The Top OpenCart Extensions to Enhance Your Online Store

OpenCart extensions are software modules designed to improve the functionality and features of the platform itself. They serve as add-ons that can be seamlessly integrated into an existing OpenCart ecommerce store, offering a wide range of capabilities beyond the platform’s core functionalities. 

You can find these extensions in various places, including the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace, third-party marketplaces, and developer websites. They cover a broad spectrum of purposes, such as product management, checkout and payment gateways, shipping and delivery, SEO and marketing, customer experience, analytics and reporting, security and compliance, multi-language and localization, theme and design, integration and compatibility, and much more.

Online store owners can significantly improve their store’s performance, user experience, and overall efficiency by incorporating OpenCart add-ons. For example, using a payment gateway extension enables customers to have more payment options, thus increasing conversion rates as your products/services become more available. 

Using SEO optimization extensions helps improve your store’s rank on search engines, driving organic traffic to your doorstep. Extensions for enhanced analytics provide valuable insights into customer behavior, aiding in making informed decisions for business growth. 

In this article, we’ll go through a wide range of excellent OpenCart extensions you can use, dividing them into categories and showing you how they can help your store. So, let’s get down to business!

Product Management Extensions

Below, you’ll find some of the best product management extensions available on the market. You’ll also learn how they can improve your ecommerce process and efficiency and streamline your workflow. 

Product Manager – Quick Product Management

The Product Manager – Quick Product Management extension can be found in the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace. It’s a premium add-on that is frequently updated and developed by the community. It is compatible with OpenCart 2 and 3, comes with 12 months of free support, and includes documentation.

This extension allows you to cut your workflow in half. You can bulk-update your products, make quick changes, update and remove items in bulk, change multiple column values, and save everything at once. It saves a lot of time and comes with some very exciting features:

• Show/hide selected columns on a product list;
• Drag-and-drop feature via which you can arrange the column order;
• Filters: name, model, SKU, tag, price with minimum to maximum range, quantity with minimum to maximum range, “Out of Stock” status, shipping, status, store, category, and manufacturer;
• Sort products by product ID, product name, model, and SKU in ascending and descending order;
• Bulk update status field;
• Bulk assign stores;
• Quick product page view option;
• Quick add popup;
• Quick edit popup;
• Multi-language support;
• Multi-store support;
• Installation guidance;
• And more.

Bulk Edit Products & Categories Tool PRO

This is a highly popular product management extension that you can find in the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace. Bulk Edit Products & Categories Tool PRO is a premium add-on developed by the community, comes with 12 months of free support, and is compatible with OpenCart 2 and 3. It was last updated on February 28, 2024.

The Bulk Edit Products & Categories Tool PRO allows you to edit and update products and categories with one simple click. You’ll get features like the following:

• Real-time AJAX;
• Free drag-and-drop tool;
• Smart formula filter;
• Multi-language support;
• Fully responsive interface;
• Arrange products into categories up to four levels;
• Quick stock status, tax, length, weight, manufacturer, categories, attribute, attribute group, recurring profile, customer group, etc., editing;

And many more.

Mass Edit Products (Bulk Editor)

Mass Edit Products is another product management extension from the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace. It was designed by the OpenCart community and is free to use. It’s compatible with OpenCart 2 and 3 and includes support documentation.

You can use Mass Edit Products to simplify your product-editing process. It allows you to bulk edit properties quickly and doesn’t involve any complex setups as it works out of the box.

Advanced Product Filter (for OpenCart 3)

Advanced Product Filter helps you manage filters and improves OpenCart’s filter functionality in the front end. It is a premium add-on that you can find on the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace. It was last updated on January 2, 2024, and was developed by the OpenCart community. It also comes with support documentation.

Other features that you’ll get from this extension include the following:

• Create filters from product options to products with one click;
• Create filters automatically by a cron;
• Add filters from products to categories with one click or automatically;
• Show selected filters as images;
• Price range selector;

Checkout and Payment Extensions

We’ll now review some of the most popular checkout and payment extensions and show you what they offer so that you can pick the one that best suits your needs.

One Page Super Checkout (One Page Checkout, Quick Checkout)

This is one of the most popular checkout extensions in the OpenCart Marketplace. One Page Super Checkout is a premium option that was developed by the community and works with OpenCart 1, 2, and 3. It comes with three months of free support and documentation included, and it was last updated on February 5, 2024.

One Page Super Checkout is an excellent solution as it removes the multi-step checkout process that OpenCart offers by default and makes buying products/services much faster and easier. Customers can complete their orders from a single page, significantly improving their experience and satisfaction with your store. This also reduces cart abandonments and can help you boost sales.

Some of the features that customers will get with One Page Super Checkout (One Page Checkout, Quick Checkout) include:

• Update and view their cart items quantity on the checkout page;
• Newsletter subscription;
• Ability to checkout as guest users;
• Ability to create an account from the checkout page;
• Order completion on one page.

Quick Checkout – Best One-Page Checkout Solution

Quick Checkout is another excellent one-page solution for OpenCart that will speed up the whole checkout process for your online store. It is a premium extension that comes with 12 months of free support, extensive documentation, and a great range of features. It is compatible with OpenCart 1, 2, and 3 and was developed by an OpenCart partner.

Here are some of the top features that you’ll get with this extension:

• Easy checkout;
• Mobile compatibility;
• All payment and all shipping is supported;
• All OpenCart themes are supported;
• One-click installation;
• Multi-language support;
• Multi-columns layout;
• Custom HTML header and footer;
• Custom CSS.

Stripe Payment Gateway

Stripe is one of the most widely used payment gateways in the world. This extension allows you to incorporate Stripe into your online store and give customers the option to use it for their payments. It is a premium option that is compatible with OpenCart 3 and 4 and was last updated on February 29, 2024. It was developed by an OpenCart partner and comes with 12 months of free support and documentation.

There’s also a Stripe Payment Gateway Pro option that you can use if you want to add Apple Pay to your list of support gateways. As for the regular option, it offers the following features:

• Upload and go;
• Built-in extension updater;
• Support for Stripe Elements and 3D Secure 2.0;
• Ability to modify all front-end text directly via the admin panel;
• Ability to restrict Stripe from appearing as a payment option based on order total, store, geolocation, currency, and customer group;
• Allow customers to store their card information for future use (optional).

PayPal Checkout Integration

PayPal is another highly used payment gateway, allowing customers to purchase your products/services via PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. This free add-on was developed by the OpenCart community and is compatible with OpenCart 2, 3, and 4. It was last updated on February 27, 2024, includes support documentation, and is available in the OpenCart Marketplace.

With PayPal Checkout Integration, you can count on some exciting features like:

• Allows your customers to pay in installments;
• Venmo (US only) integration;
• Fast checkout;
• Subscriptions;
• Payment security;
• Simple setup.

Shipping and Delivery Extensions

Shipping is an essential service that every online store should offer. Below, you’ll find some of the best OpenCart extensions that will allow you to provide better shipping and delivery to your customers through a streamlined shipping process, accurate delivery timelines, and transparent costs.

X-Shipping Pro

X-Shipping Pro is a premium and advanced shipping module for OpenCart. It is a custom solution that allows you to make advanced shipping calculations. X-Shipping Pro has a free version, called X-Shipping, that comes with fewer features but is still a great solution for smaller stores. X-Shipping Pro is another community-built project that is compatible with all OpenCart versions. It comes with six months of free support. 

The key features that come with this extension include:

• Sub-options and multi-level dropdown menus;
• Add a logo and description for each shipping method you use;
• Hide/restrict shipping modules;
• Category-based, product-based, product option-based, store-based, geo zone-based, city & country based, manufacturer-based, customer group based, zip/postal-based (comma separated, wildcards support, range support), distance-based (Google Map API Key is required), coupon based, quantity-based, weight-based, volume-based, sub-total based, total-based, and more.

Category & Product-Based Shipping

Category & Product-Based Shipping is one of the most used extensions on the OpenCart Extension Marketplace. It is a premiumsolution developed by an OpenCart partner, compatible with all platform versions. It comes with support documentation and 12 months of free support included, and it was last updated on February 26, 2024.

The Category & Product-Based Shipping extension allows you to create shipping charges based on category, manufacturer, product, and more. It uses an intuitive rules system to determine when your customers’ shipping charges will appear and allows you to restrict charges based on quantity, weight, total, volume, and other factors. 

Other features you might like include:

• Upload and go;
• Settings are automatically saved to your database when you make changes;
• A built-in extension updater;
• Easy charge creation;
• Ability to build rule sets that will apply multiple rules to one charge at once;
• Ability to create product groups;
• Testing Mode.

Total-Based Shipping

Total-Based Shipping is another premium OpenCart ecommerce add-on that’s compatible with all versions of the software. It was developed by an OpenCart partner and last updated on February 29, 2024. It comes with free support for 12 months and documentation. Find it on the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace. 

This simple and easy shipping solution calculates your customers’ shipping charges based on the total amount of their order. 

ShipStation

ShipStation is a premiumextension that was developed by the community and is compatible with OpenCart 1, 2, and 3. It is a web-based solution that streamlines order fulfilment and offers a 30-day free trial.

Some of ShipStation’s features include the following:

• Importing from more than 75 marketplaces and shopping carts;
• Custom fulfilment rules;
• Auto-selecting shipping preferences;
• Multiple-carrier label creation (20+ carriers including UPS, USPS, DHL, FedEx, and more);
• Automatic shipping confirmations;
• Shipping label printing;
• Packing slips in a batch;
• Order consolidation from multiple channels;
• Unlimited selling channels;
• Web-based solution, no installations needed;
• A free USPS postage account; 

SEO and Marketing Extensions

SEO optimization tools, social media integration, and email marketing automation are some of the features you’ll get by using SEO and marketing extensions for your OpenCart online store. 

Below, you’ll find a few of the best options that offer all that and more. Get ready to boost your store’s search engine rank much quicker by using these extensions. 

Lightning – Cache, Optimization, SEO, and Google PageSpeed Boost 

OpenCart Lightning is one of the best SEO extensions available for the ecommerce app. It helps you speed up your store and comes with great tools to improve your search engine ranking. It was developed by the community, and you can try it for free for seven days. Lightning is also compatible with all versions of the software and was last updated on January 24, 2024. 

The features that you’ll get with this add-on include the following:

• Google PageSpeed;
• Optimization for a large number of categories and products;
• Ability to boost your customer experience and SEO;
• Works with most OpenCart themes;

SEO URL Generator for OpenCart

You can get this extension on a third-party marketplace called OpenCartBot, which is an official partner of the platform. SEO URL Generator is a premium solution that works with OpenCart 3 and 4 and was last updated on April 20, 2023. 

Check out some of the many features you can enjoy with the SEO URL Generator:

• Bulk filling of SEO URLs;
• URL generation for products, categories, manufacturers, information, and other pages;
• Multi-language support;
• Ability to add stop words;
• Multi-store support;
• Great customer support;
• Easy installation process;

Professional HTML Email Template

This is a premium OpenCart extension that you can purchase via the official Extension Marketplace. Professional HTML Email Template is a wonderful plugin that complements your email marketing efforts. It was developed by the community and last updated on June 2, 2022. It works well with OpenCart 1, 2, 3, and 4 and includes 12 months of free support. There’s also an advanced version that you can get if you need even more features.

Still, Professional HTML Email Template offers plenty of features out of the box:

• Customizable templates;
• Mobile-responsive;
• Works with all major email clients, including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and more;
• Customer register;
• Order confirmation;
• Product review;
• Order returns;
• Order history;
• Status update;
• Newsletter;
• The ability to add a footer/signature text; 

Social Media Icons for OpenCart

Social Media Icons is yet another extension developed by the OpenCart community. It was last updated on January 30, 2023 and is compatible with OpenCart 2 through 4. It is also free to use, includes support documentation, and aims to further improve your social media marketing efforts. 

You’ll get the following features with Social Media Icons:

• Simplified linking tool;
• Over 50 predefined social icons;
• Display as many social and media icons as you need;
• Set icon dimensions;
• Six predefined icon styles;
• Four color options;
• Three icon shapes;
• Five icon animations;
• A code generator;
• Live updates;
• Premium support.

Pairing OpenCart With the Right Web Host

Knowing which extensions you need for your online store is not enough if you don’t set up your OpenCart environment first. To do that, you need a suitable web hosting provider that is compatible with the platform and meets its requirements. You also need a provider that makes managing a store easier by offering an easy-to-use control panel.

One such place where you’ll find both services is ScalaHosting. Our managed VPS services are ideal for hosting an OpenCart ecommerce store, as they are scalable, fast, secure, and fully support PHP and MySQL. The service also comes with the Softaculous one-click installer, which makes setting up an online store with OpenCart much easier.

We do try to be more than unique, though.

The ScalaHosting Team has developed our very own web hosting control panel – SPanel. This all-in-one management platform is ideal for operating one or more stores and is perfect for both beginners and advanced users. 

With ScalaHosting, you’ll get enterprise-grade security features as well, from SSL certificates and dedicated IP addresses to an advanced backup manager and a CDN. 

Conclusion

We explored some of the best OpenCart extensions for product management, checkout & payment gateways, shipping & delivery, and SEO & marketing. There are many more where that came from, of course, but we focused on the most important ones that every ecommerce shop needs to get going. 

You can find these extensions in the official OpenCart Extension Marketplace, as well as a variety of third-party options. Most of them are developed by community members and offer excellent functionality that will make your life easier and your services better. So, pick a few that you like and make sure to add them to your store if you want to make it better than it already is. 

Naturally, you can always contact the ScalaHosting Support for more questions and help with your OpenCart store.

FAQ

Q: What Should I Look for to Find a Good Security OpenCart Extension?

A: A solid security OpenCart extension should offer the following:

• SSL certificate integration;
• PCI DSI compliance tools;
• Security audits;
• Malware protection;
• Spam protection;
• Antivirus;
• DDoS protection;
• Firewall;
• A file scanner;
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA);
• 24/7 protection;
• Live updates.

Q: Are Premium Extensions Always Better Than Free Ones?

A: Premium OpenCart extensions are usually more functional than the free ones, as they offer many more features and are compatible with more OpenCart versions. However, there are also quite a few great free plugin options that will do an excellent job of boosting the functionality of your store.

So, whether the premium option is better than the free one depends mostly on what you need the extension to do for you. If a free solution gives you everything you need at the moment – don’t hesitate to use it. 

Q: How Many Payment Methods Can I Add to My OpenCart Store?

A: OpenCart, by default, offers a wide range of payment methods even without using extensions. You’ll get access to choices like PayPal, bank transfers, Alipay, Amazon Pay, Authroize.NET, Klarna, Square, Skrill, and many more. The amount of methods you can add isn’t limited per se – it depends on the OpenCart version you’re using, your web hosting account limitations, your server resources, and the overall compatibility of the extensions.