Looking for the best eCommerce platforms to start an online store? We have reviewed some of the most popular eCommerce platforms here.
The success of your online store depends on the eCommerce platform you choose.
Besides building an online store, you also need to think about inventory, web hosting, taxes, support, and shipping management, to name a few.
You don’t have an unlimited supply of cash. Keeping that in mind you need to pick an eCommerce platform that is within your budget.
You might come across many free eCommerce platforms, but they may not be suitable for your business. You need to look for an eCommerce platform that will meet your business needs.
Determine your goal and compare the best eCommerce platforms to pick the right one.
To help you out, we have handpicked some of the most popular eCommerce platforms for you to choose from.
Best eCommerce Platforms of 2023
Here is the list of top eCommerce solutions that you can use for your online business. Our eCommerce platform comparison is detailed and unbiased.
1. Wix
Wix is undoubtedly the best eCommerce platform to exist. It offers an easy way to build an online store or website.
There are over 700,000 online businesses that are powered by Wix. It also offers online store hosting at affordable prices.
As the best website builder business owners prefer Wix because it offers a hoard of features that are needed to build an online store.
Some of these features are a customizable checkout page, abandoned cart recovery, wish lists; add to cart from the gallery, customer accounts, discount codes, and much more.
It also offers more than 500+ free themes optimized for mobile. With the help of these themes, you can easily create your online store and that too in 90 different languages.
Another great thing about Wix is that it gives you access to many useful marketing tools. It also supports multi-channel sales via Instagram, Facebook, and eBay.
It can be integrated with the top payment providers, including Square, Stripe, and PayPal. Along with that it also has Wix Payments, which is a built-in payment platform.
Wix offers multiple plans. Before you choose a plan, make sure it fulfills your online store requirements.
2. Shopify
When talking about the biggest eCommerce platforms, you simply can’t miss Shopify. It has over 2.1 million users around the world.
Like most other eCommerce platforms, Shopify offers multiple plans. But the good thing is that it has the same features across plans with just a few changes.
It also offers a 14-day free trial. So you can use and check the platform before switching to a paid plan.
Shopify is a feature-rich eCommerce solution. It has everything you need to build an online store and run it successfully.
Some of the features that are worth mentioning are 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support, 80+ mobile-optimized themes, custom discount codes, and abandoned cart recovery.
With Shopify, you can unlimited products to your store. This is probably the best thing about choosing this platform.
The integrated marketing tools will help you to promote and expand the reach of your online business.
As far as payment options are concerned, you can either choose their built-in option or integrate with other payment gateways such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.
Shopify allows for easy online store management. It has the drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to move anything on your page.
3. Zyro
Zyro is another great eCommerce solution you can count on. It offers the cheapest plans starting at $8 per month.
Besides that, it offers dozens of features that you will find useful while building your online store.
It allows you to select from a wide range of mobile-optimized themes which can be modified as per your liking. It also includes drag-and-drop functionality for convenience.
With Zyro you get a free domain for the first year. But unfortunately, it doesn’t offer a free trial.
However, if you are not satisfied with its performance, you can claim your money back as per its 30-day money-back guarantee policy.
Coming to the payment options, it allows you to accept payments from top credit card companies such as Discover, MasterCard, VISA, and AMEX.
You can also integrate other third-party applications such as Stripe, Square, PayPal and others. In total, it supports over 70 payment options.
4. Squarespace
Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that can help you to build the best online store to sell your products.
It is considered one of the best online store platforms because of obvious reasons. It has user-friendly tools that make the process of store building easy.
Compared to other platforms, Squarespace offers cheap pricing. It offers an impressive collection of mobile-optimized templates that are easily customizable.
Other important features are automatic shipping rate, abandoned cart recovery, customizable pop-ups and banners, and integration with APIs.
But to access these features you will need to choose a top-tier plan. Before that, you can use and check the platform using the 14-day free trial option.
With Squarespace, you can accept payments directly into your bank account. Not just that, but you can also set up payment options with Apple Pay, Stripe, PayPal, etc.
It also allows you to set custom tax rates with GST, VAT, and HST support.
5. Volusion
If you are looking for an easy-to-use eCommerce solution, Volusion could be the best choice for you. It comes with all the basic features you need.
This eCommerce platform is slightly more expensive with prices starting from $26 per month. Before choosing a paid plan, you can try out the 14-day free trial to see if this platform is right for you or not.
Like any other eCommerce platform, it offers dozens of themes that can be further tweaked with CSS. These themes are optimized for mobile.
Other important features offered include social media integrations, built-in SEO tools, customer accounts, discount codes, and more. To avail of the abandoned cart reports feature, you will need to get a professional plan.
Volusion offers integrations with PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Stripe. The transactions are PCI certified to ensure security.
The intuitive platform is what makes it the best eCommerce solution. Plus, you get the drag-and-drop tool too.
6. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the biggest eCommerce platforms out there. It is a free, open-source solution developed for WordPress-based sites.
This platform is a perfect eCommerce solution for beginners. To get started with WooCommerce, you need WordPress and website hosting.
The available themes, integrations, and extensions can help you enhance your online store.
The good thing about WooCommerce is that it offers both free and paid themes. While free themes are good, to make your online store stand out, we recommend you to get premium ones.
It allows you to set up various payment options. It supports integrations with PayPal, Stripe, and other major players.
You can also opt for the in-house payment option WooCommerce Payment at no extra charges.
Another good thing about WooCommerce is that it can be integrated with Google Analytics. By doing so, you can track your data conveniently.
Anything you purchase from the WooCommerce app store comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
7. PrestaShop
This is another free, open-source eCommerce solution you can choose to create your online store with.
Even though it is free, it receives regular updates that help keep it bug-free. The most impressive thing about PrestaShop is that it is available in 75 different languages.
It offers a mobile-optimized platform with an impressive stock of themes. It has a strong community forum where you will find dozens of free themes.
But you can also buy premium themes if you want. It comes with a user-friendly dashboard that will help you to build your online store in no time.
It also offers free modules for shipping options, live chat options, marketing tools, and more.
It supports various payment options that can be integrated with the platform. Some of them to be named are Skrill, PayPal, etc. It also allows users to accept bitcoin payments through the Blockonomics Bitcoin Payments add-on.
8. Magento
Magento is trusted by millions of business owners around the world. This open-source eCommerce platform is ideal for small business owners.
Magento is great because it offers full control over your store. It is a fully-optimized mobile platform with tons of features that you need to build your online shop.
It is integrated with PCI-certified payment solutions for security. However, it’s your responsibility to set up the payment options.
Unlike other free eCommerce solutions, Magento is not exactly easy to use. But there are walkthroughs, guides, and forums that should help with your queries. If needed, you can seek help from a professional developer.
The good thing about Magento is that it has both free and paid versions. But in comparison to other platforms, Magento is a lot more expensive.
9. Square Online
Next up we have Square Online which is loaded with fresh features to help you build the online store of your dreams.
It comes with a user-friendly interface that is easy to handle even for beginners. It is a free eCommerce plan which is a great fit for your online shop.
It offers a simple and quick editing process which is quite impressive for a free solution. It helps you to set up an online store with just a few clicks.
It has several sales options like multichannel integration, access to traffic and revenue insights and more.
Unlike other eCommerce platforms, it is quite easy to add products on this platform. It is a fast and easy-to-use platform that is ideal for small businesses.
With Square Online you can set up your online store in no time. It is one of the best free eCommerce platforms you could ever find.
10. BigCommerce
If you want an efficient eCommerce solution with all the right features, BigCommerce is for you. It is a widely popular platform and is trusted by millions of users.
It offers a wide range of top-quality features that makes the process of online store building easy and quick.
Some of the features that are worth mentioning are email marketing, search filters, and customer reviews.
It also allows for multichannel selling and international payments. With these features, you can always stay a step ahead of your competitors.
It comes with a large collection of themes, so you can design your online store the way you like.
However, it does have a drawback. It uses a lot of difficult terminology in its descriptions which is not at all user-friendly for beginners.
Also, the editing interface might be a little confusing to new users. If you are a tech-savvy person, you won’t have any problem using BigCommerce.
11. Big Cartel
If you are looking for a simple eCommerce platform, Big Cartel could be for you. It allows you to sell five products for free, after which you will have to switch to a paid plan.
Before you think of getting Big Cartel, you should know that it is not as scalable as BigCommerce or Shopify. However, it makes a great option for selling a few products online.
If you are just a beginner, you can consider starting your journey with Big Cartel. It offers a user-friendly platform with many reminders and prompts.
Big Cartel is the best suitable for a business who don’t have plans to grow its online store in the future.
But if you want to expand your business, you should look for other options on the list.
It supports payment integrations with top payment gateways. Plus, it doesn’t charge any in-house transaction fees.
12. Shopwired
Shopwired is trusted by millions of business owners. It is currently, one of the most popular eCommerce platforms out there.
This platform is known for its performance, features, and ease of use. It offers a simple way to build your online store.
It has multiple plans and all of them include one-click upsells, personalized products, digital products, and export/import products.
It also offers B2B options which make it easy for store owners to create credit accounts, trade accounts, quote a request, and bulk discounts.
In terms of performance, Shopwired is the best eCommerce solution you can get. It is user-friendly and quick.
With the help of this platform, you can set up your online store in no time. It offers custom themes, so you can design your storefront as per your liking.
It does have a slight drawback. It requires some coding when installing some extensions and apps.
13. Shift4Shop
Next in the line, we have Shift4Shop which is one of the oldest eCommerce solutions. It was launched in 2001 and it is still going on strong after two decades.
Even though it is an old platform, it has many useful features to help you run your online shop successfully.
Some of the features are unlimited storage and zero transaction fees. It also allows you to use their multichannel selling and POS.
Shift4Shop may not be as popular as the other options on the list, but it is surely worth checking. But this platform is not for beginners. It comes with a learning curve that beginners may find difficult to handle.
It offers tons of template designs, but customizing them can give you a hard time. So unless you are an experienced user, you should look for some other option in the list.
However, it offers better and improved blog features than other platforms. Also, it supports hundreds of integrations.
14. Sellfy
Founded in 2011, Sellfy is an eCommerce solution that is exclusively built for digital products. In the past decade, it has expanded its platform to make it as good as its competitors.
It takes just a few minutes to set up your online store. Unlike many other eCommerce platforms, Sellfy doesn’t require any technical expertise.
It is a user-friendly platform that can be handled even by beginners or first-timers.
When using Sellfy for the first time you can opt for the free plan. It allows you to sell up to 10 products for free. However, it doesn’t come with a custom domain.
After you are satisfied with the platform, you can switch to a paid plan and get access to all the features that this platform has to offer.
It is an affordable solution with a price starting from $29 per month. Despite the low price tag, it has the best features to offer.
15. OpenCart
Lastly, we have OpenCart which is a free eCommerce platform. With the help of this open-source platform, you can build your online shop with ease.
It currently has 350,000+ online stores under its wing. This platform is popular because of its extensive collection of free extensions.
It also has many built-in features that make it easier to set up an online store.
It is a mobile-responsive platform and offers both free and paid themes. There are more than 1300 themes and modules for you to choose from.
The best thing about this platform is that it allows you to add unlimited digital and physical products to your store. But this is only if you opt for the paid plan.
It supports a total of 36 integrated payment options including Skrill, Amazon Pay, PayPal, and other major payment gateways.
The free community forum offers useful guides to help you build your online store.
What are the Best Ecommerce Platforms?
The best Ecommerce Platform helps you to build your online store in less possible time and with zero hassles.
The advantage of using an online store builder is that it doesn’t require any technical expertise, at least most of them don’t.
With just a few clicks here and there, you can set up your online business and start selling the products you want.
Best Ecommerce Platform by Features
When choosing an eCommerce platform for your online store, you should look for the following features.
#1. Ease of use
The platform you are about to pick should be user-friendly. After all, not everyone is tech-savvy.
If you want full control over your online store, you will want an eCommerce solution that is easy to handle.
Look for solutions that don’t require coding or technical expertise.
#2. Sales features
Sales features refer to things like payment gateways, or abandoned cart recovery.
These features are important because it helps you to operate your store smoothly.
When picking an eCommerce platform make sure that it has all the sales functionalities you need.
#3. Design features
Business owners use eCommerce platforms so that they can be in control. But at the same time, they also want to make their online store look appealing.
Luckily, most online site builders offer themes and templates. But you should look for platforms that allow you to customize the themes as per your liking.
#4. Payment options
Most eCommerce site builders offer support for third-party payment integrations.
Look for a solution that allows integration with the top payment gateways. This will help you to offer a secure payment system to customers.
Conclusion for The eCommerce Platforms
The best eCommerce platform can make or break your online business. So, make sure you choose wisely.
If you are just getting started, you can choose from the aforementioned solutions. These eCommerce platforms are trusted by millions of users globally.
FAQs for eCommerce Platform
What does an eCommerce platform do?
An eCommerce platform is a software application that allows you to set up your online business and manage it. It also offers sales and marketing tools.
What are the best eCommerce platforms?
Wix, Shopify, and BigCommerce are three of the best and most widely used eCommerce platforms.
Is WooCommerce worth using?
WooCommerce makes a great choice for someone who needs a cost-effective solution. It gives you full control over your online store and is completely hassle-free to use.
What are the important features of an eCommerce platform?
The important features of an eCommerce platform are – the interface, store management system, security, payment options, design, and promotion opportunities.
Is Shopify good for beginners?
Shopify is a user-friendly eCommerce solution that could be a perfect solution for beginners as well as small business owners.
Should you use Wix?
Wix is one of the best eCommerce solutions out there. It is easy to use and has all the features you need to build your online store.
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