How feature-rich Mageplaza Layered Navigation extension compared to other providers?

Do you know that up to 73% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts if they cannot find what they need within 2 minutes?

Without an intuitive user experience, online stores cannot be successful in this competitive business landscape.

But how could you improve the user experience on your online store?

Short answer: A friction-free navigation system.

For Magento 2 stores, enhancing the user experience with advanced layered navigation is a must.

That’s why in this article, we’ll compare the Layered Navigation extension by 3 common providers: Mageplaza, Amasty, and Mirasvit. At the end of this post, you’ll know which provider to go with.

Table of Content

• Limitations of default Magento
• Mageplaza Layered Navigation vs. other providers
• Feature comparison: Summary
• Pricing comparison
• Conclusion

Limitations of default Magento

Magento 2 Layered Navigation is a collection of one or more attributes (color, brand, price range, etc.) that acts as a filter for customers to narrow down the search.

Typically, on Magento-based E-commerce websites, the layered navigation appears in the left column of the category pages and search result pages.

Although Magento provides a basic layered navigation feature, it is still not ideal to use in your E-commerce store. When using the default Magento Layered Navigation, you’ll face these limitations:

• Customers have to click pagination to move within pages, which is a huge disadvantage on mobile devices.
• Customers cannot select multiple filters for each attribute.
• When there is a long list of filter options, scrolling down to find the desired ones is annoying.
• The whole page is reloaded every time the filters are selected.
• URLs are not optimized, so it is bad for SEO and difficult to remember.
• Customers cannot search for items from their favorite brands.
• The rating filter - a standard product filter in any online store - is not available.
• The design is unattractive and cannot be customized based on your brand image.

As you are aware, your main goal is to provide customers with the best shopping experience. It should be simple, user-friendly, and fast.

Obviously, the more advanced Magento 2 product filter is, the better it results in your customer satisfaction. The quicker customers find their preferred items, the more likely they drive into the purchase decision.

With the help of the Layered Navigation extension developed by well-known providers, you can bypass these limitations easily. Read on to learn how different and feature-rich these extensions are.

Mageplaza Layered Navigation vs. other providers

	Mageplaza Layered Navigation	Amasty Layered Navigation	Mirasvit Layered Navigation
Basic functionality	Magento 2 Layered Navigation by Mageplaza comes with a bunch of features: - Multi-select filter options. Customers can select multiple options for each product attribute. For instance, they’re able to look for both “cotton” and “fleece” in the Material section. - Price slider. The module allows customers to set flexible price borders and find affordable items. - Vertical and horizontal navigation. Using this extension, you can place filters in a vertical or horizontal menu. - Advanced filter options. Layered Navigation by Mageplaza includes advanced filters such as filters by ratings, new, sales, or in-stock products. - SEO features. You can create SEO-friendly URLs for better positions on SERP. Additionally, it’s easy to configure SEO attributes for the page with all products. - AJAX loading page. Once the customer applies filters, the page doesn’t reload completely but updates the product information only. This technology speeds up the product selection process and improves website performance. - Scroll to the top after filtering. If you enable this feature in the backend, customers will be redirected to the top of the page after they apply new filters. - Infinite scroll. On the all-product page, customers can scroll through the filtered products without clicking the Load More button, as new products are automatically uploaded. - The Apply Filter button. This feature lets customers select all the filters they’re interested in. With this button, shoppers don’t need to wait for the page to reload again and again each time they choose a filter. Customers can see the number of suitable products next to each product attribute. - Quick lookup. There is a search box in each attribute, which helps customers find products more quickly. - Shop by Brand. This feature allows buyers to quickly find items by their favorite brands.	Like the extension by Mageplaza, Amasty Layered Navigation has the following basic features: - Multi-select filter options - Price slider - Vertical and horizontal navigation - Advanced filter options - SEO features - AJAX loading page - Scroll to the top after filtering - Infinite scroll - The Apply Filter button - Quick lookup - Shop by Brand	Mirasvit Layered Navigation supports the following basic features: - Multi-select filter options - Price slider - Vertical and horizontal navigation - Advanced filter options - SEO features - AJAX loading page - Infinite scroll - The Apply Filter button - Quick lookup - Shop by Brand
Unique features	- Custom CSS. This feature allows you to customize your slider design. - 6 types of slider. It has 6 types of slider: default, flat UI, HTML 5, modern, nice white, and simple dark. - Expand by default. If you enable this feature in the backend, the attribute group will be expanded when shoppers go to the Category page. - Include [Advanced AJAX Search](https://www.mageplaza.com/magento-2-search-extension/). Customers immediately see the search results after typing the first letter(s).	- Category tree. You can choose how subcategories will be displayed and enable a slider with subcategory images. - Attribute mapping. For instance, having grouped all the shades of blue, you can show a customer looking for blue sweatshirt results that include all the possible options.	- Design checkbox or circle color. You can customize the background/border/checked label color of the checkbox or circle.

Feature comparison: Summary

	Mageplaza	Amasty	Mirasvit
Multi-select filter options	✔️	✔️	✔️
Price slider	✔️	✔️	✔️
Vertical and horizontal navigation	✔️	✔️	✔️
Advanced filter options	✔️	✔️	✔️
SEO features	✔️	✔️	✔️
AJAX loading page	✔️	✔️	✔️
Scroll to the top after filtering	✔️	✔️	❌
Infinite scroll	✔️	✔️	✔️
The Apply Filter button	✔️	✔️	✔️
Quick lookup	✔️	✔️	✔️
Shop by Brand	✔️	✔️	✔️
Custom CSS	✔️	❌	❌
6 types of slider	✔️	❌	❌
Expand by default	✔️	❌	❌
Include Advanced Ajax Search	✔️	❌	❌
Category tree	❌	✔️	❌
Attribute mapping	❌	✔️	❌
Design checkbox or circle color	❌	❌	✔️

Pricing comparison

Mageplaza Layered Navigation	Amasty Layered Navigation	Mirasvit Layered Navigation
- Standard: $99 then $59.4/year - Pro: $199 then $119.4/year - Ultimate: $299 then $179.4/year	- Lite: $99 then $65/year - Pro: $349 then $215/year - Premium: $549 then $335/year	- Community: $149 - Enterprise: $298

Conclusion

For Magento 2 online stores, comprehensive layered navigation plays an essential role in improving customer experience as well as optimizing conversion rates.

Even though the built-in layered navigation already covers some basic aspects, it’s vital to acquire an advanced solution if you want to gain a competitive edge over your competitors.

We hope this comparison post has helped you a lot. To choose the best solution among Mageplaza, Amasty, and Mirasvit, you should also consider their support, update frequency, along with reviews from previous customers.

You can read how other online merchants use Layered Navigation right here.