Zen Cart - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

Zen Cart is an open source, free, GPL2 licensed solution for adding powerful eCommerce shopping cart management to websites. The software can be installed on private or third party host servers, plus local LAMP stacks running PHP, Apache and MySQL. Supported by a dedicated global community of programmers, Zen Cart offers a high level of customization alongside an array of additional training, store front templates and plugins. Designed to put merchants and shoppers first, Zen Cart attempts to make installation and configuration simpler for those users with adequate web building skills. Deeper customization may call for specialist PHP/MySQL knowledge, although standard features such as product/catalog creation tools require no HTML editing whatsoever.

Provide customers with 24/7 access to live stores, list detailed product attributes or pricing structures and add entire product categories in a matter of clicks. Layouts and product ordering can be tweaked in fine detail using an Admin area rich with settings, making it quick and intuitive to reconfigure the look and feel of pages and enable or disable elements. Add multiple product descriptions and images, with popups for larger views, or setup product-only “brochure” showcases free of any pricing details. Easily implement customer access restrictions and offer a variety of shipping options while supporting discount coupon codes, advertising banners, email communications and much more.