One of the most alarming factors for new e-tailers is the cost of some of the commercial e-store software. While you can pay a few extra dollars for shopping cart software when signing up for a hosting account, these plans don’t always offer the functionality or design options that fit your needs. This is where Open Source software comes in to play.

Open Source Software
Many like-minded programmers create software that costs nothing and can be edited just as freely. The result of this collaboration of professional programmers is software that is often as feature rich as its commercial competitors. Best of all, of course, it’s free. Open Source software is nothing new, but it was once considered to be lacking in features and incredibly difficult to install without the help of a trained professional. However, now many Open Source e-commerce packages are as intuitive as commercial solutions. And, with such a vibrant and active Open Source community, there are many options available and lots of support should you need it. To help you decide what’s a good fit for you, we’ve highlighted the features of five Open Source platforms we recommend.

Reviewed carts include osCommerce, Zen Shopping Cart, Agora Shopping Carts, NoPCart and Commerce.CGI >>>>>>

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