WooCommerce vs Opencart which is better

When it comes to eCommerce CMS, you might be thinking about the two giants – WooCommerce vs Opencart. You can either use WordPress which will work on WooComemrce or you can go with the OpenCart CMS. It’s always a bit hard to choose when there are two platforms. We will see an in-depth comparison of the same thing here.

We will see some of the main factors and compare them. In the end, you will know which is better and which platform you should use.

Overview of WooCommerce vs OpenCart

Of course, we will begin the overview of the platforms. OpenCart is one of the oldest platforms founded in 2008. As the name says, it’s only for the eCommerce website and is open source. You can easily create an eCommerce store with the help of this platform. It allows you to create a store for small businesses as well as big ones. It’s easy to use and freely available. One can directly install it in their server and start using it.

On the other hand, we have WooComemrce. WooCommerce is a solution based on WordPress. In simpler words, you will have to install WordPress first if you plan to use WooComerce for your store. It’s open-source software. Both, WordPress as well as WooCommerce are free to use. You will need a server where you can host your website.

With that being said, we will start with the comparison and see the main differences they have. This will give you a clear idea of which one you should go with.

Ease of Installation

We will first begin with the setup. To start using any of these, you will have to set up it.

WordPress has various installers using which you can install in just one single click. Mostly, all the hosting service and server providers out there will provide you a one-click installer. Using the one-click installer, you can easily install the software on your website. Further, you can simply head over to Plugin and install the WooCommerce plugin. This will hardly take few clicks and a couple of seconds to install it. Talking about the setup, everything is easy and you will get the setup wizard where you can quickly configure WooCommerce.

Opencart is a bit different here. Some of the hosting providers provide you a complete one-click installer for free whereas some of them charge for it. If you can’t use the auto-installer, you will have to do it manually. You will need somewhat technical skills to get things started. You can’t directly set up the website manual without any knowledge. Don’t worry, you can easily find a video tutorial for the same.

Winner: We can say both are kind of equal but WooCommerce is preferable.

Ease of Use

Now, we will talk about the use. Of course, you will have to use the system once you install it. The platform needs to have an easy interface. All the things matter here starting from the ease of the dashboard view to customizing themes and configuring the plugin.

Here, both of them are easy to use. WooCommerce is based on WordPress. So, if you know about WordPress, you will find the interface quite similar. Adding product in WooCommerce is just like adding a new post, you will get almost similar experience here.

Opencart is a bit different when you talk about all these things. Here, you will get the dashboard look. In simpler words, it will feel unique just like you are working on custom software. This is where you can easily get things started.

Winner: It’s a tie as both of them are easy to use. The interface is different but the working is the same and you won’t find any issues in any of them. That’s a good thing.

Theme and Appearance

One of the most important parts of any platform is the theme. The look and the design says a lot about the website – WooCommerce vs Opencart

In WordPress, there are thousands of free themes and you can always go with the paid ones. If you take the numbers, there are more than 3000 free themes in the WordPress directory itself. Further, they have many third party themes that are paid and you can download them outside of the WordPress directory. Once you install the theme, you can easily customize it with ease. This is the easiest way you can get things rolling.

Opencart has a limited amount of themes. They have 500 themes where you can play around. Among the 500 themes, some of them are free and some of them are paid. The themes are quite easy to customize and you can start using them. The thing is that most of the themes here are paid.

Winner: WooCommerce

Extensions and Plugins – WooCommerce vs Opencart

Extensions and plugins are important if you want to increase the functionality of the website. They will help you in implementing new features on your websites. It could be as simple as having a wishlist or it can also do some advanced tasks.

WooCommerce has more than 50k plugins from which you can choose from. Talking about the plugin, you will get almost all the plugins for free. You won’t have to pay for most of them. However, they work on a freemium model. In simpler words, the plugin is free but has limited functionality. If you want to increase the functionality of the plugin, you will have to go either with the paid ones or purchase the full version of a plugin. This is why everyone can get what they want.

Opencart has a limited number of extensions. You will get roughly 13000 extensions from which you can choose the one you want. In WordPress, you will get the plugins whereas here they are called extensions. Overall, both of them are the same and you won’t face any issues in using them.

Winner: WooCommerce

SEO

SEO is important as well. You will need to focus on the organic growth of the website if you want to get more sales. This is the reason why you need to focus on SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is where you can optimize your website in such a way that it ranks for the keywords you want. In the end, you will get visitors from search engines.

WooCommerce or WordPress has various free SEO plugins where you can set up the SEO of the website. You can get things started with just a couple of clicks. The SEO plugins are free but if you want advanced features, you will have to pay for them. Alternatively, you can also code and do things on your own, but you need to know how to code. This is surely your choice.

Opencart is the place where you will require coding knowledge if you want to do the SEO of your website. There is no way you can directly get started with SEO here. If you know how to code, you can surely get started here. If not, you will have to hire a developer and pay them to integrate the SEO for your website. There are a few plugins that can do the work but they are not up to the mark. So, you will have to code if you want to see the results.

Winner: WooCommerce

Pricing – WooCommerce vs Opencart

We already saw the overview of the pricing, this is where we will dig a bit deeper.

First, both WooCommerce and Opencart are free to use. You will need a server or hosting where you can keep your data. It will cost you the same.

Further, you will need to get the themes and plugins by which you can get things rolling. The themes and plugins are free as well as paid. You will get the plugins with the most common functionality for free whereas the ones that provide advanced functionality are paid. The pricing is almost similar here. So, you can easily get any of them as per your wish.

Opencart and WordPress, both can work in any shared hosting. So, that’s an advantage here. If you want to go with advanced hosting, you can always go with WordPress as there are many managed WordPress hosting providers. These are the providers that will handle all the things for you. This will surely cost you more but the results are better here in this case. So, you can also go with the managed hosting if you have the budget else shared hosting will do the job.

Winner: Draw, both of them are free.

Support and Help

You might require help at some point. If you are using any of them, you might come across an error that needs your attention or it could be something else. It’s always good when you have someone on your side who can handle all the things. This is where you will need the support. We will talk about support now.

WordPress already has their forum where you can discuss any issues. There are many videos out there where you can have a look. WoooCommerce answers all the support tickets in less than 24 hours. So, this is always good. There are many tutorials by WooComemrce itself and if you want to know more about it, you can surely head over to Youtube where you will find thousands of videos on every topic out there.

Opencart has the documentation, video tutorials, as well as have a blog and forum. These are the four ways where you can find the details. No doubt, the internet has a lot more to offer and you will find the solution to all the problems. However, there are not as many videos as WooCommerce. WooCommerce tops the completion when it comes to supporting. Further, if you need dedicated support, you will have to pay a monthly fee in Opencart. Therefore, people prefer Opencart less when it comes to documentation and support.

Winner: WordPress is the clear winner here.

Store Size -WooCommerce vs Opencart

Not all platforms can handle all types of stores. You can easily use any of these platforms even if you have a small business or you can use it even if you have a huge store with thousands of products.

However, if you are planning to go with the multi-store, here is the deal. You will get the multi-store feature in both of them but it’s easier to set and use multi-store in Opencart rather than using it in WooCommerce. So, if you talk about the multi-store, we would say Opencart is the winner here.

On the other hand, both of them can easily handle the large store.

Winner: If you see it from the store size perceptive, it’s a tie but if you see it from the multi-store perspective, Opencart is the winner here. You can surely go with any of them.

Which one to Choose – WooCommerce vs Opencart?

Now, the last question is the main thing that everyone will be looking for, which one you should choose? Whether you should go with the WooCommerce or you can go with the Opencart? Well, we suggest you go with WooCommerce.

It’s because WooCommerce is the best in the market. If you see the complete comparison, you will see that WooCommerce is the winner is most of them. This proves that WooComemrce is the best solution you can go with. Further, there are some of the things that matter here. For example, the market share and popularity are also important.

You will need to make sure that the platform you are using has a good name in the market. The popularity of Opencart is decreasing whereas the popularity of WooCommerce is increasing. So, it will surely have a reliable future ahead. If you are starting your store now, you will need to focus on the future as well. You are making the website for the future. So, you will have to make sure that there are enough updates available. In the case of WordPress, you can surely rely on it. Therefore, we highly recommend you to go with WooCommerce.