Ecommerce platforms are one of the most important tools in the digital world. Ecommerce platforms are becoming more important than ever in a world where customers spend less time on the high street and more time online shopping.
Shopify is one of the most well-known ecommerce platforms on the market. Shopify is a great tool to sell online. But it’s not all that you have. Other options include Squarespace, WooCommerce and BigCommerce.
osCommerce is a lesser-known tool in the ecommerce platform ecosystem, but it’s rapidly gaining popularity. This comparison of osCommerce vs Shopify was created to help you learn everything you need about both solutions.
Vendor Comparison
Shopify and osCommerce both offer ecommerce platforms you can use to sell products online. Shopify and osCommerce offer a variety of selling features. These include a configurable shopping cart and powerful add-on options.
Shopify is a well-known ecommerce platform provider. It helps businesses start and grow online, just like Prestashop and WooCommerce. Shopify is an all in one platform. This means you don’t have to purchase SSL certificates or hosting separately like with open-source tools.
osCommerce on the other hand is an open-source solution that can support thousands of websites all over the globe. Self-hosted systems allow you to manage all your hosting, patches, back-end tech, and more. This also allows you to customize osCommerce.
Comparison of Shopify and osCommerce: The Pros and the Cons
Comparing Shopify and osCommerce can help you get a better understanding of the pros and cons. Each tool has its own unique features. It all depends on your expectations of your ecommerce store.
Let’s begin with Shopify pros & cons:
Shopify Pros
- Popular ecommerce site with many great features
- Multichannel support
- There are many add-on options available through this great marketplace
- Many free and premium templates
- Integrations with offline sales options
- It is user-friendly and has everything you need at the back.
- You don’t have to manage security and updates on your own
Shopify Cons
- Transaction fees can increase the cost of running your store.
- Depending on which apps you use, costs can quickly mount up.
- You can learn more with add-ons.
osCommerce Pros
- You can extend and personalize your experience in any way you like
- Your website can scale easily in an open-source environment.
- Community members offer lots of support
- Beautiful templates to create a stunning website
- Continuous improvements to open-source software
- You can choose your own hosting and security options
osCommerce Cons
- Manage your own hosting, site maintenance, and site updates
- Sometimes, be open to making mistakes
- This requires a lot of back-end work
Pricing: Shopify vs. osCommerce
The perfect ecommerce solution is more than just a budget. There are many things to think about when building an ecommerce site, whether it’s with WordPress, Opencart or another platform. How can you improve your SEO ranking? Do you have access to good customer service? What ecommerce features can you expect to get for your money?
When it comes to selecting ecommerce software, everyone has a budget to consider. It’s important to consider the cost of your new ecommerce software.
Shopify prices start at $29 a month. If you need more than a button for your website (Shopify Light),
Shopify offers several pricing options:
- Shopify Lite: $9 per month
- Basic Shopify – $29 per Month
- Shopify: $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify – $299 per Month
- Shopify plus: Get a quote (starts at $2000 per month).
Shopify offers a discount if you pay annually. A subscription for 12 months will get you an approximate 10% discount
Shopify Lite may be the cheapest option but it does not provide all the features that you need to create an ecommerce website. This product can only be used if you sell through a Facebook Page or an existing website. Luckily, all Shopify plans except Shopify Lite include a variety features including an abandoned cart saver.
osCommerce pricing differs from Shopify’s. It’s open-source software so you can download it and use it. There are still expenses to be aware of. You will require a hosting plan. This means that you will have to pay a monthly or annual fee. A domain name will be required to host your store. Also, consider costs such as security, maintenance, design options, or templates.
Depending on the features you need, osCommerce may be cheaper than Shopify. You have the power to shop around to ensure you get the best deal.
Features
If you don’t understand what you are getting for your money, pricing doesn’t really matter. Your ecommerce tools should be able to support your workflows, reports and other processes. We took a closer look at Shopify and osCommerce to help you make informed decisions.
Shopify Features
Shopify provides everything a business owner will need to start selling online. Shopify is one of the best tools available. It can be used by any size business and allows you to accept payments from over 70 providers. Shopify offers a wide range of amazing capabilities, including the ability to edit your pages’ HTML and CSS.
Shopify offers a variety of templates, both free and premium. You can also access additional customization if needed. You can also make payments via PayPal or credit cards, and you have the option to accept foreign currencies. Shopify gives you the ability to better understand your customers through reporting and analytics. Blogs can even be managed using the content management system.
Shopify’s features will vary depending on the package you choose when you purchase your plan. Capabilities available include:
- Domain name purchase
- SSL certificate
- Premium and free themes
- There are dozens of payment options
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- Recovery of abandoned carts
- Customers profiles and accounts
- Fulfillment and dropshipping options
- Multi-channel sales with social integrations
- Management of inventory and orders
- Review and testimonials for products
- Email templates and marketing
- SEO and blogging functionality
- Customers profiles and accounts
- Automated tax calculation
Shopify is constantly expanding its features, including new AR tools and advanced reporting. You can also integrate with other services to customize your service.
osCommerce Features
osCommerce is an flexible and open-source ecommerce platform . You can customize your website with thousands of add-ons. You can also start building your website for free because the osCommerce software comes with no cost.
osCommerce’s open-source nature makes it easy to create a website you love. Your site can be modified at will without restriction. Moreover, although osCommerce is not as easy as a pre-built solution with drag-and drop functionality, it’s very simple to use.
v is a great option if you are looking for something quick and simple to get you started in ecommerce. This service offers special offers and coupon codes, review and testimonial management as well as customer accounts and management. It also provides reporting. The following capabilities are available with osCommerce:
- You can customize your product to be even more specific
- Order processing and inventory management
- Analytics and reporting to better understand your audience
- Accounting extensions and tax handling
- Discounts and special offers
- Unlimited product catalogue management
- Language and currency settings
- Management and customer accounts
- Database control and cache control
- Security checks with full-featured features
- There are many product options and categories.
- Solid community
- Modifications are easy
- Add-ons and plugins to meet every need
Design and customization
It’s not enough to just list products online. There are many other aspects of running an ecommerce shop. There are so many online stores today that it is important to make your store stand out.
Shopify allows you to customize your ecommerce site. While you won’t have a drag-and drop builder like with other solutions, you can easily change anything from your homepage to your checkout with the help of instructions.
Shopify offers many keyboard shortcuts and quick undo functionality to make it easy for you to quickly change design elements. Shopify offers great customization options and makes it simple to get started. There are tons of themes available.
In minutes, you can create your store and select a theme. The customization options allow you to make your site unique.
Shopify isn’t a website builder, but a collection of ecommerce products. However, there are many great design options to choose from and a simple backend that has earned it a lot market share.
However, osCommerce does not offer the ability to customize or design your own products. A very basic template is provided for small business stores so that you can sell products. That’s it. You don’t have anything extraordinary to improve the quality of your storefront.
You can make your website stand out by looking for information from other developers who are proficient in osCommerce. Although there are many themes that can be found from third-parties you will still need expert support to customize them.
Front-end editing is not what osCommerce excels at. Technical support is virtually non-existent because it is open-source. If you plan to create a new cart such as zencart, you will need extra support. Also, you must ensure that you are able to ship outside the United States.
Despite the fact that there is no monthly fee for osCommerce, one advantage to the open-source platform is the ability to customize your site.
Sales Management
Shopify offers so many amazing tools that will help you get started. Track sales and set up alerts that will help you keep track of your inventory.
Shopify can be integrated with other selling platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and social media environments such as Facebook. To start selling, you don’t have to be an HTML or PHP expert. All you need to start an online business is already in place.
Shopify is a powerful tool for selling, even if it’s not as popular as other tools like Squarespace, Wix and Nopcommerce. You can:
- With SEO features, you can attract customers to your online shop by improving your ranking with Google
- You can present your products with zoom functions, picture galleries, video, and many other features. For social proof, you can create product variants as well as set up user ratings.
- You can manage abandoned carts and create marketing campaigns to get people back to your site if they leave.
- To ensure your customers have the best option for them, you can work with more than 100 payment processors.
- You can sell physical and digital goods in a secure environment with discount codes and coupons available. There is also a customer login area to allow repeat sales.
- Get shipping solutions from top providers or dropshipping functionality with apps like Oberlo
- To avoid any errors with your taxes, you can handle tax settings. It’s easy to access product data and analytics.
Unfortunately, osCommerce doesn’t seem to be as intuitive. Although most people will be able understand how the system works, it is very outdated and complicated. The majority of the work is left up to you.
These tools are far less than Shopify’s. You can access modules and other features by contacting the Community or a developer who is familiar with osCommerce.
While you have all the tools you need to create a store and sell products, it can be difficult to set up advanced features such as dropshipping or abandoned cart recover. Shopify is more intuitive than Shopify. You can access currency exchange rates, multicurrency support and statistics.
Verdict
Shopify and osCommerce have many benefits.
The greatest benefit of osCommerce? It’s open-source, which makes it extremely flexible. You can do almost anything with the help of the osCommerce Community. This powerful tool can be integrated with any site or web server that uses PHP or MySQL functionality.
osCommerce, which is free and works under the GNU License for the General Public, can be used to create an online store. This software allows you to keep your costs as low as possible. If you are able to use them, there are many add-ons that can help you increase the functionality of your store. You will need to set up email marketing and web hosting yourself.
Shopify, on the other hand, takes the hassle out of building an online store and makes it easy. Shopify has the ability to build any functionality that you require. Shopify allows you to choose from many payment options and can upgrade your store in any way that suits you.
Shopify makes it easy to create a website. It is easy to add additional functionality such as dropshipping or SEO grading.
