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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

osCommerce vs. Zen-Cart


ecroswell21

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Posted

I am putting together a website and it seems that both osCommerce and Zen Cart have a lot of the features I am looking for. I was hoping to start a thread that might be helpful in making up my mind... so which is better, osCommerce or Zen Cart? What are some pro's and con's for each of them?

 

Looking forward to the responses.

 

Thanks everyone

Erik

Posted

Both are open source and freely downloadable. Why not try both and go with whichever suits you best? Maybe you can come back and say which you decided on, and why.

Posted

For what it is worth, I have used osC for years and gradually got very comfortable with modifying the code to make changes, whether it was installing a mod/contribution or doing a security update. One day I decided to try Zen Cart and quickly learned that practically every change you want to make can be made without having to modify any code, although it is not always apparent to me where you go to make the changes. Like anything, the more you use it, the more you learn about it. Even the contributions and security patches are, for the most part, designed to be plugged in rather than requiring code modifications to existing files. The advantages I see with osC are the number of mods (contributions) available, but the downside is there seems to be no active development going on and the main person behind osC seems to be absent (except for a short spurt of activity when someone else tried to take the osC name). An example would be the concern over the new MC/Visa rules. Posts in this forum go unanswered while the response in the other forum is that they are working on a solution. The bottom line for me is that if you are comfortable hacking code, take a look at both and select the code base you think is best; but if you are a novice and don't want to learn much about php/sql/html in order to get a cart up and running, I'd go with ZC instead. I should add that I am using osC 2.2 RC2a, so maybe others can chime in with their thoughts on osC v.3 versus ZC. My concern with v.3 is that it is still an alpha release, and something tells me that it's going to stay that way for a long time to come.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

To get started with a new osCommerce project, you not only need to install osCommerce (which can thankfully be done using Fantastico, thankfully), but you also need to install a bunch of contributions (Header Tags SEO, UPS XML, etc.). Is this the same deal with ZenCart?

Posted

Zencart is fairly complete once you have installed it, so for most there would be no need to installer further add-ons.

 

But if you want to modify it Zencart is much more complex and bloated, so if you forsee a need for "special" functions and modifications later on then Oscommerce is much easier to modify to suit your needs.

Posted

I installed ZenCart last night, took a look, and uninstalled it. I like that it's more comprehensive initially but don't have the time or resources to poke around to figure out how to modify the appearance. We were so close to going with Yahoo Store yesterday just to get something started. However, I think we'll go with osCommerce. Still researching...

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I tried ZenCart and also found it to be bloated and hard to modify. The Zencart forums were populated with several people who knew everything but were telling nothing in a very 'wordy' way. I will use OSCommerce forever.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

I tried ZenCart and also found it to be bloated and hard to modify. The Zencart forums were populated with several people who knew everything but were telling nothing in a very 'wordy' way. I will use OSCommerce forever.

 

I think so.I will use OSCommerce forever.

Posted

I will use OSCommerce forever.

 

I was thinking the same, up until 6 months ago.

 

My current osC store has all the features needed but the code is getting outdated. The development of osC 3 has come to a standstill and I see no stable release in any near future.

I'm going to replace my store within 3 months with something else.

First I looked at PrestaShop, but after using it for 1 year in a test I know hate it.

My new store will be based on OpenCart, because it looks a lot like osCommerce, easy to adjust and update + the code is up-to-date and there is a lot of development being done.

Norman in 't Veldt

 

Moderator

osCommerce The Netherlands

Posted

We didnt wait so much. Hungarian Oscommerce Community start to use V3alfa6_hu fixed version. No Presta, no ZenCart, no OpenCart (no RC)

 

 

Github takes off me by discrepancy. I cant work on V3. Sorry about it.

 

tgely on Github

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I installed ZenCart last night, took a look, and uninstalled it. I like that it's more comprehensive initially but don't have the time or resources to poke around to figure out how to modify the appearance. We were so close to going with Yahoo Store yesterday just to get something started. However, I think we'll go with osCommerce. Still researching...

 

I didn't see this post the last time I was here (too old to see straight) but The appearance of OSCommerce is achieved using a css file (stylesheet.css). everything is defined in the css.

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