Inside this Article
What Are Magento and WordPress?
Are you confused by the difference between Magento and Magento Adobe Commerce? You’re not alone. Magento is the original open-source software, which you can still download for free. Adobe Commerce is the pricey version, rebranded after Adobe bought Magento. It includes extra functionality and hosting on Adobe Cloud but is extremely expensive.
Similarly, WordPress.org is open source and free though you’ll have to pay for hosting and other features. WordPress.com is the all-inclusive version of this powerful CMS. It gets you a full-featured online store with minimal fuss and does it at an affordable price.
In this review, I’ll compare Magento open source and WordPress.org, unless otherwise specified.
Templates
WordPress Has More Store Themes To Choose From
Magento cannot compete with WordPress in template selection. While WordPress offers 1,000+ store themes, Magento offers just 13, and only three are free. Simplicity is another factor. Many WordPress themes use its block editor, which allows you to drag and drop text, image, and video content blocks into place. This simplifies website design and customization for those with limited technical knowledge.

Features and Ease of Use
You Can Code or Not With WordPress, Magento Is a Different Story
WordPress wins on user-friendliness in a head-to-head matchup because its software is more accessible to the average user. Magento has more impressive built-in features but is better suited to developers with the knowledge and skill to make the most of everything it offers. With Magento, the first challenge is downloading the software. Adobe sent me to GitHub, but installing Magento on my computer wasn’t easy. Your best bet is to start by choosing a good hosting provider so you can install Magento on its server.

A top-managed hosting provider can simplify setting up a Magento or WordPress store. Plans typically include hosting, a custom domain, maintenance, and security and start at as little as $2.99 per month for shared hosting. Your ultimate cost will depend on the features and functionality you need.
Extensions and Plugins
Magento and WordPress Offer Plenty of Ways To Upgrade Your Store
There’s a WordPress plugin for any feature or functionality you could possibly want, making it hard to beat when it comes to add-ons. The plugin directory has 59,000+ at last count, with more always coming. Most are free, though you may have to pay for premium features.


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Blogging
A WordPress Blog Can Help Build Your E-Commerce Brand
Blogging can play a crucial role in establishing your brand authority, engaging shoppers, and driving repeat traffic that will ultimately boost sales. Of these two platforms, only WordPress offers built-in blogging tools making it ideal if you plan to use content to attract and maintain a loyal audience.

Marketing
Magento Has Useful Marketing Tools, But They Can Be Hard to Use
Magento gives you tools to design email newsletters, promotions, and personalized offers for customers based on their purchase history. Detailed reports track traffic and conversion rates and provide insights into campaign effectiveness, helping you fine-tune your marketing activities to improve results. The hard part is setting everything up in Magento’s backend. WordPress has the upper hand if you want to focus on strategic content marketing via blogging, subscriptions, and social media. You’ll need a plugin for other marketing efforts, like HubSpot for lead generation, MailChimp for email marketing, or Jetpack for analytics data. The hosted WordPress.com comes with JetPack built-in, making it easier to market your store. You’ll get an analytics dashboard, advanced marketing tools and automation, and other useful features to grow and monetize your store.SEO
With Magento and WordPress, an SEO-Friendly Store is Up to You
Both Magento and WordPress automatically generate sitemaps to make it easy for search engines to crawl and index your site. They also give you control over key elements like URL structure, meta tags, rich snippets, and alt-image attributes, all essential for improving your search engine ranking and attracting organic traffic. But for more advanced SEO features, helpful checklists, and personalized tips, you’ll have to add an extension from the Adobe Commerce store or a WordPress plugin. You can also integrate Google Analytics with your Magento or WordPress site. Neither platform offers the individualized guidance and support for fine-tuning SEO that other popular e-commerce platforms, like Wix and Shopify, provide.Pricing
WordPress Will Be Cheaper at the Outset and in the Long Run
You can download Magento and WordPress software for free, but neither will get you a free web store. You’ll have to pay for hosting, themes, extensions/plugins, and maintenance. These costs will be less for WordPress than for Magento. If you opt for the paid version, WordPress.com will cost substantially less than Magento Adobe Commerce.Here’s What You Get for Free
Magento Open Source is free to download and install, as are updates, security patches, and new features, though not all the latest features are compatible with the free software version. Similarly, anyone can download WordPress and access free updates, themes, and plugins to build an e-commerce website. You’ll probably have to hire a developer to help you set up and customize a Magento site. To keep your costs down, you may want to check out Fiverr, where you can find freelance Magento developers and agencies for a reasonable fee.Here’s What You Get If You Pay
Pricing for Magento Adobe Commerce is extremely expensive, starting at about $1900+ per month for the Pro plan and rising to $10,000+ for the Enterprise plan. The actual price you’ll pay is based on your business’ annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV).
In contrast, WordPress.com has two well-priced e-commerce plans, the Business and Commerce plans. The Commerce plan includes the WooCommerce plugin and costs $45 monthly, billed annually.
For a quick comparison, see the table below.
Magento Adobe Commerce | WordPress.com | |
Starting Price | Price on request (usually from $10,000 per year) | $45.00 |
Unlimited products | ✔ | ✔ |
Abandoned cart recovery | ✔ | ✔ (with plugin) |
Custom checkout experience | ✔ | ✔ |
Real time shipping and tax collection | ✔ | ✔ |
Integrated marketing and SEO | ✔ | ✔ |
24/7 customer support | ✔ | ✔ |
Support
Magento and WordPress Rely on Community Support
As open-source software, Magento and WordPress lack dedicated customer support teams. Instead of calling or chatting with support reps, you can post questions on their community forums and access online resources, such as tutorials and user guides. To evaluate support quality, I contacted both. I found the WordPress community to be a valuable resource you can call on if you have a question or issue.

WordPress Is the Better Option for Most
Despite Magento’s extensive functionality, its complexity puts it out of reach for all but the most technically adept users. If you’re a web developer or looking to rebrand a large business, you’ll be able to navigate the process and cost of setting up a Magento store. If not, WordPress is the better option because it’s more user-friendly and affordable. Startups, as well as small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses, can all benefit from its powerful content marketing features. The bigger question may be, why settle for either WordPress or Magento? Other platforms offer impressive e-commerce features, better support, and fast and easy store design.WordPress
Magento
Templates
1,000+ store themes (100+ free)
13 e-commerce themes (3 free)
Features & Ease of Use
Highly customizable but relatively user-friendly, coding optional
Advanced features and customization but difficult to use, requires coding or pro help
Plugins/Extensions
59,000+ free plugins (free but fee for premium features)
3,800 extensions (free and paid)
Blogging
Impressive blogging tools support brand-building
Lacks native blogging tools, add a third-party extension or integrate a WordPress blog
E-Commerce
E-commerce with plugins, like WooCommerce
Outstanding built-in e-commerce tools
Marketing
Impressive content marketing features, other marketing tools with plugins
Advanced marketing capabilities
SEO
Essential SEO features, plugins add advanced tools, reporting, and analytics
Essential SEO features, reporting, and analytics are built-in
Pricing
Free as open source, affordably priced for WordPress.com
Free as open-source, very expensive for Adobe Commerce
Support
Helpful community, online tutorials/courses, and knowledge base
Active community and knowledge base