before starting our commercial adventure. Would you like to discover what are the main pros and cons of Magento?
The Magento story begins in 2017. Roy Rubin launched the first version of this platform earlier this year.
At that time it already had some of its most remarkable features: customizable design, flexibility, easy stock management, and so on. For all these reasons, Adobe would buy it in 2018 for $1.4 billion, no less.
Today Magento continues to be one of the best options to launch an online store, without much knowledge of CSS, HTML or other programming languages.
As you will discover in the following lines, the optimized design for SEO, a good scalability or multiple customization options stand out among the advantages of Magento.
But this platform also has its weaknesses: very expensive plans or need to use a hosting, among others.
4 advantages of Magento that will surprise you…
SEO friendly
Achieving optimal positioning in search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) is important for e-commerce.
Much of the traffic from Amazon, Walmart and other successful marketplaces comes from organic results, not paid ones.
Therefore, it is a pleasant surprise that Magento stands out in this sense, both in its web architecture and in the sections that can be customized in this sense.
For example, it allows you to modify the URL of each of its pages. It is also possible to alter their meta descriptions, the sitemap and other aspects.
Optimal scalability
Continuing with the advantages and disadvantages of Magento, scalability also shines with special intensity.
This platform allows you to start selling quickly from a very simple shop. But as it grows, its design becomes more ambitious.
For Magento, scalability is important, and therefore their plans are designed to encourage this progression. It is logical that it should be!
Magento offers a solution that adapts like a glove to the needs of its customers – although the quality-price ratio is a point to discuss, as will be revealed later.
Multiple customization options
But the web architecture of Magento templates is not only brilliant from an SEO point of view.
This platform has a simple interface, with multiple customization options. Of course, you don’t need to be familiar with style languages like CSS or HTML.
However, in Magento, it is possible to modify them as well. And that’s precisely where their power lies! Professionals, as well as novices, can achieve excellent results.
On the other hand, Magento and its extensions are perfect for adding new features. Just go to Magento Marketplaces and click on Extensions (marketplace.magento.com/extensions.html) – there are more than 4,600 to choose from!
Do you want to improve any aspect related to customer service, payments and security, SEO optimization? These extensions are perfect for it – some are even free!
A huge community!
As you probably know, open source software tends to be supported by a larger number of developers and design professionals – the same goes for Magento!
Magento Community (magento.com/community) has more than 360,000 active users and more than 1,500 partners.
On this page, you can find forums, documents, FAQs and other content, developed both by the platform and by members of its community.
This feature could not be missing between the advantages and disadvantages of using Magento, but it hides a weak point to consider: although the platform is available in Spanish, French and other languages, Magento Community only has content in English.
… and 3 disadvantages of Magento to consider
Complex and unintuitive customization
But Magento is a perfect platform. It has its drawbacks. And among them, the slowness of loading during the customization process stands out, quite complex when compared to Shopify.
It is true that it has many configurable options. It can practically be modified to 100%. But the performance of its interface, though simple, leaves a lot to be desired.
Very expensive plans
Among the pros and cons of Magento, the price is usually mentioned.
This platform has a free version (Magento Community Edition), aimed at entrepreneurs and startups. However, the support and use of extensions requires payment.
In the case of larger companies and online shops, Magento becomes a very expensive solution (compared to Shopify, for example).
So much so that Magento Commerce Starter is priced at $2,000 a month. Magento Commerce Pro, on the other hand, costs $3,417 per month. However, it should be noted that these plans are aimed at businesses, not individuals.
Need for hosting
Unlike Shopify and other e-commerce platforms, Magento customers must host their websites in hostings. Its configuration and proper operation, in addition, is the responsibility of the owners of the online store.
On the other hand, many of its competitors manage domain registration. But Magento does not. This platform provides the basic software but is not responsible for these technical details.
The problem is that many of your customers are not familiar with domains, hostings, etc. This requires certain skills that have to be learned beforehand, which is a big obstacle for some of its users.
In view of the above, it is not surprising that Magento is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. It certainly stands out among the best options on the market.
But we must not forget WooCommerce, Shopify and other alternatives. Contrasting the pros and cons of all will help us find the best option for our e-commerce.