OpenCart vs. Magento: Which is Right for You?

One of the main challenges faced by merchants, when starting a new eCommerce business, is choosing the right platform to build their online store on. The decision should be made carefully, as it can have an important impact on sales and conversion rates in the future. This guide will help you understand what Magento vs OpenCart are, how they can benefit your business and where they fall short, so you can make an informed choice between them.

Differences Between OpenCart and Magento

Both OpenCart and Magento are open-source eCommerce platforms. They both offer great features, but they have significant differences in some important ways that may impact your choice of eCommerce software for your business. It’s helpful to know how each program stacks up against each other when you make your final decision about which one to use on your website. To make an informed decision,

Here are 4 things you should consider in choosing between OpenCart and Magento.

1) Stability. In many cases, OpenCart is considered more stable than Magento because it has fewer bugs and doesn’t come with as many updates.

2) Cost. Although many web hosts now offer either OpenCart or Magento as part of their web hosting packages, many smaller companies prefer to hire a developer to install a custom version of these two systems (or a similar third option like Shopify).

3) Program Size. While no matter what platform you choose will take considerable time from development (whether it's a template or a custom build), both programs are significantly different in terms of overall size once complete and live online:

4) User Interface/Design Options.

How the open-source model helps OpenCart

Open source platforms are definitely not mainstream and that may sound like a negative, but it’s really not. Open source commerce platforms are innovative, interesting and cutting-edge, but that doesn’t necessarily make them perfect for every type of business out there. The biggest advantage to open source technology is being able to customize it however you want; after all, if you aren’t comfortable with how something works (or doesn’t work), you can tweak it as much as necessary until it meets your needs perfectly. That level of customization and fine-tuning takes time—if you don’t have it, then working with an established company will likely be easier on your end.

What makes Magento stand out from its competitors: We touched on customizability above, but that alone isn’t what makes Magento so popular in ecommerce circles. More specifically, there are three main features that set it apart from its competitors—features which have helped to win over many retailers already. First off, its mobile capabilities help customers use their mobile devices for easy browsing or purchases without losing any functionality thanks to responsive designs.

Some of the best features of OpenCart

OpenCart allows you to create an online store without any programming knowledge. It gives you a lot of flexibility to customize your storefront, even while you're in beta testing mode. Additionally, it's extremely easy to install, so if you know how to use FTP or cPanel and have access to a domain name and hosting account, then OpenCart should be fairly simple for you as well. OpenCart supports payments from various gateways such as PayPal, AuthorizeNet, WorldPay, and 2Checkout, among others. If you're using Amazon Payments, OpenCart integrates nicely with that platform too. Some of its other major features include order management, support for multi-currency and multi-language sites, mobile shopping capabilities, and SEO integration.

If all that isn't enough to sell you on OpenCart, perhaps its ease of installation will; all you need to do is download it via Softaculous (or another app installer) into your virtual private server (VPS), enter some information about yourself, and start using it right away! There's no worrying about software compatibility with different operating systems because that's already taken care of; furthermore, you don't have to worry about compatibility with plugins either because there aren't any additional plugins necessary in order for OpenCart to work efficiently.

3 Tips to Get Started with OpenCart

The OpenCart community comes together to share tips, tricks and knowledge about how best to run a successful online store with OpenCart. The website is an excellent resource for new users and those just getting started with ecommerce or looking to dip their toes into advanced features of OpenCart that may take some time to figure out on your own. There are many members of the community who have years of experience managing stores and can help you develop strategies in both marketing your store as well as growing your business. Take advantage of what they have to offer! Here are three tips from fellow OpenCart entrepreneurs who you should check out.

5 ways you should get started with Magento: With its thousands upon thousands of extensions, as well as comprehensive marketplace support, there’s really no reason not to use Magento for building any type of online presence—from digital storefronts to custom enterprise solutions. Before you get going though it helps knowing where you should focus your attention first so here are five easy-to-implement actions that will benefit all types of business models. If you want to hire a Magento developer professional team, then you should reach out to a Magento development company.