Compare Sharetribe vs. Magento

What is the best way to build a marketplace: Magento’s multi-vendor eCommerce solution or Sharetribe’s marketplace software? Let’s compare the pros and cons of both solutions and find the best approach for you.

Magento is an eCommerce solution that wasn’t originally designed to power online marketplaces. This means Magento isn’t exactly a Sharetribe alternative, but it’s possible to extend Magento’s core features with third-party plugins.

Magento is a powerful tool for building and scaling traditional eCommerce stores. For a two-sided marketplace, Sharetribe is likely to be a better choice.

Building a marketplace on top of a Magento store will very likely require extensive development skills and lots of time. Especially if you want to add unique marketplace features, workflows, or designs. As a result, Magento isn’t the fastest solution to launch a marketplace, and it won’t be the easiest to maintain and scale.

Sharetribe was built solely for the purpose of creating two-sided marketplaces. Sharetribe Go lets you set up a fully functional marketplace in minutes. You don't need to install anything or configure plugins and themes: it just works. If you want to scale your marketplace and add completely unique features, workflows, and designs, Sharetribe Flex allows you to do exactly that. It's optimized for great developer experience, making it easy to extend your marketplace infinitely and scale it to any size.

The table below helps you compare Magento's multi-vendor solution with Sharetribe Go and Sharetribe Flex.

Magento

Sharetribe Go

Sharetribe Flex

Dedicated marketplace solution

How to get started

Download and install Magento open-source (or schedule a call with Adobe Commerce for the hosted version)
Buy a domain
Buy hosting
Research and install a marketplace extension like WebKul’s Multi-Vendor Marketplace OR buy custom development from Adobe’s a Solution Partner Rapid Deployment Packages
Customize your marketplace + extension to suit your needs

Sign up to Sharetribe Go
(Buy a custom domain)
(Set up a Custom Landing Page)

Sign up to Sharetribe Flex
Develop your marketplace front end on top of APIs & website template
Buy a domain
Buy hosting for your front end

Built-in marketplace features

Time to launch

More than a month*

*Depending on how much customization you need. For the hosted version with Partner Rapid Deployment Packages, estimated timelines start from “up to 6 weeks”

1 day

1–3 months

Pricing

Open-source version $0
Multi Vendor Marketplace by Webkul $349
Hosting costs starting from $25 /mo

No stated pricing for Adobe Commerce (estimated cost starting from $22,000 /y)
Partner Rapid Deployment Packages starting from “up to $35,000”

Plans starting from $79 /mo
(Custom Landing Page $99 /mo)

Subscription fee $299 /mo
(+ Transaction fee for transaction volume over $30,000)

Free trial

The open-source version is free to download
Adobe Commerce offers the possibility to schedule a demo

30 days

Free for the duration of development

Technical skills needed

Low or high

Using the open-source version likely requires advanced technical skills
Adobe Commerce and outsourcing development doesn’t require coding skills

Low

No coding skills needed
Easy to customize and setup using Admin panel
Hosting, performance, maintenance, backups, and updates included at any scale

Medium

Some development skills needed to take Flex into use
Mid- to high-level skills needed for custom-developing features and integrations
Backend hosting, performance, maintenance, backups, and updates included at any scale

Hosting

Not included with OS

Included with Adobe Commerce

Backend hosting included

Maintenance

Not included with OS

Included with Adobe Commerce

Backend maintenance included

Backups

Not included with OS

Included with Adobe Commerce

Custom development

Unlimited

Not possible

Unlimited

Main programming language

PHP

Custom coding not possible

Use the tech stack of your choice

Supports building a mobile app

Support

Community forum and documentation for open-source
Ticket-based support for paid plans
Webkul’s support for the marketplace extensions available for 3 months after purchase (only for bugs; not including help with customizations)

Sharetribe support

Sharetribe support +
Flex developer support

Key benefits

+ Powerful eCommerce features

+ Large developer network

+ Affordable if you choose the open-source version (and don’t count in development time)

+ Reliable performance even at scale for the hosted version

+ Easy to add third-party plugins

+ Very fast to launch

+ Very easy to use

+ Seamless user experience that keeps improving

+ Effortless to maintain

+ Advanced features for rental marketplaces like Airbnb, service marketplaces like Fiverr, and product marketplaces like Etsy

+ Dedicated support for non-technical founders

+ Fully customizable, yet fast to launch

+ Effortless to maintain

+ Unlimited scalability

+ Enjoyable developer experience

+ Easy to build a mobile app

+ Advanced features for rental, service, and product marketplaces

+ Dedicated support for developers

Key drawbacks

- Needs either a big budget ($20K+) or advanced coding skills

- Requires heavy customization to power a rental or service marketplace like Airbnb or Fiverr

- Slow to launch

- Big upfront investment

- A UX that relies on several plugins and extensions can be riskier and more difficult to scale

- If you choose the open-source version, hosting and performance incur monthly costs and lots of work when you scale

- Developing on top of a mature, feature-rich piece of software can be complicated and sometimes frustrating

- Lowest customizability

- Not possible to build new features

- Limited functionality for "online mall" marketplace types

- Supports fewer payment gateways and business models

- Requires development skills (or hiring a verified Sharetribe Expert)

- Takes more time to launch

- Requires a bigger budget to get started

Always included in both Go & Flex

When you create a marketplace with Sharetribe, here's what you can always count on.

All essential marketplace features

Listings and profiles. Multiple different transaction flows. Search engine. Availability management. Messaging, reviews, email notifications, and a lot more. Because you don’t have to sweat the basics, you can focus on what counts: your brand and your user community.

Secure online payments

Sharetribe’s built-in payment system allows you to process payments between your users, delay payouts, and collect your commission automatically. Without compromising user experience or security compliance.

Powerful admin tools

Have a 360° view of what goes on in your marketplace. User management, content moderation, transaction monitoring, and a lot more – all the tools you need to be in complete control of your platform.

Regular updates & new features

Sharetribe makes your business more powerful every day. In addition to keeping your platform up to speed with the latest security and regulatory advancements, our team adds lots of new functionality to your marketplace every month.

Carefree infrastructure

Wherever your growth takes you, your Sharetribe-powered platform can handle it. You never need to worry about traffic spikes or site performance. Our solutions support your marketplace at any stage of your business lifecycle.

Legal & regulatory compliance

Local payment regulation? Data security protection? Regulatory changes and updates? With Sharetribe, your payment and data processing is always compliant with the latest regulatory standards such as GDPR and PSD2.

Maintenance & backups

Scratch backups off your todo list. Sharetribe keeps your platform and data storage working reliably and securely according to the latest industry best practices. If you ever want to leave, your data is yours to keep.

Expert support 7 days a week

Sharetribe’s support team consists of marketplace business and platform technology experts – all extremely friendly folks to boot. We’ll help you get the most out of our products and share Sharetribe’s decade-long marketplace experience to support your business.