osCommerce
Shopping cart software
E-commerce software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$4.99 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Retail and wholesale
- Accommodation and food services
- Manufacturing
What is osCommerce
osCommerce is an open-source shopping cart and e-commerce platform used to build and manage online stores. It supports core storefront functions such as product catalogs, checkout, order management, and payment/shipping integrations, typically deployed on a self-hosted PHP/MySQL stack. It is commonly used by small businesses and developers that want source-code access and the ability to customize the storefront and workflows through community add-ons.
Open-source, self-hosted control
osCommerce provides full access to the application code and database, enabling deep customization of storefront and checkout behavior. Self-hosting allows organizations to choose their own infrastructure, security controls, and deployment model. This can suit teams that prefer ownership of the runtime environment rather than a vendor-managed SaaS platform.
Large add-on ecosystem
The platform has a long-running community with many third-party contributions, including modules for payments, shipping, and storefront features. This ecosystem can reduce the need to build every integration from scratch when requirements align with available add-ons. It also provides multiple implementation patterns and examples for developers maintaining legacy or customized stores.
Low licensing cost baseline
As open-source software, osCommerce can be deployed without per-store or per-transaction licensing fees for the core application. This can be attractive for cost-sensitive projects where development and hosting are managed internally or by an agency. Total cost still depends on customization, maintenance, and hosting, but the entry cost for software licensing is typically low.
Requires technical administration
osCommerce generally requires developer or administrator involvement for installation, upgrades, and troubleshooting. Ongoing responsibilities include hosting management, backups, performance tuning, and security patching. Organizations looking for a fully managed, low-maintenance experience may find this operational burden higher than vendor-hosted alternatives.
Modern features often add-on
Capabilities such as advanced merchandising, multi-store management, and sophisticated promotions may require extensions or custom development depending on the version and implementation. Feature depth can vary significantly across add-ons, and compatibility may depend on the specific release in use. This can increase implementation time compared with platforms that bundle more functionality out of the box.
Extension quality varies
Because many integrations and modules are community- or third-party-developed, documentation, support, and update cadence can be inconsistent. Some add-ons may lag behind current PHP versions or security practices, creating maintenance risk. Teams often need a review process for code quality and long-term maintainability before adopting extensions.
Plan & Pricing
Core software (osCommerce 4)
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source / Download | Free (open-source download) | Self-hosted; full source; no platform transaction fees; download/install on your own server. |
osCommerce-hosted (official osCommerce hosting)
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | $4.99 per month • $49 per year (annual billing — 2 months free) | Optimal for up to ~500 products; free SSL; FTP/DB access; not managed; ecommerce-optimised. |
| Cloud basic | $19.99 per month • $199 per year (annual billing — 2 months free) | Optimal for up to ~2,000 products; SSH access; managed option; free SSL; FTP/DB. |
| Cloud standard | $34.99 per month • $349 per year (annual billing — 2 months free) | Optimal for up to ~5,000 products; managed; SSH access; free SSL; higher capacity. |
osCommerce Application Packs (one-off, vendor-sold packs)
| Pack | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Retail App pack | $999 one-off | Retail-focused set of osCommerce applications; includes 1 year support; advertised as ~60% savings vs buying individual apps. |
| Wholesale / B2B App pack | $999 one-off | Wholesale/B2B apps; includes 1 year support; B2B features (price groups, trade registration, login-only pricing). |
| Enterprise App pack | $1,499 one-off | Enterprise application pack; includes 1 year support; access to many apps; extra yearly support available as an add-on. |
Notes: All pricing above is taken from the official osCommerce website (hosting and app-pack pages). The core osCommerce software is offered as a free open-source download; osCommerce also offers a 1-month free evaluation/demo of hosted stores.
