Limited Time Sale! Launch Your Website From Only $2.95/mo!

What is OpenCart? Our OpenCart Overview

Updated On Mar 13, 2022

OpenCart is a leading free and open-source eCommerce software platform currently being used to power millions of eCommerce stores worldwide for hundreds of thousands of users. OpenCart 2.0 was released in Q4 2014, with version 3.0 being released in Q2 2017. These updates feature a completely redone administrative dashboard and a much more responsive client-side portal thanks to the Bootstrap framework.

Although the experience might seem familiar with the previous OpenCart 1.5 version, the newer versions are mobile-friendly, which can boost your SEO ranking and improve your customer’s experience while browsing on a smaller device. For example, while the main navigation menu appears to be the same, it now features a mobile-friendly dropdown menu.

Furthermore, you will improve visitors’ experience as the product catalog and product pages are conveniently resized depending on your visitor resolution.

Another significant improvement over the previous version is the admin dashboard. The admin area has been wholly redone and a pop-up menu has replaced the man navigation on the left side, which improves the space usability and gives a better user experience while managing your store.

In OpenCart, you’ll find new features such as the Notice icon in the admin area, which will notify you about all important recent events that might require your attention, the long-anticipated Extension Manager, and a convenient feature when it comes to PayPal orders, with the ability to make API calls to PayPal and collect information from your PayPal business account as well as fully integrated MaxMind fraud protection service.

However, despite the great new look and features, before proceeding with your OpenCart version upgrade, you should first make sure that compatible versions of your theme and extensions are available.

Additionally, OpenCart users, extension developers, and designers should carefully consider several major changes to the code core and management interface.

To help you adapt to the new features and changes, we created this fully-featured step-by-step guide on OpenCart.

OpenCart Tutorial Series: