In the age of subscription-based e-commerce platforms and website builders, there are times when it’s beneficial to have a solution for cost-free. If you consider an open source solution such as OpenCart This is exactly what you will receive. The software is free for download. You can locate your own hosting and upgrade with no cost. The reason we love it so much is due to the fact that numerous open source platforms attempt to provide you with annual upgrade.
On the contrary, you can use “packaged” solutions such as Shopify as well as BigCommerce which means that you pay a monthly cost with no real control over your site. The truth is, OpenCart isn’t the perfect solution but it’s a great online store builder, if you are looking to reduce your costs and expand your options of customization. Through this OpenCart analysis, we’ll discuss about the top features, as well as those we don’t love that much. Additionally, we’ll examine things such as additional charges or customer service.
If you’re considering trying out OpenCart I strongly suggest that you look it up. It’s totally available for free download. But, you’ll find that the development skills are almost always needed.
It’s like WordPress in that you are provided with the base OpenCart product, and later enhance it with extensions. A lot of people like this method since you are able to select and choose the extensions you want to use. However, you may be spending a substantial amount of money based on the number of extensions you need.
Keep reading the OpenCart review to determine whether it’s the most effective e-commerce solution to use for your needs.
the OpenCart pros and Cons
OpenCart has become an extremely popular option to develop online stores. If you’re looking for an easy way to develop an attractive image to promote your business online and offline, then OpenCart could be the right solution for you.
But, that doesn’t mean that OpenCart is the best choice for all. As with any important software for business, OpenCart has various pros and cons to take into consideration. For instance, even though it’s free to download , and packed with customizing elements but it’s also difficult for people who are new to the field. If you don’t have computer programming skills, then you could be struggling.
Pros
- Download for free
- Simple to use UI (great to explore)
- A highly customizable and flexible environment due to open-source construction
- Many integrations with the most popular tools
- No ongoing development expenses (if you possess the appropriate capabilities)
- Multilingual and multi-currency support
- There are a lot of themes to pick from
- Marketplace brimming over with gateways, plugins, and other tools
- Fantastic community and great customer support
- Unlimitable categories, products and manufacturers
- Ratings and review systems for products
- PCI certified
Cons
- The skills of a developer are important
- Although support for customers is offered however, you’ll have to work out a lot on your own
- Self-hosting implies that you’re in charge of maintenance, development and more.
- Marketing functions aren’t as extensive.
- It’s not the most efficient alternative on the market
- The addition of plugins and add-ons is essential to fully function
- Unfriendly to SEO in a few locations
OpenCart Review What We Love Most About It
OpenCart performs very well when it comes to its extensions. Since a lot of developers are working to create these extensions, you’ll have an array of add-ons that you can integrate into your store. The marketplace has hundreds different themes as well as extensions that cover things like feeds for products and reporting, delivery methods as well as payment processors. The most appealing aspect of this marketplace is the fact that vast majority of extensions are created specifically for e-commerce, in contrast to platforms like WordPress which has plugins for normal websites too.
Combining the extensions with robust code access, and you’ve got a great solution for customizing your website. In the end, developers will discover OpenCart amazing to work with the way they can create any kind of website they wish without limiting their options. Furthermore it allows business owners to grow their businesses more quickly, as opposed staying with a platform that offers limited themes, add-ons, and the option to code.
We also appreciate the ease of use and the fact it is easy enough to comprehend for the majority of users. It is definitely helpful to be knowledgeable about development when designing a site using OpenCart however, at a minimum any user can use the dashboard and discover the capabilities of OpenCart without having to learn much.
Last but not least, the most appealing aspect of OpenCart is the cost. Like we said, it’s an entirely free, open-source e-commerce platform that includes an option to download located on the site. There’s no requirement to provide your email address or any other information. In addition, OpenCart doesn’t require you to pay monthly or annual charges for maintenance or upgrades. Paid extensions are one other aspect, but for the basic product, there’s no lot of an investment needed.
OpenCart Review: What We Do Not Like
Although many consider this to be an advantage, the extensions may be irritating to certain. The reason why this could happen is that you’re seeking an entire package straight in the package. OpenCart isn’t the same package. It’s actually pretty light and you’ll need to write your personal customizations or come up with ways to add extensions or combinations that allow your site to run at its fullest potential. So, you might have to purchase several extensions as you go along.
Another reason to be cautious concerns the fact that users usually require a background in development to create OpenCart function for you. However, the good news is you can find plenty of resources on the web to help you learn more about OpenCart yourself. You can also find numerous easy-to-use extensions such as blog posts, documentation as well as webinars to guide users to your way through the OpenCart world. But, the typical OpenCart user will have a good understanding of PHP as well as different programming languages. So, a novice, or even a more advanced developer could be unable to handle trying to set up the website and quickly scale it.
In addition, it is an open source self-hosted platform that is self-hosted. Although this allows you to have greater control over your website but you’ll need to do some tasks by yourself. In particular, you’re expected to locate your own hosting provider and then manage your website as time go by. Furthermore, there’s not any direct support for customers from OpenCart and you’re required to do the research yourself, looking through the documentation and conversing with other users on the forums.
OpenCart Review The Top Features
When you look through the storefront, admin area and design module, it’s easy to find the most useful features available in OpenCart. The software’s core is lightweight which means we’re not talking about an extensive number of options. But, the extension market is where you’ll find the most useful features.
Now, let’s look at some of the best OpenCart features. OpenCart:
- Web design alternatives from third-party vendors – You’ll be able to download templates from sites such as Theme Forest. There are many templates and themes available on The OpenCart marketplace.
- Support for different language and currency.
- A wide range of items.
- The possibility of running multiple stores from one administrator.
- Options for backup and restore.
- Support for selling digital products.
- Filters that can help your customers.
- A shipping calculator as well as guest checkout.
- Regular payments for memberships.
- Review and rating on your product.
- A system that lets you use coupon codes and discount.
- Effective search engine optimization.
- Reports that provide every aspect from sales up to customer.
- Support for more than 1000 payment gateways. A few dozen of them are available with the program, but many other extensions are also available.
OpenCart Review: Pricing
I think the pricing of OpenCart can be described as quite decent. It’s easy to fall to believe that open source software is free, however there are always additional costs to be considered. When it comes to OpenCart it is capable in removing the cost of upgrades or downloads. It also doesn’t require you to cover customer support (even though there’s not much in it).
If you are self-hosting your own online store, that means you’ll need hosting and an SSL certificate as well as a domain yourself. These costs dollars and are needed for the operation of OpenCart.
Certain OpenCart extensions are available at no cost, however, they do come with cost-based prices. For example for instance, the Payment Gateway extension for Stripe Payment Gateway extension is currently priced at $60.
An Important Note OpenCart is the latest cloud-based ecommerce solution (similar to Shopify and BigCommerce). So, you can choose the option of paying an annual fee, and enjoy the same features you get with a local download. Cloud version comes with an initial trial period of 14 days, as well as access to 24/7 support themes, extensions, as well as included hosting. The pricing for a month starts at about $33 and increases to $200. The prices could fluctuate because they are priced in British Pounds.
OpenCart Review: Design and templates
OpenCart is a full option that is a complete solution for eCommerce it allows corporate executives to open the online site in a short time. It lets you create and manage products efficiently as well as use your own shopping cart , and handle orders swiftly and efficiently too. In simple words, OpenCart delivers all the basic store functions that a company may require.
Since it’s an open-source platform, OpenCart give you complete freedom in the design of your site. With this software you can access all the basic functionality you require, but there’s plenty of room to grow and personalization too.
Let’s examine OpenCart from an aesthetic and template viewpoint such as. Themes are available today from companies such as Template Monster, and Theme Forest. You can browse the entire selection on the OpenCart Extension page.
With OpenCart it is possible to select from a variety of professional themes. You can then make minor modifications to the design to ensure that it’s specific to your business. In particular, you could change the layout of modules and add them to the admin design panel. If you’re looking to make more substantial modifications to how your website feels and appears then you’ll have to dive into the code.
Unfortunately, not all companies will have the expertise and expertise in-house to manage the code elements on their own. Similar to other open source options, OpenCart doesn’t come with any particular templates for design. Instead, you’ll get an easy solution when you download the platform. It’s a modern, contemporary design and a mobile-friendly experience.
If you’re looking for something distinctive for your business Then you’ll have to create it by yourself with the assistance of an expert.
OpenCart Review: Ease of Utilization
The best method to be sure you’re confident using the software, such as OpenCart and others would be to try downloading it, and try it out yourself. It’s available for you to download and use. If you’re not willing to complete all the extra effort and effort, you can download an online demo instead.
There is no need to input any data to access the demos offered by OpenCart. When you sign in, the system will utilize a helpful wizard that will guide users through all you should be aware of concerning the services.
It’s easy to use. OpenCart experience is well organized and neat. It’s a lot like most of the other competitive tools available and you shouldn’t have difficulty learning you can navigate through it. It takes a while to find out the exact location of everything. You’ll have to spend some time to locate important information, such as where to put a price on a product.
Furthermore, it’s important to be aware it’s true that the free edition of OpenCart provides only a demo and you won’t have full functionality. It is possible enter the data in order to build a sample webpage, but. You won’t have the option to save your information and view your website as it appears on the website.
In terms of managing reports and sales there are many alternatives using OpenCart. It is possible to create coupons with a flat rate as well as percentage-based discounts. You can also apply discounts to all categories or to specific items.
However, sales reports might not be as good as you’d like. The typical reports pages include charts or graphs which showcase your most popular products, along with increases and decreases in sales, and the like. OpenCart offers information, however they’re more complicated and aren’t so well-organized.
The good thing is that OpenCart is user-friendly when running your business. Orders, products and other data are simple to track using the administration interface. The dashboard offers various useful stats which will allow you to assess how your company is doing in a single glance.
The process of adding new listings to the product is easy too. While you’ll have to understand the different attributes tabs and other elements function but you should be able handle this fairly quickly. OpenCart is also integrated with hundreds of payment processors.
The wide variety of integrations make it simpler to create the service most suitable for you. But, you’ll need to pay for integrations to be able to use them.
OpenCart Review: Payment processing
OpenCart is a variety of payment options already in. The gateways available comprise everything from Authorize.Net and Authorize.Net, as well as PayPal as well as Sage Pay. If you’re not keen to make use of any of the more than 30 integrations currently available, it’s not an issue. There are a myriad of other payment gateways that can be integrated.
Editing a payment method can be simple enough, so it’s an account using the correct payment processing software. After you have added an option for payment you’ll have to add it as an available to customers on your Checkout page.
OpenCart Review Customer Support
If you’re looking into the cloud-based edition of OpenCart The direct customer service is excellent. However, the support provided by customer service for the basic OpenCart download isn’t as good as the standard support. I’m not saying that, the internet is full of information on OpenCart. OpenCart’s website is a great resource. OpenCart website also offers a lot of video tutorials, documentation as well as a forum and blog posts.
It’s true that the OpenCart forums are extremely active, which means you’ll be capable of chatting with others who are experts in their field. The only issue is that a user who is new may have difficulty integrating as they’re probably developing more than they are participating.
Because OpenCart remains a small-sized company (and it is available free of charge,) it doesn’t have an enormous support group. However, they do provide a contact number as well as a ticketing system on the web to help you find answers to your questions.
If you’d like to have the support you need with a monthly subscription, a cost that is 99 dollars monthly is offered. It is also possible to choose the cost of $99 for a one-time fix if you’re looking for something that you will only need one time. The monthly package of $99 seems a bit expensive to me, however the cost of the one-time cost isn’t too expensive if you don’t intend to have too many issues.
Who should consider OpenCart as an Ecommerce Platform?
OpenCart is able to do a lot of things well. Its interface is simple and the dashboard is tidy and customers don’t have to spend a lot of money to start. In addition, the customization options are numerous.
But, I’m not sure of giving a recommendation for OpenCart for anyone other than an skilled developer. Cloud versions are more comprehensible than the local version however that’s not the case.
If you’re a programmer with experience in PHP, OpenCart looks like the perfect solution for you. You can discuss subjects with other developers on the forums and can access all the customization tools that you can’t find elsewhere.
If you have questions regarding these OpenCart review, please let us know via the comments section below.
