Opencart Vs Woocommerce

SeanAustin · Jul 15, 2013

Hey guys, I'm just recently beginning to build an eCommerce site and by accident (somewhat) bought an opencart theme (Journal Theme) and it cost me 45$. I then realized that opencart wasn't wordpress (one of the biggest noob mistakes I have made in my journey) and am torn at what direction to go now.

I have always used wordpress for my other non eCommerce but I enjoy the opencart backend and feel it may be the better option for a medium scale eCommerce site. But the amount of plugins that wordpress supports makes it seem like woocommerce would be the better option...

The only thing that upsets me is that for the journal opencart theme, I have to spend another 45 dollars on a blog/news module if I want to blog on the site which obvi. wouldn't cost me a dime in wordpress. I have read that I can install wordpress and opencart on the same site but have heard that is quite a trouble to do (especially without any coding background) so I will try to avoid that.

Does anyone have any input on which platform they would advice me to go with for a medium sized eCommerce site that will not only be updated with products, but also with blog posts, articles, and news?

Thanks for the input.

Moosey · Jul 15, 2013

I've used both platforms and prefer woocommerce. There is an extension or plugin for just about anything you could imagine, and every reputable payment gateway could be integrated. If you don't mind spending a little bit of money on extensions, I'd definitely go with WooCommerce.

tnhomestead · Jul 15, 2013

Opencart is a great way to go, so is woocommerce. But there are tons of opencart/oscommerce/magento sites doing just fine in sales and ranking. I maintain a wordpress woocommerce, couple opencarts and several oscommerces and everything else being equal, it doesnt matter which you choose.

There are pages of blog addons for opencart, and you can always install wordpress in a subdirectory and link to it from the store, or do it the other way around. There are even several ways to interconnect opencart and wp, including wpopencart.

Wordpress is not the be all and end all -- its a great blogging solution, but is still clunky even with woocommerce compared to the best ecommerce solutions. At least I feel that way!

unclemike · Jul 15, 2013

If you want a blog to go along with your opencart site then simply install WordPress in a new subdirectory in your
CPanel.

For example:
yoursite.com - opencart
yoursite.com/blog - wordpress theme

You get the best of both worlds without paying to much.

Cheers!
Unclemike

tuannguyen · Jul 15, 2013

I prefer Drupal + Ubercart module. It's easy to customize, you can build shopping cart, blog, forum... even social network with Drupal, good for SEO.

GiorgioB · Jul 15, 2013

I have ecomm sites and I do exactly as Uncle Mike says (although I don't use opencart but magento).. this will also add plenty of content on your ecomm site (since its on the same domain) and content is precious for ecomm since you are not going to write 500 words for each product description. +1 for this option.

SeanAustin · Jul 15, 2013

GiorgioB said:
I have ecomm sites and I do exactly as Uncle Mike says (although I don't use opencart but magento).. this will also add plenty of content on your ecomm site (since its on the same domain) and content is precious for ecomm since you are not going to write 500 words for each product description. +1 for this option.

This does sound like an excellent solution. I'm a little scared to try though seeing as I have read a few threads at the opencart forum in which make it seem like a nightmare to do (took one guy 6 months and an experienced programmer to acomplish, maybe he's just an idiot?). I might just end up buying the blog/news manager module for 45$ to save myself a headache.

My last question is a quick one and I'm just wondering what your experiences are with page speed in wordpress vs opencart. I have a feeling opencart will perform a little faster than wordpress but I do not have much knowledge to back that up.

Zapdos · Jul 15, 2013

SeanAustin said:
This does sound like an excellent solution. I'm a little scared to try though seeing as I have read a few threads at the opencart forum in which make it seem like a nightmare to do (took one guy 6 months and an experienced programmer to acomplish, maybe he's just an idiot?). I might just end up buying the blog/news manager module for 45$ to save myself a headache.

My last question is a quick one and I'm just wondering what your experiences are with page speed in wordpress vs opencart. I have a feeling opencart will perform a little faster than wordpress but I do not have much knowledge to back that up.

Speeds are entirely dependant on your setup. If you want a vanilla vs vanilla comparison, wordpress is probably faster. Once you start adding mods, themes and everything else it changes entirely.

As for installing stuff, it's really simple. The only time I can see 6 months being needed is if they did alot of integration between the two and lots of changes. If you prefer wordpress, I would highly suggest just installing it to a subdirectory. The only difference is that the URL is changed. The installation is otherwise the same. Takes all of 3 minutes or less.

BANCADITALIA · Jul 15, 2013

SeanAustin said:
This does sound like an excellent solution. I'm a little scared to try though seeing as I have read a few threads at the opencart forum in which make it seem like a nightmare to do (took one guy 6 months and an experienced programmer to acomplish, maybe he's just an idiot?). I might just end up buying the blog/news manager module for 45$ to save myself a headache.

My last question is a quick one and I'm just wondering what your experiences are with page speed in wordpress vs opencart. I have a feeling opencart will perform a little faster than wordpress but I do not have much knowledge to back that up.

It is actually not hard at all! Just search Google for 'Opencart add custom menu items' and you're good to go. It's done with a few lines of code that you can literally copy from the site (I can't post links yet).

If your Opencart would be installed on:
yourdomain

Just link the custom menu item to e.g. yourdomain/blog and install Wordpress there. Good luck!

mdsurf · Jul 15, 2013

If you're serious about ecommerce use Magento as its hands down the best. Another one I would recommend that I have extensive experience with is BigCommerce. Great platform but most importantly amazing support!

tnhomestead · Jul 15, 2013

Your not trying to integrate the two, you just want a blog for seo. For that all you do is add a custom menu item in wordpress to your opencart site, and do the same in opencart to your wordpress. The only thing you lose is your users cant log into both sites with one login. And there is a free blog if I remember for opencart, but I would just install the 2 in different folders.

This also means if your WP site gets hacked your still up and running. I do this with osCommerce all the time, and just tie the 2 together in the menus. Matter of fact I just installed a meme creator for my grandson, using WP for the front end, added the links to both menus and you cant tell its not one piece of software!

Give it a try, its really not that hard at all!

SeanAustin · Jul 15, 2013

tnhomestead said:
Your not trying to integrate the two, you just want a blog for seo. For that all you do is add a custom menu item in wordpress to your opencart site, and do the same in opencart to your wordpress. The only thing you lose is your users cant log into both sites with one login. And there is a free blog if I remember for opencart, but I would just install the 2 in different folders.

This also means if your WP site gets hacked your still up and running. I do this with osCommerce all the time, and just tie the 2 together in the menus. Matter of fact I just installed a meme creator for my grandson, using WP for the front end, added the links to both menus and you cant tell its not one piece of software!

Give it a try, its really not that hard at all!

Yea, that makes sense because I recall that the person who took 6 months to do this was also trying to make it so that there was the same login and user for both platforms. But I guess this is also what I would want, where people who purchase items could also comment on a blog post. It would be silly if they had to create two usernames to do this.

It's exciting though that its as easy as installing WP in a sub directory. But arg, just wish I didn't have to spend another 45$ to do what I want (or maybe there is a nice free one like you said)... Maybe once I finally get my comp sci degree, I won't be so completely helpless with a jumbled pile of php code. One day.

Everyone's replies are much appreciated. Priceless. What a great forum.

Zapdos · Jul 15, 2013

SeanAustin said:
Yea, that makes sense because I recall that the person who took 6 months to do this was also trying to make it so that there was the same login and user for both platforms. But I guess this is also what I would want, where people who purchase items could also comment on a blog post. It would be silly if they had to create two usernames to do this.

It's exciting though that its as easy as installing WP in a sub directory. But arg, just wish I didn't have to spend another 45$ to do what I want (or maybe there is a nice free one like you said)... Maybe once I finally get my comp sci degree, I won't be so completely helpless with a jumbled pile of php code. One day.

Everyone's replies are much appreciated. Priceless. What a great forum.

Still doesnt take that long to get multiple logins working. While different platforms, I was able to migrate Drupal passwords/accounts to Prestashop (two different encryption schemes), keep both schemes and change between the two, and allow multiple logins in about a day. I wish I could get paid $10k/hr

I would not go with the module. Modules are addons and usually not developed to the quality of a standalone product. This is especially so when it comes to blogging. Very few mods would come close to a straight up wordpress install.

SeanAustin · Jul 15, 2013

Still doesnt take that long to get multiple logins working. While different platforms, I was able to migrate Drupal passwords/accounts to Prestashop (two different encryption schemes), keep both schemes and change between the two, and allow multiple logins in about a day. I wish I could get paid $10k/hr

I would not go with the module. Modules are addons and usually not developed to the quality of a standalone product. This is especially so when it comes to blogging. Very few mods would come close to a straight up wordpress install.

Take away the K and make it 10/hour and I'd LOVE to pay you to help me configure the two. Or 25$ flat. Anyone interested? I'd much rather pay a fellow BHW member $25 to be able to use my favorite blogging platform then pay $45 dollars to opencart for their module addon.

Please

?

edit: And I would also be very willing to share my extensive UD site list with anyone who is keen to help.

Cheers

SeanAustin · Jul 16, 2013

Zapdos said:
Speeds are entirely dependant on your setup. If you want a vanilla vs vanilla comparison, wordpress is probably faster. Once you start adding mods, themes and everything else it changes entirely.

As for installing stuff, it's really simple. The only time I can see 6 months being needed is if they did alot of integration between the two and lots of changes. If you prefer wordpress, I would highly suggest just installing it to a subdirectory. The only difference is that the URL is changed. The installation is otherwise the same. Takes all of 3 minutes or less.

Success. I have finally come to the conclusion that, for now, I'll be just fine without integrating the use a of single login for both platforms. Taking a whopping 5 minutes to set up, YOU sir are an impostor. Kidding of course. And I thank you for this tip. For anyone that is in my situation, don't hesitate to execute this. It feels very nice to have an excellent Ecommerce platform along side a beautiful wordpress theme. Love it.

kasopise · Jul 16, 2013

opencart is best for eCommerce

Zapdos · Jul 16, 2013

If you need help with stuff, just let me know. I'm not a huge fan of Opencart due to how limited it is vanilla and the costs to bring it up to spec... but should be able to help with many things.

somaan · Jul 16, 2013

I have done a few e commerce sites i the last year. and i should say that woocommerce for wordpress is a blessing the plugin is so beautifully made and everything keeps organized and lets you control each and every aspect of your product and your estore. I won't change to anything else at all for my future projects.

WillHelm · Jan 16, 2014

Actually, I agree with somaan. WooCommerce is easy to use and it gives lots of possibilities. There are so many options and themes that can make the store bright. I like WP plugins so much!!
Once I hesitated as you are now and finally decided to migrate to WooCommerce. Used cart2cart service and in a few hours I had my new store. Now I can surely say that Woo is better than OpenCart.

Opencart Vs Woocommerce

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