Are you trying to find the best Ecommerce Platform to create your First Web store? Most Individuals will prefer Shopify or BigCommerce to build their ecommerce store easily.
When selling your products online, selecting the appropriate ecommerce platform is essential.
The top ecommerce platforms can assist you in achieving your objectives, from simple store management to safe payment processing. To help you choose the best ecommerce platform for you, I reviewed and ranked the top 9+ platforms in this guide, along with my top 5 below.
Shopify
Shopify is the All-in-one e-commerce you need to start and grow your business. Drop shipping integrations, omnichannel selling are built-in features
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is for enterprise Business to scale. List, advertise, sell, and fulfil products over 100+ channels.
Zyro
Zyro has Strong design functionality with a host of attractive templates. Provides Money-back guarantee and 24/7 support.
BlueHost
With Bluehost you can get the Best Deal with WooCommerce Ecommerce Store. Daily Backups and SEO features.
Ecwid
Ecwid can help you Create an online store from an existing website with no transaction costs and multichannel selling. SEO and Mobile friendly.
What to Look for Before Buying an Ecommerce Platform
I can offer some insights on what to look for before buying an e-commerce platform. Here are some important features that you should consider:
Scalability:
One of the most important factors when choosing an e-commerce platform is scalability. A good e-commerce platform should be able to handle your current sales volume, but also have the ability to scale up as your business grows.
Customizability:
Another important feature to look for is customizability. A good e-commerce platform should offer a range of customization options, allowing you to create unique designs that reflect your brand and stand out in the market.
Payment Gateway Integration:
Payment gateway integration is essential for any e-commerce platform. A good e-commerce platform should offer integration with multiple payment gateways, providing your customers with a range of payment options.
Security:
With the increasing number of cyber attacks, it’s important to ensure that your e-commerce platform is secure. A good e-commerce platform should have robust security features that protect your customers’ personal and financial information.
SEO Friendliness:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for any e-commerce business. A good e-commerce platform should be SEO-friendly, allowing you to optimize your website for better search engine rankings.
Mobile Responsiveness:
In today’s world, more and more people are using their mobile devices to shop online. A good e-commerce platform should have a mobile-responsive design, providing your customers with a seamless shopping experience across all devices.
Customer Support:
Customer support is essential for any business, and e-commerce is no exception. A good e-commerce platform should offer reliable and responsive customer support, helping you resolve any issues or technical glitches quickly and efficiently.
What are the Best Ecommerce platforms?
In the past a custom ecommerce website made particularly for you would certainly cost quite a bit of money to create, requiring the services of a software developer or possibly an entire team of engineers.
Thankfully, technology has advanced significantly, making it possible to use an eCommerce platform to create eCommerce websites that are strong, quick, and beautiful.
Some of these platforms offer content management tools or are based on already-existing content management systems (CMS), such as WordPress (great for SEO).
1.Shopify
For large businesses with more than 10 products, Shopify is the best ecommerce platform. It has over 1 million active users worldwide and runs over 600,000 online stores. Shopify has sold more than $100 billion worth of goods, so it must be doing something right!
In the English-speaking world, it is the most widely used and supports all sizes of businesses. The platform of Spotify is used by more than 1 million merchants across about 1.5 million websites. In the US, 31% of the market for eCommerce websites is occupied by Shopify. Shopify’s success can be attributed in large part to its adaptability. The Shopify App Store has more than 2,400 applications.
Shopify Lite is an alternative to conventional Shopify for people who already have websites but only need a mechanism to accept payments. Large businesses who can afford to invest $2,000 per month on their eCommerce platform should choose Shopify Plus.
Businesses without the means to do it may now quickly and easily create an e-commerce back-end using Shopify. It has a built-in content management system (CMS), a number of themes for your website (and a third-party marketplace selling more), and blogging capabilities for your online store.
FEATURES
Plenty of Apps
Users of Shopify have access to a wider range of more sophisticated tools for social media interaction, product merchandising, order fulfilment, and sales reporting. What’s best? There are more than 3,000 free apps.
Scalability
With its entry-level plans, Shopify supports multiple staff user accounts, currencies, and inventory locations.
Auto Taxation:
You won’t have to worry about figuring out taxes for your products thanks to automatic taxes.
PRICING
They provide a 14-day free trial so that you may try them out for yourself.
Three plans are available from $29 to $299 on Shopify. Custom pricing is another feature of its enterprise Shopify Plus platform.
Basic: $29/Month Everything you need to create your store, ship products, and process payments
Shopify: $ 79 / Month Level up your business with professional reporting and more staff accounts
Advanced: $ 299 /Month Get the best of Shopify with custom reporting
PROS
- Fast loading pages
- Super easy to set up
- Lots of certified partners to help you
- One-click sales
- allows for social selling and multiple channels
- wonderful themes with a variety of designs
CONS
- Requires third-party apps to handle numerous currencies.
- High transaction fee if Shopify Payments are not used
- Changing templates will require a website redesign.
2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a popular e-commerce platform that is constantly improving. You are capable of so much, and learning it won’t take long at all.
It is a great choice for businesses with a sizable product line. No matter how many SKUs, variants, warehouses, or channels you have, it keeps management straightforward.
BigCommerce has best-in-class SEO tools, 40+ payment methods, sophisticated product selections, and 24/7 support. It is an enterprise-grade ecommerce platform. Your e-commerce company might grow to make more than $100 million a year thanks to it.
Using any of the customizable templates to build your store, sell, and market your products, the interface enables you to customize your online store without knowing how to code.
It caters to folks who lack a lot of web development expertise, but it also gives tech-savvy individuals greater control over the online design by allowing them to modify the HTML and CSS.
For larger businesses as well, its headless ecommerce structure enables maximum customization.
FEATURES
Advanced product filters:
BigCommerce permits 600 variants to be linked to a single SKU, shoppers can find it simple to search for products that come in a number of colors, finishes, sizes, and other characteristics.
Google AMP and Akamai CDN
Big Commerce Comes with built in on Google AMP both product and category pages and allows automatic image compression with Akamai Image Manager.
Customizable themes:
Its selection of themes already includes everything you need, so you may launch a successful online business right away.
PRICING
BigCommerce offers four plans including a a 15-day free trial
Standard — $29.95/month with a $50,000 annual sales limit
Plus — $79.95/month with a $180,000 annual sales limit
Pro — $299.95/month with a $400,000 annual sales limit
Enterprise — custom pricing
PROS
- Best for expanding and scaling your online business.
- Variety of built-in capabilities.
- Sell on several platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Excellent SEO functionalities.
CONS
- Due to the difficult editing interface, it is not recommended for novices.
- Expensive compared to the typical plan
3. Zyro
Zyro is a user-friendly website builder that enables online product sales. It’s simple to understand and reasonably priced.
It is the quickest route to an online store you can be proud of, whether you’re starting with a straightforward e-commerce site before expanding into a larger enterprise or your firm needed a web store yesterday.
Start with one of Zyro’s templates—30 of the more than 160 choices are fully suited for creating an online store—add your products, make a few minor adjustments to match your brand’s aesthetic, and then publish your site.
You can sell your goods on Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and your online shops. This will make sure that millions of people can view your product in this way.
For your eCommerce store, you can provide a variety of payment methods so that clients can choose the most convenient manner to buy your goods.
FEATURES
Marketing Tools:
Zyro’s eCommerce builder includes a number of marketing tools to aid in the promotion of your goods and the expansion of your business. You can design attractive social media ads, email campaigns, and more with these tools.
Cost Effective:
Zyro is substantially less expensive than other well-known site builders, with simple online stores costing less than $5 per month and its premium ecommerce platform costing less than $15.
Website Speed:
Fast page loads and almost minimal website downtime are built-in thanks to Hostinger (Zyro’s back-end hosting provider).
PRICING
The pricing plans are as follows:
Website: $2.61 per month
Business: $4.41 per month
PROS
- Powerful design functionality and a variety of eye-catching layouts
- Possibility of interaction with POS systems for actual sales
- Offers a good selection of payment providers.
CONS
- The website editor and store manager don’t work together very well.
- There aren’t any SEO canonical tags or best practice suggestions for new users.
- Support is limited, with no email, phone, or onsite editor support but only Tickets/Chats
4. Bluhost-Ecommerce
Bluehost is one of my top recommendations for hosting a WordPress website, and it is without a doubt my main pick if you want to start an online store. They specifically provide WooCommerce hosting for WordPress customers that desire an online store.
Despite being free to install, WooCommerce cannot be used on a free WordPress website. However, Bluehost is one of the three web hosting that WordPress officially recommends and is reasonably priced. That strong connection made deciding on Bluehost and a premium WordPress site a successful combination.
The fact that Bluehost has already chosen the top 20 store plugins that your WooCommerce store will require strikes me as being the most practical. In addition to saving you the hassle of looking up and installing plugins on your own, this also comes at no additional cost.
That is a lot. Some of these plugins have an installation fee of about $200.
FEATURES
Low price to Start:
Starting your online business might cost as low as $12.95 a month. Yes, once the sign-up deal expires, the price goes up, but you can extend the discount for three years.
Lots of Plugins and Themes:
Since Based on WordPress, Bluehost can offer Thousands of Plugins Free of Cost and Hundreds of Themes. Any Use case you can think of will be covered by any one of the plugins Available in Plugin repository.
Unlimited products: Unlike other ecommerce Platforms that charge you according to Number of product inventory you are supposed to sell, Bluehost WooCommerce based inventory management has Unlimited products you can Think of.
PRICING
The cost depends on how long you commit to using it for. Select between a one-year contract, a three-year contract, or month-to-month billing.
For a three-year commitment, the Standard plan begins at $12.95 per month, while the Premium plan begins at $24.95 per month.
After the initial term expires, both plans are renewed at the usual month-to-month price of $29.95 for Standard and $49.95 for Premium.
PROS
- Free SSL and Jetpack for security
- Unlimited product listings
- Customer reviews
- Coupon codes
- Manual order creation
CONS
- More effort needed to maintain Site
- Not that Plug and Play
- Functionality Plugin dependent
5. Ecwid
Ecwid is an ecommerce platform that you can use to integrate with your current platform, regardless of what you’re already using, just like OpenCart and WooCommerce.
Platforms like Weebly, Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, and others are integrated. Therefore, Ecwid is a great option if you already have a website set up and want to add ecommerce features.
Ecwid is one of the best and most well-known ecommerce platforms accessible, with 1.6 million small company clients. It was recognized by G2 Crowd as the “fastest ecommerce installation platform.”
Having said that, if you want to start from scratch, they also provide an all-in-one ecommerce website builder. There are, however, more effective website builders available.
In order to incorporate ecommerce into your current website, I solely suggest Ecwid.
FEATURES
- Multiple-channel sales (social media, marketplaces, in-person, etc.)
- Features for integrated email marketing and advertising
- Centralized management of inventory and orders
- With no transaction costs
- complete responsive designs
- POS integrations built-in
- For convenient checkout, use customer accounts.
- Calculator for shipping costs in real-time
- Products available
- capabilities of digital products
- 40 different ways to pay
PRICING
Before making any investments, you can begin with the limited free lifetime plan to test it out.
You must upgrade if you require more products because the free plan only permits up to ten. Additionally, Ecwid provides three paid options, including:
Venture — $19/month (up to 100 products)
Business — $39/month (up to 2,500 products)
Unlimited — $99/month (unlimited products)
PROS
- A free plan with many features is available from Ecwid.
- Ecwid provides a straightforward method for integrating an online store with any already-existing website.
- Plans are affordable compared to other options.
- Point-of-sale functionality is offered, although there aren’t many ways to use it.
- There are plugins and apps for popular platforms (like WordPress, Drupal, and Wix).
- a store that supports multiple languages.
- You don’t have to worry about manually setting up state tax or VAT rules because tax rates are applied automatically.
- Store designs that are responsive.
CONS
- There is a pricey option that includes phone support.
- Only a few apps are available in the Ecwid store
- Although generally good, the multi-currency functionality doesn’t show the local currency until the very end of the checkout process.
- Item URL cannot be modified from an SEO perspective.
- SEO features are not available in the free version.
6. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop (previously known as 3DCart) is a popular ecommerce website builder because of its various customization options.
It is a great platform to help you create your online store and get started selling right away because it has a flexible shipping configuration and expandable hosting.
Through its extensive design tools, Shift4Shop enables you to build a fully customizable and responsive website. You can create highly configurable website templates using Shift4Shop’s core template engine, which is accessible within its design software.
An ecommerce website builder’s shipping tools should be as extensive as possible, and fortunately Shift4Shop has a straightforward and adaptable shipping configuration that enables you to show real-time delivery rates to your consumers.
The total value is excellent. By not include abandoned cart saver as a core function, I still believe it is losing out. Shopify made an attempt to add it, significantly weakening the opposition. Even then, Shopify still offers a smaller set of feature set this one does.
FEATURES
- Since Shift4Shop is a fully hosted and maintained solution, it can be quickly integrated into current procedures and systems.
- Your customers’ data will be protected from hackers by being secure and fully PCI compliant.
- Processing payments using PayPal as a partner or one of the more than 160 more payment processors, with checkout options
PRICING
They have lifetime End-to-End: Free Plan, But it has a Per-transaction fees through Shift4 Payments at 2.9% plus 30 cents or an alternate processor.
Basic: $29 per month.
Plus: $79 per month.
Pro: $229 per month.
Enterprise: $1,999 per month plus $499 one-time setup fee.
PROS
- superior blog features compared to other SaaS ecommerce
- supports all the necessary integrations
- excellent tools for managing business users (email, QuickBooks, inventory, etc.)
CONS
- Templates follow trends, but they’re never the most innovative.
- negative reviews about customer service
- Upgrade issues that could arise
- Not for novices
7. Volution
Volution one of the most well-known hosted eCommerce platforms. They concentrate on offering a complete toolkit to eCommerce businesses that desire hosted solutions.
They were once the go-to choice for mid-sized eCommerce businesses who valued their operations and inventory features.
Using Volusion is comparable to renting a business that you can make your own, personalized. While you manage all aspects of the business, including sales, marketing, and merchandise, Volution is in charge of the plumbing, security, building, and upkeep.
The advantage of choosing Volusion is that they have an internal SEO and marketing staff that can assist with web marketing for your company.
This feature may assist in increasing the visibility of your website on search engines.
FEATURES
- Easy integrations
- Mobile Friendly Themes
- Customizable Layouts
- Logo & Favicon Upload
- Product Display Options
- Search Functionality
- Homepage Slideshow
- HTML/CSS Editor Access
- In-House Design Services
- Abandoned Cart Messaging
- ROI Tracking
- Create Coupons & Discounts
PRICING
Volusion has four pricing plans, ranging from $15/month to $135/month.
Personal: $35/month up to 100 Products
Professional: $79/month up to 5000 Products
Business: $299/Month Unlimited Products
Prime: Custom Quote based on GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume)
PROS
- Wonderful onboarding and support centre
- Sitemaps offer a lot of freedom.
- Built-in recurring/subscription payments
- SMB Friendly
- Well-designed dashboard
- A transparent marketing and inventory system
CONS
- Has no cross- or up-selling features.
- Many websites had messed up URLs.
- Among the less quick SaaS platforms.
- Many of the sites I looked at appeared to be VERY dated.
- There is no built-in blogging capability.
8. SquareSpace
Squarespace is my #1 suggestion for customers who want an online store that is more stylish and substantial than the standard commercial, shopping-cart-focused ecommerce platforms.
With Squarespace, you can tag products on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, attracting customers from various groups.
Additionally, Squarespace interacts with the majority of well-known social media and email marketing tools, enabling you to sell and market your products like a pro.
Additionally, they have outstanding customer service available 24/7/365 to address your concerns and assist you in setting up your account the way you want.
ShipStation is integrated with Squarespace, and you can download Printul and ShipBob from the app store. It is also possible to calculate delivery costs in real time from well-known carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS). Payment processors and third-party applications are the major drawbacks. They only accept Paypal and Stripe. The apps only integrate with a very limited number of outside tools.
FEATURES
- Digital goods, subscriptions, and in-person compatibility
- Automatic tax computations with built-in tax tools
- Gift cards and coupon codes
- Recovery of a forgotten cart
- Checkout optimized for mobile
- Store management on the go
- extensive product listings
- ability to view quickly
- inventory control
- Shipping estimates in real-time
PRICING
They have four main pricing plans – out of which Personal Plan is for website builder not useful for ecommerce, this is only for Blogging or basic Website and two online store monthly plans:
Personal Plan: $14/month
Business Plan: $23/month + 3% transaction fees
Basic (Online Store): $27/month + 0% transaction fees
Advanced (Online Store): $49/month + 0% transaction fees
PROS
- Simple To Install
- Wonderful For Simple Stores
- Amazing Designs
- Reliable SEO tools
- Integration with ShipStation and ShipBob
CONS
- Null dropshipping
- No integration with marketing automation
- No integration with Amazon
- There is no app store for additional features and functions.
9. Weebly
Weebly is designed for small to medium-sized online retailers who need a quick way to start selling online. There is no complex setup or upkeep required. As a result, it’s ideal for newcomers and users who don’t want to become bogged down in technical jargon.
This one works good for a straightforward store if you’re a complete beginner and don’t want to employ a developer. More beginner friendly than BigCommerce, but less development friendly, it is simple and intuitive.
If you want a straightforward store with built-in marketing automation, Weebly is a terrific choice.
Since the online store is a part of all Weebly plans, you can build one for absolutely nothing. But please don’t, get overexcited.
But you might need to search elsewhere if SEO is crucial to you. According to our survey, Weebly sites scored poorly on organic traffic and SEO. Bluehost WooCommerce has better average SEO, so you’d better be there for SEO. You must buy a plan if you want to remove the advertisements and use your own domain name (which you presumably already do). Look over to the Pricing plan section to discover more about the features of each plan.
FEATURES
- Fantastic value for the money
- Setting up requires no technical expertise.
- Excellent phone and chat service, good mobile UX
- Variety of mobile-friendly, contemporary templates
- Automatic Tax Calculator
- Integrated Shipping Labels
- Abandoned Cart Recovery
PRICING
Weebly has a FREE Plan where you can Sell anything you want (only available in the U.S.). You have access to the most of e-commerce functionality, but only through a Weebly subdomain but of course advertisements are included.
Paid plans are as Below:
Pro: $12/Month- Similar to Free, however you can also use your own domain name.
Business: $25/Month- Adds Advanced Site Stats, 3rd party Payments, Shopping Cart and Phone SupportBusiness Plus: $38/Month- Advanced e-commerce features (including abandoned cart emails) and Priority Support, plus all Professional features.
PROS
- Very easy to use
- Supports physical goods, digital goods and services
- SSL-encryption on your own domain
- Shipping and tax calculator
CONS
- No offline payment available
- No integrations with other platforms
FAQ’s
What is an ecommerce platform?
An ecommerce platform is a software or website builder that enables businesses to create an online store and sell their products or services online.
What are the top ecommerce platforms?
Some of the top ecommerce platforms include Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Squarespace, and Wix.
What are the benefits of using an ecommerce platform?
Using an ecommerce platform can provide businesses with a user-friendly and customizable online store, the ability to manage products and inventory, integration with payment gateways, and marketing tools to promote their products.
What are the costs associated with using an ecommerce platform?
The costs associated with using an ecommerce platform can vary depending on the platform and the features that are required. Some platforms may charge a monthly fee, while others may charge a transaction fee or a percentage of sales.
Can I integrate my ecommerce platform with other tools and services?
Yes, most ecommerce platforms offer integrations with a wide range of third-party tools and services, such as payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing tools.
What is the best ecommerce platform for a small business?
The best ecommerce platform for a small business will depend on their specific needs and budget. Shopify and BigCommerce are popular options for small businesses due to their user-friendly interfaces and affordable pricing plans.
What is the best ecommerce platform for a large business?
For a large business, an enterprise-level ecommerce platform such as Magento or Salesforce Commerce Cloud may be more suitable due to their scalability and advanced features for managing large volumes of products and sales.
Wrapping Up
There are numerous types and sizes of e-commerce solutions. Some of them are created for huge multinational internet retailers. Others are more appropriate for vendors with a limited number of goods.
The finest ecommerce platforms all allow for online sales, but not all of them are scalable. Be mindful that as your site expands, your demands may alter. If you plan to do that, make sure you pick a platform that will allow you to expand. Zyro is the best option for opening a new online store quickly because it is both the quickest and most cost-effective way to do so. My top choice all-around is Shopify. Although it costs a little more than Zyro, you can accomplish far more with it.
Himadri Sengupta
As a seasoned Product Consultant, I have helped numerous businesses turn their product visions into successful realities. Whether you’re a startup looking to launch your first product or an established business seeking to revamp your product line, I can help you achieve your goals..