Open source shopping carts are a great shopping cart software option for any e-commerce enterprise. Keep reading to find out more about open source shopping carts and how to use an open source shopping cart with your online business.

What is an open source shopping cart?
When it comes to find the best open source shopping cart, there are a few different options available. There are many free shopping carts, and there are also paid shopping carts that have more options available. Open source shopping carts are the kind of shopping cart for which source code is available for the user to be modified. To find the best open source shopping cart, there are a a few different ways to go about it:

• Many websites or web host providers already include an open source shopping cart software in their web hosting packages. However, the capabilities of this open source shopping cart might not quite be large enough to meet the needs of your online business.
• If you already have a website created or serve your own website, you may look for an open source shopping cart that is available directly from the website of the maker, and it is usually available via download.
• There are also plenty of free, open source software to help you build your website including free open source shopping carts. You can look for these with software providers like WordPress, Joomla, Drupla or Mambo.  You should also look for access to an open source shopping cart through a plug-in, template, widget or another type of add-on feature to your website.

Companies like BigCommerce.com are also great resources to find the best open source shopping carts. BigCommerce is known for offering the best open source features. They also include a variety of features to benefit online businesses from shopping comparison export to automated email marketing. BigCommerce even provides the tools needed to sell products on social networking websites like Facebook. With so many of the best shopping cart features available, it is no wonder that BigCommerce is considered one of the best shopping cart providers. BigCommerce allows customers to have full creative control over their shopping cart customization with their open source shopping cart design features. BigCommerce makes it easy for those with little to no technical design skills with the easy-to-use customization tools to change the layout and functionality of the e-commerce enterprise.

When trying to find the best open source shopping cart tools and providers, be sure to check out online shopping cart reviews and comparisons to help narrow down your decision. Keep in mind that when finding the best open source shopping carts, it is important to check out how much it will cost you even if it seems like a free service. Often times you still have to pay for an open-source license, instillation/upgrades or support. Make sure you know exactly what part of the the open source shopping cart features and set up you will be responsible for.