Zen Cart

 vs. Nexternal
Nexternal has provided me the professional site and tools I was looking for to manage my online business in a cost effective, streamlined and customer oriented way. I have calculated that system immediately saved me 3 hours per day in administrative time and reduced my shipping errors to only 2% from 10%. Worth every dime!
— Donna Drury, Blue Chip Cookies


Criteria Nexternal Zen Cart
Dedicated Account Manager

Watch the Video 		Yes. Dedicated Customer Service Rep. Unlimited support. No phone or email support. Online knowledge base & forums only.
Setup / Installation

Watch the Video 		Turnkey. Highly technical.
Keyword Rich, Search Engine Friendly URLs

Watch the Video 		Yes. Add-on module required.
Facebook Like & Save

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Always Onscreen Shopping Cart

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Integrated Shipping

Watch the Video 		Yes. Real-time rates, label creation, and tracking with all major carriers. Add on module with rates only.
Dashboard

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Drop Ship Feature

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Social Commerce
(Tipping Point Sales)

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Preferred Delivery Date

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
Turnkey Salesforce.com Integration

Watch the Video 		Yes. No.
MailChimp Integration

Watch the Video 		Yes. Yes.
Automated Review Reminders Yes. Must install seperate module.
Security Managed by Nexternal. Responsibility of Merchant.
Backups Managed by Nexternal. Responsibility of Merchant or Web Host.
Reliability Nexternal hosts and maintains the application with 24/7 monitoring. Zen Cart is hosted by a third party. Reliability varies.
Load Balancing Yes. No, software sits on a single server.
Software Updates Automatic and frequent. Merchant must download and install.
Direct Checkout Yes. No.
Marketplace Feeds Automated - run daily. Must manually create and submit data files.
Batch Order Processing Yes. No.
Affiliate Program Included. Add on module
Multiple Ship To Yes. No.
Inventory Kits/Product Bundles Supported Not supported.
McAfee SECURE Yes. Scanned daily. Merchants can display badge. Not included with Zen Cart.
Security Certificate Included. Separate charge.
Multiple Admin Access Levels Yes. 7 different access levels. Not standard. Need to install add-on module.
Storage Limits None. Depends on host.
Product Limits No. Varies depending upon hosting.


Zen Cart is a Trademark of Zen Ventures, LLC.

This comparison is produced and hosted by Nexternal Solutions.

The Zen Cart comparison information on this page was believed to be correct as of 1/25/2012. Information was collected from Zen Cart's website (www.zen-cart.com) in order to compare it to Nexternal's shopping cart application. To report an error or discrepancy, please email