One Step Checkout for Magento: Awesome Checkout vs. OneStepcheckout

We recently got the chance to work with a new checkout solution called “Awesome Checkout” which is built by a company called Anatta Design. The extension was used for a client of ours who is using Magento Enterprise. Awesome Checkout claims to be “full of shortcuts” and to eliminate checkout errors, making a swift checkout […]

By Caitlin Mekita

We recently got the chance to work with a new checkout solution called “Awesome Checkout” which is built by a company called Anatta Design. The extension was used for a client of ours who is using Magento Enterprise. Awesome Checkout claims to be “full of shortcuts” and to eliminate checkout errors, making a swift checkout “foolproof”.

While Awesome Checkout has a customizable admin panel, we modified the checkout’s CSS file and found it to be well-organized and simple. It was easy to implement the brand with the CSS, but anyone who is less code-savvy could use the admin to achieve their desired look. For more customization, Awesomecheckout’s “Awesome Package” ($999) offers styling.

What Makes it different?

The first thing you’ll notice about Awesome Checkout is that it is full of prompts, suggestions, and shortcuts. Once you begin entering your email, Awesome Checkout Immediately detects whether or not you have an existing account. Then, you can choose to either log in, or continue as a guest.

Awesome Checkout also immediately notifies users if they may have inputted incorrect or incomplete information. This is great because you don’t need to get all the way through checkout before finding out you needed to give your last name along with your first name. The feedback isn’t always negative. Sometimes Awesome Checkout just wants to remind you that certain inputs need to be formatted in a certain way.

Awesome Checkout will complete your address for you once you enter your zip code, which makes this step quick, because you don’t have to find your state in a long drop down.

If you need help with your Magento store, call 845-656-3000 or Contact us here »

Awesome Checkout Pros:

– Easy to Customize the styles, colors, buttons, and page elements.
– Clean, Responsive design works well in desktop and mobile views.
– Helpful tips and prompts along the way
– Autofilled address based on Zip Code
– Compatible with most popular payment gateways and shipping providers
– Available in seven different languages
– Ability to easily back-track and correct errors along the way.

Awesome Checkout Cons:

– The checkout page needs a little extra customization work. While it comes with a header and footer area, your Magento partner will need to add the header and footer from your theme for a completely integrated look.
– The layout is not as simple to change as the styles and colors. While we originally wanted to try a two-column layout, we realized that with all the prompts and suggestion, this would become extremely complicated, so we saved time by keeping it simple.
– Awesome Checkout is a little more expensive that OneStepCheckout ($199)

Overall Recommendation:

Awesome Checkout is a good solution if your biggest concern is getting users through checkout as quickly as possible. It’s helpful along the way, and integrates very well with your Magento Website (as long as you have a knowledgeable Magento partner who can style it and add your header and footer).

We have personally found it easy to work with and during testing, have found the checkout process swift and easy, whether you choose to check out as a guest or as a registered customer.

What we did:

We have used OneStepCheckout on multiple occasions to eliminate the traditional Magento six checkout steps and create a simple and easy checkout process.

We installed and configured this checkout extension, and then used CSS to style it to match the branding of our client. I found this theme a little more challenging to style than Awesome Checkout, because it relies too heavily on images in its styles. For example, the “place order now” button uses a gradient image in its background, which is quite annoying from a developer’s perspective. The numbered steps also use images, which is unnecessary.

What Makes it different?

OneStepCheckout claims to “simplify the checkout process” and eliminating “unnecessary questions”. OneStepCheckout also eliminates the idea of checkout out with registration as part of the checkout process. Instead, customers can choose to login via a link outside the form, or they can create an account by simply adding a password after they’ve entered their billing address.

OneStepCheckout’s claim to fame is the use of a single page that never bounces users anywhere else, allowing them to see the the entire checkout process to understand where the end is. It also automatically updates the “Review Your Order” segment , so customers can be sure their order will be placed correctly.

OneStepCheckout Pros:

– Keeps the user on one page, where the end is in sight.
– Removes the confusion that sometimes comes when users need to choose whether to checkout as a guest or a registered customer
– Aims for simplicity and the elimination of anything that may be unnecessary.
– Cheaper than Awesome Checkout. Currently costing $149

OneStepCheckout Cons:

– This checkout is not responsive, which is a big problem for most modern websites. Hopefully OneStepCheckout will update to be responsive, but I have personally styled the OneStepCheckout to make it mobile-friendly, and it wasn’t that difficult.
– Styling the OneStepCheckout involves overwriting image backgrounds and image graphics, which is unnecessary.
– We have found that OneStepCheckout sometimes “hangs” when calculating information, which caused a problem.

Overall Recommendation:

OneStepCheckout is a really good solution if you’re looking for simplicity. Your customers will be able to visually understand that the checkout process will be quick and easy. Because of the “hanging” problem we’ve encountered, make sure you test thoroughly and ask your Magento partner if they can share any unit or performance test they have performed with this method, to make sure it will work well with your website.

In Conclusion:

These are two really great checkouts that we’ve had success with. Your choice depends on a couple of factors. While Awesome Checkout is extremely helpful and almost foolproof, OneStepCheckout makes the process visually simple and makes the process in its entirety easy to digest.

Customer Success Manager