The 5 Best Ecommerce Website Builders in 2026

To help you compare our top ecommerce website builders, see the table below to review them side-by-side:

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Shopify	Wix	Squarespace	Hostinger	GoDaddy
Overall rating 4.8	Overall rating 4.8	Overall rating 4.7	Overall rating 4.2	Overall rating 4.0
Starting Price $29 $1/mo for 3 months	Starting Price $29 $26.10 with code “TAKE10”	Starting Price $16 $14.40 with code “WBE10”	Starting Price $18.99 $2.99/month + 3 months for free	Starting Price $20.99
Free custom domain	Free custom domain	Free custom domain	Free custom domain	Free custom domain
AI website builder	AI website builder	AI website builder	AI website builder	AI website builder
Transaction fees 2.9% + $0.30	Transaction fees 2.9% + $0.30	Transaction fees 2%	Transaction fees 0%	Transaction fees 2.7% + $0.30
Payment gateways 100+	Payment gateways 80+	Payment gateways 6	Payment gateways 100+	Payment gateways 3
Recommended for Businesses who want to easily scale their store as they grow	Recommended for Businesses promoting their online presence	Recommended for Creatives and service-based businesses	Recommended for Beginners and budget-conscious businesses	Recommended for Businesses using socials to drive traffic

How Does the Pricing of the Best Ecommerce Platforms Compare?

Compare pricing of ecommerce plans for the builders on this list with the table below:

• Hostinger has the cheapest ecommerce plan, at $4.99 per month when billed annually and $3.99 per month when paying for 48 months upfront.
• Wix and Shopify’s entry ecommerce plans are the same price, although Wix’s remain cheaper than Shopify’s as you upgrade.

Check out our video on the top ecommerce platforms for small businesses below:

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• Overall rating: 4.8/5 (excellent)
• Shopify ecommerce pricing: From $29 per month (billed annually)
• Shopify review

Shopify is our top choice if you’re looking for total ecommerce success, supporting growing businesses with its scalable plans and high-quality sales features, such as customizable checkout pages and multichannel selling. Shopify’s stand-out sales features include:

• Sell unlimited products
• 100+ payment processors and a native gateway, Shopify Payments, that eliminates transaction fees
• AI tools, including Shopify Magic (write product descriptions), Product Network (optimize sales), and Shopify Sidekick (AI assistant)
• Customizable checkout pages
• POS integration

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

• Ecommerce plans from $29 to $299 per month (billed annually)
• Three-day free trial
• First three months after the trial for just $1 per month
• No free plan

While Shopify is the most expensive option on this list, all of its plans let you sell unlimited products, whereas other builders, like Wix and Hostinger, have a set product limit.

➡️ Read about Shopify’s pricing.

Why I recommend choosing Shopify

Shopify’s powerful sales features and innovative AI tools are market leading, and make the best choice for growing businesses with large inventories. Still, Shopify’s advanced tools come at a high cost (from $29/mo), so the platform isn’t suitable for casual sellers with small inventories.

Annie Angus Senior Writer

• Overall rating: 4.8/5 (outstanding)
• Wix ecommerce pricing: From $29/mo (billed annually)
• Wix review

Wix is an all-in-one brand-building platform, best suited to small and medium businesses needing built-in marketing and free templates. 

Wix’s key sales features are:

• Set up with Wix’s AI website builder or Wix Harmony
• Sell up to 50,000 products
• Built-in email marketing 
• Multichannel selling
• Wix’s AI features, including an SEO Assistant, Theme Assistant (design support), and Adaptive Content (dynamic web experiences personalized to the user)

How Much Does Wix Cost?

• Ecommerce plans from $29 to $159 per month (billed annually)
• Get 10% off your Wix plan with the code “TAKE10”
• 0% transaction fees and 2.9% +$0.30 processing fees (Wix Payments)

As you upgrade, Wix’s ecommerce plans are better value for money than Shopify’s, but Wix is not as cost-effective as other builders on this list, like Hostinger and Squarespace.

➡️Find out more about Wix pricing.

Why I recommend choosing Wix

Wix has a beginner-friendly backend and a wide range of features to to support with setup, selling online, and marketing, which makes it the perfect brand-building ecommerce platform for small to medium businesses. Still, Wix’s 50,000 product limit and capped storage space make it less scalable than Shopify.

Annie Angus Senior Writer

• Overall rating: 4.7/5 (excellent)
• Squarespace ecommerce pricing: From $16 per month (billed annually)
• Squarespace review

Squarespace is the best ecommerce builder for service-based businesses and creatives, offering advanced scheduling tools, aesthetic templates, and an easy-to-use interface.

Squarespace’s best sales features are:

• Blueprint AI Builder to set up in under 10 minutes through guided design and pre-made sections
• Built-in Acuity Scheduling tool to manage appointment bookings and availability
• Unlimited products and storage space on every Squarespace plan
• Drag-and-drop editor with high-quality prebuilt sections and elements for easy template customization

How Much Does Squarespace Cost?

• Ecommerce plans ranging from $16 to $99 per month (billed annually)
• Get 10% off all Squarespace plans with our code “WBE10”

Squarespace is great value for money since all of its plans support online selling, but I recommend upgrading to the Core plan ($23/mo) because it includes 0% transaction fees and the ability to offer discounts.

➡️ Learn about Squarespace’s pricing.

Why I recommend choosing Squarespace

Every Squarespace plan has unlimited storage and product sales, giving you a lot of room to grow even from its cheapest $16-per-month option. Squarespace also has a market-leading Acuity Scheduling tool and an intuitive editor that’s suited to service-based businesses.

Annie Angus Senior Writer

• Overall rating: 4.2/5 (very good)
• Hostinger ecommerce pricing: From $3.99 per month (billed every 48 months)
• Hostinger review

Hostinger is the most affordable ecommerce website builder for beginners and side hustles on this list ($3.99/mo). It’s quick to get set up on Hostinger, although its basic sales features are limiting compared to Shopify and Wix.

The standout sales features on Hostinger are:

• Sell up to 1,000 products
• 100+ payment methods, including popular options, such as Stripe, PayPal, and Apple Pay
• 0% transaction fees 
• Suite of AI tools, including AI SEO support and product page generation
• Printful print on demand integration for hands-off order fulfilment and no dead stock
• Fastest site speed and loading times among the 12 major ecommerce builders tested

How Much Does Hostinger Cost?

• Ecommerce plan costs $3.99 per month (billed every 48 months)
• Seven-day free trial
• Save 10% with code “WBE” at checkout

Hostinger is the most affordable ecommerce builder in our analysis, and its sole ecommerce plan unlocks sales features and AI tools.

➡️ Read our breakdown of Hostinger’s pricing.

Why I recommend choosing Hostinger

Hostinger has an extremely beginner-friendly setup that provides the necessities for side hustlers on a budget to get a store up and running quickly. However, Hostinger only has one ecommerce plan with a 1,000 product limit and no app store, which makes it hard to grow a serious business.

Annie Angus Senior Writer

• Overall rating: 4/5 (very good)
• GoDaddy ecommerce pricing: From $20.99 per month (billed annually)
• GoDaddy review

GoDaddy is the best ecommerce builder for businesses using social media to drive sales, offering an integrated social post generator and AI calendar.

• Sell unlimited products 
• AI social media post generator and calendar to help you grow an omnichannel presence that builds brand awareness
• Native bookings tool with multiple appointment options, calendar syncing, customer notification options, and ability to connect your events with social media platforms
• Simple editor designed for speed and simplicity, prioritizing setup time over advanced customization
• POS integration

How Much Does GoDaddy Cost?

• Ecommerce plan costs $20.99 per month (billed annually)

The Commerce plan ($20.99/mo) is GoDaddy’s sole ecommerce plan, and it isn’t great value for money, since it lacks the functionality and customization of other competitors.

➡️ Read about GoDaddy’s pricing.

Do I recommend choosing GoDaddy?

GoDaddy is a great option for beginners and businesses with a growing presence on social media. However, GoDaddy isn’t as powerful or as scalable as other ecommerce builders, such as Wix or Shopify due to its basic sales tools and fixed transaction fees. While I think you can find a better home for your business with another builder (for a slight increase in price), GoDaddy’s simplicity and affordability are ideal for more casual sellers.

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

Choose an ecommerce builder based on three factors: business size, product volume, and required sales channels first.

I recommend considering the following factors:

• Business type – do you run a small, medium, or large business? Do you need a lot of inventory and storage space? What type of products do you need to sell?
• Budget – what are you willing to pay for your ecommerce website builder? Do you need room to grow and expand, and will prices increase dramatically as you upgrade? Are there additional costs to be aware of, such as apps or templates?
• Ease of use – do you feel comfortable building an online store? Is the backend dashboard intuitive and simple to navigate?
• Customer support – how easy is it to get in touch with customer service? All of our top-rated ecommerce builders offer live chat support, but phone support is only provided by Shopify, Wix, and GoDaddy.
• Selling options – do you want to sell via your website or across other channels, such as social media? Do you want to sell in-person? Are POS products available?
• The customer experience – what payment options are available? How can you enhance the sales funnel to deliver a positive experience? Are there features, such as email marketing, to help you engage with your target audience?

What our editor thinks...

It can be easy to get overwhelmed when searching for an ecommerce website builder – there’s so many features and pricing tiers to take in! Everyone will need different features, so create a must-have shortlist of tools you need to make filtering down your options easier. And look for platforms that give you the option to waive transaction fees – this will help you save on costs as your store grows. Finally, it sounds obvious, but always try a builder before paying for a plan; it’s the only way to know if you’ll be able to easily run your store day-to-day with that platform!

Lucy Carney Deputy Editor

To bring you accurate and data-backed results, I test each builder thoroughly first hand and pull from the 300+ hours of data collected by our in-house research team on 12 major ecommerce website builders.

Our research process encompasses 283 areas of investigation in total, divided between seven core categories. Each category is given a unique weighting to reflect what matters the most to online businesses looking to build a website:

• Sales Features (30%): We look at the ecommerce capabilities of a builder, from payment options to transaction fees.
• Design Features (15%): We review how many templates and design options cater to online stores.
• Help and Support (15%): We test the available support channels and resources for businesses provided by the ecommerce website builder.
• Website Functionality (15%): We look at the quality and quantity of a website builder’s functionality, such as blogging tools, AI, and SEO.
• Pricing (10%): We examine what you can get for your money with each available pricing plan, as well as checking whether there’s a free trial or free plan. 
• User Experience (10%): We test every ecommerce website builder ourselves to assess their usability and accessibility.
• Reputation (5%): We look at how each ecommerce website builder performs against its competitors and within the wider market.

Our winning ecommerce website builder for 2026 is Shopify because of its unmatched sales features, scalability, design options for online stores, and business support.

That said, the ecommerce website builder you choose will depend on the needs of your business. Need something budget-friendly? Consider Hostinger. Want to sell services? Squarespace would be my recommendation for you. Once you’ve chosen your builder, it’s time to build your online store. You can read our expert guides on how to sell online and how to accept payments to help you get started.