A shopping cart is a system that is set up on a website with the sole focus of listing and selling products via the Internet. These systems will integrate into the main website and generally provide a back-end or dashboard area that lets the owner do all of the administrative work involved. This work includes: updating and modifying content; listing, organising and pricing products; printing invoices; and tracking inventory. A shopping cart gives you the ability to run an e-commerce business.

Most of the popular shopping carts today are actually Open Source. What this means is that the source code for the software is available for anyone to modify and enhance, which ultimately means that many people from all over the world are creating features and upgrading security all the time. Just like with many content management systems, such as WordPress and Joomla!, these shopping cart systems are put together in a way that many non-tech-savvy individuals can use them without getting their hands too dirty with code.

We have compiled an entire list of both free and open source shopping carts that can be hosted with Digital Pacific. A wide variety of our clients use these shopping carts to build an online business that allows them to sell products and services online.

Here are 9 of the most popular Shopping Carts hosted at Digital Pacific:

Magento

Magento’s slogan is that it is an “ecommerce platform for growth”, and this indicates that the type of businesses using the system are those looking to have the ability to become much larger without the need to change to a new ecommerce program down the road. Originally released in 2008, Magento has already had more than 1.5 million downloads, but that’s not hard to believe when the perks of this package include a very streamlined and powerful back-end and a fairly easy to theme capability. They even offer both a free and open source “Community Edition” and a paid “Enterprise Edition” of the software. While the Magento “Community Edition” is a powerful tool, the “Enterprise Edition” takes the website to a whole new level. Some features to note of the upgraded version are the ability to issue gift vouchers, as well as the ability to issue store credits.

The downside to Magento seems to be its rather large size. Not only is it a huge download, but it is a little slower and tends to require a bit more power. We often recommend to our customers to go with a VPS hosting package in order to see the best results with Magento.

Learn about Magento Hosting
Demo: http://www.magentocommerce.com/demo
Open Source: Yes – Magento Community Edition Only
Price: Free
Platform: Ajax / PHP / MySQL

OsCommerce

OsCommerce has a community of over 230,000 people, as well as a live shops showcase of 12,700 websites listed on their site alone. OsCommerce makes for a popular shopping cart system not only because of its free and open source nature, but also because of its out of the box functionality. In addition, there are over 5,900 add-ons that can give the online shop additional features depending on your specific needs alone. OsCommerce has been around since 2000, which means it has withstood the test of time and now has a large community that can aid in support and growth.

The main downside of using osCommerce as your shopping cart of choice stems from its past criticisms of security vulnerabilities, but that more recently appears to be mended by its upgrade to MySQL 5 and PHP 5.

Demo: http://demo.oscommerce.com/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL

Zen Cart

Zen Cart was released in 2007 as an off-shoot of the osCommerce system. The shopping cart features a list of useful integrations like accepting payments through PayPal, the setup of shipping and tax modules and even the use of different languages and currencies. Zen Cart is a fully open source program, meaning the price is free to those willing and capable of installing on their own. Even in the free version, it offers gift vouchers and newsletter management to shop owners.

A downside to this shopping cart is the inability to truly customise certain features without editing some of the core files of the system.
Learn about Zen Cart Hosting
Demo: http://php.opensourcecms.com/scripts/details.php?scriptid=97
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL

CubeCart

CubeCart , like Magento, provides both a free (version 3) and paid version (version 4) of their shopping cart. Understandably, the paid version (that can run for $180) boasts added features and capabilities, such as the use of gift vouchers and alternate checkouts. However, both of the carts provide a powerful ecommerce package that manages to keep the HTML and PHP code separate. When it comes to those with less coding knowledge, this feature is a major plus. Perhaps that is one of the reasons CubeCart is used in over a million shops worldwide. A downside to this shopping cart is the inability to truly customise certain features without editing some of the core files of the system.

The downside to using CubeCart stems from the fact that it isn’t an open source software, therefore not free to use at the more functional level. Unlike Magento, CubeCart’s free version is also not open source, which means that the features that are lacking in this model are put there for a reason by the company in order to coerce the user into upgrading. The free version, for example, lacks the ability to change text in the footer, or even to add new skins, which are pretty much key elements in creating a website’s look and feel.

Demo: http://www.cubecart.com/demos/
Open Source: No
Price: CubeCart Version 3 – Free, CubeCart Version 4 – Paid
Platform: PHP / MySQL

PrestaShop

PrestaShop , released in 2007, is a fully open source and free shopping cart platform for your ecommerce website. With only 33,000 shops using this software, it may not be as popular as some other carts, but it definitely has a full list of features that say it is here to stay. Moreover, the software claims to run without major headaches for shoppers, even for those on slower connections, because of its incredibly small size. This shopping cart is generally good for small to medium sized endeavours.

Despite its size, there have been a few reviews out there claiming that the software’s back-end functions at a slower speed. In addition, it may lack some of the more advanced features of other carts like product bundling.

Learn about Prestashop Hosting
Demo: http://www.prestashop.com/en/showcase_demo/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL

OpenCart

OpenCart boasts its support of over 20 payment gateways and more than 8 shipping methods. It is a free and fully open source shopping cart with the features to back up the claims of functionality. OpenCart says it can house unlimited products with unlimited categories in multiple languages and currencies. The organisation of OpenCart’s files is also another big plus for web developers.

Besides all of these perks, there is some caution to take as a few reviews speak of the number of bugs out there in the system. It is a good idea to take a look around the support forums to get a better idea of what to expect with the shopping cart.

Demo: http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=information/demonstration
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL

Ubercart

Ubercart is a completely free and open source shopping cart, but it must be run in conjunction with the content management system, Drupal. The main draw of this system is the ability to build a community that revolves around the shop or product being sold. This occurs because of the shopping cart’s features to allow the selling of registrations and downloads in addition to tangible products, all while working into the normal website and Drupal features.
Although powerful, the main drawback for Ubercart is the fact that it can only be integrated with a Drupal CMS, which for new users can require a steep learning curve in order to gain full functionality.

Demo: http://demo.ubercart.org/
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: Drupal – PHP / MySQL

AgoraCart

AgoraCart is yet another open source and free shopping cart system that Digital Pacific customers use to create an online shop. First released in 2000, AgoraCart has a long life-span, yet lacks the followers that other shopping carts have, even given the features it offers. AgoraCart shops can manage product bundling and pricing, discounts and digital goods to name a few. Additionally, web developers and designers appreciate the easy-to-work with and enhance platform.
The downside of this product starts with the fact that additional modules can only be accessed if paying for a membership.

The downside of this product starts with the fact that additional modules can only be accessed if paying for a membership.

Demo: http://www.agoracart.com/demos.htm
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: PHP / MySQL

VirtueMart

VirtueMart is a very popular free and open source shopping cart solution with over 2.5 million downloads worldwide. Like UberCart, this cart must be used in conjunction with a content management system, that being Joomla!. VirtueMart offers a full range of features including the ability for shoppers to register and track their transactions. An unlimited number of products can potentially be supported in these carts, but it is generally recommended for sites that get no more than a medium-sized traffic.
Although powerful, the main drawback for Ubercart is the fact that it can only be integrated with a Drupal CMS, which for new users can require a steep learning curve in order to gain full functionality.

The downside to this robust cart is the fact that it must be used in conjunction with Joomla!, which for some with little knowledge of these products can cause more confusion than help. Other items of concern include some reviews that actually comment on bits of messy code in areas.

Demo: http://virtuemart.net/home/demo
Open Source: Yes
Price: Free
Platform: Joomla – PHP / MySQL

As with any software, it is important to consider your needs in relation to the software and its features before making a final decision. Here are some points we urge our customers to evaluate before going further:

• Are there postage and payment modules available for the shopping cart that target both Australian and overseas customers if need be? A good place to check is with the community forums on the product’s main website.
• Have you tried the demo for both the admin and user side to see if the shopping cart meets your goals as an online shop owner?
• Are you capable of updating the software when necessary in order to protect yourself against security vulnerabilities? Just as we noted before with content management systems, many of which are also open source, there is the need to keep them updated with the latest versions to get the most functionality and protection as possible.
• Is your web hosting capable of handling the software? The main concern here is to make sure there is a MySQL database available as all of the systems above run using one. All of Digital Pacific’s hosting plans (except personal basic) offer MySQL Databases.

As you can see, there are numerous shopping cart systems out there that can help you get an online shop running in no time. However, they each appear to have their pluses and their minuses, so the best method for selection is to take a look around at the demos to see which one works for you and your business.

If you’re website is in need of a content management system rather than an e-commerce application, our CMS comparison may assist in explaining the difference between some of the more popular applications.

Do you use one of these shopping carts on this list? If so, leave us a quick review about why you recommend it (or not) by submitting a comment below!