Magento (community edition) is definitely one of the best Ecommerce platforms out there. But Magento has significant drawbacks and as it grows more and more popular, more and more people are also looking for simpler, better suited alternatives for their Ecommerce website.

Keep reading and watch a screencast video on how to get an Ecommerce website in under 5 minutes using a great alternative to Magento.

Why look for an Alternative to Magneto?

Magento is a complex platform that’s integrated with a gazillion features (and counting). The main drawbacks are cost of hosting and maintenance, bugs, complexity (which makes it costly to customize), and difficulty to find a knowledgeable Magento expert.

For example, every time a new version of the platform is released, it’s naturally important to update your copy of the software since every new release fixes bugs, improves security protocols, and  brings new features. But updating your Magento installation is not a simple task! It often breaks your store altogether and is a real hassle that can take days or even weeks to complete entirely. Just take a quick look at the mess over at the forums on the Magento website and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The truth is that Magento is over-kill for the vast majority of all Ecommerce website projects. Magento is made for enterprise class Ecommerce sites. Stores that have a large volume of sales and want to leverage advanced tools available today to online merchants such as complex promotion rules, fancy website features, enhanced flexibility in catalog management and presentation, integration with other services, etc.

Who shouldn’t look for a Magento alternative?

If an increased conversion rate of 1% makes a huge difference in your Ecommerce business, or if a $1 increase in the average order price represents a significant amount of money based on your volume of sales – then Magento is definitely the right choice for your Ecommerce site!

For most Ecommerce sites though that’s not the case. And the costs, time, and efforts necessary to deploy a Magento store greatly outweigh the benefits that Magento brings in terms of features.

So what’s a good alternative to Magento?

So what is a good alternative to Magento that would be better suited for most Ecommerce websites?

The answer is good old WordPress! WordPress is really an awesome CMS platform that is 100% free and open source. It’s the most popular blogging platform out there, it’s easy (and cheap) to setup, host, maintain, update, customize, etc. And there’s tons of web designers who know WordPress like the back of their hands if you’re in need of in-depth customization.

When it comes to Ecommerce, there is a very nice Ecommerce plugin for WordPress that you can download for free. There’s also a bunch of commercial upgrades you can add on to your WordPress store.

How can I get an online store in just 5 minutes?

Not convinced? See how you can setup an Ecommerce website with WordPress in under 5 minutes:

Also worth reading on this topic:

• Magento pros and cons
• 3 tips to improve your Ecommerce site’s security
• Get 50% off the ultimate Magento theme