When comparing E-commerce platforms, it’s always important to identify the kind of experience that you’re hoping to have as merchants. Each software has its respective strengths and weaknesses, but your specific use case and goals will lead you in the right direction when comparing E-commerce software options. In the case of Miva and Magento 2, there are some critical differences.

The Differences Between Magento 2 and Miva

Magento 2

Magento 2 is the latest version of Magento, an open-source E-commerce system. With Magento, you have lots of flexibility, but take on more maintenance and risk. This includes Magento PCI compliance, hosting, security, extensions and customizations, software updates, bug fixes, and patches. Magento merchants need to be prepared to work with a larger number of vendors and to upkeep their Magento instance.

At Rand Marketing, we help many merchants to build and maintain Magento websites, but we also run into those who are not prepared to properly budget for and invest in proper upkeep, or who do not want to have as much responsibility for security and other technological upkeep.

Miva

Miva is a more stable platform. Where Magento still has a couple thousand that they’re tackling, Miva excels at providing a more polished platform. Unlike Magento’s Community and Enterprise versions, Miva provides a Service Level Agreement (SLA), hosting, security and PCI compliance, automatic software updates and patches, feature and functionality  customization services, as well as many more advanced support services. Even though you may have an outside design and marketing team like Rand Marketing, if you ever need help with your Miva site you’re still able to reach out for direct, specialized support from Miva.

In essence, Magento has more extensions and a bigger community today, but Miva offers more consistent high quality customization and helps merchants to focus more on sales, marketing, and success while their team maintains a best-in-class website for you. You still retain more access than a standard SaaS platform and can leverage a team like Rand Marketing to help with your custom theme and other needs, but you have more predictability in terms of your costs and other requirements.

Which Platform Is Best For You?

If you’re on Magento 1.x and are extremely happy with your experience, Magento 2 may be a great opportunity for you. If, however, you’re trying to compare platforms, Miva will stack up as a stronger candidate for a large portion of mid-market and Enterprise businesses. In some cases, it will also make sense to look at other shopping cart softwares, like BigCommerce, Zoey, or Shopify, especially if you’re a small business selling retail products with standard E-commerce features and functionalities. Bear in mind that Magento 1.x is approaching an end of life.

If you’re still unsure which platform is best for you, Rand’s team can consult in order to help assess your needs and identify the best path for your business. Regardless of your E-commerce platform, Rand Marketing’s full service in-house team can help with everything, including not just your branding needs, but Search Engine Optimization, Google AdWords, Pay Per Click marketing, social sedia marketing, email marketing, and various other services to help your business grow.

To schedule a consultation, please call us at (954) 530-6125 or contact us online to request an appointment.