PrestaShop vs WooCommerce Differences 2023: Seo, Security, Use, Design

PrestaShop vs WooCommerce is another popular comparison that you would easily find over the internet. Since both are free platforms, choosing between them can be a little tough for beginners. In this comparison guide, I will compare both of them and see how they stack up against each other.

If you are planning to set up an eCommerce website the choice of a content management system (CMS) is crucial. In the long run it will affect your business and your reputation too. No matter which shopping cart software you’re choosing it has to be capable of handling huge traffic and mass requests flawlessly. Thus, a CMS is something that carries the responsibility for the success of your business.

PrestaShop and WooCommerce are the two powerful and competent platforms in the eCommerce industry. And through this guide, I will walk you through the standard as well as advanced features they have to offer you. So, without wasting any more time, let’s begin the comparison and see which one is the best platform for beginners as well as for your business according to your business needs.

PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: A Brief Introduction

What is PrestaShop?

PrestaShop is a free and open-source eCommerce self-hosted platform. It was born in 2005 in Paris, France. Initially, it was available in English and French only. But today, over 300,000 eCommerce stores run on PrestaShop around the globe that too in 60 different languages. PrestaShop is a simple-to-use and easy-to-navigate platform. Both beginners and professional developers use this eCommerce solution to create a full-fledged online store.

There are thousands of people working constantly to make PrestaShop what it is. You can easily scale your PrestaShop website and add any number of products you want. This feature of PrestaShop earns a point for it. However, the convenience to manage the inventory is another exceptional feature of PrestaShop. Moreover, the flexibility to handle multiple stores through a single dashboard comes handy with it.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a highly customizable open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress. Basically, it is a WordPress content management system plugin that focuses exclusively on eCommerce. It was launched in 2011 and soon become popular for its simplicity and flexibility. Today, WooCommerce is used by 10.8% of all websites. You can easily install and set up this plugin to your WordPress site and sell anything you want.

WordPress is the biggest platform for building any kind of website. When coupled with a powerful plugin such as WooCommerce, the functionality gets doubled. So is the impact of your site. It is one of the stable solutions out there suitable for all small to large scale stores. Check out best Woocommerce CRMs and you can also read how to add subcriptions to Woocommerce. You may also learn how to speed up Woocommerce store.

PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Feature Comparison

Ease of Use

PrestaShop dashboard

The ease of use begins right from the time you start installing the software. You need to install it on your server. No matter which web host provider you are using, Bluehost being the best suitable and powerful web host solution for beginners. Everything from adding products, product details, designing your store, and including add-ons is done through the PrestaShop dashboard only. You can add product price, SEO settings, shipping details, etc. from the dashboard itself. There are no hidden tricks that you need to uncover in order to run your PrestaShop store successfully. So, creating and maintaining your store is quite simple with PrestaShop. However, your PrestaShop dashboard will look like the one shown below.

WooCommerce dashboard

For those who are already familiar with the WordPress, installing WooCommerce won’t be tough for them. However, those who are new to WordPress and not sure about how to install WordPress or how to install a WordPress plugin, it’s a simple process to do that. However, if you are using any standard web host provider like Bluehost or SiteGround you can install the WordPress and WooCommerce plugin right from their panel. Now simply go to the Plugins → Add New and search for WooCommerce in the search box. Now, after installing the plugin, activate it. Here, you will come across a setup wizard to fill up the required information. From here you can add products and other store details of your store. Thus, designing your WooCommerce store is not tough.

Design and Themes

PrestaShop

You will get numerous options to customize your PrestaShop store and its design. There are thousands of ready-made themes available in the PrestaShop marketplace. Over 300,000 shops around the globe are built on PrestaShop. You now have software like TemplateToaster that work as a PrestaShop theme maker along with a rich library of ready-to-use free PrestaShop themes. Here’s guide on how to build eCommerce store using TemplateToaster. Simple way to create a PrestaShop theme and read about best PrestaShop hosting providers.

However, there are several free as well as premium themes available over different channels that you can use to create your online store. But in order to install the PrestaShop theme, you will have to take some professional help.

WooCommerce

Since WooCommerce is a plugin itself, any standard WordPress theme with WooCommerce support will work on your store. There are more than 7,000 themes available in the WordPress theme repository. There are themes for every business.

You can easily build your eCommerce store using these themes. For instance, if you are building an online clothing store, book store, shoe store, food business, electronics store, etc. You can easily find a suitable theme from here. Check out Prestashop vs OpenCart ,WooCommerce vs Shopify, WooCommerce vs magento, migrate from PrestaShop to WooCommerce , OpenCart vs WooCommerce.

Customizability

PrestaShop

When you are using PrestaShop to create your online store it’s your choice to begin with either a free theme or the paid ones whichever you like. However, you will find several paid options in the form of modules and themes to create an online store. On the official website of PrestaShop, you can find 5,000+ modules and themes to create a beautiful working store. You can easily customize the chosen themes as per your store needs.

WooCommerce

Likewise, WooCommerce is one such solution that lets you build a stunning online store using any free or paid theme. WordPress being the simplest content management system lets you use the WooCommerce plugin and create an eCommerce website in minutes. Talking about the templates or themes, WordPress is loaded with free themes, out of which maximum will support WooCommerce as well. Therefore, you can use them and customize them according to your business requirements.

Store Management

PrestaShop

Since you are building an eCommerce store, store management is a crucial factor to pay attention to. Unlike WooCommerce, PrestaShop is a full-fledged eCommerce Platform, therefore, store management is the main highlight of it. Stock management is an in-built feature of PrestaShop. You can easily manage several stores. Moreover, you will receive notifications about the products that are getting popular in your store or if you are getting low on stock.

WooCommerce

Managing your store in WooCommerce is not that tough either. Right from the WordPress dashboard you can manage your store. Adding products, removing products, setting shopping cart, other options everything can be smoothly managed from here. However, if you have added any other plugin to your WordPress site that too can be managed from the WordPress dashboard itself. You can make use of advanced management options via plugins and extensions.

Customer Support

PrestaShop

If you ever get stuck somewhere or unable to resolve any problem that occurred, then you should know who to contact. When you visit the official website of PrestaShop, you will see various options to reach the technical team for support. You have access the extensive knowledge base where you will find webinars, guides, and documentation to take help from. Moving ahead you can use the FAQ and visit the forum for more help. You can also register for training as well as generate tickets for help. You can chat with the PrestaShop community. All-in-all PrestaShop customer support is quite supportive.

WooCommerce

Talking about WooCommerce customer support comes in three forms. When you visit your WordPress dashboard navigate to the Account tab to avail support. The first thing you can do is fill up a form stating your problem and the support team will get back to you. Second, you can head to the forum and see what other participants are discussing. There might be someone discussing the same problem as yours and you may find an answer there. Furthermore, you can go through the knowledge base, blogs for the solution to your problem. Or you can open a support request. Here are some of our free WooCommerce themes you can create website with WooCommerce theme builder or you can create WooCommerec theme from scratch.

Security

PrestaShop

When it comes to security both PrestaShop and WooCommerce perform pretty well. Outdated PrestaShop versions can prone to attacks and vulnerability. Since it’s open-source software so security will always be an issue. However, you can take external measures to secure your site. Furthermore, your web host is equally responsible for your site security.

WooCommerce

Since WordPress is also one of the open-source software, thus, security can be a concern. However, WooCommerce is built on WordPress, and WordPress comes with an array of security plugins to ensure site security. You can use any WordPress security plugin to keep your WooCommerce eCommerce site safe and secure. However, with every WordPress update security is made more strong. Thus, WooCommerce is safe as long as you are taking safety measures.

SEO

PrestaShop

Search engine optimized websites perform well, we all know that.  PrestaShop in that context provides you amazing tools to take care of your tags, meta description, URL optimization for better performance in SERPS. There are powerful store strategies that you can employ to market your eCommerce store and earn really well. You can easily use PrestaShop modules to make your store visible to all.

WooCommerce

Every store created with WooCommerce 5.1.0 can use high WordPress SEO Plugins to get optimized for SEO. With the help of several plugins, you can manage your site URL, meta tags, meta descriptions, and further optimize all the pages. Indeed, WooCommerce is a beginner-friendly platform.

PrestaShop vs WooCommerce Comparison Table 2023

So, What Should You Choose Between PrestaShop vs WooCommerce?

Selecting PrestaShop vs WooCommerce is no easy task. Since they both are free platforms that do not mean they will serve you as expected. Every business has different objectives and priorities. Thus, it is not necessarily true that a platform that serves one business perfectly will also serve the other business in the same manner. You need to weigh their features, pros, and cons before making your final choice. You can read about add Custom Product Tabs in WooCommerce Website and WordPress and WooCommerce SMS Plugins.

I have compared them for their features, advantages, and disadvantages. And they both are perfect for some kind businesses. So, you have to check both of them against your requirements and decide.

PrestaShop vs WooCommerce: Final Verdict

Deciding between PrestaShop vs WooCommerce shouldn’t be that tough now. Whichever platform you choose just be sure about it because switching a platform later would be no less than a nightmare. However, most developers choose WooCommerce since it’s easy to work with WordPress. Whereas, PrestaShop overshadows WooCommerce when it comes to product and store management. I would say PrestaShop is an amazing option for large scale businesses. On the other hand, WooCommerce is an incomparable solution for small to medium-size eCommerce stores. So, consider each aspect and then make your choice. However, if you have any questions please leave me a message below in the comments.