Difference between No Source / Web OR Source Code of nopCommerce

Many times, new users of nopCommerce get confused about whether to use No Source / web version OR Source code  for their website(s) and they do not know the difference between the two.

You can deploy your website by using either one but both serves a different purpose.

The answer is simple: It depends on your requirements.

 1) If you want to start an eCommerce site based on nopCommerce with no customization - Web version is enough

2) If you want to install new themes but still no customizations - Web version is enough

3) If you want to create your own plugins - You will need source code to build your plugins

4) If you want to customize the code / structure / functionality of nopCommerce - You will need source code


Points to remember:
There are 2 kinds of customization:

(a) If you need to modify just the html / design related stuff / just front end stuff in pages (adding or removing anything) - Web version is enough

(b) If you need to modify the way nopCommerce works / customization in the code or structure (like database modification/ code changes / changes in core functionality) - You need source code


Other information
1) If you are looking for seamlessly upgrade - You will have to keep the nopCommerce code / structure / design in default state.

2) If you are looking for change in design or modifying a few things - You can still upgrade your store to next version but you will have to redo or re-install your changes that you did in previous version. It brings up an question "Do I need to write whole code again?" - Well, it depends ! If there are no changes in the new / next version of nopCommerce to which you want to upgrade then yes you can use the same code. But if there are major changes and improvement in next version then depending on what kind of changes are in nopCommerce, you will have to modify you code / customization according to that.

Hope it helps...