Written by Sabrina Dougall Published on 3 May 2022 On this page Best for sales features: Shopify Best for SEO and marketing: Wix Ecommerce Best for multichannel selling: BigCommerce Best value for money: Square Online Best for ease of use: Squarespace Expert verdict FAQ Expand Shopify is our pick of the best ecommerce platforms on the market today. With slick inventory functions and marvellous multichannel integrations, Shopify is simply the best – though Wix is not far behind.We know how tough it is to track down the best ecommerce platforms Australia has on offer. While you’re busy running operations, we’ve done the dirty work of in-depth ecommerce platform comparison – and the results are in.The 5 Best Ecommerce Platforms:Shopify – 4.7/5Wix – 4.6/5BigCommerce – 4.4/5Square – 4.4/5Squarespace – 4.3/5We compared online shops based on factors that matter most to Australian businesses: sales features, design, marketing tools, ease of use and value for money. Using our 15+ years of tech review expertise, Expert Market researchers gave each platform a ranking out of five (both overall and for each factor) and asked everyday users to try the platforms, too.Check out our comparison table followed by a handy overview of the best ecommerce platforms. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Shopify Wix BigCommerce Square Online Squarespace Score 4.7 Score 4.6 Score 4.4 Score 4.4 Score 4.3 Best For Sales-specific features Best For SEO and marketing Best For Multichannel selling Best For Value for money Best For Ease of use Price Range A$9–A$2000+ Price Range A$26.50–A$50 Price Range A$41.37–A$414.35 Price Range A$0–A$85 Price Range A$25–A$5210% off with code EM10 Free Plan Free Plan Free Plan Free Plan Free Plan Free trial Free trial Free trial Free trial Free trial Try Shopify Try Wix Try BigCommerce Try Square Try Squarespace Shopify 4.7/5Sales features /5Design functionalities /5Value for money /5Help and support /5Ease of use /54.73.93.04.43.5 Best for sales features In our latest round of testing, Shopify shot up to an overall score of 4.7/5 compared with 4.2 the year prior. This comes down to its intuitive inventory management tools and improved customer support. Shopify feels like an all-in-one platform; our researchers appreciated the wealth of sales and accounting features, such as daily revenue reports and an online invoice generator.We found the platform intuitive, anticipating everything a merchant would need when setting up a store. Its ability to handle complex inventories makes it the best choice for store owners with a lot of products. It also offers superb multichannel integration, letting you sell through Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, and others (it offers more options than Wix eCommerce).However, it’s the only platform to enforce its own transaction fee (2% on the ‘Basic’ plan) unless you use Shopify Payments. It also relies on third-party apps for much of its functionality, which adds to monthly costs.Shopify is a secret weapon for complex inventory management. Pros Excellent multichannel integration Best sales-specific features of any platform we tested Strong server response time (pages load quickly) Best for large or complex inventories Cons Transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify’s own payment gateway Less creative freedom for your storefront than with Wix eCommerce Fewer in-built features (you'll rely more on costly apps) Shopify PricingShopify offers a 14-day free trial period and five pricing plans, which we’ve converted from USD to AUD (to the nearest dollar).Be aware, with Shopify Lite you can’t build an online store, but you can add sales functions to your existing website. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Plan Shopify Lite Plan Basic Shopify Plan Shopify Plan Advanced Shopify Plan Shopify Plus Price A$9 per month Price A$40 per month Price A$109 per month Price A$413 per month Price A$2000+ per month Best For Adding a buy button to your existing website Best For Starting a small online store Best For Growing your business Best For Larger online stores Best For High volume merchants, large businesses Key Features Finance reportsCustomer profilesOrder managementProduct managementIn-store inventoryMobile POS and hardware accessories Key Features Unlimited products24/7 support2% transaction fee unless you use Shopify PaymentsSell in 33 currencies Key Features Abandoned cart recovery emailsFive staff accounts1% transaction fee unless you use Shopify PaymentsUSPS Priority Mail Cubic® pricing Key Features Third-party calculated shipping rates15 staff accounts0.5% transaction fee unless you use Shopify PaymentsCustom international pricing Key Features 99.99% uptimeBuilt-in AR, video, 3D media on product pagesAutomation for complex processes0.15% transaction fee unless you use Shopify Payments Rake in the revenue with our top rated ecommerce platform Try Shopify now Wix Ecommerce 4.6/5Sales features /5Design functionalities /5Value for money /5Help and support /5Ease of use /53.93.54.24.34.0 Best for SEO and marketing If you’re struggling to get the word out about your company, Wix’s ecommerce plans boast six marketing apps, social media integrations and live social media feeds. Uniquely, Wix offers a built-in video-maker and logo-maker as well as the option to hire quality-checked freelancers.Wix scored a perfect 5/5 in SEO functionality testing, offering everything from image alt attributes to SEO best practice prompts. Overall it offers comprehensive ecommerce functions, including abandoned cart recovery, across all three price options.The drawbacks? There’s a bit of a learning curve – some test users found the editor became cluttered at times. Plus, syncing your physical inventory with your online store is far easier on other platforms. There’s also no specific fraud detection, unlike with Shopify and BigCommerce.Wix is our top choice for business owners looking to improve marketing and search engine reach. Pros Lots of creative control Wide array of social selling and marketing features Excellent SEO tools Cons Editor can get cluttered Slow server response time Inventory syncing is fairly difficult Wix eCommerce PricingWix offers a 14-day free trial on its premium plans, with three ecommerce-specific plans to choose from: Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Price A$26.50 per month Price A$38 per month Price A$50 per month Best For Small businesses looking to sell online Best For Growing businesses Best For Medium to large businesses Key Features Online paymentUnlimited bandwidth20GB storageFree domain for one yearUpload up to five hours of videoSales analytics Key Features 35GB storageUpload up to 10 hours of videoEnd-to-end order fulfilmentAutomated sales tax for 100 transactions/monthOffer subscriptions Key Features 50GB storageUnlimited video hoursPriority response on the Wix Answers pageCustomized data reportsUnlimited dropshipping products Work wonders with a well made Wix store Try Wix now BigCommerce 4.4/5Sales features /5Design functionalities /5Value for money /5Help and support /5Ease of use /54.64.23.04.53.3 Best for multichannel selling BigCommerce is geared towards businesses with complex inventories that are serious about scaling. Its top notch inventory management and wide-reaching multichannel integration (Walmart, eBay, Amazon and Google Shopping) mean BigCommerce is best suited to clothing stores.Overall, it feels like an all-in-one solution with marketplace and social media sales integrations plus email. One user said: “BigCommerce goes beyond just creating a website – you can create an online business with the capability of running itself once you have the setup correct.”As far as pricing goes, BigCommerce scored low in value for money (3/5). That said, it charges no transaction fees – unlike Shopify and Square Online – and this is a major financial bonus.While it’s still the least user-friendly platform we've tested (scoring 3.3/5 for ease of use), BigCommerce is brilliant at helping you to manage your entire business processes, not just sell products.If you want to grow multichannel selling for your clothing store, BigCommerce is best. Pros Strong inventory management No transaction fees Multichannel integration across marketplaces and social media Cons Interface not very user-friendly Overwhelming for tech beginners Restrictive template designs BigCommerce PricingBigCommerce offers a generous 15-day free trial period, and three core price plans in USD, which we’ve converted to AUD (enterprise pricing is available upon request): Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Plan Standard Plan Plus Plan Pro Price A$41.37 per month Price A$110.44 per month Price A$414.35 per month Best For Starting a small or medium-sized online store Best For Growing your online store Best For Scaling your business to new heights Key Features Sell an unlimited number of productsMultichannel sellingCoupon creationReporting toolsAccept 100+ currenciesReceive real-time shipping quotes Key Features Abandoned cart recovery emailsCustomer loyalty programmesStore credit card payment details Key Features Product filters for sizes and coloursDedicated SSL securityGoogle reviews Seize big growth opportunities with multichannel selling Try BigCommerce Square Online 4.4/5Sales features /5Design functionalities /5Value for money /5Help and support /5Ease of use /53.72.64.74.13.9 Best value for money Square Online lets you build a website and sell for free, which is by far its biggest selling point. It's also one of the quickest and most affordable ways to build an online store. Its self-serve features create a straightforward buying experience. “Perfect for a physical store looking to pivot online,” one of our test users aptly summarised.While Square Online could massively improve its design flexibility (users scored it a measly 2.6/5) and offer better reporting features, it has all the essentials you need to start selling online for free, including multichannel integration. The transaction fees are relatively high, and the overall layout could be more intuitive, but Square Online is still an excellent no-frills approach to selling online.We recommend Square Online for smaller online stores and restaurants as it doesn't overwhelm you with data fields like BigCommerce does.Square Online is the best value for money platform we've tested. Pros Ability to sell for free Great self-serve buying features Easy to get your store up and running Cons High transaction fees Overall layout could be more logical Restrictive design tools Square Online PricingSquare Online has four price plans to choose from: Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Plan Free Plan Professional Plan Performance Plan Premium Price A$0 per month Price A$15 per month Price A$30 per month Price A$85 per month Best For Starting your first online store Best For Establishing your SMB (eg restaurants) Best For Growing your SMB Best For Scaling up your business Key Features Sell unlimited productsInstagram and Pinterest integration2.2% transaction fees Key Features Custom font uploadsPassword-protected pagesFree custom domain for one year2.2% transaction fees Key Features Customer reviews on your siteAbandoned cart recoveryAccept PayPal2.2% transaction fees Key Features Advanced ecommerce analyticsReal-time shipping1.9% transaction fees Create your online store and sell for free Try Square Online Squarespace Ecommerce 4.3/5Sales features /5Design functionalities /5Value for money /5Help and support /5Ease of use /53.13.94.23.94.2 Best for ease of use Squarespace impressed us with its intuitive inventory management, visual marketing approach and improved ease of use – going from a 3.4 to 4.2/5 score since our previous testing. In fact, it's now the easiest platform to use on our list.It supports multichannel selling, offers the ability to create and brand your Instagram story posts, and allows for built-in social media live feeds on your website – a feature that costs extra with other platforms. Squarespace has also increased the number of integrated payment processors from two to five.Space for improvement? Sure. Squarespace has limited stock monitoring capabilities and a relatively poor site speed. For a platform focused on design, we were disappointed to find a limited number of ecommerce-specific templates, too.Squarespace will get you selling online regardless of your skills. Pros Excellent value for money Easiest to use Great for visual marketing Cons Relatively limited stock monitoring Poor site speed Few ecommerce templates Squarespace PricingSquarespace offers a 14-day free trial period and has three main plans. Also, don't forget you can save 10% on Squarespace by using code EM10 at the checkout. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Plan Business Plan Basic Commerce Plan Advanced Commerce Price A$25 per month Price A$34 per month Price A$52 per month Best For Small and medium-sized businesses Best For SMBs looking to sell online Best For Medium-sized ecommerce businesses Key Features Fully integrated ecommerceAccept donationsOffer gift cardsSell unlimited products3% transaction fees Key Features Product waitlistsSell on InstagramEcommerce analytics0% transaction fees Key Features Abandoned cart recoverySell subscriptionsAdvanced shipping features (including a real-time cost calculator)0% transaction fees No tech skills? No worries – build an easy ecommerce platform Try Squarespace now Expert Verdict The best ecommerce platforms are Shopify and Wix eCommerce, scoring a respective 4.7/5 and 4.6/5 in our testing. Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce solution ideal for larger, more complex setups. In comparison, Wix eCommerce has more creative marketing options for Australian businesses eager to grow their customer base.Increased competition between ecommerce website builders results in improved features every year. This is great news for business owners, who enjoy a pretty good selection of online store options. Nowadays, it’s easy for just about anyone to set up their digital storefront in a few clicks. If you’re worried about a lack of experience setting up an online store, Squarespace is the easiest to use, so take a look at its ecommerce platform templates.Whether you’re looking to sell services, physical items or digital products, you’re sure to find an ecommerce plan that works for your business. Now you’re ready to visit the platform that will transform your takings and set sales soaring. Accelerate your sales with our recommended ecommerce platform Try Shopify now FAQ What is the best ecommerce platform and why? Shopify is the best ecommerce platform because it has a wide range of sales-specific features and multichannel integration. In our research, Shopify scored 5/5 in its provision of alternative sales channels, the highest of any platform we tested. We were also impressed by its strong capability in large inventory management. Its huge selection of apps enables a highly flexible merchant setup, plus testing revealed a rapid server response time. Can I build an ecommerce platform for free? Yes, but you may not want to. Square Online is our pick of the best free ecommerce platforms, though it is worth remembering its transaction fees are pretty high. For most of its price plans, Square Online charges 2.2% transaction fees which could eat into your profit margins if you're not careful. In truth, you are better off choosing a paid plan from one of the ecommerce platforms we've reviewed. What is the difference between Magento and Shopify? While Shopify is a subscription-based ecommerce platform builder, Magento software is open source (free) but requires much more advanced setup know-how. Shopify is aimed at a wide range of skill levels, whereas Magento is only really for developers and those with a deeper interest in design control. Sabrina Dougall Writer Sabrina writes about tech for business as well as consumer software. She covers topics ranging from digital marketing to ecommerce fulfilment, security systems, franking machines, and more. Having run her own successful small business, Sabrina knows first-hand how much there is to keep on top of. Writing with your company’s needs in mind, she distils truly useful product information (without the sales pitch).