OsCommerce vs. OpenCart
OsCommerce and OpenCart shopping cart software offer similar solutions for those in the e-commerce realm, though they differ in the details. Ultimately, it's up to each individual user to determine the program that's best for him based on a thorough understanding of the programs' features. As both programs are open source, meaning the developers freely offer the program code and allow users to create modifications and extensions, each user's osCommerce and OpenCart experiences may vary.
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osCommerce Features
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The osCommerce Online Merchant, up to version 3.0.2 at the time of publication, features a catalog front end and a administrative back end. This online shopping-cart software installs and updates automatically. osCommerce features a customizable shopping-cart layout, password-secured administration area and secure SSL transactions. The program supports dynamic images, unlimited products and categories, multiple languages and currencies and shippable as well as downloadable products. On the front end, osCommerce allows customers to view order history and status, create temporary or permanent shopping carts, search for products and review their orders. Unlike OpenCart, osCommerce allows back-end users to send newsletters to previous customers.
OpenCart Features
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Like osCommerce, OpenCart features unlimited products and categories, as well as unlimited manufacturers. Similarly, this shopping-cart program supports multiple languages, multiple currencies and user-customized templates. Other shared features include product reviews – though OpenCart adds product ratings to the mix – downloadable and shippable product support, multiple tax-rate compatibility, printable invoices and shipping rate calculation. OpenCart features not included with osCommerce include product recommendations for front-end users and sales reports for back-end users.
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Add-ons
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As open-source software, both osCommerce and OpenCart feature user- and developer-created extensions that add additional functionality. For osCommerce, these add-ons are free to download and add features as diverse as the ability to shop by price, create PDF-format invoices and work with German bank transfers. Some of OpenCart's extensions come at a cost while others are free. Free extensions include category filters, image zoom capabilities and e-commerce tracking. OsCommerce and OpenCart both have thriving user communities that constantly create add-ons, but each program is ready to use “out of the box.”
Availability
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Both osCommerce and OpenCart are completely free to download and use. Users can download osCommerce, which is compatible with PHP 4 and above servers and MySQL 3 and above servers, in full-package and update-package forms at the program's official website. Likewise, OpenCart's official site offers the program, up to version 1.5.1.3 at the time of publication, for no-cost download. OpenCart works with PHP, MySQL, Curl and Fsock servers.
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