From control to convenience: how the market for shopping cart systems is evolving

What are Shopping Cart Systems? 

A Shopping Cart System (SCS) is e-commerce software that enables users to select products or services online, store them in a virtual cart, and complete their purchase through a secure checkout process. Beyond product selection, modern SCS platforms handle pricing, taxes, shipping options, and payment processing, making them an essential part of a functional online store.

With over 250 different SCS platforms detected across 24 million active websites, our structured web data shows that the market is vast and highly competitive. Each solution caters to different business models, technical preferences, and customer needs, ranging from simple plug-and-play systems for small businesses to fully customizable platforms used by large enterprises.

Despite the wide range of options, the landscape is dominated by just a handful of platforms. As shown in Figure 1, WooCommerce leads the market by a significant margin, powering 33.2% of online stores. WIX eCommerce follows with 19.3%, and Squarespace Commerce holds 17.9% of the market. Shopify remains a major player focused on dedicated e-commerce, with a 9.8% share.

Smaller platforms still carve out their niche, however. Ecwid accounts for 3.5%, while Jimdo, PrestaShop, and Square Online each serve just 1% or less of the market. Rounding out the top ten is GoDaddy GoCentral Online Store, with just 0.6% share, and the various other providers that constitute the remaining 13.3%.

These numbers illustrate how fragmented and competitive the shopping cart system market is. Choosing the right solution can significantly impact your store’s performance, scalability, and user experience, making it a critical decision for any e-commerce business.

The king of SCS? A familiar story

Just like WordPress dominates the CMS landscape, WooCommerce is the clear leader in the SCS market. As a plugin built for WordPress—and owned by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress—WooCommerce benefits from its deep integration within the world’s most popular CMS. This connection makes it the go-to choice for small and medium-sized businesses seeking flexibility, control, and a vast ecosystem of plugins and themes.

WooCommerce has proven itself a rock-solid foundation for e-commerce websites: it’s steady growth over time, as seen in Figure 2, is a testament to its lasting popularity and continued relevance in an increasingly competitive market. The sharp increase visible around mid-2023 is not due to a sudden market shift, but rather the result of a major improvement in our detection technology. By enhancing our fingerprint matching and optimizing detection methods, we gained a much clearer picture of WooCommerce’s true presence on the internet.

Since that update, WooCommerce’s growth trend has stabilized, consistently holding its position as the leading SCS. This stability underscores its role as the default choice for businesses building e-commerce stores on WordPress, a position that, much like WordPress in the CMS market, remains unchallenged for now.

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted: choosing the right SCS

One of the biggest decisions businesses face when selecting a Shopping Cart System is whether to choose a hosted or a self-hosted solution. Both approaches come with distinct advantages and trade-offs, largely depending on a company’s technical expertise, customization needs, and desire for control.

Self-hosted SCS platforms like WooCommerce and Magento are installed on your own web server, giving you full control over customization, features, and data. This flexibility allows businesses to fine-tune every aspect of their store, from design to functionality. However, self-hosting also means taking on responsibility for server maintenance, security, updates, and scaling as your business grows. This can make it more demanding for less technical users.

On the other hand, hosted SCS solutions like Shopify, WIX eCommerce, and Squarespace Commerce are fully managed by the provider. These platforms offer convenience and ease of use, handling hosting, security, and updates, so online merchants can focus on running their store without worrying about the technical details. The trade-off is limited flexibility and higher long-term costs due to subscription-based pricing and add-on fees.

Figure 3 shows how these two groups have evolved. WooCommerce, the leading self-hosted platform, displays steady growth, reflecting its strong position among businesses seeking control and scalability. Magento, another self-hosted option, shows a clear decline of more than 85%, highlighting how its complexity and steep learning curve have pushed many users toward more user-friendly alternatives.

In contrast, hosted platforms like Shopify have grown consistently, with Shopify now showing a 66% increase compared to the starting point. This trend reflects the growing demand for low-maintenance, all-in-one e-commerce solutions. WIX eCommerce and Squarespace Commerce were recently added to our detection capabilities, but their current market share suggests these platforms are also attracting businesses that prioritize ease of use over technical complexity.

Ultimately, the choice between self-hosted and hosted SCS solutions depends on the needs of the business. Those seeking full control, advanced customization, and integration flexibility may favor WooCommerce. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs looking for simplicity, speed, and a fully managed service often turn to Shopify or other hosted alternatives.

The shifting landscape of shopping cart systems

While self-hosted solutions like WooCommerce and Magento have long been popular choices for businesses seeking flexibility and control, our data reveals a noticeable trend toward hosted platforms such as Shopify, WIX eCommerce, and Squarespace Commerce. These fully managed solutions appeal to businesses that prioritize ease of use, built-in support, and predictable monthly costs over technical complexity.

Whether this trend continues will largely depend on how businesses balance convenience against control. For now, WooCommerce’s steady growth signals the enduring appeal of self-hosted solutions, especially for those who value customization and ownership. Still, the consistent rise of hosted platforms hints at a shifting preference, particularly among new businesses looking to get online quickly without the overhead of managing their own infrastructure.

Our data already reflects this shift, suggesting that as the e-commerce landscape matures, the demand for simple, scalable, and low-maintenance solutions will only grow.