You don’t need any factual explanation to determine how big the eCommerce industry is in 2024! Today, there are millions of online stores actively running across the globe! And if you are planning to set up one for yourself, be assured you will find a lot of competitors from your niche to rival with.
So, the first stage of winning this competition will be to build an astoundingly functional store. And for that, you need a reliable and performance-centric platform! In this quest, you have two great options to count on PrestaShop or WooCommerce development. Both of them are demanding enough and have noteworthy features to make your store functions phenomenal.
But, you got to choose one, right? What do you think will be the deciding factor for you between the two? Will you go with WooCommerce development or settle for PrestaShop as your eCommerce platform?
A lot of you might not be able to answer this right away! It’s because you are still at the starting line to know the feature differences between these platforms. While WooCommerce shares the reputation earned by WordPress, PrestaShop has marked its recognition in the eCommerce market with its quality features.
But, there’s still a big debate on what’s better for an aspiring entrepreneur like you to start an online store. No worries! This article is dedicated to putting an end to this debate by explaining the differences between PrestaShop and WooCommerce development. Following that, you will also get an insight into what’s better between the two.
So, read this article till the end, and you will eventually find your answer on whether to go with PrestaShop or WooCommerce development services.
What’s the Overview of WooCommerce and PrestaShop as eCommerce Platforms?
Before diving deeper into the differences between PrestaShop and WooCommerce development, let’s get an insight into the general overview of them.
WooCommerce
If you seek WooCommerce development, you must know it is a WordPress plugin that allows you to use the popular CMS platform for setting up an eCommerce store. Since 2011, WooCommerce has earned an impeccable reputation in the online world and has been the first preference for most eCommerce entrepreneurs.
As of July 2023, WooCommere held the maximum market share with 38.84%, and around 20.3% of all WordPress sites were built with respect to WooCommerce development.
The experts offering WooCommerce development services leverage the potential of its open-source nature. Using this, the developers continue to work on improving this platform and enhancing its features progressively on a global scale. Due to this, you will see a big list of ample WooCommerce features that technically cover almost anything that you can expect from your online store.
PrestaShop
Contrary to WooCommerce development services, PrestaShop has existed in the eCommerce market for a longer time. Its reputation for eCommerce development was carried out by its immensely dependable CMS solution. PrestaShop has been a choice for entrepreneurs and developers since 2007, ideal for you to build product management, shipping and billing solutions.
PrestaShop provides a feasibility for you to use the platform for almost any specific requirements. But, the major use case is eCommerce! Therefore, WooCommerce development services earn a point here, as being embedded with WordPress, the platform offers immense flexibility for the eCommerce domain in particular.
What are the Top Features & Drawbacks of PrestaShop and WooCommerce?
You are now enlightened with a general insight into the overview of both PrestaShop as well as WooCommerce development services for your eCommerce preference. So, now is the time to shed light on their features and drawbacks for you to refine your decisions even more:
PrestaShop’s Features & Drawbacks:
Just like WooCommerce, PrestaShop is also open-source, which enables you to launch almost any online store in any niche. You will have the liberty to install PrestaShop on almost any web host of your choice and gain access to diverse modules or templates for enhancing your site functionalities.
If you aren’t very experienced with using the platform, you can hire professionals to help you onboard and set up your store. One of the drawbacks of using PrestaShop as your eCommerce platform is you won’t be able to access the dedicated support solutions. However, there is ample documentation available online for you to fix any possible error.
You ought to pay and hire professionals to rectify any major issues with your store, without which you are completely on your own!
WooCommerce’s Features & Drawbacks:
If your first preference was to go with WooCommerce development services, it’s mostly because you are clearly aware of the WordPress capabilities. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most liked plugins that WordPress has to offer. Using it, you will be able to add a complete eCommerce hub to WordPress without tweaking any of the WordPress CMS codes.
As a result, the experts offering WooCommerce development services will use this hybrid system and will help you launch an appealing and functional store. Not only that, but your WooCommerce developer will also have the liberty to add almost any feature that you want for your store.
Being open-source and highly popular, a lot of developers or platform users tend to create unique extensions and themes for you to enhance your store functions and appeal. Your WooCommerce developer will be responsible for looking for the best themes in the widened community to go well with your business niche and help you stand out in the crowd.
Just like PrestaShop, WooCommerce store development services also lack the availability of dedicated support, as it is built on an open-source nature. There is plenty of documentation available online, even more than that for PrestaShop, for you to seek support for common queries or problems.
How Can You Compare WooCommerce and PrestaShop Head-to-Head?
Are you still confused about whether you should hire a PrestaShop or WooCommerce developer to build your online store? Well, it’s a big decision to make, so it is natural for you to spend more time deciding. But, with this head-to-head comparison, things will now be better:
1. Content Management:
With WooCommerce store development services, you will have a WordPress layer acting as your CMS platform. Therefore, there will be no flaws with respect to content management for your WooCommerce store.
PrestaShop also has a dedicated CMS section, which allows you to create dedicated information pages but has limited features for you to use. With WordPress and WooCommerce, you have Gutenberg and Classic Editor, allowing you to create or edit custom fields.
Therefore, as running an eCommerce store will demand you to manage ample content over the store pages, it is better to hire a WooCommerce developer than relying on PrestaShop.
2. Product Management:
Both PrestaShop as well as WooCommerce store development services can be tailored to offer easy product management. You will be able to upload your bulk product data directly through the spreadsheet or Excel file.
Not only that, but both platforms tend to offer simple processes to add product descriptions or other related data. PrestaShop is built majorly for running online stores, for which the product management aspects are streamlined.
With WooCommerce store development services, on the other hand, you will make use of the post format of WordPress, which will make the platform adapt itself to manage your product data as a post.
3. Customization Feasibility
There are more than 55,000 plugins available on WordPress, and you have the scope to integrate a lot of them to enhance the WooCommerce store functions. If not, you can also hire a WooCommerce development company to create custom plugins for enhancing the store functionalities.
There are both free as well as paid plugins for you to easily install or integrate onto your WooCommerce store. Not just plugins, but there are also several paid and free themes available across diverse marketplaces, for you to improve your WooCommerce store appeal.
Even PrestaShop’s marketplace comes with over thousands of add-on modules for expanding the store functions. Following that, PrestaShop also has over 4000 templates for you to customize the storefront. Well, the bad thing is that only a few of those templates are actually free.
Therefore, as far as customization is concerned, if you are willing to start off with a free theme and only limited features, seek help from a WooCommerce development company over PrestaShop, as you will have more options to choose from.
Final Verdict
With this brief explanation of PrestaShop and WooCommerce development, you might now be aware that both platforms are equally efficient for you to run a successful online store. But in the end, you ought to choose one, and these comparison factors are highlighted to help you with that.
The decision on choosing between a PrestaShop or WooCommerce development company will be yours! Do a detailed analysis and talk to the experts for a detailed understanding of both platforms.
Ultimately, your aim is to get a functional and responsive store that can help you run your online business seamlessly. So, do put emphasis on the features, add-on tools and other default functionalities available with either platform, and make your final call on seeking either PrestaShop or WooCommerce development company!
