Nexternal vs. Zen Cart

Are you spending time trouble shooting Zen Cart when you should be focusing on marketing?


Criteria Nexternal Zen Cart
Customer Service Yes. Dedicated Customer Service Rep. Unlimited support. No phone or email support. Online knowledge base & forums only.
Setup / Installation Turnkey. Highly technical.
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.
Always On Screen Shopping Cart Yes. No.
Direct Checkout Yes. No.
Integrated Shipping Yes. Real-time rates, label creation, and tracking with all major carriers. Add on module with rates only.
Marketplace Feeds Automated - run daily. Must manually create and submit data files.
Dashboard Yes. No.
Drop-Ship Module Yes. No.
Batch Order Processing Yes. No.
Affiliate Program Included. Add on module
Multiple Ship To Address Yes. No.
Preferred Delivery Date Selection 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 information on this page was believed to be correct as of 9/18/2008. To report an error or discrepancy, please email