Shopify vs. Other E-commerce Platforms: Which One Wins in 2024?

Several names have undoubtedly made their mark in the eCommerce industry and easily cemented a spot among the top guns. However, Shopify remains the ultimate big dog in the game. 

According to Analyzify, the Canadian company will have more than 700 million customers in 2024, which translates to about $319 billion in revenue. This is just one of many awesome stats for Shopify.

But the company is having a run for its money when it comes to eCommerce website development thanks to the growing competition in the field. With alternatives like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento also getting a significant share of the market, which Forbes has predicted will hit $6.3 trillion this year, it was only a matter of time before people started comparing these platforms to decide which is ideal for their needs in 2024. 

And that is precisely where this article comes in!

A Brief Overview of these eCommerce platforms

Shopify

This company is the favorite platform for several buyers and merchants by a mile, which explains why Shopify development services are in high demand. 

As of last year, Shopify expanded its network to over 4.6 million stores in 175 countries, hit a market capitalization that’s quickly approaching $100 billion, and became one of the biggest publicly traded Canadian companies.

WooCommerce

Dubbed the best eCommerce platform for WordPress users, WooCommerce certainly lives up to its title. 

Since its launch in 2011, this open-source plugin has attained massive popularity for being so easy to install and configure. According to eCommerce Gold, WooCommerce has the largest market share in the UK in 2023 with 22% and severally runs a close second to Shopify in other countries. 

BigCommerce

The Australian eCommerce company has a reputation for being the most ideal platform for established businesses. It allows retail on multiple channels including social media networks, and comes with an internal blog that can help the stores it hosts with SEO. 

Though its merchants frown at its limited array of free templates, the pros of using BigCommerce are worth its weight in gold. According to Store Leads, BigCommerce’s stores have increased by 4.8% in 2024. 

Magento

Just like WooCommerce, Magento is an open-source eCommerce plugin – but the difference here is that the latter is programmed with PHP. 

A research has shown that businesses that use Magento grow thrice as fast on average and the platform is downloaded over 5,000 times daily. The ecommerce platform is well liked for its rich features and customizability.

Key Factors for Comparison of Shopify and Other ECommerce Platforms

To effectively compare how these eCommerce platforms perform and what they offer in relation to one another, we’ve listed certain factors as criteria:

• Ease of use and setup
• Growth potential
• Features
• Design flexibility 
• Pricing 
• Community support
• Integration with third-party apps
• Security

The table below shows the comparison in detail:

Key Factors Shopify WooCommerce BigCommerce Magento Ease of use and setup Shopify is very easy to set up and use, which makes it ideal for beginners WooCommerce is moderately easy to use but requires WordPress knowledge. It’s beginner-friendly.  Magento is hard to setup and use. So, you’ll need technical expertise. Growth potential It can handle large catalogs and traffic It’s good for scalable businesses but may need extra hosting resources. It’s designed for fast-growing businesses. It’s ideal for large businesses. Features It comes with limited free features.  WooCommerce comes with basic features, but with paid extensions, you can get more sophisticated features. BigCommerce is rich with comprehensive features, built-in features, and apps. Magento has extensive features Design Flexibility Users have limited freedom to customize the site to their taste. You may need to hire Shopify developers for expert custom design. Its design is highly customizable with themes and plugins. It comes with moderate customization options but relies on page builders and themes. It’s highly customizable Pricing  Shopify offers various monthly subscription plans ranging from $24 to $299. The higher plans are quite pricey, but you’ll be charged just $1 for the first month. The core software is free of charge. Its monthly plans range from $39 to $399. The core software is free, but you’ll incur costs for hosting and paid extensions. Community Support Shopify has a big community and excellent support resources There are tons of online help resources for users. It has a moderately large community with good support resources. Magento has a large community with support forums. There’s also [aid support. Integration with third-party apps It supports integrations with over 6,000 apps It has a large plugin ecosystem that allows for integrations, but the quality varies. BigCommerce supports integrations with popular apps. It has a large extension ecosystem that supports several integrations. Security  Great site security, high uptime, and regular updates. The security depends on WordPress and plugin updates. The platform has strong security.  It has good security features but requires regular maintenance and updates.

Final Words

For small businesses, Shopify or BigCommerce could be ideal affordable turnkey solutions, while larger enterprises needing advanced functionality may prefer WooCommerce or Magento despite the higher costs and expertise they require. Ultimately, the “best” platform depends on your specific size, budget, technical skills, and feature requirements.

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