Choosing the Best E-commerce Platform for Enterprises | Comparison Guide
Explore what enterprises prefer Shopify Plus vs Magento with our detailed feature comparison guide. Discover the key differences and benefits to make an informed decision for your business.
If you’re a mid-sized retail brand or large enterprise brand looking to replatform your e-commerce store and have narrowed it down to Shopify Plus and Magento Enterprise Edition (formerly, Adobe Commerce), this is the blog that will help you make the right choice. Let’s compare the enterprise-level features of these two platforms to see which one comes out on top for large businesses.
With its user-friendly interface and polished templates, Shopify offers a straightforward approach to setting up your online store. No need to delve into the nitty-gritty of coding—just intuitive design tools that make customization a breeze. Shopify Plus also offers robust customization capabilities for enterprises looking to craft a unique online presence.
On the flip side, there’s Magento, with its customization capabilities that lets you craft your online presence to perfection. But here’s the catch—it requires a lot more technical know-how to wield its full potential. This escalates your costs. In addition, scalability can become an issue for enterprise companies, particularly as they experience rapid growth or spikes in traffic. Magento’s scalability for large businesses depends on various factors, including server infrastructure, optimization, and efficient coding practices. In some cases, enterprises may encounter challenges with scalability due to misconfiguration, inadequate hosting resources, or inefficient development practices.
Unsure which platform is going to be best for your business? Fear not, we’re about to dive deep and uncover the key differences that matter most. Buckle up and let’s explore which platform will work for you!
Shopify Plus vs Magento: By The Numbers
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s see how these two platforms stack up in terms of numbers:
Alt Table:
| Feature | Shopify Plus | Magento |
| Market Share | 10% | 1.72% |
| Top 1M Websites | 2.71% | 1.05% |
| Content Upload Speed | 2.6s | 2.8s |
Round 1 goes to Shopify Plus! But there’s more to the story than just this data. Let’s keep digging.
Shopify Plus vs Magento Feature Comparison
- 🔒Security: Shop with Confidence
When it comes to keeping your customers’ data locked down tight, both platforms pack some serious security features for big companies. You want your customers to feel safe and confident when shopping on your site. Here’s how our contenders stack up:
Shopify Plus offers:
✅ Fraud analysis
✅ PCI Compliance
✅ GDPR Compliant
✅ SSL Certificates for every site
Magento Commerce boasts:
✅ Security extensions
✅ Magento Security Scan
✅ PCI Compliant (Commerce edition)
✅ Regular updates
Both platforms also provide robust compliance and regulatory features to ensure enterprises meet all necessary standards.
The impact on your user experience? Rock-solid security on both apps allows shoppers to buy with confidence knowing their data is safe, while also building trust in your brand. It’s a win-win!
- 📈Scalability: Growing with Your Business
Magento is traditionally known as an enterprise workhorse designed to handle large scale operations. That said, if you’re a fast-growing startup or are building your consumer base from scratch, Shopify Plus should be your pick—it offers great flexibility while you grow your brand, making it a top pick for agile, innovative brands who want seamless integration.
Consider this:
- Magento powers global giants with $500M+ in annual sales, but often comes with complex management requiring substantial resources and expertise, which may not be inherent to medium size e-commerce businesses.
- Shopify Plus, on the other hand, seamlessly supports brands up to $50M+ in sales with robust and user-friendly tools suitable for businesses of all sizes, including enterprises. In other words, Shopify Plus enables performance optimization for growing and large-scale operations.
The takeaway? A platform that reliably grows with you means a smoother ride for your customers when your business is on an expansion spree—and more loyal fans for your brand. In other words, Shopify Plus scores better if you’re a rapidly growing business
- 💰Pricing: Bang for Your Buck
Next up, let’s talk dollars and cents. While Magento’s free open-source software seems tempting, remember you’ll foot the bill for domains, hosting, and feature add-ons that can soar past $15K. For enterprises, the annual pricing ranges from $22,000 to $125,000—the final price you’ll pay is not transparent and varies on the volume of sales you’ll do and the features you need.
Meanwhile, Shopify Plus subscription plans start from $2300/month, with domains and hosting included. It’s transparent, predictable pricing that’s easy on your budget.
How does this impact your bottom line and customer value? If you need an e-commerce platform that supports high volumes, that are also widely fluctuating, and require a high level of technical support, you might find it valuable to put down Magento’s higher fees. On the other hand, if you have midsize to large volumes and relatively stable traffic, Shopify Plus can help you drive more bang for your buck.
- 🎨Customization: Your Brand, Your Way
Want to stand out from the e-commerce crowd? Shopify Plus makes it a breeze with:
- User-friendly, drag-and-drop customization with an emphasis on simplicity.
- Responsive, mobile-friendly templates ensure that your store looks great and functions seamlessly across various devices.
- Shopify Plus offers a seamless headless commerce experience with Hydrogen, a React-based framework that empowers developers to design unique customer experiences that align with your brand, without being tethered to backend constraints.
- With Hydrogen you can create lightning-fast custom storefronts with an array of pre-built components designed for performance and scalability
E-commerce brands can use Shopify Hydrogen to create any style of website with ease
- Easy font and color tweaks, no coding required.
On the flip side, Magento’s open-source nature and headless architecture allows for deep code customization—if you’ve got the development chops (and budget) to make it happen.
The result? A unique, on-brand shopping experience that turns casual browsers into loyal customers. Both brands offer deep customization abilities. Shopify Plus is ideal for those seeking a quick and user-friendly setup with the added benefits of Hydrogen’s developer-friendly tools. Magento Enterprise caters to businesses requiring extensive customization and control over their e-commerce environment.
- 🌎Global & Omnichannel Capabilities
In today’s connected world, the more channels you can conquer, the better. Shopify Plus has you covered with powerful multi-channel and multi location selling capabilities for enterprises:
- Listing, selling, and managing on 20+ channels like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Messenger and more
- Popular marketplace integrations including eBay, Ebates, Wanelo and Houzz
- Robust omnichannel POS with unified reporting and customer profiles
- Local pickup & delivery
- Inventory management across multiple order fulfillment locations across retail stores, warehouses, popups, dropshippers, or any other place where you manage or stock inventory
- You can also draw customers to retail stores with limitless mapping of store locations
While Magento’s multi-channel game isn’t quite as strong, It facilitates the creation of new brands and product catalogs, including:
- Multi-tenant, multi-region storefronts
- Multi-channel connected experiences
- Provides various product variants, including colors, sizes, and styles.
Why does this matter for your users? Meeting them wherever they prefer to shop—online, in-store, at a fulfillment center or any other convenient location you operate out of, or on their favorite social apps—means more sales and happier customers all around. It also allows you to communicate with customers where they are engaged and consuming content when they’re not engaging with emailers or in-store notifications. Managing inventory seamlessly across locations means less confusion around order fulfillment, and a better user experience.
- ⚙️Integrations Galore
No e-commerce platform is an island—they provide the foundation, but integrations are the secret sauce that take your store to the next level.
Shopify Plus offers a treasure trove of third-party integrations and extensions via the Shopify App Store, making it easy to enhance your operations.
- The Shopify App Store for easy third-party integration—from marketing tools to inventory management systems, ENTs can enhance their e-commerce operations with ease.
- One standout app is Swym’s Wishlist Plus, which simplifies the user experience by allowing customers to build product lists effortlessly and revisit them when they’re ready to buy.
- More support with advanced Shopify Plus apps that are exclusive for high-growth merchants:
Not to be outdone, Magento Marketplace also offers a solid lineup of extensions to amp up your store’s functionality with the Magento Marketplace. Magento’s open architecture allows for integrations with various enterprise-level systems as well.
At the end of the day, integrations empower you to craft the ultimate customer experience without all the heavy lifting.
What does this mean for your users? Third-party integrations ensure that enterprises like yours can enhance their e-commerce operations and craft the ultimate customer experience without all the heavy lifting. Shopify Plus allows you to achieve integrations with ease. You may need higher technical expertise to roll out integrations on Magento.
- 🔧B2B Functionality: The Nuts and Bolts
Shopify Plus comes equipped with native wholesale features, allowing you to:
- 👥 Set company profiles with unique payment terms and user permissions
- 💰 Set price lists for specific buyers
- ⏰ Assign net payment terms
- 🎨 Custom store theme with Shopify Liquid
- 🛒 Allow automated checkout for a seamless experience
- 📊 Let business customers manage their accounts
Magento Commerce also allows you to manage wholesale customers, but you will need an extension, like Mage Array, for example, to:
- 🛍️ Create and manage wholesale customer groups
- 💳 Enable custom pricing and discounts for wholesale customers
- 📦 Allow wholesale customers to bulk order products
- 🔍 Show or hide products and categories for specific customer groups
- 📈 Track and manage wholesale customer orders and quotes
- 🚀 Optimize performance for high-volume wholesale transactions
Both platforms offer advanced marketing tools to help enterprises drive B2B sales and engagement.
So, what does all this mean for your business? Well, it means easily tapping a whole new, high-volume segment. While both platforms score high on wholesale functionality, Shopify Plus does not require you to plug in an extension to do so.
- 🚑Support & Help: Your E-commerce Lifeline
When things go wrong (and they will), having a reliable support system can make all the difference.
Shopify Plus has your back, with a dedicated merchant success manager, enterprise-level support and maintenance, and 24/7 expert support—all at no extra cost. You can request support for technical problems, marketing, or conversion rate optimization. Support is accessible via different channels like phone, email, or live chat.
Magento Commerce, on the other hand, offers purely developer support. The Magento Commerce Consulting Group (ECG) can lend a hand, but it’ll cost you extra. For everything else, you’ll need to turn to Magento’s open-source community.
The result? A solid and robust support system will lead to a smooth user experience and happy, loyal customers, which makes Shopify Plus the winner, especially if you rely on support.
- 🌳Ecosystem: Strength in Numbers
Magento has long been known for its sprawling ecosystem of developers and integrators. With nearly 280,000 community sites, finding Magento 1.x experts is a breeze.
However, Magento 2 has shaken things up (Magento 2 was released with new features to solve many of the bugs and drawbacks of Magento 1), with radical architectural changes and technical requirements that have left the community playing catch-up.
Meanwhile, Shopify’s ecosystem is flourishing, with millions of customers and a growing community of Shopify Experts, including:
- 🎨 Solutions partners (theme designers, app integrators, customization gurus)
- 🔌 Technology partners (e-commerce tools, providers, and integrations)
- 🏢 Agency partners (full-service creative, marketing, and development agencies)
What will it lead to? A robust e-commerce ecosystem means you’ve got a whole crew of experts in your corner, ready to help you crush your sales goals and keep your customers coming back for more.
The Ideal Enterprise E-commerce Platform for You
The above considerations give you a side-by-side comparison of Magento versus Shopify Plus.
So, where does this leave us in the battle of Shopify Plus vs Magento? Honestly, it depends on your unique business requirements and challenges. Let’s recap the key takeaways:
- 🔒 Both platforms prioritize security, ensuring customer confidence
- 📈 Shopify Plus scales seamlessly, while Magento offers power at the cost of complexity
- 💸 Shopify Plus has straightforward pricing, while Magento requires more investment
- 🛍️ Shopify Plus makes customization a breeze, while Magento caters to tech-savvy brands
- 🌍 Shopify Plus excels at multi-channel selling and global expansion
- 🔌 Both platforms offer a wealth of integrations and extensions
- 🔧 Shopify Plus and Magento Commerce offer robust functionality for enterprises
- 🚑 Shopify Plus provides comprehensive support, while Magento relies on its community
- 🌳 Shopify’s ecosystem is thriving, while Magento 2 has some catching up to do
- 💻 Both platforms offer cloud-based solutions that allow large businesses to scale and grow with ease.
Parting Thoughts
If rapid growth and scalability are your top priorities, Shopify Plus might be your knight in shining armor. Enterprise merchants enjoy a unique combination of performance, customization, and conversion, with the added benefit of post-launch support from Shopify’s best-in-class account management teams.
Or maybe you’re all about deep customization and don’t mind getting your hands dirty with code—in that case, Magento could be a contender.
Our advice? Align your platform pick with your most critical business goals. With the right choice, you’ll be unstoppable! No matter which platform you choose, look for robust data analytics and reporting capabilities to gain valuable insights into optimizing your large company’s performance.
People also ask
Q: Can I make the leap from Magento to Shopify Plus without breaking a sweat?
Answer: Absolutely! Switching from Magento to Shopify Plus is totally doable, and it’s a one-way ticket to leveling up your online store’s functionality and growth potential. Sure, there might be a few technical hurdles to clear when it comes to data transfer, but with a squad of savvy developers or a trusty migration service by your side, you’ll conquer those challenges like a boss.
Q: What makes Shopify Plus the go-to choice for enterprises ready to skyrocket?
Answer: Shopify Plus offers features such as multi-channel selling, advanced analytics, customizable checkout, and integrations with leading payment gateways. These enterprise-grade payment options help streamline transactions for large businesses, help high growth companies streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive sales.
Q: What level of support and resources are available for developers working with Shopify Plus and Magento for enterprise businesses?
Answer: Shopify Plus offers extensive documentation, developer tools, and dedicated support for developers, facilitating the creation of custom solutions and integrations for enterprise businesses.
Where do we begin? Shopify Plus is packed with features that high-growth enterprises can’t resist, like:
- Multi-channel selling to crush sales on every platform 📱💻🖥️
- Advanced analytics to keep tabs on your biz like a pro 📊
- Customizable checkout for a silky-smooth user experience 🛒💸
- Integrations with all the top payment gateways 💳💰
Magento also provides developer resources but may require more familiarity with the platform’s architecture and coding standards for effective development. With these superpowers, streamlining your operations, wowing your customers, and sending your sales soaring becomes a piece of cake.
Q: What kind of support and resources can developers expect when working with Shopify Plus and Magento?
Answer: When it comes to developer support, Shopify Plus is like having a secret weapon in your coding arsenal. They’ve got:
- Tons of helpful documentation 📚
- Powerful developer tools to make life easier 🔧
- A dedicated team ready to help with custom solutions and integrations 🤝
Magento’s no slouch in the resource department either, but developers might need to put in a bit more time to wrap their heads around its architecture and coding quirks:
- A thriving, open-source community for collaboration and support 🌐
- Comprehensive dev docs to help navigate the platform 📑
- Tons of extensions and customization options to play with 🧩
While Shopify Plus might have a slightly gentler learning curve, Magento’s flexibility and community support make it a solid choice for devs who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and diving into the nitty-gritty.
Q:Can Shopify Plus integrate with enterprise-level ERP and CRM systems?
Answer: You know it! Shopify Plus is all about making your ERP and CRM systems feel right at home. It offers seamless integration options with all leading enterprise systems, so you can sync your data and streamline your operations without breaking a sweat.
Magento’s also supports extensive integrations, but be prepared to put in a little extra elbow grease to get everything running like a well-oiled machine.
