Prestashop compared to Zen-Cart and osCommerce

@Arta incorrectly stated, with regard to ZenCart,

> They are both old and doesn't update at all.

ZenCart IS maintained, IS updated frequently and DOES have a decent roadmap into the future along with a robust community.

Here is a recent (March 2011) update from the ZenCart Team:

[To see links please register here]

Personally, I have installed, configured and maintained no less than 3 ZenCart shops, having found ZenCart subsequent to using "Selena Sol's" and Gunther Birzniek's Perl-based eCommerce app creatively named, "WebStore" for several years.

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I found ZenCart because I am not a programmer - I'm just a plugger who pushes hard enough on something to make it work.

With ZenCart, the community help is excellent. The "Getting Started" documentation got me started and got my websites running.

I've looked at Magento (too da*n complicated) and just about every shopping cart that's out there.

Maybe I'm just getting old but things that are shiny and new still do not compare to my OLD ZenCart for the key features I need:

1. Secure.
2. Integrates with Authorize.net & Paypal, among others.
3. TRUE Quantity Pricing.
4. Price based on Options.
5. Categories.
6. Fine, granular control over Product page Title and Keywords.
7. Easy to update when updates are released because I don't muck with CORE files (and I've never had to).
8. Thriving, responsive community.
9. Open-source. TRULY open-source.

I do have one complaint, though. I WISH the folks at ZenCart would reorganize their add-ons page to make it easier for ppl to find an add-on and know when the add-on was last updated. But as you can see, this is not a complaint about the Shopping Cart software itself.

Hope this helps.

i have used Oscommerce and yesterday i have just installed prestashop....and i found presta a bit harder than osc because it is fully object oriented and uses smarty template.
i think it is harder to modify presta than osc.

I agree with Val booth. Zen cart is the best and easiest. It has just about any option you can imagine, the templating is easy to install and adjust, and help comes very quick for questions posted in the forum.

My only beef with Zen cart is that the control panel the user logs into is a little complex for any changes if you are a computer newbie. This is only because setting are located in different places instead of one area only. There are many features in some cases located in multiple places. Say you want to add features to your homepage, you might have to go to one area to check a box to enable the features on the homepage, another area to defind the features, and another area to list the features. Meaning you have to bounce around. I have been using zen cart for several years and have it installed on many of my clients websites. The control panel always takes a little training for my clients. With that being said the reason for this is because this program has any feature imaginable. That means more complexity (Not it's not that difficult you just have to bounce around to make big changes).

As far as features this is the main reason why you should use Zen Cart. Let me give you a recent example. One of my clients charges tax for Ohio and California. Two different rates it wasn't a problem (just a little help from the forum and a couple of changes in the control panel). Next, they wanted free shipping to the USA only. Not a problem worldwide shipping for a charge (USPS) and free shipping within the USA. They also have lots of options for each product. No problem. I tell my customers: "With Zen Cart you can grow into your carts features years down the road." **The structure is already there even if you don't think you need certain features now.** Instead of having to install a different cart, we just enable a new module or feature. It's common for the needs of a business to change. As your website (business needs) change the zen cart features are already there waiting for you.

Don't overlook the fact that has been mentioned in these posts about zen cart updates. When you make changes to any core coding it goes in it's own folder named after your template. When you update the cart it does not mess up any of your past changes. This is very powerful because updates are common and easy and you don't need to re-modify your past changes! With other large programs this is not the case and puts a lot more work on you for each new update. Look in forums all over the web and you will see that Zen cart is the most flexible, the easiest to use, and has the most features.

No I have no affilaite with Zen cart at all, I am just a regular webmaster who installs shopping carts onto my clients websites and has been asking questions in their forums for years. I can tell you from my experience Zen Cart is the bomb!

Prestashop has been growing and improving extremely fast, both in number of users / forum members, and in development / features added.

A good resource to start with is the new book "[PrestaShop 1.3 Beginner's Guide]", it goes though all the important features in Prestashop and guide you towards getting your shop online and having your first sale in one week.

In addition to doing technical review for the book, I am also an English Moderator on the Prestashop forum, and I see people with no programming or website development background manage to install and customize their own shops, add themes, modules and modification with little or no help.

The [Prestashop forum] has been growing rapidly as well, it reached nearly 90,000 members, and is by far the best place to get help or questions answered, usually within a short period of time.
Make sure you search the forum first, because many questions have already been answered…

Speaking as a representative of the company:

For a small business or anyone without a massive dedicated server, PrestaShop is probably the best choice. Any of these options will have a steep learning curve, but I would have to say that PrestaShop is the easiest to get up and running compared to the rest.

Also, we've really made a commitment to customer service, and the forums have become a much better place to get answers since we opened an office in the United States.