The global e-commerce platforms or online shopping stores are growing at a rapid pace. We see a lot of new e-commerce platforms daily. E-commerce platforms have two types of hosted service, one is hosted e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce and 2nd are self-hosted e-commerce platforms that I’ll explain here.
I told hosted e-commerce platforms in the previous post deeply. In short, Shopify is one of the best hosted e-commerce platforms. Its backup is very Simple, and everybody can handle efficiently. Shopify is best for small business you can use it without any hesitation because most of our clients are used it.
Also, BigCommerce is another hosted e-commerce platform that is used mostly in a big company. These are that e-commerce platforms, I’ve personal experience about their used. Other than that, tons of hosted e-commerce platforms are available in the internet world that you can use if they fulfill your requirements.
Self-hosted e-commerce platforms are that platforms, where you can handle everything yourself. There are some benefits of self-hosted e-commerce platforms. It is free to try, update and buy. But you will not purchase their coding. There is a philosophy that convinced things should be free to users somewhat than firmly controlled by a few with a profit purpose.
In this article, I’ll explain information about some most important and useful best Self-hosted e-commerce platforms. BlueHost, Magento, PrestaShop, Zen Cart, WooCommerce and OpenCart, these all are self-hosted platforms I’m explaining below.
BlueHost
BlueHost is a colossal hosting service, was established since 1996 and provide hosting services for millions of users. Most people use BlueHost for building other websites by using WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Since 2005, BlueHost is WordPress recommended hosted company. This just walks off to show that BlueHost is a well-known business.
The best thing about BlueHost more powerful hosting options. If you use it, it gives you free domain name for one year and support custom domain from the start too. BlueHost offers unlimited email accounts set up access. They also provide you 24/7 hours live chat or email support.
BlueHost offers anytime money back guarantee within the first 30 days of signup. But they limit you to creating six pages, and if you want to create more page, then you will have upgraded your plan. It is slightly more expensive.
Promotion: Use BlueHost for flat Discount its monthly web hosting package is started now $3.96 per month with free domain name, free site builders, 1-click WordPress Install and 24/7 support. For other hosting packages’ information, you click on BlueHost.
Magento
Magento is a big self-hosted e-commerce platform and comprises on two meaningful solutions; one is Community Edition, and two is Enterprise Edition.
Community Edition (CE) is an open and free hosted version of the chat. Usually, it is free, but you have to pay for its payment processor, domain name, host and additional security to e-commerce platform valid. It is not too easiest solution. Indeed, CE offers a lot of possibilities, but you’ll need a development team for their maintenance. Because it has a lot of options and sub-options, that can confuse the new user.
Enterprise Edition (EE) is a robust solution that is designed for large-scale retailers. It starts at $15,500 a year. EE is a fully PCI (payment card industry) compliant. It offers more ability to set a minimum advertised price, issue store credits and offer rewards for users.
Magento gives you the ability to maintain multiple stores, integrating Google Analytics, URL rewrites, access different sales reporting tools, use sitemaps and Meta tags. Tons of marketing tools are also available out of the box.
PrestaShop
PrestaShop offers luxurious features and sleek admin and clean templates. Its extension is very expensive and required a lot of coding. PrestaShop is an untie source proposal, you can freely download it, but it doesn’t provide any hosting solutions.
You will spend some extra money for hosting solutions, domain name registration, payment processors, and merchant account and development teams, etc. Other than that, you also spend time for training your staff members; however they use the admin panel correctly.
A most vital feature of PrestaShop is that you can find 300+ titles’ list, are one-page checkout, coupons, newsletters, and visitors, tracking for sales, unlimited currency support, and desire lists. Another strong feature of PrestaShop is SEO.
PrestaShop offers you 1500+ temples and modules, but all are very expensive. It is integrated with 16 Payment gateways. It is not too much, more than 160 payment suppliers available as additional rooms.
There is phone support between 9 a.m. and 6.p.m. EST. PrestaShop is a platform that requires a lot of other costs and technical knowledge. Simultaneously, it’s free and provides elegant themes, mobile compatibility, and robust SEO.
Zen Cart
Zen Cart is also a free and open source e-commerce platforms solution that offer some paid services. It is very easily e-commerce platform that can be installed, developed and controlled without an IT expert. Despite this, it required PHP/MySQL programming skills for its maintenance.
Zen Cart is a hosted and self-hosted platform. If you choose hosted plan, you can pay monthly fees according to plan. It is highly customizable. You just need level general knowledge of PHP coding to transform the front of your e-commerce store into something you wish.
It also has an unlimited number of products and categories. Zen Cart other than that provides 200+ free template packages with official updates and forum support outfit on its official site. Some paid templates are also available on Zen Cart website. It works with FirstData, Authorize.net, and PayPal. It provides lack SEO features; it’s hard to handle and provide limited mobile device compatibility.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free and open source to download WordPress plugin. It’s best for Woo Theme. If you want to run it on Woo Theme, so get ready to pay some extra money for the template. It is a platform that works with a payment processor. On its extension, you will also spend dozens of bucks. Despite, WooCommerce still has average operating costs than different cloud-based services.
It is very easy to install, and its entire procedure is also very clear. Uninitiated WordPress user can easily handle it. Similarly to WordPress posts, WooCommerce product pages can be categorized, tagged and given a variety of attributes. It has reliable SEO features with SEO-friendly links and Meta tags.
WooCommerce provides a lot of tools and features to create an efficient e-commerce store. It also gives the stander cart elements inventory, shipping, payment integration and coupons. For payment processors, you can use 100+ extensions. WooCommerce has a limited support and isn’t the most flexible themes. On another side, it is free, provides one-page checkout, great extensions, scalable and attractive templates.
OpenCart
If you want to launch an e-commerce store on OpenCart, you’ll need to basic knowledge of coding or hire a developer. Its solution is free, but you’ll pay for hosting, extensions, themes and payment processor. Other than that, OpenCart e-commerce shopping store maintenance is very easy.
It is very friendly platform and provides all necessary tools and features for your e-commerce store. OpenCart also provides a multi-store support, product rating, reviews, discount coupons and high-quality internationalization.
OpenCart gives you 2000+ default frontend template options and also a variety of add-ons. Social media sources are its default options, but eBay, Amazon, and other services extension you need to install. It works with 700+ payment processor extensions including PayPal and Athorize.net. It also lacks some vital features, but you can easily control it with the right extension. Simultaneously, it is a free, open-source, easy to use e-commerce store with a good admin.
Conclusion
The above describing self-hosted e-commerce platforms are not for everyone. The best self-hosted platform for you is that fulfill your desires. Despite the fact that, you can easily select the best platform that is more related to your needs.
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