11 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses in 2024

With so many ecommerce platforms on offer, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which is best for your small business.

With that in mind, before you can start creating your ecommerce shop, you need to know what an ecommerce platform is.

What is an Ecommerce Solution for Small Businesses?

Ecommerce platforms were developed to help businesses create and manage a shop online.

These ecommerce platforms have all the tools needed for an online business to run smoothly including solutions to manage customers, products, catalogs, sales, and payment.

This all-in-one solution makes it easy for business owners who don’t have a lot of capital to spend on developing a website to create an ecommerce shop with only a small investment.

Which Essential Features Should an Ecommerce Software for Small Businesses Have?

It’s important when looking at ecommerce platforms that they have everything you need before spending your hard-earned money on it. Especially if it means spending more down the line just to get the shop working.

One of the most essential features, especially for smaller businesses, is cost.

You need to decide beforehand what your budget for creating an ecommerce shop is. This is important for new ecommerce shops or brick-and-mortar shops looking to expand.

That doesn’t mean the cheapest option is the best. Instead, find a fine balance between what you need, what the platform offers, and how much it costs.

Speaking of what the platforms offer…

Integration with popular ecommerce plug-ins is crucial. Plugins like Elementor, which is a page builder, are important if you want to build a great-looking and functioning website.

Another important feature is mobile support. 80% of the US population shop online using their mobile devices. That’s why the ecommerce platform you choose must be mobile friendly.

Lastly, the platform should support a variety of payment options. This is important, especially if you want to sell internationally.

Selling internationally means the platform should not only have a wide array of payment options like Paypal, Apple Pay, and Stripe, but it should also support different currencies.

How to Choose the Top Ecommerce Software for Small Businesses

It is easier to choose an ecommerce platform that offers all of the essential features in an affordable plan. But I’d still recommend that you do some research before you decide on an ecommerce platform for your small business.

You should consider the following factors while picking the best ecommerce platform for your online store:

• Budget: Decide on your budget for your ecommerce site design and development, maintenance, and security.
• Target audience: Identify where your target audience is. See if any of the popular ecommerce platforms make it easy for you to market your products on those channels. For example, BigCommerce offers built-in integrations with Facebook and Instagram to make it easier to sell online.
• The number of products you want to sell: Most ecommerce platforms have a limit on the number of products you can add to your online store. If your ecommerce store has a large catalog of products with multiple variations, you should choose an ecommerce platform with functionality for unlimited products.
• Payment processing: You should choose an ecommerce platform that offers multiple payment options to increase the likelihood that shoppers will complete their purchases.
• Customer support: When choosing an ecommerce solution, you should check if their customer support is up to the mark. Some platforms outsource their customer support, which makes it troublesome for users to resolve issues quickly.

Now that we have a brief overview of what ecommerce platforms are and why you need them, let’s take a look at the best ecommerce software for small businesses.

List of 11 Ecommerce Software Solutions for Small Businesses

Let’s take a look at the best ecommerce platform for your small business. I’ll walk you through the key features, pros and cons, and pricing details of some of the best ecommerce platforms.

1. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is an open SaaS ecommerce platform that allows startups and small businesses to build, grow, and scale their online stores efficiently. It helps you deliver content-rich headless commerce experiences while minimizing operational costs.

Features

• Drag-and-drop page builder
• Fully customizable ecommerce website design themes
• Many storefront conversion features such as coupons and custom product recommendations (without any additional code)
• Cross-channel marketing features
• SEO features
• Ability to switch between storefronts
• Scalable product catalog

Pros

• WordPress integration
• Options to customize the entire checkout experience for your shoppers
• Fast site loading with a powerful CDN (content delivery network)

Cons

• It takes users some time to get a hang of the platform
• Control panel design could have been better

Pricing

• A 15-day free trial
• Standard plan: $29.95 per month
• Plus plan: $79.95 per month
• Pro plan: $299.95 per month
• Enterprise plan: Contact their sales team or call 1-866-991-0872 for custom pricing.

You may also like:

• BigCommerce Review
• BigCommerce vs. Shopify

2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the best ecommerce platforms for those who want to start selling on their WordPress site. Built with a REST API, this open-source ecommerce platform is very scalable and can help you design a complex online store from scratch.

Features

• Ability to add endless product variations, subscription options, single items, or bundles
• Configurable shipping options
• WooCommerce mobile app for easy inventory management
• Hundreds of free and paid extensions for marketing and multi-channel sales purposes
• Multilingual content and prices in multiple currencies

Pros

• Many WooCommerce plugins available to add ecommerce functionality
• Multiple payment gateways integrations for smooth payment processing

Cons

• Need to pay for most essential plugins

Pricing

• It’s free to use the basic WooCommerce plugin and also offers many free WordPress plugins for added ecommerce functionality.
• Pay for the online storefront themes and WooCommerce plugins you want to use. Price will vary from plugin to plugin.

To analyze how WooCommerce stands amidst its competitors, check out these comparison posts on:

• WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce
• WooCommerce vs. Shopify

3. Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms that most small business owners trust to start selling online. You can use this ecommerce platform to sell products in person with Point of Sale and online through your ecommerce website, online marketplaces, and social media.

Features

• Professional online storefront themes and customization options
• Web-based ecommerce website builder and content management system (CMS)
• Secure payments with 100+ payment gateways
• Flexible shipping rates and free shipping options
• End-to-end online store management features from customer profiles to dropshipping, refunds, and promotional email templates
• Unlimited products

Pros

• Marketing tools to boost ecommerce sales through multiple channels such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media, Google Ads, etc.
• Option to add and manage subscription model for recurring orders
• Web hosting with unlimited bandwidth

Cons

• Shopify charges transaction fees for selling online in addition to subscription fees
• Does not offer advanced blogging capabilities

Pricing

• A 14-day free trial, no payment information is required
• Basic Shopify plan: $19 per month
• Shopify plan: $49 per month
• Advanced Shopify plan: $299 per month

Also, check out 11 Shopify alternatives that you can consider using to build an ecommerce store.

4. Adobe Commerce (Powered by Magento)

Powered by Magento, Adobe Commerce is a powerful ecommerce website builder with all essential store design, order fulfillment, and online selling capabilities.

It comes with the Magento advantage, which means that it offers great flexibility and customization options.

Features

• Modern online store templates with personalization options
• Drag-and-drop page builder
• Ability to sell products and fulfill orders from anywhere (both in-store and online)
• Robust business insights

Pros

• Live chat addition for better customer support
• Fully customizable ecommerce website builder

Cons

• Beed to hire a professional developer to create your online store

Pricing

• Adobe Commerce Pro plan: Contact their sales team for custom pricing details.

Also, check out this list of some other website builders reviewed and compared for you.

5. Square Online

Square Online is another popular ecommerce platform that helps you sell your digital and physical products online with a free ecommerce website.

This user-friendly ecommerce software solution can be integrated with all Square point-of-sale systems to manage inventory easily and efficiently.

Features

• Build your ecommerce site with its easy-to-use online store builder (no coding required)
• Turn your Instagram feed into an online shopping site
• Create coupons and gift cards to encourage people to purchase more products
• Accept online payments via PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other payment processors

Pros

• Built-in SEO tools
• Integrations with Facebook, Instagram, Google, and more
• Free domain available for a year with all paid plans

Cons

• Charges payment processing fees along with monthly fees
• The abandoned cart recovery feature is only available with high-value plans
• Limited customization options

Pricing

• Free plan: $0 monthly fees and a processing fee of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
• Professional plan: $12 per month (billed annually) and a processing fee of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
• Performance plan: $26 per month (billed annually) and a processing fee of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
• Premium plan: $72 per month (billed annually) and a processing fee of 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction

6. Volusion

Volusion is an easy-to-use online store builder for businesses across industries. Whether you run a restaurant or a retail store, you can turn it into an online business with this user-friendly ecommerce platform.

Features

• Free themes that are mobile responsive and SEO friendly
• Powerful drag-and-drop tools
• Easy inventory management features
• Payment gateways integrations with PayPal, Stripe, and more to help you securely accept payments online

Pros

• No additional transaction fees
• Unlimited bandwidth with all plans
• Built-in CRM (customer relationship management) system

Cons

• Unlimited products are allowed only with Business and Prime plans.

Pricing

• A 14-day free trial
• Personal plan: $35 per month
• Professional plan: $79 per month
• Business plan: $299 per month
• Prime plan: Request a custom quote from their sales team.

7. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an open-source ecommerce platform that makes it easier to create and launch your online store. It has all of the features you need to grow your ecommerce business, varying from professional themes to robust analytics.

Features

• Pick a theme from hundreds of professional-looking themes
• Customize your online store with the website editor
• Manage your products, orders, and customer relationships in one place
• Segment customers, check out sales data, and track your top-performing products to optimize your ecommerce business for greater sales

Pros

• Multilingual ecommerce site option
• Accept payments online in multiple currencies

Cons

• Need to hire a developer to set up your ecommerce store because PrestaShop comes with a more technical backend structure
• Add-ons can be costly

Pricing

• PrestaShop’s core functionality is free but you’ll have to pay for add-ons to add ecommerce functionality to your site

8. Ecwid

Ecwid is the best ecommerce platform that allows you to start selling online for free. Once you’ve set up an account, you can sell your products on your website, Google, Instagram, online marketplaces like Amazon, and other ecommerce platforms.

Features

• Fully responsive ecommerce store designs
• Centralized inventory and order management
• Marketing tools for Google, Facebook, Pinterest, and Snapchat advertising
• Point-of-sale (POS) ecommerce functionality to allow you to sell products in-store as well

Pros

• Unlimited bandwidth
• Live chat support from the experts
• Ecwid mobile app to manage your store on the go
• Cheaper than other ecommerce platforms

Cons

• The Free plan doesn’t include access to SEO features

Pricing

• Free plan with all essential ecommerce features
• Venture plan: $12.50 per month
• Business plan: $29.17 per month
• Unlimited plan: $82.50 per month

9. Squarespace

Squarespace is an ecommerce website builder that comes with impressive templates, fonts, color palettes, and many built-in ecommerce features.

It allows you to accept orders, online bookings, and payments online through your ecommerce site.

Features

• Ready-to-use templates for every purpose
• Powerful ecommerce features varying from merchandising to checkout
• Third-party extensions for added ecommerce functionality
• Real-time shipping estimates for U.S. customers
• Advanced shipping solutions

Pros

• Allows running email marketing campaigns that pull your store’s style and products
• Delivers automated inventory notifications when your product stock levels are low
• Enables you to accept payments in multiple currencie

Cons

• The subscription-based selling option is only available with their Advanced Commerce plan

Pricing

• Personal plan: $16 per month
• Business plan: $23 per month
• Basic Commerce plan: $27 per month
• Advanced Commerce plan: $49 per month

10. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is the best ecommerce solution that allows you to build an ecommerce site completely for free. It provides you with awesome ecommerce features such as unlimited products, users, features, and bandwidth.

It also offers SEO and marketing tools to help you promote your ecommerce store through multiple channels.

Features

• An intuitive website builder with dozens of mobile-friendly ecommerce templates
• Product, order, and inventory management options

Pros

• Built-in AI-driven fraud protection
• The option to migrate your existing website for free
• Quick and easy setup

Cons

• Issues with customer support
• Lacks advanced reporting features
• Not as many supported add-ons and plugins as other ecommerce platforms

Pricing

• It’s absolutely free to use.

11. Wix

Wix is one of the most popular ecommerce website builders with advanced business features. It allows small businesses to create professional online stores in less time and with minimal effort.

You can optimize your ecommerce sales using Wix’s abandoned cart recovery capabilities.

Features

• 500+ designer-made online store templates
• Up to 50,000 products addition option
• Custom shipping rules option
• Allows payments from all major credit card providers, PayPal, and Stripe
• Detailed business analytics

Pros

• Free business tools like Wix Logo Maker and Business Name Generator
• Allows you to sell your products on multiple sales channels such as your online store, Facebook, eBay, Instagram, and Amazon shops
• Facilitates dropshipping and print-on-demand products selling

Cons

• It is difficult to add any additional code to your ecommerce site
• Wix comes with technical limitations
• Poor SEO performance

Pricing

• Connect Domain plan (displays Wix ads): $4.50 per month
• Combo plan: approx. $8.50 per month
• Unlimited plan: approx. $12.50 per month
• VIP plan with first-priority support: $24.50 per month

You can also check out my detailed Wix review here.

Comparison of the Top 10 Ecommerce Solutions For Small Businesses

Platform Name	Price	Support	Integration	Varied payment options and currencies	Mobile-friendly
BigCommerce	Starts at $29.95/month	Average	Yes	Yes	Yes
WooCommerce	Free to use	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shopify	Starts at $19/month	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Yes
Adobe Commerce	Contact sales team	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Yes
Square Online	Free to use	Excellent	Yes	Yes, but not as varied as other platforms	Yes
Volusion	Starts at $35/month	Average	Yes	Yes	Yes
PrestaShop	Free to use (but limited)	Great	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ecwid	Free to use	Great	Yes	Yes	Yes
Squarespace	Starts at $16/month	Average	Yes	Yes, but not as varied as other platforms	Yes
Shift4Shop	Free to use	Good	Yes	Yes	Yes

FAQs

Which is the Best Ecommerce Platform for Your Small Business?

To choose the right ecommerce platform for your business, you should go through all of the ecommerce platforms compared above.

Make sure that the platform offers all essential ecommerce features, marketing tools, sales channels, and shipping solutions that matter the most to you.

Do you need help setting up and running an ecommerce business? You can reach out to our business consultants and marketing experts to boost your ecommerce growth. Talk soon!