What eCommerce Platform to Choose for an Online Store?

If you’re thinking about moving your business or store online, then you’re probably want to know which eCommerce platform you should use. The platform for your website will determine how your business will be run, so it’s vital that you choose correctly.

Keep reading to find out which questions you should ask yourself, how you should choose your eCommerce platform, and how your individual needs will affect which platform you go with!

Thinking Of Choosing eCommerce Platform

You need to be prepared and think about several important things. First of all, you should
ask yourself the following questions:

What Is Your Budget?

Your business won’t go very far if you can’t manage how much money you’re willing to spend on it. Knowing your budget will help you to narrow down which platforms and packages you can choose.

What Is the Size of Your Business?

This question is vital if you plan to upgrade its capacity in the future. A more massive company will need more forward-looking and more expensive plan, and a smaller store will need smaller packages. If you’re thinking about upgrading your online shop from a small business to an enterprise quickly and can afford a more expensive plan, then you can do so right away; otherwise, you can upgrade late on.

How Many Products and Categories Will You Have in Your Online Store?

If you’re running a primary store with simple products, product descriptions, and categories, then you don’t need much to run your online store.

For smaller businesses, you can smoothly go with WordPress or WooCommerce because they have some basic, customizable plans that suit your needs. If you’re trying to run a small, local tea shop, then WooCommerce is the best for you because you can create a WordPress site where you can post all of your products with a small description.

If, on the other hand, you’d like to open a clothing store, then you should look toward Magento® because you’ll probably have a lot of categories and subcategories, as well as clothing sizes and customizations. Larger enterprises, though, will probably want to go with a larger eCommerce platform. It is especially true if you have a lot of products and subcategories for your customers to file through. In these situations, you’ll want to go with a larger eCommerce platform like Magento 2 or Shopify.

That’s because Magento 2 is more versatile and has more force behind it. You can add as many subcategories and descriptions as you’d like as long as you have the right extensions. Also, it provides advanced SEO features that will help you to build a robust marketing strategy for your online store and attract more customers. Companies like Ford, Nike, and Louboutin use Magento 2.

What Payment Systems Are You Going to Use?

The payment system you use will determine which add-ons and extensions you’ll be using as well. Not only this, but you’ll want to make sure that whichever platform you use can integrate your payment method into your site. You should consider that including add-ons on your site could be more expensive.

Magento, for instance, uses payment gateways like Paypal online and cash on delivery offline; meanwhile, WooCommerce uses major credit cards, PayPal, and cash on distribution. If you need the additional options for payment gateways, you’ll need to install some free payment extensions, or you can buy the available ones.

How Your Requirements Match the Out-Of-Box Solutions of Existing Platforms?

If you’re working on a budget, you probably don’t want to buy a custom solution because these are significantly more expensive than other options. Instead, you should consider going with a platform that is flexible. If you need a site that has custom colors, for example, then you can find this with plenty of flexible, existing platforms like Magento, or even Magento 2.

Magento 2 is flexible because it’s an open-source platform, which means that you can edit your site’s code at any time. By doing so, you can always alter the information in your online store. You can also create many stores so that it’s available in different languages; thereby, increasing your exposure around the world and generating more revenue.

Depending on your needs, you can find plans that match them! Magento, for example, has thousands of available add-ons that will allow you to develop your custom site.

Choosing eCommerce Platforms Solution: Criterias You Should Consider

When you’re looking at the differences between platforms, you need to pay attention to a few things:

• Out-of-the-box functionality. You want something that is out-of-the-box and something that isn’t like all the other sites out there. Because of this, you need to choose a platform that functions the way you want it to, as well as one that allows for flexibility.
• Scalability and flexibility. A platform that is scalable is one that will allow you to grow as a company, and one that is flexible is one that will allow you to modify your website as you do.
• Technical requirements and costs. We’ve already spoken a little about the hosting costs, but won’t be any good for your company if you’re paying more than you can afford. You’ll be using money that you can otherwise be using in your business.
• Website security. With any online business, you need to make sure that your customers, and your company, is safe. Your platform needs to have some form of online security.
• Easiness in use. If you can’t code, then you shouldn’t go with a platform that requires you to. Likewise, your platform shouldn’t be too hard to customize or modify.

Easy-to-Use eCommerce Platforms

Some eCommerce platforms are much easier to use than others. These include:

• WooCommerce
• Shopify
• Prestashop

They each have their reasons for being easy to use, but the main reason is that none of these require extensive coding. Magento, on the other hand, requires much more coding, and you many companies hire developers.

Top Enterprise eCommerce Platforms

The main competitors in this category are:

• Magento 2 Commerce
• Oracle Commerce
• SAP Hybris
• Demandware
• Shopify Plus
• IBM Websphere
• Intershop

While critics have claimed that Magento 2 isn’t easy to use as because it may involve coding, every update makes it easier and more user-friendly. It is one of the leaders on the USA market and it allows for thousands of add-ons so that each site is completely customizable.

Which eCommerce Platform Is the Most Powerful?

Overall, Magento 2 is the more powerful platform. It allows for large enterprises to create sites that suit their needs. You get to choose your add-ons, consider your wished website functionality and choose a good web development team. When you’re choosing how your online site is run, you have to decide which platform suits your needs best.

There are lots of other things you should think about, such as:

• required functionality;
• 3rd-party integrations;
• marketing tools you want to use;
• the way of communication with the customers;
• specific shopping and selling features.

How to Become Trustful Partners with Your Outsourcing Service Provider

If you want to become trustful partners with your outsourcing service provider, first, start from defining what trust in business is for you. Then try to build confidence with your partner.

Sounds simple, right? 🙂

Before you start, let’s find out the key to building successful business relationships.

Business outsourcing is some back-office outsourcing. Recently, it has begun to include other internal business functions like HR, finance, and IT services. Forming any business partnership is quite a significant decision. You are handing over part of your business operations to someone else. Trust is a necessity if you want this connection to be productive and beneficial. Here are some important aspects for you to consider.

The Importance of Trust in Business Relationships

Trust is a crucial factor in successful and unsuccessful partnerships. People in business relationships who trust each other communicate well, and they don’t second-guess each other. Partners each believe that the other party is genuinely committed as much as they are. They feel secure enough to drop their guard and instead use all their energy to being as selflessly productive as possible.

Finding the Right Business Partner

It is probably the biggest challenge when it comes to business partners. How does one find the right business partner? Where does one start? Let’s begin by looking at three fundamental issues regarding business partners.

What are the Most Common Business Partner Problems?

Cultural Differences

It may become a problem if partners are not sensitive to each other’s cultural differences. This issue can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. For example, one partner may feel disrespected by an innocent gesture made by the other.

Communication Barriers

Communication can make or break a business partnership. When partners do not understand each other, things tend to get interpreted differently. It’s evident when business partners do not speak the same language. It is what can also happen if they do not communicate in defined terms. For example, the phrase “as soon as possible” may mean different things to different people.

Ambiguous Expectations

When expectations in the partnership are not defined, they are open to interpretation that leaves a massive opportunity for distorted goals and other problems to occur.

How to Find a Business Partner?

Networking is one of the best ways to find potential business partners. You could network with friends, partners or acquaintances. Your local business community should also have plenty resources to offer. Networking events are a common occurrence so make sure you attend as many as you can. They offer you an opportunity to make connections all in one space. Specialized networking groups are also available online. You should join groups that relate to your field or the areas of interest that you want to attract to your business.

Pay attention to networking websites, such as Linkedin, Meetup.com. They connect professionals and help them to become partners.

How to Choose the Right Outsourcing Partner?

The success of your business can depend on finding the right outsourcing service provider. It is as important as selecting an employee to join your company.

These are some of the criteria you should consider.

Look at the Reputation and Client Reviews

Your outsourcing partner’s reputation in the industry is a good indicator of what you can expect. You may find that their other clients may have had a different experience to what they are offering you. It is easy to talk a good game, but it is results that matter. Check with your partner’s previous clients about their experiences. Ask around about what others think about your potential client.

Check Their Technology & Infrastructure

It is very important if your partner is located offshore. Check that your partner has adequate resources and infrastructure to complete your project. Iy’s great if their company has the all necessary environment, office, and human resources.

Learn More about Their Experience

Spend enough time researching your partner’s experience in the industry. Assess their track record to see how credible they are. It is also essential to find the information about the company or request information from them. If they have available portfolios and samples, review them.

Building Trust in Business Partnerships

As mentioned, trust in a business partnership is fragile but is crucial if you want to succeed. These are some essential elements to remember when building a business partnership.

Save Honesty

Be honest and direct about everything. Transparency in all matters, even insignificant ones, goes a long way. Choose to volunteer information, rather than wait to be asked. When you show that you have nothing to hide, you immediately become trustworthy.

Make Decisions and Resolve Issues

Ground interaction rules between the partners should be fixed in black and white and agreed in advance. This includes how your decisions or disagreements will be resolved. By defining a transparent process for coping with difficult issues, trust grows for both partners.

Be Consistent

Consistency is vital when building trust among team members. Everyone should know what to expect from each other and that those expectations should be met. Inconsistency breeds unreliability. Company standards should be upheld. Job descriptions should be honored. Promises should be kept. Adhering to deadlines is essential. Expected dates for reports and payments must be kept to at all costs. If there are any foreseeable problems, partners should be forthright. A friendly warning or a courtesy heads up goes a long way to cement trust between partners. Honesty in business is always much appreciated.

How to Make Trust in Business?

Establish Expectations

When expectations are established and defined, there is less room for interpretation. That means less room for misunderstandings. Everyone will understand what is expected of each person. Their role will make more sense to them if they are aware of how they fit into the grander scheme.

Keep a Word

At times, a person’s behavior is their only reassurance to another that they can be trusted. Actions speak louder than your words, so it is essential to be a person of your word. Be transparent in all your business plans and communications.

Respect Opinions

When your partner manages a process, they know how to get you the required results. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have chosen them, right? Respect your outsourcing partner and their opinions. Sometimes, they may know your process better than you. Remember that this is their profession.

Best Magento 2 Hosting

The best Magento® 2 hosting is the one that meets Magento 2 technical requirements, that is reliable, stable, and secure. You’ll find the excellent hosting providers for Magento 2 in the lists below.

If you’d like to install Magento 2 on your computer, then you need to have the right host. Websites and services like Magento 2 are hosted on servers so that they can function properly. If you want your site to be faster, below we will tell you the main requirements and list top hosting providers on the market.

Magento 2 Hosting Requirements

There are just three primary technical requirements for Magento 2.

• SSD – 20GB;
• RAM – 2GB;
• Magento optimized hosting.

Magento 2.1 Hosting Requirements

Magento 2.1 has system requirements that are needed to run the application, as well as web versions. With it, users will also be able to connect with Paypal to pay for orders and items. In Magento 2.1, you’ll need Apache 2.2 as a web server (or better). The system requirements are the following: MySQL 5.6; PHP 5.6.5-5.6.x, 7.02, 7.04, 7.0.6 – 7.0.x and one of the supported web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari and required PHP extensions installed.

Magento 2.2 Hosting Requirements

Magento 2.2 needs Linux x86-64 as an operating system. It also requires that you have a Composer, which will allow you to work within the system’s code. Other system requirements include MySQL 5.6, 5.7; PHP 7.02, 7.04, 7.0.6 – 7.0.x, 7.1.x. Like the 2.1 version, you’ll need Apache 2.2 or better as the web server!

And one more important note: you should have the SSH access to the server to be able to make changes and run commands using the command line. Also, you’ll need to have the necessary PHP extensions installed.

Magento 2.3 Hosting Requirements

As for the operating system, Magento 2.3 requires Linux x86-64. Still, to upgrade Magento store to 2.3 version you need up to 2GB of RAM. Web server – Apache 2.2 or 2.4, plus you must enable the Apache mod_rewrite and mod_version modules.

Other system requirements are the following – MySQL 5.6, 5.7, MySQL NDB Cluster 7.4.*, MariaDB 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, Percona 5.7, and other binary-compatible MySQL technologies. PHP should be 7.1.3 , 7.2.x. Don’t forget the latest stable version of the composer to deal with Magento 2 codebase.

For the full list of requirements for Magento 2.1 – 2.3, you can check the official website.

Types of Best Hosting for Magento 2 Available

Magento 2 Shared Hosting

A lot of web hosting sites have shared hosting. Essentially, shared hosting means that on a single server, the service provider provides its services for several different websites. Linux has a shared hosting platform that you can use. But keep in mind that any shared hosting is appropriate for the sites with the low and medium-sized traffic. It is the most affordable solution but not always suitable for Magento 2.

Magento VPS

A VPS, unlike shared hosting, runs its version of a website. With a virtual private server, more control is put into the user’s hands. You’ll be able to change settings and configurations, as well as run any updates that run on your OS. VPS resists high traffic load, and it will be a good option if your online store is on Magento 2.

Dedicated Server

As its name suggests, a dedicated server will only serve one organization. If you run an online store, then it will just help your site. This hosting is the exact opposite of the aforementioned shared hosting. It also costs much more.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a lot like other kinds of hosting; only, the servers run in a cloud. A cloud is a form of online backup which saves data through a network. The network is available through a virtual server that relies on many other physical servers; it doesn’t matter as much if a physical server crashes that creates improved reliability.

The List of the Best Magento Hosting Providers

Cloudways – Magento Tailored Hosting 

Pricing:

If you’re looking for the perfect managed cloud hosting at the right price, you can choose Cloudways where pricing plans start from merely $10. With the Pay-As-You-Go model, you only have to pay for the services you use.

About:

One of the leading managed Magento Hosting platforms with different cloud infrastructures including Amazon Web Service, Google Cloud Engine, Digital Ocean, Kyup, Vultr, and Linode. It is exclusively designed to get rid of technicalities and gives customers the ultimate peace of mind. Equipped with advanced technologies and a cache mechanism for matchless Magento 2 performance.

Offering all the advanced technologies. All you have to do is follow these simple steps: Firstly, select your app, choose the cloud infrastructure, and launch your website without any technical complexities. You even get free SSL certificate and ability to scale the server resources according to your needs.

It is one of the tops and trusted managed hosting providers, build for convenience. Their Magento 2 hosting solution completely meets all technical requirements and includes 24/7 security support. If you want a stable, safe, and litespeed hosting, Cloudways is a good choice.

Specification of technologies:

Nginx and Apache as web servers, PHP-FPM, MySQL/MariaDB, Cloudways Full Page Cache for Magento 1.x, Varnish for Magento 2.x and Memcached/Redis as optional.

Amazon S3 – Magento 2 Cloud Hosting

Pricing:

Amazon S3 will only charge you for the services you use. You can calculate how much it would cost you to run your Magento site on Amazon S3 by using their AWS Monthly Calculator. The prices will vary depending on how much data and storage you use per day.

About:

This system is especially useful because Magento 2 requires a lot of memory to be able to run efficiently. Amazon S3 allows you to store any amount of data from any device! The site claims to have 99.99% durability, and it promises to keep all of your information secure.

Specification of technologies:

Amazon S3 has versions for Java, .Net, Python, PHP, Node, and Ruby.

Zero lag – Magento 2 Dedicated Hosting

Pricing:

To get the right pricing, you need to request a quote from the company.

About:

The service is designed to focus on the user that’s using Zerolag rather than the company that’s being created from it. Zerolag allows you to customize your experience so that your site is unique.

Byet – Free and Premium Hosting Services

Pricing:

With Byte hosting, you have the option of choosing from several different plans. They provide dedicated servers with a full server control that are suitable for Magento 2. The price of the dedicated server is $150 per month.

About:

Byet hosts over one million websites on their servers. The company has been running for more than a decade and claims to offer free support. here are many benefits to using Byet, including nightly backups, server monitoring, and engineering and migration support no matter what location do you have.

Rackspace – Magento Managed Environment

Pricing:

Like Amazon’s cloud service, other server pricings will depend on what you use. You can request a free quote to know the exact price of the solution you need. You also can read a review or check different opinions and decide whether it suits you or not.

About:

Rackspace has been named the #1 managed cloud company, and it has been up and running since 1999. With Rackspace, you can request a free quote, it’s incredibly secure, and you always have access to their technical and expert support.

A2 Hosting – Magento 2 VPS, Dedicated, Cloud, and Shared Hosting

Pricing:

Prices for VPS start at just under $33 per month, and you can choose the option of managed and unmanaged hosting and 75GB of storage. Cloud hosting for Magento 2 will cost you from nearly $60 per month, and Dedicated Server price starts from $100 per month.

About:

A2 Hosting uses what they call “turbo” servers, meaning their servers run quicker than others. They provide VPS, Dedicated Server, and Cloud Hosting. They also use Guru as their crew support, and you can get your money back at any time.

Nexcess – Magento Optimized Hosting

Pricing:

The price starts from $20 per month for a year for shared Magento optimized hosting. There will be thirty accounts and nine additional stores. But if you choose a Dedicated server, it will cost you $540 and more.

About:

Nexcess allows you to choose the package that suits your needs and the needs of your customers. The servers are stable and offer options for both Magento 1 and Magento 2. It provides Magento optimized hosting solutions: Enterprise servers and Dedicated servers.

Things you should consider when choosing Magento 2 hosting:

• Magento 2 technical requirements. If you’re trying to run Magento 2 on a system that doesn’t fit its needs, you’ll find yourself out of luck very quickly.
• SSH access to the server should be provided.
• The traffic load of your website (the number of visits monthly) should be taken into account. The more visitors you have on your website, the more powerful and fast hosting you need.
• Service provider reputation. The hosting provider should be a reliable partner (refer to the partner directory above). If you don’t choose a reliable host, you can find yourself with problems in your system’s security, as well as glitches and bugs.

Magento 2 is heavy enough; it’s better to choose from the following options: Virtual Private Server, Dedicated Server, or Cloud Hosting. And that would be great if the hosting is Magento optimized.

5 Great Magento 2 Payment Extensions From Marketplace

Lots of successful online stores make use of payment extensions. They are functional modules that add features to your website. A Magento® 2 custom payment method module can turn a boring catalog of items into a complete online shopping experience. It adds more capabilities to your online store. Payment extensions can give you secure transactions and smarter functionality. That helps to increase your website’s sales.

What Tasks Payment Extensions Solve

There are a lot of advantages which Payment Modules can give your online shop:

• they extend the functionality without changing Magento 2 core;
• payment modules allow your customers to use the most common payment gateways which are convenient for them;
• extensions provide secure payments that that has critical importance for customers.

There are some useful extensions available for eCommerce websites that make use of Magento 2. Let’s look at some of them.

5 Best Magento 2 Payment Extensions

MultiSafepay by MultiSafepay

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality
MultiSafepay is a service provider that handles payment collections. This extension lets your customers make online and mobile payments easily. The process is seamless, quick and simple. MultiSafepay transactions are extremely secure, and it allows access to several payment methods.

3 Main Advantages

• It supports over 15 local and international payment methods. That includes credit cards from VISA, MasterCard, and American Express. It also works with local payment methods like iDEAL and Bancontact. Gift cards from over 20 providers can also be used.
• It’s entirely PCI compliant. Your customers’ payment details are processed securely. When purchasing on your website, they will be redirected to the MultiSafepay payment platform. The transaction will get processed using a secure SSL connection.
• It supports responsive payment pages. MultiSafepay’s mobile channel puts your customers at ease. There are also several in-app payment solutions available to enhance their shopping experience.

Price

MultiSafepay is free to download.
Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1.

PayPlug Payment Gateway by J2T Design

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality
This extension allows your Magento 2 website to use the PayPlug Payment Gateway. It is the only solution designed for SMEs specifically. It provides a friendly check-out service. Using their Smart 3-D Secure feature, it reduces the chances of fraud significantly.

3 Main Advantages

• It’s effortless to install. It can be ist up with a single click, and no merchant account is required.
• It includes excellent tools to track orders. Customers often judge stores on how well the online shop manages their orders after purchase. You can retain your customers’ loyalty by offering this kind of excellent after-sales service.
• It has an infrastructure on par with registered banking institutions. It is PCI DSS certified, and it is registered as a payment agent at the ACPR. All funds are secured in French banks

Price

It is free to download and is available for Magento 2 Community Edition only. You may purchase a 1-month service agreement for $45-00. You may also add the optional installation service for an additional $120-00.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1.

Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions by Magenest 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions for Magento 2 gives your website the ability to accept once-off and recurring payments securely. It allows store owners to accept all major payment cards to create payment method in Magento2. One notable feature is that it even lets you receive Bitcoin payments via Stripe’s API.

3 Main Advantages

• It has a Level 1 PCI DSS security level. It is the highest possible compliance level of PCI DSS certification. It means outstanding security for your website’s transactions.
• It supports Bitcoin payments. So your customer base will expand. Bitcoin is a widely popular form of currency. More customers will be inclined to make purchases with Bitcoin on your website.
• It allows for smarter payment processing. This Magento 2 custom payment gateway lets you set up payment filter rules for different payments. Also, some countries have laws that restrict the act of buying and selling of specific products. This extension lets you limiting payment from particular countries.

Price

The download for Magento 2 Community Edition is $149-00. The download for Magento 2 Enterprise edition is $349-00. You may purchase an optional installation service for each version for $50-00.

There is a free 6-month service agreement included with each edition. But you also can extend to 9-month and 12-month service agreements at an extra fee:

Community Edition:

The 6-month service agreement is free.
The 9-month service agreement is $50-00.
The 12-month service agreement is $80-00.

Enterprise Edition:

The 6-month service agreement is free.
The 9-month service agreement is $100-00.
The 12-month service agreement is $150-00.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Amazon Pay by Amazon Payments, Inc.

Functionality

Amazon Pay lets your customers easily check-in and check-out on your Magento 2 website. It uses the information already stored in their Amazon account. They can do so without even leaving your website. It supports both desktop and mobile sites. Amazon Pay consists of 2 main components. The first element is a login module that lets customers register and login using their Amazon account. There’s no need to gather any additional information. The second component is a payments module that allows customers to complete checkout using their stored Amazon payment methods.

3 Main Advantages

• It increases your online credibility. It reassures the customer with common Amazon features and security that will help capture sales from customers who are hesitant to enter their information online.
• It provides a smooth and seamless payment process. Customers won’t need to leave your site to enter any payment or shipping information. All this information is extracted from their existing Amazon account.
• It has no hidden fees. There are no unexpected add-ons for monthly use, setup, or cancellation. It will inevitably save you money by lowering the total cost of accepting payments for your online store.

Price

Amazon Pay is available for Magento 2 Community and Enterprise editions. Both are free to download. They each come with a 1-month service agreement included which is free of charge.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Mollie by Mollie Payments

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Mollie gives your online store the support it needs to accept payments and donations online. It helps expand your customer base internationally by supporting all primary global payment methods. It does this through a single integration.

3 Main Advantages

• It allows quick and easy setup. The process of creating and activating your Mollie account is a matter of minutes. You could even start accepting payments within 15 minutes.
• It includes a personal dashboard. It contains all the real-time insights you need. All this information is held in a single panel and can be exported to every kind of accounting software.
• It lets you process refunds efficiently. Refunds can be issued right from the Magento 2 backend. Partial and extra refunds are both supported.

Price

Mollie is available for Magento 2 Community edition only. It is free to download.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2.

How Much Does Magento eCommerce Cost?

If you want to know what it will cost to create Magento® 2 online stores, we are going to make the things clear today.

The cost of building a Magento online store depends on the choice of your edition and further customizations. The process should begin with a full assessment of what capabilities you want your online store to have. You should also differentiate between features that are necessary versus non-critical. The main goal of doing this is to ensure that your budget can cover all the critical operational features of your store first. Once you can cover this cost, you can use the rest of your budget for other non-critical features. Every business needs to make the smartest use of its resources. The critical features of your online store should be established first. Then you can include other items.

It may seem like a complicated exercise, but we promise you, it is not. In fact, we have laid out everything you need to know to guide you through Magento eCommerce cost structure. Let’s start with the initial software cost.

How Much Will a Magento Website Cost Me?

There are two pricing approaches that you could take. You can either opt for the Magento 2 Open Source edition and then add on whatever capabilities you require. But the costs of too many additional extensions can add up. This approach may end up costing more than you budgeted for.

The other option would be to opt for the Magento 2 Commerce Edition. But this method may end up being a wasteful exercise if you don’t need the full power of this version. Therefore, it is essential to establish your critical needs first. When you know what you need, you can then see which approach suits your pocket best.

Magento Small Business Pricing

Let’s highlight they key pricing points and price range for the package. Magento Open Source is entirely free as a package. You can request the demo, and then after reviewing it, you can download the recent Magento Open Source edition and start to work on it.

Magento Enterprise Pricing

The price of all Magento Enterprise editions is dependent on what your exact needs are. The final price will depend on your store yearly revenue.

Magento 2 License Cost

For the Magento 2.x Commerce, license cost starts from $22,000 for the year plan. This Magento 2 Enterprise Edition Price is for merchants generating less than $1 million. Commerce Cloud costs around $40,000 for the year plan. The price varies from $22,000 and $40,000 to $125,000 and $190,000, if company generating between $25 – $50 million per year.

The stats above are showing the average price for packages and relies on the gross revenue of the store. However, the price also relies on the functionality implemented, and the maximum that we pointed here is for the fully functional Magento Commerce Store.

Basic Magento Website Cost Structure

Some factors contribute to the basic eCommerce website price of a Magento store. Let’s look at the most important aspects that you need to know about.

Magento 2 Server Costs

A Magento 2 server needs to be able to run a Linux x86-64 operating system. This should be supported by at least 2Gb of RAM, or else a swap file will be required. Databases must be built with MySQL 5.6 minimum. The servers that will run your Magento 2 solution must be able to perform to these standards. The cost of the actual Magento 2 server solution will depend on which edition you decide to use.

Magento Hosting

The hosting cost of the actual Magento 2 server solution will depend on which edition you decide to use. Please, take into account that different hosting providers charge a specific price for the hosting solution. Simple hosting starts at $3,99, and for the advanced plan, you can pay from $200 per month.

Magento Website Development Costs

Developing a Magento website does require specific specialized skills. Developers that can perform this task have different costs. This cost is dependent on what kind of site you expect. A website with a simple checkout protocol will be cheaper to develop. A website that needs more functionality will be more expensive because it will require more development.

Additional Module Packages

The costs of developing your online store will increase if you decide to add functionality by means of using module packages. Some modules are free to download. But several of the most useful modules can only be purchased. The cost of your website will increase with each module package that you buy. To learn more about the prices for Magento 2 extensions, you can visit Magento Marketplace where you’ll find lots of useful modules for various needs.

Marketing Costs

Marketing is not directly related to developing a website. But once your website is created, you want to direct as much traffic as possible to it. The costs involved to market your website are counted as part of your development costs. This is because marketing is part of making your Magento store as successful as possible. Some marketing strategies include SEO, online marketing campaigns and content management. Marketing costs are usually counted as an optional cost. But realistically, marketing your Magento store is necessary. No matter how great your store is, people still need to be told about it.

Magento Development Cost

Total web development costs consist of developers’ hourly rates and the scope of work needed.

Magento Development Hourly Rates

Magento developer cost per hour can range from $20 to $100. The actual rate will depend on several factors. The development requirements of your Magento store is one such factor. A simple shop that requires little technical development will be cheaper and vice versa. Another factor is the developer(s) location. Different developers may charge different rates for the same job. Their rates depend on the country where the developers are from. Some regions, such as the USA, European countries can have higher rates than Ukraine or Poland, for instance. It depends on the world market and the tax system in the country.

Also, besides the rate, we recommend you to pay attention to the experience and skills of a web developer. There are specific skills that only experience can teach. And a professional developer is more likely to have these skills. You can check it by requesting the developer’s CV and portfolio, conducting the face-to-face interview, or taking several trial hours for free.

What Are the Other Important Elements That Can Affect the Pricing?

Every Magento online store has essential features that they must have to be operational. Let’s look at the necessary works that your online store will need:

• Requirements for brief creation (it usually takes nearly 40-80 hours).

It is a significant milestone that helps to clarify your exact needs and the functionality your online store will include.

• Project architecture creation (also 40-80 hours).

On this stage, the team thoughts out the whole project core and architecture it will have.

• Magento 2 installation (1-2 hours).

After that, you get Magento 2 out-of-box functionality that needs customizations.

• Backend implementations (needs at least 200 hours and depends on customizations you may need).

It usually includes modules set-up, custom module development, API development, and 3-d party integrations.

• Frontend implementations (starts from 200 hours).

It includes setting up a theme or designing a custom theme.

The approximate realistic total for a project of this scope will take around 1000-2000 hours.

Custom Magento Website Cost

What the customization means as an action. The customization is necessary if you want to rebuild or change specific default feature for your business needs. This requires additional developer’s work and could be counted as extra development hours.

You can customize the theme, modules, and any store features as products, orders, search, login, checkout, etc. Also, you can contact us so that we can customize any feature for your store and help to clarify the costs according to our estimation. A customized solution ensures that you do not waste money on paying for features and capabilities that you may not need.

What Is the Cost to Maintain My Magento Website?

You can calculate actual development costs as:

The number of development hours * web developer hourly rate

If we will calculate the approximate costs, it will look like the following:

This is not the final amount. All the factors mentioned in this article will contribute to your total. You should keep in mind that initial development costs may seem expensive. But your Magento online store will begin seeing more revenue, and you will start recovering your investments.

Best Websites to Outsource Web Development for the USA in 2019

Outsourcing is an efficient way to get work done for your business without needing to add these departments to your company structure. It can be intimidating when trying to find companies that outsource web development. Let’s look at a few risks involved.

The Main Risk of Outsourcing Web Development Projects

Risk 1: Quality Control

It can be challenging to be fully involved in the web development process. It can result in an end-product that is not exactly what you expected.

Risk 2: Security and Privacy Leaks

Outsourcing web development does involve handing over some access to sensitive information. If your developer does not assume responsibility for this security, you could end up with leaked private information.

Risk 3: Lack of Customer Focus

Sometimes, agencies take on too many clients. So, they tend to take a somewhat generic approach to development. Another reason could be that web development has a creative element which an “outsider” may not fully grasp.

How to Outsource Web Development Confidently

The good news is that some useful outsourcing websites can help you find the talent you seek. Here are 5 of the best outsourcing platforms in the USA and globally.

Clutch.co

About

Clutch is an independent research company. They maintain an in-depth database of service providers and vendors. Web development is one of their focus areas. It uses verified company reviews and a “leader matrix” to create relevant recommendations for clients. The leader matrix is composed of several evaluation metrics like quality, cost and client portfolios.

How it works

If you need a service provider, you would first need to select the domain that your requirements fall under (e.g., software development, web design, etc.). You will receive with leader matrices of possible company choices. You can check their profiles, rates and previous client reviews.

Benefits

• The potential service providers are based partly on positive customer reviews. Service providers who perform poorly are marked as such, so potential clients are fully aware of their performance.
• The process of assessing and choosing service providers can be a lengthy and expensive exercise. Clutch takes care of this by doing the legwork for you. You just need to determine the leaders.

Upwork

About

Upwork is a platform for freelancers from all over the world. It is a virtual meeting place where businesses and freelancers can find each other. Upwork is one of the largest freelance marketplaces available. Clients can list jobs, along with specifications like project requirements, deadlines, budget, and required experience level.

How it works

Freelancers create profiles on Upwork with detailed information related to their skills and experience. You can search the Upwork database for freelancers that meet specified criteria. You can also list your job on the news feed. Freelancers will browse these jobs and submit proposals. You review the proposals and choose a freelancer. They are contractually obligated to do the work. Projects can be billed per milestone or when the service provider completes the entire project. It can also be charged per hour. For fixed-price jobs, you can use Upwork’s Escrow service to release funds automatically as milestones are met.

Benefits

• An entry-level freelancer can do a simple project. A sophisticated project should be done by an experienced professional. Upwork lets you find the right match for your project.
• Upwork has a host of online tests that they administer to freelancers. You can use this to help verify if freelancers are skilled in their advertised areas.

LinkedIn

About

LinkedIn is a cross-industry networking platform. It’s a great option if you’re looking to hire people or keep updated on business acquaintances. By joining LinkedIn, you become visible in professional communities. The emphasis is on networking for professionals.

How it works

All LinkedIn users have a professional profile that is linked to other professional profiles, like a “friend of a friend” approach. You can search for individuals or companies by location, the field of expertise and skill level. You can also keep the search restricted to people within your network or who are only one degree removed.

Benefits

• The community-based structure of LinkedIn makes it easier for you to connect with like-minded people. You can choose who you want in your “community.”
• LinkedIn is an excellent environment to build brand awareness for your business.

Meetup.com

About

Meetup.com is an environment for you to connect with others, based on similar interests. It is a great way to connect with users involved in web design that could potentially be a good employee for you. The Meetup groups are centered around specific fields. It helps narrow down your search for people involved in web design in your area quite efficiently.
How it works

When you sign up, you can request to join groups. You can also create a group if you don’t find a suitable one. By merely being in the same community as other like-minded people, you can easily find people that would be an asset to your business.

Benefits

Since Meetup.com has a robust location-based search option, you can easily find people based in your area.

Meetup.com is an interest-based platform. That means that the people who join have substantial interests in their fields. It will be easier to find talented employees who are genuinely passionate about their interests.

Outsourcing Company’s Website

About

There is a full portfolio of information available online. You can easily see what their strengths and specializations are. If you have any questions or would just like more information, you may contact them at any time. You can also keep updated with any special offers that are running.

How it works

When a company is visible in Google search results, it is a good indicator that they take care of their brand. It’s especially true if the potential customer uses generic keywords like “outsourcing company.” That means they have invested resources into their brand because they believe in the products they are selling. One should also evaluate the content quality of the website and how useful their information is. The website visitors should have easy ways to contact the company and have in-depth coverage of who they are. Portfolios, reviews, and company assurances are usually also should be visible on the corporate website.

Benefits

A website with good quality content shows customers that the business is established and is confident in their product. It inspires confidence in the customer and reassures them that the business can take care of their needs. Customers tend to assess businesses based on the quality and visibility of their online presence.

5 Magento 2 Extensions Useful for an Online Store

Magento® 2 is one of the best eCommerce platforms on the market. What makes it so great? It’s customizable. You can ultimately choose how your online store will be run through Magento by buying extensions and add-ons.

Here, we’ve picked 5 Magento extensions that can be useful for each online store!

What Tasks Magento 2 Modules Solve

Magento plugins solve a variety of problems on eCommerce platforms. Today we’ll talk about the customers’ journey. For one thing, M2 modules can make it easier for customers during checkout. They can also separate your page into different sections; for example, clothing stores can have a section called “Shop by Brand.” You can have product bundles added, as well as shipping calculators.

Essentially, extensions are used to make the customer experience better. When your customers are happy, they’re more likely to come back to your store! Today let’s talk about Magento Marketplace extensions that earn special attention.

5 Great Extensions for Magento 2

Store Locator by Amasty

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

Store Locator is the perfect extension for any online store. Whether you’re running a small, medium, or large-sized business, your customers might want to find your location(s), which is why you should consider buying this extension.

Get technical support. At the very least, you have three months of free technical support. This is beneficial as you get used to using the extension, but it is especially useful if you’re going to install the extension on your own.

Display store location on your site. Store Locator connects Google Maps to your online store so that your customers can see where you are and how far away you are from them. You can also put information about each of your locations.

Organize your store locations. This extension allows you to assign specific brands and categories to your store locations so that your customers can see what each store has to offer.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Enterprise 2.1, 2.2

Price

There are two different packages available for this extension.

The first is for Magento 2 Community Edition with the price of the extension itself is $200, and which has a technical support option:

• $129 for 12 months,
• $79 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

No matter which one you choose, you have the option of buying a $60 installation fee.

The second edition is the for Enterprise Edition. This package is $500 at its base and has a $60 installation fee that you can choose to buy. The technical support costs:

• $219 for 12 months,
• $149 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

Check out Suite by IWD Agency

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This extension puts everything on the same page. It’s customizable, so you can choose your layout and your colors to match that of your store. Overall, it makes your entire website function easier.

Enjoy user-friendly pages. Right when your customers go to checkout, they have the option of customizing their products. They don’t have to move backward or move through different tabs. It’s all on the same page!

Customize it. With this Magento 2 module, you have complete control over your website. That means you can edit your layout, the fields that appear during checkout, colors, and much more!

Work with advanced options. That is what will set you apart from other companies. Checkout Suite allows your customers to tell you when they need their product delivered for so that you can try your best to respect their needs. Not only this, but you can give them the option to gift wrap products with a special message to the recipient.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.2, Enterprise 2.2

Price

The version for Community Edition is free, and it comes with the option to have it installed for $85.

The Enterprise Edition base fee is $689 in comparison, with a $60 installation fee. You can choose to have customer service for:

• $551 for 12 months
• $413 for 6 months.

Product Bundled Discount by Krish TechnoLabs

Functionality

The reason this product works is that it promotes your business through marketing. Some people scoff at it because they aren’t gaining as much money as they usually would, but this extension could be the thing that makes your customers keep coming back.

Increase sales. Everyone loves a deal. This extension allows you to provide your customers with more products at a discounted price! Instead of buying one or two items, they’ll buy bundles of products!

Save time. Customers will be able to buy your products with only one click!

Sell dead inventory. Every store owner knows that there are some products which do not sell out completely. There are always extras that hang around in your warehouse, and this can be annoying. Instead, you can offer the product for a bulk price, so customers are more inclined to buy those extra products.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, Enterprise 2.1

Price

Just like the previous two options, this extension has two packages.

The first is a Magento 2 Community Version, which costs $299, has the prospect of a $99 activation fee, and service agreement:

• $180 for 9 months,
• free for 6 months.

The next package is for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition for $600. The installation fee is the same, and it only comes with a free six-month service agreement.

Shop By Brand by Aheadworks

Functionality

This Magento 2 brand extension allows you to create brand pages. That will enable merchants and customers to go to your site and look at specific brands you’re offering; subsequently making shopping time faster and easier. And it is one of the best Aheadworks Magento 2 extensions.

Increase your sales. When customers choose their brand, the extension also shows the products they might like based on their choice, which will gradually bring you more sales.

Get loyalty from brands. Brands appreciate being shown off. Using Shop by Brand will likely get you loyalty from brands because they’ll be represented more.

Provide a faster shopping experience. A lot of people hate shopping for hours on end. With this, they can click on the brand they want and add it to their cart.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, Enterprise 2.1

Price

The Community Edition is $79. It has a $55 option installation fee, as well as service agreements:

• $149 for 12 months,
• $99 for 6 months,
• free for 3 months.

The Enterprise Edition Version comes for $349. The installation fee is the same, but the service agreements are:

• $399 for 12 months,
• free for six months.

SimiCart Mobile App Builder by SimiCart

Functionality

Not everyone knows how to build the perfect mobile app for their site. That’s what makes SimiCart Mobile App Builder especially handy! Almost everyone has a smartphone, which is why you might want to make your company mobile-friendly!

Turn your website into an app. The app configures for your site.

Increase your sales. People are on their phones more and more. When they’re out at work or running errands, they can’t go onto their computer. By going mobile, you can sell items at any moment, from any smartphone.

Interact on social media. This extension will allow your customers to connect with you through social media like Facebook Connect and push notifications.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, Community 2.1

Price

There is only a community edition available, and it’s free for trial! Then you’ll need to buy the monthly subscription which starts at $49/month.

Choose the Best Blog Extension for Magento Store

Do you own an eCommerce website? If so, then you know that one of the most valuable things that you can add to your eCommerce website is a blog, but it can be hard to know which extension you should add. That’s why we are here to provide you with a list of the best blog extensions available!

Top Great Magento® Blog Extensions

If you already have an online store and know blog extensions for Magento 2 requirements to the technical side, take up our list and choose the best one.

Better Blog by MagePlaza

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

What does this blog extension do? It allows you to add a blog to your eCommerce site without having to add a third-party. Examples of third parties include WordPress, Blogger, etc. You can keep your customers or clients up to date with what’s going on in your store, about upcoming products, and more.

3 Main Advantages

• Responsive design. People are more likely to return to your site if it looks good.
• SEO friendliness. It’s becoming more and more important for websites to be SEO friendly. This is because your online site is more likely to be found in search engines if your content is optimized for it.
• Related posts. The blog extension allows your website to be more interactive by showing your customers related posts!

Price

It is one of the most important factors when choosing the blog extension.
It’s free! It also has a thirty-day money back guarantee, offers a lifetime of updates, and technical support for up to one year.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2

Blog MX for Magento 2 by Mirasvit

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Like the last option, this blog extension allows you to include a blog on your online store. You can interact with your customers by adding images, graphs, videos, articles, and more! You can preview your posts before you post them so that you know it’s exactly what you want! It’s also mobile-friendly.

3 Main Advantages

• Tags. You can add tags to your post so that your customers can find them more quickly!
• Images. You can add featured images to your posts to attract more people to your site. No matter what, they’re more likely to buy from you if your site is aesthetically pleasing.
• Pinned posts. You can pin your favorite posts so that they’re the first one your customers see! If there’s one that especially optimized for search engines or another that’s brought in a lot of customers; you can pin them!

Price

It’s free!

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.0, 2.1, 2.2.

Blog by AheadWorks

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This extension is used worldwide by some of the best enterprises in eCommerce. Manage your content with a complete blog. You won’t have to add a third party framework to your site!

3 main advantages

• Customization features. You can decide how your posts look, as well as how your entire blog looks. You can choose how many posts to add per page, what your sidebar looks like, and more!
• Editor included. Your blog posts will immediately be edited by What You See is What You Get. You can add videos to your blog posts, as well as images and charts.
• Easy migration. If you’ve been working out of Magento 1, there’s no need to worry. This blog extension has a migration tool to move between Magento 1 and Magento 2.

Price

The price for Community Edition of this extension is $349.
And it comes with a service agreement:

• free for 3 months
• $99 for 6 months
• $149 for 12 months.

The package for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition is $949 as a base fee, and it comes with a free, 12 month service agreement.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Pro by Amasty

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

Blog Pro is the upgrade you’re looking for to enhance your eCommerce website. Blogs are great for your website because they attract traffic and customers to your site through SEO optimization.

3 Main Advantages

• Customizable layout. You can make your blog reflect your website by choosing how it looks. The aesthetics of your site tells your customers what your brand is all about.
• Adjusted posts. With this extension, you can decide how your posts are added and configured. Choose the color for specific tags, the number of posts per tag, whether or not you use a 3D cloud, etc.
• Security. Everyone worries about cyber attacks. If websites like Paypal can be hacked, then yours can too! Luckily, the extension has been included with your website’s security in mind, and cyber attacks are unlikely.

Price

The price for Community Edition of Blog Pro is a minimum of $299. You can choose to add a $60 installation, as well as support services:

• free for 3 months
• $79 for 6 months
• $129 for 12 months.

The Blog Pro for Enterprise Edition is a minimum of $599. You can choose to have a $59 installation service, as well as support:

• free for 3 months
• $149 for 6 months
• $219 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Extension for Magento 2 by CMS Smart

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This blog extension, like the previous ones, will allow you to add an utterly customizable blog to your eCommerce website without the use of a third-party framework.

3 Main Advantages

• No limit. Some blog extensions have a limit on the number of blogs posts you can add to your page, but this one does not! As long as your website is up and running, you can add an unlimited number of blog posts blog posts!
• Comments moderation. You can manage every comment posted to your blog posts. If you want, you can allow or delete comments!
• Social media support. Every blog post does better when you share it on social media! You can share it on facebook, twitter, google plus, etc.

Price

This extension only costs $80, so it’s one of the more affordable options we have. The domain license lasts for one year, and you can download updates. You can add domain licenses if you want to, and each addition will cost around $30.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1

Awesome Blog by Magefan

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

It’s one more great blog extension for Magento 2 that allows you to add a blog to your online store without setting up WordPress. It comes up with all you need to manage an awesome blog!

3 Main Advantages

• All blog features and blog search. Everything you need for the blog, all essential elements, such as posts, categories, tags, archives, lazy load, comments included! Also, a convenient blog search will help your visitors find what they are looking for. Even more! You can add related products to any blog post and motivate your customers to buy more at your store!
• SEO friendliness. SEO features are great, and they help you to build user-friendly permalinks, generate XML sitemap, and integrate your blog with the other third-party marketing services.
• Multi-language and multi-website support. That means if your online store is multilingual, your blog can also be like that! English, Dutch, French, Romania, and Ukrainian languages come right out-of-box.

Price

It’s free and available only for Magento 2 Community Edition. Also, you can have it installed for $40. If you need the support package, there are two options available:

• $50 for 6 months
• $100 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0

PrestaShop vs Magento: Choosing the Best Platform for Your Online Store in 2019

Anyone who works in the world of eCommerce knows that at some point, they have to choose a platform from which to run their online store. When you’ve come to this point, it can be difficult to know what is best for you; after all, both Magento® and PrestaShop platforms have different characteristics and specialties. But we want to make eCommerce platforms comparison to understand which platform will serve your business needs.

PrestaShop vs Magento

PrestaShop was first released in 2007, a full six years after Magento (2001). Then Magento 2 version came up in 2015. In 2013, a poll showed that nearly 30% of e-commerce market shares took place on Magento platforms; meanwhile, just over ten percent used PrestaShop.

In recent research, Magento has been shown to power 13% of the top million online sites. PrestaShop, on the other hand, runs around 5% of the top million websites. While Magento is a leader in the field, PrestaShop is close on the list.

Usage Prospects

According to builtwith.com:

• 214 K live websites are using the Magento.
• 39 K live sites are using Magento 2.
• 247 live websites are using PrestaShop.

Market Share

Magento 2: 49% market share lies in the United States, 9% – in Great Britain, 6% – in the Netherlands.

PrestaShop: 41% of its market share lies in the United States, 11% in France, and 7% – in Spain.

To determine which platform is better, let’s take a look at what Magento 2 and PrestaShop have to offer.

Difference Between PrestaShop and Magento 2

Both platforms use open source technology, so can customize your store pretty much however you wish.

What is Open Source? Glad you asked! Technology and software that is open source use source code that can be edited and modifies frequently. That is what allows you to customize your website. From colors to plugins, it’s all up to you. Some of the platforms are open source but may vary with functionality, price and overall performance.

Plenty of “big name” companies are currently using Magento 2: from Land Rover to Huawei, the platform has proven its versatility. In comparison, PrestaShop doesn’t have as many large brands or corporations on its side.

The problem with PrestaShop is that it lacks the experience that Magento 2 has. Magento has had an extra six years to perfect its services, while PrestaShop still has issues with payment, bugs, and templates that are entirely out of date. Let’s compare these two platforms.

Packages and Pricing

One of the most important aspects of deciding on a certain platform is cost. Here we will consider how much is Magento store costs and what is the PrestaShop sale price?

PrestaShop is free for use. While expanding with the website will result in additional costs, you can efficiently use this platform at no added costs to you.

If you have a small to medium-sized business and more prone to Magento 2, Community Edition is a good choice. You can use Magento’s Community Edition for free. It’s a quick download, and then ready for use with out-of-the-box features.

Magento 2 is known for being an expensive platform to run if you have a larger company. For the extra security and experience, you can expect to pay a higher price. For extensive business, you can buy the Magento 2 Enterprise Edition. Here, you’ll be spending a fee of at least $22,000 per year. Apparently, this version is better for larger businesses.

Admin Management

PrestaShop has everything related to the content of your store at the back office (i.e. admin panel).

Magento 2 has a pretty simple admin panel and you can find all the sections of your store and settings right at the backend. You need to log in and start exploring it.

Dashboard

The PrestaShop dashboard allows you to check the statistics of your shop’s daily activities, different graphs (sales, orders, visitors, etc.).

The same with Magento: all the important analytics regarding your sales, orders, customers and daily activities you can find on the dashboard.

Payment Methods

Magento 2 offers you Braintree and PayPal as a default payment gateways. For the rest, you need some extensions or add-ons. However, you have plenty of options on the market, and you can choose various payment gateways according to your business needs. Additionally, you can set a price rule, or use zero subtotal feature for certificates and vouchers.

For PrestaShop, you have Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal by default and you can let your customers choose the option that will suit them best. In addition to it, you can offer an electronic wallet or card payment, payment on delivery, in-store payment and prepayment.

Shipping Methods

Magento 2 has plenty of carriers by default, so you can choose among UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, DHL, and FedEx. You also have the option between free shipping, flat rate, and table tax rates for your store.

As for shipping options, you can integrate standard delivery firms and carriers for your PrestaShop store, set and edit carrier information due to your store location and your client orientation. As well as that, free shipping is available according to the carrier rules, handling costs, and out-of-range behavior. That means if your carrier has no shipping costs you can indicate how your store should react.

Prestashop vs Magento Performance

Magento 2 has the following tech stack to use it:

PrestaShop has almost the same technology stack to run it successfully:

The downside to using Magento is that you need a server that performs well and that it does not work as quickly as its competitors. If you look at PrestaShop, you’ll see Magento requires a bit more technical resources and that’s why sometimes has performance issues.

eCommerce Functionality

PrestaShop is also known for being easier to install than Magento is. If you aren’t incredibly tech-savvy, then this might be the better platform for you. You’ll be able to set up your store without any extra skills.

When you’re using Magento 2, you could find yourself contacting the expert team pretty often. Still, any Magento version comes with a support team and several developers, while PrestaShop does not.

Themes and Plugins

Magento 2 has a lot to offer to the eCommerce world. First of all, customers and clients will find that there are additional 1,500 add-ons that they can choose from on Magento Marketplace. And regarding themes and modules, Magento 2 is hugely customizable.

While PrestaShop has an overwhelming 25,000 plugins, not all of them will benefit you, and PrestaShop customization could be a bit complicated. Magento might have plugins of better quality. The large world community of web developers works on it.

Community Support

Magento has a big community of developers, so you always can count on stable updates and quick reaction to solve some issues. Regarding functionality, you can find answers through Stack Overflow and Magento Stack Exchange. For some simple questions, find a solution with Magento Technical Support and look through different sections. However, to fix some problems programmatically, you need to have your in-house or outsourcing team of developers.

Regarding PrestaShop, you have a couple of options to find the solution to your questions. PrestaShop technical support offers various Support Plans on the main website as well as Community Help and Support to answer common questions on installation, updates, and development.

Installation and Usage

PrestaShop provides you with Store Demo and the complete Installation guide.

Magento has Demo that can be requested from the official website. If you want to explore all the features from the backend admin, check our Demo overview. To install Magento get a developer help as it requires 1 to 2 hours of work. Nevertheless, Magento has you covered with notifications of each release, you can update the security or the whole store.

After we have observed the features and overall information about both platforms, let’s conclude them with the pros and cons of each solution.

Prestashop vs Magento: Who Is the Winner?

Let’s summarize both platform results!

5 Best Magento 2 Cloud Backup Extensions and CDN Solutions

The only thing more important than running an excellent online store on eCommerce leader Magento® 2 is having robust data protection measures in place. Let’s take a look at a few cloud backup extensions and CDN solutions for Magento 2 to see why your business needs them.

What is Cloud Backup?

Cloud backup is a way of preventing data loss. It is a method used to store a copy of your data in a virtual storage facility. This strategy uses the power of cloud technology to keep a backup of your data on your service provider’s servers. This measure does not prevent you from continuing on-premise backups too. In the event of any unfortunate data loss like hardware failure, damage or cyber-attacks, there is still a safe copy stored in the cloud. Your service provider’s servers are kept in totally secure locations with all kinds of loss protection measures in place. A good safety measure of backing up your data is using the qualitative Magento 2 modules for your online store. Let’s talk about the market leaders.

5 Best Magento Backup and Restore Extensions for 2.x Version

S3 Cloud Backup by Schogini Systems P Ltd

Functionality

Losing precious business data for any reason is enough to bring a company to its knees. The best safety measure to protect your data is to arm yourself with a cloud backup solution. This Magento cloud backup extension is one such solution. It gives you tools to send database and media file backups to Amazon S3 Cloud Storage. It automatically sets up your site in maintenance mode while backing up your complete shop database in a stable working state. In case of a data loss, you only need to reinstall Magento 2, copy your backup files and perform a rollback. That’s it.

3 Main Advantages

• S3 Cloud Backup enables you to create a backup copy of your entire shop database to Amazon S3 Cloud. You do not need any other separate plug-ins, extensions or apps.
• You can store all the bucket credentials for your S3 backup in one file.
• Your shop’s media, database and code backup only needs one command to be sent to your S3 bucket.

Price

S3 Cloud Backup is available in the Community edition for $247.

Backup to Dropbox by Mageside

Functionality

Backup to DropBox helps keep data loss to an absolute minimum. It maintains regular backups of your store information and helps cut recovery time in the event of a disaster. That means you can get back to business as soon as possible. The Magento Backup to Dropbox module lets you select the frequency and time of your backups. Then you can schedule it to run during off-peak times or as you see fit. A copy of your data is created and stored in Dropbox (free Dropbox account is required).

3 Main Advantages

• Your data is completely safe on Dropbox’s servers. Your backups will be kept across multiple servers on the Dropbox network. All your data is always accessible and always protected.
• You don’t need to be a technical programmer to use this module. It only requires some simple installs and configures. The configuration mainly consists of selecting what features you do and do not want.
• The backing up process does not require an IT administrator. Once you set the backup frequency, the process will begin and end without any human assistance.

Price

Backup to Dropbox is available in the Community edition for $69, that includes a 3-month support service agreement.

There are additional 6 and 12-month support services available for $40 and $50 extra, respectively.

Magento 2 Database Backup

Functionality

The beauty of this Magento database backup extension is that your backup can be stored in the cloud of your choice. The process happens in the background. That means your site is never down while your data is being backed up.

3 Main Advantages

• You decide where you want to store your backup. This place can be your email, internal or external servers or external cloud services.
• There is support for several different languages.
• Once you define your backup settings, your Magento automatic backup will be carried out. Your site availability will be unaffected.

Price

The starting price of this extension is $99 for 90 months. This package includes three months of free support and a 30-day money back guarantee.
Other pricing options are $149 for 180 months and $100 for 360 days.

When it comes to website performance, CDN solutions (or content delivery networks) help improve the speed of your website by storing your data on a cloud server. They harness the power of cloud technology to do this. Let’s look at the following two useful solutions developed for use with Magento 2.

Fastly CDN by Fastly Inc

Functionality

Fastly CDN is designed to improve your users’ store experience. It gives you faster page load times. It can remove old content automatically to ensure your customer always the most updated information. Another great feature is that Fastly uses Origin Shield to regulate traffic spikes.

3 Main Advantages

• Your customers’ user experience will be fast, pleasant and dependable thanks to innovative features like personalized content, cacheable ESI blocks, and location-based redirection.
• Your customers will always be viewing the most recent version of information because Fastly CDN updates content instantly.
• All your store’s content is instantly updated, according to stock availability and other factors.

Price

Fastly CDN is available in the Enterprise and Community editions. Both editions are entirely free for download.

Cloudinary Image & Video Management by Cloudinary

Functionality

Cloudinary enables you to manipulate images and videos to optimize them for your store. You can have these files delivered in the most efficient format and resolution for whatever device you are using.

3 Main Advantages

You can load all media files through multiple CDNs. You can even switch between CDNs to ensure you’re using the best performing network at that time.
These media files are dynamically tracked to give you invaluable insights regarding performance, bandwidth usage, and error monitoring.
Integrating into your store is effortless. The install process is painless. Migrating your media library to Cloudinary takes only a tiny bit of coding.

Price

Cloudinary Image & Video Management is available in the Community edition. It is entirely free for download.

If you are looking for other useful extensions that are necessary for any kind of Magento 2 store, you can check them below.