Opencart is a free builder for e-commerce websites. The service is widely used all over the world. Opencart is among the top 10 most used CMS in the United States and is the fourth most popular e-commerce system in the world.
The first thought of creating such a platform came to Christopher Manu back in 1998. But then he was busy in other projects, and the idea remained unrealized. A couple of years later, Daniel Kerr, a British developer, became interested in the idea of creating an engine for e-commerce projects. In 2009, he managed to launch a complete system. At the moment, the most current version with the latest updates – 4.0.1.1 from August 2022. Now the service is freely available under the GNU General Public License – a universal public license.
Minimum requirements for normal operation of the system:
- server: Apache, recommended by developers;
- PHP: from version 5.3 and later;
- database: recommended – MySQLi.
With Opencart you can create an online store of any complexity. The system allows you to accept payments, manage and process orders, and for this you do not need additional extensions. These features are the basic functionality by default. If you need to customize the project to your needs, you can add special plugins.
Those who have programming skills can make changes to the source code. Opencart software is written in PHP, so knowledge of this language will be useful.
If it is not possible to edit the code yourself, the addition and expansion of functionality can be delegated to programmers. There are a lot of specialists ready to work with this CMS. The Opencart community has more than 110,000 members. In addition, there are enough resources, training videos and articles on the Internet, and the service’s website has detailed documentation.
Who is suitable for CMS Opencart
Opencart is a platform for those who want to create a ready-made online store without significant financial costs and as quickly as possible. The system works on the principle of “easy to install, easy to use”. In practice, it is so. Easy-to-use interface allows you to launch the store in the shortest possible time and within a week to get the first sales. And technical support is ready to answer any question of the developer.
On the one hand, Opencart is suitable for beginners. Since CMS is free, in case of failure the losses will be insignificant. On the other hand, even a beginner will need to independently install plugins, upload products, customize the site, find a suitable hosting and much more. That is, Opencart is an ideal solution for entrepreneurs who have experience in e-commerce. The system will also appeal to those who have a team of specialists who can be entrusted with the tasks of setting up and managing the site.
