In this article, we are going to look at one of the two more popular choices for online business and shopping – WooCommerce and OpenCart. We are going to make a comparison and go through the platforms in order for our readers to get a grasp which offers more and what suits them better in terms of their goals.
General Overview of OpenCart vs. WooCommerce
As a platform OpenCart was founded back in 2008 and it is an open-source platform which provides ecommerce software without the need to attach it to a specific website or domain unlike WooCommerce which provides all WordPress users an option to build their own website with the needed tools and set up an online business.
In general WooCommerce as a platform is bigger and more widely known since it is mainly attached to WordPress as a whole and that means that all users that need to set up a shop will generally go with the Ecommerce platform that is large and with a good reputation. Since it comes in the form of a plugin, it is very user-friendly and provides a quick setup for anyone without the need of advanced technical skills.
With OpenCart you get a more individual space where you can be free of branding a specific business in terms of choosing a domain name and a website. As mentioned earlier, with the Ecommerce software they offer, you can create multiple shops that match the needs for users that do not want to build a website on any platform.
OpenCart for Online Business
While it provides individual e-commerce shops and is mainly designed for E-Commerce and online businesses, setting up OpenCart can be a challenge for novice users and in general people starting off without proper technical knowledge. It uses most of what WordPress is based on, which is PHP and MySQL in terms of software.
The installation process would require you to have hosting somewhere or at least a private server in which you can create a database and download the files from their official website. The process is well documented and straightforward, however, on the other hand it could be bothersome to do without any technical help.
On the other hand, it is highly customizable and provides a lot of options when set up properly for the user. Categorizing different products, having the option to choose from over 500 different OpenCart themes to grasp your visual ideas from. Another good mention is that it allows you to have multiple versions of different stores which you can link through one single installation. That becomes handy if you have different businesses that are somehow linked with each other and you can manage them through one interface.
WooCommerce for Online Business
WooCommerce is not a standalone software which you can use unlike OpenCart, it is more or less an addon to the WordPress website a user has created and from there developed to an e-commerce online business.
The installation process here is pretty simple and it requires a live website in which you simply install a plugin to provide you with all the needed tools to start everything. It does not require any manual work and the most important part is, technical support can be found from the given hosting provider.
At WPX you can choose from different types of WooCommerce based plans with more resources to grow or transfer your already built online business. In addition to that, we provide 24/7 support with sub 30-second response time on chat.
Although WooCommerce lacks some of the flexibility OpenCart offers, it is much more user-friendly to set up on your website and associate a brand of business to it, linked to the domain name.
Final WooCommerce vs. OpenCart Comparison
To make things clear, we will go through both platforms with key features with which you can distinguish them and make your final choice on what your business needs best. We will try to go with different categories to make it easier to read through:
- Cost and expenses for using OpenCart or WooCommerce
We should start with the cost of going with either and they are identical in some sense. Both are free as a standalone software that can be reviewed and downloaded, but follow-up with different paid options that are kind of necessary if you wish to keep building your business.
With OpenCart the costs come from owning a web server or a dedicated space where you can build your online store. The expense with WooCommerce comes from owning hosting and a domain which you can associate with a website in order to enable what it offers.
- Installation process for OpenCart and WooCommerce
The next one is pretty important, that is the installation process. Both have enough documentation online and videos which can guide you through the entire process. To sum it up, OpenCart requires a lot of manual work to create a virtual space and a MySQL database which you need to link to the files you would need to download and upload via FTP Client.
It is important to note that there is a third party option to set up everything for you but that comes with additional cost. On the other hand, WooCommerce requires almost no manual technical work and the process is pretty automatic, from setting up a website, going through plugins and adding the tools you need.
- SEO optimization for OpenCart and WooCommerce
This topic is pretty important given that any online business needs good ranking to appear on both ads and major trusted browsers. With OpenCart not having a website or domain to associate your store with is a double-edged sword since it provides a lot more flexibility but on the other hand is hard to be SEO-friendly.
It requires a lot of technical work and coding from developers to push in front of other online stores that have tools to leverage it through indexation and sitemap options for bots to crawl and browsers to show them in the first search pages.
With WooCommerce that part is pretty easy and involves a lot less developer work connected to the website itself. WordPress as a CMS offers a lot of plugins that are oriented to optimize your website’s SEO automatically.
- Technical Support for OpenCart and WooCommerce
The last topic we would like to touch on is support which is essential for any online business, having that peace of mind that if something wrong happens, you can contact someone to fix it or at least give you pointers to what went wrong.
To start with OpenCart, they have a strong community support where you can contact other users that may have stumbled on similar issues. There is an option for dedicated support but with additional cost.
With WooCommerce you have professional technical support from the hosting provider you use. As mentioned earlier, WPX provides one of the best response times and will be glad to help with any technical issue you may be having with the website free of any additional charges.
To sum things up, if you have an online business and are technically aware of what needs to be done and are not afraid of getting into securing your own web server and building your online store, then OpenCart would be the option for you.
If you want to focus solely on your business without the need to worry about the technical setup or who will help if something goes wrong, then WooCommerce is the best option for you.
See how WooCommerce compares to Shopify, Magento, SureCart or Wix