Episerver vs Magento

What are Episerver and Magento?

Episerver and Magento are both digital platforms used to build websites. Magento was created in 2008 and built using the open-source PHP framework. In 2018 it was acquired by Adobe to help reach an enterprise market audience and is designed solely for buying experiences.

Episerver (now Optimizely) is a global leader in digital experience and built using Microsoft .NET. Founded in 1994, the Episerver Digital Experience Platform has evolved significantly and now boasts a broad portfolio of capabilities suited to any enterprise organisation looking to create powerful end-to-end experiences. Like Magento, Episerver also caters for commerce businesses, with the Episerver Commerce product.

Episerver vs Magento: Content

Episerver started out as a content management system and now has an impressive Episerver Content Cloud facility that powers sophisticated content experiences across solutions. Magento on the other hand is eCommerce first, which leaves some gaps in its capabilities in comparison. Although it does have some basic content management features, Magento can’t compete with Episerver in this aspect.

A benefit to Magento is that brands can choose from existing theme templates when building their website, however there’s only around 16 available and some come at an additional cost. It’s important to note that not all of Magento templates are mobile-responsive, which is problematic for ecommerce brands that want to capitalise on the £2.6 trillion spent via mobile shopping annually. Episerver does have some customisable templates, but overall is best for bespoke solutions that are perfectly suited to each organisation.

When it comes to battling it out on content capabilities between the two, Episerver is a heavy-weight that knocks light-weight Magento out with powerful punches in personalisation, experimentation, seamless integration and artificial intelligence. Even with Adobe in its corner, Magento falls short in this aspect for ambitious, global organisations.

Episerver vs Magento: Security and Scalability

Episerver and Magento are both scalable platforms, however for different markets. Magento is open-source, meaning it’s highly customisable with third-party plugins and excellent for sole-trader or SME’s looking to grow. But, where this tends to become unstuck is as businesses grow, security becomes more important to customers and brands. Whilst Magento is set to scale (to an extent) its architecture and reliance on third-party software can make it vulnerable to security breaches.

Episerver DXC is a much larger platform in comparison, its cloud based and its architecture is closed-source. For organisations this means that their solution is highly agile and secure and there’s endless possibilities for growth. Episerver is also built with Microsoft technology, meaning it’s designed to be robust and uses the highest security standards for enterprises. Some of the security features in place include: code access restrictions, Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and code signing parameters.

So, which is best for security and scalability between Episerver vs Magento? Magento is better suited for brands at the very early phases of their development or smaller businesses. Episerver takes the lead for large, enterprise-level organisations that prioritise customer experience but not at the expense of security.

Episerver vs Magento: Personalisation

80% of consumers are more likely to buy from an organisation that provides personalised experiences. Tailored experiences aren’t a ‘nice-to-have’ option for businesses anymore that are serious about customer experience, personalisation is a valuable part of a digital strategy that shouldn’t be overlooked. Episerver takes personalisation to new levels to deliver the ultimate customer experience. Driven by a powerful AI-engine, Episerver does a lot of heavy lifting for its users, freeing up teams from manually creating rules to focus on other important marketing initiatives. For customer-centric and digitally ambitious organisations, Episerver Ecommerce has the tools and features to transform businesses, from product and service recommendations to personalised content at a page, component, segment or individual level.

Like a lot of Magento’s capabilities, they come via extensions and at an additional cost or require further code development. Magento can offer basic personalised experiences that are based on user demographics or pre-defined rules that need to be set manually. Overall, Magento can be manipulated to create personalisation, but getting there can be laborious, unlike Episerver which has all the right tools and capabilities in one place for easy management.

Episerver’s acquisition of Idio and Optimizely has strengthened its offering and helped to gain recognition as a Leader for digital experience from the Gartner Magic Quadrant report consistently. The AI engine and architecture that Episerver leverages to use data intelligently to deliver excellence in end-to-end personalised experiences cannot be matched by Magento’s framework just yet.

Is Episerver or Magento right for your organisation?

To truly find out which platform is going to help elevate your organisation digitally and best align with your goals, it’s best to book a demo. Magento has a strong history in successful ecommerce for SMEs and although it is now part of Adobe, it’s still in the early stages of delivering enterprise level solutions. Episerver/Optimizely however is a master in this space and its technology has matured and evolved over time to earn its position as an industry leader.

We’re Ultimedia, a digital agency that specialises in the design, development and optimisation of Episerver solutions. To learn more about how much Episerver costs, contact us today for a quote or free demo – we’d be happy to discuss the platform and your requirements in more detail.