Are you looking for the best eCommerce platforms?
You’re in the right place.
In this article, we’ll review the 10 most popular best eCommerce platforms. They all provide the eCommerce solution, but at the same time, they cover different merchants’ needs and require different levels of technical readiness.
For easier comparison, we’ve highlighted 6 criteria for the best eCommerce platforms to look through:
- Performance
- Features
- Ease of use
- Integration
- Design & theme
- Price
These elements will help you see the big picture and decide which platform fits your business need, whether it’s a B2B, B2C or C2C model.
Let’s answer the question “Which is the best eCommerce platform should I use?” by looking at the top 10 choices.
Table of Contents
Criteria for best eCommerce platforms
Before getting to choose a platform for your business, it’s vital to know what to look out for. This section would guide you on what to check when trying to choose the best eCommerce platform.
- Performance: this factor is based on storefront page load time, Google speed, SEO features, and ranking.
- Features: What you need for marketing activities.
- Ease of use: refers to beginner/developer friendliness, support availability, partner/community availability, number of apps/themes/plugins and their ranking.
- Integration: this element looks at multi-channel selling, the compatibility with different business models and marketing automation integration.
- Design and theme: based on the availability and number of free themes, themes responsiveness, and design style.
- Price: of course, you have to consider the price. This factor looks at the price of a subscription plan, options inside, transaction fee, and payment method.
Top 10 best eCommerce platforms comparison
1. WooCommerce
If you’re familiar with WordPress, WooCommerce is absolutely for you. We can say this is one of the best eCommerce platforms for SEO. It can turn any website into a functional eCommerce store. Available extensions in payment, social media, email marketing, 1-click selling, and shipping, makes it easier for you to run an online store. All you have to do is install it, add your products and customize settings.
Created in 2011, this platform has grown to have over 3.8 million websites built with it. In fact, WooCommerce is used by 28% of online stores, and out of the top 1 million online stores, WooCommerce hosts 22%. There is no doubt that they are one of the best in the industry.
Pros:
- Strong SEO
- 1-click selling app available
- Plenty of marketing options
- Easy to operate
- Supports a lot of integration
- Plenty of free themes
- A lot of experts to help
- Supports many extensions
Cons:
- Slows down when there are too many products and customers
- Pricey when getting a good hosting
- Need extensions for simple stuff
The checklist for a perfect eCommerce platform is available HERE!
2. Shopify
The next on our list is Shopify – one of the best eCommerce platforms for selling with over 1,000,000 merchants. This platform was built in 2004 and is now the second most used eCommerce platform accounting for 21% of the market share.
If you’re running a dropshipping business, rely on Facebook ads or Instagram marketing, this is perfect for you. Also, with a drag & drop interface, users can set up an online store within a few minutes. Different from WooCommerce, Shopify already has the 1-click upsells to make it easier for online shoppers.
A big part of Shopify is the 24/7 community with fast support speed. You can ask anything on their forum, there’re experts to help you.
They also have the Shopify POS for brick and mortar stores that take payments via mobile app. This means complex stores can use it as well.
Shopify has around 3,200 apps and this number will go up. They offer 10 free themes while the paid ones hover around $100 – $180.
Like everything else, they have a downside. Although setting up a Shopify store is easy, even you have no technical skill, there is still a need for an expert. To deal with this, contact the Shopify development service to ask for help.
Tell us about your Shopify store!
Pros:
- Plenty of marketing options
- Fast load time
- Facilitates selling
- Easy to operate
- A lot of certified partners
- Modern and simple themes
- Supports a lot of integrations
- Different pricing plans
- Thousands of apps
Cons:
- Not too good at SEO
- Unable to customize the checkout process
- Apps can add up and become costly
- Developers would be needed for advanced features
3. Magento
With over 180,000 active sites using Magento, it powers up to 9% of all e-commerce sites. Magento is a very popular and helpful e-commerce platform for big online stores. Established in 2001, Magento is absolutely a go-to platform.
Big brands like Nike, Procter & Gamble, or Cisco built their website on Magento. However, this platform requires a certain level of technical expertise. If you have a developer or a large budget, Magento is a solid choice. You can do anything until you have the store you want.
Like Shopify, Magento has a large community of developers willing to work on your store for a fee or answer some questions for free.
If you choose Magento, you’ll enjoy a long list of features like discounts, SEO, membership subscriptions…
Pros:
- Can be customized
- Have a strong SEO
- Lots of features
- Active support community
- Lots of extensions and themes available
Cons:
- Requires technical knowledge
- Requires a lot of space
- A bit expensive
- Easy to slow down
Need help with platform Migration? We’re here to help!
4. BigCommerce
Bigcommerce is a complex eCommerce platform and a perfect match for large and fast-growing businesses.
This platform isn’t easy to use as Shopify. But don’t worry, if you’re a tech-savvy, Bigcommerce is not a big deal as it’s tailored for professionals.
BigCommerce offers 100+ themes with 12 free ones. The price range is between $145 – $235.
The Store Design tool makes it easier in website adjustments. You have instant control over everything from background, font color to logo positions, navigation, number of products…
In terms of SEO and marketing, we can’t deny its high-quality customizable SEO function. In addition, BigCommerce allows you to sell on multiple channels and manages your sales.
Also, with 600+ applications available, customizing your store is not a tedious task anymore.
One downside is: BigCommerce doesn’t provide an abandoned cart saver for the entry plan.
Pros:
- Strong SEO
- Multi-channel selling is available
- Easy to set up and customize
- Beautiful themes design
- Lots of integration
- Plenty of marketing options
- High performance
- Active customer support
Cons:
- A limited number of free themes
- High pricing
- No 1-click selling/upsells
- Cart abandonment isn’t on the entry plan
5. Volusion
Volusion is an average e-commerce platform and was established in 1999 and launched in 2002. It provides an easy to use website builder with drag & drop function. There are 11 free themes and plenty of paid themes cost around $180. If you select Volusion to run the store, you’ll have to pay a hefty extra cost for the SSL certificate.
Volusion doesn’t come with blogging capabilities which is a huge downer in this day where building SEO is king. To get that, you need to use a 3rd party like WordPress to connect blogs to your store.
About the price, they restrict the number of products you can sell.
Personal and Professional plans allow 100 and 5,000 products respectively
The good thing about the Volusion platform is great onboarding and support. If you’re a beginner, you’ll see lots of learning materials from step-by-step build a Volusion guideline, to tips to grow your online business. Plus, the dashboard is nicely structured.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Active help center
- Beautiful themes
- Fast load time
- Nice dashboard
- Clear inventory & marketing system
Cons:
- SEO is not so good
- Only 11 free themes
- A limited number of app extension
- A bit pricey
- The unnecessary hefty extra cost
6. PrestaShop
Prestashop was founded in 2007 and has almost everything an e-commerce site needs. It is an open-source platform and has an active forum with over 1.7 million helpful posts.
You can either download the software and customize it for free or pay monthly for the paid version. The price is $27,39/month and $21,89.month if you pay annually.
The word “free” might make us salivate, but you will have to pay for hosting, SSL certificate and other elements to complete your store. Also, if you don’t have heavy technical skills, you might have to pay for a developer. That said, nothing is Free!
There are 10 free themes, which is a good thing. The bad thing is, you need HTML knowledge to set up your store, as PrestaShop is not a drag & drop website builder (although it has a straight and clean dashboard).
Pros:
- Strong SEO
- Active community
- Simple dashboard
- A lot of apps and integration
Cons:
- Slower than other platforms
- No multi-channel selling
- Requires technical skill
- Limited free themes
- Limited 3rd-party marketing integrations
7. Weebly
Weebly is no doubt a basic e-commerce platform and can help small e-commerce businesses grow. It’s considered the best eCommerce platform for small businesses. This is a great option if you have a simple store with marketing automation built-in. It has varied pricing options for you to choose between. You will love its nice and simple design, associated with drag & drop function. But…
Truth be told, if you want to focus on SEO, Weebly isn’t a wise choice as it hasn’t optimized for SEO. Also, this platform fails to provide critical eCommerce elements like custom shopping cart, coupon, or inventory management.
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Simple dashboard
- Free plan available
- Great email tools
- Drag and drop
- A lot of free themes
Cons:
- No multi-channel selling
- Poor SEO
- Limited checkout
- Not suitable for big businesses
- 3% transaction fee
8. Squarespace
Established in 2004, the Squarespace e-commerce platform is a simple one and does not require any programming skills. This platform offers its users sleek templates and design capabilities. If you don’t need lots of features, then give Squarespace a try. And if you’re running a print-on-demand business, this is a wise choice. Why do we say that?
Squarespace integrates Shipstation and allows you to install Printful and ShipBob. It’s awesome at calculating the real-time shipping rates from popular providers (UPS, FedEx, USPS). Interesting?
Of course, it has a downside: payment and applications. Squarespace only supports Stripe and Paypal. Also, it doesn’t integrate with many apps. That’s why we say you should only choose this platform if you only need the most basics.
Pros:
- Easy to use and set up
- Strong SEO tools
- Drag and drop
- Simple dashboard
- Sleek designs
- Good at shipping integration
Cons:
- Only stripe and PayPal payment processors
- Limited apps
- 3% transaction fee
9. Wix
Wix is a website builder that offers helpful e-commerce features. Known for its excellent drag & drop site editor, with Wix, building your website is really easy. The WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor makes it doable for people with no coding skills.
Fortunately, there are 85 templates available, both free and paid.
Wix is available for free as long as you want but if you need professional features to run an eCommerce store, you must choose a subscription plan. A downside of Wix is the limited storage. If you deal with lots of heavy digital products, we don’t think Wix is a smart choice.
For marketing and overall business organization, you might have heard bad things about Wix’s SEO, which was true for years ago. Now, they have improved massively, letting you edit page titles, meta descriptions, and alt tags as well. They even provide 301 direct. That’s for SEO, but other marketing features still need updating.
Pros:
- Beautiful designs
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Easy to use
- Advanced e-commerce tools
- 85 free themes
Cons:
- Limited storage
- Lacks of marketing features and integrations
Best eCommerce platforms for your business
Depending on your business’s needs, there is a platform for you. The best e-commerce platform is one that supports and meets your online store needs. An honest preview on each platform can help you make a decision that won’t hurt your business. The table below might help you somewhat in making final decision:
Conclusion
To make the most out of your online store this year, make sure you build it on a reliable platform. There is a platform that would definitely get your business the growth it deserves. All you need to dо is to find out which one it is.
