This comparison guide will take a look at the top 12ecommerce platformsand how to evaluate which is best for your business needs.
Starting an ecommerce business is exciting. You get to choose your business name, create your logo and branding, andbuild your website. And while it’s easy to consider your needsnow, it’s also important to think about where your business is heading and what other tools you’ll need in the future.
What is an ecommerce platform?
An ecommerce platform is the software an online store deploys to handle all their merchant buying needs and their own seller needs. These needs include product pages, reviews, transactions, order fulfillment, and returns.
The best ecommerce platform comes down to your unique business model and growth plan. Here’s an overview of some of the best ecommerce platforms for 2023 to help you evaluate the best option for your business.
The best ecommerce platforms
1. Shopify
Best for easy, all-in-one ecommerce store building
Shopifyis, arguably, the best software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for ecommerce. Our robust platform comes with complementary tools and features formultichannel sellingand dropshipping, so you can sell directly through your website, at your retail store, on social media and third-party marketplaces, and everywhere in between. Choose from over 100 paid and free themes to get your store up and running fast with zero learning curve.
Plus, Shopify handles all aspects of your business—you can use our best-in-class suite of business tools to build a complete business command center. Shop Pay handles payment processing with low transaction fees, Shopify POS administers in-person sales, and Shopify Fulfillment can help you get products into customers’ hands. It also offers unlimited bandwidth and online storage, so you don’t need to pay more as you get more traffic and grow your business. Shopify users also get competitive shipping rates from USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and other shipping carriers.
Those are just a few of the many powerful apps that work together seamlessly as part of the Shopify ecosystem. You can also tap into our extensive library of third-party apps that can extend your experience with Shopify even further. Shopify offers a free email marketing service, abandoned cart recovery, search engine optimization, and more native tools for business owners.
Shopify’s mobile app offers almost complete parity to manage your business online or on your mobile device, with features for fulfilling orders adding products, real-time sales and inventory updates, and more.
With all of these powerful features, you can set up your business with little technical know-how and budget and scale to an international online brand without changing platforms along the way.
Pros:
- Quick start with slick onboarding process
- Customizable themes
- Fast and reliable sites
- Community support
- Excellent built-in marketing tools
- Sell everywhere online and in-person
- Access to over 6,000 apps through theShopify App Store
- Great SEO out of the box
- Easy to obtain a custom domain
Cons:
- Shopify Paymentsis limited to some countries
Price:基本Shopify: 39美元/月;Shopify: 105美元/月;阿德anced Shopify: $399/month
Integrated sales channels:Facebook, Instagram, Google, Walmart Marketplace, eBay, and Amazon.
Mobile app features:Suite of mobile tools to fully manage your online business.
POS:Yes.
G2 rating ⭐:4.3/5
2. Wix
Best for individual sellers
Wixis a user-friendly drag-and-dropwebsite builderthat offers customizable templates,web hosting, anddomain nameregistration. You can build a basic website for free, but you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan to use Wix’s ecommerce features.
As far as ecommerce functionality goes, Wix has a few helpful tools. The platform lets merchants track orders, accept online payments, sell products on multiple channels, and createabandoned cart campaigns.
However, it lacks certain features that are imperative for product-based businesses in particular. Shortcomings include the absence of low-stock alerts and other keyinventory managementfeatures. If you have more than 10 or so products, you’ll want a platform with more robust inventory-tracking tools. Plus, you need to use a third-party app for social commerce integrations.
Pros:
- Fully hosted
- Easy to use
- Free forever plan
- Lots of support
Cons:
- Tracking and analytics require paid plan
- Site isn’t transferrable
- Free plan forces Wix branding
Price:Business Basic: $23/month; Business Unlimited: $27/month; Business VIP: $49/month.
Integrated sales channels:Facebook and Instagram require third-party app Ecwid.
Mobile app features:The ability to manage your website, though lacks key business tools like inventory management; requires separate app to use mobile POS.
Point-of-sale:Yes.
G2 rating ⭐:4.2/5
3. BigCommerce
Best for big companies
BigCommerceis an ecommerce platform used by enterprise-level software companies. Like Shopify and Wix, BigCommerce offers web hosting and lots of customization options. However, you can’t register your domain name through BigCommerce, so you’ll need to purchase and register elsewhere and port it over.
有价值的特性包括国际销售,SEO tools, and multichannel selling on social and third-party marketplaces. However, with these powerful features also comes complexity.
Lack of flexibility and ease of use were major factors inGrace & Lace’s decision to migrate from the platform.It moved over to Shopify Plus, Shopify’s enterprise solution, to take advantage of more than just the ecommerce platform. The brand quickly reaped the benefits of having an entire ecosystem of business tools from Shopify.
Pros:
- Fully hosted
- Comprehensive business management abilities
- Multiple payment options with no transaction fees
Cons:
- No native POS
- Expensive themes
- Design options aren’t user friendly
Price:Standard: $29.95/month; Plus: $79.95/month, or $71.95/month when paid annually; Pro: $299.95/month, or $269.96/month when paid annually; Enterprise custom pricing.
Integrated sales channels:Google Shopping, Facebook,price comparison engines, eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Instagram.
Mobile app features:View analytics, update orders, manage inventory and products, and search for customers; some features are Android-only.
Point-of-sale:Yes.
G2 rating ⭐:4.2/5
4. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)
最适合企业使用PHP编程experience
Adobe Commerceis a non-hosted ecommerce platform made for developers who want a system they can customize. And while this offers benefits for brands that want a completely tailored platform, it also presents a lot of hurdles in the form of complexity and cost. You need advanced coding and development skills to build out and manage the entire infrastructure yourself.
Magento also lacks tools to create a seamless multichannel strategy. There’s no easy way to turn on social commerce or marketplace selling with Magento, and the same rings true for foreign currencies. So if going global is in your plans, Magento may not be the best ecommerce platform for you.
Ecommerce siteCharacter.commaintained its complex Magento site with thousands of products, tons of integrations, and solid SEO—despite its poor UX. Magento was limiting and too complex, soCharacter.com migrated to Shopify. Conversions increased by 40% and its success soon pushed it to upgrade to Shopify Plus to take advantage of even more features.
Pros:
- Free to start
- Not hosted
- Easy to find developers for customization
Cons:
- Requires technical knowledge
- Not SEO-friendly natively
- Can seem complicated for beginner users
Price:Custom pricing only.
Integrated sales channels:Amazon.
Mobile app features:n/a
Point-of-sale:Third-party extensions available.
G2 rating ⭐:4.6/5
5. WooCommerce
Best for WordPress users
WooCommerce尤其熟悉那些知道WordPress吗, as it’s essentially an add-on to the popularblogging platform. WordPress is traditionally for content-driven websites, not ecommerce, so WooCommerce is WordPress’s answer to those who want to sell online.
Because WordPress is a content management system (CMS) first and an ecommerce platform second, many of the selling features are simple or rely on adding apps. And while there are plenty of apps and plug-ins you can add to your store, the more you use, the more likely it is you’ll break something. And this isn’t always a risk worth taking, considering limited support options.
Overall, WooCommerce’s fragility and unreliability makes it difficult not only to build an online store but also to maintain it. Plus, it’s not hosted, so you’ll have the added task and cost of managing your website hosting. It also lacks PCI compliance, which puts your business at risk when processing payments.
Learn more:Monetize your WordPress blog without migrating to an entirely new platform with theShopify Buy Button. You can embed the button and start selling on your blog starting at only $5/month.
Pros:
- Excellent option for WordPress users
- Open source and highly customizable
- Over 6,000 integrations and WordPress plug-ins
- Active developer and expert community
Cons:
- Self-hosted
- Requires efficiency in WordPress
- High costs for hosting, development, maintenance, and more
Price:Average monthly fee is up to $30; WooCommerce estimates costs to be $120/year for hosting, $15/year for domain name registration, up to $100/year for your site theme, up to $108/year for shipping, 2.9% plus $0.30 per sale, up to $348/year for marketing and communications, up to $79/year for SEO, up to $65/year for SSL certificate.
Integrated sales channels:Google Shopping, Etsy, eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and Walmart; integrations are disjointed.
Mobile app features:Add products, manage orders, and view analytics.
Point-of-sale:Native POS available.
G2 rating ⭐:4.4/5
6. Squarespace
Best for high quality templates
The next website builder with an ecommerce platform option isSquarespace. Like Wix, Squarespace uses drag-and-drop functionality, which requires little technical know-how. Both platforms are primarily website builders, not online selling platforms, so they require a fair amount of tweaking to add ecommerce functionality.
Squarespace requires time and patience to set up if you want to sell online, not to mention there are only two payment integrations, Stripe and PayPal. If you have the budget, you may even outsource it. Once you’ve set up the ecommerce function, Squarespace has decent inventory tracking tools. Higher-tiered plans also come with the ability to sell gift cards orsubscription-based products.
If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of the back end in Squarespace to turn your website into a full-blown online store, you can simplyadd the Shopify Buy Button. For just $5/month, you can add a small embeddable code to your Squarespace site and leverage Shopify’s advanced ecommerce tools to handle the rest.
With them, you get to add an unlimited number of products, use secure checkout with more than 100+ compatible payment gateways, track sales and growth trends, easily integrate orders and shipping, and get global tax and currency support.
Pros:
- Hosted, no worries about maintenance and server costs
- Professionally designed templates
- No transaction fees
Cons:
- Not just focused on ecommerce
- Limited multichannel sales
- No phone support
- Hard to override themes CSS and HTML
Price:Personal: $16/month, or $12/month when paid annually; Business: $26/month, or $18/month when paid annually; Basic Commerce: $30/month, or $26/month when paid annually; Advanced Commerce: $46/month, or $40/month when paid annually; Enterprise pricing also available.
Integrated sales channels:Shopping Feed extension to sell on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Google Actions.
Mobile app features:Website editing, shipping label scanning, order management, inventory management, and customer communication.
POS:Available via mobile app.
G2 rating ⭐:4.4/5
7. Big Cartel
Best for artists and creatives
Big Cartelis a fully hosted ecommerce platform and website builder that is specifically designed for makers, artists, and crafters—the types of businesses you’d expect to see on Etsy. Big Cartel has customizable templates, domain name registration, and marketing tools.
While you can change the look and feel of your site, Big Cartel limits merchants to five images for each product. Payment and integration options are also limited, so this platform makes it much harder to scale as a multichannel business.
Pricing is based on how many products you sell, so it can get pretty costly as your business and product collections grow.
Pros:
- Free to set up and sell online
- Easy-to-build store
- Perfect for artists
Cons:
- Low levels of customization
- Lacking quality and in-depth features
Price:Five products: free; 50 products: $9.99/month; 250 products: $19.99/month; 500 products: $29.99/month.
Integrated sales channels:n/a
Mobile app features:Store analytics, add/edit products, track order shipping, manage discounts, and print packing slips.
Point-of-sale:Requires third-party integration.
G2 rating ⭐:4.3/5
8. Weebly
Most affordable for small businesses
Weeblyis a simple ecommerce website builder owned by Square. It works well if you want a small online store that doesn’t need much upkeep. You don’t need any technical expertise to operate Weebly’s platform, but it offers a very basic online store.
You can build a store on Weebly for free. The trade-off? You can’t use your own domain name or get rid of the in-app ads until you buy a paid ecommerce plan.
Pros:
- Simple and easy-to-use editor
- Mobile app
- Fast site speeds
- Customizable themes
Cons:
- Limited blogging tools
- Offline photo editing
- Better support costs more
Price:Free.
Integrated sales channels:n/a
Mobile app features:Drag-and-drop builder, order fulfillment, inventory management, payments, analytics.
Point-of-sale:Integrated Square POS.
G2 rating ⭐:4.2/5
9. 3dcart
Best for business owners familiar with ecommerce
3dcartoffers a shopping cart for store owners who want to sell online. The platform doesn’t have extensive features, but you can build a mobile-ready storefront fast. It offers hundreds of out-of-the-box features and templates to create and operate your store. You can also use its API and apps to integrate your 3dcart store with third-party apps.
Pros:
- Extensive shopping cart solution
- Multichannel retail options
- Strong marketing abilities
Cons:
- Not good for beginners
- Limited free themes
- Lacks critical ecommerce features
Price:$9.99 per month.
Integrated sales channels:eBay, Amazon, Facebook.
Mobile app features:n/a
Point-of-sale:Available for purchase.
G2 rating ⭐:3.8/5
10. Volusion
Best for quick set up and easy interface
Volusionis one of the oldest ecommerce platforms around. Launched in 1999, Volusion has helped businesses get online with no frills. You can create the basics, like homepage and product pages, plus integrate with over 30 payment gateways and sell unlimited products.
There is no free plan. You can also only sell physical products in Volusion. So if you want to sell ebooks or music, you’ll need another ecommerce solution.
Pros:
- Easily customized and extended
- 24/7 support
- Nice looking, responsive templates
- User friendly website builder and management tools
Cons:
- Premium templates can be expensive
- Free option is limited
- Forced to pay for an SSL
- Can only sell physical products
Price:$29 per month.
Integrated sales channels:n/a
Mobile app features:n/a
Point-of-sale:Available as add-on.
G2 rating ⭐:3.2/5
11. OpenCart
Best for free ecommerce solution
OpenCartis a free, open-source ecommerce platform known for being highly customizable and simple to set up. The platform lets you create and managemultiple storesand provides a robust dashboard with important metrics like sales and repeat customers. OpenCart has over 13,000 modules and themes you can build on to create your own website, along with plenty of integrations to connect your tools.
Pros:
- Open sourced and highlight customizable
- Hundreds of integrations
- The platform is free
- Low ongoing development costs
Cons:
- Limited built-in marketing and sales features
- Not the fastest platform
- Self-hosted, so you’ll control hosting, development, and maintenance
Price:Free.
Integrated sales channels:n/a
Mobile app features:Varies.
Point-of-sale:Yes.
G2 rating ⭐:4.3/5
What is an ecommerce platform?
An ecommerce platform is a software application that enables online commerce for merchants and consumers. Ecommerce platforms can manage web hosting, inventory management, payment processing, marketing, order fulfillment, and more.
While most people think their ecommerce platform is just a tool that lets them list products and accept payments online, a true ecommerce platform is much more than that. Your ecommerce platform should be a complete business command center from where you control everything from inventory to marketing. It should let you process payments but should also give you seamless access to all of the tools you need to sell online, including (but not limited to) your own online store.
Whattypes of ecommerceplatforms are there?
In order to make your online store accessible to the public, you have to have a hosting solution. Hosting stores your information on a server, which lets internet users visit your site and view all of the content.
Every website is hosted somewhere, meaning it has dedicated server space from a provider. Some ecommerce platforms have hosting built in, while others require you use self-hosting or open-source hosting.
1. Hosted
Some website builders offer ahosted platform. In this case, you don’t need to worry about the mess of self or third-party hosting and the additional fees attached.Shopify stores, for example, include website hosting in every plan.
All Shopify updates are automatic and hassle free, so your site will always be up to date. Building on a hosted ecommerce platform gives you more freedom to focus on running your business—not on putting out fires caused by downtime and the need to fix bugs.
2. Self-hosted
Self-hosted, or non-hosted, ecommerce platforms require merchants to use their own server space or pay to rent space from a hosting provider. This makes ongoing website management complex, as you’re responsible for updates, maintenance, and bug fixes. This requires a lot of internal resources that you could otherwise allocate elsewhere.
Self-hosted platforms are typically open source, and you use a third party to host your website data. Third-party sourcing options charge fees for their services, and these costs quickly add up. Many times, these hosting services use tiered pricing structures, so those on the lowest plans don’t get much in the way of customer support. This can leave you hanging at really important times, like traffic boosts after unexpected press coverage.
What types of ecommerce are there?
There are four types of ecommerce: B2C (business-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business), C2B (consumer-to-business), and C2C (consumer-to-consumer).
- B2C.这指的是在线销售业务n individual consumer. You might also hear people refer to B2C ecommerce as DTC, or direct-to-consumer.
- B2B.When one business sells to another business online, it’sB2B ecommerce. These transactions include wholesale buying, when the purchasing business intends to resell at a profit, as well as for business use—things like office supplies and equipment.
- C2B.Consumers also have selling power, as seen when they sell to businesses. Typically, these transactions are less traditional. A consumer might sell their influence in the form of a featured social post or they might offer a five-star review in exchange for money.
- C2C.Consumers can also sell to one another, a trend that has emerged with the popularity of the sharing economy. Platforms like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and eBay offer a place to facilitate C2C ecommerce.
Ultimately, the type of ecommerce business you run will help you dictate which is thebest ecommerce sitefor that business.
How to choose the right ecommerce software for you
If you’ve figured outhow to start an online store,我愿意选择电子商务平台s best for you, there are a number of considerations. Thebest ecommerce softwarefor you might be different from the best platform for another merchant—you need to consider your unique business needs and goals.
很多商家选择最简单最affordable online store builder, which often leads them to Shopify. But there’s more to the decision than day-to-day use and cost. You need to think about where your business is headed and anticipate your future needs—and find a platform that can anticipate those needs as well.
Now, it’s about finding the best platform for commerce—online and in-store and everything in between. This means you need a best-in-class online storeanda best-in-class suite of business management tools. Look for a platform that consistently invests in its technology and stays ahead of the curve when it comes to commerce. Your website builder can become so much more than just a platform where you do business—it can be a vehicle for growth.
When evaluating your choices, think through the following scenarios:
- I need to sell my products online, offline, and to all my customers—no matter where they are—and accept payment for those sales.
- I need to deliver my products to my customers in the best way for my business.
- I need to engage my current and future customers to grow my business.
- I need to operate my business day to day, doing everything from managing my finances to making sure my strategies are working, learning new tactics, and getting technical support when I need it.
Related Content:
Know your costs
While budget shouldn’t be the only deciding factor, it’s certainly an important one. You can get started for as little as $100, but you’ll likely put more than that into your startup business before you start recuperating your investments, especially upfront.
According to our research, most small business owners spend about $40,000 during their first year—and only 9% of that goes to online business needs (though Shopify merchants spent an average of $38,000, while non-Shopify merchants came in closer to $41,000). And when you have a platform that supports your business needs, you can make the money back or offset it with your profit margins.
With so many other aspects of your business to fund, it’s important you find an ecommerce platform that won’t suck your budget dry but still has the features you need to operate your business and make a profit.
When evaluating costs, look at more than just the setup and monthly fees. You’ll also want to account for payment processing fees, costs for adding integrations, and potential fees for customer support (PrestaShop, for instance). Remember, if hosting isn’t included, you’ll need to figure that in as an added expense too.
Find a good fit for your business model
Selling online takes many forms. You might sell tangible products or digital products, and other business models have emerged as well. If you dropship, for example, you’ll want an ecommerce platform that can easily connect in the back end to streamline operations.
A platform like Shopify has tons of apps you can add to your site to make selling easier for different business models. There are apps forprint-on-demandandsubscription businesses, for example, that make it easier to run on Shopify compared to other platforms.
Look for safe and reliable checkout and payment gateways
Checkout is a core component of your ecommerce site. You need a protected and dependable way to accept payments, while ensuring the process is quick and painless for shoppers. Shop Pay, for instance,increases checkout speed by four times. Shopify also offers simple integrations with over 100payment gateways, so you can offer the most relevant payment options for your audience, no matter where they are in the world.
Plus, it’s extra important to instill trust at this stage, so you’ll want to accommodate familiar payment methods like mobile wallets and PayPal. These known platforms can make customers more comfortable providing payment information and make their checkout process easier at the same time.
Consider your future business plans
While your business might have humble beginnings, you likely have a vision for where you want to take it in the future. These goals are important to think about, even if you don’t plan to become a global brand.
You might also want to add physical retail to your business at some point. With a limited ecommerce platform, POS integrations may be cumbersome. You risk having inaccurate inventory data due to disjointed online and in-person systems.
With a platform like Shopify, everything is tracked and synced in a single place. So you’ll have accurate inventory and sales data at any time—and you can be up and running for in-person sales in a matter of minutes. And you can also add services likelocal deliveryand take advantage of theShopify Fulfillment Network.
Many businesses need additional funding down the line. In fact, as many as two-thirds of entrepreneurs pull from personal savings to fund their business in the early stages, as many as 23% borrow from friends and family, and 21% use personal loans,according to our analysis.
But there are other business funding options that pose less risk to personal relationships. Look for ecommerce platforms that provide assistance to merchants, likeShopify Capitalsmall business lending.
Start selling online with Shopify
When you’re deep into ecommerce comparison shopping, it’s easy to forget why you’re picking an ecommerce platform at all. At the end of the day, there is no best choice for everyone. Instead, look for the right platform that lets you serve your customers the best ecommerce experience that makes shopping online feel easy.
Beyond simply the best online store builder, think about the other business tools those platforms offer. It’s often beneficial to use a seamlessly integrated ecosystem, consisting of your online store, payment processor, POS, and even small business lender. Shopify, for example, has an entire suite of tools that help you manage every aspect of your business, and an App Store with over 4,000 apps to help you customize the experience for your customers and your team.
Selling online with your own ecommerce website has never been easier, faster, or more scalable. Shopify is a single platform that lets you sell wherever your customers are—online, in-person, and everywhere in between.
Illustration by Rachel Tunstall
Ready to upgrade your ecommerce store? Start your free trial of Shopify—no credit card required.
Compare ecommerce platforms
Ecommerce platforms FAQ
What are the most popular ecommerce platforms?
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- Wix
- Squarespace
- WooCommerce
- OpenCart
- Big Cartel
- Volusion
Which ecommerce platform is best?
- Shopify: best all-round platform for selling products
- Wix: best for building a full-blown website
- BigCommerce: best for big businesses and enterprises
- Adobe Commerce: best for shops with technical resources and developers
- WooCommerce: best for WordPress websites
- PrestaShop: best for technical founders who want a self-hosted ecommerce platform
- Squarespace: best drag-and-drop design functionality
- Big Cartel: best budget option for a few products
Is Amazon an ecommerce platform?
Amazon is the largest online marketplace used by individuals and businesses, available in many different countries and languages. Amazon is not an ecommerce platform. With Shopify, you can set up your own online store and run a business. With Amazon, you are just a seller in a marketplace.Get started with Shopify
Which ecommerce platform is best for startups?
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform for startups due to its ease of use, affordable pricing, and robust features. It offers customizable templates, secure payment processing, and integrations with popular apps. Plus, it has a user-friendly interface and excellent customer support.