So you have decided to build an ecommerce website and now wondering which website builder to choose? This is of course a difficult decision to make as there are many of them to choose from each with its own set of pros and cons. This article serves to make this decision easy for you as we have listed the top 5 ecommerce website builders. We have based our selection of the best website builders on their market share, user reviews, ease of use, value for money, and features. As a leading eCommerce web design company that has worked with hundreds of clients, we know what each of the following eCommerce builders has to offer.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into an ecommerce store. Almost every study and review article has concluded thatWooCommerce is the world’s most popular ecommerce website builder.
Wooommerce is an open-source plugin which means that anyone can install, use, and distribute it. However, this does not include a domain, hosting, theme, support etc. You need to pay for these services separately.

Pros:

• Free & open source
• No transaction fees
• Easy to use if you have worked with WordPress
• Simple reporting
• Supports unlimited products
• Large community and extensive documentation

Cons:

• Although the core plugin is free, you will have to pay for extensions to enhance your store’s functionalities.
• If you don’t know WordPress, you have to learn 2 platforms

Is WooCommerce for you?

If you know WordPress or are comfortable with it and have a modest budget, then WooCommerce is for you. Don’t fall for the plugin that is free. Hosting, theme, and premium extensions can quickly escalate your cost.

2. Shopify

Shopify has emerged as the closest competitor to WooCommerce. The ecommerce platform has significantly risen in popularity in the last 5 years or so with over 1 million active users.

Unlike WooCommerce, Shopify is not free. It charges on monthly basis starting at $29 per month. This includes hosting with unlimited bandwidth. Plus there is an additional 2%, 1%, and 0.5% of transaction fee on Shopify basic, Shopify, and advanced Shopify Plans respectively, if you are not using Shopify Payments as your payment gateway.

Pros:

• Easy to setup a store – good for beginners
• Supports over 100 payment processors worldwide
• A lot of free themes
• Excellent site performance
• In-house Appstore
• Extensive self-help documentation

Cons:

• Limited customization
• Poor blogging feature
• Monthly subscription cost

Is Shopify for you?

If you are not tech-savy and want to build a basic ecommerce store within a limited budget, the Shopify basic plan is for you. If you have a large store with nothing to worry about in terms of money, go for Shopify or Advanced Shopify plan.

You Might Like to Read: Guide to Build Best Ecommerce Website for Startups

3. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another great online store builder that caters to merchants with high aspirations. It’s the best solution for growing businesses, thanks to its impressive set of built-in sales tools.

BigCommerce’s cheapest plan that starts at $29.95/month has more features than Shopify and Wix. However, your plan will automatically be upgraded to the plus plan if you cross $50,000 of online sales per year.

Pros:

• 0% transaction fee (a major edge over Shopify)
• Advanced features such as unlimited staff accounts, reporting tools, multi
• currency, etc. in basic plan
• Extremely robust
• Strong SEO
• Super scalable as it’s designed for growing businesses

Cons:

• Annual sales threshold
• Not for beginners
• Limited free themes

Is BigCommerce for you?

If you are looking to expand and accelerate your business’s growth and can afford to hire a developer, BigCommerce is the best option for you. BigCommerce delivers the most value for mid-market businesses.

4. Wix

The list of best ecommerce website builders is incomplete withoutWix which is a beginner-friendly, drag and drop ecommerce solution. One can literally build a fully functional online store in minutes. Wix is great for individual sellers and small businesses.

Wix’s basic plan starts at $23/month which includes a custom domain, hosting, 100s of templates, and features such as unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, and multi-channel selling. It also has a great blogging functionality which increases your chances of getting ranked on search engines.

Pros:

• 0% transaction fee
• Extremely easy to use
• Lots of help and support
• Wix App market

Cons:

• No low stock alerts
• Can’t change templates once live
• Not recommended for very large businesses

Is Wix for you?

Yes, if you are an individual seller or a small business with no skills in web development. Wix also does not burden your pocket so if you are tight on budget, it may be a good solution.

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5. Squarespace

The next e-commerce site builder on the list is Squarespace. It’s a close competitor to Wix as it’s also a drag and drop builder most suitable for small businesses. Similar to Wix, it was also just a website builder first, not an online selling platform.

The platform allows eCommerce sellers to start at $26/month. However, you can opt to pay annually to save 25%. This package includes everything that Shopify offers except abandoned cart recovery and multi-channel selling. Plus, it offers advanced website analytics in its basic plan.

Pros:

• Beautiful templates
• High-quality website features
• Excellent customer support
• Modern WYSIWYG editor

Cons:

The basic plan has a 3% transaction fee. You need to upgrade to get rid of it.

• Limited app store
• Not great for blogging

Is Squarespace for you?

If you value your store’s visual appeal more than scalability and want to market your products easily, Squarespace is for you. Give credit to the platform’s award-winning templates and built-in marketing tools.