Hi, guys! If you are interested in Drupal and eCommerce, this post can be helpful for you. Today we are going to talk about two powerful Drupal tools, which allow building complex and simple online shops. And, of course, we’ll compare them.
Meet: in the right corner of the ring is our well-known Ubercart, and in the left corner is the revolutionary Drupal Commerce. Let’s start!
Easiness in Use
Ubercart
It is a stable and well-tried solution with almost 47,000 installations. Ubercart is a free open source shopping cart, which is easy to install, easy to manage, and easy to use. It becomes more and more user-friendly over the years. That’s why, if you are acquainted with Drupal, you’ll have no problems with operating it.
Drupal Commerce
Well, Drupal Commerce is more complex and has a very high level of customization. It is a framework, which allows creating online stores of any difficulty, so the number of almost 68,000 installations speaks for itself. It has more features than Ubercart and is a bit more difficult for understanding. But these facts are just nothings compared to its advantages.
Functionalities
Both of these solutions have powerful functionality. The difference is in contributed modules, and also the size of your eCommerce project.
Ubercart
In Ubercart, the default configuration settings are ready to run. You’ll need just to make some simple adjustments. The customer accounts are created via their emails, and this option is included into functionality. XML export/import plays well and helps everyone transfer the product information from the old Ubercart version to a new one. Also, it has a useful Activity Loggin feature for finding an order status at any point of purchasing.
Drupal Commerce
This high-level solution is much more complicated and has more advanced features. This framework allows customizing the website according to any required design and structure. The documentation of Commerce is related to Drupal API, and it’s a complete package. Cart and checkout processes are stable and well-thought-out. Also, it allows adding such useful options, as tax calculation, discounts, promo code implementation and more other.
Product Management
And here we come to the most interesting part. One of the main things of any eCommerce website is product management. In this matter, the two solutions are completely different.
Ubercart
It stores each product with all its attributes and options as a content node. This way is perfect for simple products with no variations, like books. So, if you deal with multi-sized and multi-colored products (different clothes sizes and colors modifications), all these data will be stored in one node, like one product. It works great for the small stores, where the products have up to three variations (1-3 different sizes and colors).
Drupal Commerce
As for Drupal Commerce, here the situation is quite different. It stores each variation as its own entry and SKU. This tool is extremely flexible and powerful when it comes to managing products with multiple variations. It is similar to the real-life product management. The products or the set of products are displayed via relationship field. Each size, color, or model is a separate node. This fact helps to keep shipping and payments on a high level.
Shipping and Payment
Ubercart
It has built-in payment and shipping modules. And the user can choose necessary modules or a full package. This process is easy to launch and manage. It works pretty well with not large online stores without the huge number of product variations.
Drupal Commerce
It does not include any payment gateways and shipping modules. You’ll need to install some necessary of them to carry out these operations. But when it’s done, everything will run like clockwork, no matter what size of project you have.
For Whom
Finally, we are on the step of making up our mind. Which of these tools to choose? As said before, it depends on your goals and the size of the Ecommerce store.
Ubercart
Say, it suits simple online shops, where the products have only one or several modifications. If you don’t want to go deep into product management, try Ubercart.
Drupal Commerce
If you are good at Drupal, highly customized Commerce will impress you with its advanced functionalities. It’s great for large and complicated online stores, where the product attributes and modifications are critical. With its help, you’ll have no problems with shipping and billing process. Like a powerful framework, it’ll allow you to build the robust online shop with the particular design, structure, and all needed features.
The Final Choice for Drupal 8
So what about Drupal 8? – The question is still open and has the following solutions:
Ubercart – Alpha2 Release
Ubercart has some improvements in “Shipping” and “Payments” options and compatible with Drupal 8.
Drupal Commerce 2 – Alpha3 Realise
Ubercart is also not production ready. That’s why there are no upgrade methods between the Alphas, and the full reinstallation is required. It’s simplified site management process and is more user-friendly (blog).
As we can see, both of technologies have their pros and cons. If talk about Ubercart, definitely, it stays in hearts of Drupal users who decided to explore eCommerce. Drupal Commerce is much more advanced, highly-customized, and flexible. It is a leader of choice for most website owners who build their eCommerce websites on Drupal. What to choose? – It’s up to you. The great thing is that we always have a choice. And we are here to help you create a great Ecommerce website based on Drupal.
Wish you to make friends with both tools and use them wisely.
If something will go wrong and make irritated, WEB4PRO team is always here to help:)