What is OpenCart?

OpenCart Education

What Is OpenCart?

A quick guide to the open-source e-commerce platform powering hundreds of thousands of online stores worldwide — and why it might be the right fit for yours.

The Basics

Free, Open-Source E-Commerce Software

OpenCart is a free, open-source e-commerce platform used to build and run online stores. Since launching in 2009, it has grown into one of the most widely deployed shopping cart platforms in the world, trusted by small businesses and large retailers alike.

Unlike proprietary, subscription-locked platforms, OpenCart gives you full ownership of your store's code and data. It runs on your own hosting, with no monthly platform fees and no arbitrary limits on products, orders, or bandwidth.

13,000+

extensions available on the official OpenCart Marketplace

Why Businesses Choose It

The OpenCart Advantage

No Vendor Lock-InYou own your store outright — code, data, and design. Move hosts anytime.
No Monthly Platform FeesUnlike SaaS carts, there's no recurring licensing cost eating into your margins.
13,000+ ExtensionsA massive marketplace of themes and modules to extend nearly any functionality.
Lightweight & FastA lean core codebase that performs well without heavy hosting requirements.
Large, Active CommunityOver a decade of community-driven development, plugins, and support.
Fully CustomizableOpen PHP codebase means virtually any feature can be built or modified.
Considerations

Is OpenCart Right for You?

OpenCart is a great fit for businesses that want full control of their store and are comfortable — or have a partner who is comfortable — managing hosting, security, and updates. It's less turnkey than hosted platforms like Shopify, which trade ownership and cost for convenience.

That's exactly where we come in. We handle the technical side — hosting, security, extensions, and support — so you get the cost and ownership benefits of OpenCart without the operational burden.

We Build ItCustom stores & extensions
We Host ItManaged infrastructure
We Secure ItMonitoring & patching
We Support ItReal people, real help
Ready to Get Started?

Let's Build Your OpenCart Store

Whether you're launching new or need help managing an existing OpenCart site, our team has over 10 years of hands-on experience.

Book a Free Discovery Call Browse Our Extensions