OpenCart Vs. WooCommerce: Which Is Best For Your Online Store?
Let’s get this straight: I will not tell you which e-commerce solution you should opt. But I’m here to lend a helping hand.
The internet crossed the threshold of requirement ages ago and made “candid comparison” a bandwagon everyone wanted to jump on.
That’s party why I am not here to tell you which one you should choose. The other reason is this: No-one can tell you what to choose. Without knowing your specific context and business goals, telling you which e-commerce solution is best for you is presumptuous to the point of arrogance.
Instead,I’ll just bring all the features of WooCommerce and OpenCart in the same room together and leave the decision up to you. This, incidentally, is the bottom line of every single ‘comparison’ article.
Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s begin.
Introduction
§ OpenCart
OpenCart is a complete, standalonee-commerce software.
It allows you to create a functional online store from scratch for free and works with PHP/MySQL.
§ WooCommerce
WooCommerce is ane-commerce pluginfor WordPress (CMS).
It allows you to turn an existing WordPress website into a fully-fledged online store for free.
Usage Statistics
§ OpenCart
The platform was released in 2008. As of November 2015, it is used by roughly 270,000 sites (0.1% of total websites) on the internet.
§ WooCommerce
The plugin was released in 2011. By November 2015, it is in use by approximately 1.1 million sites (0.3% of total websites) on internet.
Note that a huge part of WooCommerce’ popularity can be attributed to WordPress itself.
Similarities:
In the following regards, WooCommerce and OpenCart are currently running neck-to-neck:
· Open Source
Bells and Whistles (read: Extensions) aside, both the platform (OpenCart) and the plugin (WooCommerce) are free to download.
· Installation
OpenCart and WooCommerce need to be uploaded to web server via an FTP application. Manual installation is exactly as difficult on WooCommerce as it is on OpenCart.
· Responsive/ Mobile friendly
Both support /integrate perfectly with responsive and mobile friendly designs.
· Free and paid extensions
To expand core features and add new ones, licensed free and premium extensions are available for both.
· Admin Interface
Back-end (admin) interfaces are comparable in usability. OpenCart goes for straightforward and simple, while WooCommerce admin interface is more intuitive (especially for retailers familiar with working on WordPress).
· Guest Checkout Feature
Customers can shop without registration. Feature optional on both.
· Product Discount coupons and codes
Both include these in their core features. Extra ‘embellishments’ on these marketing features are available on WooCommerce.
· Reports and Analytics
Both sides offer great reporting features for sales, products, and customer statistics. OpenCart offers them for free. WooCommerce core reporting feature is basic and can be made better with extensions.
· Product Ratings and Reviews
Available optional (enable/disable) product reviews on both.
· Active Community
OpenCart has active community of <a href="http://forum.opencart.com/" rel="nofollow">about 90,000 members</a> on its official forum. WooCommerce has an (active) <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce" rel="nofollow">support forum on WordPress</a>.
Differences:
The glaringly obvious differences between core features of WooCommerce and OpenCart can actually be summed up like this:
Feature | OpenCart | WooCommerce |
| Multi-Store
| P | O |
| Payment Gateways | 40 | 5 |
|
Shipping Methods |
10 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comparison:
All good things end in informative fisticuffs. Let’s see which e-commerce solution fares better when they square off against each other on following points:
1. Hosting
Both WooCommerce and OpenCart are self-hosted.
And yet, WooCommerceis currently offering e-commerce specific hosting plans with Bluehost and Siteground. Apart from standard hosting features, the two affiliate hosting providers are offering e-commerce features like enhanced security (SSL certificate, dedicated IP, and PCI compliance) along with developer-friendly features (pre-installed Git and staging environment for testing)
In contrast,OpenCart’s Hosting Partner (Arvixe) offers 1-click auto installer for OpenCart, which is more than a little disappointing.
2. Design and Development
Both WooCommerce and OpenCart are open to third-party themes and have a very efficient default theme to start with.
This may be a non-issue for many, but I (and <a href="http://www.techchattr.com/never-use-opencart" rel="nofollow">some others</a>) have found issues in OpenCart markup. To put it succinctly, OpenCart code is all over the place. This may not make for nightmare, but it certainly makes customization difficult.
OpenCart’s code is repetitive (concatenation, anyone?) and there is no front-end caching by default. The templates are created as modules for the tiniest of things. Modifications require you to manually change code in admin Model and repeat it in front-end. Despite available documentation, customization can be a pain.
In contrast, WooCommercehas REST API to tap into WordPress’ own legendary hooks. The very existence of child themes and template hierarchy (learn it and it’s yours forever) to make customization less of a hassle. WordPress code is well structured and allows for endless changes without breaking form. It’s like a cool parent that allows all the freedom without letting you mess up.
3. SEO
InOpenCart, the url_alias (database table for search engine optimized URLs for products using details) contains two fields entiti_id=id and its keywordfor that entity id. If you happen to have the samemanufacturerandcategoryname, you’ll probably end up dividing by zero.
Now check it againstWooCommerce, and oh, this is unfair (maybe), because this e-commerce plugin in compatible with WordPress SEO by Yoast. Once this super-powered plugin enters the fray, all bets turn to it, and correctly. And that’s without the added bonus: there are additional WooCommerce extensions for social media integration and selling your stuff through the social platforms.
So even though WooCommerce simply rides WordPress’ own awesome SEO-friendliness, it wins. It wins without a decent fight from any of its contenders.
4. Support and Reviews
OpenCart provides ‘general support’ through their forum which has an active community of about 90,000 members. It’s well-regulated and updated frequently. You can get commercial support for, I quote “installation, upgrading, customization troubleshooting, or coding” from a list of partners (sorted by Region).
A look at <a href="http://www.ecommercespot.com/carts/OpenCart.aspx" rel="nofollow">customer reviews for the platform</a> reveals that OpenCart seems to evoke extreme emotions from its users: Burning hatred or Pretty love.
WooCommercehas closed its community forum on Woothemes, but the support forum on WordPress is decently active. You can get support for purchased extensions via Help Desk (somewhat prompt ticket response-time).
Essentially
Both WooCommerce and OpenCart have a lot going for them (see ‘Similarities’ above). In the hands of experienced professionals, any of these can be used to make a fabulous online store.
While OpenCart definitely comes off worse in matters of coding and development, it beats WooCommerce in the sheer number of core features it packs. Creating multiple stores on one installation isn’t possible with WooCommerce either.
Verdict: Nothing. No one platform does better “overall” than the other.
But take a good long look at your budget, resources, requirements, and this article to make an informed decision.
Lucy Barret is an experienced front-end Wordpress developer at HireWPGeeks Ltd., one of the best PSD to Wordpress Conversion Company. She is also a blogger and loves to share her knowledge with the large community of Wordpress. You can follow her company on social media channels like Facebook and Google+.
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