OpenCart
72 likes
OpenCart is an open source PHP-based online shopping cart system. A robust e-commerce solution for Internet merchants with the ability to create their own online business and participate in e-commerce at a minimal cost.
Features
OpenCart News & Activities
Highlights • All activities
Recent activities
- PredatorQ liked OpenCart
POX added OpenCart as alternative to Spurtcommerce
pygmy-commerce added OpenCart as alternative to PYGMY Commerce- upadesh liked OpenCart
OpenCart information
Developed by
OpenCartLicensing
Open Source and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 1Alternatives
143 alternatives listedSupported Languages
AlternativeTo Category
Business & CommerceGitHub repository
- 7,741 Stars
- 4,920 Forks
- 56 Open Issues
- Updated Apr 14, 2025
Comments and Reviews
I'm writing this to save people time and money.
TL;DR Avoid and save your time/money and go anywhere else.
Long Story The initial install of OpenCart works well and is relatively easy. The problem comes when you want to use it to do anything.
The core of the system kind of works, but there are lots of issues, e.g. the currency exchange system makes a call to a Yahoo currentcy exchange page that hasn't been up for years. Does the system return an error code, no, so you wander around trying to work out what is going on.
You then have to work out how to fix it, the forum pages point to extensions you need to load OR you can try hacking the PHP code, Sadly none of the extensions work, and my days of hacking PHP code are long behind me.
So much of what you need to do with Opencart requires a paid extension. However many of the extensions aere poorly documented so it's not really clear what you are getting. many of the extensions are very, very, very old and don;t work. Some of the exensions are new and don;t work. Some are actually very good and are supported, but its hard work to wade through the rubbish to find the gems.
It does look like its from 15 years ago, and whilst it does work, its painful, you can only have one admin window open so you are forever running between screens. The output code looks OK but it's difficult to change. You can download a theme but, that might screw your system, will it, who knows.
The forums sometimes work but often you get a supercillious admin who points out what a complete idiot you are for not realising that a line of PHP code buried four levels deep is actually what you needed to change, or why didn't you pay yet another $20 for yet another extension where the documentation consists of a few lines of pseudo English.
I;ve spent a few hundred dollars on extensions and a lot more than that on wrestling with the system to try and make it work in international currencies and have come to the conclusion I've wasted six months on this.
If I can save you that time, great, find something else, anything else, but if you do use OpenCart, don't say you weren't warned.
First of all, I have to admit that my experience on OpenCart isn't as extensive as it should to give a crushing review like I'm now giving. I'll try to explain why I'm giving such a low rating on this, as I too hate reviews with mindless bashing without explanation.
If you're not going to extend your use beyond the initial state of a default installation, go ahead: Install it, populate it with your crap and that's it. By default, the functionality of OpenCart is too simple to do any real business, unless you have low volume in sales, you have less than 30 products and you can process orders manually by hand. But, oh my god, anything beyond that... absolutely painful and cringeful.
API? Yes, there is but it's not documented and as soon as you have even a vague grasp of it you'll realize you can't really do anything with it. There are some 3rd party extensions that provide you an API. But they cost money. Imports, exports? Additional extensions, which cost money. Campaigns, client-specific prices? Additional extensions. They cost money.
OpenCart is a visually ugly blast from the past and will make you pay 200-300€(/mo :D) if you want to have even remotely as much functionality as the competitors offer.
But hey, if you're in a 3rd world country where automation can be substituted with the labor of one merry sweatshop, OpenCart certainly is for you.
[Edited by dahrari, November 10]
easy to use. ready to go. all you need for a online shop !