Top 10 Best Open Source Ecommerce Platforms

Ecommerce is growing rapidly. In fact, eMarketer expects worldwide sales of $5.542 trillion by 2022.

If you're considering starting an online store to benefit from this growing trend, picking the best e-commerce platform is among the most crucial options you'll take. With several ecommerce solutions that you can choose from, making the best choice is contingent on your requirements.
 NeilsenIQ shares the fact that 67% the customers report that their approach to shopping has changed since the pandemic. The benefits of a customized, scalable ecommerce solution that caters to this new generation of customers.

Keep reading to find out details about the top e-commerce platforms, and what to consider.

Ecommerce Platform 101

A platform for e-commerce is software that allows businesses to run their online stores such as marketing, sales as well as operations.
 Many eCommerce platforms have functions that allow:

• Inventory management
• Payment methods
• Cart shopping
• Checkout

Before going into the specifics of each solution, let's examine the most common factors to consider in deciding on an online platform.

Ecommerce Platforms: What Should You Look For

Selecting an online store isn't as easy like choosing what you'll eat for lunch. Consider your team's capabilities as well as the long-term prospects expansion of your company and ease of use both front and backend, and, of course the cost.

Before deciding on a platform, determine your priorities:

• Usability: Is the platform's interface intuitive? Do you have to spend long hours trying to figure out how it works?
• Flexibility : Ideally, you'll benefit of an online platform that can grow with your business. Is the platform you're considering help small companies to large corporations?
• Self-determination:Do you have full control of the platform or are you relying on an outside service? For instance, SaaS ecommerce solutions receive periodic updates, similar to social media platforms which means that you must adapt to these changes in order to continue your operations.
• Maintenance and security: Consider maintenance and security. Do you have the technical capacity to take care of these? Are you able to pay someone else to handle this? Would you prefer the staff of the platform manage and safeguard your information?
• Price: Do the platform's plans fall within your budget in both in the short- and long-term? As an example, SaaS solutions make running your own online shop easier but the costs can increase substantially as the size of your online store grows.
• Help:Can you solve software difficulties you have? Do you require help from the platform's support team?
• Options and flexibility to customize :Does the platform offer the features you want? If you're tied to that platform, will you feel comfortable using the integrated features or do you require access to third-party tools?If you're looking to utilize third-party tools, you should choose an e-commerce service which is easily adaptable and flexible to integrate with other platforms.

SaaS vs Open Source Ecommerce Platforms

Choosing between SaaS and open source eCommerce platforms boils down to what you want from an ecommerce solution.
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Platforms for Ecommerce SaaS

Besides hosting, SaaS also includes security and maintenance, as well as updates and technical support with every plan you buy.

Some examples of the most popular SaaS E-commerce platforms are Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace.

Open Source Ecommerce Platforms

If you're an entrepreneur and is looking to set up an online shop from the bottom starting from scratch, an open-source platform offers you freedom, customization, and scalability to realize that dream.

Open source platforms permit the user to design their own ecommerce shop, they leave installation, management, security, hosting, maintenance, and updates up to you. This means that open source platforms could need more care than SaaS platforms.

Because of the challenging process of learning for open source platforms, you may be hearing about companies that are starting out using SaaS solutions, but then switching to open source once they are outgrowing their SaaS platforms.

That said the open source ecommerce platforms do not have to be limited to giant companies with armies of web developers. Start small using an open source platform , and develop from there.

Furthermore, several open source platforms for ecommerce offer managed hosting options to provide users with the most effective of both worlds.

The Top Open Source Ecommerce Platforms in 2022

Let's take a look at some of the best open-source ecommerce platforms on the marketplace.

1. WooCommerce

  Features:  

• It is flexible and adaptable, similar to WordPress
• Huge library of extensions
• In-built security features
• Multiple integrations supported

Pricing: Free

2. Adobe Commerce (Formerly Magento)

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is an ecommerce program that is an element of the Adobe Experience Cloud.

Adobe Commerce is a powerful versatile, flexible, scalable and adaptable open-source software platform utilized by over 250,000 large-scale web stores around the world, that handle multiple products and heavy volume of traffic. As an example, HP, was previously was known as Hewlett-Packard, also uses Adobe Commerce.

Since it was derived from Magento that is known to be a target for developers, Adobe Commerce requires advanced technical abilities.

  Features:  

• 24/7 customer support
• Multiple extensions via Magento marketplace
• API integrations
• Native SEO features
• Built-in analytics

Prices: Magento Open Source is offered at no cost; Adobe's price is available on request

3. Drupal Commerce

As Google algorithms evolving to favour and prioritize content marketing, ecommerce platforms alone aren't sufficient. It is essential that your e-commerce platform has a decent CMS function if you're looking to get a position in search results for information. This is what Drupal Commerce offers.

Drupal Commerce is popular with companies, like Cartier.

  Features:  

• SEO and marketing features
• Tools for managing orders
• Analytics and reporting
• Integration of other systems through RESTful API

Pricing: Free

4. Joomla

As an open-source CMS, Joomla offers you the ability to customize your online store to your liking. You can use different templates for every piece of content. Like Adobe Commerce, it also demands advanced technical expertise.

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Joomla is the preferred choice of companies such as IKEA, Lipton, and Holiday Inn.

  Features:  

• More than 6,000 extensions are available on the market to enhance functionality
• Responsive design
• Unlimited product range
• Multilingual and multi-currency support

Pricing: Free

5. PrestaShop

PrestaShop can be described as an open source platform for e-commerce that is built upon Symfony, a framework that improves flexibility by letting you choose and include the modules needed to your site or app.

PrestaShop comes with over 600 options and 5000+ modules, but many of these add-ons are priced at a premium. Besides that, PrestaShop offers a fully controlled solution that combines hosting and maintenance with their open source software even for those who aren't tech-savvy.

Zippo Lighters and Fashion Stork are among the 300,000+ online stores that utilize PrestaShop.

If you're considering using PrestaShop take note that it isn't compatible with many popular integrations, so you'll have to use its in-house options.

  Features:  

• Thousands of modules and add-ons for increased functionality
• 3000+ templates optimized for mobile.
• Integrated SEO and marketing tools
• Support for multiple currencies

Price: Free; managed solutions start at EUR450 ($473) monthly.

6. OpenCart

OpenCart can be described as an open-source e-commerce platform that which is used by 400,000+ webmasters worldwide, including Red Cross UK. It provides a wide range of functions, ranging that range from managing multiple stores from one interface to a marketplace full of themes and extensions.

However, OpenCart offers limited SEO as well as marketing functions and could hinder the growth of your online site. Additionally, you'll require the technical expertise to use OpenCart since it does not provide the support needed by customers.

  Features:  

• Administration dashboard -- including a quick overview of functions
• Tools to restore and backup
• Large marketplace with 13,000+ Add-ons and extensions
• Mobile app

Pricing: Free

7. Spree Commerce

Founded in 2008, Spree Commerce is founded in 2008 and is a non-headless online e-commerce platform that is available as an open source platform and SaaS.

The headless eCommerce platform can allow you to segregate the frontend (head or storefront on the internet) of the customers of your site) from the backend (the software in the background that ensures your store runs smoothly). You can prepare your frontend in a separate manner and connect it with the headless platform to provide customers a better experience.

Spree Commerce's network of 850+ contributors has helped more than 50,000 companies since 2007 including Blue Apron and Everlane. The open-source version of the software is free but has limited features, whereas Spree as a Service gives users additional functionality, as well as access to cloud hosting.

  Features:  

• Multi-vendor marketplace
• Provides B2B and B2C E-commerce
• 50+ integrations with third parties
• Analytics dashboard and inventory management systems and SEO instruments

Price: Free as open source; SaaS pricing can be arranged upon request.

8. CubeCart

In 2003, the company was founded. CubeCart is a British open-source e-commerce platform that is gaining in recognition both in and out from the U.K.

CubeCart uses a template-driven responsive skin to make online stores look appealing on different gadgets. But, it's restricted to the way it displays an online store across gadgets -- it's not equipped for enterprises due to a lack of capabilities. While it is compatible with certain applications, it's not as extensible as OpenCart.

Similar to PrestaShop, CubeCart offers hosted as well as self-hosted versions of its software, though they released all of their software completely free of charge in 2015. Fans of CubeCart comprise Kula Cards and Harris Organic Wines.

Being an open source ecommerce platform CubeCart isn't able to provide live assistance, but you can avail yourself of paid technical support with a small monthly cost.

  Features:  

• Unlimited orders, products, categories, and admins
• 100% template-driven responsive skins
• Miscellaneous plugins and social media
• Gift certificates, coupons, and voucher functionality
• Accepts multiple payment gateways, like PayPal and SagePay
• Sales reporting

Pricing: Free with no assistance from a customer. Paid plans start with $33 per month.

9. Shopware

Shopware is a German open source ecommerce platform founded in 2000.

Notable Shopware features include 4,000+ extensions, fully interconnected CMS features (like Drupal) along with integrated SEO and marketing tools.

But, the trial version has limited features, like CubeCart the customer service requires an additional subscription.

  Features:  

• CMS fully integrated CMS capabilities
• Drag-and-drop interface allows for simple customization of online storefronts
• SEO and marketing tools
• Integrations with Google Shopping and social media
• Choice between self-hosted or cloud-hosted variants

Price: Free with limited capabilities. Premium plans start at EUR199 ($210) for a month.

10. Solidus

Solidus is an open source platform for e-commerce built on Ruby on Rails, which provides security and flexibility.

Solidus is able to function as a single-platform (with frontend and backend integrated together) and as an ecommerce platform without head, like Spree.

Solidus offers a variety of integrations. It also has an active user base of users on Slack as well as Stack Overflow. Famous brands that use Solidus are MeUndies, Bonobos, and Ace & Tate.

Features:

• Promotions engine to offer discounts as well as other deals based upon order history
• Multiple payment integrations as well as store credit support
• Support for multi-carrier shipping

Pricing: Free

Summary

Selecting an online platform for your business is among the biggest choices you'll have to make when you're an owner of an Ecommerce company.

SaaS platforms are simple to operate and take care of everything for you, but open-source platforms such as WooCommerce offer much-needed flexibility for scaling and improving the customer satisfaction.

If you're considering your options take into consideration your product as well as your technical knowledge and business size.

So, you need to determine your needs for customization, features, and the scalability. If you're starting or running an intermediate-sized to small business, WooCommerce would serve you very well. However, if you're opening an online storefront to support an enterprise You could gain from the Magento features.

What platform would you like to use? Tell us in the remarks.

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