What are the Top PHP-Based Ecommerce Platforms to Consider in 2022

In recent years, PHP based ecommerce platforms have completely transformed the online shopping industry. These platforms enable you to start your ecommerce store without any prior experience in development.

According to studies by Statista, more than 2 billion people were buying online in 2021 and ecommerce revenue is predicted to reach more than $6 trillion annually by 2022.

If you want to have an ecommerce store, then this is the right time. Online attention is at an all-time high and these days, ecommerce platforms are offering easy setup and management at incredibly low cost.

They include built-in features like website builder, payment gateway; inventory management and marketing tools. Business owners are now moving to build their own websites with ecommerce functionality rather than selling on Amazon or eBay.

But how can you choose the best PHP based ecommerce platform? To make it simpler, we have listed below the top PHP based ecommerce platforms to consider in 2022.

Top PHP Based Ecommerce Platforms

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is based on PHP programming language and is one of the best free ecommerce platforms. It powers over 28% of all online stores and is an extension of WordPress CMS made by Jigoshop.

It can be easily installed by a beginner and takes no more than a few seconds to set up on any PHP host. WooCommerce is used by over 4 million retailers and it offers a huge repository of themes and plug-ins.

Pros – Customizable; SEO optimized; Free

Cons – Requires extension; Scalability issues; Poor support; Pay for hosting

Price – Free with WordPress account; Additional fees for plug-ins and hosting

Ideal for – WordPress sites; Small to medium size ecommerce

2. Magento

Magento is based on a PHP framework that lets you build online businesses with ease. It is one of the most trusted and customizable ecommerce platforms available for individuals and enterprises.

It offers a vast number of extensions and third-party integrations to give users a unique shopping experience. Magento appeals to some of the leading names in ecommerce; like The North Face; Nike; and HP Inc.

Pros – Highly customizable; SEO optimized; Large community of support

Cons – Costly; Requires experienced developers

Price – Free; Magento Commerce/Cloud costs up to $24,000 annually

Ideal for – Enterprise level ecommerce

3. OpenCart

OpenCart is an open-source, downloadable platform with over 13;000 extensions and 36 payment methods, making it a contender for the best ecommerce platforms to look for in 2022. It also has a strong community of professionals. You can choose from over 2500 attractive themes for a custom store. OpenCart also offers a cloud-based version – OpenCart Cloud.

Pros – Free; Open-source; Customizable; Easy to use

Cons – Requires developers; Add-ons required

Price – Free; OpenCart Cloud pricing varies

Ideal for – Small to medium size ecommerce

4. PrestaShop

 PrestaShop is an open-source, cloud-hosted and PHP-based ecommerce platform that is built on the Smarty template engine. You can either download it for free and customize it or pay for PrestaShop Ready, which is a hosted version. It is fairly easy to use. PrestaShop is widely used in over 160 countries and has been translated into 63 different languages to date.

Pros – Customizable; SEO optimized; Large community

Cons – Costly add-ons; Pay for support

Price – Free; PrestaShop Ready price varies

Ideal for – Small to medium size ecommerce

5. X-Cart

X-cart is an open-source ecommerce platform considered as one of the best shopping software available today.

It was one of the very first PHP-based ecommerce software and is used by 50k websites. X-Cart offers a number of lifetime subscriptions instead of monthly packages. It is extremely customizable and offers a wide variety of integrations. However, it requires PHP developers. 

Pros – Highly customizable; Lifetime subscription

Cons – Requires developers; Expensive customer support

Price – Free; Includes annual fee

Ideal for – Medium to enterprise-level ecommerce

6. OsCommerce

OsCommerce is one of the oldest open-source ecommerce platforms which is completely free and downloadable. It has around 9,000 free add-ons which make it easy and affordable to customize your site. OsCommerce has a community with more than 350,000 members and it is suitable for use with PHP.

Pros – Customizable; Free; Easy to use

Cons – Requires developers; Costly hosting; Prone to bugs

Price – Free

Ideal for – Small to medium size ecommerce

So, if you are looking for PHP-based ecommerce platforms, then this list is rightly made for you. Choosing the best platform for your website is a long-term decision as companies rarely shift platforms before a few years.

However, having said that, you also need a highly skilled PHP developer to work on these platforms.