How to choose between Magento and OpenCart

It’s safe to say that the e-commerce market is huge, and that’s not likely to change. In fact, statistics continue to predict steady growth for the next couple of years. There are so many players in this game, from small niche shops to huge platforms worth billions of dollars.

This kind of competition is very beneficial to consumers. Due to the expansion of e-commerce, there has been an increase in the variety of platforms that you can use to start your own business. Today, there are dozens of them out there and finding the right one may seem like a confusing task.

To help you with your search, we’ve decided to compare two of the most highly acclaimed platforms that are available to you – Magento and OpenCart. We’ll show you their features, compare them, and give you an idea of what to look for in an e-commerce platform that can anchor and help you grow your business.

What they have in common

Let’s start by explaining the similarities of these programs to show you what it is that they actually do. Both Magento and OpenCart are open-source CMS’s (Content Management Systems), which allow you to build your company website.

They’re both highly customizable, so no matter what kind of business you own you can use these platforms for your e-commerce store or other types of company website. They also offer you different tools, such as different analysis programs, and ways to boost your sales.

So why would you choose one over the other? Here are some of the key metrics that you should take into account when considering Magento versus OpenCart:

1. User interface

UI is important in any software you use, especially the one for growing your business. When it comes to these two programs, it’s really a matter of your personal preference and goals.

OpenCart has a clean UI that is easy to understand. This means that it won’t take you long to master and you’ll have more time to focus on other things related to your business. This is one of the main advantages of OpenCart, since even beginners can get acquainted with it easily.

On the other hand, Magento is a bit more complex. If you don’t have any experience with CMS, it might take you some time to understand it, let alone to get the hang of it. However, there’s a good reason behind the complexity.

Magento offers a much wider range of features than OpenCart, which we’ll talk about in depth later. It also adapts to new patterns consumer behavior more quickly.

For this reason, there is more to learn with Magento and it might be a bit tougher at the start, but there’s no doubt that it can pay off in the end. Since you’ll be spending a lot of time on whichever platform you choose anyway, devoting your time and energy to mastering Magento can be a smart investment.

2. Features

This is where Magento knocks it out of the park. There are very few platforms, if at all, that offer the same range of customizability as Magento. You can design your site in any way you want, so you can turn all your ideas into reality. Pretty cool, huh?

Magento also offers a wide array of marketing and promotion features, such as up-sells, cross-sells, flexible coupons, and many more. You can divide customers into groups, create product bundles, and do a variety of other things that can bring you more sales.

This doesn’t mean that OpenCart doesn’t have a lot to offer. It just lacks some of the top features of Magento. In any event, OpenCart still offers a decent number of customization options and a good user management system.

Like Magento, OpenCart also gives you insights into important data and analytics, so you can tweak your sales strategies according to the results. It also allows you to manage multiple stores using one interface, which adds to the aforementioned simplicity.

3. SEO

Search Engine Optimization is one of the key aspects of a successful e-commerce business. Both of these platforms offer great SEO options, which come with some good and bad sides.

Magento is completely search engine friendly, so you can tweak everything SEO-related. It supports metadata for all your products and pages, as well as Google Site Maps, fully customizable URLs, and many other important SEO features. There’s no doubt that it’s very capable, but it’s also pretty pricey.

On the other hand, OpenCart is free to use but it doesn’t offer nearly as many options as Magento. The advantages are that it’s easier to use, and that the extensions are cheap. But the downside is that a lot of SEO functions aren’t available without the extensions. It also doesn’t support individual URLs.

4. Community

Magento has one of the largest communities out there. If you need any advice or help, you can talk to the developers directly, which is definitely the best way to solve any potential issues. Aside from this, you can go through forums or different tutorials to find an apt solution to your problem.

Since OpenCart is newer than Magento, the community isn’t as large. Nevertheless, there are still hundreds of people behind OpenCart, should you need any assistance. There are also many resources that you can turn to, and since this program is pretty easy to use you won’t have any issue finding help (and you might even figure it out yourself).

So which one is better?

Even though both of these platforms can be a great option, Magento is far more capable than OpenCart. On the other hand, it’s harder to use and costs more. It all boils down to whether you prefer to keep things simple or if you demand full control over every aspect of your e-commerce business.

OpenCart is great for freelancers, due to its cost (or lack thereof) and ease of use. It’s good for a small or medium-size business. On the other hand, if you’re dead serious about your business and want to keep growing it in the long run, Magento ought to be the better long-term solution.