Opencart VS Cubecart
We are proud to promote our use of the fantastic open-source eCommerce platform: Opencart. We’re a UK based, well respected Opencart Development team – so much so we are pushing this platform over all others now, and i figured some of our customers may wonder why?
So ive decided to do a VS series that covers some of the most popular eCommerce platforms VS Opencart – so you can see why we choose it over all others.
Today, its…
Opencart VS Cubecart 4
I’ve come up with 5 standard questions to use – so when i do more comparisons we are comparing the same things each time.
Question 1 – Ease of Installation
Opencart: Its easy to install, simply upload the files and visit your web address, it will automatically send you to the right place and ask for the right info. Once done it tells you to delete the install folder and you are ready to go
Cubecart: Similar in that the files are simply uploaded, and then run. Its a little more tricky as there is a licence to contend with so you need to ensure that is copied in correctly. Fairly straight forward however there are more steps than in Opencart.
Opencart Wins.
Question 2 – Ease of Administration
Opencart: Ok, so i’m not going to lie – Opencart can be a little more complex than other platforms on the market, but its complex as its thorough! Once you are familiar with the admin interface you can literally do anything you need – and control all aspects of the site that need controlling. Its very flexible and easily modified by vQmods (Virtual Mods)
Cubecart: This platform has one of the most basic admin interfaces going – its very easy to use, but for many its far too simplistic. Its customisable but only via hard-coded changes so it means if you update the core you potentially overwrite custom mods you have applied. Product options are set up very strangely and have caused us issues in the past when migrating to other platforms.
Cubecart Wins
Question 3 – Ease of Customisation
Opencart: This is the don when it comes to applying customisations, it uses a system called vQmods which virtually apply the mod via an XML file, meaning no core files are touched. It makes adding and removing add ons and extensions a BREEZE!
Cubecart: Unfortunately Cubecart handles mods in the same way most platforms do – its all about new files and adding stuff to existing ones, which is fine until update time!
Opencart Wins.
Question 4 – Selling Points
Opencart: Opencart comes with an RMA system built in, works with a high number of payment gateways out the box and takes into consideration things like EU VAT and other eCommerce requirements. It is also supported by one of the most active support communities, and regular updates are released, often with huge new features as requested by people like us,
Cubecart: Its been around the block a lot, and since we’ve used it it has grown to Cubecart 5 – but we still were not sold on its features even though it was apparently “Ground up” coded. It still also requires a licence, so its hard to justify passing that extra cost on to a customer especially when we have no confidence in the platform its self.
Opencart Wins.
Question 5 – Conclusion
Whereas Cubecart has stood the test of time, its very quickly become outdated and has been pushed out the way by platforms like Opencart as they are free and feature-wise are tons better. We have old sites running on Cubecart and will continue to support them, but we will never make a website using cubecart again unless the customer exclusively requests it.
Opencart 3 – Cubecart 1 = Opencart is better than Cubecart!
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I hope you found this post helpful, and please direct any questions to the comments below.
Next, Opencart vs Magento!
Very nice article!
I think I’ll be choosing OpenCart as well! I spoke with their support team not long ago and they seemed super friendly and know what they’re doing.
Thank you for the recommendation!
Well an interesting review but unfortunately coming from a bit of a biased viewpoint ! Both CubeCart and OpenCart are great products (and we host plenty of both, although more CubeCart to be fair), having only just come across your article, felt it needed a reply !
Firstly you say you are doing the review against CubeCart V4 – this reached end of life from a support point of view in December 2012 and CubeCart V5 was first released in June 2011 so if you are going to do a review then at least compare current products.
Point 1) Ease of installation – you award the point to OpenCart based on having to enter a simple licence code – this should be a draw !
Point 2) You award the point to CubeCart but talk about custom code – version 5 does not need this any longer but see point 3
Point 3) CubeCart V4 did use the old fashioned core code modifications but V5 uses plugins adding functionality via hooks – no core code changes and no upgrade problems. For ease of use, I would award to CubeCart !
Point 4) You mention CubeCart V5 here so strange you didnt for previous points. Both have a large number of payment gateways built in along with various other things common to many of the better ECommerce products available. Yes, there is a small charge but I know that an RMA system is already planned for a a future version but you can always find plenty of functionality in one that isnt available in the other so a full review might be useful. We personally prefer CubeCart but we know it better so this should at least be awarded as a draw but people should take a look at what features they need and maybe trial both
Why are you comparing an outdated and unsupported version of CubeCart with a recent version of OpenCart? This article is not fit for purpose for any merchant wishing make an informed decision about either of them.
It’s like comparing a 2007 VW Golf with a 2014 Toyota Corolla! 🙂
Sorry Al, didn’t see your comment buried there!
And i take your comments on board!
PS i’d choose the golf 😛
Thanks for your comment mate, and i guess you’re right i should do a more up-to-date review of OC and CC5.
All very good and valid points you’ve raised 🙂
I love cubecart because it was the one i used for free years before, and it is reliable.
And beside I saw a chart comparing different carts and cubecart was the only one offering good paid features for free … and the other ones were good but not in important things .. which is the main point of having a site: have a cart you can rely on..
Hi,
I would like to make an addition to the list since there are other solutions in the market and so readers can reach more alternatives instead of only those 2 solutions:
We developed a new fully opensource, free and community-driven eCommerce solution named Arastta which is forked from Opencart but lots of new advanced-features, performance and SEO improvements added on it.
I think it deserves a close look (or maybe a comparison with others) for eCommerce and online store owners:
http://arastta.org
Opencart does not give you the option to set different quantity with different prices out of the box for each item. I was surprise to see that CubeCart dedicated a whole section to pricing and allowing multiple options to set for each pricing. The only way around it in Opencart is to buy an extension that does that or work around it by adding discounts and such. If you have products that will have different prices for different quantity CueCart is the way… unless you want to make duplicate products with just a basic change to the amount in Opencart.