There’s a common myth that OpenCart is the superior ecommerce platform choice over WooCommerce. However, WooCommerce is often the better fit for most online businesses. Let’s dive into a detailed comparison of OpenCart vs WooCommerce to see which one truly comes out on top in 2025.
Before we begin, it’s worth noting that both OpenCart and WooCommerce integrate smoothly with Omnisend, a powerful email and SMS marketing platform. So, whichever you choose, you can connect it with Omnisend to crank up your marketing efforts easily.
Now, let’s compare OpenCart and WooCommerce head-to-head.
Boost your WooCommerce store’s revenue by up to 85% using our email marketing plugin.
WooCommerce powers 66% of all online stores, showcasing its widespread popularity and adoption.
OpenCart has a much smaller market share of 0.11%, indicating it has a more niche user base.
Pricing
WooCommerce is free, open-source software, though hosting, extensions, etc., involve costs.
Like WooCommerce, the OpenCart software is free to download, but running costs for hosting, paid extensions, etc. apply.
Ease of installation and setup
WooCommerce has an extremely simple installation process, especially for existing WordPress users.
Installing OpenCart is relatively straightforward but involves a few more technical steps.
Design themes
With thousands of WordPress themes available, WooCommerce offers an immense selection of design options.
While OpenCart has themes, the overall selection is much more limited than WooCommerce.
Customization
WooCommerce’s integration with WordPress plugins makes it highly customizable without touching code.
Customizing OpenCart often requires editing code files directly, necessitating more technical skills.
Marketing
WooCommerce makes integrating email marketing, adding social sharing, utilizing SEO plugins, creating targeted campaigns, and more easy.
OpenCart has some marketing capabilities like email and social media, but overall, it is more limited than WooCommerce’s vast plugin options.
Performance and product management
WooCommerce can scale to handle large product catalogs and offers many performance optimization plugins.
OpenCart may struggle with very large, complex product catalogs and has limited built-in performance tuning options.
Store management
WooCommerce provides user-friendly tools for managing products, orders, and customers and adding new functionality via plugins.
While functional, OpenCart’s store management interface is generally less intuitive than WooCommerce’s.
Community and support
WooCommerce offers free community support plus affordable paid plans supplemented by vast WordPress resources.
Official OpenCart support is limited primarily to paid premium plans, with a smaller user community.
Pricing and running costs
While both OpenCart and WooCommerce are free, open-source platforms, that doesn’t mean running an online store is free. You must account for several extra costs that go beyond the core ecommerce software. Understanding these potential expenses is crucial as you evaluate which platform is most affordable for your business. Here’s what you should consider:
1. Web hosting
First and foremost, you’ll need web hosting to make your online store accessible to customers. Hosting prices can range from just $5 per month for basic shared hosting to $100 or more for higher-performance solutions like VPS, dedicated servers, or managed hosting tailored for ecommerce. The hosting costs reflect the server resources and bandwidth required to run your site smoothly.
2. Domain name
You’ll also need to purchase a domain name, which typically costs $10-15 per year for a .com. You need an SSL certificate to enable HTTPS and secure customer data. These must-have expenses range from $50-200+ per year, depending on the certificate level.
3. Additional features
Then, there are costs for design and added functionality. While both platforms offer free theme options, you may want to purchase a premium theme ($30-100 one-time) for a more unique, professional look. Paid extensions and plugins cost $15-300+ each and allow you to add advanced features like shipping calculators, payment gateways, and marketing tools.
3. Developer
Lastly, you may need a developer for heavy customization beyond what themes and extensions offer. This will bring extra costs based on their hourly or project rates.
As you can see, the core OpenCart and WooCommerce software may be free. However, there are other essential costs you need to consider, such as hosting, security, design, functionality, and potential development work. Let’s break down a more detailed pricing comparison for each platform.
OpenCart pricing
While the OpenCart software itself is free to download, running an OpenCart store involves these typical costs:
Hosting: $5 – $100+ per month, depending on your hosting provider, bandwidth needs, etc.
Domain name: $10 – $15 per year for a .com domain
SSL certificate: $50 – $200 per year for a basic SSL cert, more for higher security levels
Paid themes: $30 – $100 one-time cost for a premium OpenCart theme
Paid extensions: $15 – $300 per extension, depending on the features and functionality
Potential developer costs for customizations beyond what extensions provide
The hosting and SSL certificate are must-haves, while paid themes, extensions, and developer costs will vary based on your specific needs and budget.
Hosting: $5 – $100+ per month for WordPress/WooCommerce hosting
Domain name: $10 – $15 per year
SSL certificate: $50 – $200 per year
Paid WordPress themes: $30 – $100 one-time for a WooCommerce-compatible premium theme
Paid WooCommerce plugins: $15 – $200 per plugin, on average
Potential developer costs for advanced customizations
Overall, the running costs for OpenCart vs WooCommerce are quite similar. The main difference is that WooCommerce has many more free themes and plugins available from the WordPress repository that can reduce your upfront costs.
Winner
It’s a tie in terms of overall affordability. OpenCart and WooCommerce can be affordable, especially if you use free themes/plugins and do your basic setup.
Ease of installation and setup
Getting an online store going quickly is crucial, but installing software and configuring settings can be complex if the process isn’t user-friendly. That’s why ease of installation and setup is important when choosing an ecommerce platform.
Let’s examine how straightforward OpenCart and WooCommerce are to get up and running from scratch. We’ll walk through the key steps for each platform and determine which one has the smoother, more streamlined installation and initial setup process overall.
OpenCart ease of installation
Getting an OpenCart store up and running involves a few key steps. The installation process isn’t overly complex but requires technical knowledge, like creating a database and uploading files to a web server. For those comfortable with basic web hosting and server management tasks, the OpenCart installation should be relatively straightforward.
Image via OpenCart
Download the OpenCart files from the official website
Upload the files to your web server
Create a database for your store
Run the OpenCart installer
Image via OpenCart
WooCommerce ease of installation
WooCommerce has a big advantage — it’s incredibly easy to install, especially for WordPress users. Because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, installing it is as easy as activating a new plugin in your WordPress admin dashboard. No file transfers or database creation is required.
Image via WooCommerce
Log in to your WordPress dashboard
Go to Plugins > Add New
Search for “WooCommerce”
Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”
Run the WooCommerce setup wizard
Image via WooCommerce
Winner
WooCommerce wins here. Its installation process is simpler and faster, especially for existing WordPress users.
Themes and design
Creating a successful online store depends on the website’s design and look. These are critical factors that can make or break a customer’s experience, affecting customer loyalty, engagement, and even sales. So, picking the right ecommerce platform that offers quality themes, customization options, and is easy to navigate is key.
OpenCart themes and design
OpenCart offers a decent selection of themes to choose from, both free and paid. However, the overall selection is much smaller compared to WooCommerce. Customizing your OpenCart theme also requires more technical skills, like editing code files.
Image via OpenCart
WooCommerce themes and design
One of WooCommerce’s biggest advantages is its massive library of themes. There are thousands of options available, including many free and low-cost themes. Plus, most WordPress themes are WooCommerce-compatible. The platform is also highly customizable, even for non-technical users.
Image via WooCommerce
Winner
WooCommerce is the clear winner. It offers a larger selection of themes and is easier to customize.
Customization and flexibility
Every business has its own unique needs. That’s why you need an online store that can be customized to meet them.
OpenCart is known for its simplicity and user-friendly interface, making it an excellent choice for beginners, while WooCommerce is particularly well-suited to businesses that already have a WordPress website. Let’s see how they compare head-to-head.
OpenCart customization options
OpenCart is fairly customizable, but it requires more technical knowledge than WooCommerce. You’ll need to edit code files directly to significantly change your store’s functionality and appearance.
Image via OpenCart
WooCommerce customization options
WooCommerce is highly flexible and can be customized extensively without touching any code. Countless plugins are available to add new features and functionality to your store and many customizations can also be done through the WordPress Customizer.
Image via WooCommerce
Winner
WooCommerce offers more user-friendly customization options, making it the winner in this category.
OpenCart and WooCommerce marketing possibilities
A successful online store needs efficient marketing to attract more customers and boost sales. When it comes to choosing a platform for your online store, it’s essential to consider the marketing features offered by different ecommerce solutions.
Email marketing integration
WooCommerce has many extensions and plugins that allow seamless integration with top email marketing services. These services include Omnisend, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, Drip, and ConvertKit. With them you can collect subscribers, sync customer data and send automated email campaigns, such as abandoned cart sequences, order notifications, newsletters, and more.
On the OpenCart side, the integration options are more limited than those of WooCommerce. Some extensions and modules are available to connect to services like Omnisend, Constant Contact, AWeber, and a few others. However, if you compare OpenCart to WooCommerce, the integrations tend to be less robust and seamless.
Image via WordPress
Social media integration
WooCommerce makes it easy to add social media buttons and integrate with platforms like Facebook and Instagram. OpenCart has some social media extensions but not as many as WooCommerce.
SEO tools and optimization
When comparing WooCommerce to OpenCart, the former choice has a distinct advantage in search engine optimization (SEO). This is thanks to its seamless integration with the WordPress platform. WordPress is renowned for its SEO-friendly architecture, built on a foundation of optimized PHP code. This gives any website or online store powered by WordPress and WooCommerce a head start in the race for top search engine rankings.
WooCommerce store owners have this built-in SEO advantage. They can use a vast ecosystem of WordPress SEO plugins to optimize their sites. Options like Yoast SEO are popular. They control key on-page elements, such as meta titles, descriptions, sitemaps, and schema markup, which greatly impact SEO performance.
Image via Yoast
OpenCart has some basic SEO features. These include editing meta details and using SEO-optimized URLs for product and category pages. However, fully using its SEO capabilities often requires technical coding or developer help. This can present a steeper learning curve for ecommerce store owners who are not well-versed in technical SEO.
For ecommerce businesses that want to maximize search visibility and get organic traffic, WooCommerce is the clear winner. Its seamless integration with the WordPress ecosystem gives store owners access to powerful SEO plugins.
Customization for targeted campaigns
WooCommerce offers more options for creating targeted marketing campaigns. For example, you can use plugins to create custom landing pages, popups, and more.
Analytics and reporting
Both platforms offer basic analytics and reporting. However, WooCommerce has a wider selection of analytics plugins and extensions to choose from.
Winner
WooCommerce wins in the marketing category. It’s more flexible and has more marketing plugins.
Your ecommerce platform needs to be able to handle your product catalog and deliver strong performance. After all, a sluggish, slow-loading website will frustrate customers, drive them away, and you’ll face problems.
When evaluating WooCommerce vs OpenCart, you must consider how well each can handle big product catalogs since these can affect performance. You must also consider their options for making the site faster. They can do this through techniques like caching, compression, and optimizing code.
An ecommerce platform that can’t scale as your product offerings expand or deliver a fast user experience could seriously hinder your business’s success. Let’s dive into how OpenCart and WooCommerce compare when it comes to performance and product management.
OpenCart performance and product management
OpenCart can handle basic product management tasks but may struggle with large, complex catalogs. It also has limited options for performance optimization, which can lead to slower load times as your store grows.
Image via OpenCart
WooCommerce performance and product management
WooCommerce has a robust product management system that can scale to handle large inventories. It’s also highly optimizable, with numerous caching and performance plugins available. However, you’ll need to put some work into optimization to ensure fast load times.
Image via WooCommerce
Winner
In this round of the battle of Woocommerce vs OpenCart, WooCommerce gets a slight edge here due to its scalability and optimization options.
Store management and features
OpenCart and WooCommerce cover the day-to-day management of your online store. They handle essentials like product and inventory management, order processing, customer management, payment processing, shipping integrations, and tax settings. Let’s compare them in more detail.
Payment gateways
OpenCart supports a range of payment gateways out-of-the-box, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net
WooCommerce also integrates with numerous payment processors, including popular options like PayPal, Stripe, and Square
Image via WooCommerce
Shipping options
OpenCart provides built-in shipping methods like flat rate, free shipping, and weight-based shipping
WooCommerce offers a variety of shipping extensions that allow you to connect with major carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS, as well as offer real-time shipping rates
Order tracking
OpenCart has a comprehensive order management system that allows you to view, edit, and track orders
WooCommerce provides out-of-the-box order tracking features, and extensions are available to enhance order management and tracking
Customer profiling
OpenCart has a customer management system that allows you to view customer details and order history and create customer groups
WooCommerce integrates with the WordPress user system, providing detailed customer profiles and the ability to segment customers based on various criteria
Migrating ecommerce platforms can be a difficult task. If you’re thinking of how to migrate Opencart to WooCommerce (or the other way around), several extensions and services can help automate the process and minimize downtime.
For example, the Cart2Cart service supports automated migration services across 85+ carts. It can transfer products, customers, orders, and more. However, some customizations and design elements may need to be recreated on the new platform. Before initiating any migration, you need to have a solid plan for all your data and customizations.
Image via Cart2Cart
Winner
Services like Cart2Cart make this category a tie between the two platforms.
Get 30% OFF for 3 months + FREE $1000 value migration deal
When you’re building an online store, it’s normal to have questions, issues, or need guidance. That’s why it’s important to have access to a supportive community and reliable resources. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer, it can be helpful to connect with experts and get assistance when you need it. The availability of forums and documentation can make or break your experience with an ecommerce platform, as can professional support.
OpenCart community and support
OpenCart has a smaller community compared to WooCommerce. While some forums and resources are available, they are less active or extensive.
Image via OpenCart
WooCommerce community and support
One of WooCommerce’s greatest strengths is its massive, active community. Numerous forums, Facebook groups, meetups, and other resources are available. Plus, since it’s built on WordPress, you can also tap into the broader WordPress community for help.
Image via WooCommerce
Winner
WooCommerce has a clear advantage in terms of community and support resources.
FAQ – OpenCart vs WooCommerce
Which is better: WooCommerce or OpenCart?
For most users, WooCommerce will be the better choice. It’s more user-friendly, customizable, and scalable than OpenCart. However, OpenCart may still be suitable for very small, simple stores.
Is OpenCart better than Shopify?
In general, Shopify is considered a better platform than OpenCart. It’s an all-in-one, hosted solution that’s very user-friendly. See our full WooCommerce vs Shopify comparison.
Is OpenCart similar to WordPress?
OpenCart and WordPress are quite different. WordPress is a content management system, while OpenCart is an ecommerce platform. However, WooCommerce has turned WordPress into a full ecommerce solution.
Is WooCommerce still relevant in 2025?
Yes, WooCommerce is still highly relevant and popular in 2025. It powers many online stores and continues to be actively developed and supported.
OpenCart vs. WooCommerce: Final thoughts
After comparing OpenCart vs WooCommerce, it’s clear that WooCommerce wins in most categories. OpenCart may work for small, simple stores, but WooCommerce is more flexible, easy to use, and scalable.
WooCommerce has a number of key advantages. It has a huge theme and plugin library. It also has an active community and many customization options and integrates smoothly with WordPress. It’s an excellent choice for stores of all sizes.
Connect your online store to Omnisend and start driving more sales today!
Bernard is the Sr. Director of Communications & Creative at Omnisend, with a passion for good research, helping ecommerce businesses with their marketing automation needs, and beating absolutely everyone in Mario Kart 64.
Share the article
Copied!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Subscribe and don’t miss any updates!
No fluff, no spam, no corporate filler. Just a friendly letter, twice a month.
Omnisend AI
OFFER
