PrestaShop Vs Magento Vs OpenCart — Race To Become The Best

9 min readAug 25, 2022

Three of the most popular open source eCommerce platforms available today are PrestaShop, Magento and OpenCart, each offering its advantages and disadvantages over the other. In this guide, we’ll take a close look at each of these platforms and showcase their key features to give you a better idea of which platform best fits your needs. By the end of this guide, you should have enough information to make an informed decision on which platform to select, so let’s get started!

What is the PrestaShop?

PrestaShop is an ecommerce platform that allows users to create and manage online stores. It is a popular choice among small businesses, as it is easy to use and can be customized to meet the needs of each business. Over 250,000 stores use PrestaShop to power their online businesses, making it one of the most popular eCommerce platforms.

It features over 5,500 extensions and themes, which allow you to create your website without any coding knowledge. It also includes over 800+ payment gateways and shipping integrations, making accepting payments and fulfilling orders quick and easy.

With PrestaShop’s community-based design, you can make changes to the interface without any programming skills! You can either start with a pre-built template or customize your site completely from scratch.

Pros of Prestashop

Here are just a few reasons why this platform might be a good choice for your online store:

Ease of Use: PrestaShop is very user-friendly, making it easy for you to set up and manage your store.
Extensible: PrestaShop allows you to add your extensions, which means you can customize the platform to fit your specific needs.
Hosted Solution: PrestaShop is a great option if you’re looking for an ecommerce platform that a provider will host. Many providers offer free or discounted plans for Prestashop stores.
Low Transaction Costs: One of the biggest benefits of using PrestaShop is that transactions tend to cost less than other ecommerce platforms. This makes it an attractive choice for businesses with high transaction volumes.
Customer Data: With PrestaShop, you have complete control over your customer data, which means you can keep it confidential if desired.
Advanced Features: PrestaShop offers a wide range of advanced features, such as product description editing and automatic order handling.
Wide Range of Supported Languages: PrestaShop is available in various languages, making it compatible with a wide range of customers.
Advanced Customization: PrestaShop allows you to customize the platform to match your business needs and preferences.
Cross-Platform Compatibility: PrestaShop is compatible with many platforms, making it a great choice for businesses that want to offer their products online.
Flexible Payment Options: PrestaShop allows you to accept various payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and more.
Customizable Ecommerce Appearance: PrestaShop lets you customize the look and feel of your store, which can help you stand out from the competition.

Cons of Prestashop

There are some cons of PrestaShop that potential users should be aware of.

First, Prestashop is a relatively new platform and may not have all the features and functionality of more established ecommerce solutions.
Additionally, Prestashop can be difficult to learn and use for first-time users.
Finally, Prestashop is not as widely recognized as some of the more popular ecommerce platforms, so it may be difficult to find businesses already using it.

What is the Magento?

Magento is a popular ecommerce platform used by over 20 million businesses. Magento is a platform that enables you to create a custom ecommerce website. It has an easy-to-use interface that allows you to manage your store from a single location.

Magento also has features that allow you to sell online easily, such as automatic inventory management, cross-selling and upselling, and shopping cart integration. It can be used to create a custom website or store, manage inventory, sell online, and integrate with popular shopping carts.

Magento 2.0 is a new version of the Magento platform released in early 2018. Magento 2.0 offers several improvements over the original Magento platform, including better performance and more features.

Pros of Magento

Magento is a well-rounded eCommerce platform that provides retailers with extensive features and options.
Magento also has an active community of users who can offer support and advice should you encounter any problems.
Magento is quick to update its software, so it remains up to date with the latest trends and technologies.
Magento’s modular architecture makes upgrading and customising the platform to meet your specific needs easy.
Magento provides shoppers with various product categories, styles, and colours to choose from.
Magento’s built-in eCommerce security features protect your site from online fraud and theft.
Magento’s drag and drop builder makes customizing your site easy.
Magento provides retailers various payment options, including credit and debit cards, PayPal, and Interac e-Transfer.
Magento is compatible with a wide range of eCommerce software and plugins, giving you the flexibility to add custom features or integrate your site with other popular platforms.
Magento provides a comprehensive analytics system that lets you track your site’s performance and understand how customers are interacting with your site.

Cons of Magento

Some potential drawbacks of using Magento include -

Magento requires a significant initial investment, so it may not be suitable for smaller businesses.
Magento can be complex to set up and use, so it may not be ideal for users new to eCommerce.
Magento’s pricing structure can be complex, so it may be difficult for retailers to understand and afford the platform’s fees.
Magento’s content management system (CMS) can be difficult to use and is not as widely supported as other eCommerce platforms.
Magento is the most popular ecommerce platform on the market, but it isn’t perfect. Here are some of the cons of Magento:
It can be difficult to manage large stores with Magento. There are no built-in tools to help you track your sales or inventory, and you have to rely on third-party applications.
The codebase is complex, and it can be difficult to find skilled developers familiar with Magento. This can lead to delays in your project timeline and increased costs.

What is the OpenCart

OpenCart is a popular shopping cart software that Polish developer Jakub Kucharski created in 2004. It allows you to create a store from scratch or improve an existing website. It has a user-friendly interface and supports a variety of languages. OpenCart is free, open-source software available to download and use without charge.

Pros of OpenCart

OpenCart is a popular ecommerce platform that offers many features not found in PrestaShop or Magento. Here are some benefits of using OpenCart:
OpenCart was originally built for small businesses, making it easier to manage and customize than other platforms.
It is a flexible platform that can be tailored to meet the needs of your business.
The code is available for review and modification, so you can ensure it works exactly the way you want it to.
There are a variety of plugins available that can enhance OpenCart’s functionality.
The support team is available 24/7 to help you with any issues.
The code is available for modification and review.
There are a variety of plugins available to enhance OpenCart’s functionality.
The support team is available 24/7 to help you with any issues.
OpenCart is easy to learn and use.
It is popular among small businesses.
It is a flexible platform that can be tailored to meet the needs of your business.
The code is available for review and modification, so you can ensure it works exactly the way you want it to.
There are a variety of plugins available that can enhance OpenCart’s functionality.

Cons of OpenCart

There are some cons in OpenCart that include:

Complexity — Opencart can be complex to set up and use, particularly if you’re unfamiliar with coding.
Support — Opencart doesn’t have a high level of support from the developer community, so it may be difficult to find help when you need it.
Limits — Opencart doesn’t offer much flexibility regarding product features and design, which may limit your ability to create unique and innovative sales pages.
Limited Customization — Opencart limits the customization you can do to your store’s appearance and functionality.
Limited Product Options — Opencart doesn’t offer as many product options as some of the other ecommerce platforms.
Limited Integration Options — Opencart doesn’t offer as many integration options as some of the other ecommerce platforms.

Which is more secure?

When it comes to online security, all three of these platforms take things seriously. PrestaShop uses a 128-bit SSL encryption to protect data, while Magento employs a 256-bit SSL and a 2-step verification process. OpenCart, on the other hand, relies on a 256-bit SSL encryption and has partnered up with Sucuri to offer website security monitoring and malware removal services. So, in terms of security, all three platforms are equally strong. But, some small differences might make one platform better suited for your business needs than another.

Let’s look at how each platform handles importing products from external sources:

PrestaShop allows you to import products from any source but does not have an advanced search function for finding specific items. It also does not support price imports from Amazon or eBay, which can be difficult if you want to start selling those products.
Magento will let you import prices from external sources but does not allow importing any product data besides SKU and name; this is more suited for a more established store with less need for customization.
OpenCart, however, is much more flexible when it comes to importing products. You can upload them manually or import them through a CSV file so long as they follow their particular format. Importing prices through Excel files is possible as well. You’ll also find that customer reviews and rating stars can be imported automatically via export files from third-party review sites like Trustpilot or Sitejabber (although these sites are not available everywhere).

Which is more scalable?

Scalability is important for any business, but it’s especially crucial for eCommerce businesses. After all, you need to be able to accommodate more customers as your business grows. So, which platform is more scalable: PrestaShop, Magento, or OpenCart?

In terms of scalability, the three platforms have a lot in common: they all offer an open source framework and can run on various servers and architectures. They also offer great flexibility in design and features, so if you’re looking for something with lots of bells and whistles to make your store stand out from the competition, one of these platforms might do the trick. If a plug-and-play solution that can scale up over time is what you’re after, then PrestaShop may be best suited to your needs.

Which are more SEO-friendly?

All three platforms offer features that can help you optimize your site for search engines. These include built-in Google Analytics integration, SEO settings and titles, XML sitemaps and more.

However, PrestaShop appears to be the most SEO-friendly of the three, as it was developed specifically with this in mind. For example, it has a built-in meta title tag generator. It offers page templates optimized for Google PageSpeed Insights (the fastest loading pages), so they will load faster on any device.

Which has high performance?

Regarding high performance, all three eCommerce platforms can hold their own. PrestaShop is powered by the Symfony framework, known for its speed and flexibility. Magento is written in PHP but uses the Zend Framework, which provides excellent performance. OpenCart is based on the CodeIgniter framework, which is also very fast. All three platforms are capable of handling large amounts of traffic and data.

Conclusion

As eCommerce platforms continue to evolve, PrestaShop, Magento, and OpenCart are all jockeying for a position as the go-to platform for online businesses. With so many options available, knowing which platform is right for your business can be difficult.

PrestaShop is a popular ecommerce platform known for its ease of use. It has a large community of users, so you’ll likely find support if you need it. Additionally, PrestaShop is versatile and can be used for various businesses. Magento is another popular ecommerce platform similar to PrestaShop in many ways.

However, Magento has been praised for its flexibility and handling complex shopping processes. OpenCart is a relatively new ecommerce platform that has been growing in popularity recently. It boasts some unique features that may appeal to certain businesses. Overall, all three platforms offer some advantages and disadvantages relative to the others. Ultimately, it’s important to decide what benefits are most relevant to your business before making a decision.

This article will overview each platform and help you determine the best suited for your needs so that you judiciously choose the right Open Source Development Services. After reading this article, hopefully, you’ll better understand what each platform offers and be in a better position to make the best decision for your business. Thanks for reading!