PrestaShop vs. Magento CE

After a half year with PrestaShop as our proposed solution for e-commerce websites, and another half year with Magento CE as our 'new' solution, here is a small review from our experience :

PrestaShop

+ Pro :

• Easy installation
• Easy to modify (making changes to the behaviour without affecting the core files)
• Good template system (Smarty)
• Fast response-time from the community

- Contra :

• Buggy (core AND modules)
• Limited for extended needs
• Toy-like interface
• Rare updates and almost no bug-fixes

Our first impression was, that PrestaShop could fast and easily replace our in-house solution for e-commerce. With the small core and the logical framework of PrestaShop, it was easy to install our customers websites.
But already after a short while we got more and more costumers dissatisfied with the look and feel of the back-office, and we got more and more bug reports as well. The only answers to those bugs were workarounds with other modules to circumvent the problems. This is unacceptable for our clients and puts us into a bad light.

So we were looking for an alternative.

Magento CE

+ Pro :

• Stable core (based on Zend Framework)
• Very broad base of functions included, almost no limits for extensions
• Professional looking Front and Back-office
• Many extensions available with an easy upgrade function (Magento Connect)

- Contra :

• Installation can be tricky, moving an installation is very hard
• Modifications are difficulty to realise for newcomers
• Templates are not easily to maintain, you need to know the way how Magento CE works to know where you have to modify what .phtml file
• The responsiveness of the community forum is almost inexistant

After our switch to Magento CE I can confirm, that modifying a base installation of it is time consuming when you are new to it. At first sight all those XML configuration scripts may be scaring, but after a while you get to know where you will find the file you need to figure something out or to modify it.
As with PrestaShop, modifications are not done on the core files, but as extended classes to the MVC, or in creating a cascading folder tree to rewrite template files.

What did we learn

PrestaShop may be great for DIY users, but for us it is not something we can  install for our clients. It is fast deployed and easily adapted to the design you wish for it. But the limitations you have - even if you could extend it - are a no-go. Someone who has the time to extend it to his needs, that is great, but in our business : time is money. That applies as well on the bug-hunting in PrestaShop installations, and more on the waiting for bug-fixes from the project.
Magento CE is a hard one at first, but after 3 - 4 installations and modifications of the base system, you get to know it. A negative side is, that you have to search a long time if you have questions, but when you find what you are looking for, you can be sure it is well documented. Just be sure to look for the right version of Magento.

Magento CE is for us the way to go !


PS : If I need to write a non-common extension to Magento CE, I will try to write a how-to. Maybe one of you can use it later.