In order to identify which web development platform will be the right one for your project, you first need to define the purpose of your website.
How your website needs to be built first and foremost depends on the functionality that you require. Let’s say that you are building an eCommerce website; the two most popular open-source platforms for this are WordPress and Magento. While both offer benefits, it is important to understand the key capabilities and features of both in order to make an informed decision. Magento offers a huge amount of flexibility in terms of use and has strong features able to cope with medium to large online stores. WordPress is predominantly used for content-driven websites such as blogs. While not traditionally an eCommerce platform, it does have a plugin called WooCommerce which makes it a powerful competitor. Now let’s get into the details…
Magento
Magento was solely made for the purpose of building eCommerce websites and is the most suitable if you need to sell a large volume of physical products online or if you need to build a marketplace for multiple vendors. It has the advantage of more advanced security features and offers dedicated security patches to users and offers multiple features such as wish lists, product reviews, and advanced pricing without the need for purchasing extensions. Built for scalability, Magento is perfect for large enterprises but small businesses can benefit from its uses as well.
It is a more complex platform to use than WordPress so may be tricky if you are a beginner but it can be the best option if you need to build a significantly big online store that can complement your growth goals.
Examples of Magento sites
WordPress
WordPress however, is a simpler web development platform to use and its eCommerce plugin is much easier for a beginner particularly if you are already familiar with WordPress. This is useful if your site only requires quite basic eCommerce functions like payment and shipping options. While it doesn’t have as many feature capabilities as Magento, you can always use extensions such as product add-ons.
WordPress has the benefit of being easier to customise the content on your website and is more flexible than Magento in terms of what features you can incorporate. This is great for building content-driven websites that require an element of eCommerce.
Examples of WordPress sites
Making the decision
Hopefully the information in this blog has helped you somewhat in your decision making process. A great tool that we recommend is Wappalyzer. This is a Chrome extension that identifies what the website that you are visiting is built with. Regardless of which web development platform suits your needs, our expert developers are experienced in both and we are happy to help you determine which will be the most appropriate for your project.
Have any questions? Get in touch with one of our team
