WordPress, PrestaShop or Magento to Develop a Marketplace?

Since a marketplace platform differs from an e-commerce website, the technologies used to develop a marketplace will obviously, also differ from those used to build an e-commerce site.

An e-commerce application designs, manufactures, and sells its own products under its brand name. A marketplace, on the other hand, sells products from various manufacturers.

When they first entered the market, marketplaces were intended exclusively for professionals. As you may have gathered, a marketplace fits into a multi-vendor, multi-brand approach.

When choosing the technology to build your marketplace, you must keep in mind that your platform will necessarily need to include the following features:

• Multi-vendor management
• A commission system on sales
• Vendor and product registration management
• Multi-party payment processing
• A multi-vendor catalog
• Multiple invoicing
• A database supporting multi-market usage
• And more.
  

By reviewing the above list, it becomes clear how different building a marketplace is compared to an e-commerce site. If you’re interested in the technological solutions for creating an e-commerce site, we recommend reading our dedicated article on the types of development for e-commerce.

WordPress (WooCommerce), the “LEGO-style” marketplace

You’re most likely familiar with WooCommerce, the WordPress CMS extension tailored for e-commerce projects. WooCommerce provides a suite of features that allow you to manage and launch an online store.

Looking at global statistics, one in three websites is developed using WordPress technology. This is why we suggest WooCommerce as a top option for creating your marketplace. Within its vast ecosystem, WordPress offers more than 54,000 extensions (or plugins) ready to be integrated into your project.

By exploring WooCommerce, you’ll notice that, with the right modules, you can very easily turn your WordPress site into a multi-vendor marketplace.

Let’s map out some of the best WooCommerce extensions for managing a multi-vendor store:

Dokan Multivendor, the most popular option for supporting an unlimited number of vendors.

• WCFM Marketplace, ideal for those seeking great flexibility. Each vendor will have access to a mobile app to manage their products on the marketplace.
  
• RMA WCFM for WooCommerce, provides a simple interface for managing refunds, exchanges, and cancellations.
  
• MultiVendorX, a strong alternative if you want to offer your vendors an ergonomic and customizable dashboard.
  
• WC Vendors Marketplace, an extension offering customizable storefront templates with a solid SEO layer for the vendor’s shop—well worth checking out.
  

With WordPress, launch your marketplace and create your own mini Amazon.

PrestaShop, the specialist’s marketplace

Let’s now take a look at another notable CMS technology: PrestaShop. Originally designed to be a 100% e-commerce solution, PrestaShop, much like WordPress, can also transform into a marketplace by adding specialized modules to its core structure.

PrestaShop offers a dedicated section specifically for marketplace creation. This section promises to convert a PrestaShop store into a fully-fledged marketplace. It allows customers to become sellers and simultaneously earn customizable commission amounts on each transaction carried out by vendors.

By mapping out these modules, we find:

• Marketplace Builder – Multi Vendor, the essential module to transform your PrestaShop into a multi-vendor marketplace in just a few steps. The latest update of this module is recent, dated March 2025.
  
• JA Marketplace, another extension enabling you to create your own marketplace with vendors and a commission system on each product sold via your platform.
  

If you’re planning to launch your marketplace with the PrestaShop CMS marketplace and are looking for an IT outsourcing solution, you can rely on Bocasay to help get your project off the ground.

If we were to compare WooCommerce and PrestaShop, we would say these two technologies are on par, though PrestaShop requires slightly more technical know-how during the installation and configuration of plugins. In any case, both CMSs will fully meet the standard feature requirements of a marketplace:

• Multi-vendor management
• Commissions
• Reviews
• Returns management
• Inventory control
• Order management
• Storefront customization
  

Magento, the marketplace for the ambitious

With Magento, you have all the tools you need to build a massive marketplace capable of supporting hundreds of vendors and an immensely large product catalog.

In the realm of e-commerce technological solutions, some describe Magento as the Rolls Royce of open-source e-commerce platforms. With a high-level Magento development team and this technology at your fingertips, you face virtually no technical limitations.

Where does Magento particularly shine? In its offering of advanced features and powerful scalability. Magento is your strongest ally for a large-scale marketplace with international ambitions. Natively, with a single back office, this CMS allows you to manage multiple stores simultaneously. What does that mean? You’re completely free to manage:

• Both a B2B and a B2C e-commerce site
• Multiple distinct marketplaces
  

All from a single interface.

Does your project involve multi-currency or multi-language constraints? Consider it done! With Magento, this kind of management is handled seamlessly. Likewise, if you need to set up ultra-sophisticated pricing rules, Magento is a reliable partner. Finally, on the web marketing front, Magento ensures you have a powerful SEO tool for each of your stores.

Still hesitating between these three technologies? Think of WordPress as the agile and modular electric bike that lets you explore the e-commerce world with ease. PrestaShop is the solid, well-equipped city car that adapts to all your daily routes. And Magento? That’s your all-terrain 4×4, ready to conquer the toughest roads and push the boundaries of your ambitions!

And don’t forget, if you’re considering IT outsourcing for your marketplace project, we’re here to support you. Send us a message via the contact form, we’d be happy to help.