Shopping Cart Feature Comparison Chart
I had been researching for the open source Shopping cart and found lot of solutions. it was difficult for me to decide which one is good.
This feature comparison chart compares the out of the box features of each cart. Sometimes a cart will have an available add-on module to install the feature listed.
| Magento | Oscommerce | CRE Loaded | Zen Cart | X-Cart | OSCMax | VirtueMart | |
| Free | Yes | Yes | Yes, but has pay versions | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited Products | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Supports SSL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit Products | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit Customers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Admin Can Edit Products In Order | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Spreadsheet Database Upload | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Product Attributes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Product Images | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Coupons | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Costs Extra | Yes | No |
| Different Pricing Per Customer Groups | Yes | No | Costs Extra | Yes | Costs Extra | Yes | Yes |
| Graphic Template System | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live Shipping Quotes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Google Checkout Pre-installed | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Paypal | Yes | Yes, but not IPN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paypal Pro | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Content Management System for Informational Pages | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SEO Tools for meta tags and URLs | Yes | No | Yes, URLs cost extra | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| One Page Checkout | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-Lingual Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Currency Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Store Support | Yes | No | No | No | Cost Extra | No | No |
| Web Hosting Requirements | Semi Dedicated $25/m – $100/m | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting |
| Our Overall Opinion from 1 – 10 | 8.5 (10 if not for steep hosting cost) | 7 | 8.5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Final Thoughts
If you decide to go with an Oscommerce based shopping cart, we recommend that you start with one of the loaded versions – Zencart, CRE Loaded, or OSCmax – in order to save you lots of money on installing additional modules to the plain Oscommerce version. You can then use your development money to put in your own custom modifications, design, etc. rather than installing all of the basics.
If you decide to go with Magento, make sure to chose a fast enough web host. It does not run fast enough on most shared hosting plans.
Do you need help with setting up, customizing or maintaining your E-commerce web site? Please contact us and we would be happy to provide you the needed services.