OpenCart Web Hosting Comparison UK

Web Hosting with OpenCart - what to consider in the comparison?

The OpenCart shopping system allows a user to easily build a complete and expandable online shop on a classic web hosting with support for PHP. Due to its flexibility, wide range of features, and extensive customization options, it is highly popular among small and medium-sized businesses in need of an efficient, reliable, and flexible e-commerce solution for their online trade.

What are the special features of OpenCart?

The first version of OpenCart was released back in 2012, making it an older and proven e-commerce software that is well-aligned with user interests due to its long development phase. Its high popularity and active community are attributed to numerous advantages such as:

• Complete customization through a sophisticated template engine
• Multi-hosting of multiple online shops with centralized administration
• Modularity in functions, payment systems, inventory management, and more
• Complete e-commerce software free of charge and licensed under Open Source
• Multi-language support and compatibility with various currencies
• Extensive selection of extensions, gateways, and templates
• No limitations on customer numbers, categories, and products
• Low requirements on web hosting

Unlike most e-commerce software developers, the creators of OpenCart completely abstain from their own commercial activities and do not offer web hosting, support, or an enhanced commercial version with additional features.

What are OpenCart's requirements for web hosting?

In its basic installation, OpenCart only has minimal resource requirements and can run on a small cheap web hosting. However, the requirements in productive operation heavily depend on factors such as the number of customers, concurrent accesses, and the use of plugins and extensions. The software relies on a classic web hosting environment with Apache or NGINX, MySQL, and PHP, supporting even older versions. The key requirements to consider in web hosting for OpenCart are the PHP-supported libraries and modules like Curl, ZIP, XML, or Mcrypt.

Further details on the technical requirements of an OpenCart hosting can be found in the following table:
 

Detailed information on the technical requirements for the latest version can be found directly from the developer at: https://docs.opencart.com/en-gb/requirements/

What are the key points to consider in a comparison of OpenCart hosting?

Like any commercial online presence, speed, reliability, and uptime play a key role in the long-term success of hosting OpenCart. For good SEO, fast response times and a low Server Response Time (SRT) are crucial as they are considered important ranking factors. If not essential for running OpenCart as an e-commerce platform, features like storage space and maximum number of mailboxes have relatively low priority. Instead, the focus should be on the technical infrastructure, support for a large database, and excellent customer support. Special attention should be given to the SSL certificate, which is essential for an online shop and can be costly if not included in the package. This should be obtained from a commercial provider as free certification authorities like Let's Encrypt may be marked as insecure by some browsers.

You have chosen OpenCart?
We can help you find the right web hosting provider for your online shop.
Detailed information on each OpenCart hosting provider is available in our comparison.