Best E-commerce Platforms to Set Up Your Online Business

WooCommerce is a leading e-commerce platform that empowers 5.3M+ WordPress users to create online stores. While WooCommerce is free, you might have to spend money on WordPress hosting, domain registration, and premium extensions or themes for enhanced functionality. The platform integrates with various payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing tools.

WooCommerce is one of the best e-commerce platforms for customization capabilities. It allows users to modify themes, create customizable templates, and extend functionality through plugins. It supports payment gateways like WooPayments, PayPal, Square, Stripe, and credit card payments.

With WooCommerce users are allowed to optimize product pages to improve search engine visibility with SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or All-in-One SEO. WooCommerce has a vast library of plugins that let you add almost any functionality to your online store, with advanced features like funnel builder plugins.

While primarily operating within WordPress, WooCommerce can integrate with third-party tools like MailChimp, HubSpot, Klaviyo, and more. The platform supports multilingual sites and offers a wide range of free and premium-compatible themes. Domain management is handled separately through domain registrars.

Shopify is a cloud-based commerce platform that empowers entrepreneurs and businesses to build, manage, and expand online businesses. It offers subscription-based pricing plans tailored to your business needs.

Shopify integrates with popular dropshipping apps like DSers, Zendrop, and Spocket to manage and boost your e-commerce sales. Highly scalable, it ensures performance regardless of business size. Its user-friendly admin interface facilitates efficient store management, while customizable, responsive themes ensure brand consistency across desktop and mobile devices.

The security features Shopify provides include SSL certificates and fraud prevention tools like Shopify Protect, Shopify Flow, Card Testing Protection, etc., for secure payment processing and prevention of fraudulent transactions. Built-in analytics provide Shopify users with valuable insights into sales and customer behavior. It provides various premium themes and a custom code for the personalization of the e-commerce store.

Shopify offers built-in SEO features, such as adding auto-generated canonical tags to pages to prevent duplication, auto-generating your store’s robots.txt and sitemap.xml, and title tags with your store name.

You can use Shopify’s payment gateway system, Shopify Payments, or integrate with popular options like PayPal, Razorpay, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Affirm, Klarna, or credit cards. With 24/7 customer support and an API for custom integrations, Shopify provides comprehensive solutions for online businesses.

Sellfy offers a straightforward yet powerful platform to create your online store for selling merchandise, subscriptions, or digital products. If you are someone who hates complexity and still wants effective results, Sellfy is for you!

You can sell your products on YouTube, Instagram, or Soundcloud through your website by including a “Buy Now” button or sharing a simple link.

Boost your sales using email marketing, upselling features, and discount codes with no extra integrations. Customize your store the way you want by adding your logo, creating layouts, and changing colors to complement your brand. The multilingual platform offers optimization for mobile users so that they can access your store via mobile and desktop.

Sellfy accepts payments from over 200 countries and uses safe payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe. Get a powerful insight through analytics to track best-performing products, view traffic channels and top business locations.

BigCommerce is a cloud-based e-commerce website suitable for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises. It offers subscription-based pricing with various tiers to accommodate different business needs.

BigCommerce integrates with third-party services like accounting software like Quickbooks Online, Xero, and Brightpearl and secure payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, Klarna, Square, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Local bank integration gateways.

Highly scalable, BigCommerce adapts to increasing workloads without performance issues. The platform features an intuitive interface for efficiently managing products, orders, and settings. The themes are optimized for mobile performance and offer a lag-free shopping experience on any device.

The multi-channel selling options BigCommerce provides include out-of-the-box for platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft Ads, Instagram (including Instagram Stories), TikTok, Snapchat (US, UK, and Netherlands users only), Walmart, and eBay. Customer support is available via chat, email, and phone, and APIs are provided for developers to extend functionality. Domain name management is easily handled within the platform.

Wix is a powerful Ecommerce platform. It offers a robust suite of services for online selling, catering to various ecommerce business needs. It provides cloud-based hosting for reliability and accessibility. With tiered pricing plans, Wix includes features like custom domains, storage, and e-commerce capabilities.

Wix is considered one of the best website builders for e-commerce for its drag-and-drop canvas, high scalability, and seamless integration with popular tools like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Yandex Metrica, Facebook Pixel, and more.

Wix secures your e-commerce shop with SSL encryption and secure payment processors. All of its themes are optimized for mobile devices. The analytics dashboard provides detailed insights on sales and customer behavior, allowing you to track your business’ performance and make informed decisions.

Wix offers highly customizable designs and supports various payment gateways, such as Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, iDEAL, or Pay Now by Klarna. You can also collect payments from all popular credit cards, such as AMEX, MasterCard, Visa, and more.

Wix provides built-in SEO tools for better visibility, and you can extend your store’s functionality with plugins for marketing, analytics, and social media. It provides 24/7 customer service and APIs for custom integrations.

Square Online is a cloud-based e-commerce platform empowering businesses to sell products online. It ensures scalability, reliability, and accessibility from anywhere.

Square Online deeply integrates with Square products like Square Point of Sale, Square Marketing, and Square Loyalty. It supports various payment methods like Square Pay, Apple Pay, Cash App Pay, and Google Pay for faster checkout.

Apart from basic ecommerce features, Square Online offers an intuitive interface for easy navigation and a mobile-first design for smooth browsing on all devices. Security features include secure payment gateways and compliance with data protection standards.

Centralized reporting tools track sales, customer data, and loyalty points, while customization options allow tailoring to match brand identity. SEO tools optimize product listings for improved visibility in search engines.

Square Online integrates with Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Printful, Spocket, and more to enable a multi-channel online shopping platform.

Customer support is available via email, phone, and community forums, with APIs provided for custom integrations. Choose from various website themes and easily connect a custom domain to your Square Online store for a branded experience.

Squarespace is an all-in-one content management system (CMS) that allows users to create e-commerce websites, host content, register custom domain names, sell products, track analytics, and more with a single subscription.

Squarespace integrates with popular social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to enable a multi-channel e-commerce website. It is suitable for individuals, small businesses, and creative professionals and caters to designers, artists, photographers, and more.

With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, Squarespace allows extensive customization through mobile-friendly templates and design options. You get additional features like an SSL certificate, detailed store analytics, and user reports for tracking performance.

Squarespace offers a variety of payment options for its users. They have their own native payment solution called Squarespace Payments, which allows users to accept and manage payments directly through Squarespace.

With Squarespace Payments, you can accept major debit and credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay, and Cartes Bancaires. Additionally, it supports Afterpay and Apple Pay.

For those who prefer other payment services, Squarespace also provides integration with third-party payment options such as Stripe, Square, PayPal, Afterpay, and ClearPay. This allows users to choose the best payment service for their business needs.

Additionally, the Squarespace ecommerce UPS integration automatically calculates shipping costs based on their rates. Squarespace offers customer support via chat and email, with an API available for developers. Domain name registration services are also provided.

Big Cartel is a self-hosted e-commerce platform tailored for artists, makers, and small businesses to build an e-commerce website. It runs on its own servers, eliminating the need for external hosting.

Big Cartel is best for artists, handcraft artists, and small businesses looking for a simple e-commerce platform. It’s especially suitable for selling handmade and custom items like clothing and jewelry.

You can list up to 5 products with the free plan, but with the premium plans, you can list up to 500 products. There are no transaction fees, and you can switch plans anytime.

Integration with various marketing tools like Instagram and Mailchimp enhances promotional efforts. The platform offers a clean and intuitive user interface, with mobile apps available for remote store management. Big Cartel provides a secure environment for e-commerce stores, real-time sales dashboards, and basic analytics to track store performance effectively.

Remember that Big Cartel’s simplicity and affordability make it an excellent choice for beginners, while Format (another platform) excels in design functionalities and portfolio presentation for creatives.

Shift4Shop is a fully hosted e-commerce platform that simplifies online store management for beginners and experts. It handles hosting and maintenance, requiring no software installations or updates from users. It seamlessly integrates with social media and online marketplaces like Google Shopping and Facebook, offering API access for custom integrations.

Shift4Shop is adaptable to any business model, providing an intuitive dashboard for easy store management. Its mobile-ready design ensures compatibility across all devices, while security features like PCI compliance and advanced tokenization safeguard payment data.

With extensive customization options and versatile payment methods, Shift4Shop empowers users to create a tailored online shopping experience. Real-time orders, revenue, and customer activity insights are available through a unified dashboard.

Shift4Shop is one of the best e-commerce platforms with advanced in-built SEO features like free domain name registration, customizable tags, titles, and URLs, PageSpeed optimization, Google AMP for products, breadcrumb links, schema markup, 301 redirects with 404 auto-detects, dynamic XML sitemap generation, etc.

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento, is one of the best e-commerce platforms for B2B businesses. It offers flexible hosting options, allowing businesses to choose between on-premises or cloud hosting. It allows integration with other Adobe products, such as Analytics and Experience Manager, and enables data-driven insights and personalization.

Adobe Commerce is designed for scalability and provides powerful developer tools for limitless growth. The user interface is intuitive and customizable, empowering merchants to tailor storefront design and layout. Mobile responsiveness ensures a seamless shopping experience across devices, while robust security features safeguard customer data.

API availability, customizable templates and themes, and third-party integrations are provided by Adobe Commerce to create the best online storefront for your business.. Comprehensive reporting and analytics tools track sales and customer behavior. The platform allows extensive customization and supports various payment gateways, such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and voucher cards.

Adobe Commerce Marketplace connects with Facebook Shop, Klaviyo, Hubspot, and more to create a multichannel online shopping platform. Customer support options include self-service, community forums, and premium support.

Bluehost has been a leading web hosting provider since 2003, recommended by WordPress.org for its comprehensive tools and services. Offering WordPress and general web hosting, Bluehost caters to a wide range of users, from bloggers to businesses and e-commerce sites.

Bluehost’s user-friendly interface allows convenient management of websites, domains, and settings, and it is accessible even on mobile devices. Security measures such as SSL certificates, site backups, and spam protection prevent data loss and malware attacks, while analytics tools monitor performance and traffic.

Bluehost offers customizable themes to build an e-commerce website, and you can extend its functionality with plugins and custom codes. Customer support is available 24/7 via phone, chat, and tickets, with APIs for developers to integrate custom solutions.

Bluehost’s SEO capabilities are limited, so you might need additional plugins for advanced SEO capabilities. Bluehost also offers easy domain registration and management, making it a comprehensive solution for e-commerce website hosting needs.

OpenCart is a reliable e-commerce platform for seasoned web developers and business owners venturing into online selling. It provides cloud hosting by Amazon to e-commerce stores. The platform is free to download and use, but users should consider hosting, domain registration, and potential costs for premium extensions or themes. OpenCart supports various integrations, including payment gateways like BluePay, Authorize.net, PayPal, Skrill, Klarna, and more.

For Shipping, OpenCart integrates with Australia Post, Citylink, FedEx, Parcelforce, Royal Mail, UPS, USPS, and much more. Due to its cloud hosting infrastructure, OpenCart can handle many users at once, allowing you to scale your online business without worry. Its user-friendly administration interface facilitates efficient management of products, sales, customers, layouts, and extensions.

OpenCart offers a vast marketplace with 13000+ modules and themes to kick-start, grow, and expand your business. The security measures are basic. Thus, additional security extensions might be needed. OpenCart boasts a vibrant community of 110,000+ registered users and 550,000+ posts, contributing to a rich ecosystem of extensions.

OpenCart’s customer support options include community forums, documentation, and paid dedicated support. You run a multi-store online business from one admin interface. Display different products in different stores, set different prices for each store, choose a different theme for each store, and localize settings according to the stores.

Ecwid is one of the best cloud-based e-commerce platforms. It eliminates the need for server management and integrates seamlessly with various platforms, including social media channels and global marketplaces. You can start with a free plan and upgrade as your business grows. Its scalability ensures it can handle increased workloads without compromising performance. The intuitive user interface allows easy product management and customization of the store’s appearance.

Ecwid offers some of the best features for mobile commerce. It offers an Ecwid mobile app for iOS and Android to manage and grow your online business on the go. You can also download their ShopApp to create a dedicated app for your e-commerce store.

Ecwid is one of the best e-commerce platforms for multi-channel selling. It offers deep integration with various social media platforms so that you can sell on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, and Google.

For security, Ecwid offers free unlimited store backups, PCI DSS Level 1 certified checkout, and auto-scaling of products and traffic. Ecwid supports 70+ payment providers, including Square, Amazon Pay, PayPal, Stripe, Klarna, and more. With no strict product limits, you can add a substantial inventory. Customer support is available through various channels, including email and live chat. Developers can leverage the API for custom integrations.

Weebly is a fully hosted e-commerce platform that handles all hosting and backend infrastructure. Integration includes payment processors like Square, PayPal, and Stripe and shipping carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS. The App Center offers over 350 third-party apps for marketing, accounting, and more.

Weebly’s drag-and-drop interface is intuitive, enabling easy website and store creation. All designs are mobile-responsive and optimized across devices. Security features include SSL encryption, PCI DSS compliance, account security, and automatic backups.

Weebly only offers basic reporting like website traffic, orders, and revenue, with Google Analytics integration for advanced tracking. While code editing isn’t allowed, you can do a lot with Weebly’s flexible drag-and-drop editor.

The SEO features Weebly provides include custom metadata editing, 301 redirects, automatic sitemaps, and Google indexing. The basic eCommerce plan supports unlimited products. Weebly offers email support on all paid plans, live chat on higher tiers, and a help center. There are around 50 free professionally designed templates. Users can purchase or transfer domains through Weebly or third-party registrars.

StoreBuilder is an e-commerce platform hosted by Nexcess, a reliable hosting provider. It has an upfront pricing plan with no transaction charge and seamlessly integrates with third-party tools like Mailchimp, Hubspot, Stripe, ShipStation, and more.

Choose one of the pre-built templates and customize it with the drag-and-drop interface. StoreBuilder’s visual editor makes it easy to create a custom look without needing a developer or writing a single line of code.

With StoreBuilder you get tools to boost your store’s performance and sales, including premium plugins, super-fast page loading, worry-free hosting, and 24/7 support via phone, email, and chat from experts in WordPress.

PrestaShop is a self-hosted e-commerce website builder. With the Classic (free) plan, you need to buy a separate hosting; in the Hosting (paid) plan, you get shared hosting with Gandi. It’s free and open-source, but additional costs may arise from themes and add-ons on the PrestaShop Addons marketplace.

Integration is seamless with PrestaShop’s 300+ payment gateways, including Mollie, PrestaShop Stripe, DPO, PayPal, Amazon Pay, ActiveCampaign, and more. You also get add-ons like Newsletter Pro, Klaviyo integration, Mailchimp, Brevo, Yotpo, and more.

Highly scalable, PrestaShop handles high-traffic volumes and large product catalogs without performance issues when properly configured on robust hosting. The admin interface, while comprehensive, is a little outdated. Mobile responsiveness is enabled by default in PrestaShop’s core themes and most third-party themes.

Security features include PCI compliance, IP whitelisting, and customer account protection, with extra security available through premium add-ons. Basic reporting covers sales, customers, and traffic sources with Google Analytics integration.

The PrestaShop Addons marketplace boasts over 8,000 modules/plugins for extended functionality. Multi-channel selling is supported through paid add-ons, allowing integration with platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Facebook.

Official support for PrestaShop is available through forums, a knowledge base, and premium services, complemented by a well-documented API for developers. Domain management is handled separately from PrestaShop, requiring users to purchase domains from registrars.

Hostinger announced in April 2024 the acquisition of the online shopping platform builder Zyro and rebranded it as Hostinger Website Builder. Hostinger’s AI e-commerce Website Builder offers two pricing plans: the Premium Website Builder and the Business Website Builder.

The Premium plan provides essential website-building features, including a drag-and-drop editor, 150 templates, marketing integrations, and a free domain. On the other hand, the Business plan offers advanced AI tools like an AI writer, AI image generator, and AI blog generator, along with e-commerce features.

The AI-driven features of Hostinger’s eCommerce Website Builder include an AI Builder, AI Heatmap, AI Writer, and more. The AI Builder automates most of the website-building process, while the AI Heatmap optimizes call-to-action placement for higher conversion rates. Additionally, the AI Writer generates unique content such as headings, product descriptions, and image alt text.

E-commerce features provided by Hostinger include product management for up to 500 products, 20+ payment methods including Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, etc., 0% transaction fees, shipping options, customization with a drag-and-drop editor, and 24/7 customer support via live chat or email. The platform offers 25+ e-commerce themes with integrated shopping carts and customizable layouts, colors, and fonts.

Hostinger’s e-commerce Website Builder provides built-in SEO tools to improve search rankings and drive more traffic. Users can also connect with tracking apps like Google Analytics for customer insights and create forms to build contact lists for email marketing campaigns.