The open source model has drawn all kinds of praises from the people who use it, especially considering that these online store systems are completely free, run and developed by numerous people around the world, and typically many documentation and blog posts can be found to guide you on your way.
One of the main decisions is whether you want one of the open source (free) e-commerce platforms or an easier-to-use one that carries a monthly fee.
Top 5 Free E-commerce Platforms in 2021
1. WooCommerce (On WordPress)
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, so you will have to install WordPress (open source) on your host then install the WooCommerce plugin on your site.
You simply:
1. Login to your WordPress site.
2. Go to: Plugins > Add New.
3. Search to find WooCommerce.
4. Select Install Now.
5. Select Activate Now and you are ready for the WooCommerce Wizard!
Automatically turn any WordPress website into a fully functional online store, with inventory management, coupons, and product pages. Otherwise, you can take help of WordPress development services provider in India.
2) NopCommerce
NopCommerce is another e-commerce platform of Russian origin. If you want to hop on the bandwagon, you can go ahead and purchase the Microsoft ASP.NET-based platform directly from your company's website. There's even a one-click installation version available for download, and it comes without the source code.
NopCommerce benefits
• NopCommerce is an open source e-commerce platform that is available for free. You will not pay anything to acquire it and use it long term.
• There are two main download options for NopCommerce. Online merchants unfamiliar with programming can download the simplified one-click install version that does not come with the source code. Developers, on the other hand, might choose to continue with the source code version for its extensive customization capabilities.
3) Magento Open Source
Magento is one of the best and top-rated open source e-commerce platforms.
For starters, it has more features than you can hope to use. However, this opens up all kinds of avenues when it comes to marketing to your customers and creating things like membership plans, recurring payments, and discounts.
Magento benefits:
• It's free, and there is a paid version if you want to upgrade and scale your business accordingly.
• Easily customize the product alerts for customers that include the alert of prices and other product stock messages.
4. osCommerce
With osCommerce, you have access to a thriving community of developers and users, with a wonderful forum to find solutions to your problems and talk to other people. Almost 300,000 online stores are made with osCommerce, so you know that there are many companies that already find it suitable.
The price is obviously an advantage as you don't have to pay a penny to launch an online store. I'd also give it top marks for features, online support, and ease of use.
OsCommerce benefits:
• The online support is quite amazing. Obviously, you won't get direct support, but the osCommerce forum has millions of active conversations that you can search for.
5. Joomla
Joomla is the most advanced system for user administration and usage access controls, with ready-to-use support. Created with flexibility for different types of content, Joomla modules and components offer more flexibility to display non-standard types of content.
Joomla has multilingual support available for growing global teams, making it a great option for many companies looking to expand around the world. There are many tools that cannot provide the same kind of flexibility. At the same time, to help your business stand out, Joomla also offers a variety of templates.
Joomla benefits:
• E-commerce support with lots of help to grow your online store
