Shopify Vs. Opencart: Which Platform is Better?

When it comes to building a website, Shopify and Opencart are two of the most popular platforms. However, while Opencart is well known for its open-source feature, Shopify holds the topmost position among all the eCommerce platforms. Therefore, it is quite common to feel confused regarding which platforms to choose for your online business. This article will give you an overview of the key differences between Shopify and Opencart to help you make a better decision.  

Pricing 

When it comes to choosing the eCommerce platform for your online business, pricing plays an important role. Every business owner has a budget that they need to follow for the smooth functioning of the business. Read on further to know in detail about the pricing of Opencart and Shopify. 

Opencart

Opencart features more than 13,000+ extensions in its marketplace that include both the paid and free ones. The prices of the themes cost around $ 16 to $999, depending upon the functionality you want to add. Furthermore, Opercart doesn’t provide hosting services, so the users need to get their hosting service and domain name. The pricing for the hosting services varies depending on the size of your business; the larger your business, the more charges you will have to pay for hosting. The charges for web hosting for a basic Opencart site start from $4. Additionally, if you need to add some customization or additional features, you might hire Opencart Development Company.  

Shopify 

Shopify offers three plans and a 14-day free trial period to its users. Depending upon the features and the plan you choose, the price range of the plans accordingly varies from $29 to $299 a month. Additionally, as your business expands, you may need to use third-party apps and take help from the custom Shopify Development company to add on features for the smooth running of the webstore. 

Clearly enough, Opencart is cheaper in comparison to Shopify because it is free to install and download. However, Opencart does require additional charging for hosting services and installing certain premium themes and plugins. On the other hand, Shopify offers a 14-days free trial period to let users run their hands on the platform and understand it. 

Ease of Use 

Here comes the main difference that separates Opencart from Shopify. To run the Opencart store smoothly, you are required to have certain technical knowledge of coding. On the other hand, Shopify is a completely self-hosted, easy-to-use platform that requires almost zero coding knowledge to run your webstore smoothly. Thus, if you are a complete newbie who does not want to go into the technicality of learning coding to run your webstore, Shopify is the better option for you.

Themes and Designs 

Opencart offers more than 500 free and paid themes to its users. It features some of the most attractive themes for almost all kinds of business. Additionally, if you know HTML, CSS, or PHP code, you can tweak the themes according to your need to make them even more attractive for your webstore. Moreover, the admin dashboard of the Opencart offers various ways to customize the design of the front store and add a variety of customization in pages of the website. 

On the other hand, the Shopify theme store offers more than 100 free website templates that are eye-catching, professional, and mobile responsive. Additionally, the users can customize the templates by using the theme editor to change the themes directly at the front-end. The theme editor has an option to preview your themes and change them accordingly. 

Thus, both Shopify and Opencart offer various beneficial themes to their users to make their websites look attractive and engaging. 

Extensions and Apps

The availability of Extensions and Apps is a big plus for any eCommerce store. It allows you to add on more features to make your website convenient to use.

Opencart features more than 14,000 extensions for its users, including product feeds, shipping methods, payment gateways, and many more things. Additionally, most of the extensions of Opencart are made for eCommerce stores. Therefore, if you are planning to start your eCommerce store, Opencart is a great option to consider. 

Shopify is known for providing a large number of apps in their apps store for every specific feature. However, the downside is that instead of providing the basic functionalities like drag and drop page builder, the users have to install the apps to add functionalities. As a result, you will have to spend extra money on extensions. 

Thus, in terms of extensions, Opencart is clearly the winner as it is cheaper than Shopify. 

Security 

Security is one of the most important aspects of any good website. A secure website builds credibility in customers’ minds, and they feel safe to share their personal information. To avoid and security threats and leaking information, it is essential to choose the right platform. 

Since Opencart is an open-source platform that requires hosting services, it is not responsible for the security of your website. Therefore, it becomes essential to ensure the security of your webstore by yourself.

On the other hand, Shopify provides security solutions to its users. For example, Shopify offers PCI compliance that protects the payment processing that follows the highest server security standards. 

Thus, Shopify offers you much more security than Opencart, which may require a lot of effort to set up the security system.

Final Thoughts 

Both Shopify and Opencart are extremely convenient and functional platforms for eCommerce. Of course, every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. But, Shopify and Opencart are completely different from one another in lots of aspects as already talked about.

Opencart is beneficial for the people who are starting their eCommerce store and looking for more customizations. It is also cheaper in comparison to Shopify. If you don’t have any technical knowledge of coding, you can always hire Opencart Development company for your help.

However, if you are looking for a platform that already features everything you need to get started with the online business, Shopify is the right platform for you.

In the end, it all comes down to your business needs and the kind of website you want to create.