WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Which is Better to Create an Online Store?

Before you set up an online store, you need to decide what eCommerce platform to use. Whether they give you the features you need to quickly start your online business, such as shopping carts, shipping methods, payment solutions, etc, or not.

Among the best ones, WooCommerce and OpenCart are considered accessible, user-friendly, and generally cheap solutions.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart, which should you use to create an online store? There are many factors you need to take into account before making a decision. 

Therefore, we have compared both eCommerce platforms on different aspects to see which is better.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: An Overview

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is the best eCommerce for WordPress that converts WordPress websites into online stores. 

It is a free and open-source platform that is the best choice for beginners and those familiar with WordPress. 

You can install plugins to add functionality and improve the scalability of your site. And there are a large number of themes specifically designed for WooCommerce. 

It is a customizable and flexible platform for online businesses and is suitable for any size of business.

What is OpenCart?

OpenCart is another open-source eCommerce platform and older than WooCommerce. It is suitable for beginners as it has an intuitive interface that allows you to set up eCommerce stores quickly. 

There are many plugins and extensions, but the number is less than WooCommerce. It supports multi-store channels and allows you to manage them in one place. 

Unlike WooCommerce, you do not need to have a website before using OpenCart. While it is a powerful and easy-to-use platform, it lacks customizability, performance, and variety.

General Comparison

Before we start, let’s have a brief overview of them.

	WooCommerce	OpenCart
Ease of Use	Yes	No
Customization	Easy customization	Need professional help
Themes & Design	More number of themes are available	Less number of themes are available
Scalability	Infinitely scalable	Infinitely scalable & can manage multiple stores in one place
Security	Rely on plugins	Rely on extensions but has fewer choices
Integrations	Easy integrations with thousands of options	Fewer options available
SEO	Has better SEO capabilities	Limited SEO capabilities
Payment Options	100+ options	20+ options
Customer Support	Has a supportive community	Has a less active community
Pricing	Highly affordable since it is free	Is also free

Now, let’s continue going with us to see a thorough comparison between these two platforms.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Ease of Use

WooCommerce is arguably the most user-friendly eCommerce platform. It is easy to set up and includes a Setup Wizard that guides you step-by-step. 

If you already have a WordPress website, then start a WooCommerce store should be extremely easy. 

OpenCart is also easy to set up. It has an intuitive interface that allows you to manage your store.

However, it is an open-source PHP-based online e-commerce solution, it is not easy for beginners and those who are not familiar with PHP programming language. Product management and statistics are more confusing at first. 

Winner: As a result, beginners should start with WooCommerce.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Customization

Both WooCommerce and OpenCart are open-source and customizable, but there is one significant difference.

WooCommerce is a fully customizable platform that is suitable even for beginners. Customizing WooCommerce websites is easy with plugins with just a few clicks. For example, you can easily create beautiful landing pages in no time.

Meanwhile, OpenCart is a bit rigid in its operation. In other words, it is not beginner-friendly. You need professional help to customize and scale your online store.

Winner: Therefore, we have to side with WooCommerce here as it offers countless options with easy customization.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Themes and Design

WooCommerce offers thousands of pre-made themes and designs, both paid and free. 

With it, you also enjoy the additional functions of WordPress and thus can also use the themes created for it. You can also customize the themes according to your liking.

OpenCart also offers a wide range of themes and designs, though it has a bit less. However, when it comes to customizability, OpenCart is pretty inflexible. It is not beginner-friendly. So you need to hire developers to make changes in themes.

Winner: WooCommerce is clearly the winner in this round because it is easier to work with than with OpenCart.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Scalability

OpenCart is a database-driven store platform. So it is theoretically infinitely scalable as long as your server can support it. You can add as many products and categories as you want.

It also supports multiple stores. You can set up individual stores in a single OpenCart instance and have them all run independently while still can manage them from a single dashboard.

Theoretically, WooCommerce is also infinitely extensible as it is a database-driven store platform, too. It has the same option to add loads of products and categories as long as your server can support them.

Even so, WooCommerce does not have the same ability to run multiple WooCommerce stores from a single instance. This will require individual management for each store.

Winner: In short, the ability to launch and manage multiple stores from a single instance makes OpenCart an easy win here.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Security

WooCommerce does not have built-in security measures. And OpenCart is similar. It has integrated PCI compliance, though, which means your customer’s payment information will be protected.

In conclusion, both need help with security. But there are more security options for WooCommerce because of its dependency on WordPress. 

As a result, WooCommerce has many plugins that can provide you with SSL certificates, PCI compliance, login authentication, custom URLs, and more. On the other hand, WordPress is a popular platform and hence the target of many hackers. 

Winner: Nevertheless, the quantity and quality of security solutions for WordPress make up for this vulnerability, so WooCommerce wins out.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Integrations

WooCommerce is built on top of the powerful WordPress core and thus enjoys its additional functions and performance. 

Installing WooCommerce plugins is easy and seamless. It is optimized for mobile right out of the box and also works well on all other devices. Once you get used to it, you can expand your online store as much as you like.

OpenCart is a standalone eCommerce platform and also offers easy integration with extensions. However, it is not optimized for mobile right from the start like WooCommerce.

Winner: Overall, both are flexible eCommerce solutions and offer easy integrations. But in terms of options, WooCommerce wins.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: SEO

WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress and thus enjoys the benefits of a CMS. You can add meta descriptions, add text on images, and optimize keywords with the help of popular SEO plugins, such as Yoast SEO.

OpenCart also allows you to add meta descriptions, titles and optimize keywords. However, further customization requires the help of a coding expert, which can cost you extra.

Winner: In conclusion, WooCommerce is clearly the winner here as it takes advantage of WordPress and the functionalities of popular SEO plugins like Yoast.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Payment Options

WooCommerce supports over 100 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, eWAY, Braintree, and Payfast. It does not charge any transaction fees. 

It also allows multiple WooCommerce payment methods such as cash, major credit, debit cards, bank transfers, digital credit, and mobile payments. With extensions, your site can also support recurring payments and cashback.

OpenCart supports more than 20 payment gateways, such as PayPal, 2CHECKOUT, Authorize.Net, Amazon Pay, Skrill, etc. 

Winner: To sum up, in terms of payment options, WooCommerce is the clear winner.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Customer Support

Both WooCommerce and OpenCart offer similar customer support. You can find detailed instructions and documentation on installing and setting up various plugins and extensions. 

In case of any problems, you can raise your questions on the community forums. 

However, you can easily find experts if your store is running on WooCommerce. While for OpenCart, it will be harder to find professional help.

Winner: In other words, WooCommerce has a ton of developers and a supportive community, so there is no way you can get stuck.

WooCommerce vs OpenCart: Pricing

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. Therefore, you need to pay for domain names, hosting, and SSL certificates to start creating your WooCommerce website. 

Basic WooCommerce features include ready-made themes, free themes, free plugins, payment gateways. If you want to add advanced features, you need to purchase premium plugins.

OpenCart is similar in this regard. It offers basic features. But for advanced ones, you need to spend money on premium extensions.

Winner: So it would be a tie here, although WooCommerce offers more free options than OpenCart in themes and plugins.

Opencart vs WooCommerce: Final Thought

So WooCommerce vs OpenCart, which eCommerce platforms should you choose?  

WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress and thus offers enhanced functionality, performance, accessibility, and customizability. It is also user-friendly and, therefore, the perfect choice for any type and size of business.

OpenCart is a standalone eCommerce platform and does not require you to have a website first. It also has many plugins and extensions available, but the variety is nowhere near WooCommerce. It also lacks performance and scalability.

As a result, WooCommerce is a better and easier choice for online stores. It is effortless to install, set up, and customize. It is also perfect for those already familiar with WordPress.

You are using OpenCart, but you find it no longer suitable and want to transfer to WooCommerce. Then, it is highly recommended to use the OpenCart to WooCommerce tool, which will help you complete this process quickly and securely.

However, the final decision depends on your experience. Just make sure the platform you choose can efficiently scale in the future.