Over the years the Print-on-Demand (POD) model has been growing, in which entrepreneurs can launch selling custom products with no immediate inventory. The major platforms offering a full range of options and visible pricing calculators for building POD stores are Magento and Shopify. Both have their unique advantages, but what is the best for your print on demand business? Lets jump straight into this detailed comparison and help you find out why?
Overview of Magento and Shopify
Magento has been one of the most powerful open-source eCommerce platforms which is flexible and can be customized according to your needs. It is a strong option for scaling up operations of medium to large enterprises through customization.
Shopify is equally a hosted eCommerce solution, favored for its simplicity and usability. Suitable for small – medium businesses to set up fast without any technical skill
Ease of Use
Magento: It is highly customizable as Magento provides endless possibilities to configure but you will need coding expertise or developers for the same. Magento — If you’re a bit more tech-savvy, Magento allows you to create a completely customized store. Magento is complex and can be difficult for non developers to update or create new assets, after all.
Shopify: Shopify on the other hand is much simpler to use, it has an interface that even a non-techie can set up their stores in briefly. Zero coding drag-and-drop design tools that are friendly to beginners new to eCommerce.
Verdict: Shopify wins in terms of ease of use for beginners, while Magento offers flexibility for advanced users.
Customization and Flexibility
Magento: Magento is best in Customizations. You can personalize your store right down to the smallest detail, be it on design or even backend. Handy when used by print on demand businesses which have their custom product creation tools like merging orders automatically with the external POD providers. This will allow you to have full control over your store because Magento is an open source platform.
Shopify: When it comes to customization options, Magento is obviously a much bigger winner than any SaaS like Shopify. The Software—you can use apps from the Shopify App Store to add functionality, but many great features are only available through paid apps. You will also need extra integrations for true customization, even though Shopify is compatible with print-on-demand services such as Printful or Printify.
Verdict: Magento wins for advanced customization, while Shopify is better suited for quick, basic setups.
POD Integrations
Magento: Magento offers no such integrations. Instead, they give you the flexibility to integrate with a third-party solution via their APIs and extensions system. Given the correct development, you can also plug your store into services such as Printful, CustomCat, or Gooten. But, this needs some advanced configuration which may need some third-party development support.
Shopify: Shopify has direct integrations with prominent POD providers like Printful, Printify, and Gooten (through its App Store). Thus making it very easy to start your own Print on Demand business on shopify as you can begin selling custom products right away.
Verdict: Shopify wins for its straightforward POD integrations.
Performance and Scalability
Magento: Consider Magento if you plan an online store with many products, high traffic, and complex operations. It scales, which means it can be used by POD businesses wanting to go global. Magento also has great performance to offer, provided you optimize your hosting and configurations.
Shopify: Easy to use, and it can handle massive amounts of traffic: Shopify It might not be as scalable as Magento for some situations where POD operations are super complex and highly customized. With Shopify scalability is possible with higher-tier plans, but at a financial cost.
Verdict: Magento is better for long-term scalability, while Shopify works well for growing small to mid-sized businesses.
Cost
Magento: Just keep in mind, Magento is free (open-source), but hosting, domain, SSL certificates/add-ons/extensions and development are all costs you can carry. Developer to develop custom POD integrations — this only adds the total cost. Magento Commerce: The enterprise version of Magento comes at a hefty cost, but it is designed to provide advanced functionality.
Shopify: You can easily see the pricing tiers available for Shopify, which range from $39/month-$399/month. It can be budgeted for more predictably and includes hosting, SSL, and security in many cases which on average costs less in the beginning. But you must remember that extra apps and transactional costs can rack up fast.
Verdict: Shopify is more cost-effective for small businesses, while Magento can become expensive with advanced customizations.
SEO Capabilities
Magento: Magento has one of the best inbuilt SEO features. You have the freedom to configure URLs, meta tags, and other core SEO parameters with no limitations Magento allows for more technical SEO optimizations like schema markup and site structure that are great for ranking a POD store.
Shopify: Shopify, too, provides decent SEO options but Magento trumps it in terms if available customizations. Shopify creates URLs which are SEO Friendly, And you can edit your Meta descriptions & tags also. But despite this, Shopify is pretty nitty when it comes to their unique URL structure and customisation restrictions can hurt your ability to pursue advanced SEO techniques.
Verdict: Magento is the better choice for SEO flexibility and control.
Support and Community
Magento: Magento offers extensive support from its large community of developers and third-party agencies. Unfortunately, the available level of support poses a challenge for most SMBs unless you hire dedicated developers or partner with a Magento agency.
Shopify: Store owners in Shopify can contact support anytime with live chat, email or phone call and get issues resolved quickly. Shopify — Like Shopify then there’s an arsenal of knowledgeable third party apps and a long list of agencies you can hire to assist.
Verdict: Shopify wins with its more accessible and comprehensive customer support.
Current and Future Trends in eCommerce
According to Statista, global eCommerce sales are expected to reach $6.38 trillion by 2024. With print-on-demand continuing to grow as a popular business model, platforms like Magento and Shopify are evolving to meet the needs of this industry.
Shopify continues to dominate the SMB eCommerce market, with over 4.1 million websites built on the platform as of 2024. Shopify’s ease of use makes it a go-to for POD businesses that need quick deployment.
Magento, now part of Adobe, has been shifting its focus towards enterprise clients. Its scalability and flexibility make it a popular choice for large POD businesses that require custom solutions.
Future Outlook: Shopify will continue to dominate the small to mid-sized POD market, while Magento is positioned for enterprises seeking advanced customization and scalability.
Which is Better for Print-on-Demand?
The Bottom Line: Which is better for print-on-demand business …Magento or Shopify?
Magento: If you want a highly customized store in different areas like scalability, then it is the only ideal option. Best for larger POD businesses with more complex requirements
Shopify (Best Lightweight and Low-Cost Solution with Print-On-Demand Built in) Designed for simplicity and reliability, it is best suited for SMB (small and middle business) enterprises.
Shopify and Magento both have their unique features to offer in print-on-demand, where Shopify is easier but Magento works well for scalability. The right answer, however, is contingent upon the scale and complexity of your POD operations.
This detailed comparison of Magento and Shopify for print-on-demand (POD) businesses offers valuable insights into which platform may suit different business needs. Shopify stands out for its ease of use, making it ideal for small to mid-sized POD operations that prioritize quick deployment and simple setups.
Shopify is perfect for small to mid-sized print-on-demand (POD) businesses due to its ease of use and built-in integrations like Printful and Printify.
Shopify is perfect for small to mid-sized print-on-demand (POD) businesses due to its ease of use and built-in integrations like Printful and Printify.