Adobe Reviews & Ratings

Both, PrestaShop and Magento Open Source eCommerce platforms, offer a wide range of features that enable the rapid development of any web or online store.

Both are quality frameworks, but each has its own pros and consumers must weigh in these facts in order to determine which one would better fulfill their needs.

Below is a brief comparison between the two:

PrestaShop

Officially launched in August 2007 for small and medium sized businesses, PrestaShop is an Open Source eCommerce platform for Web 2.0. that uses the Smarty template engine for PHP.

Although PrestaShop can be downloaded for free from their website, additional elements like: modules, templates, and themes must be purchased from the PrestaShop store.

PrestaShop’s features include support in 38 languages, reliable web hosting services, free domain name, free shared SSL, special deals and promotions, cross-selling, and affiliate programs.

The Open Source edition supports payment gateways such as Google Checkout andPayPal with further payment modules offered commercially. Even though PrestaShop does not offer official support channels for its users, it has developed an online forum where members can engage and exchange ideas.

 Magento

Launched in March 2008, Magento is a feature-rich Open Source eCommerce software solution, that offers merchants the flexibility of having complete control over content planning of their on-line store.

Magento also features cream of the crop marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and catalog-management tools that provide merchants the power to create eCommerce sites tailored to their needs.  The Magento community is constantly improving and creating new features, extensions, and modules.

Side by Side Comparison of These Platforms:

 1. Features:

PrestaShop is easy to install and boasts a wide range of attractive features. For instance, its search & advanced search modules are excellent, being comparatively faster than Magento’s.

Magento offers online businesses many out-of-the-box features like: CMS, customer groups, product comparison, Multi Store etc. Magento also includes some SEO features making it a fully versed e-Commerce platform solution. It delivers better design/UI and is prominent with any product in the market.

 2. Ease of use:

PrestaShop is relatively easy to set up and add features. It also has a very user-friendly interface.

Magento requires many extensions to be setup like PDO, CURL etc.

 3. Cost:

 PrestaShop is an Open Source platform that can be downloaded easily from the internet.  Most of its modules are readily available on the internet free of charge, and can be acquired through the PrestaShop community.  PrestaShop also has paid modules available in the PrestaShop store.

Magento comes in two versions, a free Open Source and an Enterprise version.  The free version includes all the necessary features to successfully setup and run a business. Merchants should only choose the Enterprise version if they need access to advanced level tracking and control features. The Enterprise version provides SOLR implementation and support.

 4. Coding Framework:

 PrestaShop: Adopted Smarty Template engine based on PHP.

 Magento: Adopted the Zend framework of PHP and has all the capabilities of MVC architecture.

 5. Design Integration:

Magento can be slightly complicated and sometimes may require expert assistance to handle the UI issues.

 6. SEO Compatibility:

 Magento has better support for SEO, than PrestaShop.

 7. Community:

 Magento has a larger community and better support, than PrestaShop.

Module/Feature availability:FeaturesPrestashopMagentoMulti-CurrencyYesYesProduct ReviewsYesYesOpen Source100%100%PricingFreeBasic version is Free but Enterprise is paidMulti-LanguageYesYesProduct RatingsYesYesRelated ProductsYesYesProduct FeaturesYesYesNewslettersYesYesDiscount CouponYesYesSEO URLsYesYesBackup & RestoreYesYesPrintable InvoicesYesYesSales ReportsYesYesFree ShippingYesYesWholesaleYesYesNews & EventsNoNoWish ListNoYesTestimonialsNoNoTrack orderNoNoProduct ComparisonNoYesStatisticsYesNoAffiliateNoNoMembershipsYesNoRSS FeedNoYesTAGNoYes

Hopefully, this article will help illustrate the traits and characteristics that differentiate PrestaShop and Magento.  In the end, each merchant must consider both options and choose the e-Commerce platform that can better suit the needs of their business.