Step Into The Burgeoning World of Open-Source E-commerce
Wordpress, Magento, PrestaShop, OXID are some of the most popular technologies accredited to its adoption of the open-source software model.
For those who are unaware of the term open source, it refers to something that can be freely modified and used under The General Public License (GPL). Now, these platforms are expanding on the rapid basis with sales expected to reach $5 TRILLION this year. As a result, several new platforms are evolving to meet the needs of current and potential retailers entering the space.
Starting from huge corporate giants to small pop shops, eCommerce store owners are trending towards such open source platforms for mainly two reasons:
- Save money
- Have greater control over their online presence
The following post comprises of some of today’s most popular carts are open source solutions, including the most widely-downloaded and used platform on the web.
Additional tip: Always remember that open source is not for everyone, only a handful of these platforms have the potential to meet your needs and requirement thoroughly. So choose wisely!
Let’s dive into this list:
X Cart
Mainly used to launch a free online store, the PHP cart offers something you won’t find in most freemium carts, i.e. a lifetime license. Developed on open source code, X Cart provides a hosted and self-install options with an extensive feature set available for paid plans.
Magento Community Edition
Around 200,000 users and counting, Magento Community Edition turns out to be the most popular open source eCommerce platforms available. Much unlike Magento Enterprise addition, the Magento Community Edition still remains a strong choice for e-commerce stores especially the ones that are committed to the idea of an open source platform.
If you are looking open source for a store that is performing well, it’s decent option worth considering. All you need to do is manually code using HTML or seek help from a reliable Magento development company that gives most out of e-commerce options as well as ample of room to customization.
PrestaShop
Boosting more than 250,000 stores, PrestaShop has now more than 850,000 members and customers include Zippo Lighters and Fashion Stork, among others. Day by day the popularity of this open source ecommerce platform extends to more than 200 countries. And thus, it has been translated into 65 languages.
PrestaShop is so being liked by developers and users that the platform has racked up awards around the world:
- Packt Publishing’s Best Open Source Business Application (two times)
- 2013 BSOCO Award in the CMS category
- 2013 #1 Open Source Shopping Cart by EcommerceBytes Seller’s Choice Awards
OpenCart
We all are well aware regarding the fact that appearance matters. And OpenCart being used by 576,862 sites offers more than 2,700 themes. It may quite interest you to know that 4,841 of these are in the top 1 million sites on Alexa.com. Well, not a bad number especially for a relatively small open source e-commerce platform.
The community created in Hong Kong is now pretty much welcoming and active in US and everywhere across the globe. It is multi-currency, multilingual, and offers more than 20 payment gateways as well as eight shipping methods. The turnkey nature of this open source e-commerce platform makes it stand out from the competition which means, there’s no need to mess with code at the start.
OsCommerce
The front end of the platform’s demo may feel like a dated version of Amazon. But after 16 years in business, it is performing much stronger in the market than it is with more than 7000 add ons and two spin-off projects that have already claimed a strong place in the e-commerce platform field.
Despite an active community with more than 285,720 members, only 13,300 stores are currently using the platform. As a result, it is in major need of an update to compete in the modern e-commerce field without some major changes.
Zen Cart
Initially based on osCommerce code, Zen Cart decided to place a heavier focus on templates. With a 390+ page user’s manual and a host of features, the open source platform also provides the user more than 1800 add-ons in 16 different categories. There are more than 150,000 members in the Zen Cart community and related communities as well.
WooCommerce (WordPress)
Proud to power over 37% of online stores, the platform has been downloaded 14,095,679 times. By far, it is considered as one of the most popular open source eCommerce solutions available in the market. Now there is only one problem attached with WordPress, as soon as you start looking at more complex features, you will see a price tag attached. The same goes with support.
On the other hand, WooCommerce scales beautifully and is considered as a frequent e-commerce platform choice for small, medium and large enterprises.
Open source offers wide range of functionality with complexity. So whenever you want ecommerce website, hire dedicated developers and support. Now you have list of open source ecommerce platforms. Take a moment, think which platform suits your business. Let’s us know your thoughts.