When it comes to open-source Ecommerce platforms, OpenCart is a popular choice, along with WooCommerce. Its lightweight architecture, extensive customisation options, and brand recognition make it attractive for small—to medium-sized businesses. OpenCart is good, but it’s not without its flaws. Before you decide whether it’s the right platform for your online store, you should do a deep dive into the choices.
The Good: Why OpenCart Appeals to Many
1. User-Friendly Setup
OpenCart is designed to be simple and intuitive, making it easy for beginners to set up an online store without extensive technical knowledge. Its clean interface allows users to easily manage products, orders, and customers.
2. Cost-Effective
As an open-source platform, OpenCart is free to use—I repeat: it’s free to use. This makes it a budget-friendly choice for entrepreneurs who want to avoid the hefty subscription fees charged by some proprietary platforms.
3. Extensive Marketplace
OpenCart boasts many extensions and themes, allowing store owners to customise their site’s functionality and appearance. You can add features like SEO tools, payment gateways, and marketing integrations with thousands of plugins.
4. Multi-Store Support
OpenCart’s multi-store capability is valuable for businesses managing multiple storefronts. It allows you to run several stores from a single admin interface, saving time and effort.
The Bad: Where OpenCart Falls Short
1. Performance Issues
One of the most common complaints about OpenCart is its performance. While it’s lightweight, it doesn’t scale well for large stores with extensive inventories or high traffic volumes. Users often report slow loading times and occasional crashes, especially when handling thousands of products.
2. Buggy Extensions
The plugins and extensions are a strength. They are also a part of its weakness. It’s probably the biggest weakness, given you will need so many. Most users will encounter bugs or compatibility issues when installing third-party plugins. They frequently need updates, which bring in fresh problems. Maintenance is such a big job and expense.
3. Limited Out-of-the-Box Features
Compared to some competitors such as Uptivity’s JustSell,OpenCart lacks many advanced features in its core offering. Features like advanced analytics, comprehensive SEO tools, and robust marketing capabilities often require paid extensions, which can quickly add up.
4. Security Concerns
Security vulnerabilities have been a recurring issue with OpenCart. There have been instances of privilege escalation and other exploits, making users need to update their installations and implement additional security measures.
5. Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Customization
While basic store setup is straightforward, advanced customisations can be challenging for non-technical users. OpenCart relies heavily on PHP, so those without coding experience may need to hire developers for more complex adjustments.
6. Questionable Update Process
OpenCart’s updates can sometimes cause more harm than good. Users have reported issues with updates breaking functionality or causing compatibility problems with existing plugins. This can make upgrading a nerve-wracking experience.
7. Limited Support
Although OpenCart has an active community, official support options are minimal. Store owners often rely on forums or hire third-party developers to resolve issues, which can delay critical fixes.
8. The Hefty Costs
Although there isn’t a monthly subscription charge, anyone thinking open source is cheap is mistaken. Sadly. Rather than paying one platform subscription, many (hopefully smaller) subscriptions for plugins, extensions, and hosting. Then there are support costs (or time). When dealing with many different providers, if problems occur, it means dealing with different teams. Some will have good support. Others will be terrible. Often, you will need to deal with different teams for a single issue, not knowing where the fault/solution is.
Conclusion: Is OpenCart Right for You?
OpenCart is a decent choice for small businesses, especially for where staff with technical knowledge (and time). OpenCart is a customisable solution with extensions and plug-ins; you should be able to tailor it quite well to fit your needs. However, you may encounter scalability, performance, and support challenges as your business grows.
If you’re considering OpenCart, weigh its strengths against its weaknesses. Support requirements, especially with 3rd party plug-ins, can take a big chunk of time and effort. Day-to-day costs can be pretty high and a big shock for those expecting OpenCart to be a low-cost solution.
Those with expertise or who recruit the right professionals will love OpenCart. Others will prefer a more straightforward, all-in-one solution that is less costly and less overwhelming.
I’m here to make a case for Uptivity’s JustSell Reatil & Wholesale Ecommerce platform. Full disclosure: The author works for Uptivity, but the sentiment is still correct.
