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  5. Magento vs Spree

Magento vs Spree

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Spree
Spree
Stacks80
Followers70
Votes48
GitHub Stars15.0K
Forks5.2K
Magento
Magento
Stacks3.1K
Followers889
Votes81
GitHub Stars12.0K
Forks9.4K

Magento vs Spree: What are the differences?

# Introduction
In the world of e-commerce, Magento and Spree are two popular platforms that offer various features and functionalities for online businesses. Understanding the key differences between Magento and Spree can help businesses make an informed decision on which platform suits their needs best.

1. **Technology Stack**: Magento is built on PHP and has a monolithic architecture, making it robust but often slower to customize. On the other hand, Spree is built on Ruby on Rails and follows a modular architecture, which allows for quick and easy customization with smaller components.

2. **Community Support**: Magento has a larger community of developers and users, offering a wide range of resources and extensions. Spree, while having a smaller community, is known for its strong developer support and active contributors that focus on maintaining the platform's code quality.

3. **Flexibility and Scalability**: Magento is known for its flexibility and scalability, making it suitable for large enterprises with complex needs. Spree, on the other hand, is more lightweight and designed for smaller to medium-sized businesses looking for a leaner e-commerce solution.

4. **Cost of Ownership**: Magento, being a more feature-rich platform, often comes with higher upfront costs for licensing, hosting, and maintenance. Spree, being open-source and lighter, typically has lower total cost of ownership, making it more budget-friendly for smaller businesses.

5. **Customization and Extensions**: Magento offers a wide range of out-of-the-box features and extensions, but customization can be complex and require skilled developers. Spree, while offering fewer default features, is built with a focus on ease of customization and extensibility, allowing for quicker development and deployment.

6. **Ease of Use**: Magento, with its extensive features and functionalities, has a steeper learning curve and can be overwhelming for beginners. Spree, with its simple and intuitive interface, is easier to learn and navigate, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking for a user-friendly e-commerce solution.

In Summary, understanding the key differences between Magento and Spree in terms of technology stack, community support, flexibility, cost of ownership, customization, and ease of use can help businesses choose the right e-commerce platform that aligns with their specific needs and goals.

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Advice on Spree, Magento

R
R

Oct 12, 2020

Needs adviceonPHPPHPPrestaShopPrestaShopMagentoMagento

I am consulting for a company that wants to move its current CubeCart e-commerce site to another PHP based platform like PrestaShop or Magento. I was interested in alternatives that utilize Node.js as the primary platform. I currently don't know PHP, but I have done full stack dev with Java, Spring, Thymeleaf, etc.. I am just unsure that learning a set of technologies not commonly used makes sense. For example, in PrestaShop, I would need to work with JavaScript better and learn PHP, Twig, and Bootstrap. It seems more cumbersome than a Node JS system, where the language syntax stays the same for the full stack. I am looking for thoughts and advice on the relevance of PHP skillset into the future AND whether the Node based e-commerce open source options can compete with Magento or Prestashop.

762k views762k
Comments
David
David

CEO at SwiftERM

Jun 18, 2020

Review

We devised SwiftERM to generate additional income from existing consumers on ecommerce websites. Available for those using Shopify, Magento, Woocommerce or Opencart, it runs in alongside (not instead of) existing email marketing software like Mailchimp, Drupal or Emarsys. It is 100% automatic so needs zero additional staff. It uses predictive analytics to identify imminent consumer purchases. The average additional turnover achieved is 10.5%. It is the only software in the world authorised to send Trustpilot to send product ratings in outbound emails. Developers and ecommerce retailers are invited to try to it for free, to establish viability this predictive analytics system is. SwiftERM is a certified Microsoft Partner MPN ID 6197468.

129k views129k
Comments
Isaiah
Isaiah

Community Developer at StackShare

Jun 19, 2021

Decided

The interoperability and reliability of Shopify is simply unmatched on the market. Having been a web developer for a few years, I cannot imagine going with any other solutions because of the level of development that would need to go into each and every tweak requested by stakeholders.

Shopify makes it easy to use apps off the shelf to test an idea, after which you can replace it with a custom solution or build on top of it.

Using their robust API, array of webhooks, Shopify Flow and Shopify Scripts, with a little know-how anything you want to do is just a few clicks or lines of code away from reality. The community is also pretty robust, so if you ever need help, you're not alone.

Full disclosure: I've been invested since 2015, but it's because they really are the best on the market.

7.04k views7.04k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Spree
Spree
Magento
Magento

The Spree storefront offers a full feature set and is built on common standards, so you don't have to compromise speed to market, efficiency or innovation. The modular platform allows you to easily configure, supplement or replace any functionality you need, so that you can build the exact storefront that you want.

Magento Community Edition is perfect if you’re a developer who wants to build your own solution with flexible eCommerce technology. You can modify the core code and add a wide variety of features and functionality.

More than 45,000 stores and growing, and an active community;Modular platform; Powerful Customization;Comprehensive API;Mature and Trusted Platform
Analytics and Reporting;Product Browsing;Catalog Browsing;Catalog Management;Customer Accounts;Customer Service;Order Management;Payment;Shipping;Checkout;Search Engine Optimization;International Support;Marketing Promotions and Tools;Site Management;Mobile Commerce
Statistics
GitHub Stars
15.0K
GitHub Stars
12.0K
GitHub Forks
5.2K
GitHub Forks
9.4K
Stacks
80
Stacks
3.1K
Followers
70
Followers
889
Votes
48
Votes
81
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 12
    Open Source
  • 12
    Great community and support
  • 10
    Ruby
  • 9
    Flexible e-commerce solution
  • 5
    Lots of extensions
Pros
  • 23
    Open source
  • 15
    Robust
  • 13
    Powerful
  • 11
    Widespread community support
  • 9
    E-commerce made easy
Cons
  • 2
    Slow
  • 2
    System is too complex
  • 1
    Processor hungry

What are some alternatives to Spree, Magento?

PrestaShop

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is written in PHP, is highly customizable, supports all the major payment services, is translated in many languages and localized for many countries, and is fully responsive (both front- and back-office).

Shopify

Shopify

Shopify powers tens of thousands of online retailers including General Electric, Amnesty International, CrossFit, Tesla Motors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Foo Fighters, GitHub, and more. Our platform allows users to easily and quickly create their own online store without all the technical work involved in developing their own website, or the huge expense of having someone else build it. Shopify lets merchants manage all aspects of their shops: uploading products, changing the design, accepting credit card orders, and viewing their incoming orders and completed transactions.

Saleor

Saleor

Saleor is a rapidly-growing open source e-commerce platform that has served high-volume companies from branches like publishing and apparel since 2012. Based on Python and Django, the latest major update introduces a modular front end powered by a GraphQL API and written with React and TypeScript.

nopCommerce

nopCommerce

It is the open-source eCommerce solution. It has everything you need to get started in selling physical and digital goods over the internet.

Shopware

Shopware

Shopware 6 is an open headless commerce platform powered by Symfony 5.4 and Vue.js 2.6. Check out our GitHub Repository https://github.com/shopware/platform

WooCommerce

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. And it's available for free. Packed full of features, perfectly integrated into your self-hosted WordPress website.

Wombat

Wombat

Automate your store in no time: Wombat is an ecommerce integration platform that quickly connects your storefront with all your favorite 3rd party services. Comprehensive enough for large ecommerce stores and easy enough for small merchants

Pimcore

Pimcore

It is a software vendor for free and open-source customer experience management, digital asset management, product information management, multi-channel publishing and e-commerce software.

Reaction Commerce

Reaction Commerce

It is an API-first, modular commerce stack made for ambitious brands and retailers. It’s service-based architecture is built to deliver flexibility and freedom at scale.

Snipcart

Snipcart

It is an e-commerce solution to save time and money Add two lines of code to your website and start selling products, downloads, or subscriptions online. Accept credit cards from all over the world.

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