CMS for e-commerce allows you to quickly create and manage an e-commerce website, most of the time without needing to know programming. Magento is one of the most popular solutions in the industry and offers a wide range of features and very comprehensive customization. However, its operation requires some knowledge in web development. Likewise, its power and robustness requires a relatively expensive high-performance web hosting plan.
If you are a low-budget entrepreneur looking for an open-source solution more in line with your requirements, or you are currently using Magento but planning a redesign of your site, you may consider these open source alternatives to Magento that will work best to your need and goals.
Magento alternative to consider
Woocommerce
Woocommerce, unlike the other Magento alternatives on this list, is not a standalone solution. This is actually a very popular WordPress CMS plugin. Consequently, to use it you will first need to have functional WordPress hosting. This solution has a steep learning curve, but you’ll find it easier if you’re already familiar with WordPress. Its possibilities of extension, customization and scalability are numerous thanks to additional plugins for the most part free. In addition, its inclusion in WordPress gives access to many blog features and content management. However, it has the disadvantage of not having official support. But its large available community reaches a level to fill this void.
PrestaShop
This platform is also one of the most popular alternatives to Magento. Over 300,000 merchants use PrestaShop which is suitable for all types of shops but ideally medium and small shops. It is one of the easiest to use open source e-commerce platforms. As a result, it allows merchants to quickly bring their stores online. In fact, thanks to its thousands of ready-to-use templates, its strong user community and the many languages offered, you will be able to focus on other more important points of their store. Although it is highly customizable, some expertise is required to make the most of it. As a result, designing costs can quickly escalate, especially since the excellent support offered is expensive.
Make sure to check out our comparison article between Magento and PrestaShop for more details on their differences.
OpenCart
OpenCart is another open source alternative to Magento that has many strengths. It is a highly customizable solution with a very robust dashboard. If you plan to migrate from Magento, note that it has the advantage that this migration is done very easily. On the other hand, it supports the multi-store option if you plan to manage different stores from a single installation. Despite its many possibilities for integration with other existing CMS, it cannot be called the fastest solution on the market.