Magento 2 vs OpenCart: Which Platform is Best For eCommerce App Development
April 15, 2020 | Author: Ashley BrownNeedless to say that E-commerce store is considered to be the key to a successful business in today’s modern era. Thus, it is important to choose the proper platform to build an E-commerce store which suits your business needs and requirements. Making the right selection between Magento 2 vs OpenCart is a challenge for several entrepreneurs, but it is an important decision to make. So take your time to consider the features of these two shopping cart solutions and get ready to take your business to next level.
Magento 2 vs OpenCart both have established themselves as reputed platform for development. There can be a long debate on which one is better, and in this blog post, we have discussed the major point of differences for better selection. This will help you to make the right choice between Magento 2 development or OpenCart development for your online selling store. There are benefits and pitfalls in both platforms, that’s why the final choice mostly depends on personal preferences and business requirements.
Magento 2 vs OpenCart: Major Differences
1. User Interface
Magento 2: You might know that Magento 2 is packed with features and functionality, and comes with a steep learning curve. Most of the store owners hire Magento 2 developer to avoid experiencing any trouble with the UI.
Key Features:
- Easy to sidebar navigation
- Need technical expertise
- Offers official help and support
OpenCart: OpenCart has a simple UI and its installation is smooth as well. It has a sidebar on the admin panel. Its extensions can be downloaded easily; design can be changed, with the help of different tabs.
Key Features:
- Smooth side panel navigation
- Offers simplified statistical data
2. Support
Magento 2: Magento 2 platform has a huge community of developers who share their knowledge online through journals, seminars and blogs. A user can avail Magento 2 support for its online store through forums and videos. You can also avail information from tutorials and FAQs.
Key Features:
- Both free and paid support is available
- Large online community
- Offers official documentation
OpenCart: OpenCart has a dedicated support system to help its users. But this requires extra cost, different pricing packages are available to opt for. If you want unpaid support you can contact the community and forums. But keeping popularity in mind, the community is very small.
Key Features:
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- Dedicated support, Community forums, and Marketplace support are available
- Trusted certified experts
- Guaranteed response time
3. Hosting Cost
Magento 2:It is a commonly known fact that Magento 2 development requires several resources. We highly suggest avoiding using shared hosting. A shared host has a negative impact on store performance. Dedicated hosting is best when it comes to better performance.
Key Features:
- Requires separate domain name
- Complete control and flexibility
- The perfect option for growing and developed businesses
- Multiple stores can be hosted
OpenCart: Hosting is cheap with OpenCart as it uses fewer resources. You can also start using OpenCart with a free demo.
Key Features:
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- Requires separate domain name
- Complete control
- Perfect platform for small businesses
4. Security
Magento 2:Magento 2 has a high level of security standards. It offers continuous security updates for any loop. But it is still an open-source platform and requires extensions and follows certain security guidelines. Other than that, you can also use SSL and consult Magento 2 developer to secure your store.
Key Features:
- Release regular security patches
- Marketplace for multiple security extensions
OpenCart: OpenCart is a simple and light platform and is less vulnerable to online attacks. The basic defence system offered is more than enough but many people feel that it is unsafe without proper monitoring.
Key Features:
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- A strongly patched central system
- Offers official documents for security practices
- Security extensions available
Read More: Magento commerce vs Salesforce commerce
5. Search Engine Friendliness
Magento 2: Magento 2 has endless features when it comes to SEO. Magento 2 support SEO extensions and optimize titles, images and URLs for higher search rankings. Many people find difficulty in E-commerce SEO as limited content is allowed to add. There is a solution for that by adding a WordPress blog to your E-commerce store. You can target different keywords using your blog content.
Key Features:
- Simple to install SEO extensions
- Permits editing of URLs, meta tags and headings
- Redirects and canonical tags are accessible
OpenCart: OpenCart needs a lot of improvements when it comes to SEO. It does allow a bit of editing the Meta and canonical tags. You can try to rank your page but the results are not that satisfactory.
Key Features:
- Creates out-of-the-box SEO URLs
- Additional SEO plug-in available
- Allows you to add meta keywords and descriptions
6. Custom Themes
Magento 2: Magento allows users to see how their website will look like with the theme before paying for it. Although it doesn’t have many themes, there are still endless options to customize the design of your eCommerce store.
Key features:
- 2 free default themes for demonstration and basics
- 17 different themes which cost from $0-$500
- Design store from scratch
OpenCart: This platform, similar to Magento, allows users to see their website’s appearance before paying for the chosen theme. Developers can easily and efficiently edit the themes later with OpenCart’s Theme Editor.
Key features:
- 500 themes, both free and paid
- Slick, attractive, and sales-worthy themes
- Different layouts, flexible customization, and cool features
7. Extensions
Magento 2: Magento marketplace can have everything that a developer requires, which is carefully curated with every extension checked for plagiarism, coding standards, compatibility, and security.
Key features
- Offers a huge collection of extensions
- It integrates smoothly with the Magento backend
- 5000+ extensions that allow adding more features to your online store
OpenCart: Similar to Magento, OpenCart also offers varied extensions that help developers create a feature-rich website for end-users.
Key features
- 13,000+ extensions available
- Enhanced flexibility to add more plugins and themes
- Add reliable and sustainable functionalities and modules for an enhanced experience
These are some major differences that reveal that Magento 2 development is a better choice for E-commerce development. The features it holds are remarkable and can’t be ignored in any scenario.
Wrapping-Up
Magento is a highly powerful and effective platform than OpenCart, but it requires some technical assistance from a well-renowned eCommerce app development company. If you lack time but have a handsome budget for your eCommerce app development, Magento is an ideal choice for your business. OpenCart, however, is a suitable choice for beginners, which makes it an ideal choice for small businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is OpenCart website?
OpenCart is an online resource built to make life simpler for merchants and customers to interact. Based on an Open-Source environment, this shopping cart platform gives the ability to have your business be search engine friendly with a user interface that is welcoming and inviting.
2. How do I install OpenCart?
- Download OpenCart. First and foremost, you need to download the latest version of OpenCart from its official website.
- Install OpenCart.
- Unzip the folder & paste the content in the new folder.
- Run Installation Wizard.
- Login Page.
- OpenCart Dashboard.
3. Why should I upgrade to Magento 2?
Magento 2 has improved performance and the latest features provide customers with a faster, easier shopping experience. Magento 1 support will end by June 2020 and no new features will be added after.
