Prestashop vs Shopify: Which E-commerce Platform Is Right for You?

Nowadays, choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial. Two popular options that often come up in discussions are Prestashop and Shopify. This article will compare Prestashop vs Shopify to choose the best fit for your business.

Key Takeaways

• PrestaShop, with over 300,000 online stores worldwide and a strong presence in Europe and America, is a specialized platform for creating and managing online stores. It stands out as a free, open-source, self-hosted software solution.
• Shopify is the most popular eCommerce platform for creating online stores. It provides a ready-to-use package that meets the needs of small or large-scale merchants.

Shopify vs. Prestashop: Quick Comparison

PrestaShop is an open-source content management system (CMS) that allows online stores to scale flexibly. While PrestaShop is a free-to-use platform, merchants must purchase a website domain and host beforehand.

Shopify, on the other hand, stands out as a comprehensive and fully-hosted platform specifically designed to cater to the diverse needs of eCommerce businesses Shopify’s versatility shines through its ability to accommodate businesses of all sizes and scopes with five pricing plans. What truly sets Shopify apart is its commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and simplifying the complexities of online retail.

Shopify and Prestashop: Pros and Cons

Shopify vs. Prestashop: Infographic 

Shopify vs. Prestashop: A Detailed Comparison

Ease Of Use

The ease of use of different platforms depends on your technical expertise. While both platforms simplify the process of creating an eCommerce site, they differ in terms of their learning curves.

Several factors contribute to determining which platform is more user-friendly:

• Website setup process.
• Access to built-in tools.
• Dashboard navigation.

Shopify

Shopify offers a reliable and user-friendly UI that guides beginners through the entire process of building an eCommerce website at a reasonable price. The steps include selecting a plan, creating an account, and immediately choosing and customizing a store name. 

Shopify provides clear instructions and quick links to help you set up your store. For instance, there are links to Add products and domains, Customize themes, and Set up sales channels. 

Additionally, suggestions are given to optimize your store, such as adding a shipping policy and exploring global selling. The left corner of the interface offers easy access to standard eCommerce tools like Orders, Analytics, and Marketing. 

To explore the complete list of built-in tools, click on the Settings button in the bottom left corner, where you will find additional tools such as Billing, Taxes, and Metafields.

Prestashop

Prestashop allows you to start a primary online store even if you don’t require technical expertise. However, you might need coding knowledge to build an advanced online store. 

The built-in features and tools are available under Dashboard, including Orders, Catalog, and Customer Service. PrestaShop also makes it easier for an eCommerce business to see the store’s growth, from Activity overview and Products and Sales. 

In addition, this eCommerce platform has a Quick Access button that includes shortcuts to the most common tools. There is also an option to Manage quick accesses, which organizes which tools to fit under this button.

In summary, setting up an e-store with PrestaShop is significantly more complex than using Shopify.

The Verdict

Considering the aforementioned information, Shopify emerges as the superior eCommerce platform in terms of ease to use. 

Pricing

Pricing is essential when comparing e-commerce platforms because it affects the cost-effectiveness and profitability of your business. By considering pricing plans, you can find a platform that aligns with your budget and offers the best value for your investment. 

Shopify

When considering Shopify pricing, it is crucial to consider three key factors: subscription fees, transaction fees, and additional fees. Let’s examine these aspects more closely.

Subscription fees

Shopify offers a variety of subscription plans with different price points, ranging from $5 to $399 per month. Each plan has specific features and support options tailored to different business needs. Higher-priced plans offer more advanced functionality for customization and optimization. 

Transaction fees

When using third-party payment gateways on Shopify, transaction fees are applied, ranging from 0.5% to 2% per transaction, depending on the selected plan. However, you can eliminate transaction fees if you choose to use Shopify Payments as your payment gateway. 

It’s important to note that regardless of whether you use Shopify Payments, credit card rates will still be 2.4% to 2.6% plus 30 cents per transaction.

Additional fees

In addition to the regular subscription and transaction fees, it is crucial to consider any possible extra charges related to add-ons and apps available on the Shopify App Store. 

The amount of these fees depends on the specific add-ons or apps you choose to enhance the functionality of your store. Furthermore, if you opt for a third-party payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, it’s essential to consider the potential payment gateway fees that may apply.

Prestashop

Subscription fees

Prestashop offers a free platform for launching your online store, eliminating the need for monthly subscription fees and transaction charges. However, you will be responsible for covering the expenses related to the domain name, hosting, and SSL certificate for your e-commerce platform. 

For instance, Hostinger offers PrestaShop Web Hosting plans, including a complimentary domain.

• The Premium Shared Hosting plan ($2.99/month) provides 100 GB SSD storage.
• The Business Shared Hosting plan ($6.99/month) offers 200 GB SSD storage.

Hostinger’s hosting plans also come with a free SSL certificate, eliminating the need for a separate purchase.

Transaction fees

The PrestaShop Checkout module applies transaction fees based on the selected payment method. 

• For PayPal, a 2.9% + €0.35 fee is charged per transaction. 
• Credit and debit card transactions incur a fee of 1.2% plus €0.35. Although American Express card payment functionality is anticipated soon, it’s expected to carry a fee of 3.5% plus €0.35. 
• An extra charge of 0.5% is also applied to cross-border transactions within the Eurozone and 2% for those involving other countries.

Additional fees

Apart from transaction fees, it’s essential to consider potential additional fees when using PrestaShop. These additional fees may vary depending on the services or modules you choose to enhance your online store’s functionality.

It’s advisable to review and understand the pricing structure of these add-ons or modules before integrating them into your PrestaShop platform. This will help you accurately assess and budget for any additional costs that may arise.

The Verdict

After considering various factors, PrestaShop’s pricing is more complex and expensive than Shopify’s. Factors such as a complicated pricing structure, additional expenses for hosting and customization, and potentially higher transaction fees contribute to this assessment. 

Store Management

Effective store management is crucial when comparing e-commerce platforms, as it impacts product management, order processing, customer service, and overall operational efficiency. 

Both Shopify and PrestaShop provide robust features to help merchants run their online stores effectively. Here is a comparison of their store management capabilities:

Product settings 

Shopify 

Shopify offers different eCommerce features based on the chosen plan, but all plans allow unlimited product additions and essential store tools to optimize product pages. 

To add products, go to Products -> All products -> Add your products and input necessary details, including Title, Description, Media, Pricing, Inventory, Shipping, and optional product options like size and color. Within the Products settings, users can manage Inventory, Transfers, Collections, and Gift cards.

Prestashop

With the basic settings of Prestashop, you can customize product details like images, summaries, descriptions, features, brands, and related products. You can also set quantity and price and assign categories for easy organization.

Shipping

Shopify 

With Shopify, you can use shipping discounts from reputable carriers like DHL Express, UPS, or USPS. Additionally, all pricing plans include the convenience of automated shipping labels for your orders.

Within the Shipping and Delivery settings, you have the flexibility to manage various aspects, including:

• Delivery methods at checkout: Determine the shipping charges you wish to apply during the checkout process. You can create a shipping profile to customize rates or set destination restrictions based on your preferences.
• Packages: Input details such as package names, types, sizes, and weights to facilitate accurate shipping rate calculations for your products.
• Carrier accounts: If you have an existing account with a shipping carrier, you can utilize negotiated shipping rates to ensure cost-efficiency and seamless shipping processes.

Prestashop

To configure shipping settings for Prestashop, you can set the package dimensions, specify the estimated delivery time, and determine the applicable shipping fees. 

These features allow you to define how your products will be packaged, provide customers with an estimated timeframe for delivery, and establish the costs associated with shipping orders to different locations. 

Customizing these parameters ensures accurate shipping calculations and a smooth customer shipping process.

Payment gateways

Shopify 

One of the advanced features offered by this platform is Shopify Payments, which is designed to benefit customers in specific regions by eliminating transaction fees. Without this feature, new orders will incur an additional fee based on the chosen pricing plan:

• The Basic Shopify Plan includes a 2% transaction fee.
• The Shopify Plan includes a 1% transaction fee.
• The Advanced Shopify Plan includes a 0.5% transaction fee.

Shopify supports approximately 60 payment gateways, providing flexibility in accepting customer payments. For accepting payments in foreign currencies, you can utilize PayPal Express Checkout. 

Prestashop

Regarding payment gateways, PrestaShop provides two built-in options by default: Payment by check and Bank transfer. These methods allow customers to make payments through traditional means. 

In addition to these default gateways, PrestaShop offers payment modules that can be installed to add more payment options to your online store. These modules include popular choices like PayPal, which enables secure online transactions, and Cash on Delivery, allowing customers to pay for their purchases upon delivery.

By utilizing these payment modules, PrestaShop allows businesses to offer a variety of payment methods to cater to their customer’s preferences.

The Verdict

The result is a tie. Shopify and PrestaShop both have excellent store management capabilities. PrestaShop offers extensive functionalities, while Shopify has strong partnerships for shipping and payment.

Customizability

Shopify

Shopify has a wide range of options, with 139 templates, and free choices. Themes and templates are priced between $0 and $380, but each theme allows for customized adjustments. Suppose you have particular elements or ideas for enhancing the user experience. Users can access CSS for personalized website customization. 

CSS is a coding language that controls the visual appearance of web pages, allowing users to make custom changes to design elements, colors, fonts, and more. This level of control enables users to create a unique and tailored website.

In that case, Shopify Liquid allows you to modify the underlying code of your website, enabling flexible editing to ensure compatibility with different screen sizes and mobile versions. 

Prestashop

PrestaShop’s open-source nature offers merchants limitless customization possibilities for their online stores. You will filter out searchings depending on your template style and business sector that suits your needs, such as pets and animals, food and restaurants, fashion and shoes, home and garden, and so on. 

This flexibility allows them to design and build their stores according to their preferences without any restrictions. 

With thousands of templates, PrestaShop empowers merchants to have complete control over the appearance of their online stores by adjusting the underlying code using JavaScript or HTML. 

As a result, PrestaShop provides ready-to-use themes that enhance conversions and offer a distinctive design that aligns with the merchant’s products.

The Verdict

Regarding customizability, PrestaShop and Shopify excel by offering a wide range of options to make your store truly unique. 

Whether you’re looking to create a visually stunning storefront or optimize the user experience, PrestaShop and Shopify provide the necessary tools to achieve your desired customization levels.

Performance

Performance is crucial for an e-commerce platform as it directly impacts the user experience and conversion rate. If the platform’s slow download speed, it can decrease conversions and negatively affect the overall success of the online store. Let’s compare the performance of Shopify and Prestashop.

Shopify

As a hosted platform, Shopify ensures your website’s smooth functioning. Shopify ensures the uptime and performance of your online store.

The popularity of Shopify indicates that it has successfully delivered on this promise. With an impressive loading time of just 1.3 seconds, Shopify is an excellent choice for businesses seeking a high-performing e-commerce solution. 

Moreover, there are also tools on the Shopify App Store that can help improve a website’s loading time, such as Core Web Vitals Booster and Hyperspeed.

Prestashop

With PrestaShop, the user has greater responsibility for managing various factors that contribute to the overall performance of their online store. 

While PrestaShop’s default installation is lightweight and doesn’t have specific hardware requirements, the actual performance depends on multiple factors, such as the hosting environment and the number of plugins installed. 

For example, Hostinger’s PrestaShop Hosting plans have a 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited bandwidth. There are also modules to improve loading time, such as SuperSpeed and Google PageSpeed Insight.

It is mentioned that PrestaShop has a loading time of 4.6 seconds, which is longer compared to Shopify. 

The Verdict

With its robust infrastructure and optimized system, Shopify outshines PrestaShop in terms of overall performance. Whether it’s page load speed, response time, or scalability, Shopify demonstrates a clear advantage over PrestaShop. Consequently, businesses looking to prioritize performance would likely lean towards Shopify as their preferred platform.

Security 

Running an online store requires stringent security measures to protect sensitive business and customer data from potential threats and breaches.

Shopify

From the start, Shopify is built as a hosted cart with excellent website security. This includes free SSL registration for all users, ensuring secure connections, and data encryption. Additionally, Shopify takes care of automatic updates, safeguarding websites against vulnerabilities. Here is the advantage of offering SSL certificates:

• Choose HTTPS instead of HTTP to add an extra layer of authentication to your store
• Enhance customer interest by prominently displaying the SSL icon alongside the online store’s URL.

Fortunately, all Shopify stores hold a prestigious Level 1 PCI DSS certification for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It is a comprehensive data security standard that every business accepting card payments must adhere to. 

This certification guarantees that all your data and customer information are safeguarded with top-tier security measures. Shopify prioritizes the security of your sensitive information and takes extra steps to maintain its integrity throughout your e-commerce experience.

Prestashop 

Likewise, PrestaShop takes data security seriously by offering a downloadable setup file with PCI certification. Additionally, PrestaShop provides a variety of security modules to enhance the overall security of your store.

For instance, the Official GDPR Compliance module ensures that your store adheres to the guidelines and regulations outlined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

With PrestaShop, you rely on add-ons and coding to improve security. Users can hide core files with .htaccess to ensure that none are publicly visible. There are security modules like Security Pro and Google Authenticator to secure a store without editing code.

By leveraging these security measures, PrestaShop enables store owners to establish a robust security framework and maintain compliance with essential data protection and privacy laws.

The Verdict

In terms of security, neither Shopify nor PrestaShop holds a different edge, as both platforms prioritize protecting your essential information. 

Regardless of your choice between Shopify or PrestaShop, you can trust in the robust security measures implemented by both platforms. However, with proper precautions and the right hosting provider, Prestashop can also be a secure platform.

Who for who

Shopify is best for those seeking to embark on a business journey without the demand for technical knowledge, Shopify proves to be an excellent choice.

Shopify is best suited for the following:

• Small to medium-sized businesses: Shopify provides a wide range of comprehensive features ideally suited for small to medium-sized businesses. These features enable businesses to establish and enhance their online presence, facilitating growth and success in the digital marketplace.
• Businesses with technical expertise: Shopify’s user-friendly store builder is an ideal option for businesses that need more in-depth technical knowledge or web development experience.
• Businesses seeking excellent customer support: Shopify provides reliable and round-the-clock customer support, ensuring business owners get assistance whenever needed.
• Businesses focused on scalability: Shopify offers a wide range of features that can accommodate businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprise-level operations. It provides a scalable and customizable platform that meets the specific needs of different businesses, allowing them to establish and grow their online presence effectively.
• Businesses looking for a wide range of payment options: Shopify integrates with multiple payment gateways, enabling businesses to accept various online payment methods securely and seamlessly.

PrestaShop is best for

PrestaShop emerges as the optimal choice if you yearn for deep involvement in your project. 

Prestashop is well-suited for the following:

• Tech-savvy users: Due to its open-source nature, PrestaShop is preferred for users with technical expertise or developers seeking greater control over their online store.
• Businesses on a budget: Prestashop is free to download and install so it can be a cost-effective solution for businesses with limited budgets. However, it’s essential to consider additional expenses such as hosting and security measures.
• Businesses seeking extensive customization: Prestashop provides a wide range of modules and themes, allowing users to customize their online store.
• Businesses looking for control over security measures: With Prestashop, businesses have complete control over the security measures implemented on their online store, giving them the flexibility to enhance and protect their website.
• Businesses willing to invest in additional modules and themes: While Prestashop itself is free, businesses may need to invest in premium modules or themes to access specific functionalities or achieve a desired design for their store.

5 Things Shopify Can Do vs Prestashop

When comparing Shopify and Prestashop, here are five areas where Shopify outperforms Prestashop:

• Free Subdomain and Domain Generator: Shopify provides users with a free subdomain for their online store. Additionally, Shopify offers the option to purchase and connect a custom domain directly within the platform.. In contrast, Prestashop requires users to find and purchase their domain separately.
• Built-in Payment Processor: Shopify offers a built-in payment processor called Shopify Payments. It streamlines the payment process and eliminates the need for additional setup or transaction fees. Prestashop requires users to set up payment processors or rely on third-party gateways.
• Simple Email App: Shopify Email provides pre-designed templates and easy customization options, enabling merchants to create and send professional marketing emails directly from the Shopify platform. Prestashop does not offer a built-in email app, requiring users to integrate third-party email marketing tools.
• Dedicated Customer Support: Shopify offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, and phone. Merchants can rely on Shopify’s support team to assist with any technical issues, questions, or concerns. On the other hand, Prestashop primarily relies on community support and forums for assistance, which may not provide 24/7 support.
• Customizable Sales Reports: Shopify provides robust reporting and analytics features, allowing merchants to generate detailed and customizable sales reports. The reporting dashboard offers valuable insights into sales performance, customer behavior, and inventory management. Prestashop also offers reporting capabilities but may require additional modules or customizations to achieve the same level of flexibility and customization as Shopify.

These five areas highlight some of the advantages of Shopify over Prestashop regarding user convenience, integrated features, and support options. However, evaluating your business requirements and preferences is essential before choosing the most suitable e-commerce platform.

Prestashop vs Shopify: FAQs

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Bottom Line

In conclusion, Shopify is a versatile platform that caters to the needs of small to medium business owners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. It offers user-friendly interfaces, scalability, customization options, and strong customer support. On the other hand, Prestashop provides more flexibility for advanced customization and is suitable for users with technical expertise.