- Comparison: PrestaShop vs Magento 2
- Creating B2B online stores
- Comparison Summary
- Which solution should you choose?
Choosing an e-commerce platform is one of the most important decisions when building an online store. It affects the look of your website, its functions, performance, scalability, marketing options, and maintenance costs. Among the most popular solutions on the market are PrestaShop and Magento 2. Both platforms are open source, which means you are not tied to one provider. They also have large user communities and thousands of installations worldwide. However, they differ in approach, features, and technical requirements. Let’s take a closer look.
Comparison: PrestaShop vs Magento 2
At first glance, both PrestaShop and Magento 2 let you sell products online. But the differences appear when you look at scale and complexity. PrestaShop is lighter, easier to use, and cheaper to maintain, so it works best for small and medium stores. Magento 2 offers more advanced features, high flexibility, and great scalability, making it a common choice for bigger companies with more complex needs.
1. Ease of use and management
PrestaShop is much easier for beginners. It installs quickly, and the admin panel is simple to understand. A person without technical skills can set up the store, add products, and start selling.
Magento requires much more knowledge. Even the installation and first setup can be difficult. You usually need a technical specialist. The interface is more complex, and managing the store is harder. In most cases, a developer or an IT team is necessary.
2. Implementation and maintenance costs
Both Magento 2 and PrestaShop are open source, so you can install them for free. But real costs depend on hosting, development, maintenance, and whether you choose a ready-made theme or a custom design. Costs vary a lot, so each project must be estimated separately.
PrestaShop: low entry cost – free software, many cheap themes and modules. You don’t need strong hosting, so monthly costs are lower. Good for small and medium businesses.
Typical projects start from a few thousand PLN and can go up to around 80,000 PLN.
Magento: the basic version is free, but real costs are much higher. You need stronger hosting, expert implementation, paid premium modules, and support from an experienced team. Hosting quality is especially important.
The lowest implementation costs start around 100,000 PLN and can go over 450,000 PLN.
3. Scalability and performance
PrestaShop works well for small and medium catalogs (a few to several thousand products). For larger stores, it needs optimization (cache, better hosting, removing slow modules). The API system helps with integrations and data processing.
Magento is built for large stores. It can handle hundreds of thousands of products and very high traffic, as long as the server is strong and the system is well configured. It reduces data load to speed up page loading. The GraphQL API improves catalog updates and allows advanced integrations, especially for real-time data and headless commerce.
4. Customization and extensions
Both systems have many extensions, but there are differences.
PrestaShop has a larger number of modules and themes, many of them cheap. Adding new features is usually easy and quick.
Magento has fewer extensions, but they are often more professional and more expensive. Many of them support complex content and personalization. Magento offers very big possibilities—almost no limits.
5. Built-in features
PrestaShop provides solid basic tools for managing products, categories, orders, and customers. Advanced options (like multistore or complex pricing rules) usually require extra modules.
Magento 2 offers many advanced features out of the box: multi-store support, advanced promotions, flexible product attributes, marketing and analytics tools. Some functions, like multilingual or multi-currency support, still require extra modules.
6. Community and support
Both platforms rely heavily on community support. Users can access documentation, knowledge bases, and active forums with answers to common problems. The large user community is a big advantage.
However, free versions do not include official support. For complex issues, you often need paid specialists or an agency.
7. SEO and marketing
Both Magento 2 and PrestaShop support key SEO features, such as editing URLs and using canonical tags.
PrestaShop offers basic SEO tools (meta tags, friendly URLs). Many advanced options need extra modules.
Magento has very strong SEO and marketing tools built in: advanced promotions, personalization options, coupon support, multi-level categories, and advanced reports.
8. Security
Both platforms are secure, but require regular updates.
PrestaShop is safe, but security updates appear less often. Store owners often need to buy security modules and keep the platform updated.
Magento releases updates more frequently and offers built-in tools (like 2FA and Security Scan). However, updates usually require a developer.
9. Payment methods
PrestaShop: fewer built-in payment options. You need modules (e.g., PrestaShop Checkout) for cards, PayPal, e-wallets, or local payments. Popular payment providers offer free modules.
Magento: has more built-in payment options (PayPal, Braintree, cards, bank transfers, e-wallets). Some integrations still need extensions, which may add costs.
Creating B2B online stores
Magento 2
Magento 2 does not have built-in B2B features in the basic version, but you can easily add them using ready-made modules or custom solutions created from scratch. This flexibility and ability to fully customize the platform is one of its biggest advantages, supported by strong scalability and performance.
When launching B2B functions, there are usually two options:
- Ready-made module (e.g., Amasty, BSS Commerce, Aheadworks) – a simpler option that lets you start wholesale sales quickly. However, when choosing a ready-made module, you are limited to what the producer offers.
- Custom solution – gives complete flexibility because it is not restricted by existing modules. You can build features perfectly tailored to your business and better integrate the store with ERP, CRM, or logistics systems.
However, this approach is more expensive, time-consuming, and requires ongoing maintenance and development of your own code.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop includes a B2B mode that lets you treat customers as companies instead of private individuals. After turning it on, you can set up profiles with details such as company name, website, or payment terms. This gives the store basic business features, like different prices for customer groups, managing catalog or category pricing, and generating invoices manually.
It’s a practical and simple solution, but less advanced than Magento. It focuses mainly on basic B2B needs and works more as a quick “switch-on” option, without wide customization possibilities.
Comparison Summary
| Criteria | PrestaShop | Magento |
|---|---|---|
| License cost | 0 PLN – open source | 0 PLN – open source |
| Ease of use | Easy to install and use, even for beginners | More complex, difficult to configure, usually requires a developer |
| Implementation cost | Lower costs, starting from a few thousand PLN | Much higher costs, starting from about 150,000 PLN |
| Scalability | Good for smaller stores; needs optimization for large catalogs | Very high scalability; can handle hundreds of thousands of products |
| Built-in features | Basic features to start with | Advanced features, multi-store support |
| Community & support | Large community, lots of support | Large community, lots of support |
| SEO & marketing | Basic SEO, works out of the box | Advanced SEO and marketing tools included |
| Security | Solid base, often needs extra security modules | Regular updates, built-in 2FA, Security Scan |
| Payment methods | Easy to extend with modules, few built-in options | Rich set of payment methods built in |
| B2B | Built-in mode – simple, limited flexibility | Modules or custom solutions – full flexibility |
Which solution should you choose?
The choice between PrestaShop and Magento 2 depends mainly on the size of your business and your development plans.
- PrestaShop is best for small and medium-sized companies that want to launch online sales quickly, with a low budget and without a large technical team. It’s a good option for businesses that value simplicity and want to grow the store using ready-made modules.
- Magento 2, on the other hand, is a platform for large companies and complex e-commerce projects that need scalability, full flexibility, and advanced features – especially in B2B. It’s the right choice for businesses that treat e-commerce as a strategic part of their operations and are ready to invest in professional development and long-term maintenance.
💡 There is no single “best” platform – only the one that fits your needs, budget, and growth plans. Sometimes a simpler solution like PrestaShop is 100% enough, and sometimes only the capabilities of Magento make it possible to scale your business on an international level.
