How Important Is Upgrading OpenCart?

Hi Guys,

Should we upgrade to the latest version of OpenCart on every release? If so... why?

This is a broad question, but I think it will benefit myself and a lot of OpenCart newcomers!

My situation is...
I have an extremely customised OpenCart 2.0.1.1 website.
Over 100,000+ products, dozens of modules, extensions, custom code and scripts. You name it, we have it!
Upgrading to any version, whether it’s 2.0.2.0 or 2.3.0.2 completely breaks my website, which is expected.
Because of this, it costs me a lot of time, resources and mainly money to fix everything. Let alone the downtime and loss of sales.

2.0.1.1 works great for me, but it was released in Dec 2014!

At what stage, should myself and others 'bite the bullet' and upgrade to the latest version?

Thanks!

I doubt you'll benefit from upgrade, but you'll definitely spend tons of time and nerves on it, if you're not a pro in OpenCart. So it it works for you and works well, be happy about it and forget the upgrade. Yet if you decide to, please post a request in the commercial support forum or contact an OpenCart Partner from the Partners page. Everything's possible.

I'm new to OpenCart, but have worked with osCommerce for a million years, I never upgraded unless there was a security patch released; then, I only took the patch and left everything else.
The store was heavily modified (like yours) and didn't need any new feature that was added.

The only things to worry about being upgraded (in my opinion) with any software, is security patches. Which also includes PHP / OS security patches as well. If you're on a shared server, PHP & OS type of patches aren't really your problem. But if your cPanel gives you the option of a later version of PHP, definitely take the latest you can get (I've seen some hosts offering EOL versions of PHP which is just nutty).

Doesn't matter how secure your code is if you leave preventable vulnerabilities wide open at server level.

All good points, thanks for your input.
I agree, I suppose it depends on how much updating will benefit you.

Thanks

Unfortunetaly the 'changelog' for new releases are not really complete and helpfully.
For example: using 2.3.x will bring you the possibility to store the visitors search - good for shops which want to optimize their articles, search items and tags.
Just one argument to use 2.3.0.2 (latest release as of today).

One the other side, using 2.3.x will brake all existing extensions because of the new structure.

Usually the latest release of a branch should be always the most stable.
But !! - check also the release date.
If a new branch is released very short after the previous, you can be sure that is will have a good reason why.

The experience from the last years is showing, that almost with every new branch new features are introduced - mostly payment options OC is partnered.

Having a heavy modified store currently, and if these modifications are not done by VQMod or OCMod, you will have a tough time in front of you.

Best would be to install the desired version in a temp folder (or locale) to see if it will have a benefit.