So today I was stumbling around the internet looking for the best CMS solution available and came across (what seems to be) an pretty amazing open-source e-commerce solution. I must say, at first look and a quick install, Magento is pretty impressive. It takes a lot of the difficult stuff out of developing an e-commerce solution.

The first huge benefit and time saver I came across is it’s built-in Authorize.net, Google Checkout and Paypal support. Worried about security? Don’t be…Magento utilizes SSL in everything it does and is PCI compliant. This is a pretty big time saver in itself. Just type in your account name and it’s ready to rock.

Next, the back end. It’s a bit tricky to get around, but once you figure it out it’s extremely informative. You’re able to totally manage this thing from the admin panel and it seems to be really effective. I’m actually quite astonished at what it does. They really took everything into account during development. inventory levels, sales, coupons…EVERYTHING. There’s even an RSS Feed to tell you which items you’re running low on (assuming you carry inventory).

Best of all, it’s totally open-source. You can edit anything you want and build it to suit your needs. The store front is fully customizable as well.

I just had to get the word out on such an interesting and great open-source project. To me, there’s nothing better than free.