| Shopping Cart Software | Best For | Best Features | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shift4Shop (4.5)
| Best shopping cart software |
| Basic plans starting at $0 per month |
| BigCommerce (4.3)
| Best shopping cart software for growth |
| Standard plans starting at $29.95 per month |
| AbanteCart (4.0)
| Best open source shopping cart software |
| Free open-source platform |
| OpenCart (3.9)
| Best shopping cart customizability |
| Free open-source platform |
| Ecwid (3.7)
| Best shopping cart user experience |
| Free forever plan starting at $0 per month |
Shopping cart software can make or break your online store – so be sure you’re choosing one that’s reliable and secure. We tested several shopping cart providers, downloading and testing each one, attending demos, evaluating customer reviews, and comparing pricing.
Below are some criteria to assess when choosing shopping cart software for your business. Certain software is better suited for existing websites that want to integrate a shopping cart. In contrast, others are suited for new websites, and some are meant for an open-source solution with full customization.
About Digital.com’s e-commerce and marketing consultant, Elmeri Palokangas:
Having worked in the e-commerce industry for over five years, I have built and launched multiple brands using different shopping cart software and platforms. In this time, I have gained a great deal of experience and a good understanding of different shopping cart software, and what it should include to be useful for different use purposes.
In addition to our seasoned editorial team, I surveyed and spoke with past and current power users of each platform to get real-world feedback on these platforms and take them into account in our reviews.
We rated shopping cart providers based on PCI compliance and security, features, customization, customer support, and hosting options.
Having a secure, PCI-compliant shopping cart provider is essential. A globally recognized payment processing standard, PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) helps ensure the secure payment processing of credit cards.
Along with PCI compliance, we examined the following security benchmarks:
It’s also good to note that most shopping cart solutions are plug-ins, and therefore have no security measures. This raises the need to select the best web hosting provider that takes website security seriously.
A platform can have all the bells and whistles, but it’s not the right fit if it doesn’t have what you need for your business.
We looked for some key features:
Another important criterion we considered was customization. How easy is it to customize the platform to match your branding? Is the platform flexible enough to scale as your business grows?
The following are some key factors we considered:
When it comes to customer support and self-service, your chosen platform must offer various options, such as live chat, phone and email support, and self-service options, such as a knowledge base or FAQ section.
There are usually two types of shopping cart providers: self-hosted and in-house hosted. Self-hosting means you need to have your own hosting, for example, using a plug-in like WooCommerce or X-Cart. In-house hosted providers take care of it for you, such as with Shift4Shop or AbanteCart.
An in-house hosted shopping cart software may be a better option if you don’t have a website yet or are unsure about your technical skills. But self hosting may offer greater customization possibilities.
