Shopify overview

In 2006, the Canadian ecommerce SaaS platform Shopify was launched. 

In June 2009, it released an API to allow for the addition of applications and an app store to sell them.

The advantage of SaaS solutions is the speed with which you can create an online shop without real technical know-how. However, customization is limited and expensive.

Introducing PrestaShop

In 2007, students from Epitech (school for computer science and new technologies) created the open source CMS PrestaShop. At its inception, PrestaShop used an "in-house" framework that is currently being transitioned to Symfony. 
Today, it is the company of the same name that manages and maintains the PrestaShop open source project. 
The latest version is 1.7.8 (7.8 with the new version nomenclature); this is the version we will use in this comparison.

Key points of comparison

Community
The Shopify community is difficult to estimate because the official forum is highly controlled by the company. However, you can find a lot of documentation and FAQs. Of course, there is no public Github account for this solution.

The PrestaShop community has more than 1,000,000 members overall (merchants, agencies, contributors, etc.), including 740 Github contributors. It is a very francophone and active community.

It's difficult to make a comparison, because naturally, an open source CMS has a larger community than a SaaS solution. In an open source project, the community can directly contribute improvements and new features. While in a closed SaaS solution, it can only make suggestions.

Price
Creation of the online shop

Shopify is an e-commerce solution that allows you to create and add content very easily and quickly. However, customization is more complex and involves the use of applications that require knowledge of Python, JavaScript and PHP. In addition, many applications are paid monthly and can claim a portion of your turnover.

PrestaShop allows for high levels of customization since the code is open and accessible. It is possible to buy modules on the Addons marketplace of PrestaShop, as well as to create modules by mastering only PHP and JavaScript. Modules are usually purchased as a one-off payment, with prices ranging from €30 to €200 for the most part.

The  ADR (Average Daily Rate) is roughly equal between the 2 solutions: €380. However, the development time can be slightly longer with Shopify, as it requires proficiency in 3 languages compared to 2 for PrestaShop.

Online store maintenance

For the addition or correction of new features, the prices will be equivalent because the ADR and development times are also equivalent. Nevertheless, the cost of the Shopify application (% of the turnover) should not be overlooked.

Hosting

This is a complex aspect to interpret given the various factors that come into play:

Traffic on your e-commerce website
The quantity of products in your online shop
Specific developments
SaaS solutions generally offer very good performance because they control the code and infrastructure of the solution. So when you take out a subscription on Shopify, you are relying on a server configured and optimized for your solution. 

On the other hand, you have to choose your hosting provider with PrestaShop, and this can be a difficult choice. But once you choose the host, you'll pay a fixed amount, and everything on your server is yours. This makes data recovery much easier.

Shopify  

Easy to get online

Very simple to choose a hosting provider (a few packages)

The data is not on your server, so you do not have full control of your data.

PrestaShop  

You have control over all your dataYou have control over all your data

You must choose your hosting provider

Performance

The differences in performance will depend mainly on the specific developments and the server you are going to use. 

It is therefore very complicated, if not impossible, to have a clear-cut perspective on this issue. PrestaShop can be paired with cache systems like Varnish to boost its performance. Shopify offers good performance because the hosting is optimized for the Shopify solution, since the company manages this aspect itself 100%. 

However, it must be taken into account that Shopify takes a part of the turnover and that this total amount (price of the package + % of the turnover) can equal a good server with PrestaShop with a suitable configuration, thereby guaranteeing equivalent performance to Shopify.

SEO

SEO represents the ability to attract visitors organically to an e-commerce website. Although both e-commerce solutions offer impressive natural referencing, the customization capabilities of PrestaShop will allow you to make optimizations that will be (depending on which) impossible or very complicated with Shopify: for example, changing the url format or changing the page markup is very complicated on Shopify, while it remains quite simple on PrestaShop.                  

Integration

The ability to integrate new tools into your e-commerce website is paramount, as it allows your site to evolve according to your needs and growth. 

PrestaShop (v1.7.8) 

Module number 3819

Number of themes 7531 

Shopify

Module number 2176

Number of themes 0

In terms of quantity, Shopify has more modules, which are largely made by the solution. This is a positive thing because it allows us to have developments consistent with the evolution and design of the CMS.

PrestaShop also offers a wide range of modules ranging from visual customization to the integration of payment methods or carriers.

The biggest difference is always in the price. We've talked about it a lot before, a Shopify application will usually cost more over time than a PrestaShop module.

The 2 e-commerce platform solutions offer complete APIs that allow for the integration of new tools. 

These APIs cover a large part of your needs, for more specific cases: 

PrestaShop allows for the addition of new entry points to enrich the API
Shopify is more complicated because developers only have the API, which makes adding new entry points complex.

Conclusion

Shopify advantages

Shopify is an SaaS solution that allows you to quickly set up an online business. 
The customization is satisfactory and the solution offers good performance. 
There are a lot of apps to add third-party features or tools.
This is an ideal solution when you're starting an online business without any technical knowledge.

PrestaShop advantages

PrestaShop is an open source solution that you will have to host, this may be a hindrance when setting up but once done you will have control over all your data.
The diversity and quantity of the modules offer simple and affordable customization. 
PrestaShop will allow you to evolve and adapt your online business to your needs.
It's an ideal solution for any type of merchant who is looking for a simple and scalable solution.

Source: PrestaShop