Magento 2 vs other open-source e‑commerce platforms: what really sets it apart?

Open-source platforms are often lumped together, even though they were built on different assumptions.

Magento Open Source and PrestaShop are standalone e‑commerce platforms. Shopware Community Edition is also a full commerce platform developed as open source. WooCommerce runs as a WordPress extension and builds on WordPress's architecture.

Sylius Community Edition, on the other hand, is an e‑commerce framework built on Symfony. Its official documentation (opens in a new tab) describes it as a headless, open-source solution that gives the development team control over the data model, business logic, checkout and frontend.

So these products were not built to one pattern. That is why the question “which platform has the most features?” does little to help you choose a technology. A far more important question is:

Which e‑commerce model does a given platform let you build without fighting its core architecture?

One of Magento's most distinctive traits is its hierarchy:

Website → Store → Store View

A single Magento Open Source installation can contain many websites, stores and store views (opens in a new tab).

The website is the top level of this structure. It can run on its own domain and have its own configuration for payments, shipping and checkout, among other things.

Different stores can run within a website. They can use separate catalogue structures based on different root categories.

A store view is used, among other things, to present the store in different languages, and it lets you override some data and settings at the level of that specific view.

On top of this, Magento uses a scope mechanism:

Global → Website → Store → Store View

This means certain data and settings can apply globally or only within a specific part of the store structure.

For example, a product price can have a global or a website scope. The same product can therefore have a different price on two websites if the price scope (opens in a new tab) is set to website level.

Products can also be assigned to specific websites. That makes it possible to build, from one installation, for example:

• a Polish and a German store,
• several brands belonging to one company,
• several domains,
• several catalogues,
• different language versions,
• different sales configurations for individual markets.

This does not mean Magento is the only platform with multi-store.

PrestaShop also lets you manage several stores from one back office. Its multistore feature allows, among other things, different domains and several storefronts within one installation. Shopware, in turn, uses a Sales Channels model.

Where Magento differs is mainly in how deeply the structure of multiple websites, stores, store views and scopes is built into the platform's core model.

The second important area is the catalogue.

In Magento, attributes (opens in a new tab) are one of the core building blocks of the product model. You can create your own attributes and group them into Attribute Sets, which work as templates for particular kinds of products.

A manufacturer might, for example, have a separate attribute set for:

• power tools,
• accessories,
• spare parts,
• workwear.

Each of these groups may need entirely different parameters. The attributes can then be used in product presentation, search, filtering and product comparison, among other places.

This matters for e‑commerce with a large range, where products differ not just in name, image and price, but carry dozens of technical parameters and belong to different product families.

That does not mean Magento replaces a PIM system.

If an organisation has an elaborate process for managing product data, translations, marketing copy or media, the PIM can remain the source of that information. Magento is then mainly responsible for using the right data in the sales process.

Inventory Management (opens in a new tab) is part of Magento Open Source, not a feature reserved for Adobe Commerce. The Inventory Management modules are installed in Magento Open Source and by default provide features for both single-source and multi-source inventory.

Among other things, Magento distinguishes between:

A manufacturer can therefore have, say, a central warehouse, a warehouse abroad and an additional fulfilment location, and Magento can take these sources into account when determining product availability.

Again, this does not mean Magento should replace an ERP or WMS. In many architectures the ERP or WMS remains the source system for stock levels, and Magento uses the data it receives in the online sales channel.

In mature e‑commerce the store rarely works on its own. Alongside it there may be:

• an ERP,
• a PIM,
• a WMS,
• a CRM,
• an accounting system,
• marketing automation,
• marketplaces,
• payment systems,
• logistics systems.

Magento Open Source provides a REST API (opens in a new tab) and GraphQL.

REST lets you carry out many operations related to the catalogue, customers, orders and backend integrations, among others.

GraphQL matters especially for client applications and alternative frontends. Adobe explicitly points to (opens in a new tab) using Magento Open Source's GraphQL to build headless storefronts, PWAs and mobile apps, among other things.

Having an API, however, is not an advantage of Magento in itself.

• WooCommerce has a REST API for managing products, orders, customers and coupons, among other things.
• Shopware Community Edition has an API as one part of its extensibility architecture.
• Sylius has been developed API-first and headless from the start.
• PrestaShop 9, meanwhile, gained a new Admin API built on API Platform.

So the case for Magento should not rest on the statement “Magento has an API”.

What matters is the range of processes behind that API, and how the platform can be brought into the company's whole sales architecture.

Magento is made up of modules, and custom modules are the primary way to add new features and extend existing ones. The framework provides mechanisms including:

• modules,
• dependency injection,
• service contracts,
• plugins/interceptors,
• events and observers,
• REST API,
• GraphQL.

The official Magento Open Source documentation (opens in a new tab) describes extending and modifying existing components, and building your own, explicitly as part of the platform's architecture.

This makes it possible to change not just how the store looks, but its business logic too. That might mean, for example:

• how prices are calculated,
• your own availability rules,
• a non-standard ordering process,
• extra operations run after an order is placed,
• your own model for integrating with the ERP,
• additional catalogue elements,
• customer-specific processes.

This capability is one of Magento's more important traits, but it is also easy to overuse. Every additional module and every custom modification becomes part of a system that has to be tested, updated and maintained.

Deep access to the platform is only worth having when it genuinely follows from a business process.

This matters especially for B2B.

Magento Open Source can serve as the foundation of a store for business customers. That does not mean, however, that it has the full set of native B2B features known from Adobe Commerce. Mechanisms such as:

• Company Accounts,
• Shared Catalog,
• Negotiable Quotes,
• Quick Order,

belong to Adobe Commerce B2B. Adobe marks these features in its documentation (opens in a new tab) as available only in Adobe Commerce B2B.

If similar processes are to work on Magento Open Source, they may require extensions or development. This matters when comparing platform costs.

You cannot set the price of Magento Open Source against another system and then credit the free edition with features that only come with the commercial Adobe Commerce.

Comparisons of Magento based on how things stood a few years ago can lead to the wrong conclusions.

The table does not name a “best” platform. What it mainly shows is that a similar business outcome can be reached on different technologies, but the road there can look completely different.

Look at individual features one by one and it is hard to find anything that exists only in Magento.

• Multi-store? PrestaShop has it too.
• An API? Every platform compared here has one.
• Headless? Sylius is even more strongly oriented towards that model.
• Business rules and automation? Shopware has Rule Builder and Flow Builder.
• Extensibility? It is a basic trait of practically every open-source solution.

Magento starts to stand out when several needs occur at once. Say a company:

• has several brands,
• operates in several countries,
• uses different domains,
• has a large and varied catalogue,
• needs different prices in different markets,
• has several inventory sources,
• integrates e‑commerce with ERP, PIM and WMS,
• wants to develop its own sales logic,
• needs one back office for several stores.

In a case like that, what matters is not a single feature but the way Magento's individual elements work together.

A rich architecture is not free to maintain.

The current Magento 2.4.9 system requirements (opens in a new tab) show an extensive technology stack that includes PHP, a database, OpenSearch and additional infrastructure components for caching, queues and running the application.

On top of that come mechanisms specific to Magento itself:

• indexing,
• cron,
• cache,
• queues,
• modules,
• dependencies between components,
• the deployment process,
• security updates.

The more custom code and integrations there are, the more testing, monitoring and the way changes are released matter too.

Which is why Magento can be technically unjustified in a project that simply needs a standard store. A platform's greater capabilities are worth nothing if the business does not use them.

Magento deserves serious consideration when several of the following are present:

1. 01

   Many markets

   The company sells in different countries, languages and currencies and needs a different configuration for each market.

2. 02

   Many brands or stores

   One organisation runs several stores or brands and wants to manage them within a single platform instance.

3. 03

   A rich catalogue

   Products have many attributes, variants, product families and dependencies.

4. 04

   Multiple inventory sources

   Product availability comes from several warehouses or other locations.

5. 05

   A large number of integrations

   E‑commerce has to communicate with the ERP, PIM, WMS, CRM and further company systems.

6. 06

   Unusual sales logic

   The standard purchasing process is not enough, and some processes have to be fitted to the way the business works.

7. 07

   Ongoing development of the platform is a predictable part of the business

   The store is not a one-off project but a system that will be developed regularly alongside the company's range, markets and processes.

In cases like these, Magento's architecture as a whole starts to matter.

If a company runs a single, relatively simple store with a standard catalogue, one market and few integrations, much of what Magento can do may go unused. It is then worth checking whether the cost of:

• implementation,
• hosting,
• maintenance,
• updates,
• development,
• testing

is proportionate to the problems the platform is meant to solve.

PrestaShop or WooCommerce may be enough for some of these projects. Shopware can be an alternative when Sales Channels, rules and process automation matter, among other things.

Sylius can be interesting when the project assumes a very large number of custom processes from the start and the team wants to build on a framework rather than fit the business to a standard platform.

The choice should follow from the project's requirements, not from a belief that one technology is better than the others by definition.

So instead of asking:

“Is Magento better than PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Shopware or Sylius?”

it is better to establish:

“Which platform best fits our company's catalogue, markets, integrations and sales processes?”

If the answer calls for many stores, markets, a rich catalogue, several inventory sources and many integrations all at once, Magento becomes one of the solutions worth analysing in detail.