8 Best Ecommerce Website Builders For Small Business

It can be tricky to figure out which ecommerce builder is perfect for your small business. Instead of leaving you to scramble around and try to collect all the information, we’ve put this handy comparison chart together for you.

Just use these little arrows below to scroll through and compare the eight best platforms, and compare features, pricing, and star ratings. There’s also some reviews attached if you want more information!

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Wix	Shopify	Squarespace	Square Online	BigCommerce	Zyro	Big Cartel	Shift4Shop
Overall rating 4.7	Overall rating 4.6	Overall rating 4.5	Overall rating 4.2	Overall rating 4.2	Overall rating 3.6	Overall rating 3.1	Overall rating 3.0
Starting Price $27 $13.50 until Dec 8	Starting Price $29	Starting Price $23	Starting Price $12	Starting Price $29.95	Starting Price $14.99 $3.39 with code WBE	Starting Price $9.99	Starting Price
Transaction Fees None	Transaction Fees 0% – 2%	Transaction Fees 0% – 3%	Transaction Fees None	Transaction Fees None	Transaction Fees 0% – 1%	Transaction Fees None	Transaction Fees None
Free plan or free trial Free plan	Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial	Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial	Free plan or free trial Free plan	Free plan or free trial 15-day free trial	Free plan or free trial No free trial for ecommerce plans	Free plan or free trial Free plan	Free plan or free trial
Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unlimited	Bandwidth Unspecified	Bandwidth Unlimited
Storage space 20GB – 50GB	Storage space Unlimited	Storage space Unlimited	Storage space Unlimited	Storage space Unlimited	Storage space Unlimited	Storage space Unspecified	Storage space Unspecified
Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited	Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited	Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited	Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited	Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited	Number of products on cheapest plan 100	Number of products on cheapest plan 5	Number of products on cheapest plan Unlimited
Payment options 11 including: Paypal, Wix Payments, Stripe, Square	Payment options 100+ including: Shopify Payments, Paypal, Klarna	Payment options 3: Stripe, Paypal, Square	Payment options 4: Credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Square	Payment options 36 including: Paypal, Square, Stripe, Klarna	Payment options 14+ Paypal, Stripe	Payment options 5 including: Venmo, Apple Pay, Stripe	Payment options 100+ including: Paypal, Square, Stripe
Sales features 4.4	Sales features 4.5	Sales features 3.4	Sales features 3.5	Sales features 4.6	Sales features 3.4	Sales features 2.3	Sales features 3.4
Claim 50% off	Visit Shopify	View Squarespace	Visit Square	View Bigcommerce	Visit Zyro	Visit BigCartel	Visit Shift4Shop
See our Wix review	See our Shopify review	See our Squarespace review	See our Square Online review	See our BigCommerce review	See our Zyro Ecommerce review	See our Big Cartel review	See our Shift4Shop review

Further Information

• To compare these ecommerce builders side-by-side , check out our Online Store Builders Comparison Chart.
• Discover how to enhance your ecommerce site with our guide to the Best Online Business Tools.

Best for small online stores

Price Range: $27 to $59 per month (billed annually)

Editor's Choice

Wix

Best ecommerce builder for small businesses

4.7

out of 5

• Easiest to use
• 800+ template designs
• Most popular in testing

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $59 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Really easy to use
• It has the best features
• Has marketing, accounting, and blogging

Cons

• Less powerful big data tools
• Can't swap templates later on
• Help and support not as great

Read Review

Visit Site

Features

In our research, Wix scored particularly well in three main areas: value for money, website features, and sales features. It also came in second for ease of use after Squarespace with a beginner-friendly score of 4 out of 5.

Wix’s plans are rich in features, yet its prices are a lot cheaper than ecommerce competitors like Shopify. In short, Wix gives you total creative control, makes building an online store easy for beginners, and packs tons into its ecommerce plans without hiking up its prices.

The main area where Wix didn’t perform quite as well in our research was in the help and support category. In our research, we gave it a 3.8 out of 5. That said, Wix does have a range of support channels including phone support, live chat, and articles in the Wix Help Center, offering users 24/7 support.

However, Wix has more than enough to offer a small business looking to get started online.

Wix is a dream for tech beginners – it’s easy to use, and lets anyone build an awesome online store. You can also add product videos, which is a great feature.

Templates

Wix’s template design and level of creative control is impressive. You simply drag images, text boxes, and more onto your page, then drop them into position wherever you want. This drag-and-drop editing style is super easy, and gives you total creative freedom over the design of your store.

Pricing

Wix lets you create a store at no cost, so you can build your ecommerce empire’s foundations without spending a dime. It’s the second-best value builder commerce builder we tested, earning a 4.4 out of 5. However, to actually sell products, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Business Basic plan, which costs $27 per month.

As you can see, there’s plenty of reasons why Wix is our #1 recommended ecommerce website builder for small businesses. But don’t just take our word for it. We spoke to Claudia, founder of The Vegan Bakes, to find out about her experience of using Wix to build her small bakery website.

User Review: The Vegan Bakes

Claudia runs The Vegan Bakes from her kitchen at home. She launched her business after turning vegan and struggling to get hold of any yummy vegan treats. Believing no one should have to miss out on a little indulgence, Claudia chose to create a Wix online store to sell her brownies, cookies, and cakes.

I would definitely recommend Wix to anyone looking to create their own website at a low cost. It’s so straight forward to use and you can personalize every part of your site.

Why did you want t build a website?

I wanted to build a website to sell my bakes online to post all over the UK. Having a website means I have a platform to sell to a large audience.

Why did you choose to build your website on Wix?

Wix was the first platform after WordPress that I tried and I love how easy it was to use. I had a look at Squarespace too as I know a lot of people use it, but I struggled to get to grips with it so stuck with Wix.

How easy was it to build your website with Wix?

Wix is super easy to use, it almost reminds me of using Microsoft Word as it uses a simple drag-and-drop system.

What do you like most about Wix and why?

I love how simple it is to navigate and create beautiful sites. I wanted a minimal, modern and professional looking site and this was so easy to create on Wix. I selected a completely blank template to allow 100% personalization. This way I could make my website exactly how I wanted it to be.

What was most challenging about building your website with Wix?

I wanted to add a subscription option to my website to allow people to get boxes of brownies and cookies delivered to their door each month! Initially when I was looking this option wasn’t available, but I got creative and managed to use an app to create the subscription functionality.

Do you think Wix is good value for money?

I was trying to keep costs down when launching my vegan bakery as I didn’t have the money to spend on branding and website design. I think Wix is pretty affordable for what it is. I made a one-off payment for the year and it works out at a low cost per month.

Wix Has Enabled Claudia to Sell Her Baked Goods

Wix could tick all of your ecommerce boxes. You can learn more or get started by visiting Wix’s website!

I Want to Make My Online Store on Wix

Further Information

• Like the sound of Wix? Read our in-depth Wix ecommerce review.
• Or see how Wix compares to Shopify here.

Best for larger businesses

Price Range: $29 – $299 per month

Editor's Choice

Shopify

Best for larger businesses

4.6

out of 5

• Best design flexibility
• Over 3,000 apps available
• Multi-platform selling

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Second best sales features on the market
• Enormous app market
• Brilliant inventory system

Cons

• Expensive for small businesses
• Has transaction fees
• Tools won't benefit if selling few items

Read Review

Visit Site

Features

If you’re serious about selling and want to give your small business a boost, Shopify has all the tools you’ll need with an impressive sales features score of 4.5 out of 5! And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, there’s an enormous app store for you to browse!

Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce platform, meaning it’s designed purely to help you build an online store. That’s why it has more advanced sales tools than website builders like Squarespace and Zyro.

In our research, Shopify received the highest customer score. We calculate this score by getting people to try out the builder, and then rate it based on their experience. Shopify was the people’s favorite for building an online store, and when customer retention can result in a 25–29% increase in revenue alone, it’s important not to alienate them.

An especially great feature of Shopify is that it comes with built-in dropshipping tools. So if you’re a small business struggling to find storage for your products, Shopify could be your perfect solution.

If you’re already selling, Shopify has apps that let you sync your inventories, making it easy to manage all your sales from one place. Shopify also has great multichannel selling options, including integration with Instagram, Facebook, and even Amazon and eBay.

Pricing

Shopify didn’t wow us in every department, though – the most significant area where it fell down was value for money with a score of 3 out of 5. A lot of Shopify’s sales tools are actually too advanced for small businesses, meaning you’re paying for features you might not need for a long time. When you’re on a tight budget, every cent counts!

Shopify’s pricing plans start from $29 per month, although you can save money by signing up to an annual plan rather than paying on a monthly basis.

You’ll save 10% if you sign up for one year, but you’ll save 20% if you sign up for two years, which means you could save almost $190 per year on the Shopify plan which you could put towards travel expenses, office equipment, or some new business cards!

Shopify’s powerful tools won’t benefit you if you just want to sell one or two products. However, if you’re ambitious and want to give your store a solid foundation, then Shopify has the full package to support your small business.

Want to Try Shopify?

93% of people said they would recommend Shopify – find out why with Shopify’s 3-day free trial.

I Want to Try Shopify For Free!

Further Information

• Read our full Shopify Review to find out if it could be the perfect ecommerce builder for your small business.

Best value for money

Price Range: $23 – $49 per month (billed annually)

Best Value For Money

Squarespace

Best value for money

4.5

out of 5

• Best website designs
• Great in-built features
• Ideal for creatives

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Excellent social media integration
• The best designed templates
• Flexible creative control

Cons

• Lacks payment options
• Only two plans dedicated to ecommerce
• Not most scalable choice

Read Review

Visit Site

Templates

If you’re looking to build an eye-catching portfolio or online business, then make space for this platform. Why? Because Squarespace stores stand out.

In our research, Squarespace has a respectable score when it came to design with a 4 out of 5.  Its online store templates are modern, sleek, and built to show off your products. You can even rebuild your template any time you like – perfect for any rebrands you might have down the line.

Features

Unlike Wix, Squarespace wasn’t so strong in our testing of its sales features. For example, it does support multichannel selling, but only through Instagram – a pretty limited offering compared to builders like Shopify.

That said, with Squarespace’s built-in tools, you’ll still get everything you need to set a small store up for success. You can even add extra sales features from Squarespace’s app store, Squarespace Extensions.

Overall, Squarespace is a great choice if you’re after a superb-looking storefront.

Pricing

Even the Squarespace price plans look good – if you sign up for a year, you’ll pay just $23 per month on the cheapest ecommerce plan (or $33 per month on a month by month contract).

However, you can get the $23/month plan for only $20.70/month when you use our exclusive Squarespace offer code on your first purchase. Simply enter code WBE at the checkout to save 10% on any Squarespace plan.

Want to Start Building With Squarespace?

Do you want tons of creative control and a stunning online store? Squarespace sounds like it could be for you. Find out more by visiting Squarespace.

I Want to See Squarespace!

Further Information

• Read more about Squarespace with our ecommerce review.
• Or, check out our Shopify vs Squarespace article.

Best for ability to sell for free

Price Range: $12 – $72 per month (Free option available)

Square Online

Best for ability to sell for free

4.2

out of 5

• Easy-to-use dashboard
• Easily add products
• Great marketing features

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $12 - $79 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• You can begin selling for free!
• It has Artificial Design Intelligence
• Fairly easy to use

Cons

• Lacks payment options
• Limitations in customization
• Small learning curb when you start

Read Review

Visit Site

Ease of Use

Square is a payment processing giant which bought Weebly – the popular website builder – in 2018. The result is Square Online, which combines Square’s features with Weebly’s website building platform. 

You sign up through Square Online, and get extra features, but you’re still using Weebly’s building software to actually create your store.

This is especially great news for beginners, as Weebly is a straight forward builder that uses drag-and-drop editing blocks. However, it also comes with Weebly’s limitations, namely the limited customization options.

Square Online uses Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) to build you a store that’s tailored to your needs. This is the same method used by builders like GoDaddy, asking questions about your store to create a personalized layout for your website.

Features

So, why use Square Online instead of Weebly? Well, Square Online comes with extra features and integrations that Weebly doesn’t, such as tracking customer behavior and creating custom invoices.

It also uses its AI tech to help you follow best practice when adding products, which was a feature that really stood out when we tested Square Online. For example, it can identify products and suggest the category name for you, saving time.

Pricing

Because of these features, we recommend Square Online to sellers who want to get the most value for their money – it scores an impressive 4.5 out of 5 for value for money in our research!

Square Online’s platform is easy to use and affordable, but it doesn’t sacrifice great features, either.

One of the most obvious things to shout about with Square Online is the fact it has a free plan for you to sell on – a very rare offer that isn’t available with most ecommerce builders. Square Online has four plans, ranging from $0 to $72 per month (billed annually).

Want to See More of Square Onine?

Does Square Online sound like the ecommerce builder for you? Build and sell for free, and discover if it’s the perfect choice for your store!

Show Me More of Square Online

Best for a purely online business

Price Range: $29.95 – $249.95 per month

BigCommerce

Best for a purely online business

4.2

out of 5

• No platform fees
• multi-channel integration
• Strong SEO support

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $29.95 - $299.95 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Ideal for scaling your business
• No transaction fees
• Has the most sales features

Cons

• Difficult to use
• Features take time to learn too
• Better for larger stores

Read Review

Visit Site

Features

BigCommerce has the most sales features of any ecommerce builder, meaning it’s less reliant on apps than platforms like Shopify. In fact, BigCommerce has the best sales features of any ecommerce platform we’ve tested, with an impressive feature rating of 4.6 out of 5!

This can help keep your costs down, but it also means that BigCommerce is the most scalable ecommerce builder on the market. So, if you’ve got big dreams for your small business, this is the best choice for you!

BigCommerce also lets you sell across a variety of channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, and Walmart. This lets you expand your store’s reach while still keeping costs low.

The main snag with BigCommerce is that a lot of its tools are geared towards helping businesses grow rapidly, and supporting large stores. If you’re not looking to scale, then you’ll find you’re paying for features you don’t need for your small business.

It was for this reason that BigCommerce scored unexceptionally for value for money in our research, with a score of 3 out of 5. It also fell down in our ease of use testing because of the complex terminology it uses. This makes it less than ideal for a small business wanting to get online quickly, and with minimum hassle.

However, BigCommerce unsurprisingly received high scores for its sales features, and it has great SEO tools to help your business get found via Google.

Pricing

If you want to build with BigCommerce, you’ve got three ecommerce plans to choose from – the cheapest starts at $29.95 per month. It has a 15 day free trial so you can give it a go before you commit to a plan!

Overall, BigCommerce is ideal if you want some advanced tools under your belt as you grow your small business. It’s undoubtedly a powerful ecommerce builder, but for most small stores, it sits in the middle of the pack.

Feel Like Trying BigCommerce?

Do you have big plans for your small business? BigCommerce is your best choice. Make the most out of its 15 day free trial!

Yes, I want to try BigCommerce!

Further Information

• Does BigCommerce sound ideal? Check out our full BigCommerce Review to see if it ticks all your boxes.

#6 Zyro

Go to the top

Best for hobbyists to supplement their income

Price Range: $4.24 – $12.74 per month (billed yearly)

Zyro

Best for hobbyists to supplement their income

3.6

out of 5

• High renewal prices
• Helpful grid layout
• Clean, logical templates

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $2.69 - $39.99 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Offer Integration with POS systems
• Test the waters for starting a business
• Website editor offers great UX

Cons

• Interfaces don’t integrate well
• Lacks instructions
• No free trial

Read Review

Visit Site

For UX design enthusiasts and business hobbyists, Zyro is the right builder for you. It has POS integration, which means that the hardware and software help your customers purchase via the online checkout.

With a straightforward design editor, Zyro lets you create aesthetically pleasing storefronts – quickly. Although it’s got some great features, users did mention it’s a challenge to go hunting for these features in the builder.

Features

In our research, Zyro scores a 3.4/5  for its website features, placing it slightly below the average. The main issue with Zyro’s ecommerce is its usability requires a lot of patience. It has some good features but many lack the depth of other competitors.

Where Zyro did a stand up job was in the design category. That said, if you’re running a small business Zyro might not be worth the price.

However, if you want omnichannel design, product pages, and to let your design creativity out, Zyro might be the place for you.

Pricing

Zyro has its Business plan for $4.24 per month. Zyro does weekly discounts of 72% on year plans and up to 80% on twice-yearly plans!

Feel Like Building with Zyro?

Love design and want a fairly easy to use ecommerce builder, that might not have the depth of features, take a look at Zyro.

I want to build with Zyro!

Further Information

• Read our full Zyro Review to learn whether it’s the best choice for you.

Best for independent artists

Price range: $0 – $29.99 per month

Big Cartel

Best for independent artists

Okay

3.1

out of 5

• Sell online for fee
• Selling individual pieces
• Clean navigation

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $9.99 - $19.99 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Has a free plan
• designed for one-off products and art
• User friendly prompts on navigation

Cons

• Missing many features
• Not really scalable
• Only 5 products on free plan

Read Review

Visit Site

Features

Big Cartel’s main selling point is that you can build, publish, and even sell without having to pay a cent. That’s pretty rare. With most other ecommerce website builders, you have to be on a paid plan to sell through your site, but Big Cartel breaks this mold.

However, the phrase “you get what you pay for” springs to mind, because Big Cartel is an extremely basic ecommerce builder. It comes last in four out of seven of our research categories, making it the worst builder for:

• Website Features – for example, Big Cartel doesn’t have any built-in blogging tools.
• Sales Features – it’s missing important features; for example, it’s not PCI compliant, and there’s no abandoned cart recovery.
• Help and Support – you only get help through email support Monday to Friday, or via the Help Center.
• Value for Money – although you can sell for free, the features you get on the paid plans are very limited.

When you compare it to other free ecommerce small website builders like Square Online, Big Cartel struggles to compete. But no builder is all bad, and Big Cartel does have its own benefits that earn it a place in our list of the best ecommerce builders for small businesses.

If you’re starting small and don’t mind staying that way, Big Cartel is built for you.

It’s designed to help artists, makers, and creatives sell their products online, meaning it’s ideal for selling a small number of unique items. You can’t bulk upload products, so be prepared to add each one separately!

You can be sure that Big Cartel isn’t going to overwhelm you with tons of features you don’t need, making it easy to keep your small business manageable.

Pricing

One of the best things about Big Cartel is its affordable price plans. These are very budget-friendly, but unfortunately, you do not get a lot of features. We could only award it a 2.4 out of 5 for value of money as when compared to other builders like Square Online which has better features and lets you sell for free, it can’t compete.

Big Cartel’s free plan lets you sell up to five products, and comes with very basic features. The cheapest paid plan costs $9.99 per month, unlocks all Big Cartel’s features, and lets you sell up to 25 products. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time.

Want to Give Big Cartel a Go?

Are you interested in Big Cartel? Find out more by visiting its website.

I Want to Try Big Cartel

Further Information

• Read our full Big Cartel Ecommerce Review for more details.

#8 Shift4Shop

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Others do it better

Price Range: $17.10 – $206.10 per month

Shift4Shop (was 3dcart)

Others do it better

Okay

3

out of 5

• Good SEO prompts
• Change template anytime
• Free plan (US users)

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $29 - $229 / month

See Pros & Cons

Pros

• Excellent inventory system
• Can change your theme at any time
• SEO prompts

Cons

• Least likely to recommend by users
• No mobile app for selling on the go
• Overly complicated

Read Review

Visit Site

Features

Shift4Shop is the opposite to Squarespace. It relies on powerful back-end tools and inventory features, focusing less on creativity and design – Shift4Shop scores a disappointing 2 out of 5 for its designs, making it the worst option for creatives on this list.

With no mobile app, you can’t edit your site on the go, but Shift4Shop does come with a surprisingly good range of built-in sales tools. This will also save you from buying tons of apps, which can see costs quickly rack up.

Shift4Shop scores the same as website builder Zyro for its sales features, with 3.4 out of 5. That said, Shift4Shop comes with a great inventory system, and plenty of management control in the backend. It also reformats your site for you when you change themes, earning it points in the design category.

Ease of Use

However, Shift4Shop fell down when we put it to the test. Our users who tried it out gave it the lowest customer score, making it the small business ecommerce builder people were least likely to recommend. It’s also the most difficult ecommerce platform to use on this list, with an ease of use rating of just 2.8 out of 5!

Pricing

Shift4Shop’s cheapest plan is $29 per month, which is the same as Shopify’s lowest price plan. With this in mind, you’ll get more for your money elsewhere.

Want to Try Shift4Shop?

Are you interested in Shift4Shop? Find out more by visiting its website.

I Want to Try Shift4Shop

Further Information

• Check out our Shift4Shop Ecommerce Review for more detail.

Best Ecommerce Website Builders for Small Business: Recap

Go to the top

There are many website builder options for your small business. These builders let you create an awesome online store for a relatively low cost, helping you get off the ground and into the world of ecommerce.

To recap, the 8 best ecommerce website builders for small businesses are:

This list of eight is a great fix for small businesses looking to get started online. However, as your store grows, so will your website’s needs.

If your store does grow quickly – and hopefully it will – you might want to consider switching to a big business-friendly platform like BigCommerce or Shopify, both of which are ideal for fast-growing ecommerce stores.

For most small businesses, we recommend one of our top three. You should use:

• Wix if you want to get the most out of your budget – or if you’re a beginner who wants total creative freedom over your site’s design.
• Shopify if you’re serious about selling, and want powerful tools and an endless choice of apps to help you run your business.
• Squarespace if you want a sleek, modern design template for your business website, tons of creative control, and all your features built-in.

Unless you have very specific needs, we don’t recommend Big Cartel or Shift4Shop – they’re right for some small businesses, but most will find them restrictive and time consuming.

For now, we recommend trying one of the other builders listed above for your small business. Don’t forget that each platform either offers a free plan or a free trial, so you can begin building the foundations for your future ecommerce empire at no personal cost.