Best ecommerce website builders 2024: Compare our top picks

Whether you run a business with ambitions to sell online – or you’re an individual who wants to – creating an attractive, functional and user-friendly ecommerce website is essential if you want to reach a wide audience and sell to them

In the past, this sort of website would require a great deal of web development knowledge and experience, meaning that it was either difficult or expensive for a lot of people to get online and sell. Fortunately, that has changed with the introduction and growth of ecommerce website builders.

Ecommerce website builders are designed to be easy to use and efficient, allowing anyone with the ambition to launch an online store without the need for high technical skill or massive investment.

On this page, we’ll provide a brief introduction to some of the best e-com web builders on the market, along with some comparisons to get you started.

Best ecommerce website builders: At a glance

Brand	Number of Plans	Cheapest Plan	Most Expensive Plan	Trustpilot Score
Shopify	5	£25/month	£344/month	1.2
WooCommerce	2	$39/month	$70/month	1.8
BigCommerce	4	£29/month	£299/month	1.5
Wix	4	£16/month	£119/month	4.6
Squarespace	3	£17/month	£35/month	1.4
Weebly	4	£5/month	£19/month	1.4

The information in the table above is correct as of the 4th March, 2024 but is far from comprehensive. If you’re interested in finding out more, take a look at the sections below. You can also check out our ecommerce website costs page if you’re interested in the prices you can expect to pay.

We have also included Trustpilot ratings above for comparison purposes. Remember that these scores should sometimes be taken with a pinch of salt as different numbers of reviews have been left for each company and so they may not be directly comparable.

Shopify – best for large-scale online stores
WooCommerce – best for WordPress sites
BigCommerce – best for lower fees
Wix – best for getting online easily
Squarespace – best for creative design and templates
Weebly – best for a free online store

Shopify

Shopify is a leading ecommerce website builder for individual users and businesses that are looking to launch a store online.

The platform offers a complete solution that provides users with the tools needed to set up their online business without fuss. The range of features on offer, including secure payments, inventory management and marketing functionality is designed to help manage an ecommerce store with success.

In the table below, we have collected some information for you to consider about the selection of plans available from Shopify. Have a look to get an idea as to which plan might suit you best, as well as the features you can expect to find.

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Starter	1	Social media sales Messaging app sales	£5/month
Basic	2	2% + 25p credit card rates 1.7 + 0p in-person rates Basic reporting	£25/month
Shopify	5	1.7% +2p credit card rates 1.6% + 0p in-person rates Professional reporting	£65/month
Advanced	15	1.5% +25p credit card rates 1.5% + 0p in-person rates Custom report builder	£344/month

All of Shopify’s plans allow users to access up to 1,000 inventory locations, meaning that your business can list as many products as that whether you’re paying for the cheapest or most expensive plan.

As you might expect from an ecommerce website builder, Shopify will also give you access to the sort of store functionality you’ll need, including sales channel integration, a point of sale (POS) system, inventory management, and discount code tracking.

The plans begin to differ when you consider the number of users you can have on-site at any one time. You’ll also notice that the transaction charges get lower the more you pay for your monthly plan.

Shopify’s Basic, Shopify and Advanced plans all allow you to create a single public storefront. This is where you can host your products and conduct your marketing efforts. You will also be provided with SSL certification, which helps to protect your site and users from malware and hackers.

If you’re considering Shopify then it is likely the plan you choose will depend, to some extent, on the stage your business is at. If you are an individual with ambitions to begin selling a handful of goods online, then you may not want to invest too heavily, to begin with, especially as you test the water.

A long-established business with an existing customer base, on the other hand, may be better off selecting a more expensive plan. If you know that you can expect to see a high volume of sales from the month you launch, then it’s possible that the cost of the monthly fee will be outweighed by the savings you see from Shopify taking a lower percentage of your sales.

With an ecommerce website builder, it makes sense to base your plan decision on your sales expectations; or on your expectations about growth. It might make sense to pay more in the short term if you know that the site will soon begin driving high volumes.

The final consideration that may impact your decision is the number of users that each Shopify plan allows. For anyone working alone, one seat will be enough. However, as soon as you need access for greater numbers of people, you might need to consider upgrading. If you need access for five users, for example, then you’ll need to choose the Shopify plan at least.

You can visit our how to use Shopify page to find out more. You can also visit our Shopify website builder review to see find out more about our view.

Shopify verdict

Shopify is an excellent option for most small businesses that offers an all-in-one solution. It provides everything you could need to get started.

However, where it stands out most is in the larger-volume plans on offer. Though the monthly fee will increase as you upgrade, you could easily save more money than you are spending.

With the cost of transaction fees dropping with each plan – beginning at 2% + 25p on the Basic plan and ending at 1.5% + 25p on the Advanced – you could see a real difference in how much you shell out on transactions once you start selling a lot of products.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is not an ecommerce website builder in the same way as other brands on this page, but is an important brand to consider. It offers a flexible ecommerce solution that integrates with other website builder platforms, such as WordPress.

WooCommerce offers a wide range of themes and extensions that are designed to make your online store successful.

In the table below, we’ve provided some basic insight into the WooCommerce plans that you can choose between.

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Essential	Unlimited	Customer support Live chat and email Code-free editing Pre-designed themes Automatic site backups Advanced security Google and social advertising Live shipping rates Order tracking Tax calculations	$39/month
Performance	Unlimited	All Essential plan features Automated abandoned cart recovery Event-based emails Discount shipping rates Product recommendations Up- and cross-selling tools Stock notifications	$70/month

While WooCommerce is not an ecommerce building platform, it does act like one when it’s deployed on WordPress sites. With it, you can select and customise templates and go about building an online store with ease.

When it comes to selecting between the Essential and Performance plans, there are a few factors to consider. Firstly though, you should think about what level of ecommerce functionality you want. For many users and businesses who are just starting out, the Essential plan is more than likely to offer enough functionality to begin with. However, for larger-scale organisations, some of the Performance plan features may be worth considering.

Some of the most important considerations that separate the Performance plan from the Essential are access to things like automatic cart recovery and email marketing tools. These are the sorts of features that can work well for larger businesses that recognise that they are losing their money by not investing in these areas.

An online store with a large number of potential customers who are failing to purchase, for example, could stand to benefit from the automated basket recovery system. Likewise, an online store that has collected a lot of contact information while operating could use email marketing as a powerful tool for customer retention.

WooCommerce verdict

WooCommerce offers an excellent all-in-one solution for anyone building their website on WordPress. Indeed, for those users, it’s the best option.

It adds a wide range of products to your dashboard, allowing you to easily manage inventory, pricing, offers and marketing without having to leave your main website.

When used in combination with the enormous catalogue of WordPress plugins, it can be an amazing tool for small businesses, individual sellers and enterprise organisations all at once.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a well-known ecommerce website builder that caters to businesses of any size – from small online shops run by a single person to large businesses with hundreds of products.

The platform offers a range of templates that are mobile-responsive and come with a range of features and functions, including inventory management and multi-channel sales features. BigCommerce is also well known for its scalability, making it a good choice for small businesses with ambitious plans to grow.

In the table below, we’ve provided some basic information about the plans on offer from BigCommerce, along with comparisons for cost and the features available.

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Standard	Unlimited	0% transaction fees Unlimited products Unlimited file storage and bandwidth Online storefront Up to 3 multi-storefronts ($30/month per additional front) Point of sale Mobile app Coupons, discounts and gift card tools Professional reporting	$29/month
Plus	Unlimited	All Standard plan features Up to 5 additional storefronts Customer groups and segmentation Abandoned cart saver Stored credit cards	$79/month
Pro	Unlimited	All Plus plan features Up to 8 additional storefronts Google customer reviews Product filtering Custom SSL Custom product filtering	$299/month
Enterprise	Unlimited	All Pro plan features Bespoke	Bespoke quote

For any users that are just getting started in the online world, BigCommerce’s Standard plan is likely to provide enough functionality for your early-stage venture. So, if you’re starting a new online store from scratch we would recommend choosing this plan as you begin to scale up. If you are planning to move online with an already established business behind you, then you might want to consider the more expensive monthly plans.

The first factor that might dictate the plan you choose is the total value of sales allowed.

The Standard plan allows up to $50,000 worth of sales
The Plus plan allows up to $180,000
The Pro plan allows up to $400,000

The total value is calculated on a 12-month basis.

If you know that you are not expecting to exceed any one of the amounts above, then it’s likely that you can use the total value as a guide for which plan you use. If you are expecting your sales to exceed $400,000, then you will need to get in touch with BigCommerce to discuss the bespoke Enterprise offering.

Outside of sales value, you should also consider the set-up of your store. For any business planning to build just a single storefront, then the Standard plan offers enough range. Even if you were planning to add up to 3 more, you could with the Standard plan, though you would pay $30/month for each of these.

However, if you know that you will be launching more than three additional storefronts, you will need to consider one of the more expensive plans, depending on how many you will be launching.

The final consideration is around how complex an ecommerce system you want to run. The Standard plan offers a great deal of functionality, but stops short of offering things like abandoned cart saving features; this would allow users to return to a cart without the need to refill their basket. If you know, or expect that you are likely to miss out on sales due to abandoned carts, then this may be an additional cost that is worthwhile.

Overall, the plan you choose should be based, primarily, on the stage your business is at. If you are just launching, the Standard BigCommerce plan is probably a good choice, offering more than enough functionality to get started. If you are an established business already, then make your decision based on the factors we’ve mentioned above to make sure you maximise your return on investment.

For more information, you might want to visit our how to use BigCommerce page.

BigCommerce verdict

BigCommerce is another one-stop shop for online retail. While it may not be the best choice for a small online store, it comes into its own when selling at scale, offering lower fees than competitors.

If you’re launching from scratch, you may be better off with one of the simpler builders on this page – Wix, for example. However, if you’re launching an established brand online, or if you have very high expectations for growth, you may soon see the benefit of BigCommerce.

Wix

Wix is a very popular website builder that is known for its easy-to-use drag-and-drop functionality. While the brand has been mostly known for its general website builder functions, it has also developed several ecommerce features.

With Wix, you can easily create an effective and appealing online store, with features that allow you to manage your inventory and process payments easily.

In the table below, we’ve provided an overview of Wix’s ecommerce-enabled plans, with some price and feature comparisons included for your consideration.

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Core	5	50GB storage Basic marketing suite Accept payments Basic ecommerce	£16/month
Business	10	100GB storage Standard marketing suite Standard analytics Accept payments Standard ecommerce	£25/month
Business Elite	15	Unlimited storage Advanced marketing suite Advanced anayltics Accept payments Advanced ecommerce Advanced developer platform	£119/month
Enterprise	Unlimited	All Business Elite features Multi-site management Single-sign on (SSO) Account manager Custom templates Custom integrations	Bespoke

For a beginner to the online world who is launching an ecommerce store, Wix is likely to be an excellent choice. Though its most basic plan does not offer ecommerce functionality, the ones in the table above do, though the complexity of those features varies.

All of Wix’s ecommerce plans offer up to 50,000 products as standard, along with abandoned cart recovery. From that point, the plans differ slightly.

For anyone looking to launch a business from scratch, we would recommend the Core plan as your first introduction to the world of ecommerce. This offers a selection of basic ecommerce features, including the ability to accept payments and track site performance with access to basic analytics. This plan requires a lower level of investment than the others on offer, and so could provide a good foundation for getting started.

Of course, not everyone is new to the business world. If you have a real-world business already and are looking to move that online, then a more expensive plan may be the better choice. This is especially true if you know that some of your pre-existing customers are likely to begin using your online platform. In this case, the improved ecommerce offering could be more suitable.

Wix’s Business plan, for example, offers advanced shipping options, which could be useful for more developed businesses. The Business Elite plan, on the other hand, also adds a loyalty programme feature, which can incentivise return shoppers, as well as larger dropshipping scalability. The number of currencies you can accept also grows with each plan, as does the number of reviews you can have on the site.

Wix verdict

Wix might not be a pure ecommerce web builder, but it does stand out as being the easiest-to-use option on the market.

It also can come out as much cheaper for those starting out, offering ecommerce functionality once you start paying for the £16/month plan. It doesn’t necessarily offer as ecom-focused an experience as brands like Shopify, but it does provide the simplest entry point to the world of online retail.

If you’re launching a side hustle and don’t expect massive sales anytime soon, Wix is among the best builders to choose.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a well-known website builder that has operated primarily in the web builder space. However, in recent years it has developed ecommerce functionality that can be used easily by users who are planning to launch an online store.

Squarespace is known for providing attractive and efficient templates that are mobile-optimised with a range of built-in features and functions on offer. From inventory management to marketing tools, it is likely to offer a lot of the things that an online business would need.

In the table below, we have provided some introductory information for the range of plans on offer from Squarespace, along with some basic price and feature comparisons to consider.

Plan	Number of users	Features	Cost
Business	Unlimited	All Personal plan features Advanced analytics Ecommerce functionality 3% transaction fees Accept payments Professional email	£17/month
Commerce (Basic)	Unlimited	All Business plan features 0% transaction fees Advanced merchandising	£23/month
Commerce (Advanced)	Unlimited	All Commerce (Basic) plan features Advanced shipping Advanced discounting Subscriptions	£35/month

Squarespace is best known for its dedicated to visuals; its focus on high-quality aesthetic decisions has made it a great choice for users and businesses in the creative sectors. On this basis, it might be a good choice if your plan is to launch an ecommerce business in one of those sectors.

Beyond that, you should consider several factors when deciding which plan will be most suitable for you. As a rule, all of Squarespace’s ecommerce plans include certain features, with at least basic ecommerce functionality, advanced web analytics and professional email options. From this point, what’s on offer will vary depending on the plan you choose.

Transaction fees are one important factor to consider. For example, with the Business plan – Squarespace’s cheapest ecom plan – you can expect to pay a 3% transaction fee; this means that the sales on your site will be slightly less valuable to you. The Commerce (Basic) and Commerce (Advanced) plans, on the other hand, do not charge transaction fees.

Transaction fees may be less of a concern if you are not expecting to have a huge number of sales when you get started. The cost to you will be present, but may mean less if you are not seeing a large volume of sales; whether the cost makes sense will depend on your projections. However, if you expect to see a large volume of sales in the short term, it may well be worth selecting a more expensive plan straight away, as the additional monthly cost might be balanced out by the savings on transaction fees.

After transaction fees, you will want to consider the tools that come with your chosen plan. The Commerce (Basic) plan introduces merchandising tools that may be useful, including things like related products and stock alerts. This sort of feature can go a long way to improving customer retention and sales value.

The Commerce (Advanced) plan includes these merchandising tools but also adds on advanced shipping options, discounting features as well as the option to sell subscriptions. Whether these are valuable to you will likely depend on your expectations in the short and long term.

Squarespace verdict

Like Wix, Squarespace offers a much cheaper entry point for those looking to try their hand at online retail. It isn’t quite as cheap, or quite as easy to use. But it makes up for that with design excellence.

For those small businesses or individuals looking to launch an online store focused on aesthetics, Squarespace is a great choice. We’re thinking specifically about brands that work in the creative space. If you’re starting a photography website, for example, Squarespace is well worth a look.

Weebly

Weebly is a website builder that is known for prioritising usability, making it a good choice for beginners in the online world.

The website builder offers a range of functions, with responsive templates, analytics and ecommerce functionality added in. This combination can mean that it is a good choice for both small businesses and personal users.

In the table below, we’ve provided some information about the range of ecommerce plans that Weebly offers. You can take a look to compare the prices and features you can expect from them.

Plan	Features	Cost
Free	SSL security 3rd-party embed code Basic ecommerce	£0/month
Personal	Everything in Free plan Custom domain connections Ecommerce digital goods Shipping calculator Shipping labels	£5/month
Professional	Everything in Personal plan Advanced analytics Ad-free Password protection Phone support	£9/month
Performance	Everything in Professional plan PayPal payments Abandoned cart emails Review features Advanced ecommerce Priority support	£19/month

Owned by parent company Square, Weebly has in recent years become primarily an ecommerce platform, making it a good choice for online store building.

All of the plans offered in the table above, including the Free plan, provide at least basic functionality. Do bear in mind though, that the more you spend, the more advanced features you’ll be able to use.

The purpose of your website will be the thing to consider if you’re trying to decide if Weebly is right for you. If you are planning to launch a basic site with limited sales potential, then the Free plan could be exactly what you need. However, if you expect a higher volume of sales then you might want to invest more.

Which of Weebly’s ecommerce plans you choose will depend on the functionality you want to use. If you want access to sales analytics, for example, that can help you to optimise sales performance then you’ll need to pay for a plan. With this tool, you can begin to understand which pages and which products drive performance for you, which can help to provide guidance on where your efforts should be spent.

You should also consider other factors, such as shipping calculators, which are only available on paid plans. Likewise, if you want to accept payments through PayPal or have item reviews on-site then you’ll need to choose Weebly most expensive plan. This plan also offers abandoned cart emails, which can be an excellent way to re-engage customers who might have left the site without making a purchase.

Weebly is one of the only website builders to offer a free ecommerce plan. This means that it is a good choice for anyone who is getting into the online world for the first time, with ambitions to sell to digital consumers. Of course, as soon as your business is grown, or growing, then you might want to consider opting for one of their more advanced packages.

To find out more, you can visit our how to use Weebly page. Or, if you want find out more about our view, you can visit our Weebly ecommerce website builder review.

Weebly verdict

If you don’t want to spend any money yet, Weebly is the pick for you. While you won’t have access to some standard features that you would get elsewhere – a custom domain, for example – Weebly does mean that you can try things out with very low risk.

The free plan allows you to set up a website and begin selling without paying anything. Of course, you won’t get anything too advanced on your website, but you can begin to test the water.

If you have a following on social media, for example, and want to see if you can monetise that online, Weebly may provide an easy way to test some products.

How to choose the best ecommerce website builder

Deciding on the best ecommerce website builder for you will depend on a number of factors. There is a range of standard features that you can expect to find with all of them, with specific specialities to consider too. Additionally, each brand offers a range of plans that provide access to different levels of function that you should consider.

The first step when it comes to choosing between these ecom builders is to understand what you need as either a business or personal user.

Do you need basic sales functionality?
What volume of sales do you expect to see?
Do you want advanced functions to support customer retention?
What sort of marketing do you want your site to support?

These are all among the most important factors to think about when you’re making your decision.

As a first step, we recommend that you pull together a list of your must-have features and nice-to-haves. A plan that offers the functions you need in these lists will likely be a good choice; from that point, you can decide which brand matches your needs best.

The final consideration, which is always important, is cost. Think about how much you are willing to spend in a month, but also think about what you are expecting to make. The cost of transaction fees, for example, can quickly add up if you are selling at scale, and could quickly outweigh additional monthly costs for some online stores.

How much does it cost to build an ecommerce website?

Cost is one of the most important factors to consider when you’re launching an ecommerce website.

Before you estimate costs, there are two main routes you can go down. You can build an online store using a website builder, including the ones mentioned on this page, or you can opt for a more customised website development process.

If you choose to use a website builder, you’ll pay a monthly fee. The examples below include the costs for the cheapest ecom-enabled plans from the providers on this page:

Shopify – £25/month
BigCommerce – £29/month
Wix – £16/month
Squarespace – £17/month
Weebly – £0/month

Bear in mind that you may need to pay additional fees for extra services or features.

On the other hand, if you go down the website development route, your fees will vary considerably based on a host of factors. Broadly though, you might expect the following costs:

Domain hosting – £7 to £40/year
Web hosting – £3/month
Web designer – £50/hour
Ecommerce enablement – $39/month
Payment gateway fees – 2.9% plus flat fee/transaction

As above, you may encounter additional charges. You may also find that some features may be considerably more. Hosting, for example, will cost more for a higher-traffic site due to the need for additional bandwidth.

While an ecommerce website builder will roll a lot of your essential features into one monthly payment that’s easy to budget for, you may get a greater level of flexibility with the custom development route.

If you’re just starting though, and if you don’t have a lot of experience with web development, the website builder route will normally be the safer option to take.

Best ecommerce website builders: Final thoughts

Choosing the right ecommerce builder from this page might seem like a tricky task. With so many providers around, and with each of them offering bespoke plans, there is a lot to consider.

As we have said above though, you should first think about exactly what you need. This is the most important step when it comes to choosing. If only one or two of the brands offer this range of features, at the price you are willing to pay, then it’s possible that you can more easily reach a decision.

You should also bear in mind that the right builder for you might not be the same as the other sites you know of. Even if one brand seems to be more popular overall with other users, that does not necessarily mean it’s the choice you should make.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

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