Magento versus Opencart: What you should choose in 2021?

Which eCommerce platform should I select to start my online business?

Pondering this question, then you have come to the right place. Selecting an eCommerce platform is not easy. All the platforms available in the market have different pros and cons, so it can be confusing to pick one for your online store.

Did you know?

According to a recent survey, by the year 2021, eCommerce is expected to generate $4.5 trillion in sales per year. If you are thinking that the future is bright for online selling of products, then the eCommerce platform can take you to the door of success.

And if Magento vs.OpenCart is what’s bothering you, worry no more!

Going through this article will simplify the decision for you. If you're stuck between Magento and Opencart eCommerce platform, I’ve got you covered for it.

In this article, I am going to show you a comprehensive comparison between Magento vs OpenCart and conclude why you can select one of them to build your eCommerce website.

Before diving into the details let's take a glance at both the eCommerce platform. So, here we go.

Magento vs Opencart: A Brief Introduction

Magento

Owned by Adobe, Magento is undeniably a king among open source eCommerce platforms. It offers full control over every aspect of your online store and high scalability with highly advanced features. With technical skills, you will be able to customize your shop independently as you wish.

Magento also has a managed and automated hosting version called Magento Commerce Cloud, an all-in-one solution built specifically for high-selling enterprise-level merchants or mid-sized enterprises to grow.

According to a survey, there are 771,021 websites supported by Magento. It has a widespread popularity among large enterprises, and most of its users come from the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, and Germany.

Opencart

OpenCart is an open-source eCommerce platform originally developed on PHP/MySQL code. Generally, it is a free solution available for online stores and is mainly known for its user-friendliness, simplicity, and its wide selection of extensions.

It has been praised for its lightweight structure by store owners. Moreover, OpenCart has hosted over 885,000 websites over the years, with the current usage size spanning over 345,000 live websites. And most of them include small and medium-sized businesses.

OpenCart vs Magento: Features Comparison

A Magento and OpenCart comparison can begin with their similarity. Both platforms support multiple languages??and currencies, and each contain a myriad of plugins, extensions, and third-party services.

They both also enjoy global community support. The main difference lies in its usage capacity.

Let’s start the comparison!

#1 Appearance and Design

If we are talking about the performance and design capability to present your brand and products or services, then you want to have the most flexible and customizable solution. Must have the ability to use a ready-made theme and easily customize some stand-alone features.

OpenCart is simple, and you can even modify some parts by copying the default format. To be sure, you need some knowledge to do this; Otherwise, the enhancement does not work correctly.

Magento design is more complex than OpenCart in means of implementation. However, you can add a lot of customized features or change the theme of your choice.

#2 Customization

OpenCart

Adapting your website for your brand is not at all a problem on OpenCart. You must find a perfect set of extensions from its marketplace, which hosts over 13,000 free and premium extensions. You can even hire opencart developers in india to get it done at a reasonable cost.

If you wish to withdraw some money, there are other options. And this may cost you between $ 10 and $ 489 per module.

The best thing about OpenCart Extensions is that you can introduce additional functionality in your online store. As a result, you will be able to expand your business.

In case of expansion, it has been revealed that OpenCart can also support multiple stores on one user account. In addition, the number of products you sell on OpenCart is unlimited.

Magento

Although Magento is relatively difficult to work on, it is possible to provide an overall customizable platform.

Its marketplace, for example, is full of themes and extensions for many types of eCommerce stores. While the extension is between $ 9.99 and $ 999, you should be able to get a suitable theme for $ 29 to $ 299.

In addition, Magento offers a wide range of possible eCommerce opportunities for a solid offering of over 350 features. It allows multiple stores on a single account, as well as extensive adjustments to its open-source code.

And if you've considered expanding geographically, you'll be glad that Magento supports a wide range of languages??and international currencies.

#3 Popularity and community support

Magento has about 30% of the market share making it the world's largest eCommerce platform. Google Trends provides the following statistics about the popularity of both carts:

For support, both Magento and OpenCart have nurtured strong communities that are always ready to help a merchant in need.

The number of Magento's specialized programmers is incomparably large, although this is related to the high technical requirements that this platform imposes.

#4 Apps and Adds-on

You can find almost everything you are looking for in Magento Marketplace. Magento is designed for a large eCommerce store and provides a huge collection of extensions that is easily integrated with the Magento backend.

With 5000+ extensions available, Magento lets users add more features to their online store without having to worry about writing code. The Magento Marketplace is associated with each extension and is checked for every parameter including plagiarism, security, and compatibility.

OpenCart also comes up with a vast number of extensions which accounts for 13,000 extensions. There, you can find additional functionality, plugins, themes and modules.

It also supports a wide range of expansion in its market. Magento has fewer apps in comparison to OpenCart, but it comes with intuitive features that do not require your writing code.

#5 Security

Magento puts deep emphasis on its security and never stops monitoring the platform for emerging security risks. The Magento security patch has been released on a regular basis since 2015. It is about 10-15 days for an update.

It is to ensure that your Magento store is always on top of security and that your customers feel safe while shopping from your store. Furthermore, Store owners have the facility to regularly update with new security patches to achieve better site performance.

Owners of a Magento store can check their security status, using third-party tools such as Mage Report and Mage Scan. In addition, you have amazing self-help materials provided by Magento Safety Guidelines.

On the other hand, OpenCart is not responsible for the security of your site, therefore, it is up to you to ensure the level of security of your server. It's open-source nature makes it even more vulnerable to attacks.

And it is due to its internal code and framework being available to the public. Therefore, hackers can more easily detect and exploit their security vulnerabilities.

In addition, third-party add-ons are capable of inciting OpenCart security issues. They can possibly involve some random or calculated vulnerabilities.

Therefore, hackers can make new ones or compromise websites that install them by making changes to already existing open-source plugins. Therefore, you have to be careful with third party extensions and avoid using software of doubtful origin.

Magento vs OpenCart: Pros and Cons

Broadly, the comparison of Magento and OpenCart pros and cons can be narrow down at the following points:

Magento Advantages

• Ideal for Enterprise usage

• Highly customizable and scalable

• Matchless functionality level

• Extensive community

Magento Disadvantages

• Too many features that are useless for most stores

• Steep learning curve

• Comes up with Costly extensions

• Performance much dependent on hosting

OpenCart Advantages

• Easy to use

• Responsive admin UI

• Free and reasonable extensions or themes

• Great documentation

OpenCart Disadvantages

• Tricky to customize

• Limited caching and SEO functions

• Not so good for big-sized stores

• Moderate community size

OpenCart or Magento: Which is better?

OpenCart is great if you are trying to build a store on your own with minimal financial infusions, Magento is, optionally, a perfect option for big stores with large budgets. However, both shopping carts are good at what they are willing to do - sell and bring profits.

Magento is great for big budget large stores. It has the capability to scale to support the growth of your business for years to come, and can support any requirement for you in the future.

If you are trying to build your store independently, Opencart is more suitable because it is more intuitive, and (almost) free to use, but keep in mind that one day, your business may grow out of it.

Final Words

I hope the blog has given you a fair idea about which one to consider in the Magento vs. OpenCart comparison. Both of them have similar and different surprising features. If you want to find your perfect match, then be sure to consider all your business needs and requirements.

Do not rush, test the platform if possible and then make a carefully planned and weighed decision. If you feel that the functionality of your current platform is not sufficient for your store, you can contact an eCommerce development company in India to fulfill all your requirements.

Whichever platform you choose, good luck with your new business!

Sneha das is a senior technical consultant and a persuasive writer with 8+ years of rich experience in development and technology. She writes exemplary articles in the field of technical communication based on her research. She helps people to learn