Zencart Vs. OS Commerce

What is Zen Cart?

ZenCart is an open source (free) E-Commerce platform which was actually originally based on osCommerce, however in 2003 it struck out on its own as ZenCart.

The ZenCart system itself is rather user friendly, enabling users to configure the store settings in a very simple fashion, and to create, modify and delete store pages with ease. The features continue with a theme/template system where you can easily switch between store designs without having to do much at all (like wordpress, but not quite as nifty looking).

Note: If you want to use ZenCart your web server will need to have PHP enabled and also have MySQL databases.

What is osCommerce?

Like ZenCart, osCommerce is also a free open source E-commerce platform, and seeing how it spawned ZenCart it is not surprising that osCommerce is the more popular and venerable of the two. Thanks to its tremendous popularity osCommerice has built a fairly large and active community of developers where new users can go for help.

osCommerce is basically the same as ZenCart, but lacking in certain advanced features. This makes osCommerce the easier store to set up (ideal for beginners), but since it is simpler you miss out on very cool features such as ZenCart’s templating system and page management system.

Note: If you want to use ZenCart your web server will need to have PHP enabled and also have MySQL databases.

Zen Cart Vs. osCommerce – Which is Better?

Both Zencart and OS will give you everything you need to set up your online store. The difference lies in level of complexity and extra features.

Beginners in E-commerce will be best suited starting of with osCommerce as it is less over whelming, more to the point and faster to set up. While individuals with experience (or willing to take on the task) will find ZenCart to be the most appealing as it has many more functionalities and complexities at your disposal. Functions include the aforementioned templating system, page management, and others such as enhanced payment processing, coupons, and product management.