20 Best Open Source and Free Ecommerce Platforms for 2020

However, the open source model has received a lot of praise from those who use it, especially since these online store systems are completely free, as they are managed and developed by many people around the world. whole. documentation and blog posts to guide you through your journey.

When researching and choosing one of these ecommerce frameworks, it is important to choose the type of development experience you are looking for.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Are you interested in self-hosting?

Or would you prefer to pay a small fee per month for hosting and all e-commerce functionality to be bundled into one attractive package?

One of the main decisions is whether you want to use one of the open source (free) e-commerce platforms or a more user-friendly platform involving a monthly subscription.

For example, you can choose to pay as little as $ 9 a month for an ecommerce platform like Shopify, which contains everything related to hosting, a website builder, plugins, marketing tools, and options. inventory included.

Personally, I would always go with an option like Shopify on an open source system, but there are a few reasons to consider the latter:

Open source e-commerce frameworks are free.
You often have more creative control over the design and operation of the store.
Open source solutions often contain more unique features as they are constantly being developed.

Open source systems are built by a community. They are incredibly developer friendly and the support from other developers is excellent.
As always, the open source has several drawbacks:

Open source ecommerce platforms generally require more development or coding knowledge (but you can still hire a developer).
You have to look around to find a server for hosting by yourself.
All operations related to the site, such as maintenance, security and speed optimization, must be carried out by you.
Web designers are generally less user-friendly than those of large e-commerce frameworks like Shopify.

It's entirely up to you to decide which type of platform is right for you, but for now, let's talk about the best open source and free e-commerce platforms on the market.

1. Square Online Store - Best Global Free E-Commerce Platform
square online store

If you are not particularly keen on joining the premium Wix premium plan train, you may want to try Square Store online.

Square has been around for a long time as a versatile payment solution. Until she finally decides to spread her wings by setting up a multifaceted commercial ecosystem. You can read our full Square Store online.

So far, many people are aware that Square is increasingly facilitating merchants who deal with physical businesses, restaurants, cafes, etc. While this is fairly accurate, it turns out that Square has become much more than that.

In essence, the platform offers a myriad of extended functionality as well as integrations that support not only physical businesses, but also e-commerce websites.
All things considered, the most notable feature here is the ability to create a fully functional e-commerce website for free.

You don't have to pay anything to set up an online store. Not even for accommodation. In fact, you can go on without any coding knowledge.

Creating free e-commerce sites with Square is as easy as 1-2-3. Once you have selected an ideal theme from a range of predefined customizable options, make a few adjustments and voila!

In the end, you will realize the full experience of the online store. And in case the default features are inadequate, you can use Square Shape; Integrations to link your free e-commerce website to third-party applications for booking and scheduling, employee and inventory management, accounting , And much more.

But that's not all. If you're having trouble coding, you can capitalize on the Square Connect API to create your own specialized integrations. Alternatively, it is also possible to link free e-commerce sites to their corresponding offline counterparts. This feature alone is particularly useful for streamlining multi-store sales and product management.

That said, I can guess what you might be wondering at this point. How on earth is Square making money from it?

Interestingly, there is no monthly plan for e-commerce on this platform. Not one. Instead, it applies a fixed rate of 2.9% plus 30 ¢ for each online transaction. Therefore, e-commerce sites are really free and permanent.

Advantages of the place
Setting up a complete ecommerce site is fairly easy. Just download the application from the online store, install it on your computer, then launch its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor to design a unique site for free.
Although building e-commerce sites is actually free, the subsequent pricing framework is fairly simple and favorable. You basically pay 2.9% plus 30 ¢ when you start selling, which is certainly reasonable compared to the fees transaction standard from other platforms.
Square shares an extremely diverse ecosystem with third-party application integrations. You can take advantage of this to configure additional functionality for ecommerce websites. Otherwise, use the Square Connect API for your own unique integrations.
If you have a decent social network, you can consider expanding your ecommerce site to sell articles on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. Consequently, the entire inventory will be synchronized in real time across all sales channels for streamlined management.
Square is a complete sales platform that facilitates online and offline sales.
Disadvantages of the place
While excluding full subscription from the start makes creating ecommerce websites incredibly easy, it turns out there is a caveat. Square Online Store is apparently infamous for the frequent holding of funds for transactions it considers suspicious. The platform continues to do so in order to protect itself from possible online fraud.
Square is only ideal when it comes to basic e-commerce sites. Due to the simple nature of its functionality, it can be difficult to create or run a complex online store. You can only do this on a dedicated e-commerce platform such as WooCommerce.
Square does not have a fully reliable customer support system. While he offers phone, social media, and email support, he mainly prefers to use the latter two. In addition, the platform has not yet implemented support for live chat.


2. WooCommerce (On WordPress) - Best open source e-commerce platform
an open source e-commerce platform - WooCommerce

WooCommerce (read our review here) is a WordPress plugin, so you will need to install WordPress (open source) on your host, then install the WooCommerce plugin on your site.

You just come from:

Log in to your WordPress site.
Go to: Plugins> Add a new one.
Searches for 'WooCommerce'.
Choose Install now.
Choose Activate Now and you're ready for the WooCommerce Assistant!
open source e-commerce - woocommerce plugin

It transforms automatically.
just any WordPress website into a fully functional online store, with inventory management, coupons, and product pages.

Benefits of WooCommerce:
The plugin is free to download and install. Many stores don't need anything more than the plugin.
It connects to all the main payment gateways. By default, you are assigned PayPal and Stripe, two of the most recognized gateways on the market. In addition, you can accept payments via Amazon Pay and PayFast
open source e-commerce - payments on woocommerce

With a WooCommerce theme, you hardly have to do any work outside of adding content. You can get a theme from the official WooCommerce store, plus you can use a third-party website such as Themeforest which has the largest directory of WooCommerce themes on the market.
open source e-commerce - extension of the WooCommerce storefront

You can offer coupons and discounts, as well as adding several other features using the extension library.
WooCommerce is a very popular platform, which means that fantastic support is available. Note that you should always make sure you are using the latest version of the plugin before asking for help.
open source e-commerce - updates on woocommerce

The WooCommerce Help Center offers 5 options that can provide you with the answer you are looking for.

WooCommerce 101 - You can watch video material that explains in detail the page you are viewing.
Help Support - Here you will find links to documentation, the WordPress.org forum and the WooCommerce Help Center where you can send a ticket.
You found a bug? - If you spot a bug, you can submit it to the WordPress team. You will need to explain in detail what you found and provide screenshots.
Education - WooCommerce has a multitude of partners that offer customers courses and training
Setup Wizard - This wizard takes you back to the start and guides you through the process of setting up WooCommerce pages, shipping, taxes and payments.
Disadvantages of WooCommerce:
There are many additional expenses, such as a WooCommerce theme, additional extensions, hosting and a domain name. It can identify itself as free, but a theme can cost you more than $ 100, the domain will be $ 30 and hosting can range from $ 4 per month to $ 5,000 for corporate websites.
open source e-commerce - woocommerce theme

WooCommerce has several moving parts. Beginners can be intimidated, especially for tasks such as SEO, security, hosting and caching. If you are just starting to learn, the learning curve is long, which is why newcomers opt for something like: Shopify
You will need technical knowledge and development skills for WooCommerce to be profitable. Otherwise, you will have to subcontract to the selection of "WooExperts" from WooCommerce who offer hourly prices and project prices which can be expensive.
open source e-commerce - woo experts


3. Multi-supplier CS-Cart
cs-cart open source e-commerce platform

Well, if you haven't read our CS-Cart Review Yet, here's the bottom line: CS-Cart is a renowned Russian software company that has been serving e-commerce merchants since 2005.

Now, I voluntarily left out the "Multi-Vendor" part because the company distributes two different CS-Cart e-commerce applications.

For starters, there is the "CS-Cart" Platform, which is essentially shopping cart software with the essential features for setting up a typical online store.

Then we have the multi-vendor platform CS-Cart, which is also e-commerce software, but a little different from its brother CS-Cart.

You see, CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is not for online merchants who want to start e-commerce stores. Rather, it targets large players (mainly businesses) who wish to create markets. I'm talking about creating websites like eBay or Etsy, which usually host a lot of merchants under one roof.

In short, CS-Cart Multi-Vendor can help you create your own market, with the corresponding functionality that small merchants might need to create their storefronts on your website.

The solution itself is self-hosted and comes with an open-source framework, with 500 e-commerce capabilities, and
as many additional themes and integrations.

The problem, however, is that Multi-Vendor from CS-Cart is not entirely free. In fact, you won't get anything for free. CS-Cart Multi-Vendor will offer you a 15-day free trial, followed by a 30-day risk-free purchase period. This means that they will refund all your money if you don't like their software.

Now you will not pay for this service monthly. CS-Cart Mult-Vendor is supplied at a one-time cost of $ 1,450, $ 3,500 or $ 7,500. Ultimately, what you pay for depends on the features you are looking for.

But, if you ask me, the price is completely justified, because it offers everything you can think of. It even comes with its own layout editor, as well as excellent SEO and marketing tools, an integrated content management system, a user-friendly admin panel, a responsive structure for mobile, as well as integrations for many payment and shipping services 80.

Then, since this is an open source application, you can of course create your own custom features and integrations. The possibilities here are limitless.

Ultimately, as a buyer, you become the market leader. CS-Cart multi-supplier allows you to host suppliers, which you will all coordinate from the main administrator panel.

In other words, the admin panel gives you the power to control everything about the market - from its suppliers to the corresponding payments, through the architecture and design of the market. It's like building an online mall and managing your merchants afterwards.

For their part, sellers must register as on any other market platform. Then, once you've approved their details, they can set up their own storefronts.

The windows themselves can sell different types of products and services. Physical and digital products are allowed here. Ultimately, it all depends on what you choose to have your suppliers process.

That said, CS-Cart Multi-Vendors will provide your suppliers with their own admin panels for managing their stores, as well as configuring functions such as product categories, filters, search, options shipping, etc. pay via a monthly subscription schedule, sales commissions, or both. The choice is yours, so be wise about it.

Otherwise, you can find all the juicy details on CS-Cart Multi-Vendor from our full review here.

Advantages of CS-Cart Multi-Vendor
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is as complete as the e-commerce platforms on the market come. It gives you all the functionality you might need to set up and manage an online virtual mall. In addition, your suppliers benefit from the essential functionalities and integrations of the showcase. They even have the privilege of choosing customizable themes for their online stores.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is a self-hosted e-commerce platform that you acquire and install on the server of your choice. Then from there you need to run and manage all of the resulting tools. This translates into unlimited flexibility, especially since it is also an open source system.
Although CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is not a completely free open source e-commerce platform, it is sold at a single price. So there is no monthly subscription headache.
The multi-supplier CS-Cart application is accompanied by comprehensive documentation and video tutorials. You should be able to resolve problems that develop along the way, as well as understand how the whole system works.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor has apparently prioritized online marketing. It offers a wide range of SEO and digital promotion tools that suppliers can use to develop their activities.
Another thing that the platform favors is security. It continues to release several updates each year, which come in the form of feature upgrades or fixes to address the vulnerabilities. This ensures that you have up-to-date security capabilities.
The main administration panel is elegantly designed to provide you with a seamless user experience. Navigation is simple and the menu options are well organized for convenient access. Therefore, it doesn't take much to learn the tricks of the trade here.
Disadvantages of multi-vendor CS-Cart
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is not an open-source e-commerce platform

completely free. After a 15-day free trial period, you must purchase the software for at least $ 1,450. The other two packages cost $ 3,500 and $ 7,500.
Since it is self-hosted, you should invest in a third-party hosting solution, as well as a developer for configuration and subsequent maintenance.
Although we appreciate this gesture, the money back guarantee period only lasts for 30 days. Such a period may not be sufficient for a thorough analysis of the functionalities and capacities of several CS-Cart suppliers.
While the main admin panel is intuitive and easy to use, it is quite different when we move to the supplier side. Their interface might not be as simple, as eBay or Amazon say. Therefore, they may need a little time to get used to the tools and functions.

4. nopCommerce
Free and open source e-commerce platform nopcommerce

nopCommerce is yet another e-commerce platform of Russian origin. But unlike CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, it is a completely free open source e-commerce platform designed for online stores.

Since 2008, nopCommerce has already attracted more than 2.5 million 2.5 downloads, for good reason. If you want to join the movement, you can acquire the Microsft ASP.NET platform directly from their company's website. There is even a one-click installation version available for download, without the source code.

But, if you are a developer, it goes without saying that the alternative source code version is the best. You can rework it as you wish. Alternatively, you can also download the source code from GitHub.

Now, the subsequent installation process shouldn't take you very long, especially if you choose to continue with the installer with one click. However, larger companies would likely take longer because they need time to refine the underlying hood of nopCommerce.

Whichever route you choose, you will ultimately discover the good reasons why many users have gained nopCommerce.

Once you install it, you will notice that it is structured to support both novice merchants and demanding e-commerce experts. In other words, nopCommerce is capable of serving all types of establishments - from startups and small businesses to medium and large businesses.

Its complete set of tools includes a flexible shopping cart (with all the corresponding e-commerce functionalities), an administration panel for managing and monitoring your online business, as well as a window for hosted customers. .

The default nopCommerce platform also has many easy-to-use SEO features to facilitate your online marketing. Its product pages, for example, are well optimized for SEO URLs and user-friendly content for search engines.

Ultimately, nopCommerce does not limit you to a single online store. It is flexible enough to support multiple stores in different areas, all of which are managed from a central administration panel. This basically means that it is ideal for large companies that manage a large portfolio of e-commerce stores.

Interestingly, nopCommerce doesn't stop there. It goes ahead and offers market integrations that basically transform your store into an online virtual shopping center, very similar to the CS-Cart Multi-Vendor. Consequently, all the products of your suppliers are displayed collectively, the proceeds of the subsequent sale being directed to the respective merchant accounts.

With this you can find out more about the platform through our detailed nopCommerce Reviews.

Benefits of nopCommerce
nopCommerce is a free, open-source e-commerce platform. You will not pay anything to acquire and use it for the long term.
There are two main options for downloading nopCommerce. Online merchants who are not familiar with programming can download the simplified installation version with a click that does not come with the source code. Developers, on the other hand, could choose to use the source code version for its extensive customization capabilities.
NopCommerce comes with all the essential features you would need to set up a fully functional online store. Therefore, you should be able to sell different types of products and services.
configure SEO settings, manage all ecommerce settings, integrate additional third-party applications, and rework the underlying code.
nopCommerce is capable of facilitating numerous e-commerce stores on a single administrator interface. You can also create a market where small sellers could sell their products collectively.
nopCommerce is supported by a large community of dynamic developers around the world. They are constantly improving the platform to make it better, faster and more secure.
NopCommerce now boasts of thousands of predefined integrations. All of this comes from different developers who have created integrations with popular shipping, payment, marketing, site creation and hosting solutions. So, of course, you should be able to connect your nopCommerce system to virtually any popular e-commerce solution from the start.
nopCommerce is not the type of e-commerce platform that works for all merchants. If you don't have the skills for CSS, HTML, MS SQL and .NET programming, you may be more fortunate with a simpler solution. nopCommerce basically targets people who know how to work with Microsoft platforms.
Although downloading the nopCommerce software is completely free, you may end up paying heavy charges for development services, third-party add-ons, themes, web hosting and an SSL certificate.
Customer support is very limited here. Once you download and install nopCommerce, the maintenance of the entire platform as well as the troubleshooting of all issues is entirely up to you

5. X-Cart
open source e-commerce - X-Cart

X-Cart has helped create over 35,000 online stores, and that number has grown rapidly in recent years. As with all of these e-commerce platforms on the list, it is free, open source, and self-hosted.

X-Cart is often considered one of the fastest open source platforms on the market, and it also has an incredible number of features to help you. There is also a free trial for the premium plan, which is worth 495 (single payment).

Advantages of X-Cart:
It depends on the package you choose, but you can often get full multilingual and multicurrency support. This is particularly useful if you operate a business store.
open source e-commerce - X-Cart management languages

You can integrate your shopping cart with the most renowned payment gateways in the world, such as PayPal and Sage.
It is free and open source so similar to WooCommerce that excellent support for developers is available. Its PHP code means that you can easily add additional integrations manually.
open source e-commerce - open source x-cart addons

The most advanced developers will have all the control they need with X-Cart. It's quite fun to play with and it's very scalable. As your store grows, X-Cart can grow alongside you.
You can also rest knowing that X-Cart is completely secure and PCI compatible.
Disadvantages of X-Cart:
You do not have access to direct customer support, unless you pay a supplement. Other than that, you will just have to rely on the X-Carts self-help tools.
open source e-commerce - x-cart support

You even have to pay for accommodation if you opt for one of the paid plans. Again, this can cost anywhere from $ 5 a month to several thousand.
Although the premium plan only costs 495 for a lifetime, it still seems a bit high compared to the other options. Also, if you need a multi-vendor plan and then continue to increase the price increases dramatically
open source e-commerce - x-cart price

Most likely you will need to use some sort of manual coding when setting up your store. If you don't need PHP code, you will have to outsource development work, which will be expensive.

6. Zen Cart
open source e-commerce - zen cart

The reason why Zen Cart was created was that people without a development diploma could create their own online stores.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that you don't need coding knowledge, but it's close enough.

But, I can assure you that Zen Cart is more user-friendly than most other open source e-commerce platforms, so you can find out more if you want to grow quickly
you have advanced development skills.

Advantages of Zen Cart:
Zen Cart is rather secure software. So you know that your site and your customer information are protected. Zen Cart knows that security is important and has provided excellent security documentation.
Zen Cart is also ideal for scaling up a store due to its wide range of features and comprehensive customization options. There are modules that the developers have already created on Zen Cart that you can download and add to your store.
open source ecommerce - zencart plugin

You can send HTML emails directly from your website to potential customers and customers you've already gathered.
The Zen Cart community has been strong for over a decade now, which means there is a fantastic experience to help you
Zen Cart offers great multilingual options if you are a corporate store and want to sell internationally.
open source e-commerce - multilingual zencart

Disadvantages of Zen
The platform does not provide any dedicated support. The only way to get help is to use a dedicated third party.
Upgrading your software can sometimes be difficult. In the past, customers have complained that they have lost some of their store's custom options.
While there is a ready-to-use SEO tool, you should purchase the more advanced features that other companies would offer for free, such as sitemaps and meta tags.
open source e-commerce - zen cart plugins

There aren't many add-ons or extensions and problems have been reported with how they speak to each other. It is likely that you use several plugins and that sometimes they do not play ball.
The models are far from impressive, but you can still find them from third parties.

7. Magento Open Source - The most popular open source e-commerce platform
open source e-commerce - Magento

For starters, it has more features than you can expect to use. However, it does open up all kinds of possibilities in terms of marketing to your customers and creating things like membership plans, recurring payments and discounts.

Are you looking for complete control over the design and functionality of the site?

If the answer is yes, consider Magento Open Source. It's very similar to WordPress, where the community is strong, you can choose from hundreds of thousands of themes, and many extensions are available to you.

Advantages of Magento:
It's free and there is a paid version if you want to upgrade and adapt your business accordingly.
open source e-commerce - magento products

You almost never need to search for an extension with Magento, as the list of features is overwhelming and available right out of the box. This includes features such as coupons, sitemaps and bulk import / export, as well as conversion tools such as one-page control and order tracking.
This may include price alerts and back-to-stock messages.
open source e-commerce - Magento product alerts

The platform allows you to create separate multilingual sites that load depending on the location of the user. This is an attractive feature for department stores or corporate stores.
You can customize the user interface and admin area, as well as your store, to make them look unique
Disadvantages of Magento:
Magento is full of features, but it can also make it awkward and resource intensive. Therefore, you may need to allocate a decent amount of money and time for optimization, as this could slow down your site.
Although you can learn to use Magento, the main reason you would consider this possibility is if you had development skills. It is common knowledge that large companies have opted for Magento because they have the means to access a developer who knows the development code and have the necessary financial means.
open source e-commerce - magento customers

Similar to the other options so far, you are alone when it comes to customer support
As you can see above, Magento is very good for corporate customers. It can
be fairly expensive to factor in the cost of themes, hosting and domain.

8. OpenCart
Compared to other open source platforms, OpenCart (read our review here) is actually quite easy to use and lightweight. It's free and there is a decent community to turn to if you have problems designing your store.

I recommend it for startups because it doesn't take too long to customize the site from scratch.

open source e-commerce - Opencart

Due to the ease of use, the overall cost of setting up a store generally decreases. For example, you don't have to pay for a special developer, the themes aren't expensive, and you certainly don't need additional plugins.

Observation and user experience have improved considerably in recent years and are much more user-friendly.

Advantages of OpenCart:
Startup costs are pretty low, download is free and there are some great themes that are also available for free
open source e-commerce - opencart themes

The functionality is solid and the extensive catalog functionality does wonders for order processing. For example, Open Cart offers different sizes, colors, length and height as ready-to-use product options.
open source e-commerce - opencart attributes

The average person should do well with OpenCart. Not to mention the fact that it does not absorb resources like Magento and their learning curve takes much less time than Magento.
Open Cart offers access to the most renowned payment gateways as well as to more targeted niches that you prefer
open source e-commerce - open shopping cart payments

Do you have multiple stores or are you planning? You can set products to appear in different stores, as well as different prices for each. You can then customize each store as you wish
open source e-commerce - opencart multi store

Disadvantages of OpenCart:
If you compare the list of Magento features with OpenCart, this is not a comparison. Magento is probably the biggest OpenCart competitor in this list, but Magento far outweighs in terms of functionality.
You will need to add many add-ons for OpenCart to work for you, which means it can be very expensive.
open source e-commerce - open cart plugins

While this is easier for beginners to use, it also means there are fewer customization options. You might think of OpenCart as one of the few open source e-commerce platforms that experienced developers prefer to avoid.
Similar to Zen Cart, the updates that are launched can cause problems for your website if it contains many custom elements. Bugs will invariably appear because they cannot be tested on all custom websites.

9. PrestaShop - Best open source e-commerce platform for startups
open source e-commerce - Prestashop

PrestaShop is a bit new to the e-commerce platform game, but it has made a name for itself thanks to its ease of use and the superb interface it offers. Another thing to consider is that it doesn't take a lot of experience to install the plugin and start building your store.

Therefore, small start-up businesses will find it fairly easy to get started.

Advantages of PrestaShop:
PrestaShop presents a user-friendly interface with effortless inventory management and an understandable store maintenance process for everyone. In addition, you can use the PrestaShop live demo before signing up to try a little
open source e-commerce - prestashop demo

PrestaShop provides a nice interface for creating different websites for multiple languages ​​and currencies. You can also translate the back-office administration area of ​​your website. PrestaShop currently offers 75 different languages.
open source e-commerce - languages ​​in prestashop

It is a relatively lightweight e-commerce platform, saving you from slowing down your site or slowing it down when you design the site on your computer. as opposed to Magento.
Multi-vendor support is similar to Open Cart if you want to run multiple stores.
PrestaShop has arguably the best collection of themes on this list. On their site, they currently offer 4,500 models that guarantee a different look to the majority of websites on the platform.
electronic commerce

open source tronic - Prestashop themes

Themes can be divided into several categories, including:

Compatibility - you can search for themes based on the version of PrestaShop you are using
Categories - find a theme based on your industry
Style - what is your brand? Do you need a clean, minimalist or baroque website?
Features - Is a particular feature important to you? Do you have a lot of products?

Developer - Do you only want to watch themes developed by premium developers? Then you can sort by the prestige of the development company.
Disadvantages of PrestaShop:
PrestaShop is not as robust as other options such as Magento, so the scalability is not quite there. If necessary, you can grow in an international department store using the software. However, it is really suitable for small and medium businesses.
There is no need to install additional modules for a classic online store, but more often than not it seems like you have to pay for some sort of extension and they are not cheap.
open source e-commerce - prestashop plugin

The default theme provided is not as beautiful as on other open source software, such as the Storefront option provided by WooCommerce.
PrestaShop is a bit light in terms of marketing tools. For example, you cannot cross-sell products, which is a criticism that is widely addressed to them.

10. osCommerce
open source e-commerce - oscommerce

And osCommerce (read our review here), you have access to a thriving community of developers and users, through a great forum to find solutions to your problems and chat with other people. Almost all 300,000 online stores are made with osCommerce. So you know that many companies already find it suitable.

Pricing is obviously a plus since you don't have to pay a penny to start an online store. I would also give it the highest marks for functionality, online support and ease of use.

Benefits of osCommerce:
The online support is pretty incredible. Obviously, you won't get direct support, but the osCommerce forum offers millions of active conversations that you can search for. You also have the opportunity to share your own thoughts or questions. More than 1.5 million messages have been added to the forum.
open source e-commerce - oscommerce forum

Similar to WordPress, the strong community means that you also have access to many plug-ins and add-ons. Most developers distribute them for free, but you will also find some that you have to pay for, or somewhere that you may need to upgrade to get better features. Just click on the add below and instantly download it to your store.
open source e-commerce - oscommerce add ons

One of the benefits of osCommerce is that it's easy to open up and do more advanced customizations. Even less experienced developers can go there and make changes quite easily. Also, you should have no problem finding and paying a developer to work with osCommerce.
There are over 7,000 free features that you can take advantage of. We've regularly talked about the overall costs that websites can generate, but osCommerce is perhaps one of the cheapest on this list.
Disadvantages of osCommerce:
The main reason why you might consider using something different, like Magento, is why osCommerce is not known to evolve as well. It is entirely possible to make a larger ecommerce site, but I recommend it only for small to medium sized stores.
OsCommerce software requires more maintenance than other platforms. This means that you will need to spend more time on updating, site security, and work such as SEO.
Because of your ability to play with code in osCommerce, it may be more prone to errors and breakages. You probably don't want an ecommerce site, so it's important to find a great developer who can protect the site. Currently, there are only two developers licensed by osCommerce to assist you, which is a bit concerning.
open source e-commerce - oscommerce partners

There were already question marks regarding osCommerce security and hacking of osCommerce users in 2011

 has shown that there is still work to be done in this regard.

11. JigoShop
open source e-commerce - Jigoshop

JigoShop (read our review here) is often compared to WooCommerce because of its ease of use and its sleek interface. You can also extend the functionality of the site with a wide range of plug-ins and add-ons, making it easy to grow your website.

Overall, JigoShop development has improved over the years, so you will find that JigoShop is fairly easy to learn, even as a beginner. You'll find a basic dashboard, amazing themes (which are better than most themes from other platforms) and a quick interface when adding products, products to promotions.

Advantages of JigoShop:
You can't find an open source ecommerce platform easier to use than this one. Other than WooCommerce, it would also be at the top of my list for beginners or intermediates. Jigoshop recognizes this and, as in the case of PrestaShop, it offers a demo version of the website's front-end and back-end before you download.
open source e-commerce - jigoshop demo

You can choose from a wide selection of themes, some of which are among the most beautiful on the market. There is a 14 day money back guarantee on themes and you can also get a 10% discount on your next store purchase if you leave a review.
open source e-commerce - jigoshop theme

It's pretty easy to change your site code. However, no website development partner is listed on your site. You must therefore modify the code yourself.
The integrations are very numerous, similar to those of WordPress, where you can search online for the type of extensions you want and return dozens of solutions. There are currently 40 free extensions to get you started.
open source e-commerce - Free extensions from Jogoshop

Disadvantages of JigoShop:
You don't get any options for customer support. You are left to the forums and blog posts provided by JigoShop.
There are not many initial features, so you need to install add-ons. As I mentioned, 40 is free, which is useful. Unfortunately, there is no free SEO option offered by many other open source platforms.
Although the themes are beautiful, you will find it difficult to locate them for free. You can find free solutions, but these are usually a bit watered down. Therefore, if you go with JigoShop, you should keep the theme expenses in your mind.
JigoShop is not very popular at the moment, so there are not many partners listed on their website. As you can see below, there is only one option for website hosting.
open source e-commerce - jigoshop partners


12. Drupal Commerce
open source e-commerce - Drupal commerce

Drupal is one of the most common options when designing any type of website. It is one of the close competitors of WordPress since a high percentage of the Internet is powered by Drupal.

Not to mention that you can create virtually any type of website.

As for Drupal Commerce, it is a separate module that allows you to quickly build your ecommerce site on top of your already existing website, and it is one of the best solutions if you are considering switching to scale quickly.

The advantage is that there is a huge community of people behind Drupal. So you can go to forums, social pages and blogs.

Benefits of Drupal Commerce:
Drupal was designed with the idea that only professionals would use it. This is why, if you are a developer, you will feel right at home. Drupal's original goal has continued over the years and is one of the main reasons why it is so powerful. There are very strict development standards on the Drupal website which must be followed to ensure a high quality result.
open source e-commerce - drupal code

With caching built in, overall speed and performance is much better than that of other open source e-commerce platforms such as Magento.
Unlike many other free open source solutions, Drupal Commerce has its own security system. It is also updated frequently to ensure that all bugs reported by users are fixed.

Help each other throughout your journey. A comprehensive help guide is also available on the Drupal website, as well as a very useful video library.
open source ecommerce - Drupal commerce video library

In the video library, you can find the following materials:

The basics of electronic commerce
New Drupal Release Webinars
Drupal presentations from e-commerce conferences
Product tutorials
Disadvantages of Drupal trading:
If you are new to Drupal Commerce, you will find it difficult to manage an online store. It's hard to learn and most of the discussion in the community comes from more experienced developers.
Drupal Commerce websites can become resource hogs because they often turn into large sites with many components and modifications.
Drupal Commerce was created by the people behind the Commerce Guys. If you need their support, it comes at a price. For site changes, registration, and auditing, it starts at 580 per month.
open source e-commerce - commreceguys support

Even if you are an experienced developer, you might find the interface complicated, but the development guidelines are also very restrictive.
Drupal Commerce offers no chance of paying a low cost host. You need high power and speed, preferably a VPS or dedicated server.

13. WP eCommerce
open source e-commerce - WP eCommerce

WP Ecommerce is the eclipsed cousin of WooCommerce. They're not technically related at all, but it's a solid WordPress plugin that doesn't get as much attention as WooCommerce.

Let me tell you how it works. First, you install WordPress on your hosting server, followed by the WP eCommerce plug-in.

This turns an ordinary WordPress dashboard into an ecommerce control center. So you can add products, run promotions, create categories, etc.

As simple as that!

Smaller sites will be compatible with the plug-in, but you must install paid add-ons for additional functionality.

Benefits of WP E-Commerce:
The plug-in supports about a dozen payment gateways, but WP eCommerce provides assistance if you need to use a gateway that is not in the system.
The backend is easy to navigate and the results of the frontend are fairly clean and modern. What's more, you can customize it all easily with simple CSS and HTML files.
WP ecommerce offers a robust coupon functionality that allows single use, values ​​based on percentages or a fixed number. You can also put a restriction on certain reduction products.
open source e-commerce - wp e-commerce coupons

You can pay for direct customer support.
SSL is provided in the box for your order on your store.
Disadvantages of WP ecommerce:
There aren't many add-ons, in fact, there are only 16 available in the store.
Multilingual tools are correct. Apparently there are more advanced multilingual and multicurrency tools in the near future, so I'll see how it goes.
You can pay extra for premium support that offers training videos. However, a number of WordPress reviews suggest that they are not actually provided to you. Currently, training videos simply go to a 404 page.
open source e-commerce - wp premium support

You won't find as many WordPress themes for WP eCommerce as for WooCommerce.
According to the WordPress site, the plugin has not been updated for a year

14. Ubercart
open source e-commerce - ubercart

Drupal Commerce was created by a former Ubercart developer. Therefore, many people claim that Ubercart is the best because it is the original and offers more features, while others claim that Drupal Commerce is the most advanced version of Ubercart.

This is what you can normally find when an employee leaves their company to start their own business and start the competition.

However, there are significant differences, which makes it very important to find the one that best suits your business. It would be a pain to migrate from one to the other after having made a bad choice.

In short, both are highly customizable, but Drupal Commerce is more suited to complex customizations. Most of the differences are in the extensions and add-ons because some extensions are not quite simple.

Benefits of Ubercart:
Recording activities in Ubercart is an elegant way to locate order statuses, wherever a customer is in the purchasing process.
While Ubercart and Drupal Commerce are developer friendly, I would say Ubercart is best for less experienced users.
It's simple enough to work well in small stores, but you have the ability to grow.
There are fantastic tutorials on how to perform frequently asked actions. Just click on it to access their YouTube channel.
open source e-commerce - ybercart ubercart tutorials

The payment modules and shipping options are all integrated into the open source e-commerce platform. Therefore, you don't have to think about this during launch.
Disadvantages of Ubercart:
Personalization controls are less powerful in Ubercart compared to Drupal Commerce. This may be good for newer developers, but some more advanced users may want more.
Although you can scale up to support a large number of products and product variants, Drupal Commerce is much more suited to a large online store.
Ubercart announces a demo version of its platform. However, when you click on it, the website does not exist.
open source e-commerce - ubercart demo

As you can see in the screenshot above, Ubercart hasn't been updated since February 2018, which is almost a year ago. Open source platforms develop bugs and need to be updated more regularly than that.
SKUs are not as simple and compact as competing products, so users may have problems when working with shipping weight calculations.

15. Wix Ecommerce


I bet you've heard of it before. Wix is ​​undoubtedly one of the most famous cloud-based online store builders.

Although most of its plans are premium, it turns out that Wix also offers an additional option that you can use to create a free and attractive website.

The best thing about this specific platform is this: even free users can leverage its intuitive website builder by dragging and dropping to design a complete site without coding. In fact, you should be able to create a basic free website in minutes.

The free plan is especially great for beginners who need powerful tools to create and host a standard business website. It provides access to a wide range of customizable predefined templates, as well as additional icons, clip arts and images.

So you know what? You also benefit from the promotion of your free professional site, thanks to the simple SEO and email marketing features offered free of charge by Wix. You can combine this with many other free apps from Wix App Market to form a dynamic marketing framework.

And in case you are worried about space, you should rest as it will probably take you some time to exhaust the 500MB of free storage space on the site. The corresponding bandwidth, on the other hand, extends to 1GB on a domain using the Wix platform. In other words, your free domain name will be something like username.wixsite.com/ site address.

But here's the thing. You always benefit from secure web hosting, unlimited 24/7 support, as well as automatic mobile optimization. So, of course, your visitors will be able to surf easily from any device.

Unfortunately, Wix will bombard your free website with ads. The only way to avoid this is to switch to one of the premium plans, which start at 4.50 per month. And that comes with a host of advanced features such as form generator, personalized favicons, email campaigns, etc.

That said, the real e-commerce website tools are only available when you subscribe to Wix's e-commerce plan for $ 16.50 a month. And if you need top quality online sales features, you can evolve further and opt for the VIP package at $ 24.50 per month. This is essentially optimized for growing e-commerce sites.

Benefits of Wix E-Commerce
It provides an extremely simple and simple drag and drop website builder. You can design and customize a complete free site without any coding skills.
While the features of the online store come at a price, let's be honest and recognize that the packages offer great value for money. You pay only at least $ 16.50 for powerful e-commerce site features.
Wix comes with a huge collection of stylish themes and site templates. They are all professionally designed for more responsiveness and mobile optimization.
If you want to add functionality to your premium site, you can take advantage of many apps from the vast Wix App Market. Additional features available for ecommerce websites available at this level include abandoned cart recovery, payment processors, global shipping providers, and more.
Wix does not take a reduction in your payments when you sell online from your ecommerce site. Only payment processors will deduct their fair share of transaction fees.
Disadvantages of Wix E-Commerce
You can't create a fully stocked free ecommerce website. You don't start selling until you've upgraded, at least, the ecommerce package to 16.50.
The free plan includes ads that could alter the general presentation of your site. The web pages will then look busy and cluttered.
Wix does not provide access to its underlying code. So, of course, you cannot completely customize your website. You are basically limited to what the themes and templates allow.
Once you've started working on a specific website theme, you can't change it halfway through the editing process. You have to start again.

16. Branchbob


There is no shortage of options when it comes to finding the best free ecommerce platform these days. From more well-known tools like Ecwid to new options like Branchbob, there are many ways to start accepting credit card payments. The key to success is to find something that works for your team.

Branchbob is a lesser-known e-commerce platform that promises ease of use and simplicity. There are no monthly fees or transaction fees to worry about. In addition, the tool is clear, simple and excellent for beginners. Branchbob even works well when it comes to optimized payment processes and page speed as well. Faster page performance means you can deliver better experiences to your target audience.

Like most e-commerce tools, there is support for unlimited products, on a platform where you can choose your own design from a range of models. Additionally, Branchbob aims to be the best e-commerce platform for developers and designers. You can access the complete source code behind the software to adapt it to your needs. There are even more than 100 APIs to experiment with.

If you don't know how to get the most out of the code, you can also always use the experts at Branchbob. They are professionals who can help you build your site for a fee.

Benefits of Branchbob

Lots of flexibility for people who know the code
Excellent design and development features
Fast page speed and image optimization
On-page referencing included
Expert access for beginners
No fees, including transaction fees
Disadvantages of Branchbob

You will need some coding knowledge to get the most out of the tools
E-commerce capabilities are limited in some regions
· This tool is not as well known as other ecommerce website building products


17. Big Cartel
Big Cartel SquareSpace Alternative

Big Cartel is not your usual platform for typical ecommerce websites. On the contrary, it is optimized for artists and creators.

If you are one, here is the good news. You can use Big Cartel not only to create a free specialized e-commerce site, but also to sell your works. Find out the details Big Cartel Review.

The simple features of the online store on this platform are particularly suitable for individuals and small businesses that could not develop soon.

If you're having trouble setting up your ecommerce website, you can rely on the Big Cartel integration process to guide you accordingly.

Unfortunately, things can be disappointing when you start adding products. In appearance, free ecommerce sites can only sell five products. And to make matters worse, you only get one image per item.

However, you can at least sell them on Facebook and in person. Plus, you can always upgrade to a paid plan when you need additional features. The most basic supports products 25 to 9.99 $ per month.

Advantages of the Grand Cartel
Big Cartel offers a wide range of specialized e-commerce tools for the sale of works of art.
While coding is certainly the best way to take full advantage of Big Cartel's store building features, you can customize its predefined themes to create a unique, free ecommerce website.
It is possible to generate additional income by going beyond your online store to sell on Facebook and in person.
The user-friendly integration framework makes it easy to create an e-commerce website.
If you have the required technical coding skills, you can further customize your site.
Disadvantages of Big Cartel
Big Cartel does not provide advanced functionality for ecommerce websites. It mainly targets artists and creators.
You need coding skills to create a globally modified online store.
The free Big Cartel plan comes with very limited sales capabilities.

18. Jimdo
free Jimdo ecommerce site

Jimdo is another beginner-friendly website builder that offers additional ecommerce functionality. Check out the details Jimdo comments here.

Right off the bat, you can use its Dolphin AI system to create a free, personalized website in minutes. However, if you prefer to take care of the whole process, you can opt for the alternative creator website creation mode. It includes additional privileges for editing themes predefined by Jimdo.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to sell anything on your free site. To unlock the features of the online store, you must subscribe to the e-commerce plan at $ 19 per month or the unlimited amount at $ 39 per month. And each of these paid packages, for your information, are billed on an annual basis.

Well, if you decide to continue, you will notice that the functionality of Jimdo's online store is apparently adapted to basic ecommerce websites. Therefore, it is more of a website builder than an e-commerce platform.

Benefits of Jimdo
The Dolphin AI website builder on Jimdo automatically generates an ideal presentation based on your preferences and site details.
Jimdo offers a range of predefined themes for standard sites, corporate sites, and e-commerce sites.
You will not pay Jimdo every time you make a transaction in your store.
To help you rank favorably on Google, Jimdo offers advanced SEO features.
Disadvantages of Jimdo
It is not possible to create a free e-commerce website on Jimdo. You can only access the sales features after subscribing to paid e-commerce or unlimited plans.
Jimdo's online store features do not support the sale of digital products.
The possibilities for e-commerce here are quite limited. You can only create and manage one basic e-commerce website.

19. Ecwid
free Ecwid ecommerce site

Ecwid essentially translates to "e-commerce widgets". And as the name suggests, it is not a separate e-commerce platform. Check out the Ecwid Review details.

Instead, it's a basket that you can integrate with any site to turn it into a full-fledged online store. However, as you may have already guessed, you need a few lines of code to achieve this.

Ecwid offers three paid plans, but also offers a free option which, unlike Jimdo, has decent e-commerce features.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to sell digital products at this level. In addition, the functionality of your online store will be limited to a one page ecommerce website. The only way to escape this situation is of course to subscribe to one of the premium plans, which starts at 15 per month.

Benefits of Ecwid
You can use Ecwid to turn any site into an e-commerce website.
Its basic functionality for online stores is ideal for startups and small businesses.
The entire basket is automatically optimized for mobile.
Ecwid lets you sell on multiple websites simultaneously.
Ecwid does not charge any transaction fees.
Disadvantages of Ecwid
Ecwid does not offer advanced e-commerce functionality. So, of course, you can't use it on a dynamic online department store.
Integrating Ecwid into an existing site requires coding skills.

20. Weebly
free e-commerce platform

Weebly is one of the most generous tools for payment processing and site creation on the market today. Similar to Squarespace and Square, Weebly offers a state-of-the-art site building experience, ideal for beginners.

Weebly recently made the e-commerce feature available as part of its free plan. However, it does mean that store owners can now enjoy all of the benefits of the Weebly sale without spending a fortune. Whether you are selling physical products and need help with inventory tracking, or selling online services, Weebly has something for everyone.

The biggest drawback for business owners using Weebly is that there are a few e-commerce options missing. For example, it's hard to figure out how to sell on social media and track your stock levels isn't always easy either.

The good news is that Weebly has the ability to add unlimited products and choose from a range of payment options. However, it should be noted that these payment methods incur significant transaction costs. Additionally, as with most other best e-commerce platform options, Weebly does not offer a custom domain with its free plan.

Benefits of Weebly:

Easy to use for beginners
The e-commerce tools recently added to the free plan are fairly simple
Access to unlimited products, so you can sell as much as you want
Easy to start for business owners with little experience.

Disadvantages of Weebly:

2.9% high transaction fees with 30c processing fee
Not ideal for large companies with lots of products to sell
No support for multi-channel sales
No custom domain, and there will be advertisements on your site
Top of page
QFP
Can I Create an E-Commerce Website for Free?
Yes of course you can. Most of these platforms that we have covered allow users to create free e-commerce websites with limited functionality. However, there are a few exceptions, such as Square, for example, which are generous enough to offer full e-commerce functionality at no cost.

What is the best platform to create an ecommerce website?
While there are a number of seemingly dominant options that you may have heard of, the market for ecommerce platforms is quite large. There are many options offering different features, some of which come with tools optimized for specific types of stores.

It goes without saying that there is no ultimate platform for building an e-commerce website. On the contrary, the suitability of a platform depends on your particular needs.

How long does it take to create an ecommerce site?
The point is, it could take you five minutes, ten minutes, hours or even days. It all depends on your skills, the type of online store you build, its overall complexity, as well as the website creation features offered by the platform on which you choose to leverage.

That said, it's always a good idea to choose a platform that combines a user-friendly website editor with dynamic personalization features.

A good example is Shopify, which provides great functionality to create an ecommerce site in under 15 minutes.

Go ahead and check out our guide to learn the tricks.

Is a free e-commerce platform right for you?
Again, it all depends on your specific needs and the e-commerce platform you select.

While most free e-commerce platforms are only capable of creating and operating basic online stores, there are still open source open solutions such as Magento and WooCommerce, which can be coded to support charge of complex sites.

Conclusion: is an open source e-commerce platform right for you?
I just want you to know that there is a lot of other open source software that I haven't mentioned.

The best part is that each of them is free and constantly developing. This is a huge advantage if you want to save a little money in the short term and grow easily in the long term.

Even though open source e-commerce platforms have their advantages, you should seriously consider a non-open source solution like Shopify, BigCommerce or Volusion. With these platforms, you only pay a small monthly amount, you don't need to maintain your site as much as looking for hosting and you always get dedicated customer support.

In my opinion, this type of e-commerce framework is for growing businesses that will hire a developer (or a team of developers) to manage the entire website. But if you don't have the money for this type of employee, you'd better go up a gear with something like: Shopify.

If you have any questions about this solution on open source ecommerce platforms, let us know in the comments below.