Ecommerce sales are predicted to grow to $6.5 trillion by 2023.
The expansion means one thing—an influx of online sellers in the ecommerce space leading to fierce competition.
You need the best ecommerce platforms to build an impressive online store that stands out.
But here is the problem.
It’s hard to identify the best ecommerce platforms when all vendors claim to provide the best features.
We’ve made things easier for you by rounding up the top ecommerce platforms in the market.
Whether you want to open a new online store or revamp an existing website, there’s an ecommerce platform for you.
We’ve broken down the main features, pros, cons, and prices of these best ecommerce platforms.
Take a look.
Image via Adobe Commerce
If you’re looking for something powerful and truly customizable, Adobe Commerce is the best ecommerce platform for you. This ecommerce platform is non-hosted and is trusted by brands like Cisco and Nike.
You’ll need advanced coding skills or an experienced developer to create a feature-rich online store that’s completely tailored to your needs.
If you want this high level of flexibility in an ecommerce solution but lack the manpower needed, no worries, Adobe Commerce has a large community of skilled developers.
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Image Source TemplateMonster
TemplateMonster is one of the best ecommerce platforms for templates and themes.
Having served over 5 million online stores, TemplateMonster provides practical website templates suitable for all forms of ecommerce businesses.
You can use these templates to create a high-converting and visually appealing online store in no time.
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Image Source: BigCommerce
One of the world’s best ecommerce platforms that are cloud-based, BigCommerce is a solid choice for both B2B and B2C online stores.
This ecommerce website builder is rich in features and comes with comprehensive tools that integrate seamlessly with other ecommerce solutions.
In-depth guiding articles and videos, as well as a resourceful support team, make it easy to learn about this ecommerce platform.
You’ll also get access to a community of designers, developers, and other ecommerce experts. They can provide guidance on how to market and sell online.
There are customizable templates and themes as well.
For the more tech-savvy lot, BigCommerce is one of the best ecommerce platforms that provide adjustable HTML and CSS. You can adjust it to create a unique ecommerce solution that meets your needs.
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It offers a 15-day free trial period, post which you can select from one of these plans:
You can also go with the BigCommerce Enterprise plan with customized pricing according to your specific requirements.
Image via BigCommerce
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Image Source: WooCommerce
If you have an existing website to which you’d like to add ecommerce functionality, WooCommerce is one of the best ecommerce platforms for the task.
You can use it to run an affiliate site and an online store under one roof. Unlike other best ecommerce platforms, WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin.
You’ll need to use the readily available extensions to add necessary selling features like 1-click selling, shipping, and gateways for online payments.
This ecommerce platform is ideal for small businesses with a WordPress website.
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Image Source Squarespace
You’ve got to admit, Squarespace’s homepage is good to look at. And you can expect the same for your store if you choose to use this ecommerce platform.
Famous for its sleek templates and award-winning designs, Squarespace is one of the best ecommerce platforms for designing a beautiful online store.
Squarespace does not provide an overwhelming number of features for your ecommerce site, but enough to run a versatile online store.
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There is a 14-day free trial period. Here are the paid plans that it offers:
Image via Squarespace
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Image Source: Yo!Kart
Yo!Kart is one of the best ecommerce platforms for a multi-vendor store. It’s a powerful self-hosted platform for creating an online marketplace like Amazon and Etsy.
Yo!Kart simplifies fulfillment tasks and ensures complete data security. For instance, orders from multiple vendors on one shopping cart are split and consolidated for payment.
Yo!Kart is available as an Android mobile app. It means you can send push notifications and encourage social sharing.
The ecommerce platform facilitates cross-selling of related products, sellers can post adverts, buyers get smart product recommendations, and a lot more.
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The ecommerce platform offers 4 payment packages with a lifetime license and no recurring charges.
Image via Yo!Kart
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Image Source Volusion
Volusion is among the best ecommerce platforms for store owners looking for hosted solutions that are easy to use.
This ecommerce platform provides unlimited bandwidth. You get everything you need to design your store, add your products, and run it.
Professional services are available to guide you on how the platform works, how to use the sales channels, and more.
It does not provide a product search feature. Therefore, it is best suited for small businesses or online stores with a finite number of products.
Its well-structured dashboard makes it super-easy to manage your inventory.
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Volusion provides 4 payment plans:
You could also get a custom solution based on your gross merchandise volume.
Image via Volusion
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Image Source Wix
Wix is one of the best all-purpose drag-and-drop ecommerce website builders.
It provides web hosting and domain name registration, and is one of the best ecommerce platforms for small online stores.
Wix is also a beginner-friendly ecommerce solution. You don’t have to worry about maneuvering complex features that your ecommerce site doesn’t need.
But you’ll get vital functionalities like abandoned cart recovery and inventory management.
You don’t need any coding skills.
This ecommerce website builder has 500 plus customizable templates to create exactly the kind of ecommerce site you want. They also have a friendly customer support team to guide you.
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Building a basic website using Wix is free, but to access the ecommerce features, you need a paid plan.
Image via Wix
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Image via OpenCart
Another one of the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses looking to scale is OpenCart. It's a free open-source self-hosted ecommerce platform with an intuitive dashboard and great overall design.
Though not drag-and-drop, its module-based customization system makes it just as easy for beginners to create their preferred online store outlook.
There are lots of built-in features that OpenCart provides, including a marketing analytics tool, product filtering, and multi-store admin. This saves you the trouble of adding multiple extensions to expand your store’s functionality.
The store still provides a marketplace with a wide range of advanced extensions. These include shipping add-ons, payment processors, and more.
Natively, you'll find over 36 payment methods on the platform including bank transfers and popular payment gateways such as PayPal.
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Image via Prestashop
PrestaShop is another open-source self-hosted ecommerce platform serving over 300k e-commerce stores. Like OpenCart, PrestaShop uses modules to help users add customization to their stores.
Alternatively, if you have coding knowledge, you can customize the program to get your preferred look and feel. You can choose from over 3k available modules that cover all types of functionality.
PrestaShop’s dashboard is easy to navigate with a clear sidebar menu and well-organized menu items. The platform allows you to manage your inventory, track your orders, and monitor essential analytics with ease.
This makes it one of the best ecommerce platforms in the market.
While it's a free tool, you'd need a combination of extensions and modules to get advanced functionality on PrestaShop. The downside to this is that most of these extensions are costly and the prices could really add up and end up making the tool expensive.
Otherwise, it's an overall good ecommerce platform to get you started building your online store and getting it up and running.
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Image via Prestashop
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Image via Shift4Shop
Formerly 3dcart, Shift4Shop is another one of the best ecommerce platforms for businesses. It's an ecommerce solution for US-based online store owners looking for a comprehensive yet affordable tool.
The platform has an intuitive interface with a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder. It offers a free plan with an extensive list of advanced features you’d normally need to pay for on other platforms.
These include unlimited products, ecommerce SEO marketing tools, no revenue cap, over 100 premium themes, and more.
But there's a catch: to access the free plan, you'd need to process a minimum of $500 per month. It's also only available to US-based users.
Shift4Shop is automatically integrated with Shift4, a payment processing system that supports credit cards and digital wallets.
Another interesting feature is that you can host your site on the Shift4Shop platform or use it on an existing website. The platform offers free site building, domain name search, and website themes.
It also has a unique checkout customization feature that includes one-page, three-page checkout, or guest checkout that allows users to buy items without needing to create an account like most ecommerce platforms.
Shift4Shop supports the sale of digital products as well as event tickets. Here are a few key features.
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Image via Ecwid
Ecwid is a cloud-based ecommerce platform for small businesses looking for a simple ecommerce solution.
You can use Ecwid to create your online store and connect it to your website, digital marketplace, or social media page. It's also possible to connect the platform to a point-of-sale device so you can make in-person sales.
The software lets you add the ecommerce platform to different websites and manage them from a single location. This makes it one of the best ecommerce platforms for digital marketers.
Ecwid makes it easy to design your site as it provides 50+ themes that are professionally designed. Besides an online shopping widget, Ecwid provides an Instant Site feature that includes a one-page site with ecommerce tools.
All you need to do is connect your site to this page and start selling. This feature is useful for seasonal sales. However, the downside is that you can't create a standalone storefront using Ecwid.
Another neat feature of Ecwid is its mobile application that allows users to manage their stores on the go. Ecwid provides a wide range of customer support options including phone support, email, and live chat.
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Image via Ecwid
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Image via Big Cartel
Looking for the best ecommerce platforms for artists, creatives, and startups? Big Cartel is one worth considering.
It's a cloud-based ecommerce platform for online selling. The platform has an easy drag-and-drop functionality that makes it seamless for users to customize their store.
If you're tech-savvy, you can always customize the code for more advanced changes. It's also easy to change the theme, upload products, and add product prices.
Big Cartel also avails a Point of Sale tool that comes with a Stripe integration. This is especially helpful for in-person sales during events, festivals, exhibits, etc.
The options to scale can be limited, but Big Cartel is extremely easy to use and suitable for small business owners with no coding experience.
For payment purposes, the platform keeps it simple: it only integrates with PayPal and Stripe. This can be limiting or just enough, depending on your business needs. Here are a few of its key features.
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Image via Big Cartel
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Image via shopify
Shopify is another one of the best ecommerce platforms for businesses looking for a feature-rich platform to build their online store.
Shopify is flexible with a drag-and-drop feature that makes customization easy. So if you don't have coding experience, you'll find it easy to credit your Shopify store’s outlook. It also provides professionally designed themes to get you started.
Besides building an online store, Shopify allows you to sell products through marketplaces like Amazon, and social media platforms. So businesses looking to start selling internationally will also find Shopify efficient.
You can also sell a wide range of items, including digital downloads, subscriptions, online courses, and more. It is regarded as one of the best ecommerce platforms and has a range of pricing plans for both established businesses and those on a budget.
So if you're new to ecommerce sales, you'll likely find everything you need on the lower-tier plans including an affordable email marketing tool. And if you're a larger business or a fast-growing store, there's plenty of opportunities to scale with best ecommerce platforms
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Image via Shopify
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Image via AbanteCart
Next is AbanteCart, an open-source ecommerce platform for small to medium-sized businesses. Here’s why this software made it to the list of the best ecommerce platforms to consider.
First, being an open-source platform, AbanteCart’s core software is free to download.
The software offers a beginner-friendly interface with easy-to-use features. For instance, the customer dashboard allows you to track order progress and history. It's also extremely easy to add products to AbanteCart.
This makes it suitable for users with little programming knowledge.
AbanteCart offers a multi-store feature that allows you to manage numerous online stores from a single platform.
You can also sell digital products through your AbanteCart online store.
For more functionality like payment processing and social media connection, you can visit the AbanteCart marketplace to find a suitable app.
You can also find themes there to customize your digital storefront. However, compared to other platforms, these themes may appear outdated.
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Image via Sellfy
Sellfy is one of the best ecommerce platforms for selling digital products, digital subscriptions, physical products, print merchandise, and more. This means that your customers will be able to purchase or download products directly from your online store.
Sellfy also allows you to embed products on other sites such as social media platforms and sell products directly from there.
Another unique feature is a pay-what-you-want feature that allows customers to input the amount they would like to pay for a product. You can set a minimum fee yourself and let them do the rest.
This is especially useful for donations and if you want to test product prices in the market.
Sellfy automatically translates pages based on customer location. This includes product pages and CTA buttons. You can manually translate other pages too.
The platform offers PayPal and Stripe as the only payment options which could be limiting. Each plan also has a revenue cap and if you exceed it you'd need to upgrade to the next plan.
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Image via Sellfy
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Image via Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Formerly called Demandware, Salesforce Commerce Cloud is one of the best ecommerce platforms for enterprise-level users.
It’s entirely cloud-based and it enables businesses to set up an ecommerce store and provide customers with a great shopping experience. This includes B2C, B2B, and D2C companies.
The platform is complex and requires technical knowledge to customize. This makes it convenient for businesses with a high marketing budget.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides easy integrations with all Salesforce tech stack tools, which can be an advantage if you’re using any of them. The platform also has generative AI capabilities to help users drive more automation on their online stores.
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You need to contact sales for the exact prices of the plans.
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Image via Square Online
Square Online was formerly known as Weebly. The platform was first built as a credit card payment processing solution. It then grew into an independent ecommerce platform with a range of helpful financial tools.
It’s now among the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses and beginner ecommerce marketers.
The platform provides a free plan that you can take advantage of if you're on a budget. It's important to note that you'll still need to pay payment processing fees even on the free plan.
Also, to remove Square advertising from your account, you'd need to upgrade to a paid plan. Luckily, Square’s paid plans are affordable compared to most other cloud-based ecommerce platforms.
Square Online does not provide a blog section. However, there's an alternative feature called Square Stories that you can use as a blog.
There are over 200 third-party applications on Square Online’s integration list you can tap into to improve the store's functionality.
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Image via Square Online
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Image via CoreCommerce
CoreCommerce was originally built purely as a shopping cart application called digiSHOP PRO. It then grew into one of the best ecommerce platform supporting thousands of businesses across the globe.
The platform offers a range of pricing plans suitable for businesses with varying budgets. On the higher tier plans, customers get customization liberties allowing them to personalize every little detail of their site.
This, however, requires in-depth coding knowledge.
One feature that stands out for CoreCommerce is its invoicing creation and delivery tool. This allows you to streamline your billing operations and send invoices to customers.
The platform also provides detailed analytics to help track your orders and financial transactions.
The CommerceGateway feature provides multiple secure payment processing options, like recurring billing among other options.
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Image via CoreCommerce
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Image via Miva
If you’re looking for an ecommerce platform for B2B businesses, then Miva is a good option for you. It provides ecommerce solutions for both B2C and B2B businesses, of all sizes.
It is an advanced ecommerce platform with sophisticated features and, yet, has a user-friendly interface and navigation. Building an online store is easy using templates and themes. You don’t need any coding experience.
There are enough online learning resources available for new users to help them use the platform to its full potential.
It can handle large and complex product catalogs and offers robust product management features. You can add unlimited product variants to your catalog and Miva will be able to handle it with ease.
What else?
It integrates with multiple apps and platforms to provide enhanced functionality and make your online store work seamlessly.
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Image via PageCloud
This is one of the best ecommerce platforms which is a website builder for varying purposes. During setup, you'll be asked the purpose of the site you're creating. Here, you can choose the “sell online” option to create an ecommerce store.
PageCloud provides a list of themes that are well-designed and you can choose one. The website builder has a drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to customize your store’s looks.
Another exciting feature is that up to three people can log in to PageCloud and edit your store’s outlook, which makes collaboration easier.
The site has a lengthy list of integrations too to expand your functionality.
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Image via PageCloud
Image via PageCloud
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Image via GoDaddy
The platform is popularly known for providing domain registration services. But did you know that it also falls under the list of best ecommerce platforms?
GoDaddy allows you to build and test your online store for free.
The platform is suitable for small businesses and startups with little to no programming knowledge. It provides hundreds of themes to give your store a unique outlook and these themes are categorized by industry.
These themes are extremely easy to customize even for those with no coding experience.
GoDaddy also provides several inbuilt ecommerce marketing options for your online store. This includes the ability to boost online traffic with SEO.
You can also sell products on Facebook or use the tool’s default email marketing feature to build your lists and send catchy newsletters.
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Image via GoDaddy
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Image via Easy Digital Downloads
Just like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads is another on the list of best ecommerce platforms. Unlike WooCommerce, this platform specializes in selling digital products and subscriptions.
These include items such as ebooks, PDF documents, licensed software, and more.
The platform provides flexible payment options including popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal.
There's also a subscription payment option. You can create discounts to incentivize customers and increase conversions.
The unlimited downloads feature ensures that you do not incur additional bandwidth for file downloads.
Getting started with Easy Digital Downloads is easy. You can install the plugin for free on WordPress
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Image via Easy Digital Downloads
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Image via Bluehost
This platform is popularly known for providing WordPress hosting. However, it also provides online store-building services for WordPress sites.
These functions are powered by both WooCommerce and YITH. This gives you access to their numerous site-building tools and themes.
For instance, you can set up appointments and bookings on your Bluehost website.
Bluehost is suitable for small businesses looking to use WooCommerce to host their online stores. The platform allows you to also sell on other retail marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon.
And if you're not in a position to design your online store yourself, Bluehost offers the option to have their experienced team do it for you.
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Image via Bluehost
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Image via Commercetools
Commercetools is a leading German-based enterprise-level ecommerce platform. It’s one of the best ecommerce platforms if you’re looking for cloud-based software that offers headless ecommerce building solutions for B2B and B2C use cases.
This headless architecture gives you more flexibility to customize both the front-end and back-end versions of your online store.
Being an API-driven platform, Commercetools allows developers to build custom ecommerce sites using any programming language or technology.
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Image via Joomla
Joomla is an open-source content management system that allows you to build powerful websites. It does not come with ecommerce functionalities and you'd need to add extensions to make your site a storefront.
Luckily, the platform provides a popular ecommerce extension, J2Store, that you can install for free. There are also lots of other extensions that Joomla provides that you can use to expand your store's capabilities.
With coding experience, you can customize Joomla into any complex ecommerce site you like if need be. This makes it a bit harder to navigate than most beginner-friendly tools, but it's easy to use overall with a technical experience.
The platform also provides lots of guides and tutorials to make the process easier.
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Image via Hostinger
Hostinger is a popular hosting provider like Bluehost which makes it perfect for various use cases. It also provides website-building tools that you can use to create your ecommerce platform.
The website builder is easy to use with an intuitive template editor and 100+ prebuilt templates for your inspiration.
The platform provides AI tools to help with content creation, logo making, and image editing. This set it apart as one of the best ecommerce platforms for online store building.
Hostinger’s ecommerce management tool comes with a user-friendly interface. You can sell up to 500 products without incurring transaction costs.
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Image via Hostinger
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Q1. Which platform is best for an ecommerce website?
A. Depending on the type of ecommerce site you want to build, the best ecommerce platforms are:
Q2. What are the 5 best ecommerce websites?
A. Looking for inspiration for your ecommerce store?
Here are 5 online businesses that have created buyer-centric ecommerce stores using the best ecommerce platforms:
Q3. What is the best ecommerce system?
A. The best ecommerce platforms for online selling have these features:
Q4. Is Shopify still the best ecommerce platform?
A. Although it’s not listed in our list of best ecommerce platforms, Shopify remains one of the best ecommerce platforms.
It has everything you need to set up your ecommerce website and sell online. However, this ecommerce platform fails in a few crucial areas where other platforms excel, such as:
Other best ecommerce platforms you can use in place of Shopify are BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce.
Q5. Is Shopify good for beginners?
A. Although it's one of the most popular ecommerce platforms, Shopify is not the best choice for beginners who want to start selling online.
The editor is not as intuitive as other platforms on our list of the best ecommerce platforms.
There you have it, the best ecommerce platforms compared.
There’s no perfect ecommerce platform, but we’ve narrowed down the 27 best ecommerce platforms that’ll help you create a stunning and powerful online store.
While at the top of our list of best ecommerce platforms is Magento, we recommend making a choice based on your ecommerce business needs.
Have you tried any other ecommerce platforms for your own online store?
Share your experiences in the comments below.
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