---
title: Zen Cart Reviews
meta_title: 'Zen Cart Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 42 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to
  find out how Zen Cart works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 3.9
  review_count: 42
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-08-07'
parent_category:
  name: E-Commerce
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/e-commerce
---


# Zen Cart Reviews
**Vendor:** Zen Ventures  
**Category:** [Shopping Cart Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/shopping-cart)  
**Average Rating:** 3.9/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 42
## About Zen Cart
Zen Cart is truly is the art of e-commerce; free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart software. The ecommerce web site design program is developed by a group of like-minded shop owners, programmers, designers, and consultants that think ecommerce web design could be, and should be, done differently.




## Zen Cart Reviews
  ### 1. Zencart is good or basic eshops

**Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2021

**What do you like best about Zen Cart?**

I like base of zen art. Is easy to learn for product content managers

**What do you dislike about Zen Cart?**

When you want to code new feature it can make some trouble with “clean code”

**What problems is Zen Cart solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Trouble with complex shops to structure files and code

  ### 2. Limited customer support, makes it difficult to use 

**Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** jennifer h. | founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2019

**What do you like best about Zen Cart?**

You can edit a lot of the dashboard, so that it's fairly customizable. It worked well for our three-person team, but as we grow I hope that we'll need something with more capabilities. 

**What do you dislike about Zen Cart?**

because it's open source, it has a very cheap feel/not very intuitive. this means there's no customer support when you need help, but there's a beginners guide online that you can substitute. 

**Recommendations to others considering Zen Cart:**

get your own tech support or hire someone with IT/tech support background. The platform itself works well, but once you hit a roadblock you're going to have to figure it out on your own! Very inexpensive, so this worked for us/ we could afford in-house support for a couple months to transition into the program

**What problems is Zen Cart solving and how is that benefiting you?**

it was really good startup software for our online store, and it meant we could manage our store pretty well when it was still very small-scale. this works well for those with their own IT support or someone with tech support background knowledge. 

  ### 3. Not the best option

**Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Markus M. | Project Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2019

**What do you like best about Zen Cart?**

nothing beats a windows client application to access your website. it is fast and convenient for your team.
I've used it in the past with other ecommerce software and it worked perfectly. But with Zencart it did not work 90% of the time.



**What do you dislike about Zen Cart?**

lots of crashes and doing your own database modification will throw the application off. should use better caching and not rely on the server to reply for each request.
did not update or work well at all. Everything installed fine but when had to update products it did not work at all. Also imported a customer csv file and totally messed up my database


**Recommendations to others considering Zen Cart:**

Needs more work to be able to step up to the next level.

**What problems is Zen Cart solving and how is that benefiting you?**

instead of using the web interface to access the e-commerce application a client desktop application will makes your life easier


  ### 4. Free Ecommerce Platform

**Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Goods | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2019

**What do you like best about Zen Cart?**

Once that site is set up it is easy to use.  Plus it is free which is great! Lots of plug in options to customize your cart,. It is a great open source platform. 

**What do you dislike about Zen Cart?**

Not a good fit if you are not tech savvy.  There is no phone support only emails which makes trying to figure out an issue very difficult.  I found it very difficult to set up my store with them and I have opened a few eCommerce stores in the past 

**Recommendations to others considering Zen Cart:**

Make sure you are very tech savvy or know someone who is 

**What problems is Zen Cart solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Hoping to open an online drop ship store 


## Zen Cart Discussions
  - [What improvements have been done in the last few years?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/36900-what-improvements-have-been-done-in-the-last-few-years) - 1 comment, 1 upvote
  - [How much does Zen Cart cost?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-much-does-zen-cart-cost) - 1 comment
  - [Why use Zen Cart?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-use-zen-cart) - 1 comment

- [View Zen Cart pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/zen-cart/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=2&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-14+10%3A40%3A22+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=ff538353-1d5a-4da4-bac9-132c0ac1acf7&secure%5Btoken%5D=a16e057f784afc53e670104cdbfe24dfb566cf6e33b1a936fb20e521cc1a987c&format=llm_user)

## Zen Cart Features
**Administration**
- Reporting
- Cart Management
- Shipping Information Collection
- Inventory Management
- Promotions Management
- Tax Management
- Multi-Channel Management
- Catalog Management
- Gift Card Management
- Refund Management
- Returns Management
- Order Management
- Invoice Management
- SEO Management
- Discount Management
- eCommerce Management

**Integrations**
- Payment Gateway Integration
- E-commerce Platform Integration
- Email Integration
- Social Media Integration
- Shipping Services Integration
- Third-Party Integrations

**Cart Management**
- Multi Cart
- Products
- Customizable Templates
- Embed
- Email Templates

**Additional Functionality**
- Reporting & Statistics
- Abandoned Cart Saver
- Mobile Access
- API
- Customizable Branding
- Multi-Language
- Activity Dashboard
- Multi-Currency
- Payment Options
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Product Catalog
- Credit Card Processing
- AI Copilot
- Customizable Reports
- Data Import/Export
- Generative AI
- Email Marketing
- Drag & Drop
- Rewards Points
- Customer Accounts
- Customizable Fields
- SSL Security
- CRM

## Top Zen Cart Alternatives
  - [OpenCart](https://www.g2.com/products/opencart/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (95 reviews)
  - [PrestaShop](https://www.g2.com/products/prestashop/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (149 reviews)
  - [Ecwid](https://www.g2.com/products/ecwid/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (397 reviews)

