We know building your own online store can be a daunting task. Where do you start? How much does it cost? How difficult will it be? What features do you need to thrive?
That’s where we come in. Website Builder Expert is the number one resource for information about how to get online. We don’t just try platforms – we carry out professional, in-depth research, and really put them to the test.
When it comes to building an online store, the easiest and most cost-effective option is to use an ecommerce website builder. Website builders are online platforms that provide you with the framework and support you need to design your own ecommerce site.
Naturally, some are better than others. We’ve tested the best ecommerce website builders around to bring you a definitive answer as to which one is best for your needs. But how do we know which providers to recommend? Read on to see how we conduct our ecommerce website builder research.
Our Research Process
We’re called Website Builder Expert for a reason – we’ve got years of experience in the industry, testing builders and platforms thoroughly. After all, we want to bring you reliable information and make sure we’re talking about the factors that matter most to you.
Before we get into it, let me put your mind at ease. In accordance with our editorial code, our primary aim is to bring readers fair, accurate, and honest recommendations to help them make informed decisions. And thanks to our in-house research team who carry out hours of analysis, we have the data and hands-on experience to back up our lists, reviews, and guides.Because of this, we’ve never sold rankings or positions to companies, and we can guarantee you that we never will. So, how do we make any money? Website Builder Expert’s income comes via referral commissions and affiliate links across our pages. If you follow one of these links, find you’re happy with your chosen builder, and sign up to the platform, that’s when we get paid.
Our Research Process: Overview
Our research process involves a lot of steps, and after more than 300 hours of work, the result is fair and data-driven ratings. We cover the good but also don’t shy away from the bad, so you can trust our recommendations to be impartial.
Get a summary of our process below:
Our Methodology Areas: Explained
As you can see from the visual above, we research seven core areas of investigation when testing ecommerce website builders. But how to we know which areas to research? Well, similarly to our website builder research process, we surveyed 500 small businesses to find out their key priories and concerns in todays landscape.
However, our website builder testing is aimed towards content and informational websites – think blogs and portfolios – whereas our ecommerce builder testing has an additional focus on online selling and an emphasis on what matters most to small businesses:
- Sales Features
- Website Functionality
- Design Features
- User Experience
- Help and Support
- Pricing
- Reputation
These seven categories are then broken down even further into a total of 51 subcategories. Within these subcategories, we investigate 283 individual factors, covering things like template options and SEO more closely.
Gathering scores from each test gives us a total rating for that core area of investigation, and once we have every score, we calculate the overall score for that ecommerce builder.
A key stage of our research process is our user testing. We bring in 54 everyday users to test the builders and platforms for us, giving us valuable insight into how user-friendly they are. Then, our writers go through the very same tests to get them up to speed.
Of course, this is just a general overview of how we bring you the best recommendations, but I’ll explain exactly what’s involved with each area of investigation below:
Sales Features
Because we’re looking at ecommerce website builders specifically, it’s important that our areas of investigation reflect this. Sales features – any attribute or tool that helps merchants sell products – are incredibly important for online stores, which is why it’s our highest weighted category, accounting for 30% of the builder’s overall score.
Due to its importance and the sheer amount of sales features there are to cover, we separated them from our general website functionality category. Here are just a handful of the sub-categories we investigate:
- Multi-channel integration – Can you link social channels and marketplaces to your site?
- Payment processing fee – Does the builder charge you payment processing fees, or cover them itself?
- Inventory – How many products can you sell and what inventory management tools are provided?
- Sales type – What types of products can be sold through the builder? Physical? Digital? Services?
- Security – Does the builder keep your website and customer data safe from harm?
- Promotion and discount codes – Does the builder provide promotional tools, and are discount codes supported?
- Shipping options – What tools are you provided with to help with shipping?
- Payment options – Can you accept payments from the major providers?
- Mobile app – Can you manage your online store on the go?
Our 2025 research found that every ecommerce website builder has made improvements to its sales features since last year, so it’s important to look at the individual factors closely before committing.
Website Functionality
A website’s functionality refers to more standard attributes that may not have a direct impact on sales, but are nonetheless central to a website’s success. These tools will help you manage, promote, and run your site effectively. When testing, we examine the quality of the feature alongside other aspects, such as whether the feature is built-in or only accessible in the app market.
Here are a handful of the sub-categories we investigate:
- Advertorial marketing – Does the builder provide built-in marketing features?
- SEO – How does the builder optimize your website for search engines?
- AI – What AI support does the builder offer for website creation?
- Site speed – How quickly do the builder’s website pages load? Will it keep your website running smoothly?
- Globalization – Can you sell globally? How many languages and currencies are supported?
- Domains – Do you get a free domain? How much does a domain cost? Can you transfer an existing domain name?
- Storage space – How much storage space is provided? At what price does the builder offer unlimited storage?
- App integration – Does the builder have an app market? How many apps are available?
- Blogging – Can you add a blog to your website? What blogging functionalities are provided?
Design Features
The quality of web design can be a subjective matter, but if there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that your website needs to look good to attract visitors. That’s why we enlisted the help of industry-leading experts to identify the key components of web design.
With this information, we could formulate a list of criteria that each platform’s templates and design elements had to meet. Not only do we look at the templates and overall aesthetics closely, but we examine each builder’s design flexibility (can you change a template after publishing?), omnichannel design options, image editor, mobile reformatting, and more.
A takeaway from our 2025 research was the increased use of AI, especially in the design process. With that in mind, a large proportion of this year’s testing focused on the quality and ease of AI website builder setup.
User Experience
By its very nature, an ecommerce website builder should make creating an online store simple and accessible for everyone. Understandably, that’s not always the case, and some builders are easier to use than others.
Does the builder have a drag-and-drop editor? Will your website be restricted to block sections? Can you find what you need in the backend?
To test this properly, we called in a group of 54 everyday people – from total beginners to experienced builders – to create their own online store using the assigned platform. We created a detailed task sheet, unique to each builder, and asked our testers to score how easy or difficult everything was to complete and how much they enjoyed it.
As a part of the user tests, we also carried out 50 closed card sorting tests to assess how accurate, clear, and logical each builder’s navigation is.
From there, we were able to calculate an overall user experience score for each ecommerce website builder. We also get great feedback on what works well for each platform, and what areas need improvement.
But that’s not all. You’ll also find that our writers draw on their own first-hand experience with these platforms to help paint the most accurate picture (and pain points) of builders they’re reviewing. They don’t simply rely on the testing notes from our research; they use free trials or plans to set up demo stores and gather their own tips and tricks to share with you.
Pricing
The financial roadblocks small businesses tackle change year to year, which is why we assess and adapt our pricing algorithm every time we carry out new testing.
In 2025, small businesses in the US are struggling with the tariff increases on imported goods. To provide the most helpful scoring, we now place greater emphasis on “features vs price” and whether or not a builder offers a free trial or plan. Having the cheapest plan just won’t cut it anymore – it’s important that the quality of features on offer matches the price you pay.
Help and Support
When looking at help and support, it’s important to assess both the quality of support on offer and also the different channels you can seek help through. Some people may prefer support via email, while others may want a more immediate interaction, such as a phone call or live chat.
When examining each builder, we look at:
- Knowledge center – Does the builder provide useful and accurate information?
- Types of customer support – Can you get help through email, phone, live chat, social media, community channels, or tickets? Is it available 24/7 or at set times?
- Expert support – Does the builder hire experts to support in areas such as design and SEO?
- Response time – How long do you have to wait to receive the support?
- Restore options – Is there an autosave feature when editing? Can you easily restore your site if needed?
Reputation
The final area of investigation is “Reputation” – how highly regarded is each builder overall?
For this, we first look at popularity. How often is the builder searched for monthly? How many ecommerce stores have been built with the platform?
But popularity isn’t everything, and it definitely can’t tell the full story. To dig deeper, we searched for each builder on third-party review platforms, such as Trustpilot, to see how satisfied users were. And, from each of our 54 users that carried out tests, we get a score based on how likely they’d be to recommend the ecommerce website builder to others (out of 10). After all, customers trust other customers, and this score gives you a good insight into how regular users view the builder.
Meet the Researchers
Natasha Willett – As Website Builder Expert’s Head of Insights, Natasha has clocked over 9,600 hours of product research and testing to bring you fair recommendations based on data. For the best ecommerce website builders, this involved analyzing 213 areas of investigation. Natasha has expert credentials in research and is fully qualified with a BSc, Ma, and MMRS. She’s worked as a mixed method researcher for the last 11 years (with seven years at Website Builder Expert), and she’s a member of the prestigious Market Research Society.
Oliver Simpson – As Website Builder Expert’s Senior Research Executive, Oliver has provided the data that underpins our ecommerce builder advice for the last three years. He has overseen every stage of our 2025 website builder testing, from honing a unique methodology from rigorous audience research to running first-hand tests with our writers. Oliver uses his UX design diploma and his data and research skills to identify and carry out research in the most important areas.
Website Builder Expert aims to provide you with honest data. That’s why we conduct our own research and obtain direct, personal insight. Analyses and graphics in this article are based on authentic sources, cross-validated by our in-house experts. We take great care to ensure the information we publish is reliable and accurate. However, WBE takes no responsibility for any inaccuracy in information supplied to us by users, research participants, or other entities.
Please note the insight contained within this article is for general information purposes only. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about this article and its supporting research. For further information, please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
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