One of the most essential steps when coming up with E-commerce site is selecting the appropriate platform. Magento and OpenCart are those two popular solutions which make many users hesitate when making a final decision. Thousands of webmasters trust both Magento and OpenCart. It makes the dilemma even more complicated. Even though Magento Community Edition possesses 25,6% of the market share while OpenCart has only 3,1%, the debates around these two are very sharp. The only true answer is that no universal E-commerce platform capable of serving all needs and meeting all goals. However, it is possible to choose the one based on the features you are looking for. E-commerce world is full of solutions, so this article will compare Magento vs Opencart to raise your awareness of at least these two well-known platforms. Magento might be few steps behind in terms of use, but still it has a range of attractive features. If, as an E-commerce owner, you need a reliable, checked by time solution, don’t give up using this platform. Because of the speedy infographic development, alternative solutions can be observed. We have compared Magento and OpenCart to ease your choice.
Installation and Usage
OpenCart is believed to be easier to use. You can choose from a number of different themes when installing OpenCart. In case you lack skills in building websites, hosting or E-commerce, Magento may seem a bit confusing. If you need something to manage all the goods/services of your store easily, OpenCart may be better for you unless you are experienced enough to improve Magento on your own. In addition, to pick Magento, you need a stronger hosting plan to support site’s performance. Shared hosting is not the way out. However, Magento is recognized for the variety of options that allow its users simply to do anything with their site. It just might take a little time and patience. But it is worth improved user experience and growth in revenues. Actually, both platforms are flexible.
Default Site and Admin Area
Default site looks better when selecting such solutions as OpenCart or Prestashop. Opencart seems a bit more up-to-date than Magento. But it can be the first impression of those who are not considered experts. As for Magento, anyone can install this platform without extra help, but the layout is very basic. Only a designer or developer will be able to provide your online store with original and attractive look to capture customer’s attention. You can check Magento or Opencart default page and admin interface by watching demo videos. You can notice that primarily OpenCart admin area looks better thanks to the modern interface. It includes a detailed summary of all the latest orders and sales analytics.
Pricing Policy
No license is needed for OpenCart. Download and further modifications are available after spending about $7 per month purchasing a web hosting package. In general, OpenCart is usually cheaper thanks to its light weight, so it would be enough to satisfy the needs of tiny online stores. As for Magento, it offers much more services. You can choose between Magento Community Edition (which is free of charge) and Magento Enterprise Edition (approximately $18,000 annually) to run your store. Unlike OpenCart, Magento editions require license, but it guarantees confidence to its users. The prices differ depending on the package you pick. Do it after analyzing your business goals and needs. As for the extensions, you can find free and paid extensions to meet your requirements.
Target Audience and Traffic
OpenCart was developed for a wide range of potential users: from small shop owners to big enterprises(sometimes Opencart lacks functionality for big enterprises). Basically, it is all thanks to easy installation and use of this single shopping cart system. The store owners have to mind their hosting environment that OpenCart resides on. As for Magento, just as mentioned above, it is not only a solution for the small store owners, but also a good choice for large businesses and enterprises. When speaking about Community Edition, it is a good place to go for those business owners who don’t want to spend time and energy in finding a trusted web hosting package. Also, Magento’s strong side is the ability to work stably with a greater variety of products or services and to sustain huge traffic. A special Enterprise edition increases the opportunities.
SEO Aspect
Despite OpenCart can boast SEO friendly URL’s, modifying metadata and performing actions are its weak sides. Thus, there are a few things that have to be improved. Even especially created extensions do not cope with SEO as efficiently as Magento does. This platform is capable of empowering site’s search engine optimization through optimizing titles, images, other content, and URL’s. Magento users also easily connect their stores to a WordPress blog, while OpenCart does not offer it as easy.
Consulting & Support
Just as any other open source software, Magento and OpenCart have large communities and thousands of fans over the world. Thus, any member can count on 24/7 assistance in solving all kinds of issues. Of course, user guides, tutorials, and videos are available for free. However, Magento wins by offering its expert counseling and even training programs for their users. These courses cover different items like custom module development and performance review. OpenCart has a comparatively smaller community basis. In general, it does not matter if you work with Magento or OpenCart: you can count on fast and quality support.
Speed
In case you own a start-up which only needs to deliver goods quickly without many integrations, OpenCart is right for you. As you can guess from its name, powerful shopping cart is the primary advantage of this solution. Concerning Magento, you can speed it up by downloading free or paid extension. In return, it offers more features than OpenCart. When putting Magento vs OpenCart, it should be also mentioned that the first requires much higher end infrastructure, but we have discussed already why Magento is still worth trying.
Users
Companies of different sizes and types often face the dilemma known as Magento vs OpenCart. OpenCart is suitable even for small businesses, while Magento is mostly preferred by experienced, large-scale E-commerce. Magento is perfect for medium and large-sized businesses due to its expanded opportunities and professional extensions. Also, Magento works better for multiple-stores.
Opportunities and Customizability
Numerous researches and statistics prove that Magento has more opportunities for E-commerce thanks to its 350+ features, while OpenCart has only about 100. Both of them support multi-store management, allow unlimited categories, products, and have sales reports. No matter if you prefer OpenCart or Magento, both posses a wide range of customizations options. Whenever you look for quality OpenCart free or paid templates, you may get one directly on the official site. Magento offers fewer themes, but you can always find thousands of them on the web at fair prices. They all add up to the functionality of your online store. On the whole, Magento and OpenCart are excellent when it comes to customization.
Magento vs OpenCart: Summary
- Here is a list of summarized features Magento and Opencart have in common.
- They are open-source solutions, so neither of them limits users.
- Both are very popular; they possess large developer communities for support.
- They are developed in PHP.
- Multiple languages and the majority of existing currencies are offered.
- Rich for resources along with add-on products and plugins.
- Magento and OpenCart both apply templates to upload goods and can be maintained by people with no special skills in programming.
There are other options for E-commerce, so it is difficult to say that one takes over others in all aspects. It is better to try out each of them to discover which one fits your individual business goals. The only thing we know for sure is that Magenbto opens more opportunities for growth and higher revenues, while OpenCart is still good enough for fast small businesses. Think of your business goals before picking one that is right for you.
If you have any questions about anything I’ve mentioned in this blog post or anything else related to Magento, please feel free to drop me a message via this form.
