Choosing the right eCommerce platform is crucial when selling your products online. The best eCommerce platforms can help you meet your goals, from easy store management to secure payment processing. In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the ten best eCommerce platforms and my top 5 choices to pick the best one for you.

How To Choose an E-Commerce Platform

With so many e-commerce platform choices, paying attention to which features matter most to your business is vital. After all, what works for one seller may not work for all sellers. For example, you may only sell seven different things, so you don’t need software that supports a large inventory.

Or, perhaps you have a brick-and-mortar store but want to branch online—you need a platform with POS capabilities so inventory automatically syncs no matter where the purchase is made. Aside from the necessary features, you should also consider your budget, how easy it is to use, whether you need multichannel selling, and if the platform includes an SSL certificate. This certificate is necessary and lets customers know it’s safe to input credit card details when placing an order.

Methodology

We looked at dozens of e-commerce platforms and compared pricing, features, and ease of use to determine the best options. When narrowing these choices down, we also considered whether the venue has inventory management and multichannel selling capabilities.

  • Pricing. Running your e-commerce store shouldn’t cost you more than you make, so we excluded platforms with exorbitant fees or prohibitive monthly pricing. Similarly, we made sure to pick platforms with great value.
  • Features and functionality. Standard features help sellers get their stores up and running quickly, while some platforms provide additional POS and advanced reporting options.
  • Ease of use. It shouldn’t take a developer to make small changes to how your site looks and runs. Each of our picks has drag-and-drop functionality, so you don’t need to know any coding to update your site.
  • Inventory management. When a customer places an order, your inventory should drop proportionately without you needing to adjust anything manually. And, when you add stock, you should be able to do it all from one screen.
  • Multichannel selling. You don’t necessarily need a platform that allows you to sell on Amazon and eBay simultaneously. Marketing through social media without updating inventory manually is a considerable benefit worth noting.

10 Best Ecommerce Platforms of 2023

1. Shopify

Started in 2004 by three entrepreneurs trying to create an online snowboarding equipment store, Shopify has grown to over 5,000 employees worldwide, serving 1,700,000 customers. We chose it as the best overall because it’s an affordable, robust, easy-to-use platform for beginners and growing businesses.

As an all-in-one eCommerce platform, Shopify is easy to set up and administer, making it an excellent choice for businesses with little in-house technical support. The platform lets users sell products from an online store, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, and in-person with Shopify’s point-of-sale (POS) system.

Shopify offers some of the most advanced inventory management features of all the reviewed platforms. Users can easily view stock levels and orders at a glance and create detailed product pages with custom metadata, images, pricing rules, and more. Shopify also streamlines shipping tasks, including printing labels and sending tracking information to customers.

Shopify has a built-in payment processor that works with major credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Play. Users can choose from third-party payment processors like PayPal for an additional fee.

Designing a Shopify eCommerce store is easy with a drag-and-drop store builder, over 100 professional and free store themes, and the ability to customize anything without needing design skills. Finally, Shopify integrates with thousands of marketing, sales, inventory, accounting, and other apps to expand its extensive eCommerce capabilities.

Shopify Pricing

Lite Plan

  • $9 per month
  • one staff account
  • Buy button and social media sales
  • POS app

Basic Plan

  • $29 per month
  • two staff accounts
  • All Lite Plan features
  • Branded online store
  • Abandoned cart recovery

Shopify Plan

  • $79 per month
  • five staff accounts
  • All Basic Plan features
  • Professional reports

Advanced Plan

  • $299 per month
  • 15 staff accounts
  • All Shopify Plan features
  • Advanced report builder

Shopify plans include a 90-day free trial and 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support.

2. BigCommerce

Established as an online shopping cart by two developers in 2009, BigCommerce now boasts over 1,000 employees and serves over 150 countries. We chose it as the runner-up because it is comparable to Shopify, focusing on larger businesses and more robust SEO capabilities.

One place where BigCommerce differs from Shopify is in payment processing. Unlike Shopify, which charges 0.5% to 2% per transaction for third-party payment processors, BigCommerce lets users choose from over 55 processors, including PayPal, Square, and Stripe, without extra fees. This is great for businesses that want to stick with their established merchant accounts.

Like Shopify, BigCommerce makes building beautiful eCommerce sites easy and selling on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. It also offers an equally impressive market of apps for shipping, marketing, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), and more.

Where BigCommerce pulls away from Shopify is with SEO and analytics. BigCommerce’s SEO increases page load times for better customer experiences. Also, it lets users customize page titles, metadata, and product URLs to improve the chances of products appearing in Google search results. Many of these advanced SEO features are only available from Shopify as add-ons.

BigCommerce provides advanced reporting and analytics with every plan, unlike Shopify, which only offers this on its more expensive programs. In addition to getting real-time data on orders, customers, and conversions, users can drill down and create custom reports on revenue, customer habits, order details, and more.

BigCommerce Pricing

Standard Plan

  • $29.95 per month
  • Up to $50,000 in online sales per year
  • Branded online store
  • BigCommerce mobile app
  • Integrated social and marketplace selling
  • Professional reporting tools
  • Real-time shipping quotes

Plus Plan

  • $79.95 per month
  • Up to $180,000 in online sales per year
  • All Standard Plan features
  • Abandoned cart saver
  • Customer groups and segmentation

Pro Plan

  • $299.95 per month
  • Up to $400,000 online sales per year*
  • All Plus Plan features
  • Google customer reviews
  • Custom product filtering
  • Price lists

+$150/month for each additional $200,000 in online sales.

All BigCommerce plans come with a 15-day free trial and 24/7 live agent support.

3. Volusion

Started in 1999 by a 16-year-old coder building websites for clients, Volusion has grown from a simple online shopping cart to a full-featured eCommerce platform processing $28 billion in sales through over 30,000 merchants. We chose it as the best budget solution because it gives businesses everything they need to sell online without bells and whistles.

Volusion makes designing a professional eCommerce site with dozens of themes and a drag-and-drop page editor easy. Order and inventory management are simple and sufficient for smaller sellers. Volusion also sticks to the basics of reporting and analytics, allowing users to check traffic, product performance, and abandoned shopping carts.

Volusion’s simplicity does have a few drawbacks, however. The platform doesn’t support selling products on social media or marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. In addition, Volusion’s add-ons and integrations are much more limited than those of Shopify and BigCommerce. However, Volusion is an excellent choice for eCommerce businesses just getting started and not wanting to get overwhelmed by complex platforms and features.

Volusion Pricing

Personal Plan

  • $29 per month
  • Gross merchandise volume of $50,000 per year
  • 100 products
  • one staff account
  • No transaction fees

Professional Plan

  • $79 per month
  • Gross merchandise volume of $100,000 per year
  • 5,000 products
  • five staff accounts
  • No transaction fees

Business Plan

  • $299 per month
  • Gross merchandise volume of $500,000 per year
  • Unlimited products
  • 15 staff accounts
  • No transaction fees

All Volusion plans come with a 14-day free trial and 24/7 online support.

4. Wix

Wix founded in 2006 by three developers frustrated with the expense and difficulty of building an eCommerce website. The company has 5,000 employees worldwide and 200 million users in 190 countries. We chose Wix for the best user experience since it lets businesses create an eCommerce site easier and affordably than any other platforms we reviewed.

Wix has hundreds of professional templates and a drag-and-drop editor, making creating a beautiful eCommerce site in just minutes easy. Setting up and running an essential personal website is free, but upgrading to a paid plan is the only way to unlock Wix’s eCommerce features.

Like Volusion, Wix offers a choice of three payment processors: Wix Payments, PayPal, and Alipay. Managing inventory and orders and getting revenue and conversion rate reports handled through Wix’s clean and simple dashboard.

Finally, Wix offers more add-ons and integrations (including Google Analytics) than Volusion but fewer than Shopify or BigCommerce, allowing businesses to expand their eCommerce capabilities. And while Wix doesn’t let users sell on eBay or Amazon, it does integrate Instagram and Facebook.

It’s important to note that while Wix’s limitations make it appear to be a lesser platform than Shopify, BigCommerce, or Volusion, the number of eCommerce features you get for the money makes Wix an excellent option for small online sellers.

Wix Pricing

Basic Plan

  • $23 per month
  • Accept online payments
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 50GB storage
  • Connect your domain
  • Remove Wix ads
  • 5 video hours
  • Google Analytics
  • Free domain for one year
  • $300 ad vouchers

Unlimited Plan

  • $27 per month
  • 100GB storage
  • 10 video hours
  • All Business Basic Plan features

VIP Plan

  • $49 per month
  • Unlimited storage
  • Unlimited video hours
  • All Business Unlimited Plan features

Wix’s paid plans include a 14-day free trial, free hosting, Google Analytics, and the ability to link a custom domain.

5. Weebly

Weebly was created in 2007 to make it easy for anyone to build a personal website with just a single platform. In 2018, Weebly was acquired by Square, further

expanding its eCommerce capabilities. Today it powers more than 50 million sites around the world. We chose it as the best free platform since it is the only platform we reviewed that lets users create a simple, functional eCommerce site for free.

Weebly’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor rivals Wix, allowing users to create a beautiful online store in minutes. The platform walks users step-by-step through setting up a store, including choosing a basic layout, selecting fonts and colors, adding pages, and choosing a site name. Inventory items can be added immediately or once the rest of the site has been built. Weebly provides a hassle-free e-commerce platform that enables your online business to sell products seamlessly. All plans come with an integrated shopping cart and a secure checkout, including a free option that supports PayPal. If you opt for Weebly’s Professional or Performance plans, you can enjoy customized shipping rates based on geographical locations and free shipping on certain orders. With Weebly, you can empower your online business and provide customers with a streamlined online shopping experience.

Weebly keeps inventory management and reporting simple and hassle-free, with easy bulk importing and exporting, search engine optimization, and site performance tracking features. Apps and integrations add more marketing, sales, and promotion capabilities to any Weebly store.

Weebly Pricing

Free Plan

  • $0 per month
  • Advanced site stats
  • Shopping cart
  • Inventory management
  • Automatic tax calculator
  • Coupons
  • Square gift cards
  • SEO
  • Lead capture
  • Instagram feed

Personal Plan

  • $6 per month
  • All Free Plan features
  • Connect a custom domain

Professional Plan

  • $12 per month
  • All Personal Plan features
  • Free domain
  • Unlimited storage
  • Remove Square ads
  • Password protection
  • Shipping calculator

Performance Plan

  • $26 per month
  • All Professional Plan features
  • Item reviews
  • Shipping labels
  • Shipping discount
  • Abandoned cart emails
  • Advanced eCommerce insights
  • Priority support

Weebly’s plans offer live chat, email, and phone support. While no free trials are available, an entire eCommerce store can be built using the free program with the option to upgrade later.

6. Squarespace

Squarespace was built in a dorm room at the University of Maryland in 2003 as a primary platform for building and hosting blogs. In 2013, it added eCommerce features and a simple drag-and-drop interface, making it a strong competitor alongside Wix and Weebly. We chose it as the best for creatives because it makes it easy to create sleek, visual, portfolio-style sites for showcasing and selling creative works.

In addition to selling products, Squarespace makes it easy to sell services and gift cards, create subscriptions and membership programs, and for customers to book appointments online. Integrated email marketing features let users build loyalty by offering discounts and deals. The platform also supports several third-party integrations, including Printful and ShipStation, so custom products can be easily created and shipped.

Squarespace keeps payment processing simple, allowing customers to pay via PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, and Venmo. Checkout is streamlined and straightforward for quick transactions. Users can customize the checkout process by adding surveys or gift messages, setting custom tax rates, and alerting customers when inventory is low. Easy social integrations allow products to be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Squarespace’s intuitive dashboard allows users to quickly check and manage inventory, fulfill and ship orders, and get valuable insights on site traffic, sales trends, and customer data. In short, Squarespace is an ideal eCommerce platform for creatives who don’t want to mess with complex data sales tools.

Squarespace Pricing

Personal Plan

  • $12 per month
  • Unlimited bandwidth and storage
  • SEO features for site visibility
  • Basic website metrics
  • Squarespace extensions

Business Plan

  • $18 per month
  • All Personal Plan features
  • Professional G Suite account
  • Advanced website analytics
  • $100 in Google AdWords credits
  • Promotional pop-ups and banners
  • Squarespace transaction fees: 3%
  • Gift cards

Basic Commerce Plan

  • $26 per month
  • All Business Plan Features
  • Squarespace transaction fees: 0%
  • Customer accounts
  • eCommerce analytics
  • Social integrations

Advanced Commerce Plan

  • $40 per month
  • All Basic Commerce Plan features
  • Squarespace transaction fees: 0%
  • Sell subscriptions
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Advanced shipping
  • Limited availability labels

All Squarespace plans include a 14-day free trial, a custom domain, and 24/7 support. Squarespace has four pricing tiers. However, eCommerce functions are only available with the Business and Commerce plans.

7. WooCommerce

WooThemes developed WooCommerce in 2011 as an eCommerce extension for the popular WordPress content management system. We choose it as the best for WordPress sites since it is the most popular, flexible, and affordable extension for WordPress users who want to create a full-featured eCommerce site.

WooCommerce is a free plugin that can be used to add eCommerce functions to any WordPress site. Because WordPress is one of the best SEO platforms on the market, WooCommerce makes it easy to create a scalable online store of any size.

Like many other platforms we reviewed, WooCommerce offers its payment processor. Users can add PayPal, Square, Amazon Pay, and Stripe with free extensions. In addition to various templates and back-end-management tools, WooCommerce features integrated analytics, reporting, shipping, tax tools, and more—all free.  WooCommerce offers essential inventory management that isn’t well suited for high-volume businesses while useful for critical stock management. However, order management is more robust, allowing users to drill down to view products sold, billing and shipping addresses, and customer records.

Finally, WooCommerce’s extensions allow users to sell products on social media and marketplaces, including Facebook, eBay, Pinterest, and Amazon. In short, many of WooCommerce’s limitations can be overcome with its vast library of paid and free extensions.

Although WooCommerce is entirely free to use, some of the more valuable extensions that bring the platform close to the standards of Shopify or BigCommerce can cost upward of $300.

Pros

  • Free to use
  • Sell products and services, accept bookings and recurring payments
  • Accept deposits
  • Sell pre-orders
  • Many payment gateways are available
  • Tons of extensions available

Cons

  • Must buy web hosting, a domain, and an SSL certificate separately
  • WordPress involves a steep learning curve

8. Square Online

Thanks to its chip reader and POS solutions, Square is widely used by many industries, whether a restaurant or a brick-and-mortar boutique. It’s another of our top picks because it offers a free plan and multichannel selling included with each option. This means you can sell across your e-commerce site, Facebook and Instagram. Inventory management helps you keep track of your stock, no matter where a sale occurs.

The downside of its free plan is that you’ll have to endure Square ads. Paid plans start at $12 per month (billed annually) and include a free domain name for a year; no ads, and sellers can upload custom fonts. The $26 per month plan (billed annually) includes product reviews, advanced reporting, abandoned cart features, and lets you accept PayPal. Its most expensive plan costs $72 per month (billed annually) and gives discounted transaction fees and shipping rates.

All plans have 2.9% plus $0.30 credit card transaction fees, except for the Premium plan, which costs 2.6% plus $0.30.

Pros

  • Offers a free plan
  • Allows multichannel selling on all plans
  • POS available on all plans

Cons

  • No custom domains with its Free plan
  • Must have the Performance plan for abandoned cart features
  • No advanced reports on Free or Professional plan

9. Ecwid

Ecwid is a top-choice e-commerce platform because it has no transaction fees (aside from standard credit card processing fees) and offers a free plan. What might sound like an unusual name for a company is just a portmanteau—it stands for the e-commerce widget. It’s named this because it’s meant for existing websites (such as a WordPress blog). Using HTML, you add Ecwid’s code to your site and have a fully functional eCommerce store to showcase your products without creating a new place.

Ecwid’s Venture plan is $15 monthly, allowing multichannel selling and POS. Its Business plan enables product variations to staff accounts and abandoned cart emails for $35 per month. If you sign up for an annual Unlimited program at $99 monthly, you can get your own branded iOS or Android shopping app.

Pros

  • Affordable paid plans start at $12.50 per month if billed annually
  • No transaction fees
  • Inventory management is available on all but the Free plan
  • Allows multichannel selling on paid plans
  • Has POS functionality with its Unlimited plan

Cons

  • Free plan is limited to ten products
  • Cannot edit or place custom orders with the Free or Pro plan
  • Designs are limited

10. Shift4Shop

If you’re U.S.-based, your Shift4Shop plan is free, provided you use its credit card processor. You’ll pay credit card processing fees of 2.9% plus $0.30 per order, which is standard across the industry. Features are robust; enjoy unlimited staff accounts, as many products as you need, variations, and digital downloads.

Sign up for a paid plan if you want to use your payment processor. These start at $29 per month and go up to $229 per month—the more expensive the program, the more staff accounts you have.

Pros

  • Robust free plan
  • Unlimited products
  • Unlimited users and bandwidth
  • Very easy to use
  • Over 100 free themes
  • No revenue caps
  • Includes fraud protection

Cons

  • Its paid plans have a sales limit
  • There aren’t many apps available
  • Customization options are limited

People Also Asked

Which e-commerce platform is best for dropshipping?

In 2017, Shopify acquired Oberlo, one of the most popular dropshipping apps. Together, they work seamlessly to import products to your store for customers to purchase.

What is the best page builder plugin for WordPress?

Several great page builder plugins on WordPress can transform the generic page and post editor into a drag-and-drop editor. The best user-friendly, affordable, and top-rated solutions include Elementor, Beaver Builder, and WPBakery.

What is the best B2B e-commerce platform?

All the services in this guide have some functionality that lend itself well to business-to-business (B2B) selling. However, larger companies may want to look into enterprise-level platforms if they sell to other businesses in large monthly volumes.

Is eCommerce easy?

E-Commerce easy to started in but challenging to succeed in. You don’t need much money to get started – you need a website and a list of products. You can even outsource your inventory and shipping process by drop shipping suppliers.

Nevertheless, achieving significant success can be difficult since promoting your eCommerce brand is one of the most crucial aspects. Apart from displaying your products on the internet and managing customer support, you need to concentrate on various strategies like SEO, PPC, social media marketing, email marketing, etc., to drive sales.

What is the most accessible eCommerce platform?

Ecommerce website builders are intuitive and allow you to build a website quickly, add products, and market your business online. However, some are easier to use than others. Here are the most accessible eCommerce platforms based on usability and simplicity:

  • Shopify.
  • Wix.
  • BigCommerce.

Can I sell on Facebook without a website?

Without a website, you can sell products online using Facebook Marketplace. If you want to sell products on Facebook, you need a Facebook Page and products to promote. You can add product information on your Facebook page, including product names, descriptions, prices, photos, etc.

What eCommerce platform does Amazon use?

Amazon sites use the AWS platform, which Amazon created. They make a significant income from allowing others to use their AWS service. Other big companies and websites also use AWS, including Netflix.

Is it better to sell on Amazon or Shopify?

While Amazon may be user-friendly for small online vendors, Shopify is a superior choice. With more affordable pricing options than Amazon’s Professional Plan and greater scalability, Shopify offers a better solution. It is crucial to establish a brand presence on the internet, and owning your website is the most effective way to achieve this.

Is Shopify easier than WordPress?

Shopify’s website builder is easier to set up and use than WordPress, where you face a steeper learning curve. Shopify has many built-in eCommerce features not included in WordPress without plugins. However, WordPress has different benefits like better SEO, customization options, improved blogging, etc. Ultimately, it’s up to what you’re most comfortable with.

How can I sell online for free?

If you don’t have the budget to use an eCommerce platform, there are specific ways to sell online for free. Some of these include:

  1. Craigslist.
  2. Facebook Marketplace.
  3. LetGo.
  4. Geebo.
  5. Said.

Conclusion

Every online store has different requirements and needs depending on the products, categories, target market, and the business’s journey.

An eCommerce startup won’t have the exact needs of a small business looking to expand online. Similarly, B2-B companies will have different requirements for their online store. I hope this guide will help you choose the platform best suited for your online store. Let’s roll the dice!