OpenCart VS Magento - The Clash of the eCommerce software titans
Opencart Vs Magento
This is the era of eCommerce. More and more businesses are now going online making eCommerce tools more essential than ever. It is no brainer that online retail is booming tremendously – however deciding which eCommerce solution is right for your site is more of a sit-down-and-think situation. So, to help with your decision – I’ve listed the Pros and Cons for each open source platforms: OpenCart and Magento. So, lets begin.
Bringing in contestant #1 - OpenCart
OpenCart is an open-source eCommerce platform for online merchants. It helps you set-up and run your online store cost effectively. It provides a great foundation for online merchants looking to set-up a store with a professional feel and functionality.
OpenCart is cost-effective and pretty easy to use making it an ideal eCommerce tool for small to medium-sized businesses. The major benefits of OpenCart are its built-in features that are very beneficial to almost any online business. Many find it easier to set-up and use the OpenCart features. The system is also considered a lightweight system – making loading faster and more hosting platform.
Pros:
- Easy to use, cost effective and less time-consuming to develop
- Easy to use admin panel - made for new users and many find it to be self-explanatory.
- Faster load time – less strain on server
- Built in features – no complicated start-ups and maintenance
- Multi-language, multi-currency, multi-store
- Product reviews and ratings
- Easier to customise and tweak
Cons:
- Slightly restrained SEO – not as many SEO tools as Magento
- Not backed by ebay – however integration is available
Now comes contestant #2 – Magento
Magento is a feature rich open-source software which provides online merchants with flexibility and control over the look and feel; content and functionality of their store. It is also great for SEO, as it gives you the freedom to create custom URL’s. There are no design restraints and you can pretty much create a fully customisable shopping experience.
Pros:
- Complete UI customisation and URL structures for SEO
- Multiple payment and shipping options
- Product suggestion tools, with ratings and reviews
- Highly scalable and customisable
- Ideal for enterprise usage
Cons:
- More complex and expensive to build – and highly costly extensions.
- More expensive to host - dedicated server required as resource hungry and to take advantage of full SEO capabilities.
- Difficult administration panel to master
- Requires strong technical skills to customise design and features
All in all, both are great platforms – there is no clear champion in this as both provide great features to help you run a successful business; it all really depends on your needs.
OpenCart is better suited to small to medium businesses as it’s more likely to fit budget and future requirements.
Magento is better suited to larger businesses and brands demanding higher levels of traffic and external database and reporting integrations.
At Tristar, we lean towards the OpenCart solution, as it suits our clients’ needs best. We do however also offer our services in Magento for the cases that require it. It ultimately depends on your overall objective and what you hope to achieve for your website. Have a look at our pros and cons to help you decide. The choice is yours – and whichever one that may be, we can help you build it, so feel free to contact us for a chat!
