6 Best Ecommerce Platforms to Build an Online Store

Do you want to build an online store? One of the easiest ways to do that is by using an ecommerce platform.

An ecommerce platform is a tool you can use to manage your online store, market your products, and start selling. These platforms will enable you to start an e-commerce business without needing to know how to code.

As you may know, there are various of ecommerce platforms around. Examining each one can take time and can get really confusing pretty quickly if you aren't that familiar with ecommerce and technology.

That's where this list enters the scene. We have compiled here the best ecommerce platforms you can use for your website.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin designed from the ground up to work with WordPress.

It’s kind of the default go-to plugin for most people who wants to build an online store using WordPress. It’s certainly easy to use, but you may need a developer for a custom-built store.

This platform is perfect for those with a bootstrap budget. Most ecommerce platforms don’t provide free extensions, or at the very least, don’t include it in their free plan.

But in WooCommerce, you’ll find hundreds of free and paid extensions for marketing, shipping, and store enhancements.

Among the extensions available, the most popular are:

• OptinMonster
• Constant Contact
• LiveChat
• Elementor Addons and templates
• Shipment Tracking
• MultilingualPress

As an open-source platform, WooCommerce has an active international community with meetups around the world. There’s also complete documentation and an active blog if you want to learn more about how to use it. You can also open a support request when you need to.

WooCommerce is the most economical way to start a full-fledged online store. The core platform itself is free and many important plugins like Facebook and Stripe are free.

Essentially, you only have to pay for the paid plugins and nothing else.

Check out WooCommerce here.

2. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a popular ecommerce platform that runs as a plugin on WordPress. Many small business owners and bloggers use EDD on their websites.

This plugin will allow you to easily sell digital products like ebooks, plugins, and even online courses (with the use of an add-on).

It’s a modernized platform with a clean interface. You also don’t need to worry about the plugin slowing down your ecommerce store since it’s one of the most lightweight ecommerce plugins there is.

In terms of functionality, the Easy Digital Downloads plugin supports a full shopping cart, unlimited file downloads, discount codes, customer account page, download activity tracking, and even full data reporting.

You don’t need to worry about added functionality since EDD has almost a hundred extensions built specifically for the plugin and a hundred more third-party extensions.

Some of the popular extensions include:

• PayPal
• Stripe
• Slack
• Mailchimp
• AWeber
• Amazon Web Services

The EDD plugin has an active community of users and developers.

In case of problems not answered by the community, you can open a support ticket. There’s a priority support feature for quicker assistance but it comes only with the most expensive plans (Professional Pass and All Access Pass).

If you want to try it out, it has an available demo shop. The plans start at $99 per year. The best plan is the Professional Pass plan that costs $299 per year (includes premium extensions and marketplace functionality).

Check out Easy Digital Downloads here.

3. Shopify

This list wouldn't be complete without Shopify. For many people, ecommerce has almost become synonymous with Shopify. And that's because many online entrepreneurs use the platform to start their businesses.

Shopify is a complete ecommerce platform. That is, you can use it to start selling online with your own ecommerce website. You can think of it as something like a simplistic version of WordPress with WooCommerce functionality.

As such, Shopify has everything you need to start an online business. It has almost every app you can think about — from marketing, store design, inventory management, and even down to reporting.

They also have app collections that are meant to help you do specific tasks. For example, they have an app collection for launching a store that includes apps like Ordersify, Store Importer, Oberlo, and Product Reviews.

In case of problems, Shopify has a vast range of support features. You can contact their support right away as they're available 24/7. There's also a help center and a forum that may contain the answer to your question.

In terms of pricing, the basic plan you can get costs $13 per month. If you want to use all features, you must upgrade to the highest plan, which costs $107 per month.

On the other hand, you can also set up your online store first and pick a plan later. You can try Shopify for 14 days for free without needing to enter your credit card details.

Check out Shopify here.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a fully scalable ecommerce platform with full WordPress integration. If you’re well-versed with the ecommerce world, you must have heard about it already as it’s one of the fiercest competitors of Shopify and WooCommerce.

A cool thing about BigCommerce is that if you use it with WordPress, you don’t have to worry about the plugin overloading your server. It offloads sales requests to the BigCommerce platform to lessen the load on the WordPress site server.

There’s also a multisite single control panel that enables you to sell across different ecommerce websites but manage all orders, shipping, and catalog in one place.

There are also hundreds of free and paid apps including Mailchimp, Quickbooks, Facebook Ads Extension, and ShipStation. There are also app collections (like for startups, B2B, backend, shipping, and more) that would help you choose apps faster.

The BigCommerce customer support is very active as it has 24/7 technical support available. There are also other types of support available like account management, solution architecting, technical account management, and more. There’s also a dedicated help center with an active community.

As for the price, it starts at $29.95 per month. The most popular plan costs $79.95 per month. It has a risk-free 15-day trial that doesn’t require you to enter your credit card. If you want to see the plugin in action, there’s an available demo though you need to complete a form first so they can get in touch with you.

Check out BigCommerce here.

5. Wix eCommerce

Wix eCommerce is another solid option if you want to create an ecommerce business. It's also a complete solution for anyone who wants to start an online store.

By nature, Wix is a page builder platform. But they have advanced business features that can help anyone launch, run, and scale an ecommerce store successfully.

Unlike other platforms listed here, Wix eCommerce comes with ecommerce features right out of the box that you would need to build, run, and grow your online business. That's right, there's almost no need to use an app to make it work.

But it doesn't mean they don't have any apps. They actually have a lot and spans across categories such as marketing, online selling, services, media, design elements, communication, and more.

With Wix, you get 24/7 support across different areas. You can ask questions, watch tutorials, browser articles, or contact an agent.

In terms of pricing, Wix offers different plans. However, for ecommerce needs, you need to subscribe to a business plan so you can accept online payments. It starts at $17 per month.

Check out Wix eCommerce here.

6. Square

Square started as a financial services company that markets software and hardware payment products. Currently, they have expanded into small business services.

That's why Square made it this list. Using their platform, you can straight away launch a new ecommerce website, accept online orders, and start selling using their ecommerce solutions.

One of the areas that Square shines the most is their online checkout feature (which is expected of a financial services company). That is, you can actually create a link, share it, and take online payment. Actually, you almost don't need a website for it as you can embed the code in almost anywhere.

In terms of support, Square offers three main features: a resource library, a live agent who's available through phone, email, live chat, and social media, and a seller community.

If you go to Square's website right away and check about their pricing, you might get confused. Remember that they offer different products and services that are not related to websites.

The good news is, you can actually launch your own online store without any cost. Their free plan doesn't have any monthly fee though you have to pay a little bit every time you make a sale. Their paid plans start at $12 per month and will give you more features and flexibility.

Check out Square here.

Bonus: MemberPress

If you’re offering subscription-based digital products and services (including online courses), then you should think about using MemberPress.

It's an awesome membership plugin in WordPress which has full integration with WooCommerce.

Setting up MemberPress is easy. All you need to do is install the plugin, configure the payment gateway details, set up your products, and you’re done!

Since it’s also a membership plugin, you can expect high-quality subscription management. Members can create, update, and manage their subscriptions directly from the website. There’s also an automated billing system that will automatically cancel the access of members who fail to pay.

MemberPress has more than 50 integrations including popular ones like:

• ConvertKit
• Stripe
• PayPal
• Mailchimp
• Help Scout
• Divi
• Elementor

As for the support, there’s an awesome knowledge base available for anyone who needs more advanced configuration for themselves. You can also submit a support ticket, but their technical personnel is only available from 9 am to 5 pm MST. If you need more support, you can hire a MemberPress expert from their website directly.

The paid plans start at $129 per year. The most popular plan costs $214 per year. It’s also the most ideal one as it will allow you to use all available integrations.

Check out MemberPress here.

Start your online store now

There are many ecommerce platforms you can use to start your online business. All the options we listed above are the best ones we can find and are able to provide you with almost anything you need for your website.

However, we strongly recommend you use WordPress. Not only is WordPress an open-source platform (it's free), it gives you the most control over your ecommerce website from top to bottom compared with any platform listed here.