OpenCart vs WooCommerce

Apr 18, 2023 | Blog

OpenCart vs WooCommerce: Which One Should You Choose?

By 2040, 95% of all purchases will take place through eCommerce. 

In short:

Successful eCommerce websites will play a key role in achieving high-profit margins. However, choosing the right eCommerce platform for your online business can be tricky today. 

There are many options out there, and each one has its own set of functionalities. 

In this post, we’ll compare OpenCart vs WooCommerce to help you decide which one is best for you. Both have their pros and cons, so which one should you choose? Let’s find out today!

WooCommerce: What Is It?


WooCommerce is a free eCommerce platform and plugin that allows you to sell anything beautifully. Built to integrate seamlessly with WordPress, WooCommerce is the world’s favorite eCommerce solution that gives both store owners and developers complete control.

With WooCommerce, you can sell both physical and digital products in various ways. 

Create product variations, set up tax rates and shipping options, accept secure payments, and much more. 

Both WooCommerce and OpenCart are easy to use and set up. However, WooCommerce has a more user-friendly interface and is more intuitive to use. On the other hand, OpenCart is a bit more technical and can be challenging for beginners.

OpenCart: What Is It?


OpenCart homepage

OpenCart is a free open source eCommerce platform for online merchants. It provides a professional and reliable foundation from which to build a successful online store. 

This foundation appeals to a wide variety of users, ranging from seasoned web developers looking for a user-friendly interface to use to shop owners just launching their business online for the first time. 

OpenCart has an extensive set of features that give a stronghold over the customization of your store. With OpenCart’s powerful tools, you can help your online shop live up to its fullest potential.

The best part?

OpenCart offers a wide range of features and functionality “out-of-the-box”. This means that you don’t need to install a lot of plugins or extensions to get the full benefit of using OpenCart.

Everything you need is available from the start.

OpenCart is much more lightweight, and faster than Woocommerce when it comes to inventory management. This makes it ideal for businesses who want a fast and responsive online store.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Which Is More User-Friendly?


There are a number of factors to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform, but one of the most important is user-friendliness. 

After all, you want your platform to be easy for both you and your customers to use. 

WooCommerce and OpenCart user-friendliness

When it comes to user-friendliness, WooCommerce has the edge. 

The platform is incredibly easy to use, even for beginners. 

Setting up a WooCommerce store is a breeze, and adding products is simple thanks to the built-in product management tools. 

OpenCart, on the other hand, can be a bit more complicated to use.

The platform isn’t as intuitive as WooCommerce, and it can take some time to get used to the interface. That said, once you get the hang of it, OpenCart is fairly easy to use.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Which Has the Best Themes and Designs?


When it comes to themes and design, WooCommerce and OpenCart are both excellent platforms. 

However, there are some key differences between the two that you should take into account when choosing a platform for your online store.

WooCommerce offers a wide variety of themes and designs, making it easy to find one that fits your brand and style. 

WooCommerce Theme Store

Additionally, WooCommerce is constantly adding new features and updates, so you can always be sure that your store is up-to-date with the latest trends.

OpenCart also has a large selection of themes and designs, but it can be difficult to find one that matches your specific needs.

Further, OpenCart does not offer as many features or updates as WooCommerce, so you may need to add these in yourself or find a third-party extension.

OpenCart Theme Store

Ultimately, the decision of which platform to choose comes down to your specific needs and preferences. 

If you want a platform with a large selection of themes and designs, WooCommerce is the way to go. However, if you need more control over your store and are willing to put in some extra work, OpenCart may be the better option.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Cost Comparison


Pricing is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform. 

So, how do WooCommerce and OpenCart compare in terms of pricing?

WooCommerce and OpenCart cost

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress, as discussed earlier, you only have to pay for hosting and a domain name. OpenCart, on the other hand, is a free and open-source platform. 

However, you will need to pay for hosting, a domain name, and also for any extensions or themes you might want to add.

When it comes to hosting, both platforms have fairly priced options available. For example, Bluehost offers WooCommerce hosting starting at just $2.95 per month. And SiteGround has OpenCart hosting starting at $3.95 per month.

As for domain names, they usually cost around $10-15 per year. So, overall, the cost of setting up a website with WooCommerce or OpenCart is fairly similar.

In terms of transaction fees, WooCommerce has no Transaction Fees, while OpenCart charges a 2% transaction fee on all sales.

When it comes to extensions and themes, WooCommerce has a lot more options available, both free and paid. However, since OpenCart is open-source, there are also many free themes and extensions available for it.

Overall, both WooCommerce and OpenCart are fairly priced options for setting up an eCommerce website. Neither platform has any hidden costs or subscription fees.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Which Platform Has Better SEO


It’s no secret that SEO is important for any website that wants to rank well in search engines and attract organic traffic. 

But when it comes to eCommerce platforms, not all are created equal in terms of their ability to help you rank well in search. 

So, which platform is better for SEO: WooCommerce or OpenCart?

SEO for WooCommerce

To answer this question, we need to take a look at several factors, including on-page optimization features, speed, and flexibility.

On-Page Optimization Features

When it comes to on-page optimization features, both WooCommerce and OpenCart offer a decent selection of options. However, WooCommerce has a few more advanced features that can give you an edge over your competition.

For example, WooCommerce allows you to optimize your product pages for specific keywords, which can be helpful in getting those pages to rank higher in search. 

Additionally, WooCommerce provides built-in support for Google Rich Snippets, which can help your listings stand out and attract more clicks.

OpenCart also offers some basic on-page optimization features, but it doesn’t have as many advanced options as WooCommerce. 

Additionally, OpenCart doesn’t offer any built-in support for Google Rich Snippets.

Winner: WooCommerce

Speed

Speed is another important factor to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform since faster websites tend to rank better in search than slow ones.

Conversion speed rate

Image Courtesy: Neil Patel

In general, WooCommerce is a bit faster than OpenCart, thanks to its use of caching and minification.

Additionally, WooCommerce comes with a few performance-enhancing features that are designed to make your website run faster, such as lazy loading for images and an integrated content delivery network (CDN).

OpenCart can also be fast, but it doesn’t have as many built-in performance enhancements as WooCommerce. Additionally, OpenCart doesn’t offer lazy loading for images or an integrated CDN.

Winner: WooCommerce

Flexibility

When it comes to flexibility, both WooCommerce and OpenCart offer a good amount of customization options. However, WooCommerce has a few more options than OpenCart, thanks to its extensive selection of plugins and themes.

WooCommerce also has an advantage over OpenCart in terms of scalability. With WooCommerce, you can easily scale your website up or down as needed without having to worry about whether or not the platform can handle the traffic.

OpenCart is also a flexible platform, but it doesn’t have as many plugins and themes available as WooCommerce. Additionally, OpenCart isn’t quite as scalable as WooCommerce, so you may need to upgrade to a more powerful hosting plan if your website starts to get a lot of traffic.

Winner: WooCommerce

Overall Winner: WooCommerce

When it comes to SEO, WooCommerce is the clear winner. It offers more advanced on-page optimization features, faster speed, and greater flexibility. If you’re looking for an eCommerce platform that can help you rank well in search, WooCommerce is the way to go.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Which One Has Fast Customer Support?


Another important factor to consider is customer support.

If you run into any problems with your eCommerce store, you’ll want to be able to get help from the platform provider. 

WooCommerce vs OpenCart customer support

WooCommerce offers excellent customer support, with a team of knowledgeable and friendly representatives who are always happy to help. 

OpenCart also offers good customer support, but it’s not quite as comprehensive as WooCommerce’s.

The Bottom Line: OpenCart or WooCommerce, Which One You Should Go For?


Both WooCommerce and OpenCart are excellent platforms that give you outstanding functionalities to create an out-of-the-box eCommerce website.

But which one should you choose? 

Well, it’s a bit of a challenging question. However, by looking at the above areas, it’s somewhere clear that whether you need a small digital store or a big one, WooCommerce can help you with both. 

It has the functionalities, it has the speed, and it has the foundation that can power online stores of any kind. Plus, you don’t even have to pay much to make that work. Therefore, when it’s OpenCart vs. WooCommerce, you can surely go with WooCommerce. 

Nevertheless, for some reason, you don’t prefer WordPress and then installing WooCommerce and another bunch of plugins, so you choose OpenCart to make your digital store alive. It’s also free, and building it up would take a small investment from your budget. 

That’s it; have a great online store-building experience. 

Posted By:
Elicus

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