Open source shopping cart vs. closed source (paid) shopping cart

[Emilyecho]

There are two types of shopping carts. One is open source (free) while the other type is closed source (paid). Some people think open source shopping cart is better, someone not. Which one is better? What do you think?

[Toni Anicic]

I would not sort them this way You should look for quality, security and features, it should not matter if they are open source or not.

They all have their positive and negative sides. Open source platforms usually attract lots of community help and develop manny more functions and integrations with other platforms then commercial ones. However commercial ones usually give you better paid support and confidence...

The best way to go in my opinion is Magento. Magento is open source but is built and copyrighted by a commercial company.

I work in a company that have lots of experience with developing web shops in Magento (Inchoo - E-Commerce development company with Magento and Wordpress) and we really recomend this solution over any other a commerce software.

I hope I helped.

[wige]

Whether a platform is targeted by hackers is typically related to how popular that platform is, rather than whether or not it is open source. It generally comes down to how much of an emphasis the developer places in ensuring the product is secure. Deployment and maintenance can also be factors.

With an open source platform that you install, develop and maintain yourself, you have greater flexibility, being able to customize the application as needed for your site. However, you have to constantly monitor the provider's web site for security news, and manually update the software every time a security patch is released. You must also ensure the security and integrity of the backend databases, and other resources on the server, as well as monitor the system for attacks.

With a hosted or managed solution, you lose some of the flexibility. All of the customization options are provided at the discretion of the provider. However, updating the software and securing the servers falls to the developer, not to you. On the downside, you have no way of knowing how much the provider will stay on top of the security of the services.

A final option is to have a custom built system. My company's web site required a high level of customization and security, so we developed a custom CMS from the ground up. However, in this situation it is again important to constantly monitor the application for suspicious activity. You do get the benefit of being a smaller target with this approach, however.

[osicsophie]

it depends.
You can use an open source shopping cart and paid for some specific support from that cart support team.

If you have no idea about open source software, you can visit Souceforge to get an overall understanding about it.

[sfatula]

If you have programming experience, open source can be very nice since you can fine tune it to exactly what you want.

[sportsgunner]

If you have no clue on website security and design, get a paid cart, you save so much time seeting it up and once you learn it. Keep it and start another cart with a open source.

[hk167]

paid cart is sweet when u start, once you got big and bigger, you will feel pain in the ass as their fee goes up, no control over functions , etc. open source all th way man

[sportsgunner]

Monster charges a flat rate, while yahoo charges on % ,but than again yahoo upfront costs are low

[sagar]

I prefer open source shopping cart because the source code is given and it is very easy to manage the software.we cannot depend on anyone to change. The users can view the source code and can make any amendments.search the web for the open and closed source shopping cart software.you can get mostly the open source shopping cart software.Here i have given the example of open source shopping cart software - Zeuscart .I tried to give the example of closed source shopping cart but i can't find it.

[ottoskorzeny]

I agree with the other posters. Security and flexibility are key factors.

One more I'd consider is portablity. I had stores with Monster prior to the buyout. My experience wasn't the best with them and moving carts was a HUGE pain in the but. You can lose ranking and need a PHD to get the 301s right to prevent it. If I was using an opensource cart, I could have just easily packed up and moved to a different host. This is a whole lot easier than switching solutions.

Here is a blog on this very topic:

Hosted Shopping Cart or DIY Cart? | eCommerce Shopping Cart Solution Reviews

I'm also of the school of thought that merchants should focus on their stores and not have to be sys admins. You can do both but it will take away from your time to do other - more important things, e.g., SEO and cust service.

[neonexus]

Based on early adoption rates, customer satisfaction and end user experience levels, Magento eCommerce is hard to beat right now. I've used a number of eCommerce solutions including custom written, OSCommerce, etc. and Magento "knocked my socks off" when I first started using it. Well worth taking a serious look.

[X-Cart]

Important advantage of paid shopping carts is your confidence - confidence in the software future, in professional support. You can be sure that you will get assistance from the people who actually created the software.

[CS-Cart]

Overall, open source carts are more flexible, but only in good hands. Not only if we speak of support and customization, but also secure and high-quality hosting, fast and qualified bug fixing etc.

[gavjof]

Open source will often require a lot of hours to familiarise yourself with it's functions, install modules/customise or read support forums. This time could be measured against buying a commercial product with a support package.

If you are not skilled in php/html/css/etc then hiring a developer to create your open source store can be more costly than simply paying for a manage solution. Not a bad point as it can also be more flexible.

[bsnelling]

I suggest x-cart for new and experienced users. It comes with a lot of bells and whistles. If you are experienced, you can implement it; if not they have a great support team to help you with it. The system is very flexible.