If you want to start selling products online, you will need to have an ecommerce platform.
What are ecommerce platforms?
Ecommerce platforms are software that allows you to create and manage your online store. You will use these platforms for everything from listing products, taking payments, managing orders, and much more.
With the rising popularity of ecommerce, there are tons of different ecommerce platforms available for you to choose from. You can find solutions of all shapes and sizes and with a wide variety of features.
Whether you’re just starting your ecommerce business or are looking to migrate to a new platform, this guide will provide the details you need to make your choice with confidence.
What is the Best Ecommerce Platform?
1. Shopify
Shopify is the fastest growing ecommerce platform and currently powers 21% of all online stores.
It is an attractive option for a wide variety of store owners as it offers one of the easiest to use platforms for getting your business up and running quickly.
Shopify provides a robust inventory and order management system allowing you to seamlessly create product listings and keep track of the status of your orders.
There are direct partnerships with a number of shipping carriers including DHL, UPS, and USPS and taxes are automatically applied to orders based on location
There are hundreds of themes available for you to design your online store. 11 of the themes are free and the rest are premium with prices ranging between $120 and $180. All Shopify themes are responsive and mobile-friendly, ensuring a high level of performance on all devices.
Shopify has one of the best app stores of any ecommerce platforms featuring thousands of apps you can use to enhance your ecommerce stores for everything from boosting SEO, increasing conversions, marketing to customers, and more.
Shopify offers the following plans:
- Shopify Lite: $9 per month
- Basic Shopify: $29 per month
- Shopify: $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify: $299 per month
- Shopify Plus : Custom enterprise pricing, usually starts at $2,000 per month
Be aware that Shopify Lite is not a full-scale ecommerce plan and only allows you to add “Buy Buttons” to existing sites or sell through your Facebook profile.
One downside to Shopify is that the platform charges added transaction fees on every order not placed using their native payment gateway Shopify Payments.
Pros
- Easy to use interface for managing your store and getting up and running quickly
- Super fast load times
- Great 24/7 customer support
- Massive app store with thousands of apps available
- Great support for dropshipping and print-on-demand stores
- Seamless integrations with third-party platforms like Facebook and Instagram
- Built-in abandoned cart recovery
- Support for over 100 payment gateways
- Plenty of built-in promotional tools to boost conversions
Cons
- Added transaction fees when not using Shopify Payments
- Less intuitive page editing interface
- Cost of apps can add up
- Rigid URL structure
You can get started with Shopify with a 14-day free trial.
2. BigCommerce
Founded in 2009, BigCommerce is a hosted e-commerce solution offering sellers a great balance of ease of use and great functionality.
BigCommerce is similar to Shopify and offers even more features out of the box with their base plans.
There is an easy to use dashboard to manage all the important aspects of your store and the platform seamlessly integrates with third-party platforms and marketplaces like Amazon, Google, and Facebook.
You can easily track your inventory, orders, and view detailed analytics of your store’s performance.
The platform features a powerful product search engine, making it an ideal choice for larger stores with an extensive product catalog.
BigCommerce has stronger SEO capabilities than Shopify as you have complete control over your URL structure and are able to optimize them for search engines. You also have easy access to the robots.txt file to better control how search engines index your site.
Here are the prices for BigCommerce’s base plans.
- Standard: $29.95 per month
- Plus: $79.95 per month
- Pro: $249.95 per month
While BigCommerce doesn’t charge added transaction fees for any other of their plans, they do however have limits on the amount of sales you are able to process with each plan. The limits for each plan are the following:
- Standard: $50,000
- Plus: $150,000
- Pro: $400,000
Overall, these limits are generous relative to the cost of each plan. For example, if you sell over $50,000 of products a year, upgrading from a $29.95/month plan to a $79.95 per month plan isn’t the biggest of deals.
Pros
- The best set of built-in features from any hosted solution
- Strong SEO
- High-level performance (speed, uptime, security)
- Great 24/7 customer support
- Massive app store for enhancing your ecommerce store
- Seamless integration with third-party solutions and marketplaces
- Tons of attractive themes and templates available
Cons
- Transaction limits for each plan
- The extensive amount of features can be overwhelming for new store owners
- Limited blogging functionality
Bigcommerce offers a 15-day free trial to see the platform in action.
3. Wix
Wix was originally designed as a website builder, but it has recently added ecommerce functionality to allow you to list and sell products on your website.
Wix’s strength lies in its ease of use. The platform offers the most beginner-friendly interface for building attractive web pages of any e-commerce solution on the market today.
Wix offers over 500 ecommerce templates you can use to design and build your online storefront with 72 of these templates being free.
Unlike some ecommerce platforms, Wix doesn’t take any additional transaction fees from sales.
Some of the other notable features provided by Wix include:
- Support for multiple payment gateways
- Direct integration for selling on Facebook and Instagram
- Unlimited bandwidth and products
- Sales analytics and reports
- Free domain for a year
- Support for popular dropshipping platforms
Wix offers four different ecommerce plans that will allow you to list products and accept payments:
- Business Basic: $23 per month
- Business Unlimited: $27 per month
- Business VIP: $49 per month
- Enterprise: $500 per month
Each plan comes with unlimited bandwidth and progressively increases your amount of storage for each plan.
Wix Pros
- Extremely easy to use
- Tons of attractive templates and themes
- Great 24/7 customer support
- No added transaction fees
Wix Cons
- Limited ecommerce features compared to Shopify and BigCommerce
- Weak SEO
- Limited promotional tools like upselling and cross-selling
- Inability to change theme after launching your store
You can get started with Wix’s Business Basic plan today for $23/month.
4. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce platform available today, currently powering close to 23% of all online stores. It is a WordPress plugin and as such requires a WordPress site to be able to use.
The platform is open-source bringing with it many advantages as well as some drawbacks.
Because it is open-source, you have complete access to all lines of code to be able to customize every little detail of your store.
WooCommerce also provides the best SEO features of any platform available. You can structure your URLs however you want and you can easily access your robots.txt file to control how search engines treat the site.
There are also plenty of feature-rich SEO plugins available for WordPress that guide you through everything you need to do to boost your website’s SEO, providing actionable advice for every page.
There are thousands of themes available for WooCommerce, with a mix of free and premium options. Many of the themes are full-responsive and mobile-friendly.
The ease at which you can build your web pages will depend on the theme and plugins that you use. WooCommerce doesn’t come with a built-in drag and drop editor, so if you want this functionality you will need to get it from a theme or plugin.
Fortunately, there are several WordPress page builders that offer both a high-level of customization and ease of use, with two of the best being Elementor and Thrive Architect.
Some of the notable features available with WooCommerce include:
- Built-in promotional tools like coupons and discount codes
- Rest API for developers to build and connect their own solutions
- Robust inventory and order management system to list products and process orders
- Support for over 100 third-party payment processors
The WooCommerce plugin in itself is free to use but that doesn’t mean you will be able to run your store with the platform free of charge.
Because it is a self-hosted solution, you will have to pay for your own web hosting. Also, to get the most out of your store, you will need to add a variety of different plugins, some of which are premium and will require a one-time or recurring fee.
WooCommerce Pros
- Very strong SEO
- Offers unlimited customization
- The WooCommerce plugin is free to use
- Great blogging capabilities with WordPress
- Tons of built-in features
- Massive amount of plugins available for extending the functionality of your store
WooCommerce Cons
- Can be difficult to use
- You are responsible for managing web hosting
- No native POS support
- Lack of support options
You can download the WooCommerce plugin and get started for free.
5. Squarespace
Squarespace is another popular website builder that has recently added ecommerce functionality to allow merchants to sell products online. The platform’s main focus is to allow you to create truly beautiful storefronts with ease and it doesn’t disappoint.
Squarespace provides an easy to use drag and drop builder enabling you to create an attractive storefront quickly.
There are hundreds of professionally designed themes, six of which are made specifically for ecommerce. All themes are mobile-friendly and fully responsive.
Here are some of the notable features of the Squarespace ecommerce platform:
- Native support for selling subscriptions and digital products
- A solid amount of ecommerce features for a solution that started as a website builder
- The ability to receive automatic notifications for low stock levels
- Easy to share your products on social media channels like Pinterest, Twitter, and Pinterest
- The ability to add customer surveys and custom messaging to checkout pages
- Unlimited products
One downside to Squarespace is that they don’t have an app store to add other extensions or integrations.
Squarespace provides four different plans:
- Personal: $12 per month
- Business: $18 per month
- Basic Commerce: $26 per month
- Advanced Commerce: $40 per month
If you want to sell products on your store you will need at least the Business plan. Also, if you want to avoid paying added transaction fees, you will need either the Basic or Advanced Commerce plan.
Squarespace Pros
- Extremely attractive templates
- Beginner-friendly
- No transaction fees on ecommerce platforms
- Native support for digital products and subscriptions
- A good amount of ecommerce features
- Solid reports and analytics
Squarespace Cons
- No app store to extend the functionality of your store
- Only two payment gateways available
- 3% transaction fee on their business plan
Squarespace offers a 14-day free trial for you to try it for yourself.
6. Zyro
Zyro is another platform that started as a website builder but has since added ecommerce functionality.
Released in early 2020, Zyro’s store builder is new compared to its competitors but the platform offers all the functionality needed to build a successful ecommerce store.
The drag-and-drop website builder makes it easy to create an attractive online store and customize it for your brand. There is no coding involved and new store owners can have their store up and running in just a few hours.
A useful feature Zyro offers is its AI tool which you can use to auto-generate text for your website in just seconds. This can save you the time of having to write copy for your pages yourself.
Zyro currently offers 68 ecommerce themes you can use to build your storefront. All themes are fully responsive and mobile-friendly helping your site run great on all mobile devices.
Zyro offers two ecommerce plans:
- Ecommerce: $22.99 per month
- Ecommerce Plus: $29.99 per month
Both Zyro ecommerce plans do not charge added transaction fees and come with unlimited bandwidth and storage.
Zyro Pros
- Easy integration for selling on platforms like Amazon, Facebook and Instagram
- Zero transaction fees
- Advanced AI tools
- Support for 70+ payment gateways
Zyro Cons
- Limited apps available
- Less robust ecommerce functionality compared to other platforms
You can get started with Zyro’s Ecommerce plan for $22.99 per month today.
7. 3dcart
Released in 2001, 3dcart has helped over 20,000 businesses build their online web stores including many well-known companies like PCMag.
It is a fast-growing solution and claims to be the best ecommerce platform for SEO on the marketplace.
3dcart offers over 50 free themes for you to design your online store. The platform seamlessly integrates with over 100 payment gateways.
Recent updates to their shipping settings allow you to display all your carriers and rates on your checkout page.
3dcart offers five plans with the following prices.
- Startup Store: $9.50 per month
- Basic Store: $14.50 per month
- Plus Store: $39.50 per month
- Power Store: $64.50 per month
- Pro Store: $114.50 per month
All plans come with unlimited bandwidth, free domain registration, and a built-in blog.
3dcart Pros
- Strong blog compared to other ecommerce
- Great support for 3rd-party integrations
- Zero transaction fees
- Easy to use drag-and-drop builder
- Push products to Google Shopping and Facebook Shop straight from your dashboard
3dcart Cons
- Less beginner-friendly
- Templates are somewhat basic
You can get started with 3dcart with a 15-day free trial today.
8. Volusion
Launched in 2002, Volusion is a well-rounded ecommerce platform. The platform only supports selling physical goods and does not allow you to sell digital products.
It comes with extensive features allowing you to run a high-quality ecommerce store including SEO features and a built-in customer relationship management (CRM).
Volusion has added a new Content Builder which is one of the best among ecommerce platforms in terms of ease of use.
Volusion also offers in-house marketing services to help you reach your target audience and drive potential customers to your store.
Some of the notable features offered by Volusion include:
- Unlimited products and storage
- Native support for subscriptions and recurring payments
- A well-structured dashboard
- Solid support for dropshipping
- Abandoned cart recovery
Volusion offers four plans with the following prices:
- Personal: $26 per month
- Professional: $71 per month
- Startup: $161 per month
- Business: $269 per month
There are a number of features that will be determined by the level of your plan. For example, the base level plan does not come with phone support. Also, shipping rates are determined by your plan with higher-level plans getting better discounts.
There are some drawbacks to Volusion. One of these being a lack of blogging functionality. Another being that many themes and templates, feel a little dated compared to other ecommerce platforms.
Volusion also places limits on the amount of products you are able to sell with some of their plans. For example, the Personal and Professional plans have limits of 100 and 5,000 products respectively.
Volusion Pros
- Very easy to use page builder
- Support for a large number of third-party gateways
- Seamless integrations for platforms like Amazon and eBay.
- Allows customers to create accounts
- Detailed performance analytics
Volusion Cons
- Transaction limits for all plans
- No support for selling digital products
- Transaction limits per plan
- No built-in blog features
- Lacking upselling, cross-selling, and other promotional features
Volusion offers a 14-day free trial for you to see if the platform is right for you.
9. Ecwid
Ecwid is a popular ecommerce solution and is trusted by over 1.6 million small businesses around the world. Getting your store up and running with Ecwid is quick and easy as the platform was awarded the “Fastest E-Commerce Implementation” by G2 Crowd.
To use Ecwid, you need to have an existing website as they do not offer a hosted version. The platform makes this easy, however, as it seamlessly integrates with popular content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
Ecwid focuses heavily on multichannel commerce, making it easy to sell on other platforms including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Instagram. You can even manage your ads for Facebook and Google right from your Ecwid dashboard.
The platform supports integration with over 50 payment gateways including Paypal, Stripe, and Square.
Here are some of the other important features offered by Ecwid:
- Smart shipping calculations
- Support for POS integration
- Automatic inventory update for sales across channels
- Mobile app so you can manage your store on the go
- Live chat functionality via Facebook messenger on the Venture plan
Along with a free plan, Ecwid offers the following pricing options:
- Venture: $15 per month
- Business: $35 per month
- Unlimited: $99 per month
Be aware that all plans except for the Unlimited plan have a limit on the number of products you are able to sell. With the Venture plan, you can sell 100 items a month, while the Business plan allows you to sell 2,500 items per month.
Ecwid Pros
- Free plan available
- Integrates with multiple CMS including WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla
- Integrations with 50+ payment gateways
- Manage Google and Facebook ads directly from your dashboard
- Easy integration with platforms like Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram
- 24/7 customer support
Ecwid Cons
- Only works on an existing website
- No dropshipping support
- Sales limits on most plans
You can get started with Ecwid today for free.
10. Magento
Magento was launched in 2007 and has steadily become a popular choice for online sellers due to its full customization and comprehensive set of features.
The platform was acquired by eBay in 2011 before being purchased again in 2018 by Adobe.
Many large brands including Cisco, Nike, and Proctor & Gamble trust Magento as their e-commerce platform.
There are two versions of Magento available.
- Magento Open Source: This version is free to download and install.
- Magento Commerce: A cloud-based solution designed for enterprise organizations with their own developers.
Magento runs their platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) making it easy to deploy the flexibility sites anywhere your business operates.
There are over 600 themes and templates available for Magento. All are professionally designed and are fully-responsive to enable your store to perform well on any device.
The ability to customize your store at will makes Magento great for SEO. There is also a massive marketplace full of extensions you can use to improve your store even more.
The main drawbacks to Magento are its ease of use and its price. While you may be able to use WooCommerce on your own with a bit of technical skill, you more or less need to have a dedicated team of developers to make the most of Magento.
The price for Magento Commerce is not a viable option for new and solo entrepreneurs as base plans cost tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Magento Pros
- Free version available
- Unlimited customization
- Highly scalable
- Feature-rich with a lot of extensions available
Magento Cons
- Not beginner-friendly
- The paid version is expensive
- Requires developer skills to utilize fully
- Limited customer support
You can get started with a free version of Magento today.
11. ShopBase
ShopBase is another new ecommerce platform having just launched in June 2019. The platform specializes in print on demand, dropshipping, and white-label products.
ShopBase storefronts are fully-customizable and feature responsive, mobile-friendly designs to ensure a reliable performance on all devices.
Each page has its own unique settings and you have the ability to edit every page’s HTML and CSS.
Additionally, you are able to customize every little detail of your checkout page. This is critical for your ecommere conversion rates and is not something that is provided by every platform.
ShopBase seamlessly integrates with all the popular print-on-demand and dropshipping companies, enabling you to get your store up and running quickly.
ShopBase provides other key features including:
- Free SSL certificate with every plan
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Allows for 250 product variations
- Free migration services for store owners looking to switch to ShopBase
One downside to ShopBase is that because it is new, there are limited apps available as developers have yet to create a large number of extensions for the platform.
ShopBase provided three plans with the following prices:
- Basic Base: $19 per month
- Standard Base: $59 per month
- Pro Base: $249 per month
All plans come with added transaction fees for payments processed with third-party gateways. These range from 2%, 1%, and 0.5% based on the level of your plan.
ShopBase Pros
- Great for dropshipping and print on demand
- Beginner-friendly and easy to use
- 24/7 customer support via a variety of methods
- Unlimited products with a sizable number of product variations
- Full customization of all pages including the checkout page.
ShopBase Cons
- Doesn’t support selling your own products
- Limited apps and extensions available
- Transaction fees for each plan
Overall, ShopBase offers a viable platform for building your online store. If you are looking to start a print on demand, dropshipping, or white-label business, ShopBase is a platform you’ll want to consider.
You can get started with ShopBase with a 14-day free trial.
12. Sellfy
Sellfy is a simple yet robust ecommerce platform designed primarily for creatives and bloggers.
The platform was originally built to sell digital products like ebooks, videos, and online courses but has since added the functionality to sell physical products as well.
The platform allows you to integrate your store with your Youtube, Instagram, and SoundCloud accounts by adding embeddable “Buy Now” buttons.
Sellfy comes with a full-suite of marketing features built-in, making it easy to send email campaigns to customers, create upsells and cross-sells, offer discount codes, and more.
Some of the other notable features offered by Sellfy include:
- In-depth analytics to track your store’s performance
- The ability to sell subscriptions and video-on-demand
- Unique download links to limit how much customers can share your content
- Widget for live chat support via Facebook
- Full PCI-DSS compliance
- Multi-lingual support
Sellfy offers three ecommerce plans:
- Starter plan: $19 per month
- Business plan: $39 per month
- Premium plan: $89 per month
Sellfy Pros
Cloud-based build allows you to use the platform from multiple devices Zero transaction fees Multilingual support Plenty of built-in marketing tools 1000s of app integrations with Zapier
Sellfy Cons
- Only supports two payment gateways
- No support for dropshipping
- Less robust solution for selling and delivering physical goods
Get started with Sellfy with a 14-day free trial.
13. nopCommerce
nopCommerce is a free and open-source ecommerce platform that has been helping small businesses and enterprises build their online presence for over 12 years.
There are over 60,000 live shops using the platform along with 150+ partners from over 40 countries.
The platform is built using ASP.NET based on Microsoft technologies.
ASP.NET is an open-source framework used to build web apps with .NET technology. It helps to decrease the amount of code needed when creating complex apps. The advanced caching technology and native optimization features help to improve the performance of large websites.
nopCommerce has a massive marketplace featuring over 1,500 integrations including themes, plugins, and language packs to extend the functionality of your store.
Unlike some of the other platforms on this list, you’ll need a developer with experience in different programming languages to develop an attractive and high-performing ecommerce store.
Some of the key features provided by nopCommerce include:
- Full customization of your storefront
- Integrations with over 50 payment gateways plus the ability to add your own custom gateway
- Seamless integrations with third-party marketplaces like Amazon and eBay
- Solid sales and promotional tools like discount codes and gift cards
- Extensive business reporting and analytics
nopCommerce is free to use but like other open-source platforms, you will need to pay for and set up your own web hosting to build your online store.
nopCommerce Pros
- Completely free to use
- Open source code allowing for unlimited customization
- Support for over 50 payment gateways
- Unlimited products
- Seamless integrations with popular third-party apps
- Great security with full PCI compliance
nopCommerce Cons
- Not beginner-friendly and difficult to use
- More suited for large scale businesses with complex needs
- Need to set up your own web hosting
If you are looking for an open-source solution built on Microsoft, you can get started with nopCommerce today for free.
14. PinnacleCart
PinnacleCart is an all-in-one ecommerce solution designed to optimize the customer experience, improving conversion rates in the process.
The platform is jam-packed with a variety of features that make it easy to get your store up and running quickly.
PinnacleCart provides an extensive set of SEO features that allow you to seamlessly index your site with search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The platform also makes it easy to sync your store with third-party platforms and marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Facebook.
Some of the features you will find with all PinnacleCart plans include:
- Free SSL
- Zero transaction fees
- Unlimited products
- One-page checkout
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Discount codes and other promotional tools
- Advanced business reports
- Real-time shipping quotes
- Quickbooks online integration
PinnacleCart offers three types of plans with the following prices:
- Standard: $79.95 per month
- Advanced: $199.95 per month
- Enterprise: Call for pricing
PinnacleCart also has the option for you to host the software on your own server instead of using their fully-hosted solution. If you want to pursue this option, you will need to contact them for pricing.
PinnacleCart Pros
- Extensive features for building and managing your online store
- Zero transaction fees
- Easy integration to sell on other platforms like Facebook and Amazon
- Great SEO features
- The ability to add a Buy Button when promoting your products outside of your store
- The choice of a hosted or self-hosted version
- Unlimited products
PinnacleCart Cons
- More expensive than similar ecommerce platforms
- Limited storage and bandwidth on the base level plan
You can get started with a free trial of PinnacleCart today.
15. PrestaShop
Launched in 2007, PrestaShop is an open-source and cloud-hosted ecommerce platform.
The platform is free to use and offers some of the best value of any solution on the market.
With the free version, you’ll need to pay for web hosting, security features like an SSL certificate, and other components needed to host your own web store. The software is easy to install and there is 24/7 technical support along with daily backups.
PrestaShop offers a hosted version pre-installed on the IONOS framework. This can help you get up and running quickly and ensures that you have a robust infrastructure to support the ecommerce platform.
There is a huge marketplace to extend the functionality of your store with over 5,000 apps. PrestaShop also provides a large community forum with a great level of customer support available.
PrestaShop Pros
- Open-source and customizable
- Free to use
- Great SEO
PrestaShop Cons
- The cost of apps can add up
- Limited integrations with 3rd-party marketing solutions
- The hosted version has limited multichannel functionality
- Slower load times than other ecommerce solutions
You can download PrestaShop today to start building your ecommerce store.
16. Square Online
Square is a popular POS system that also offers Square Online as an ecommerce solution to help retailers sell products on the web as well.
As you might expect, Square Online integrates very well with its POS software, offering some useful features such as booking appointments, arranging pickups or deliveries, and accept donations.
The platform also provides strong tools to boost SEO and sell on other platforms such as Instagram.
You won’t get the plethora of choices for payment gateways that you’ll find with other platforms as Square focuses on using its own processor. You will be able to use Paypal along with Square but that’s about it.
Square offers a variety of plans, one of them being free. Below are the prices for the paid plans:
- Professional: $12 per month
- Performance: $26 per month
- Premium: $72 per month
The free plan comes with a few limitations, one of them being that you are not able to use your own domain name for your store.
Square Online Pros
- Great integration with Square POS
- Affordable prices
- Built-in marketing features
- Intuitive dashboard for tracking sales and inventory
Square Online Cons
- Free plan doesn’t allow you to use your own domain
- Not the best for stores with a lot of transactions
- Limited customization
- More difficult to learn your way around
You can get started with all Square plans for free.
How To Find the Best Ecommerce Platform For You
Here is what to look for when choosing the right ecommerce platform.
1. Ease of use
All the features in the world won’t do you any good if you are unable to use your platform.
Your ecommerce platform should be intuitive and beginner-friendly, with a short learning curve, especially if you are not technically-savvy or without a dedicated IT team.
If you are a larger company with more resources at hand, you are better positioned to sacrifice ease of use for more features and a higher level of customization.
2. Mobile-friendly
The ecommerce platform you use needs to perform well on mobile devices. Over half of all web traffic comes from smartphones and about 40% of online transactions are done using a mobile device.
Your e-commerce store should feature a responsive, mobile-friendly design to ensure that all your pages load quickly and are sized appropriately on all devices. You also want to be able to simplify the checkout process to help improve conversions.
3. Scalability
Scalability is an important factor to keep in mind when you are growing your business. You’ll need to consider your monthly order volume, expected transaction volume, traffic spikes, and other important metrics to ensure that your ecommerce platform provides the support that you need.
Some ecommerce plans will limit the number of products you can add to your store, the dollar amount from transactions, the number of staff accounts, or even how many orders you can take each month.
4. Extensions, apps, and integrations
Even the most robust ecommerce platforms may not provide all the native features you need to run your online store.
Extensions, apps, and integrations allow you to improve the functionality of your ecommerce store by adding additional features and allowing you to connect to third-party services.
Some ecommerce platforms come with massive app stores while others don’t have an app store or are still populating their catalog.
You’ll want to keep in mind what features you want and what native functionality is offered by different platforms.
5. Payment options
Providing a variety of payment methods can help boost conversions while lowering lost sales. This improves customer experience by giving them multiple options to complete their purchase.
Many ecommerce platforms offer support for hundreds of payment gateways while others only provide support for a few options.
Best Ecommerce Platform FAQ
Is Shopify the best ecommerce platform?
Shopify is not the best ecommerce platform for every type of business but it is the most well-rounded platform and is the best option for a wide range of businesses. If you are looking for a robust set of out-of-box features to easily manage your online store Shopify is the best option.
Platforms like Wix and Squarespace make it easier to design your web pages but don’t offer the same level of ecommerce features as Shopify.
Other platforms like WooCommerce and Magento may allow for a greater level of control and customization but are much more difficult to use.
Shopify’s closest competitor is BigCommerce which offers a similar set of features and almost identical prices. While BigCommerce has an edge in terms of SEO many users find Shopify to be more user-friendly.
What is the best ecommerce platform for startups?
Startups need a reliable commerce solution that is easy to use and allows you to get your store up and running quickly.
You need to be able to design attractive stores with ease and gain visibility with SEO.
Here are my top picks for ecommerce platforms for startups.
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- Wix
Which ecommere platform is best for small businesses?
Small businesses need a platform that is easy to use for both managing your store and designing your web pages. It’s also important to have a robust inventory and order management system along with detailed analytics and reporting.
Here are my top picks for ecommerce platforms for small businesses.
- Shopify
- Wix
- BigCommerce
- 3dcart
What is the best ecommerce platform for dropshipping?
The best ecommerce platform for dropshipping must easily integrate with suppliers so you can list products, take and fulfill orders right from your ecommerce platform.
Here are my top picks for the best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping.
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- ShopBase
What is the best ecommerce platform for SEO?
The best ecommerce platforms for SEO tend to be those that offer a higher level of customization and greater control over technical factors. It is also helpful to have access to high-quality apps and extensions to help you manage your SEO strategy.
My top picks for the best ecommerce platforms for SEO include:
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- 3dcart
What is the best ecommerce platform for clothing?
The best ecommerce platform is Shopify as it provides an easy interface to manage variable products, great support for dropshipping and print-on-demand services, and tons of high-quality themes designed for fashion and apparel brands.
What are the largest ecommerce platforms?
The most popular ecommerce platforms in terms of market share are:
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Ecwid
The Best Ecommerce Platforms Summary
Business owners today are spoiled with a bounty of quality ecommerce platforms to choose from.
Whether you’re looking to maximize your ease of use, create an omnichannel presence to sell across multiple platforms, or want to have complete control over the look and technical aspects of your store, you will find a solid solution to suit your needs.
I’ve ranked Shopify as the #1 available platform because of its balance of performance, ease of use, business management, and customer support.
The best platform for you will depend on your business and your particular needs. Hopefully, this guide has provided you a better understanding of the options available to you, so you are better positioned to make the best choice for you.