7 Best Ecommerce Platforms Compared (Free and Paid)

There’s no single “best” way to run an ecommerce store. It depends on your products, your target audience, and the style you’re most comfortable with.

That’s why there are different ecommerce platforms available on the market to serve different needs. The trick is knowing which one is best for you.

In this guide, we compared the top 7 ecommerce platforms so you can have all the key details and see which is a perfect fit for your unique business needs.

We’ll cover their features, pricing, pros, cons, and whom they’re recommended for most, so take a look below.

Sounds interesting?

Let’s get started!

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce

As one of the most popular ecommerce platforms, WooCommerce provides everything an ecommerce owner needs and it’s technically free. On the downside, it does require a bit of elbow grease to build and update.

Unlike the other ecommerce platforms on this list, WooCommerce is actually just a WordPress plugin. That’s one of its greatest strengths, meaning that all the features of WordPress are at your disposal. Any plugins or themes for WordPress can be co-opted for your WooCommerce store but you’ll also have a big list of WooCommerce-specific extensions and plugins you could choose from.

The drawbacks of WooCommerce are the drawbacks of WordPress. First, you’ll need to find the right hosting provider, which is in charge of your site’s security and your customer’s financial data, not to mention how much traffic you can accept. You also need to choose the best WordPress hosting plan for your needs.

Second, you have to get your hands dirty with the design, which can take time if you’ve never used WordPress before. It’s not that WordPress is hard — it’s actually quite user-friendly — but there are a lot of small tasks you need to do to get your site to look and function how you want, like hunting down the right plugins or tweaking site preferences. Using a professionally-coded WordPress theme and this step-by-step WooCommerce setup guide make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Key Features

The entire WordPress library of plugins.
WooCommerce-specific plugins and extensions with an assortment of ecommerce features.
Easy blog integration.
Unlimited products.

Prices

Technically free, but you still have to pay for hosting
Depending on which features you want, you could spend anywhere from $0 – $200, or more on plugins/extensions.

Pros

Own your own data.
Scalable price, starting at $0.
Native platform for blogging.
No limits for products or images.
As open source software, WordPress has lots of communities to ask for help and support.

Cons

Hosting not included.
Small learning curve for WordPress if it’s your first time.

Recommended For…

WooCommerce is a great platform for beginners and experts alike, as long as you have some time to spare on building it (if you don’t want to do that, consider hiring a WordPress developer).

But once you get the hang of it, you can enjoy nearly limitless customization options. That makes it also recommended for people who want to design their own site, but don’t want to bother with coding.

Example of Online Stores Using WooCommerce

Weber, the South Africa branch of the famous grill maker

2. BigCommerce

BigCommerce

Everything you need to know about BigCommerce is in the name: it does things big. This ecommerce platform is made for big enterprises and stores with a large range of products, or else small stores planning an imminent expansion.

As a sophisticated ecommerce platform, BigCommerce offers plenty of features. It’s made for professionals, so it has more advanced options than the others on this list.

While that’s great if you like customization and understand the best practices for web design, it also means a steeper learning curve. BigCommerce isn’t as user-friendly as the other ecommerce options here, although they do their best to onboard new users.

That big suite of features is reflected in the price tag. For small stores just starting out, you’ll be paying for features you won’t need yet, so it makes it hard to justify the cost. Rather, BigCommerce is best for already-established stores that need a little more “power under the hood.”