The 5 Best eCommerce Platforms For Small Business

ByPavlos Giorkas Updated on Software

Are you ready to start selling online? Building an ecommerce website is one of the most efficient ways to reach potential customers, and luckily there are plenty of platforms to choose from.

With the right combination of features, tools, and customer service, you can create a professional, user-friendly website that will help you capture the attention of your target market.

I’ve rounded up the top 5 best platforms to build an ecommerce website. With these platforms, you can create a stunning website that will help you grow your business.

From user-friendly drag-and-drop editors to powerful analytics and marketing capabilities, each platform offers something unique to help you get your ecommerce website off the ground.

Read on to find out which platform is the best fit for you and your business.

Why You Should Trust Me?

The reason in simple. My last job, before going full online, was in a web-development agency. I was the sales guy essentially. I’ve had meetings with literally thousands of small businesses and eCommerce entrepreneurs and I’ve come to fully understand what these people needed.

Some of them where just OK with an all-in-one eCommerce solution while others needed custom made designs and self hosted eCommerce websites.

The following eCommerce platforms I’m recommending where many times recommended to our clients – based on each small business’ needs.

I didn’t wrote this article solely for ranking online like others do (e.g Google Best eCommerce Platforms For Small Business, find what eCommerce platforms the top ten results are recommending and write an even bigger list with 25 best ecommerce platforms), rather I recommend the top 5 based on my own experience and most importantly these eCommerce platforms are best suited for small businesses.

Large scale enterprises, most of the times order custom made designs and hire freelance developers or agencies for custom development.

Having said that, let’s move forward with the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses.

Best eCommerce Platforms For Small Business

  • Wix – Best Drag And Drop eCommerce platform
  • Shopify – Best for Ease of Use
  • BigCommerce – Oldest in the market
  • WooCommerce – Best For Customizability
  • Ecwid – Best eCommerce platform for multichannel selling.

Wix – Best Drag And Drop

Wix Logo
Visit Wix

Wix is an Israeli company that offers cloud based solutions for businesses to create their own websites. It is one of the most popular and user-friendly website builders on the market, making it perfect for beginners.

With Wix, you can easily create a professional looking ecommerce store with its drag and drop editor, hundreds of free templates, and powerful features.

Wix Pros & Cons

What I Like

  • Easy to use: Wix has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to create and customize their online store.
  • Wide range of templates: Wix offers a wide range of templates that users can choose from to create the perfect look for their online store.
  • SEO tools: Wix has built-in SEO tools that help users optimize their online store for search engines.
  • Mobile-friendly: Wix websites are responsive and look great on mobile devices, which is important for ecommerce stores.
  • Integration with other platforms: Wix allows users to integrate their online store with platforms like Google Shopping, Amazon, and Facebook.

What I Don’t Like

  • Limited customization options: While Wix offers a wide range of templates and design options, it may not offer as much customization as some other ecommerce platforms.
  • Limited payment options: Wix only offers a limited number of payment gateways, which may not be suitable for users in certain countries.
  • Limited scalability: As an online store grows, it may outgrow the capabilities of Wix, at which point users may need to migrate to a more advanced ecommerce platform or on their own dedicated servers.
  • Extra fees for certain features: Some features, like abandoned cart recovery, are only available as paid add-ons.

Wix Pricing

Wix has 3 pricing plans intended for eCommerce customers.

  • Their cheaper plan – Business Basic starts at €20 per month and includes the hosting, a free domain and let’s you accept payments. This plan is most suitable for people just starting out.
  • Their second, most popular plan – Business Unlimited costs €30 per month and includes all the above as well more storage space, customize reports, as well as some other bells and whistles not included in the basic plan. One of the important features of this plan is that it allows you to connect your eshop to various marketplaces as well as connect to Modalyst, which is a dropshipping sourcing marketplace acquired by Wix.
  • Finally, the Business VIP plan costs €44 per month and it has everything the Business Unlimited plan has. On top of that it comes with a free reviewing system and more storage space – basically more of everything the Business Unlimited plan has.
Screenshot of Wix's Pricing Plans

Bottom Line

Overall, Wix is a good choice for users who want an easy-to-use platform for building an online store, but it may not be suitable for users who need a more advanced or customizable ecommerce platform.

Visit Wix

Shopify – Best for Ease of Use

The 5 Best eCommerce Platforms For Small Business
Visit Shopify

Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce solution that provides everything you need to build an online store.

It offers a wide range of features including payment processing, inventory management, analytics tools, and marketing capabilities.

With Shopify’s easy to use interface, you can quickly customize your store’s look and fee and enter the eCommerce world with ease.

Shopify Pros & Cons

What I Like

  • Shopify is real easy to use, even for someone who ain’t tech-savvy.
  • They got a ton of ready-made themes you can choose from, so you can have your eshop up and running in no time.
  • It’s cheap to start with, so you can give it a try without breaking the bank.
  • They got a whole bunch of plugins you can add to your eshop to give it extra functionalities.
  • It integrates with a lot of different platforms, so you can connect it to all your other online stuff real easy.

What I don’t like

  • As your eshop grows, the costs for using Shopify can start to add up real quick.
  • Once you set up your eshop on Shopify, you’re kinda stuck with it. You can’t just up and move it to another platform if you change your mind.
  • They charge extra fees per sale, so that’s something to keep in mind.
  • A lot of the essential plugins you might need (even for simple things like making your eshop multilingual) have recurring charges, so that can make your monthly payments not as cheap as you might expect.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify has five different plans. These are:

  • Shopify Lite: This is the most basic plan and it costs $9 per month. It allows businesses to add a buy button to an existing website or to use Shopify’s POS system to sell products in person.
  • Basic Shopify: This plan costs $29 per month and includes features such as an online store, a shopping cart, and the ability to process payments. It also includes basic reporting and analytics.
  • Shopify: This plan costs $79 per month and includes additional features such as professional reports, gift cards, and abandoned cart recovery.
  • Advanced Shopify: This plan costs $299 per month and includes even more advanced features such as advanced report building, third-party calculated shipping rates, and an increased number of staff accounts.
  • Shopify Plus: This is Shopify’s enterprise-level plan, designed for high-volume businesses, pricing is based on annual sales and other business-specific factors, it offers additional features such as dedicated IP, advanced checkout, Customizable checkout fields and Launchpad.

All plans except Shopify Lite include a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for online credit card payments and a 2.0% + 30¢ for in-person and manual payments made through Shopify’s POS.

However, Shopify also offers the ability to use third-party payment gateways, which may offer different rates and fees.

Bottom Line

Shopify offers a cheap, easy and fast way to start your eshop. Keep in mind though the extra charges from each sale as well as the pricing of essential plugins/apps needed for your store.

Visit Shopify

BigCommerce – Best For Large Scale Enterprises

BIG Commerce logo
Visit BIGCOMMERCE

BigCommerce is another all-in-one ecommerce platform that helps businesses create stunning online stores with ease.

It offers a range of features including SEO tools, analytics, integrated payment processing solutions, and more.

BigCommerce also offers helpful customer support to help you get started quickly and easily.

BigCommerce Pros & Cons

What I Like:

  • BigCommerce has a lot of different solutions for businesses of all different sizes and types.
  • They got this thing called headless development, which means you can design your eshop front-end however you want, and use BigCommerce as your back-end, so you got the best of both worlds.
  • You can also integrate it with WordPress, which is real handy.
  • BigCommerce has all the bells and whistles you need for a modern eshop.
  • Even on the lower-end plans, they offer a lot of features.

What I Don’t Like:

  • BigCommerce ain’t as popular as Shopify or WooCommerce, so it might be hard to find freelancers for any development work you might need.
  • It don’t have as many apps and plugins as Shopify or WooCommerce for extendibility, so you might have to get creative with what you can do with it.

BigCommerce Pricing

BigCommerce pricing plans are as follows:

  • BigCommerce Standard: This plan costs $29.95 per month and includes features such as an online store, a shopping cart, and the ability to process payments. It also includes basic reporting and analytics.
  • BigCommerce Plus: This plan costs $79.95 per month and includes additional features such as abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, and professional reporting.
  • BigCommerce Pro: This plan costs $299.95 per month and includes even more advanced features such as Advanced reporting, Advanced Custom Fields, and Customizable Checkout Fields.
  • BigCommerce Enterprise: This is BigCommerce’s enterprise-level plan, designed for high-volume businesses, pricing is based on annual sales and other business-specific factors, it offers additional features such as private app development, dedicated account manager, and priority phone and email support.

All plans include no transaction fee for online credit card payments and has the ability to use third-party payment gateways, which may offer different rates and fees. The pricing of the plans may vary depending on the package and the country where the store is based.

Bottom Line

Great and trusted platform to start your online shop. Has everything you need to build a successful eshop. Best feature is the ability for headless development.

Visit BigCommerce

WooCommerce – Best For Customizability

WooCommerce logo
Check WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform that is designed for WordPress.

It offers a range of features including product management, payment processing, analytics, and more.

Woocommerce also offers a wide selection of themes and plugins to help you customize the look and feel of your online store.

WooCommerce Pros & Cons

What I Like:

  • It’s free to use, so it’s real budget-friendly.
  • It’s built on top of WordPress, so if you already got a website up and running on WordPress, it’s real easy to add an eshop to it.
  • It’s real flexible, you can customize it however you want with themes and plugins.
  • The WordPress community is real big and active, so you got a lot of resources for help and support.
  • It’s real popular, so you can find a lot of freelancers and developers who know how to work with it.
  • It has a gazillion themes that have literally all the functions a modern and user-friendly eshop needs pre-installed so you don’t need to buy extra plugins etc.Y
  • You don’t have monthly recurring payments.
  • Since all your eshop’s data are stored on your server you can take your data and move them to other platforms whenever you want.
  • There is a plugin virtually for everything.

What I Don’t Like:

  • It can be a bit overwhelming to set-up, since you require a seperate domain and hosting.
  • You’ll need to pay for web hosting and a domain name to set up your website, so it ain’t completely free.

WooCommerce Pricing

WooCommerce is a free open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress that allows businesses to create an online store on their website. The plugin itself is free to use and download, but businesses will need to pay for web hosting and a domain name to set up their website. In addition to that, there are few additional costs businesses might face while using WooCommerce:

  • Payment gateway fees: Businesses will need to pay fees to a payment gateway provider in order to process payments on their website.
  • Additional plugins or extensions: While the core WooCommerce plugin is free, businesses may need to purchase additional plugins or extensions in order to add certain functionality to their website, such as shipping and taxes, subscriptions, or integrations with other platforms.
  • Customization services: If businesses want to customize the design or functionality of their website, they may need to hire a developer or a design agency.

However, There are also a number of companies and providers that offer pricing plans for WooCommerce hosting and other services. These plans can include web hosting, security, backups, and other features, and the costs will vary depending on the provider.

Bottom Line

WooCommerce is not a one stop solution that included it’s hosting, but it comes for free and you can hire a freelancer to set up everything for you for less than $100 on Fiverr. Other than that, WooCommerce has the biggest and most active community and you can easily find support for it from literally everewhere you look.

Check WooCommerce

Ecwid – Best For Multichannel Selling

Ecwid logo
Visit Ecwid

Ecwid is an ecommerce solution that is designed to help businesses create beautiful online stores with ease.

It offers a range of features including product management, payment processing, analytics, and more. Ecwid also offers helpful customer support to help you get started quickly and easily.

With Ecwid you can also sell across multiple channels, including Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and more all withing a centralized management interface.

Ecwid Pros & Cons

What I Like

  • Ecwid got a free forever plan, so you can start selling online without spending a dime.
  • You can easily integrate it with Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, TikTok and many more, so you can mirror your products and sell more.
  • You can extend its functionality using apps, so you can add all sorts of extra features to your eshop.
  • They got partnerships with major shipping companies, so you can save on shipping costs.
  • Ecwid integrates with all the big marketing platforms like Facebook, Google and many more, so you can set up and manage campaigns right from there.
  • They got the cheapest and most value for money pricing plans, so you’re not breaking the bank.
  • No transaction fees, so you can keep more of your money.
  • You can seamlessly integrate it with your existing website, so you don’t have to start from scratch.

What I Don’t Like

  • It ain’t a done-for-you solution, so it might not be as user-friendly as Shopify or Wix.
  • If you’re looking to build a large-scale eshop, you’ll still need to buy hosting and a domain to host your website and install Ecwid on top of it.

Ecwid Pricing Plans

Ecwid comes with 4 pricing plans which are:

  • Free Plan: This plan is free to use, and it allows businesses to add a basic online store to their website. It includes a limited set of features such as a shopping cart and the ability to process payments.
  • Ecwid Venture: This plan costs $15/month and it includes additional features such as product options, abandoned cart recovery, real-time shipping rates and connecting your store and selling on Instagram and Facebook.
  • Ecwid Business: This plan costs $35/month and it includes additional features such as customer accounts, discounts, gift cards and connecting and selling on eBay and Amazon.
  • Ecwid Unlimited: This plan costs $99/month and it includes additional features such as custom reporting, and priority customer support

Bottom Line

Ecwid offers the most comprehensive and user-friendly tools for selling on multiple channels, making it the top choice for merchants looking to expand their reach and increase sales.

Visit Ecwid

So, which one should you choose?

When it comes to choosing the best eCommerce platform for small businesses, it really depends on what you’re looking for. Each platform has its own set of pros and cons, and it’s important to figure out which one is the best fit for your particular business.

If you’re looking for something that’s real easy to use and has a ton of ready-made themes to choose from, Wix might be the way to go. They got a lot of different pricing plans to choose from, so you can find one that fits your budget.

Shopify is another popular eCommerce platform for small businesses. It’s real easy to use, and it’s got a lot of different plugins and apps you can add to your eshop to give it extra functionalities. But keep in mind that as your business grows, the costs can start to add up and the more you sell the more cut Shopify will be taking from your sales.

BigCommerce is a solid choice for small businesses as well. They got a lot of different pricing plans to choose from, and they offer headless development, which means you can design your front-end however you want and use BigCommerce as your back-end. However, it might be harder to find freelancers to help you with development work.

WooCommerce is a great choice if you’re looking for something that’s free to use and built on top of WordPress. It’s real flexible, but it can also be a bit overwhelming if you ain’t tech-savvy. Of course you should consider that there is an abundance of developers and themes that have everything you might need.

Ecwid is a great choice if you’re looking for something budget-friendly. They got a free forever plan, and you can easily integrate it with a lot of different platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, TikTok and many more. But keep in mind that it ain’t a done-for-you solution, so it might not be as user-friendly as Shopify or Wix.

eCommerce Platforms List

To make this article more complete and if you are looking for more options, I’ve prepared this eCommerce platforms list (at least all I could find). I believe this list is more helpful even from Google’s results, since you don’t have to go through all that data and pages to find all the eCommerce platforms available.

eCOMMERCE PLATFORMBEST FORPRICE STARTS FROM
EcwidMulti-channel sellingFree plan available
WixBest drag and drop development platform.$5.50 / month
BIG CommerceHeadless eCommerce$29.95 / month
ShopifyEase of use€24.00 / month
WooCommerceHaving Popular and Vibrant CommunityFree plan available
WeeblyBeing a cheap Ecommerce solution€10.00 / month
Shift4ShopBeing Simple Yet PowerfulFree plan available
ShopWiredBest rated ecommerce platform in the UK£29.95 / month
VolusionSimple to use and highly customizable$35.00 / month
SellfyFast deployment$19.00 / month
ZyroEase of use$3.59 /month
NexcessBest for Enterprise level companies$19.00 / month
SquarespaceBest Design Templates€28.00 /month
Adobe CommerceBest for Enterprise level companiesPricing not specified
PrestaShopFree SolutionCompletely Free
Big CartelBest For ArtistsFree Plan available
OpencartBest Open-source eCommerce platformCompletely Free
Square OnlineBest for restaurantsFree plan available
Salesforce Commerce CloudBest for Enterprise level companiesPricing not specified

Bottom Line

When you’re building an ecommerce website, your goal is to help potential customers find and purchase your products online. Build a professional, engaging website that makes it easy for them to make purchases and learn more about your products.

With the right ecommerce platform you can build a store that showcases your products in a beautiful and engaging way, while also providing valuable information on related products and company details. There are a number of ecommerce platforms to choose from when building your business’ online storefront.

While some focus on speed, others offer features like drag-and-drop interfaces and automated marketing campaigns. When you’re building an ecommerce website, speed is key – it can make or break potential sales. That’s why it’s important to choose the right ecommerce platform for your business.

ℹ️ This blog is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission without any surcharge to you. This helps me continue offer free and quality content for the community.

Hi. My name is Pavlos. I am a full time blogger, affiliate marketer and SEO expert. In this blog, I review software, training programs and make money online opportunities. I also write how to tutorials and listicles around SEO, Software and make money online.

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