Posted by It is always a challenge for E-commerce entrepreneurs to the select the appropriate platform for their online stores because of its extensive effects on the performance of the whole business. Magento and Opencart are two of the most popular solutions that make many users hesitate when they come to the final decision. Fortunately, this article provides comparison of the two, which will help you to make an informed buying decision that you won’t regret.
Similarities
Generally, Magento and Opencart share several commons:
- They are both open source platforms that are ultimately designed to facilitate eCommerce activities. As a result, neither of them limits users.
- Both are developed in PHP.
- Magento and OpenCart support their users with multiple languages and currencies, making them a global solution that can suit businesses almost all over the world.
- They also have a wide variety of resources like extensions, add-on products and plugins which can easily be added to support new functions.
- They all allows non-tech-savvy users to upload their products with available templates.
Differences
Magento and Opencart have four key differences:
- Pricing policy
Favoring in price, Opencart is free to download, use and even upgrade. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will run your store with no charges. A relatively high amount of money is needed to maintain hosting and security of the platform.
As for Magento, there are two options for customers: Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition. Magento CE is free for download and use with no monthly subscription fee. Similar to Opencart, this edition is the perfect choice for small or medium sized stores. The other option is Magento EE or the Enterprise Edition. It is ideal for large and potential businesses. Although users have to pay for this edition, To find out the specific price for your store, you have to contact with Magento specialists to request for a quote.
-
SEO capabilities
When it comes to SEO capability, Magento is without a doubt the absolute winner among eCommerce platforms. As noted on ecommerce-platforms.com many researches show that Magento SEO scores 100 out of 100, which is an amazing result! Through optimizing titles, images, and friendly URL’s, Magento help its users to easily connect their stores to a WordPress blog, while it’s not that easy with Opencart. That Magento has extremely SEO-optimizer and extensive SEO functionalities strengthen its leading position in SEO field.
In contrast, Open Cart is a bit restrained considering search engine optimization. It only has the basic SEO features you’d expect from a high-end eCommerce solution. Some of the pre-installed options are limited and you won’t be able to customize the template as much as you can with Magento. Fortunately, it is capable of getting your products into the tops of SERP.
-
Client Types
Most of Magento users are experienced, large-scale enterprises such as Coca Cola, Ford, Nike,… Also, Magento works better for multiple-stores because it has more custom features with almost full control over the expanded opportunities and professional extensions.
As for Opencart, it is much suitable for small and medium businesses due to its easy installation and use of single shopping cart system. It provide the basic functions a user would need from an ecommerce solution great tools with a minimal investment.
-
Consulting & Customer Support
Being two leading platforms for eCommerce,both Magento and Opencart offer users a lot of manuals, clear user guides, and tutorials to getting familiar with the platform. Also, you can get numerous helpful assistant just with a click on the websites.
But Magento is the winner in this aspect, thanks to its thorough expert counseling and training programs for their users. Magento provides both free and paid educational courses, which can help you deeply understand the platform and take the most use of their features. Opencart’s support is comparatively limited. Most of the time you have to appeal to forums and documentation to get information.
In conclusion, for eCommerce business, there is no best fit for all enterprise’s unique needs. When you test different Shopping Cart Open-source services, you should consider critical determinants of your business like goals, your budget, size of stores,… in order to have wise decision. Of the two platforms mentioned, Open Cart is great for start-ups and speed to market, with a powerful ecommerce shopping cart and great tools with a minimal investment. Whereas Magento, with its unlimited control over the facilities of your stores, is more preferred by large and medium businesses.