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The OpenCart System

OpenCart is a free, customizable, open-source online store management system. It is based on PHP, uses a MySQL database and HTML components, supports many currencies and languages, and offers many templates.

OpenCart Advantages

1. A completely free store creation and management system

The most important thing about this system is that it has been completely free since its launch to this day, and it is available to download without any restrictions. All you need is a domainandhosting to upload OpenCart to. After installing the system you will own a complete store that you can set up professionally and easily, since OpenCart lets you configure shipping, payment, and currency settings from the main control panel (the admin interface) and create a multi-store setup, so your store is ready to run with all the standard features.

2. The ability to modify the store front end

With hundreds of different templates in OpenCart, you can create a distinctive website of your own. You can pick any template and customize it easily, and you can also modify the platform itself since it is open source, which makes it easy to customize your site however you see fit.

For this reason, stores built on OpenCart look completely different from one another, and you will hardly see any two sites alike in look and performance, which is truly distinctive.

3. Multiple languages and currencies in the store

With OpenCart you can make your store support multiple currencies. You can choose from hundreds of different currencies around the world and add them to your store, and you can also create a store that works in more than one language, customizing the language you want simply and easily without any programming experience and publishing products on it.

4. Payment gateways built into the platform

OpenCart supports more than 20 different payment gateways built into it, so customers can pay online with the right gateway, and it also supports selling digital products. You can see all the payment gateways supported by OpenCart at the following link.

5. There is an Arabic version of the OpenCart platform

OpenCart itself does not support Arabic, but a version of it has been Arabized through a partnership between a Saudi software company and OpenCart to release an Arabic version of OpenCart through the platform opencartarab.com which handles fully Arabizing the OpenCart system, its extensions, and its templates, and any template can be purchased simply through the website.

OpenCart Drawbacks

Despite the many advantages of the OpenCart content management system, it has three drawbacks that may make merchants avoid it and turn to another option for running their online store, such as WooCommerce or other e-commerce platforms.

1. Difficulty modifying the design

Although OpenCart is completely free and open source, it is hard to modify the design without programming experience, unlike other content management or online store management systems. This drawback can be avoided by choosing a suitable template that needs no modifications, whether paid or free, from the many templates available on the platform.

2. OpenCart is not search engine friendly

By default, OpenCart has problems with search engines, most notably in getting data out of OpenCart, which forces you to configure it manually to be compatible with Google and other search engines. It is not like other store-building platforms that are automatically compatible with different search engines.

3. OpenCart is slow

OpenCart is noticeably slow when a large number of products are published, and the problem is clear if you rely on shared hosting rather than your own server. Technical failures can also occur in the hosting because of the slow response of the site script.

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Second: The WooCommerce System

WooCommerce is a plugin built into the content management system (WordPress), which lets you create an online store and edit it, and gives you more than 50 other compatible extensions, which opens up a long list of features starting from automatic shipping price calculation, integration with different global shipping companies, setting the tax value on products, and other features.

WooCommerce Advantages

1. Compatible with all shipping companies

Perhaps the most important feature of WooCommerce is that most global shipping companies offer a plugin for WordPress sites to integrate their shipping with WooCommerce. This lets the buyer track their shipment directly, and lets the shipping company follow the products being ordered and the shipping address they will be delivered to automatically, without the store owner having to edit anything manually.

2. Control over the email sent to the buyer

You can create custom designs for your site's email that the buyer receives as soon as they order any product from your store, which follows up with the customer on the status of their product, whether the order is being processed, has shipped, is out for delivery, or has been received.

3. Full control over the look and arrangement of the product page

You can add a photo or video gallery or set the order of elements on the product page however you like. WooCommerce developers give you a documentation page Documentation that explains all the details of the plugin and shows you how to modify it, and how to control and edit the product page and control the other features of the plugin.

4. An open-source, fast-responding system

WooCommerce is also an open-source system like OpenCart, and its core code can be modified and extended. It is also faster than OpenCart in response, causing no speed problems no matter how many products the store has.

5. Search engine friendly and quick to be indexed

WooCommerce is widespread across online stores, used by about a third of online stores around the world. It provides automatic compatibility with all search engines, led by Google, so the product name, price, and all its data appear in the top search results, and it can also appear in Google Shopping because it complies with all of Google's policies.

WooCommerce Drawbacks

Although WooCommerce is the best way to create a professional online store for someone who cannot program, it is in fact not the cheapest. To build a store with all the features, you need to pay for each extension you want from the list of WooCommerce extensions available in the official store. Some extensions are not cheap, and the prices for some reach nearly $100.

As for the admin interface, it is a bit harder than other available content management systems, since you will need some time to train your staff and product publishers on how to use the platform and publish products on it. But this problem can be solved with the many explainer videos available on YouTube on how to publish products on WooCommerce.

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Comparison Between WooCommerce and OpenCart

1- Ease of use and installation

• WooCommerce:
  • Very easy to use, and requires no programming experience to install.
  • Simply added to WordPress by searching for the WooCommerce plugin and installing it.
• OpenCart:
  • Requires PHP programming experience to install and use, especially if the hosting does not support cPanel.
  • Harder to use and customize for ordinary users compared with WooCommerce.

2- Prices

• WooCommerce:
  • Free as a WordPress plugin, with many free templates and extensions available.
  • Paid extensions start from $16 to $100, and paid templates start from $30 to $100.
• OpenCart:
  • Completely free as a content management system.
  • Paid extensions and templates are available, but most are in English.
  • Arabizing templates from the official site costs about $150, and prices of Arabic templates start from $54.
  • Extensions start from $10 to $80.

3- Control panel and inventory management

• WooCommerce:
  • It has an advanced control panel that may take some time to learn.
  • It manages inventory for each product, notifies you when stock runs out, and supports PayPal and cash on delivery payments for free.
• OpenCart:
  • It shows quick insights into sales and profits and allows multiple vendors and currencies.
  • It supports multiple languages without the need for extensions, and offers more than 20 different payment gateways.

4- Search engine optimization (SEO) compatibility

• WooCommerce:
  • The best for search engine optimization, especially thanks to extensions like Yoast SEO.
• OpenCart:
  • It is considered an SEO-friendly platform, but there are restrictions on editing meta tags and keywords.
  • It requires modifying the code, and complex 301 redirects that need PHP knowledge.

Aspect	WooCommerce	OpenCart
Launch	2011	2008
Ease of use	Very easy	Harder to use
Installation	One-click installation is possible	Supports one-click installation if the cPanel supports OpenCart. Manual installation needs some programming experience.
Templates	2,100 free templates. 30,000 paid templates.	Only 500 templates, free and paid, and not all of them support Arabic.
SEO	Compatible with search engines without many internal settings or any programming experience.	Needs advanced programming skills.
Multiple vendors	Does not support multiple vendors directly, but you can use the Dokan plugin to enable this feature.	Supports the multiple vendors feature directly and for free inside the platform.
Extensions	More than 56,000 compatible extensions	Only 13,000 extensions available.
Technical support	Documentation. A free ticket-based technical support system. WordPress forums.	Documentation. Paid technical support for one month for $99.
Programming experience	Needs no programming experience	Needs experience to install and control the appearance

Summary

WooCommerce can be considered the best in search engine optimization (SEO) and in the support it offers through its many templates, extensions, and tools that make many tasks easier. In addition, WooCommerce offers a wide range of free templates, and officially supports Arabic.

On the other hand, OpenCart stands out with a professional control panel, support for adding several currencies to products, and the ability to easily convert the store into several languages.

For this reason, WooCommerce is very popular, with about 26% of online store users relying on it, while OpenCart is used by only 4%.

To decide which system suits you best, it is important to compare the advantages of each system carefully and choose what fits your online store's requirements.