The best open source eCommerce platforms help business owners, developers and designers create online stores. With these solutions, you can manage inventory, create product listings and cart, place orders, add wish lists to your site, as well as connect payment systems. The list includes 11 platforms, including solutions for companies of different sizes, with different target audiences and workflows.
Top 11 Open Source eCommerce Platforms
- 3dcart - Mobile-ready themes & SEO
- WooCommerce - For WordPress
- osCommerce - 9000+ free add-ons
- Drupal - Advanced security
- Spree Commerce - Single page checkout
- Zen Cart - For newbies
- Bagisto - Multi-channel marketing
- Magento - For Enterprise customers
- nopCommerce - For numerous ecommerce stores
- OpenCart - 13000+ modules and themes
- PrestaShop - Great for startups
Using the best open source eCommerce platforms, you can add special features to your online store and create a custom store design, as well as get excellent support from the developer community on the forums. When selecting the best platforms, I focused on the ability to control the design and operation of the store, the availability of plugins, themes, SEO tools, and the choice of payment systems.
1. 3dcart – Our Choice
- 50 free themes
- 100+ supported payment systems
- Integration with Facebook, eBay, Amazon
- Integrated marketing toolset
- None detected
Verdict: 3dcart is an open-source online platform for creating an online store. You can create a store design using one of 50 free themes and 200+ integrated tools, such as wish lists, notification settings and quick order status tracking. 3dcart offers a responsive design for the main themes. For the quick loading of the store from mobile devices, there is automatic integration of Google AMP for product pages.
In addition, you can use SEO tools on this open source online stores platform: add custom meta tags, page titles and H1 headers, custom URLs, Alt image tags, etc. You can also enable Google Analytics to track statistics.
2. WooCommerce
- Free plugin
- Support for major payment systems
- Vast array of themes
- Extension library
- Additional costs
Verdict: WooCommerce is installed as an extension for WordPress. Thanks to the convenient admin panel, you can easily configure and manage your online store. It is possible to manage the inventory, coupons and product pages. You can also connect all major payment systems, including Amazon Pay and PayFast. This photography business app may be used for eCommerce from your smartphone as well.
You can get themes both in the official WooCommerce store and on third-party sites. Thanks to their well-thought-out and diverse design, you will only have to add your own content. Besides, you can extend the functionality of WooCommerce using the extension library. Currently selling on a different platform like Shopify? You can consider switching to WooCommerce to make full use of WooCommerce features and rocket your sales.
3. osCommerce
- 9000+ add-ons
- Strong support on the forum
- Support for all well-known payment systems
- It is difficult to scale a business
- You will have to invest a lot of time in updates and SEO
Verdict: Using osCommerce, you will create an online store with an individual design and well-thought-out functionality, because you will have access to 9000+ add-ons from developers from all over the world. As a rule, you can get them for free. Moreover, you can customize this opensource eCommerce platform yourself even if you don’t have much experience in development.
In case you have any problems with your online store, or you need to find a developer to create a site on osCommerce, you can ask a question in the community of 26,000 online store owners. On the downside, you will have to spend more time working on SEO for photographers business in comparison with other platforms.
4. Drupal
- Excellent security options
- Integration with marketing tools
- Built-in caching
- Supports more than 100 languages
- Modifications and adaptations are expensive
- Difficult for Drupal novices to manage an online store
Verdict: Drupal can be installed on any web server, similar to WordPress. This opensource eCommerce platform is optimized for SEO and offers an intuitive admin panel along with additional payment modules. It contains basic e-Commerce features, such as real-time sales alerts, mass data management, advanced reports, tracking site traffic and conversions.
Security is provided by controlling user access, encrypting the database, and sharing information through security reports. In addition, Drupal developers have considered preventing malicious data entry and mitigating denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
5. Spree Commerce
- Not difficult to customize
- Robust admin module
- Support for extensions to provide additional features
- Easy integration with third-party solutions
- Requires programming skills
Verdict: Spree Commerce is one of the best open source eCommerce platforms since it lets you configure, add or replace any functionality on your site. Therefore, you can create a store with a customized showcase that is convenient for interacting with PCs and mobile devices. In addition, the platform offers a lot of ready-made extensions, so you don’t have to use third-party programs.
The platform has a quick search, as well as a “smart” search – you can offer the customer a product even before they enter a phrase in the search field. It will take less than a second to sort and filter products. You need to install and place the system manually. Therefore, if you don’t have any development skills, you will have to hire specialists or take special courses.
6. Zen Cart
- Suitable for beginners
- 1800+ add-ons
- Multi-lingual
- Increased security level
- You need to pay for advanced functionality
- No special support
Verdict: Zen Cart, a free opensource eCommerce platform, offers more than 1,800 add-ons. In case you have problems with the platform, you can contact the community with 150,000+ members. You can use many built-in payment gateways or integrate special modules, as well as use any hosting service and your own domain name.
It is possible to send emails in HTML format directly from the website to leads and clients. Moreover, you can communicate with them in their language, even if you want to sell products internationally. Zen Cart developers have also taken care of the security of the platform, so information about the site and customers will remain confidential.
7. Bagisto
- SEO toolset
- Control of access levels to the store
- Reporting
- Support for different currencies and languages
- Zero info on creating themes
Verdict: With Bagisto, you can create a marketplace or multi-store, as well as use SEO tools, the same as in SEO software, to promote products in search engines. Add meta descriptions to your products, title and keywords to help your store find more potential customers.
Using this open source commerce software, you will be able to manage the store by setting the access level. Assign an administrator or agents and set permission to perform tasks efficiently. You will have information about customers, orders and sales so that you can create an effective marketing campaign and track your progress.
8. Magento
- Managing multiple stores
- Vast array of plug-ins and add-ons
- Convenient integrated site builder
- Adobe Sensei technology
- Requires development skills
Verdict: The Magento open source eCommerce platform lets you use different currencies and languages, manage multiple stores, as well as manage custom modules. Among the platform’s features are coupons, site maps, bulk import/export along with one-page checkout and order tracking. In addition, the user will have a vast array of plugins and add-ons. You can create an online store using the integrated website builder, personalize the design by adding elements of your corporate identity.
Thanks to the integrated Adobe Sensei technology, which is familiar to Adobe users, you can automatically analyze user behavior and offer them only what they might be interested in. You can also send customers notifications about price reductions and promotions for automated marketing.
9. nopCommerce
- Ability to manage multiple stores
- SEO toolset
- Thousands of ready-made integrations
- Simplified and advanced download options
- Not suitable for those without programming skills
- Limited customer support
Verdict: nopCommerce is one of the best open source eCommerce platforms with a focus on online stores. The toolset includes a shopping cart (with all the relevant e-Commerce features), an administration panel for managing and tracking online businesses, as well as a showcase for hosting customers. In addition, there are many SEO-friendly features, such as optimizing product pages for SEO.
With this platform, you can manage multiple stores from a single admin panel, as well as create a marketplace where small sellers can place their products. Because it is an open-source platform, you will have access to thousands of ready-made integrations from various developers, including solutions for delivery, payment, marketing, site creation and hosting.
10. OpenCart
- A large community of developers
- 13000+ modules and themes
- Huge selection of payment systems
- Integrated SEO
- Fewer customization options than on other platforms
Verdict: You can use OpenCart for free and find the answer to almost any question about the platform in a large community of developers. Take advantage of over 13,000 modules and themes to create an online store with an individual design. Among the payment systems, there are both popular and niche options.
Also, you can work with multiple stores simultaneously on this opensource eCommerce platform. You can configure products to appear in different stores at once, with different prices. Besides, each store can be further personalized.
11. PrestaShop
- 4500+ templates
- 60 payments modules
- Ready-made delivery modules
- Launch of several online stores
- The default themes don’t look very good
- Insufficient marketing toolset
Verdict: PrestaShop contains all kinds of functions for creating an online store and its development. You will have more than 4,500 templates with customization options. You can easily manage the store’s inventory and maintenance process, as well as communicate with users in a language they understand and accept payments in different currencies.75 languages and 60 secure payment modules are available.
To simplify logistics and order preparation, there are delivery modules. As a result, your customers will have a choice of delivery options and the option of tracking the parcel. PrestaShop doesn’t slow down websites and supports multiple vendors to launch an entire network of online stores.
