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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    ExpressionEngine

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AExpressionEngine is a content management system from EllisLab in 2002, a successor to pMachine Pro, a blogging system, which is written in object-oriented PHP and uses MySQL for data storage. ExpressionEngine is their flagship Content Delivery Platform.

    $249

    per year

    Magento Open Source

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AMagento Open Source is an ecommerce content management solution originally developed by Varien Inc and presently supported by Adobe. The Open Source product is for developers and merchants that is available as a free download, and supported with free upgrades from the Magento Community.N/A
    Pricing
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Editions & Modules
    License
    $299.00
    One Time Fee
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing for Magento will vary greatly depending on outsourcing support and maintenance services.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Considered Both Products
    Open Source
    No answer on this topic
    Adobe
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    10 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    10.0
    36 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Magento Open Source
    -
    Ratings
    Role-based user permissions10.036 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    9.0
    29 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Magento Open Source
    -
    Ratings
    API9.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language9.023 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    8.9
    36 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Magento Open Source
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG editor10.033 Ratings00 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness9.135 Ratings00 Ratings
    Admin section7.135 Ratings00 Ratings
    Page templates10.030 Ratings00 Ratings
    Library of website themes7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design10.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publishing workflow9.028 Ratings00 Ratings
    Form generator9.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    8.1
    36 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Magento Open Source
    -
    Ratings
    Content taxonomy8.128 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO support10.028 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bulk management6.230 Ratings00 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions8.035 Ratings00 Ratings
    Community / comment management8.132 Ratings00 Ratings
    Online Storefront
    Comparison of Online Storefront features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    -
    Ratings
    Magento Open Source
    7.4
    29 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Product catalog & listings00 Ratings9.329 Ratings
    Product management00 Ratings9.029 Ratings
    Bulk product upload00 Ratings9.027 Ratings
    Branding00 Ratings6.727 Ratings
    Mobile storefront00 Ratings4.029 Ratings
    Product variations00 Ratings9.327 Ratings
    Website integration00 Ratings8.326 Ratings
    Visual customization00 Ratings5.728 Ratings
    CMS00 Ratings5.027 Ratings
    Online Shopping Cart
    Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    -
    Ratings
    Magento Open Source
    7.0
    29 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Abandoned cart recovery00 Ratings5.424 Ratings
    Checkout user experience00 Ratings8.729 Ratings
    Online Payment System
    Comparison of Online Payment System features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    -
    Ratings
    Magento Open Source
    8.6
    27 Ratings
    3% above category average
    eCommerce security00 Ratings8.627 Ratings
    eCommerce Marketing
    Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    -
    Ratings
    Magento Open Source
    6.4
    29 Ratings
    18% below category average
    Promotions & discounts00 Ratings9.329 Ratings
    Personalized recommendations00 Ratings2.022 Ratings
    SEO00 Ratings7.925 Ratings
    eCommerce Business Management
    Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of ExpressionEngine and Magento Open Source
    Feature
    ExpressionEngine
    -
    Ratings
    Magento Open Source
    9.6
    29 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Multi-site management00 Ratings10.026 Ratings
    Order processing00 Ratings9.328 Ratings
    Inventory management00 Ratings9.326 Ratings
    Shipping00 Ratings9.325 Ratings
    Custom functionality00 Ratings10.027 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Small Businesses
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Ecwid by Lightspeed
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Square Online
    Score7.7 out of 10
    Shopify
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    IBM Digital Commerce
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (64 ratings)
    8.0
    (30 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.2
    (36 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    2.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.2
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ExpressionEngineMagento Open Source
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Open Source
    ExpressionEngine is a very powerful and flexible content management system. It can handle a simple small business website all the way to a large corporation's website. If you are a business with multiple websites ExpresionEngine can handle that as well with it's Multiple Site Manager. I think ExpressionEngine would be less appropriate for a global large scale business with a magnitude of sites with different regions and languages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    Magento Open Source is an excellent choice for businesses that need a highly customizable and scalable solution and (most of all) have the technical resources to support it. It's ideal for mid-to-large-sized businesses with complex product catalogs that require complete ownership and control, particularly those with complexities such as multi-country/multi-currency stores.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Open Source
    • Content structuring. You can set up channels and fields to hold just about any kind of information imaginable; text, images, videos, numbers, code, etc. You can structure this information any way you want and in any order. You literally create your own information database just the way you want it using a clear, easy online interface.
    • Template system. Utter freedom. Need I say more?
    • Exensible. There are a lot of add-ons, extensions, and other external modules that extend the core functionality of ExpressionEngine. Need a user management system? Check out the User module at http://solspace.com.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    • It is very good when it comes to search engine optimization as it makes a good use of keywords and tags to improve the SEO score. It increases the chances of ranking up of the eCommerce store in the search engine rankings.
    • It makes the store in a very optimized way and despite being a very advanced system it is still very lightweight when it comes to website speed. The pages have a comparatively low loading time and a good speed.
    • It provides a lot more advance reporting features which are very helpful for businesses to do their planning.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Open Source
    • For me, one of the greatest strengths of ExpressionEngine is also one of their weaknesses. There are so many add-ons available (some free, some not) for ExpressionEngine to allow you to do just about anything you want. However, the more add-ons that you use the more you have to deal with when performing updates. For instance, is the add-on compatible with the new version of ExpressionEngine - or even another add-on? What if that add-on gets abandoned by the developer - is there another that can perform the same functionality?
    • I think that ExpressionEngine needs to offer more out of the box than it does. Yes, you can get add-ons for just about anything but this adds to the cost. I have a list of add-ons that I use on almost every site which can raise the cost of getting started with a new site by $100-300. So add that to the cost of a license and you're at $400-600 and you haven't even started working on it yet. For instance, I shouldn't have to buy an add-on to allow me to customize the menu for my end-users.
    • The membership management feature is seriously lacking. Fortunately, there are add-ons (for an additional cost) to allow you to manage things better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    • Magento is not easy for a layman who is not tech-savvy to manage the website.
    • Magento is one of the only modern shopping carts in which one must manually clear the cache and "reindex".
    • Magneto has a lot of technical glitches - more than most of the other shopping carts we work with. Most are minor.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Open Source
    I'm satisfied with the way that my site runs on EE. My primary concern is that support is now a profit center for EE's publisher and so they've consequently gutted their community support boards. However, a good EE community is developing at StackExchange. At this stage, I don't think that EE is a good choice for an individual site owner. WordPress or SquareSpace would be a better choice unless you have a budget for support.
    Read full review
    Adobe
    It's the dominant force in the SMB open source market. With the continued support of eBay/PayPal, Magento will continue to evolve and should be a market leader for some time.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Open Source
    ExpressionEngine is very powerful and flexible. With this flexibility comes a bit of a learning curve. There are some great online resources for getting up to speed with EE, but the control panel can be a bit daunting. A lot of EE's installation process involves settings, configurations and flipping of switches. It is tedious, but well worth it as you ultimately have a very robust, secure and scalable CMS. Also, as of version 2.9.2, the control panel isn't responsive natively. You'll want to have a big enough screen to see the full control panel UI. Personally, I think the control panel would benefit from a major overhaul. It would be nice to see the colors and UI controls "modernized" and be able to more effectively customize the layout. Yes, some of this is built-in, and there are third-party add-ons to help, but maybe we'll see more refinement in future versions.
    Read full review
    Adobe
    Magento has a relly step learning curve. This means that you need to find experienced developers who can lead junior ones, otherwise the overall development process can be a disaster. However, once you are comfortable in developing on the platform, the customization capability are basically limitless and you can adapt the platform to any use case you can imagine. Also, there are many alredy developed marketplace modules that can solve, out of the box, many problems you may face.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Open Source
    Never experienced an issue like this with it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Open Source
    The admin section would slow to a crawl the larger the tag section grew. There were many areas where better pagination would've helped improve performance. Nothing complicated, which made the lag so frustrating
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Open Source
    I have personally never found any complications when trying to receive support from EllisLab in regards to ExpressionEngine when using the support plans they offer. I have always been responded to promptly and received satisfactory help with whatever my needs were in an extremely timely manner. This makes rating the support offered an easy job for me
    Read full review
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Open Source
    After installing the system a few times, you can see a pattern of things that have to be done to work the way you want them (settings, paths, etc.). By knowing what you want, you can put together some scripts that prepare the file system for installation, adjust post installation configuration settings, and install initial templates.
    Read full review
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Open Source
    ExpressionEngine is vastly more flexible than any other content management system I have used to date and the quality of the add-ons are significantly higher than what you find in other directories. The ExpressionEngine community is also very willing and helpful with if you have any questions or run into any issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    In looking at a different platform to migrate to from Magento 1, we looked primarily at Big Commerce, Shopify and Shopify Plus. Our host was very negative about Magento 2, but we determined after a couple years it was due to the fact it had even more complexity (and very different) than Magento 1. Shopify Plus was attractive, but the cost factor for two sites led us back to Magento 2.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Open Source
    Maybe it's scale-able from the content user perspective, but it was very limited from the programmers perspective. So many custom hacks were necessary that it reached a point it would be impossible to upgrade to a newer version
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Open Source
    • Being able to be recognized as a leader within the ExpressionEngine development community has led to us being sought out by those customers seeking expert guidance.
    • We tend to specialize in using ExpressionEngine for our customers, so it has been easier to ramp new resources up on our development process, as well as be able to seek out independent experts to use as sub contractors or freelancers.
    • As we have been using ExpressionEngine almost exclusively for a number of years, we have built a reusable repository of proprietary code that makes our development process much more efficient and decreases the effort required for our projects.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Adobe
    • Better Total Cost of Ownership than bespoke e-commerce solutions due to being open source and the wide range of free/commercial extensions available to extend the platform.
    • Often more extensive to set up and maintain than other open source alternatives, such as WooCommerce.
    Read full review
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