A shopping cart is a system that is set up on a website with the sole focus of listing and selling products via the Internet. These systems will integrate into the main website and generally provide a back-end or dashboard area that lets the owner do all of the administrative work involved. This work includes: updating and modifying content; listing, organising and pricing products; printing invoices; and tracking inventory. A shopping cart gives you the ability to run an e-commerce business.
Most of the popular shopping carts today are actually Open Source. What this means is that the source code for the software is available for anyone to modify and enhance, which ultimately means that many people from all over the world are creating features and upgrading security all the time. Just like with many content management systems, such as WordPress and Joomla!, these shopping cart systems are put together in a way that many non-tech-savvy individuals can use them without getting their hands too dirty with code.
We have compiled an entire list of both free and open source shopping carts that can be hosted with Digital Pacific. A wide variety of our clients use these shopping carts to build an online business that allows them to sell products and services online.
Here are 9 of the most popular Shopping Carts hosted at Digital Pacific:
Magento
The downside to Magento seems to be its rather large size. Not only is it a huge download, but it is a little slower and tends to require a bit more power. We often recommend to our customers to go with a VPS hosting package in order to see the best results with Magento.
Learn about Magento Hosting
Demo: http://www.magentocommerce.com/demo
Open Source: Yes – Magento Community Edition Only
Price: Free
Platform: Ajax / PHP / MySQL
OsCommerce
The main downside of using osCommerce as your shopping cart of choice stems from its past criticisms of security vulnerabilities, but that more recently appears to be mended by its upgrade to MySQL 5 and PHP 5.
Demo: http://demo.oscommerce.com/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL
Zen Cart
A downside to this shopping cart is the inability to truly customise certain features without editing some of the core files of the system.
Learn about Zen Cart Hosting
Demo: http://php.opensourcecms.com/scripts/details.php?scriptid=97
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL
CubeCart
The downside to using CubeCart stems from the fact that it isn’t an open source software, therefore not free to use at the more functional level. Unlike Magento, CubeCart’s free version is also not open source, which means that the features that are lacking in this model are put there for a reason by the company in order to coerce the user into upgrading. The free version, for example, lacks the ability to change text in the footer, or even to add new skins, which are pretty much key elements in creating a website’s look and feel.
Demo: http://www.cubecart.com/demos/
Open Source: No
Price: CubeCart Version 3 – Free, CubeCart Version 4 – Paid
Platform: PHP / MySQL
PrestaShop
Despite its size, there have been a few reviews out there claiming that the software’s back-end functions at a slower speed. In addition, it may lack some of the more advanced features of other carts like product bundling.
Learn about Prestashop Hosting
Demo: http://www.prestashop.com/en/showcase_demo/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL
OpenCart
Besides all of these perks, there is some caution to take as a few reviews speak of the number of bugs out there in the system. It is a good idea to take a look around the support forums to get a better idea of what to expect with the shopping cart.
Demo: http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=information/demonstration
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL
Ubercart
Although powerful, the main drawback for Ubercart is the fact that it can only be integrated with a Drupal CMS, which for new users can require a steep learning curve in order to gain full functionality.
Demo: http://demo.ubercart.org/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: Drupal – PHP / MySQL
AgoraCart
The downside of this product starts with the fact that additional modules can only be accessed if paying for a membership.
The downside of this product starts with the fact that additional modules can only be accessed if paying for a membership.
Demo: http://www.agoracart.com/demos.htm
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL
VirtueMart
Although powerful, the main drawback for Ubercart is the fact that it can only be integrated with a Drupal CMS, which for new users can require a steep learning curve in order to gain full functionality.
The downside to this robust cart is the fact that it must be used in conjunction with Joomla!, which for some with little knowledge of these products can cause more confusion than help. Other items of concern include some reviews that actually comment on bits of messy code in areas.
Demo: http://virtuemart.net/home/demo
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: Joomla – PHP / MySQL
As with any software, it is important to consider your needs in relation to the software and its features before making a final decision. Here are some points we urge our customers to evaluate before going further:
- Are there postage and payment modules available for the shopping cart that target both Australian and overseas customers if need be? A good place to check is with the community forums on the product’s main website.
- Have you tried the demo for both the admin and user side to see if the shopping cart meets your goals as an online shop owner?
- Are you capable of updating the software when necessary in order to protect yourself against security vulnerabilities? Just as we noted before with content management systems, many of which are also open source, there is the need to keep them updated with the latest versions to get the most functionality and protection as possible.
- Is your web hosting capable of handling the software? The main concern here is to make sure there is a MySQL database available as all of the systems above run using one. All of Digital Pacific’s hosting plans (except personal basic) offer MySQL Databases.
As you can see, there are numerous shopping cart systems out there that can help you get an online shop running in no time. However, they each appear to have their pluses and their minuses, so the best method for selection is to take a look around at the demos to see which one works for you and your business.
If you’re website is in need of a content management system rather than an e-commerce application, our CMS comparison may assist in explaining the difference between some of the more popular applications.
Do you use one of these shopping carts on this list? If so, leave us a quick review about why you recommend it (or not) by submitting a comment below!