Best Shopping Cart Software of 2024

Edited by Amy Smith

Updated


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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 to find the best options, downloading and testing each, attending demos, evaluating customer reviews, and comparing pricing.

The Best Shopping Cart Software: Our Top Pick

We chose AbanteCart as the best shopping cart software for its low price of free with excellent customization options, a multi-store interface, and integrated analytics.

Our Top Picks

AbanteCart

Best Shopping Cart Software

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BigCommerce

Best for Growth

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OpenCart

Best for Customization

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Shift4Shop

Best Integrations

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Ecwid

Best for the User Experience

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Digital.com dives deep into every topic it covers to offer trusted and reliable recommendations for the best business tools. See how we review shopping cart software.

Tips From an Expert

Think about what/how you sell and how you plan to grow.

“Price is always top of mind, but it isn’t the only consideration when choosing shopping cart software. Think about what and how you want to sell online, how your plan to grow your business, and whether you will need a custom shopping cart solution. ” 

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Meet the Team

Tired of worn-out business advice? Us too. We want to make the internet a better place for entrepreneurs, business owners, and anyone else who’s as do or die as we are.

The Best Shopping Cart Software

AbanteCart logo

AbanteCart

Best Shopping Cart Software

Features

  • Integrated analytics
  • All-in-one e-commerce solution
  • API-enabled

#1 Top Pick

AbanteCart has a low price of free with excellent customization options, a multi-store interface, and integrated analytics.

Starting Price
Free

Payment Gateways
40+ options

Customization
Very high

PCI Compliant
Yes

Read More

Trusted by over 31,000 sites, AbanteCart is my top pick for shopping cart software, largely due to its customization options and extensive community. AbanteCart is a free, open-source e-commerce solution that can be used to create an entire website or only as a shopping cart component.

Main dashboard inside of AbanteCart. Has links to categories,, products, brands, reviews, customers, total orders, extensions, languages, content, settings, messages, and layouts plus the last 10 orders and latest registrations

I was most impressed with AbanteCart’s enterprise-grade features, flexible customization, interface for multiple stores, and a strong and helpful community. AbanteCart gives you the possibility to create unlimited products and subcategories as well as upload unlimited files. You can customize product pages and even gather information from the customer, such as their text and images for customized products.

With its multi-store feature, I was able to manage many stores simultaneously. You could have several stores selling entirely different products under the same installation.

Compared to the other sites on this list, AbanteCart’s customer support isn’t the strongest, as it doesn’t have free phone or email support. Instead, the company encourages you to go to its community forum for help. It’s possible to schedule a paid professional support call with the expert team if you have problems, with prices ranging from $59 to $299.

  • Who is AbanteCart best for?
    AbanteCart is the best free solution for small and medium businesses due to its easy user interface (UI) for basic functions, responsive templates, and flexibility. Advanced features, such as editing and integrating the code with other applications, may require technical knowledge.
  • Recent upgrades to AbanteCart
    Occasionally, AbanteCart makes large software updates, mostly driven by feedback from the community. In the latest release, there were updates to the storefront, improvements to the payment options, and many bug fixes. While releases don’t occur every month, they’re significant when they do.
  • AbanteCart pricing
    There is no charge to download AbanteCart, but you must spend money on hosting, themes, extensions, and plug-ins. In cases where you only want to integrate the shopping cart features into your existing website, the cost will be minimal or nonexistent.

Reasons to choose AbanteCart

  • Active community
  • Free software
  • Many features

Reasons to avoid

  • No guaranteed free support
  • Advanced features can be hard to use
  • Set up process can be difficult

Visit AbanteCart

Features

  • Highly scalable
  • Fast loading speed
  • 24/7 tech support

Starting Price
$29 per month

Payment Gateways
65+ options

Customization
Moderate, easy to use

PCI Compliant
Yes

Read More

BigCommerce, one the closest competitors of Shift4Shop, is a comprehensive e-commerce platform that offers you everything you need to create and scale an online store. In addition to being one of the top platforms for growth, it’s also one of the best e-commerce platforms.

The home screen inside BigCommerce. Shows getting started tips, adding products to Google, customizing your store, completeing your profile, reviews, channel management, and your about us page

BigCommerce offers a built-in hosted shopping cart, flexible customization options, responsive themes, multiple payment gateways, and no transaction fees. Its cheapest plan includes unlimited staff accounts and one online store.

Customer support is among the best in its industry. It provides users 24/7 support through phone, email, and tickets, which are available for all of the paid plans. As for self-service, I found a great selection, including a knowledgebase, videos, and a community forum.

BigCommerce made multichannel selling easy for me. You can manage your Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and Pinterest stores through the platform.

  • Who is BigCommerce best for?
    BigCommerce is the ideal solution for mid-size to enterprise businesses looking to grow since it offers powerful integrations, fully customizable checkouts, and functionality for multiple currencies and storefronts. Other solutions like Ecwid may be more convenient for small businesses and small-scale sellers.
  • Recent upgrades to BigCommerce
    BigCommerce launches new upgrades into its software almost weekly and makes them available for everyone to see in its product blog. The latest update includes abandonment cart API, features for many stores, and a wide range of new promotion elements. As a result of these features, customers have even more freedom to customize.
  • BigCommerce pricing
    BigCommerce offers a 15-day trial for all of its plans. As far as pricing goes, it is the most expensive option on this list. Services start at $29 and go up to $299 per store per month, but BigCommerce doesn’t offer a free plan. For enterprise-level plans, it offers custom pricing.

Reasons to choose BigCommerce

  • Feature-rich and scalable
  • 15-day free trial
  • Great analytics for all plans
  • 24/7 tech support

Reasons to avoid

  • No multilingual customer support
  • Interface can be overwhelming for first-time users

What Customers Are Saying About BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a good fit for businesses that don’t have multiple sites. It is fast, easy to use and set up, and has noteworthy templates. But it can be hard to customize. Also, customer service can be unreliable, and the platform is pricey.

Read our BigCommerce review | Visit BigCommerce

OpenCart logo

OpenCart

Best for Customization

Read Review

Features

  • Open-source platform
  • Multilingual and multiple currencies
  • Unlimited products and categories

Starting Price
Free

Payment Gateways
35+ options

Customization
Very high

PCI Compliant
Yes

Read More

OpenCart, like AbanteCart, is an open-source shopping cart solution that offers advanced and feature-rich functionalities. With nearly 20 years in the market, it has become one of the most popular shopping cart solutions.

The main dashboard inside OpenCart. Shows total orders, total sales, total customers, people online, a world map, and sales analytics

Thanks to OpenCart’s open-source nature and free script, I found it easy to modify the platform however I wanted. It supports 36 payment gateways, accepts multiple languages and currencies, and lets you manage numerous stores through one interface.

You can add unlimited products, categories, and subcategories, sell digital products, integrate product reviews, and even offer a reward system for your customers.

It has free email support willing to help you with any platform-related problems. OpenCart also offers paid customer service from $99 to $160 for those looking to get fast solutions. Regarding self-service, I liked using OpenCart’s active community forum, where users and experts help each other.

  • Who is OpenCart best for?
    Based on my research, OpenCart is the perfect shopping cart solution if you have some technical knowledge and want an open-source platform with full customization freedom and good integrations.
  • Recent upgrades to OpenCart
    In general, OpenCart releases small updates to its software frequently and larger updates every few years. The OpenCart 4.0 update launched recently included significant improvements to the admin interface, more robust product settings, and other design changes. OpenCart is known as a flexible shopping cart, and its updates make it even more so.
  • OpenCart pricing
    You can download OpenCart for free. Like AbanteCart, the cost comes from the apps, themes, and extensions, which are similar in price among both providers – but OpenCart has a much wider variety. There are some free apps, but most cost between $1 and $150. The price of website themes ranges from $15 to $30, and many free ones are available.

Reasons to choose OpenCart

  • Large selection of integrations
  • Active community
  • Highly customizable

Reasons to avoid

  • In-depth customization is tough
  • Limited customer support
  • Slow loading, might need plugins to improve website speed

What Customers Are Saying About OpenCart

OpenCart is free, simple to use, and a good match for someone starting a small business. While the platform is customizable, it doesn’t have as many features as other companies, and it can sometimes be slow.

Read our OpenCart Review | Visit OpenCart

Features

  • Unlimited data storage
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 24/7 tech support

Starting Price
Free

Payment Gateways
100+ options

Customization
Moderate, easy to use

PCI Compliant
Yes

Read More

Formerly known as “3dcart,” Shift4Shop is an all-in-one e-commerce platform that provides a flexible shopping cart solution. I liked its robust features and great customer support.

The order management dashboard inside of Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is a hosted e-commerce shopping cart that integrates with over 100 payment gateways, has unlimited product options, and has a simple interface. Its free plan includes full customizability, 50+ mobile-ready themes, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited staff members.

I could access 24/7 tech support through phone, email, and live chat. Its large knowledge base includes how-tos, video tutorials, HTML guides, user manuals, and e-commerce guides.

Its strongest selling points are the generous free plan, suitability for beginner to advanced users, and a highly secure system. Shift4Shop ensures customer data security through PCI compliance, distributed denial of service (DDOS) protection, daily data backups, and more. Shift4Shop also promises to migrate your current e-commerce website for free.

As for app integrations, Shift4Shop features several extensions and apps that make your shopping cart more useful. In general, these apps can help you to reduce abandoned carts by optimizing shopping carts using different methods, such as sending abandoned cart emails and customizing the process with pop-ups and time-sensitive offers.

  • Who is Shift4Shop best for?
    My testing showed that Shift4Shop appeals to both beginners and experts. Beginners will find the ease of use, robust features, and excellent customer service to be great. And if you are an advanced user, you will likely appreciate the ability to directly edit HTML and CSS, and access the network of Shift4Shop experts.
  • Recent upgrades to Shift4Shop
    Shift4Shop continuously improves its services through updates. Maintaining its platform constantly is the first step, but it goes further. Shift4Shop’s administrative payment interface has been simplified to simplify payment management. It has updated the transaction status dashboard to improve clarity and streamline its onboarding process. Shift4Shop also allows you to request new features.
  • Shift4Shop pricing
    The company offers a free End-To-End plan. Its only downside is that you have to use the payment processor, which comes with per-transaction payment processing fees. Also important to note is that the free plan is only available for U.S. customers who process more than $500 per month. Paid plans run from $29 to $229 per store per month. Prices for Shift4Shop are nearly double the cost of Ecwid’s plans, but almost identical to those of BigCommerce.

Reasons to choose Shift4Shop

  • Good built-in features
  • Great forever free plan
  • Secure system and daily data backups
  • API-access

Reasons to avoid

  • Limited free templates
  • Free plan only for U.S. customers
  • Must pay a monthly fee if you use a third-party payment processor

What Customers Are Saying About Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop, designed for small or medium e-commerce stores, offers many features. There are mixed reviews on whether it is easy to use and how effective the customer service is.

Read our Shift4Shop Review | Visit Shift4Shop

Ecwid Logo

Ecwid

Best for the User Experience

Read Review

Features

  • Handy mobile app
  • 24/7 support
  • Multilingual stores

Starting Price
Free

Payment Gateways
70+ options

Customization
Limited

PCI Compliant
Yes

Read More

Ecwid allows you to include a shopping cart on any existing website using a widget, ideal for those who wish to expand their blog or information site and start to sell products online.

Instructions on how to add Ecwid to an existing site

Ecwid offers various helpful features: ease of use, easy integration with existing websites, and a generous free plan. As part of the free plan, you can create a single online store, integrate the Ecwid shopping cart into your existing site, and have one staff account.

Ecwid offers live chat support Monday through Friday for its paid plans. In addition, it offers email support for free and paid plans five days a week. I could access many self-service options with Ecwid, such as a knowledge base, FAQs, and a forum.

  • Who is Ecwid best for?
    Ecwid is a great e-commerce solution for beginners because of its seamless integrations that allow you to sell anywhere, 24/7 technical support, and easy-to-use interface.

    Ecwid’s integration page gives you the option to create a new website, blend its shopping cart into your existing site, or start selling on social media.
  • Recent upgrades to Ecwid
    Ecwid is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, and it has monthly updates. Recently, Ecwid added the option to display conditional custom checkout fields, which enables you to show custom fields for customers who select specific payment methods and shipping options. A few other recent updates include surcharge fees for checkout fields, language updates, and improvements to shipping options.
  • Ecwid pricing
    Ecwid is the cheapest hosted option on this list and it could be argued it has the best price-quality ratio. The monthly plans range from $0 to $99, making it much more affordable than BigCommerce and Shift4Shop. However, the free plan is quite limited, allowing only one user account, providing limited checkout settings, and not allowing proper product type changes.

Reasons to choose Ecwid

  • Can be integrated into any website
  • Beginner-friendly
  • Free forever plan

Reasons to avoid

  • Limited customization
  • Limited customer support

What Customers Are Saying About Ecwid

Ecwid is an affordable, easy-to-use e-commerce platform that offers quality support. Customizing some features can be hard and the SEO features could be improved.

Read our Ecwid Review | Visit Ecwid

Compare Shopping Cart Software

Shopping Cart Solutions

Best Features

Pricing

AbanteCart logo

AbanteCart

Best Shopping Cart Software

  • Integrated analytics
  • All-in-one e-commerce solution
  • API-enabled
BigCommerce square logo

BigCommerce

Best for Growth

  • Highly scalable
  • Fast loading speed
  • 24/7 tech support

$29 per month

OpenCart logo

OpenCart

Best for Customization

  • Open-source platform
  • Multilingual and multiple currencies
  • Unlimited products and categories
Shift4Shop logo

Shift4Shop

Best Integrations

  • Unlimited data storage
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 24/7 tech support
Ecwid Logo

Ecwid

Best for the User Experience

  • Handy mobile app
  • 24/7 support
  • Multilingual stores

What You Need to Know

How much does shopping cart software cost?

Shopping cart software generally costs $15 to $100 per month for paid plans. However, many free shopping carts are available.

What is the best online shopping cart?

The best online shopping cart is easy to use, fits your budget, and provides an effective user experience for your online store. Consult our list for the best online shopping cart options.

Is shopping cart software secure?

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. 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.

What features should shopping cart software offer?

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. Look for key features including SEO and marketing tools, reports and analytics, A/B testing, product catalogs, payment gateway integrations, and third-party integrations.

Is it better to self host shopping cart software?

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.

How We Review Shopping Cart Software

I signed up for shopping cart software to see what each offers new users and how easy it is to navigate around each brand’s dashboard. I rated shopping cart providers based on PCI compliance and security, features, customization, customer support, and hosting options.

See the details on these rating factors I used to test shopping cart software:

  • PCI compliance and security: Does the shopping cart offer PCI compliance and other standards for secure online payment processing?
  • Features: Do you get access to helpful features such as marketing tools, reporting, testing, and integrations?
  • Customization: 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?
  • Support: What are your options for support, such as live chat, phone, and email support, or self-service options such as a knowledgebase or FAQ?
  • Self-hosting or in-house hosting: Does the software offer customization of self hosting, or the management of in-house hosting?

Learn more about our review methodology.

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