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E-commerce companies are booming at break-neck pace all the time. Retailers are putting all their resources to achieve a competitive advantage with their million-dollar business plan and, most importantly, their market-ready website. When selecting the best open-source e-commerce site, these individuals are often seen confused.<br><br> The popular platforms that come to mind here are generally OpenCart and WooCommerce. Both hold a strong place in the market. <br><br> To help out these aspiring retailers, I have highlighted the detailed comparison of OpenCart Vs WooCommerce 2021. <br>
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WooCommerce Vs OpenCart: Comparison 2021 E-commerce industries are continually booming at break-neck speed. Retailers are putting all their efforts to gain a competitive edge with their million-dollar business strategy and, most importantly, their market-ready website. These people are always seen confused when it comes to choosing the best open-source ecommerce platform. The popular platforms that come to mind here are generally OpenCart and WooCommerce. Both hold a strong place in the market. According to the recent web development stats, “OpenCart and WooCommerce are ranked among the top eCommerce platforms 2021”. To help out these aspiring retailers, I have highlighted the detailed comparison of OpenCart Vs WooCommerce 2021. In this article, I’ll help you discuss the three major areas: ● A brief understanding of OpenCart & WooCommerce
● ● Key differences between the two platforms Final Verdict So, let’s begin. Brief Understanding Of Opencart & WooCommerce OpenCart In 2008, OpenCart was launched in the market as an open-source platform. It was designed to make the store management process easier irrespective of the size. It’s free and provides different themes and extensions. The platform mainly targets newcomers as it’s user-friendly and packed with many advanced features. Unlike WooCommerce, here you don't need to have any website before its installation, and well-enough too if you are not planning for any sort of blog.
WooThemes launched WooCommerce in 2011. It’s a WordPress plugin designed to convert an exciting WordPress website into a full-fledged e-commerce store with ease. It’s powerful plus comparatively easy to use with excellent integrations for your desired tools. The platform is running successfully, as the graph is growing day by day. Let’s take a look at its stats once: ● Around 3,317,205 live websites are currently using WooCommerce. ● 19% of all e-stores are WooCommerce-powered. ● 22% of the top 1 million eCommerce sites are using WooCommerce. ● 9% of all websites use WooCommerce. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Must Read: Top 10 Features of Shopify Every Entrepreneur Should Know Now, let’s begin the comparison between OpenCart and WooCommerce: #1. WooCommerce Vs OpenCart – Ease Of Installation & Usage WooCommerce is WordPress’s plug-in and can be installed easily like other plugins available in the web store. As it’s open-source, you don’t have to pay any recurring monthly charges. It’s simple to install WooCommerce! Just head to “Plugins” in the left sidebar, find“WooCommerce”, and click “Install Now.” To activate the plug-in, you have to go to the setup wizard to fill in some necessary store details. Once you are done, it will direct to your store.
Whereas in OpenCart, you will get two options to set up your store. First, the easy set-up option is a one-click installer with the hosting providers. It costs you around $3-$15. Second, install an OpenCart store manually. Though it’s a complicated process as compared to WooCommerce, it needs technical skills. Here you should know about FTP and its use to transfer the OpenCart archive to your server, then create a database via phpMyAdmin. One with non-technical skills found the process a bit critical.
Result WooCommerce Wins due to its easy installation process than OpenCart. Must Read: Top 9 eCommerce Development Companies In USA #2. WooCommerce Vs. OpenCart – Themes & Design
WordPress and WooCommerce provide over 2100 free themes plus 30,000+ paid themes. Whether you are looking for magazine themes, e-commerce themes, SEO-powered themes, you'll face no trouble finding them. WooThemes (the developers behind WooCommerce) now understands the importance of design. That's why they have lots of great-looking WordPress themes available, explicitly optimized for WooCommerce. The best part about this platform is that you can integrate and use it with any WordPress theme. With WooCommerce, you will have a level of specialization and you may also need to hire woocommerce developers for assistance but that's just not possible with OpenCart. OpenCart's offering is minimal. It only offers a total of 500 free and paid themes, and their cost fluctuates around $60-70. The advanced template system allows for the quick and efficient modification of your online store. It may appear not very easy for deep customization and requires intense knowledge of HTML and CSS. Thus, for a non-technical person, OpenCart will be a tough choice. Result WooCommerce wins again with its high level of customization; that’s not possible with OpenCart.
Must Read: Top 7 Web Development Technology Stacks for 2021 #3. WooCommerce Vs. OpenCart-Pricing Both OpenCart and WooCommerce are free, open-source e-commerce solutions. However, you have to pay additional charges for add-on services like hosting, domain name, SSL certificate, and extra extensions. In WooCommerce, you don't have to pay for the installation, but later on, you have to pay for the domain charge that costs you around $15. Whereas in OpenCart, you have to pay for the plug-in, and it will cost you around $10 to $489. Also, you have to consider processing fee charges. Result It’s a tie here because both WooCommerce and OpenCart charge you for a particular service. Must Read: Software development life cycle: Complete guide for your business project in 2021 #4. WooCommerce Vs. OpenCart-SEO SEO is vital if you want to beat the competition, and WooCommerce comes with power-packed SEO features. There are tons of plugins and extensions that you can use to add different functionalities, such as robots.txt, flexible URLs, Google Analytics, meta descriptions, blogs, and generate sitemap.xml. Yoast SEO – No.1 SEO plugin of WooCommerce, offers excellent SEO functions, for example:
● ● ● Metadata Editing – Changing text displayed on websites for search results. Redirects – send a unique URL while updating the slug on a current page automatically. Internal linking suggestions – Suggest tips for creating a new web page on the best websites. Here is the complete SEO optimization guidance that the plugin has to provide: Now, talking about OpenCart that also claims itself an SEO-friendly platform. The platform's limitation in SEO features restricts users' capacity to make sure essential SEO modifications. While you can make changes or update your meta keywords, titles, and descriptions, you'll have to tinker around with code. Moreover, doing 301 redirects and rel canonical can be complicated as it needs PHP coding. For newcomers or amateurs, this process will be too much of a headache. Result WooCommerce again rules with its powerful SEO-features that need no technical background. Must Read: What makes OpenCart The Best Choice For Your eCommerce Business?
#5. Multiple Stores OpenCart allows multi-store creation with just one installation under single admin management. Once you have installed it, you can build multiple stores right from the admin panel without installing it repeatedly. To make a new store, you need to create a subdomain in your cPanel and then add the store in the admin panel's Settings section. Whereas WooCommerce doesn't provide an inbuilt multiple-store function. You have to be dependent on the paid plugins for the activation. However, in the case of OpenCart, you can straightforwardly set up multiple stores without relying on 3rd-party plugins. Result OpenCart wins here with its easy multiple-store setup processes. Must Read: How to make sure your Digital Transformation Succeeds So, What’s Better WooCommerce or OpenCart? Final Verdict The aspects shared above clearly show that WooCommerce is better than OpenCart in terms of customization, ease of installation & usage, SEO, and more. Though this comparison is not limited to just five areas, there are a few more that make WooCommerce the better choice for non-technical people. As we have studied above, OpenCart is not for newcomers or amateurs. To make its best use, you should have a good command of technicalities like PHP, FTP, and more. But still, if you find OpenCart good, then hire an OpenCart developer first for better guidance and the right implementation. And, those having WordPress websites can quickly get started with WooCommerce. The platform has everything to offer like flexibility, SEO, customization, and more that’s required for developing a successful eCommerce website. If you still have any queries or want to know more, then hire aneCommerce development company in India. They will provide you better knowledge and help you in developing a business-ready e-store. Good Luck!