PrestaShop vs WooCommerce another comparison between two popular eCommerce platform. PrestaShop & WooCommerce are both open-source platforms to build eCommerce websites. Hence, the dilemma of choosing one between PrestaShop vs WooCommerce can be mind-numbing.
In this article, we’ll compare PrestaShop vs WooCommerce focusing on the basic and advanced criteria on both of this platform.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: General Overview
PrestaShop Overview
It is an self-hosted open source eCommerce platform. That means you can download this and modify according to your requirement. The platform was launched in 2007 at France.
There are more than 250,000 live stores using it at this moment. The platform is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. it is easy to scale also. You can create number of products easily which is a considerable point when you want to expand your store.
The store management tools will give you the full control over your stock. You can run multi store from a single Dashboard.
To get some features like Facebook integration, payment gateways etc, you have to add some extensions which is available at their official marketplace.
You will also find over 1500 templates and a huge collection of customize PrestaShop themes at their official marketplace.
Recently they have introduced the PrestaShop Ready version, which is their Software as a Service (SaaS) or hosted option.
WooCommerce Overview
Established and launched in 2011 by Woo Themes. This is a WordPress plugin that was specially designed to convert existing WordPress site easily to a eCommerce store. The main reason behind the success of this platform is – it is free and easy to installation and use. Plus a huge set of WooCommerce features that would make shopping experience very engaging for the visitors.
According to the official website of WooCommerce, the exact number of WooCommerce downloads 71,672,512 (during the type of this article) and 28% of all online stores are powered by WooCommerce.
BuiltWith reports that a total of 351,762 websites use WooCommerce as eCommerce in the Top 1 Million Sites.
Since it is a WordPress plugin, the functionality and usability are very easier and this is main reason of its popularity. The installation process is so simple, which makes it easier for the beginners to use also. The great WordPress interface again makes it the popular choice of site builders. Any WooCommerce themes can be run practically across any WordPress theme.
You can find more than 2,100 free themes and also over 30,000 paid themes in both WordPress and WooCommerce.
Winner
According to the above stats, it is very easy to get the result. The winner in general overview is WooCommerce.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Ease of Installation and Use
Creating an online store can be a lot of work, so you usually want to use a platform that makes the process as painless as possible.
PrestaShop
To install PrestaShop, you have to download the software and install it on your server. You will get the help during installation from any popular web hosting company. After completion, you will get the Dashboard same like the following.
To add your first product you have to go to the Catalog › Products › New Product page. You will get PrestaShop’s product editor page like the following.
Here, you can add a product name, description, and images. If you have a look at all the tabs, you’ll also find Search Engine Optimization (SEO) settings, shipping options, pricing and more.
WooCommerce
To install WooCommerce, you’ll need to have a WordPress site ready to go. The installation and setup of any WordPress website is very pretty simple. Any web host provider can help you to get the job done.
Once your WordPress site will be ready to run and you will get the full access of your site like User name and Password to login. Then you’ll be able to install WooCommerce by yourself. No technical knowledge and skills are required.
Just login to your WordPress Dashboard, then go to Plugins > Add New. You will get a search box. In the search box just type “WooCommerce” and click on “Search Plugins” like the following:
When the plugin will be available in front of you, just Click on “Install Now” button. After installation complete, click on “Activate Now” button. At this stage you’ll be presented with the setup wizard which will ask you a few questions about your store details. Just fill them all and you’ll be taken to your online store!
To add a new product, you’ll have to go to the Products › Add New tab. There, you’ll face the classic WordPress editor with some few additions:
If you’ve ever created a WordPress post or page, you’ll feel comfortable to add new WooCommerce products.
Winner
Both WooCommerce and PrestaShop are very easy to install and use. WooCommerce gets a slight edge if you’re already familiar with WordPress, but aside from that, we’re declaring this round of WooCommerce vs PrestaShop a tie.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Store Management
Whichever eCommerce platform you choose will give a wealth of features including multiple payment options, order management settings etc, to manage your store. This way you will have the full control to manage your store.
PrestaShop
The platform offers a lot of settings to configure your store. Just go to the Shop Parameters tab in your dashboard. From there, you can take care of everything from enabling Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to customizing advanced security settings:
Regarding payment options, PrestaShop supports both bank transfers and checks just out of the box. To integrate with some popular gateways like PayPal, Stripe you will need to use module.
WooCommerce
With the first set up of your store, the plugin will help you through a wizard that will enable you to configure its main settings:
However, you can change your store’s configuration at any time. To configure as per your requirement, just go to the WooCommerce › Settings tab. There, you’ll get all the options you might want to tinker with, like shipping settings:
Regarding payment, WooCommerce supports both PayPal and Stripe payments just out of the box. For more payment integration just go to WooCommerce › Settings › Payments tab:
Winner
Managing a store using either PrestaShop or WooCommerce is pretty simple and straightforward. Both platforms are easy to configure.
So, from our point of view the result of this round of WooCommerce vs PrestaShop is a tie.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Customizability
Customizability is the most crucial factor for any eCommerce platform. Customizability means the ability to alter your store’s appearance and functionality until it’s just right.
PrestaShop
With PrestaShop, you can create your online store for free from scratch by using its free templates. You will get a lot of paid themes and templates available over 1,500 (as we mentioned earlier) on their official website and thousands more on third party websites.
The premium templates look professional and high quality rather than the third party websites.
The price of templates that were developed by community range from free up to $300. PrestaShop offers themes from certified partners, and the price starts from $84, and premium templates price can start from $150 which is comparatively higher. Installing a theme will require plenty of technical experience, if you don’t have then you will definitely need to hire a professional.
You will get access to over 3,000 modules, which you can use to add almost any feature to your store:
WooCommerce
As we mentioned earlier, you will find more than 2,100 free themes and also over 30,000 paid themes in both WordPress and WooCommerce. You will find magazine themes, SEO powered themes, eCommerce themes, or business themes whatever you want.
WooThemes is the most popular among all WordPress themes available because it is optimized specifically for WooCommerce. The best thing about WooCommerce is that it supports all WordPress themes to change your physical store’s appearance.
You will get full access to thousands of WordPress plugins, which you can use to customize your store:
Winner
Although both of the eCommerce platforms provide a lot of customizability, WooCommerce takes the cake for its WordPress integration. So, the winner in this round is WooCommerce.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Pricing and Fees
“Free” is a tricky word in terms of open source platform. Open-source platforms are always free to download, use, and upgrade, but that does not mean you won’t have to pay any charges in order to customize and operate your store.
PrestaShop
As an open source platform, PrestaShop is free to download and use. You can also check out their demo to explore the dashboard and storefront.
Every store will have some ongoing expense which will depend on many factors. PrestaShop is not so easy to install and use. If you don’t have the necessary technical knowledge, then you will have to hire web developers and designers to fix the issue.
Add-ons and modules of PrestaShop are expensive and their main business source. For example, you will have to pay a pretty penny if you want to integrate your online store with Facebook, QuickBooks, Amazon, etc.
You will get some idea to see the below costing:
- Web hosting: $10-100 per month, depending on the size of your store and the bandwidth.
- Template: $150-300 for a classic one
- Add-ons and modules – depends on your requirement
- Web designer/developer – you may have to hire for various tasks if you don’t have any coding experience
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that can convert your current website into a fully functional online store. Since the plugin is free, you will have to cover some basic things that come with running any website.
The cost to run an WooCommerce store is as under:
- Web hosting: $4 per month depending on the size of your store.
- Domain: For domain you will have to pay $10 per year on average.
- Plugins and extensions: The price for extensions will vary, but it is usually around $49-79.
Winner
Though, PrestaShop is free to get started, but the additional and recurring costs will quickly add up. Every additional function and upgrade of your store will be very pricey. Plus, if you are not technically skilled, you will definitely need to hire a developer to help you set up and run your store since it is not as easy to do those things when compared to WooCommerce.
So, the winner in this round is WooCommerce.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Customer Support
Customer support is another crucial factor to run any eCommerce store. Let’s see how PrestaShop and WooCommerce give support to their customer.
PrestaShop
Since PrestaShop is an open source platform, anyone can contribute to it and create add-ons. There is no official PrestaShop support team to help the customers with their online shops. Some of its clients do not think this is a problem, because there is a huge user community with over 1 000 000 + members who are constantly out with a hand of help and assistance. In addition, they have Facebook and Twitter support pages and PrestaShop FAQs and user guides section.
They have also support plan but it is very expensive and limited to only several hours of help per year. For example, the cost of plans range from $33 per month to $116 per month and you must sign up for a one-year minimum subscription. At the cheapest plan, you will get a total six hours of support for that year.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is nearly error and bug-free. Developers are doing a great job of maintaining and updating WooCommerce regularly. That’s why you won’t require customer support all the time.
Since, it is WordPress plugin, a large number of people are always ready to help you. And the WordPress community and forums are also very strong and active. You also have the option to go to the WooCommerce official website, create a free user account there and submit a ticket for any help. The support is very helpful and you will get instant solution to solve the issue. You could also check their documentation that they offer because it is more likely that all your questions are covered.
Winner
PrestaShop is not designed to work with other modules, themes, and add-ons on that are available in the market. So, you have to seek for the customer support but you can’t have high expectations regarding support. If you aren’t technically expert then PrestaShop isn’t for you.
On the other hand, WooCommerce offers a better support, mainly in the form of great documentation and WordPress forums that has huge community of people. You can also head to WooCommerce website and submit a ticket and the staff will get back to you to give support.
The winner in this round is WooCommerce.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: SEO
Ranking on SERPs is crucial for any website. Rich snippets are codes that make it easy for search engines to organize all the information.
PrestaShop
In PrestaShop, you can find some excellent tools for easy meta tags and URLs replacement for effective website work optimization. It offers some excellent tools and strategies for store promotion. Which includes add wishlists, launching flash or private sales, creating newsletter campaigns, building referral and loyalty programs and many more.
WooCommerce
On the other hand, when it comes to SEO in WooCommerce, we can say that WooCommerce is SEO friendly just out of the box. You can install
Yoast WooCommerce extensions and plugins to enjoy the functionalities like write meta description, rich snippet, alt text image and so on.
Winner
For SEO, both platforms require plugin or modules. So, the result is this round is a Tie.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Security
When it comes to security, you have to consider the web hosting option. Some eCommerce platforms offer some more advanced security features and higher standards. However, both PrestaShop and WooCommerce do well in this regard.
Your store’s security will depend mostly on two factors, aside from which platform you’re using. They are:
- How seriously your web hosting company takes security.
- What additional measures you need to take to protect your website.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop have some vulnerabilities. But we can not say that it’s a poor option from a security standpoint. It just goes to show that any popular eCommerce platform can be a ripe target for attackers.
WooCommerce
To be fair, WooCommerce stores are usually a bit target for attackers, since the platform runs on WordPress. Although the CMS itself is secured, but some users forget to update their sites, plugins, and themes. That tends to result in a lot of security vulnerabilities, that can lead people to assume that WooCommerce is not as safe as it could be.
Winner
The winner in this round is a Tie.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Features at a glance
The success of any eCommerce platform is determined by not only the products offered and how popular the platform is, but also by the features the platform offer both the customer and the store owner.
Features of PrestaShop
-> Wide collection of customizable eCommerce themes.
-> Support mobile commerce.
-> Web agencies.
-> User guide.
-> Powerful online store builder tool.
-> Quick installation features.
-> Intuitive and clean interface.
-> Analytical Tools.
-> On-sight SEO.
-> Support more than 50 world class payment gateways.
-> Shipping configuration.
-> Tax rules configuration.
-> Seamless checkout.
-> Integrated customer service tools.
-> Configure coupons.
-> Increase customer engagement.
-> Increase customer loyalty.
-> Run multi-store.
Features of WooCommerce
-> Powerful and clean interface.
-> Improved experience for store owner.
-> Integration with WordPress content.
-> Support all types of payment gateways.
-> Full control over the checkout process.
-> Set default currency.
-> Support multi language and multi currency.
-> Support Geo-location.
-> Automatic tax calculation.
-> Reduce page load time to make homepage faster.
-> Add and manage products easily.
-> Products types and variables.
-> Inventory management.
-> Shipping and cart calculation.
-> Flexible shipping destination.
-> Restrict sales.
-> Support multiple shipping methods.
-> Custom tax calculation.
-> Geo-location enabled taxes.
-> SEO
-> Simplified coupon system.
-> Discount coupons and codes.
-> Product reviews and ratings.
-> Owner verification.
-> Analyze products and orders.
-> CRM/Store management.
-> REST API.
-> Built-in blogging.
-> Products sorting and filtering.
-> Unlimited images, galleries and products.
-> Sell any types of products at any time.
-> Highlight important products throughout store.
-> Powerful documentation and community forums.
Winner
Both WooCommerce and PrestaShop can be used to sell physical, digital and affiliate products. They also offer simple tools for product management, analytics, and order fulfillment.
So, the result in this round is a Tie.
PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Conclusion
Making the right choice when choosing the right eCommerce platform is crucial. Switching platforms later on is a nightmare so you need to take every point of the comparison into the account.
When we look at each point like customizability, pricing and fees, and customer support, we can see that WooCommerce is superior to PrestaShop.
WooCommerce offers better design and themes with lower price. On the other hand, PrestaShop themes are little bit expensive, plus you may need to hire expert to install it properly. Basic pricing is same for both, but when you look at other aspects and long-term expenses, WooCommerce will be a cheaper solution.
WooCommerce also offers many plugins that are free to use and work flawlessly together which is not available in PrestaShop as modules are expensive. Compatibility of the modules is another issue.
Think about your preferences, consider which aspects are the most important that meet your requirements and then make a choice.
