Zen Cart

Zen Cart is a free, open-source e-commerce platform built with PHP and MySQL that enables merchants to create online stores for selling physical and digital products. The software provides out-of-the-box functionality for product catalogs, shopping carts, customer accounts, order management, and payment processing. Zen Cart supports unlimited products, categories, manufacturers, and customer groups with flexible pricing rules including quantity discounts, special offers, and featured products. It includes multiple payment gateway integrations, shipping method configurations, and tax calculation engines to handle various business models and geographic requirements. The platform offers a template-based theming system allowing store customization through HTML, CSS, and PHP modifications. Zen Cart provides administrative tools for inventory management, order processing, customer service, and sales reporting through a web-based backend. It includes SEO-friendly URL structures, meta tag management, and sitemap generation to improve search engine visibility. The software supports multi-language and multi-currency capabilities for international selling. Zen Cart has an active community contributing modules, templates, and extensions to extend functionality. It's popular among small to medium-sized businesses seeking a self-hosted, customizable e-commerce solution without licensing fees.