12 Best eCommerce Website Builders (to Sell Products Online) in 2024 + Examples, Reviews, and Comparisons

In this guide, we’re comparing, reviewing and looking at examples of all the best eCommerce website builders to choose from this year. If you’re in the market for an eCommerce website builder that’ll help you sell more products online, then let’s dive in.

eCommerce Website Builders (Reviews, Comparison and Examples) to Sell Products Online icon
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This guide compares, reviews, and examines examples of all the best eCommerce website builders for this year.

Many eCommerce builders are available, so deciding which is best for your online store may not always be immediately clear.

In this comprehensive guide, I’m breaking down all the features (pros and cons) and giving you an unbiased review of the best eCommerce website builders available today.

Follow along, and you’ll have a clear sense of which platform you should use to sell your products online today.

12 Best eCommerce Website Builders (to Sell Products Online) in 2024

  1. Shopify
  2. BigCommerce
  3. Hostinger
  4. Wix eCommerce Website Builder
  5. Squarespace eCommerce
  6. WooCommerce + WordPress
  7. Shift4Shop
  8. Weebly eCommerce by Square
  9. Adobe Commerce
  10. Big Cartel
  11. PrestaShop
  12. Volusion

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep all of my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).

Before we compare the best online store platforms side by side, I’ll answer a few questions that arise when discussing eCommerce.

Just click to expand any question and read the answer.

What is an eCommerce Website Builder?

Simply put, an eCommerce website builder is a software tool that lets you create an online store to easily sell products or services online.sh

Having an online store allows you to show off all your products and quickly accept payments directly from your customers. Using an eCommerce platform is essentially an alternative to selling your products on third-party sites like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Fiverr, and so on.

What's the Benefit of Using eCommerce Website Builders (for Bloggers)?

Bloggers are often looking for ways to increase their blog’s revenue. Many bloggers rely on affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and blog advertisements to make money.

Another way bloggers make money is through selling products and services in an online store. Some bloggers create their own handmade products, or sell digital items, courses, consulting, or other services in fields related to their blog (that are relevant to their readers).

Using an eCommerce platform allows you to sell things straight from your own website (safely and securely). The benefits include:

Diversification of Income

One major benefit of selling products and services online is diversification. While I strongly recommend using affiliate programs for blogging revenue, a mix of income sources can keep a blog’s income strong. This is especially true when one area of income is weak for a time. Even if your affiliate sales are low, your sales may be flourishing.

No Commission Fees

Another major benefit of creating an eCommerce website is that you get to keep (almost) all of your income.

Fees may apply through your payment options (e.g. PayPal charges 2.9% + .30 cents for selling online) but you won’t have to pay commission fees to third party sites.

Complete Control Over Your Online Store

Having your own eCommerce store also gives you the opportunity to display things exactly as you want. You have complete control over the design of your eCommerce store. You can choose colors, fonts, layouts, styles, and more.

Drag-and-drop page builder tools like Shogun can further help you build and optimize your online store without writing a single line of code.

Keep in mind, your income will depend, to a large degree, on your blog marketing. As with any online side hustle, you need traffic in order to make money from your online store.

What Can You Sell on an eCommerce Website? (40+ Examples)

If you’re not sure what to sell from your blog’s online store, try some of these ideas:

  • Digital goods: courses, eBooks, photos, tutorials/guides, apps, software, music, recipes, coloring pages, templates, and more.
  • Niche products: target a very specific product ideas and audience group, like “gifts for gamers” or “accessories for book lovers”.
  • Wholesale or B2B products: office supplies, computers and tech, building materials, kids’ toys, pet supplies, camping equipment, and pretty much anything you can sell in bulk.
  • Handmade goods: tech accessories, photo prints, art prints, candles, soaps, jewelry, knitted, sewn, or crocheted items … or anything you can make to a high standard.
  • Branded goods with your website name, logo, and/or slogan on: t-shirts, stickers, hats, water bottles, face masks, key rings, and lots more.
  • Reselling products: food, wine, clothing, books, tools, kitchen products, luxury items … anything you can buy from wholesalers, distributors, or manufacturers, and sell on at a profit.
  • Services: workshops, private coaching, consulting, freelance writing, web design, tech help, project management, virtual assistant services, or anything else you can provide

Once you decide the type of product or service you want to sell, the next step is to choose the best eCommerce builder that can help you reach your goals.

Now, let’s dive in and break down the features of the key eCommerce platforms on the market this year—so you can pick the one that’s right for your business.

1. Shopify

ecommerce website builders - Shopify

Shopify was created in 2004 by three Canadian residents who wanted to start a snowboarding shop online but were unimpressed by the eCommerce functionality available at the time.

One of the three, Tobias Lütke, was a computer programmer and decided to build his own online store platform to suit his needs. Shopify even offers the capability to purchase a domain name through their platform today—try my free domain name generator and get started.

Shopify is now used by over a million brands. It offers many benefits, including an easy-to-use interface, curated themes, various payment methods, built-in security, and more.

Now, let’s examine Shopify’s offerings compared to other online sales platforms.

Price of Shopify’s eCommerce Website Builder

ecommerce website builders - Shopify Pricing

Shopify’s cheapest plan is $32 monthly, and their most expensive plan is $2,300 monthly. They offer a free 3-day trial to see if you like their services (no credit card required).

Features of Shopify

Shopify offers three plans for their eCommerce website builder tool suite. Their cheapest plan, Basic Shopify, includes:

  • eCommerce website and blog
  • Unlimited products
  • 2 staff accounts
  • Sales channels (ability to sell on online marketplaces and social media)
  • Up to 4 locations for product inventory
  • Manual order creation
  • Discount codes
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Gift cards
  • Print shipping labels
  • Fraud analysis
  • Shopify POS Lite

The Advanced Shopify Plan offers the same features plus:

  • 15 staff accounts
  • Up to 8 locations for product inventory
  • Advanced report builder
  • Third-party calculates shipping rates
  • Professional reports

Ease of Use of Shopify

Shopify’s interface is simple and easy to use. The What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) content management system allows you to see real-time changes to your eCommerce website.

There are plenty of tutorials on all aspects of creating and running online stores to help. They also offer 24/7 live support if you have additional questions.

Support for Shopify

Shopify offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and email.

Scalability of Shopify

ecommerce website builders

In terms of scalability, Shopify has quite a few perks. Shopify offers three tiers of growth plans, as well as Shopify Plus, that is specifically geared towards enterprise eCommerce shops.

The eCommerce agency Simplistic has used Shopify Plus to create sites for famous brands like GE, Black and Decker, Fashion Nova, and M&Ms.

A big benefit of Shopify Plus is they take a lot of the work off your shoulders. They take care of a lot of the website management to make your job easier as an entrepreneur.

You don’t have to worry about managing updates, security, or performance for your growing shop or online boutique.

Shopify Security

Shopify ensures all their sites are automatically PCI DSS compliant out of the gate. Their PCI DSS compliance involves:

  • Maintaining a secure network
  • Protecting cardholder data
  • Maintaining a vulnerability management program
  • Implementing strong access control measures
  • Regularly monitoring and testing networks
  • Maintaining an information security policy

Shopify writes, “All Shopify stores using our platform are automatically PCI compliant by default. When you choose Shopify to power your store, you can rest easy knowing that we invested significant time and money to obtain our Level 1 PCI certification and that our certification covers your store, its shopping cart, and web hosting.”

Shopify also provides SSL security and website updates needed to maintain ongoing security.

Payment Gateways With Shopify’s eCommerce Website Builder

Shopify has a payment method called Shopify Payments. You can also choose from many other payment gateways, including:

  • Amazon Pay
  • Checkout.com
  • DigiPay
  • PayPal Express Checkout
  • WorldPay

Regarding the best commerce platforms, Shopify truly is the best. Its usability and speed of getting online and selling make it the best on the market today.

You can read more about Shopify and try a free 3-day trial here. To help grow your eCommerce store, use my free keyword research tool & blog headline generator today.

2. BigCommerce

ecommerce website builders - BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another fantastic option for online sales.

They’re best known for their scalability and wide range of add-on tools. This company began as a solution for small businesses to open online stores, but today, it services both small- and large-scale online businesses.

Price of BigCommerce’s eCommerce Website Builder

ecommerce website builders - BigCommerce Pricing

BigCommerce offers a range of plans starting from $39 a month for their Standard Plan and $399 a month for their Pro Plan, which is very similar to Shopify’s pricing plans.

They also offer an Enterprise plan for high-volume sellers.

BigCommerce also offers a robust, fully-featured free 1-month trial you can learn more about right here.

Features of BigCommerce

BigCommerce’s least expensive Standard Plan offers:

  • No transaction fees
  • Unlimited products, file storage, and bandwidth
  • Unlimited staff accounts
  • Branded online store
  • Ability to connect your store to online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon
  • Point of Sale
  • Integration with Facebook, Instagram, and Google Shopping
  • Responsive website
  • BigCommerce mobile app
  • Single-page checkout
  • Coupons, discounts, and gift cards available
  • Real-time shipping rate quotes for customers
  • Professional reporting tools
  • Blog available to add to your online store
  • Free HTTPS and SSL security
  • Multi-currency
  • Up to 50k in online sales per year

BigCommerce’s Pro Plan offers the same features plus:

  • Customer groups and segmentation (can reward frequent customers)
  • Abandoned cart saver
  • Persistent cart (available across devices while the customer is signed in)
  • Stored credit cards
  • Product filtering
  • Custom SSL
  • Up to $400K in sales per year

Ease of Use of BigCommerce

Some of the extra features BigCommerce offers add to the higher learning curve with this eCommerce builder.

BigCommerce also occasionally uses complex terminology. Not being familiar with these technical terms can result in extra hours spent developing an online store.

To combat the issues new users were experiencing with the platform, BigCommerce released their Page Builder. This browser-based tool allows merchants to “rapidly modify and customize a storefront’s look and feel without writing any code.”

BigCommerce’s Support for Their eCommerce Website Builder

BigCommerce offers 24/7 support to customers. It also has a knowledge base center and a community forum where customers can ask questions.

Scalability for BigCommerce

Scalability is one of the areas where BigCommerce truly shines.

Unlike many other eCommerce website builders, BigCommerce doesn’t rely on third-party apps for growth.

It offers more built-in features than many competitors and gives plenty of room to grow through its powerful tools.

Security for BigCommerce

BigCommerce is ISO/IEC 270001:2013 and PCI DSS 3.2, Level 1 certified. BigCommerce stores are also protected by firewalls, file integrity scanners and intrusion detection.

For additional security help, BigCommerce released a comprehensive guide for best practices for eCommerce security.

Payment Gateways with BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a large list of payment gateways. Some of the more recognizable ones on the list are:

At the end of the day, BigCommerce is a great option for your online store for a good reason—you’ll be able to create a beautifully designed online shopping experience for your customers that also functions well for you, the manager.

Give BigCommerce a try with their 15-day-long free trial right here.

3. Hostinger (previously Zyro)

ecommerce website builders - Hostinger (previously Zyro)

Hostinger is a fantastic up-and-coming eCommerce platform founded in 2019. It uses AI (artificial intelligence) tools, including AI Writer and AI Heatmap, to help website owners create their sites.

The AI Writer tool has been used to create Shakespearean sonnets and even song lyrics in the style of famous musicians — though you’re more likely to use it to help write your website copy.

If you’re interested in freelance writing, you might even use it to help create draft content, such as blog posts.

Over 100,000 websites have been published on Hostinger … which could also make a great home for your eCommerce site. It’s especially well-designed for beginners.

With Hostinger, you also get a logo maker and photo repository to get your site looking great with this eCommerce website builder tool. The drag-and-drop interface is easy to use.

Price of Hostinger

ecommerce website builders - Hostinger (previously Zyro) Pricing

Hostinger’s eCommerce platform costs $2.99/month, though the cheapest price requires four years of upfront payment.

You could opt for the one-year plan, which is $3.19/month (paid upfront), or you could pay for your website monthly at $11.99/month.

ecommerce website builders - Hostinger (previously Zyro) Long-term Pricing

With Hostinger, the renewal price of your chosen plan can range from $7.99 to $11.99 per month, depending on the initial plan you selected. This helps you keep the costs of starting a blog under control.

There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide Hostinger isn’t working well.

Features of Hostinger’s eCommerce Website Builder

Hostinger offers two different eCommerce plans. The cheaper one is eCommerce, which includes:

  • An eCommerce website plus a blog
  • Up to 100 products
  • Online payments (multiple payment options)
  • Shipping and tax management
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited storage
  • A free domain name (or connect your existing domain)
  • Free email for 3 months
  • An SSL certificate
  • Automatic search engine optimization
  • Responsive designer templates
  • A suite of AI tools for branding (name, logo, and slogan)
  • Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp live chat to interact with your customers

The more expensive plan is eCommerce Plus, which gives you all the above plus:

  • Up to 2,500 products (instead of 100)
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Product filters
  • Facebook and Instagram stores
  • Your products on Amazon

Ease of Use for Hostinger

Hostinger is straightforward, even if you’re completely new to building websites. You start by selecting a site template and creating an account.

Once you start building, Hostinger will walk you through the most important parts of your website.

You customize your site using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and a grid system, where the elements you want effortlessly snap into place on the grid.

The fully responsive templates will look great for desktop, mobile, and tablet users.

The drawback is that you can’t switch templates: if you create your site and then want to change the design, you’ll need to start from scratch and transfer your content over.

Support for Hostinger

The Hostinger customer support team is available 24/7 via live chat. If you prefer, you can contact them by email. The online help center has a good range of online documentation if you want to learn more independently.

Scalability for Hostinger

You can upgrade your Hostinger subscription by contacting the customer support team. You’ll only need to pay the difference between your current plan and the upgraded one.

This means you could easily start with the eCommerce plan and then upgrade to eCommerce Plus once your store grows large enough to need more than 100 products or once you want extra features.

Security for Hostinger

All Hostinger’s plans include an SSL certificate, meaning users will have a secure connection with your site.

Plus, Hostinger’s eCommerce tools are PCI DSS compliant, meaning your site will meet the highest standards for online financial transaction security.

Payment Gateways with Hostinger

When it comes to payment gateways that function with their eCommerce website building tools, Hostinger offers plenty of options. You can accept payments through dozens of different gateways, including big popular options like:

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Authorize.Net
  • WorldPay

4. Wix eCommerce Website Builder

ecommerce website builders - Wix Website Builder

Wix is widely known for being a very easy-to-use website builder and is often used by people brand new to making websites. They’re a great platform to use for building your online store

One of Wix’s main appeals is its WYSIWYG drag-and-drop editor, which allows users to see changes in real time.

Wix takes a lot of guesswork from creating an eCommerce website and can be a good option, especially for beginners looking to make their first online sales.

Price of Wix’s eCommerce Website Builder

Wix provides everything in their system. You won’t have to pay additional fees for security or hosting, and you get a free domain name for the first year.

Here’s a look at Wix’s pricing plans:

ecommerce website builders - Wix Website Builder Pricing

Wix eCommerce prices range from $17 to $159 a month. They also offer an Enterprise plan for users who need more.

Features of Wix eCommerce

The cheapest plan, known as the Business Basic plan, comes with:

  • Secure online payments
  • Plans & recurring payments
  • Customer accounts
  • Free domain name for 1 year
  • Remove Wix ads
  • Unlimited products
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Ability to sell on social channels like Facebook or Instagram
  • 20GB storage space
  • 5 hours video

The $159 Business Elite plan includes all the same features plus:

  • 50 GB storage
  • Unlimited video hours
  • Priority customer care
  • Subscriptions
  • Multiple currencies
  • Automated sales tax on 500 transactions/month
  • Advanced shipping options like printing labels and connecting shipping apps
  • Sell on marketplaces
  • 3,000 product reviews by KudoBuzz
  • Loyalty program by Smile.io to reward returning customers

Wix also offers a Wix App Market that gives you additional options (some free and some premium) to make your eCommerce website more advanced.

ecommerce website builders - Wix Website Builder App Market

Ease of Use for Wix eCommerce

One of the biggest advantages of Wix as an eCommerce website builder is how easy it is to use. The Wix platform is powerful enough to offer many options but simple enough for new users to understand.

You can try out the Wix website builder completely free. However, you can’t create a free eCommerce site: you need to upgrade to a paid plan to use the eCommerce function.

Wix eCommerce Website Builder Support

ecommerce website builders

Wix offers 24/7 customer support and a knowledge base center that answers many common questions.

Scalability for Wix eCommerce

Wix is a good beginner eCommerce platform that also offers some scalability. Though Wix has an enterprise plan, this eCommerce site builder best suits smaller online businesses.

One drawback with Wix is that it’s very difficult to make future changes once you’ve settled on a template. Switching templates means starting over, as your data will not be automatically transferred.

Some people report that to scale your Wix eCommerce store, you must rely heavily on third-party apps. Wix lacks some of the more advanced eCommerce features you’d be looking for in a larger online store.

Security for Wix eCommerce

Wix uses HTTPS/TLS encryption during each checkout process through your site. In addition, they only work with payment gateways that are level 1 PCI-DSS compliant.

Payment Gateways with Wix eCommerce

Wix offers four main payment providers in the US:

  • Wix Payments
  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Square

Wix eCommerce is probably your best bet if you’re looking for the easiest eCommerce platform platform.

While you may sacrifice some features compared to Shopify or BigCommerce, Wix eCommerce is a little more budget-friendly, extremely easy to learn, and lets you get your online store up and running quickly.

Check Wix out and see for yourself right here.

5. Squarespace eCommerce

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Squarespace

Stunning, elegant, and sophisticated are some of the terms used to describe Squarespace’s look and feel.

For online businesses that have rich photography and want a clean look to their shop, Squarespace delivers on design.

As an eCommerce site builder, let’s see what Squarespace offers and how it compares to other online stores.

Price of the Squarespace eCommerce Website Builder

Squarespace offers three plans that include an eCommerce option, as well as Squarespace Select, a customized eCommerce plan for larger stores.

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Squarespace Pricing

Squarespace Business Plan is $36 a month (when paid annually), and the Commerce Plan is $40 a month (when paid annually).

Features of Squarespace eCommerce:

Squarespace’s Business Plan offers:

  • Free domain name for 1 year
  • SSL Security
  • Unlimited bandwidth and storage
  • SEO features
  • Range of templates
  • Unlimited contributors
  • Basic website metrics
  • Squarespace extensions
  • Premium integration and Blocks
  • CSS and Javascript capability
  • Advanced analytics
  • Professional email from Google
  • Promotional pop-ups and banners
  • Fully integrated eCommerce
  • 3% transaction fees
  • Unlimited products
  • Accept donations
  • Gift cards

The Commerce Plan provides the same features, as well as:

  • 0% Transaction fee
  • Point of Sale
  • Customer accounts
  • Checkout on your domain
  • Powerful eCommerce analytics
  • Merchandising tools
  • Products on Amazon
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Sell subscriptions
  • Automatically calculate shipping costs
  • Offer discounts
  • Commerce APIs
  • Limited availability labels

Ease of Use of Squarespace eCommerce

Squarespace has an easy-to-use interface with all of their tools—and the eCommerce website builder side of things is no exception. When you work in the Squarespace editor, you see everything happening in real time, but it’s not a drag-and-drop editor.

However, Squarespace is a straightforward editor with a relatively low learning curve.

For more complicated changes, Squarespace does have a CSS module for users familiar with code.

Support for Squarespace eCommerce

Squarespace has a knowledge base, videos, tutorials, and webinars to help users in need.

Squarespace offers live chat support on weekdays but not phone support. However, they do offer 24/7 online support through email and Twitter.

Scalability for Squarespace eCommerce

You can easily change your Squarespace template to take your store in a new direction. Another benefit of Squarespace is that even its lowest plan offers unlimited storage and bandwidth.

Squarespace is best suited for small businesses or people just beginning in the eCommerce space, especially those with limited tech knowledge.

Templates and features can be somewhat restrictive with Squarespace and don’t lend themselves well to an eCommerce store that’s fulfilling many orders.

Competitors like Shopify or BigCommerce have better features for bigger online stores.

Squarespace Select offers more support and features for larger businesses that need more out of their eCommerce website building tool.

Security for Squarespace eCommerce

Squarespace is PCI-DSS compliant and offers SSL security to all of its customers.

Squarespace uses DDoS protection and built-in security to ward off malware.

Payment Gateways With Squarespace eCommerce

At this time, Squarespace payment gateways are limited to:

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Square

6. WooCommerce + WordPress

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce website builder for WordPress (it’s built by the makers of WordPress).

It’s free to install, but you’ll have to purchase a domain name and a hosting plan in order to take your WordPress website and online store live.

By sheer numbers, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce builder — it currently has over 7 million active installations — largely because it’s so budget-friendly, works seamlessly with WordPress, and is extremely flexible as a platform. You’ll be right at home starting an eCommerce store powered by WooCommerce.

Price for WooCommerce

A WooCommerce plugin can easily be added to your WordPress website for free.

However, you’re likely going to (eventually) pay for additional upgrades like an eCommerce-friendly WordPress theme to power your product-focused blog, or get additional plugins and extensions that’ll expand the usefulness of your WooCommerce shop.

Features of WooCommerce as an eCommerce Website Tool

WooCommerce has many features, but some of the most notable are:

  • Easy start-up with a New Store Owner’s Guide
  • Automated tax calculation
  • Live shipping rates
  • Options to print labels at home
  • Mobile app for iOS and Android
  • Product variations
  • Subscription options
  • Unrestricted customization
Best Ecommerce Website Builders - WooCommerce Extension Store

The Extensions Store provides free and premium features that can help you expand the usefulness of your online store.

Ease of Use for WooCommerce

A common criticism of WooCommerce is the amount of work required of the user. Unlike with all-in-one eCommerce builders, you’re responsible for managing many aspects of your business.

These added jobs include managing security, updates, and backups. However, there are plugins you can purchase to make this job much easier.

Even though you have greater responsibility with WooCommerce, it also means greater freedom. This platform allows you to customize your store exactly how you want without restriction.

You may also find that WooCommerce has a greater learning curve than many other eCommerce site builders on this list.

WooCommerce Support

Unlike Wix or Shopify, WooCommerce is a free open-source platform. Therefore, they don’t offer the same 24/7 support you might receive from a paid company.

However, this doesn’t mean you’re without any resources. WooCommerce offers tutorials, guides, and a support forum where you can ask questions.

Scalability of WooCommerce

According to WooCommerce, you can list as many products as you want and handle transactions rapidly.

However, to power a large business through WooCommerce, you’re likely looking to hire a team of developers and work closely with a great hosting company that can handle a high volume of customers — all challenges that can be relatively easily dealt with if your business is growing this much.

Scalability is well within reach, but it’ll require much more coordination than some of the other eCommerce website builders offering their services in a single package.

WooCommerce Security

As with other aspects of WooCommerce, some additional work is needed for security.

An SSL certificate is necessary for internet security, whether you sell online or run a simple website. Many hosting companies offer an SSL certificate as part of their package, but it can be purchased separately. From my perspective, all eCommerce website builders should also make sure to have up-to-date SSL certificates. Check out these options for low-cost, cheap SSL certificates available to boost your eCommerce website security.

PCI-DSS compliance is another part of eCommerce security.

PCI-DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and helps ensure consistent data security worldwide. WooCommerce released a guide to help you stay compliant with PCI-DSS standards.

WooCommerce also offers tips to help keep your WooCommerce store as secure as possible.

Payment Gateways with WooCommerce

WooCommerce uses extensions that give you access to over a hundred payment gateways.

Some of the more recognizable payment options are:

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Square
  • Amazon Pay
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay

7. Shift4Shop

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Shift4Shop

While Shift4Shop (previously 3dcart) isn’t necessarily among the most recognizable eCommerce website builders on this list, it has earned its reputation in the space by creating a powerful product for its customers.

3dcart, the precursor to Shift2Shop, launched in 1997 and now powers over 23,000 eCommerce stores worldwide.

Price of Shift4Shop

ecommerce website builders

Shift4Shop offers a Basic Plan for $29/month. The most expensive plan, the Pro Store Plan, has an introductory price of $229/month.

Alternatively, on their End-to-End plan, you can use Shift4Shop completely free, with unlimited features. The catch is that you must use Shift4Shop’s payment gateway (instead of PayPal, Stripe, or similar).

Features of Shift4Shop’s eCommerce Website Builder

Here are some of the features of the free End-to-End plan:

  • Unlimited staff users
  • Unlimited number of products
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited sales
  • Real-Time shopping
  • Shipping labels
  • Inventory control
  • Advanced production options
  • Single-page checkout
  • Product reviews
  • Abandoned cart saver
  • Reward loyalty program
  • Waiting list / back-in-stock alerts
  • Drop shipping support
  • 24×7 online and phone support
  • Shift4 Payments gateways

The Pro Store Plan features all of the above, plus 100+ payment gateways and up to $1M in online sales.

Ease of Use for Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is packed with features for an eCommerce store, offering some pretty impressive SEO setups.

These features make Shift4Shop seem a great option, but some users find the platform restrictive and difficult to use.

It’s probably not a great choice for a total beginner, though you could certainly try the free plan.

Support for Shift4Shop

Live support is available 24/7 on all plans through different avenues, including phone, live chat, and ticket support. They also offer a knowledge base.

Scalability for Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is best for medium—to large enterprise eCommerce sites. One way their platform scales well is by offering unlimited traffic and sales (with certain plans). They also offer CRM software to help grow your site.

Shift4Shop also offers multiple tiers for extra features and capability, but even the most basic plan has many features right out of the box.

Security for Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is secured with HTTPS, is PCI Certified, has two-factor authentication, and anti-fraud tools to help protect credit cards and personal information.

Payment Gateways With Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop has over 100 payment gateways, including:

  • Square
  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Klarna
  • EVO payments
  • Elavon
  • Authorize.net
  • Persolvent
  • Amazon Pay

Remember that if you’re on the free plan, you’re limited to using Shift4Payments (meaning that Shift4Shop takes a percentage of your income from each transaction).

8. Weebly eCommerce by Square

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Weebly Pricing

Weebly is an easy-to-use website builder better known for its general website or blogging platform. However, Weebly also offers eCommerce website builder solutions.

Weebly was acquired by Square in 2018 and is now using the Square editor specifically for eCommerce.

Price of Weebly eCommerce by Square

Weebly offers a completely free website builder for basic use. However, you need at least the Pro version for an online store.

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Weebly Pricing

Weebly’s Performance plan is $26/month, billed annually.

Features of Weebly eCommerce by Square

The Pro version of Weebly offers:

  • Free domain (or connect your own domain)
  • Free SSL security
  • Unlimited storage
  • Shopping cart
  • Site search
  • Payments through Square and 3rd party providers
  • SEO tools
  • Lead capture

The Performance plan has the same features plus:

  • Advanced site stats
  • Item badges
  • Item options
  • Inventory management
  • Automatic tax calculator
  • Coupon codes
  • Square gift cards
  • Item reviews
  • Shipping calculator
  • Shipping labels
  • Abandoned cart emails
  • Advanced eCommerce

Ease of Use for Weebly eCommerce by Square

In some ways, the Square editor is simpler and easier to use than the traditional Weebly editor. On the other hand, it’s less customizable and offers fewer options.

The Square editor only allows you to work in pre-designed sections. There’s limited scope for customization, making it harder to create a unique storefront.

If you want to give your customers a simple, familiar experience, the Square approach might be just right for you.

Support for Weebly eCommerce by Square

All the Weebly eCommerce plans include phone, chat, and email support, plus a community forum.

Scalability for Weebly eCommerce by Square

Weebly’s eCommerce website builder can be a good option for small online stores, but it isn’t built to power large businesses.

It offers some nice features, like unlimited items, inventory management, and item reviews, but overall, it isn’t designed to scale to meet the needs of a large enterprise.

Security for Weebly eCommerce by Square

Weebly offers free SSL security on all its plans. Like other online store platforms, it’s PCI DSS compliant.

Payment Gateways with Weebly eCommerce

Weebly eCommerce offers Square payment plus third-party gateways, meaning you can use PayPal and Stripe.

9. Adobe Commerce (previously Magento)

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Adobe Commerce

Adobe acquired Magento in 2018 (for 1.68 billion!). It developed its functionality to become one of the best eCommerce website builders. It is powered by a combination of Magento and Adobe’s extensive suite of tools.

Adobe Commerce, which is built on Magento, offers advanced features and integrations that make it worth exploring.

In particular, Adobe Commerce provides a highly customizable and scalable platform with extensive support for B2B and B2C commerce, advanced marketing tools, and seamless integration with Adobe Experience Cloud.

Price of Adobe Commerce

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce offers pricing based on annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV). The platform provides two main packages: Adobe Commerce Pro and Managed Services.

Adobe Commerce Pro is an all-in-one package designed for merchants of any size or business model. It offers core application support, dedicated infrastructure, and extensive customization options. This package includes disaster recovery, image optimization, and performance monitoring tools.

Managed Services provides expert-level managed services to decrease risk and minimize disruptions. This package includes infrastructure support, technical account management, high availability architecture, and 99.9% SLA at the infrastructure and application levels.

You must contact them for customized pricing and discuss how their platform can support multi-channel commerce experiences for your B2B and B2C customers.

Features for Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce’s Pro Plan gives you:

  • 50 GB of testing
  • Image optimization
  • CDN
  • Deployment and performance monitoring tools
  • DDoS protection
  • Automated data protection
  • Secure and dedicated cloud infrastructure

Adobe Commerce’s Managed Services Plan offers the same plus:

  • Go-live process coaching
  • Custom site monitoring
  • 30-minute SLT for P1
  • Application level 99.99% SLA
  • Dedicated escalation management

Ease of Use for Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce is designed with user-friendliness, offering an intuitive interface that simplifies how you manage your eCommerce operations.

Its features and seamless integrations allow easy customization of online stores without any technical knowledge. Additionally, Adobe Commerce provides comprehensive support and resources.

Support for Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce offers support through a help center, community forum, and detailed guides and resources.

The support portal offers personalized support, where users can submit tickets for more specific issues. The help center provides comprehensive assistance, including access to best practices, troubleshooting solutions, and extensive support documentation.

You can explore their resources on their support page.

Scalability for Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce offers several tiers to help you grow your business. You can also change your theme settings at any time to update the look of your eCommerce store.

Adobe Commerce works best for small eCommerce businesses that don’t need much customization or advanced features.

Security for Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce ensures robust security for your eCommerce site. All plans include SSL security and adhere to PCI-DSS compliance standards. Adobe provides multiple security features, including two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA, and a free Security Scan service to monitor for risks and malware.

Additionally, Adobe Commerce offers comprehensive support for infrastructure security, incident management, and automated data backups. Their security page provides more information about their security efforts and best practices.

Payment Gateways With Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce supports various payment gateways, offering flexibility and security for online transactions.

The platform includes built-in support for popular payment methods and allows extensive customization through its payment gateway integrations. This ensures that you can choose the best payment solutions for your business needs, whether you require support for credit cards, digital wallets, or alternative payment methods.

Adobe Commerce also provides detailed documentation and resources to assist developers in integrating and managing payment gateways effectively.

10. Big Cartel

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Big Cartel

Big Cartel is an eCommerce website builder aimed specifically at creative business owners. The founder of Big Cartel, Matt Wigham, launched the platform in 2005 when he was looking for a way to sell band merchandise.

Big Cartel is best suited for small independent businesses that want to start selling their art, photography, and other creative endeavors.

Price of Big Cartel

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Big Cartel Pricing

Big Cartel’s free Gold Plan lets you sell up to 5 products. Their most expensive plan, The Diamond Plan, is $30 a month.

Features of Big Cartel’s eCommerce Website Builder

Big Cartel’s free Gold Plan comes with the following:

  • 5 product listings
  • One image per product
  • Free customizable themes
  • Sell in person or online
  • Real-time stats
  • Option to use a custom domain
  • Discounts or promos available
  • Shipment tracking
  • Product option groups
  • Sales tax autopilot

The Diamond Plan has the same features plus:

  • 500 products
  • Five images per product
  • Theme code editing
  • Google Analytics
  • Inventory tracking
  • Bulk editing

Ease of Use for Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a very simple and easy-to-use platform. Its setup wizard guides you through the initial steps of setting up a store.

Like Adobe Commerce, part of the simplicity is due to a lack of features and customization.

There are a fairly limited number of options, and without understanding coding, you won’t be able to create a unique shopping experience.

Support for Big Cartel

Big Cartel offers email support from 8 AM to 6 PM EST Monday through Friday. No chat or phone support is available.

Scalability for Big Cartel

Big Cartel is not a good option for large businesses but it can be a good choice for small independent creatives. The only difference between the two paid plans is how many products you can have in your eCommerce store.

For a larger shop, Shopify or BigCommerce would be a better avenue, but with Big Cartel’s free plan, you can create your online store and try selling online.

Security for Big Cartel

One important thing to know about Big Cartel is that it isn’t PCI compliant, which means the shop owner is responsible for compliance.

Big Cartel offers SSL security for URL addresses and custom domains at every checkout. They note that they don’t secure assets on your site that you may have added through coding. These assets may include custom images, Javascript, or CSS.

Payment Gateways with Big Cartel

Big Cartel offers two payment options:

  • PayPal
  • Stripe

With Stripe enabled, customers can also use Apple Pay to check out. With PayPal enabled, customers can pay with Venmo.

That’s one of the more unique features of Big Cartel and solidifies its place on our list of eCommerce site builders, especially for indie creators.

11. PrestaShop

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - PrestaShop

PrestaShop provides a powerful and customizable eCommerce solution that adapts to businesses of all sizes.

With PrestaShop, you can create and personalize your online store, utilizing features like automated ads on Google and social media, marketing automation, comprehensive analytics, and a unified payment solution with PrestaShop Checkout.

The platform offers a Classic version for a self-hosted setup and a Hosted version with integrated hosting and support. PrestaShop is compatible with popular CMS platforms like WordPress and Joomla, making it a flexible choice for growing your eCommerce business.

Price for PrestaShop

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - PrestaShop Pricing

PrestaShop is a free eCommerce website builder tool, but it also offers paid plans with more features. The most expensive is $24/month (without VAT).

Features for PrestaShop

With the PrestaShop Free Account, you get:

  • Free download
  • Customizable classic theme
  • All-in-one payment solution (PrestaShop Checkout built with PayPal)
  • Automated ads on Google, Facebook, and Instagram
  • Marketing automation (PrestaShop Automation with Klaviyo)
  • Shipping service (eShip for PrestaShop)
  • Comprehensive analytics tools (PrestaShop Metrics)

The PrestaShop Hosted offer includes all Classic features plus:

  • Powerful hosting with Gandi (50 GB)
  • Installation of your online store
  • Automatic VAT calculation
  • GDPR compliance and cookie management
  • Support 6 days a week
  • Guided tour in the back office

For custom projects, PrestaShop offers tailored solutions with additional features and personalized support.

Ease of Use for PrestaShop

PrestaShop is user-friendly and designed to facilitate easy store management. The platform offers an intuitive control panel and a setup wizard to help users get started quickly.

With PrestaShop Academy, users can access on-demand training and video tutorials to enhance their skills and maximize the potential of their eCommerce store. This ensures a low learning curve, enabling both beginners and experienced users to build and manage their online shops efficiently.

Support for PrestaShop

PrestaShop provides comprehensive support options to help you manage your eCommerce store efficiently. They offer various support plans tailored to your needs, including technical support, migration and updates, SEO enhancement, performance optimization, and security audits.

Users can contact PrestaShop’s support team via chat, email, or phone, with assistance available Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Additionally, PrestaShop provides a help center, community forum, and the PrestaShop Academy for further learning and support.

Scalability with PrestaShop

PrestaShop is designed to handle the scalability needs of growing businesses. The platform supports high availability configurations, including clustering and load balancing, to ensure optimal performance during traffic spikes.

With robust infrastructure capabilities, PrestaShop can manage large-scale operations, making it suitable for businesses with high visitor and order volumes.

Security for PrestaShop

PrestaShop prioritizes security to protect your eCommerce store.

The Friends-Of-Presta association regularly publishes security advisories and has identified vulnerabilities in numerous modules. PrestaShop provides access to this information and works with module creators to address any issues.

Users can subscribe to security updates and utilize community resources to stay informed about potential risks. This proactive approach ensures that PrestaShop remains a secure and reliable platform for online businesses.

Payment Gateways with PrestaShop

PrestaShop offers a long list of payment gateways available through its platform. Some notable names include:

  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Authorize.net

PrestaShop’s Addons Marketplace features numerous modules to expand your payment options, catering to different business needs and customer

12. Volusion

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Volusion

Volusion is a cloud-based platform founded in 1999 by website designer Kevin Sproles. His vision was to offer shopping cart software that would make selling online easier for merchants.

While Volusion has two versions available, the second version, VOLT, is the most modern and popular choice.

One thing to know about Volusion is that they don’t offer a blogging feature, and it is difficult to add extra content through this eCommerce website builder platform.

Volusion seems to be listening to its customers, however, and adding features they previously lacked. For instance, users can now sell digital products.

Price for Volusion

Best Ecommerce Website Builders - Volusion Pricing

Volusion’s least expensive option, the Personal Plan, is $35/ month, while its most expensive plan, the Business Plan, is $299/month.

Volusion offers a 14-day risk-free trial (no credit card required).

Features for Volusion

Volusion’s Personal Plan offers:

  • Up to 50K Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) per year
  • Unlimited products and storage
  • No transaction fees
  • Online support
  • Easy to manage inventory
  • Social media integrations

Volusion’s Business Plan also offers:

  • Up to 500K in GMV
  • Unlimited products
  • Ratings and reviews
  • Newsletters
  • Premium support
  • Abandoned cart reports
  • 3rd party gateways
  • Fulfillment centers
  • Phone orders + CRM
  • 3rd party processors
  • Unlimited staff accounts

Ease of Use for Volusion

The setup and operation of Volusion are fairly simple for those who want to do very basic things with this platform.

Once you start adding more advanced features, Volusion becomes much more difficult to use. Many users report that the platform isn’t intuitive, and you sometimes have to navigate through several pages to act.

Support for Volusion

Volusion’s support is relative to what plan you’ve chosen. With the Personal Plan, you’ll have access to online support. With the other plans, they offer 24/7 phone support, and the Business Plan grants you VIP support.

Scalability with Volusion

Volusion doesn’t offer as many features as some competitors like Shopify or BigCommerce, but there is room to grow with this platform. Those who have a good understanding of coding can also do more with Volusion.

Security for Volusion

Volusion uses several methods to ensure security for its merchants and merchant customers.

You need to purchase an SSL certificate through Volusion or pay to have your existing certificate transferred, before you can sell anything.

They also use encryption for personal data, web application firewall (WAF), and intrusion prevention system (IPS).

Payments are made securely through redirection or iFrame. Volusion ensures that “…shopper data (including credit card data) is sent using military-grade encryption.”

For added protection, Volusion tests their security through team members and independent “white-hat hackers.”

Payment Gateways With Volusion

Volusion offers a shortlist of payment gateways including:

  • Volusion Payments
  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Apple Pay

Are You Ready to Choose Your eCommerce Website Builder?

ecommerce website builders

We’ve covered a lot of ground here — we discussed why you should open an eCommerce business and then took an in-depth look at which platforms are the best eCommerce website builders (depending upon your goals).

It’s a lot to consume, but it’s also exciting.

Now is one of the best times in history to jump on the eCommerce train, as more and more people turn to online shopping.

And if you’re considering throwing your hat into this arena, it can pay massive dividends to find yourself an eCommerce coach that’s able to guide you along the way.

With relatively little investment in the right eCommerce website builders, you can start the business that’s always been in the back of your mind.

Whether you want to start a blog and sell a few products a month, or build your business into a large operation, the internet is ripe with opportunity.

Now, what did I miss? Which eCommerce website builders have you experimented with? Is there one you’ve used that I should add to my list?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger. Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer. They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Next Web, Business Insider, and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).

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27 replies to “12 Best eCommerce Website Builders (to Sell Products Online) in 2024 + Real Examples”

  1. I liked reading your article. I like the way you have explained everything. this post is really helpful and informative. thanks for sharing. keep sharing!

    Reply
  2. That’s a very exhaustive list, Ryan. Just like every other article of yours. Bookmarked this so I can come back and read more.

    Side question, how long does it take for you write an article this long?Always been curious. 🙂

    Reply
    • Nice! Glad to hear that, thanks Vivek.

      Average time for an article like this (let’s say ~10-12k words) is usually around a week or so, factoring in time to editing, sourcing images, creating graphics, formatting, etc. I’m usually somewhere around an hour per 1,000 words of content during the first half of the day when I spend my time writing… when I’m drinking my coffee 😂

      Reply
  3. Hi Ryan,

    Great content as always. I personally like Shopify as I am using it in one of my dropshipping store. Easy to work with and can be customized easily according to needs.

    Reply
    • Awesome, thanks for the kind words! That’s great to hear, I’m also a huge fan of Shopify. If I were to start an eCommerce business from scratch today, that’s definitely the platform I’d be using… such easy customization and the checkout process with Shop Pay is probably my favorite right now (second to Apple pay).

      Reply
  4. Great roundup here, Ryan! One of my quarantine activities was to get e-commerce shops setup for both my blog and band and I’ve found Shopify has been the easiest for someone with minimal design and coding skills. Shopify integrates really nicely with WordPress and Squarespace. I haven’t heard of a few of these, though, so they’ll be good to check out, too!

    Reply
    • That’s a super smart utilization of time these days, nice! I’m starting to get the itch to work on a side project in the eCommerce space, largely because of how many great tools there are now compared to when I was more active in eComm about 10 years ago. Good luck with your sales!

      Reply
  5. Great article Ryan lots of very interesting helpful information thanks for the update.

    Reply
  6. Currently, I’m in search of an eCommerce website builder for my business, and that’s actually what got me here. Thanks a lot for the details you have here. I’ll check back for more soon.

    Reply
  7. Great one!!! We are very happy to have access to your website. We have got to learn a lot by reading your articles.

    Reply
  8. Hey Ryan! Thanks for making this blog. Shopify Vs Amazon, being a beginner I was very confused between choosing Shopify or Amazon to sell my products. But I think I have made my choice after reading your blog.

    Reply
  9. Having the right ecommerce website platform will help you create the online marketplace you need to take your business to the next level. Shopify may be the most common name in the space, but thank you for sharing alternatives as well.

    Reply