If you are an entrepreneur getting ready to start your e-commerce business there are decisions and questions you will have to face. When getting your business setup online, there are many different platforms to choose from so in choosing the one that suits your needs best, knowing the answer to some of these questions could help steer you in the right path. Who will be developing your platform and what is your budget? Are you selling your products outside your own country? Are you looking for standardized settings or more flexible custom solutions? What is the size of your store small, medium, or large? Will you manage multiple stores? By finding your answers you can reduce your choice to a preferred platform.
Similarities in Magento vs. OpenCart
Both Magento and OpenCart are open source e-commerce platforms with no limitation of users. They are both popular with big developer communities that can be used for support. Both are developed in PHP which support multiple languages and currencies, and also use templates to upload products. Some specific requirements that you’ll need to also consider are hosting plans, features and usage, SEO and community support. When thinking about hosting plans, the quality of the hosting service you take on will have a big influence on the performance abilities of your online store.
Differences Between Both Platforms
Magento has a tendency to eat up a lot of resources which will resolve in you needing a stronger hosting plan. OpenCart on the other hand will be more affordable to host thanks to its light weight, working better with small and medium size stores, where Magento is more efficient with large sized ones. For features and usage, Magento is known for its high customization abilities, unlimited options of design, plugins and integrations as well as substantial SEO facility. But with being flexible also comes complexity, so if you are not familiar with PHP or you are not a Magento developer, you could find it a bit complicated to work with.
OpenCart in this case is much easier to program but with a smaller community base. If you are looking to start your business quick it will provide you with a formidable shopping cart and substantial tools you can use to your advantage. When it comes to SEO, OpenCart is still a bit behind Magento which can offer you to optimize your tittles, URL’s and images as well as connecting your store to a WordPress blog. OpenCart on the other hand aside from the friendly SEO URL’s still seems to have a more complex approach then it should be for modifying metadata and certain other performing actions.
If you own a larger store with the same size budget Magento is the way to go. Its ability to support your business for years to come might just be the right solution for you. On the other hand if you are planning a more independent approach in building your store OpenCart being more intuitive and almost free to use could be the right choice for your business.
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