Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses 2024

Person using mobile phone and credit card for secure online transaction on a laptop

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If you’re thinking about launching a new business, or want to take your current business online, it’s important to choose your ecommerce platform carefully. You’ll need an affordable platform that’s easy to use and contains all the sales and marketing tools you need to ensure the customer journey runs as smoothly as possible.

We regularly test the best web builders and ecommerce platforms on the market, to help small businesses make informed decisions. Based on the results from our recent round of testing, the best ecommerce platform for small businesses is Squarespace. It’s easier to use and cheaper than rivals Wix and Shopify, while still having plenty of online sales tools and payment options.

Of course, it won’t work for everyone. We found that Shopify is better for ambitious businesses looking to get a foothold in the ecommerce space, as it has inventory management tools like customer wishlists and more advanced product-sorting features. That’s why we’ve reviewed six ecommerce platforms in total, to help you find the best fit.

What are the Best Ecommerce Platforms?

  1. Squarespace: Best for elegant, high-performing ecommerce websites
  2. Wix: Best for combining powerful design and sales tools
  3. Shopify: Best for scaling up your online business
  4. GoDaddy: Best for getting set up quickly
  5. Hostinger: Best for small local businesses
  6. Square: Best for selling online for free

Click any of the above links to go straight to the provider’s website to sign up for a plan or free trial. These recommendations are based on our in-house research and testing.

If you need more help making a decision, we created an easy comparison of online store tools that gives you a quick side-by-side overview of the best platforms.

Quick Comparison: Best Ecommerce Platforms

Here’s a quick overview of the best online store platforms:

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Squarespace

Wix

Shopify

GoDaddy

Hostinger

Square Online

Score
4.7
Score
4.7
Score
4.6
Score
4.2
Score
4.0
Score
3.7
Best For

Best for elegant, high-performing ecommerce websites

Best For

Best for powerful design and sales tools

Best For

Scaling your business

Best For

Getting set up quickly

Best For

Best for local business

Best For

Selling without subscription fees

Price Range
Price Range
Price Range

$5-$2,300/month

$1 for first month on select plans

Price Range

$12.99-$26.99/month

$9.99-$20.99/month for first year

Price Range

$13.99/month

(First term is $3.99/month on 4 year contract)

Price Range

$0-$79/month

Transaction fees

0-3%

Transaction fees

None

Transaction fees

0.2%-2% (none if using Shopify Payments)

Transaction fees

2.3% + 30¢

Transaction fees

None

Transaction fees

Up to 2.9% + 30¢

Credit card rates

Squarespace Payments: 2.5% + 30¢ to 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards

Credit card rates

Wix Payments: 2.9% + 30¢

Credit card rates

Up to 2.9% + 30¢

Credit card rates

2.7% + 30¢

Credit card rates

Not stated

Credit card rates

Included in above fees

Unlimited storage space?
Unlimited storage space?
Unlimited storage space?
Unlimited storage space?
Unlimited storage space?
Unlimited storage space?
Free trial
Free trial
Free trial
Free trial
Free trial
Free trial
Try Squarespace Try Wix Try Shopify Try GoDaddy Try Hostinger Try Square

1. Squarespace: Best for Elegant, High-Performing Ecommerce Websites

Squarespace works well for online stores that are looks-focused, such as businesses selling trendy items, luxury goods, or wellness products.

Squarespace
4.7
Pricing $23-$52/month
Pros

Sell unlimited products on any plan

Attractive email marketing templates

Precise web design editing

Cons

Very few apps available

Transaction fees on entry-level ecommerce plan

No multi-currency selling

Who's it for?

We recommend Squarespace to small ecommerce businesses that are focused on creating an attractive website, since it has the best designs of any platform we tested. It's also a great option for users who've never built a website before, since it was one of the easiest platforms to use that we tested.

Who's it not for?

Squarespace isn't a great pick for businesses looking to grow their ecommerce store or expand internationally. It doesn't have built-in tools to support multi-currency selling, and its sales features will feel limiting to large ecommerce stores.

Where Squarespace stands out

The striking beauty of its design templates, optimized for both web and mobile use, is one of the stand-out features of Squarespace. It’s never been simpler to create a slick, professional, beautiful-looking website with a solid ecommerce backend.

But it’s not just pretty templates. Squarespace also provides easy payment processing with trusted providers like Paypal, Stripe and Square, and its own payment processing service, Squarespace Payments. Its editor’s drag-and-drop design functionality means you can create an online store easily, and its inventory management and sales analytics are easy to follow.

Its ease of use is important as it allows anyone to set up a website and start selling, breaking down any barriers that come with more complex website builders or coding a website yourself.

screenshot of Squarespace website editor space showing text editing tools
I found the text editing tools appear exactly where you're editing, so there's no hunting around. Source: Expert Market

Where Squarespace could improve

While Squarespace is easy to use, it has drawbacks. When it comes to payment processing, Squarespace doesn’t integrate with a wide variety of third-party providers, with options limited to Stripe, Square, and Paypal. Wix, on the other hand, integrates with all three of these plus over 10 other providers.

Squarespace’s ecommerce features also aren’t as advanced as a platform like Shopify, and won’t be able to support businesses that are turning into large ecommerce operations. For example, there’s no built-in feature for creating product filters for customers or multilingual websites, key tools for large international e-commerce businesses.

Shopify has all these features and more, making it a better option for expansion. Plus, if it comes to the point where you feel you’ve outgrown Squarespace, it has some export limitations, meaning it may be hard to move to another website builder if necessary.

▶ Read more: Wix vs Squarespace

Features worth knowing more about

We really like the Squarespace App which allows you to update pages, review traffic and update inventory on the go. This gives you great flexibility as a business owner, especially when you have to be in a thousand places at once.

Squarespace also offers beautifully designed email marketing templates to match their slick templates. This means you can keep your brand consistent across all marketing communications.

Since our last update...

As of August 2024, you can also now use AI to help you write descriptions for content on your website, such as courses and videos. You provide the AI writer with a summary of your content, as well as your tone of voice (casual and friendly, professional, etc.) and it’ll write descriptions for you. You can also use it to improve existing content descriptions, by highlighting the text, and choosing between “shorten”, “lengthen”, and “simplify”.

Squarespace pricing

There are four Squarespace price plans to choose from, all of which are relatively low cost compared with the larger platforms Shopify and BigCommerce:

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Personal

Business

Commerce Basic

Commerce Advanced

Price (billed monthly)

$25/month

Price (billed monthly)

$36/month

Price (billed monthly)

$40/month

Price (billed monthly)

$72/month

Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Best For

Portfolios and blogs

Best For

Small businesses

Best For

Growing online stores

Best For

Established small online stores

Key Features
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Unlimited bandwidth and storage
  • Collect visitor data
  • Video maker
Key Features
  • Sell unlimited number of products
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Free Gmail (1 year)
  • Pop-ups and banners
Key Features
  • Point of Sale
  • Collect reviews
  • Product waitlists
  • Free Gmail (1 year)
  • Free domain (1 year)
Key Features
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Sell subscriptions
  • Local shipping rates
  • APIs for custom integrations

You may have noticed Squarespace pricing is similar to Wix, and they’re near competitors because of their focus on design and style. You wouldn’t come to either for complex inventory management and warehouse services, for instance.

Squarespace’s Commerce Basic plan costs $28 per month, $1 less than Wix’s Core plan ($29 per month), but with Wix, you’ll get 5 hours of video storage versus 30 minutes with Squarespace. You’ll also get slightly better selling features from Wix at this price point, including abandoned cart recovery emails, applying discounts automatically, and the ability to accept pre-orders.

But if you want to sell more than 50,000 products, you should choose Squarespace over Wix. And if product reviews are important to you, Squarespace is the better choice once again, as Wix limits these.

2. Wix: Best for Combined Powerful Design and Sales Tools

Wix tops our website builder list thanks to the wide range of features but dips into second place when we consider its sales platform. The reason is its selling features are slightly less generous – Wix limits the number of transactions with automated sales tax, for instance.

Wix website builder
Wix
4.7
Pricing $29-$159/month
Pros

Excellent AI tools

Numerous shipping options

Diverse email marketing templates and send options

Cons

Maximum 50,000 products

Limited storage space

Capped sales tax automation

Who's it for?

Wix is a good all-rounder platform that's suited to a wide range of small business users. It offers a great level of design customisation, while not being too complicated for the average user.

Who's it not for?

Like Squarespace, Wix might feel a little limiting for ambitious ecommerce businesses, since it doesn't offer unlimited storage or products. It might also be tricky to use for total beginners.

Where Wix stands out

Wix is similar to Squarespace due to its focus on ease of use and attractive design. However, where it stands out is its extensive app market, with 250+ free and paid apps to choose from, giving you a lot more functionality in your store. In terms of overall features, Wix has a pretty wide range, from subscription and course selling, to an email and social media campaign design studio.

Wix also allows you to create multiple multilingual sites for different countries. This, combined with outstanding shipping options, means the platform is ideal for scaling your business into new markets easily.

Screenshot of AI text prompt in Wix editor
Writing prompts for AI is a skill of its own, and it took me a few tries before I understood how to get the copy I wanted from Wix AI. Source: Expert Market

Where Wix could improve

Wix doesn’t offer unlimited storage space like Squarespace does, meaning it could be a barrier to scaling, especially if you have a lot of media files on your site or a particularly large inventory. It only offers unlimited storage space on its Business Elite, which costs an eye-watering $159 per month. 

And while Wix is easy to set up and use initially, it can be a little tricky to master it properly. When the team tested it, several participants noted that it was easy to use but “some things just feel like they are a headache for no reason.”

Features worth knowing more about 

We’re excited about Wix’s use of AI, such as the text generator to speed up content creation. However, Wix leverages AI in the setup process too, with Wix suggesting features you’ll need based on your industry.

Here are some examples:

  • If you run a restaurant: table reservations, food delivery, menu listings
  • Hotel managers: season-specific room pricing, list add-on services at extra cost
  • Fitness enthusiast: bookings (in person or online) via Wix Fit, subscriber-only content,  automated reminders
  • Creative professionals: membership areas with paywall content, video streaming

Wix is better for the services industry compared to Square, because the latter isn’t set up for paid members-only pages.

Just the Ticket!

If you’re selling tickets, then Wix takes a 2.5% commission from every sale.

Since our last update...

Wix’s last product update was in November 2023, and it hasn’t announced new updates since. In the update, Wix made editing your media much easier. You can now edit your images with Adobe Express without leaving the Wix Editor. Once you have an Adobe Express account, you can select an image in your Media Manager, edit with Adobe. Once your edits are saved in Adobe, they’re also saved in your Media Manager and available for your immediate use on your site.

Wix pricing

Wix offers a 14-day free trial period on its premium plans, of which there are three ecommerce-specific options:

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Light

Core

Business

Business Elite

Enterprise

Price (billed monthly)

$23/month

Price (billed monthly)

$36/month

Price (billed monthly)

$43/month

Price (billed monthly)

$172/month

Price (billed monthly)

Variable

Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)

Variable

Best For

Basic small business website

Best For

A small online store

Best For

Expanding online sellers

Best For

Fast-moving online stores

Best For

Competitive large retailers

Key Features
  • No online store
  • 2GB storage
  • No Wix ads
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Customer data forms
Key Features
  • 50GB storage
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Sell products, video, music
  • 1 auto backup/month
  • Basic gift cards
Key Features
  • 100GB storage
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Sales tax automation
  • Print shipping labels
  • Sell in 6 currencies
Key Features
  • Unlimited storage
  • Free domain (1 year)
  • Loyalty rewards
  • Priority customer support
  • Custom reports
Key Features
  • Account manager
  • Performance tracking and site optimization
  • Enterprise-grade security

Wix is very similar in pricing to Squarespace, but is slightly pricier overall, with Squarespace Business costing $23 per month (compared with Wix Core at $29 per month).

We’ve created a Wix pricing page if you want to look more closely at costs.

The number of Wix stores grew by 37% in the first quarter of 2023 compared with 2022

3. Shopify: Best for Scaling Your Business

Shopify is a comprehensive omnichannel online selling tool and we’re impressed. It allows for massive scalability and currently serves large well-known brands. You’ll start with a clean, well-presented shopfront, and you can bulk-import products as your catalog expands.

Shopify logo
Shopify
4.6
Pricing $5-$2,300/month
Pros

Unparalleled sales features allowing for massive growth

Large app store allowing for countless integrations

Built-in VR functions to better showcase products

Cons

Steep price jump from starter plan to mid-tier pan

No built-in scheduling and bookings system

Can be overwhelming for beginners

Who's it for?

Shopify is a great option for ecommerce businesses looking to grow, sell internationally, or manage both in-person and online sales from the same platform. Its online store and POS system can be managed from the same interface, and it allows for localized selling and up to 200 inventory locations.

Who's it not for?

It's not the best option for small or local online sellers, since it Shopify gets expensive very quickly, and can be difficult to use for unseasoned ecommerce businesses.

Where Shopify stands out

Shopify is the best for serious online retailers and its sales features are unparalleled. It allows you to manage inventory at multiple sites, calculate taxes, manage international shipping, and much more.

It also is brilliant for integrating marketing into your site through apps like Facebook and Instagram, allowing you to sell through these platforms. And, with the introduction of Shopify POS, you can use the same software to sell in-person as well as online.

Shopify website editor preview with fashion model image
Shopify includes a library of free stock images for you to use. Source: Expert Market

Where Shopify could improve

There are no native features to connect your Shopify store with any of the main online marketplaces. Exceptions are Facebook and Instagram marketplaces as well as a wholesale option called Handshake. For any of the others, you’ll have to connect an app, which comes with monthly fees. For instance, to connect Etsy, you’ll have to pay $19 per month to synch up to 20,000 products.

Another disadvantage we found during our research was a lack of tutorials, which made it hard to familiarise yourself with the platform.

Features worth knowing more about

This year Shopify released its AI writing tool Shopify Magic, which we found effective in crafting creative prose for our product descriptions. While Wix has a similar AI text generator, it doesn’t offer the same range of tones of voice as Shopify’s tool.

Similarly, the AI chatbot assistant in the help center was quick and mostly effective at answering my questions about setting up additional sales channels. Its comprehension was not perfect, for instance, it couldn’t understand that the Amazon by Shopify app was no longer supported. Instead, it repeated (outdated) instructions for downloading that very app.

Since our last update...

Between June and August of this year, Shopify expanded its AI image editing tool, so it can now be used on not just images in the online store editor, but also images in the email marketing editor.

Magic, Shopify’s AI assistant, is now also capable of automatically listing attributes for new products, such as color and size, speeding up the process of launching new products.

Shopify pricing

Here’s an overview of Shopify’s pricing plans:

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Starter

Basic

Shopify

Advanced Shopify

Plus

Price (billed monthly)

$5/month

Price (billed monthly)

$39/month

Price (billed monthly)

$105/month

Price (billed monthly)

$399

Price (billed monthly)

N/A

Price (billed annually)

$5/month

Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)
Price (billed annually)

$2,300+/month

Best For

Selling on social media

Best For

Starting a small online store

Best For

Small and medium sized businesses

Best For

International sellers

Best For

High volume retailers

Key Features
  • Get shoppable links (URLs)
  • Product pages
  • Basic order management
  • Customer support
Key Features
  • Sell an unlimited number of products
  • One users
  • Sell in 33 currencies (1.5% conversion fee)
  • Standard reports and analytics
Key Features
  • 5 user accounts
  • Shopify API customization
  • 88% shipping discounts
  • Shipping insurance (with Shopify Payments)
Key Features
  • 15 staff accounts
  • Advanced reporting
  • Third-party calculated shipping rates
  • Collect duties and import taxes at checkout
Key Features
  • Faster checkout
  • Automate workflows
  • Security and compliance
  • Priority support
Transaction Fees

N/A

Transaction Fees

2% (if not using Shopify Payments)

Transaction Fees

1% (if not using Shopify Payments)

Transaction Fees

0.6% (if not using Shopify Payments)

Transaction Fees

0.2% (if not using Shopify Payments)

Payment processing fees

5% (with Shopify Payments)

Payment processing fees

Online: 2.9% + 30¢
Online Amex: 3.5% + 30¢
In person: 2.6% + 10¢

Payment processing fees

Online: 2.7% + 30¢
Online Amex: 3.3% + 30¢
In person: 2.5% + 10¢

Payment processing fees

Online: 2.5% + 30¢
Online Amex: 3.1% + 30¢
In person: 2.4% + 10¢

Payment processing fees

Variable

Shopify’s pricing is quite expensive, not helped by the fact that its free trial period is now just three days, as opposed to the standard 14. Although it offers a really accessible entry price point (its Starter plan is $5 monthly), that comes with 5% transaction fees when you’re signed up to Shopify Payments. And you’ll likely need apps with – you guessed it – more monthly fees.

It also charges transaction fees if you use a third-party payment processor instead of Shopify Payments. This places Shopify on the pricey end of the ecommerce platform scale.

4. GoDaddy: Best for Getting Set Up Quickly

GoDaddy offers one of the fastest ways to get your website online and the best value for money out of all the platforms we tested. It offers lower prices than all competitors except Hostinger, but it’s got more tools for you to play with than this cheaper rival.

GoDaddy
4.2
Pricing $9.99-$26.99/month
Pros

App for managing online store on the go

Offers a basic POS system for integrated in-person and online sales

Excellent site speed

Cons

No option to remove transaction fees

Checkout page can't be customized

No robust fraud-prevention software

Who's it for?

GoDaddy is suitable for any small business that wants to get their website up and running quickly. It's well-suited to beginners, since it was one of the easiest to use platforms we tested, and offers a useful AI website building tool.

Who's it not for?

GoDaddy isn't a good option for businesses looking to create a unique and modern looking online store. Customization is more limited than on other platforms, and its pre-built templates can look a little dated.

Where GoDaddy stands out

Our team found GoDaddy to be one of the easiest platforms to use during our last round of testing, with one participant noting that it felt like “something [their] mother could use.”

The intuitive and simple nature of the platform’s design is only bolstered by GoDaddy’s great customer support. There’s a phone line, with the company readily publishing their number online, unlike some competitors. With Wix, for example, you’ll have to click through online options and request a callback. Squarespace doesn’t even have a customer service number.

In terms of ecommerce features, GoDaddy supports a wide range of payment processing options like Paypal, Stripe and Square, as well as its own payment processing service, GoDaddy Payments, and a new POS system that integrates with your site.

screenshot of GoDaddy bookings system in backend
GoDaddy’s booking tools were very easy to use, I could see all the options laid out clearly on the sidebar. Source: Expert Market

Where GoDaddy could improve

GoDaddy primarily started as a web hosting platform, meaning its e-commerce functionality isn’t as advanced as platforms like Shopify and Wix. There are fewer customization options than either of these two providers when it comes to the checkout area, meaning there are limited ways you can positively impact the number of sales you’re driving.

GoDaddy is perfect for a business that wants a small online retail presence or wants to test online retail. However, if you want to make online selling the focus of your business, Shopify or Wix will be a better choice.

That’s not just from a features perspective either – unlike providers like Shopify, GoDaddy’s native payment processing service has a flat transaction fee rate, so even if you opt for a more expensive plan, there’ll be no payoff for you when it comes to your top line.

Features worth knowing more about

GoDaddy uses an Artificial Design Editor (ADI) so the design process is less time-consuming. This is perfect for business owners who aren’t focused on the design of their website.

The downside to this, however, is that you’ve less creative freedom and your site may end up looking like a lot of other businesses. If you need more creative freedom, look at Wix or Squarespace.

Since our last update...

In August, GoDaddy improved the layout of its email marketing composer, adding new email templates, and displaying remaining email credits on the email marketing landing page.

It’s also now offering one free consultation with site-building experts to existing customers, allowing them to get advice on SEO, website design, and marketing.

GoDaddy pricing

GoDaddy has three tiers in its pricing plan

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0 out of 0
Price (Paying Annually)

$9.99/month (first year)

$12.99/month (afterwards)

Price (Paying Annually)

$14.99/month (first year)

$22.99/month (afterwards)

Price (Paying Annually)

$20.99/month (first year)

$26.99/month (afterwards)

Best For

Getting started with a website, marketing and payments

Best For

Taking online appointments and boosting your marketing

Best For

Scaling up your store

Key Features
  • SSL security
  • 100 email marketing sends monthly
  • Sales tracking dashboard
Key Features
  • 25,000 email marketing sends per month
  • Recurring appointments
  • Email and text appointment reminders
Key Features
  • Unlimited products
  • 50 orders per month on: Amazon, Etsy, Facebook and Instagram
  • Sales tax calculated
Transaction Fees

2.7% + 30¢ per online card if using GoDaddy Payments

Transaction Fees

2.7% + 30¢ per online card if using GoDaddy Payments

Transaction Fees

2.7% + 30¢ per online card if using GoDaddy Payments

GoDaddy has three tiers of pricing instead of four – Basic, Premium, and Commerce.  The Commerce plan is the best option for small businesses and offers features like unlimited products, sales tax calculation, and up to 10,000 email marketing sends per month.

The Commerce plan is currently $20.99 for the first year and rises to $26.99 per month the year after, which is affordable for most small businesses.

5. Hostinger: Best for Small Local Businesses

Hostinger is an easy-to-use website builder and ecommerce platform, best for small and local businesses. Its one of the few ecommerce platforms with no additional transaction fees, besides what you pay for card processing.

Hostinger
4.0
Pricing $13.99/month
Pros

No transaction fees

Advanced fraud detection system

Customizable checkout

Cons

No built-in email marketing

No POS integration

No mobile app to manage store on the go

Who's it for?

We recommend Hostinger for small local businesses who want a simple, straightforward website builder and e-commerce platform that doesn’t take up a lot of time. The platforms focus on AI makes it easy for total beginners to create a store.

Who's it not for?

Hostinger isn't a great option for business looking to expand, or integrate online selling and in-person selling, since it doesn't have any built-in marketing tools, and it doesn't integrate with POS systems.

Where Hostinger stands out

Hostinger has some great ecommerce features like no transaction fees, customizable checkout options and an advanced fraud detection system. These are solid e-commerce features for a small business and all for a relatively low price compared to other website builders aimed at small businesses.

Hostingers AI Website Builder is a useful tool for business owners. The AI builder creates a custom website based on the description you enter and offers AI content creation tools to create engaging, SEO-friendly website copy quickly.

Screenshot of progress tracker in Hostinger website builder
Hostinger lets you know how many steps are left in your website creation with its progress tracker. Source: Expert Market

Where Hostinger could improve

While Hostinger offers some great features at a low price, it is missing out on some key features that some businesses may need to be successful online.

At the moment, Hostinger doesn’t offer any POS integration which may be a disadvantage for local businesses with a physical store alongside an online store. It also doesn’t offer any email marketing feature which could limit your ability to grow your business. In fact, it’s the only ecommerce platform on this list that doesn’t offer at least one of these two bonus tools.

Features worth knowing about

Hostinger offers 24/7 live support with a typical response time of 3 minutes through its live chat and email. They claim to offer support in 10+ languages which would be useful if your business spans different countries.

Another key feature is its fraud detection systems. Hostinger monitors servers 24/7 so any suspicious activity is picked up straight away, keeping your online store safe. Some competitors, like GoDaddy, make you report it yourself and won’t detect it independently.

Since our last update...

In August 2024, Hostinger added a new AI tool, an image background remover. Now, when you upload an image onto your Hostinger product page, you can edit it easily by clicking on it, selecting “edit background”, and picking a color for the background. The AI editor will remove the background for you and replace it with your chosen color.

Hostinger has also made bulk uploading inventory easier with AI. You now don’t need to worry about format compatibility, since Hostinger’s AI tool will analyze and adjust the file data for you.

Hostinger Pricing

Hostinger offers one pricing tier for it website builder and web hosting plan

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0 out of 0
Price (Paying Monthly)

$13.99/month

Price (Paying Annually)

$3.99 for first term of contract, then:

  • 1 year contract: $11.99/month
  • 2 year contract: $9.99/month
  • 4 year contract: $8.99/month
Best For

Small online store

Key Features
  • 500 product limit
  • Up to 100 websites
  • 99.9% uptime guaranteed
  • 24/7 live chat support
  • Unlimited SSL certificates

Hostinger is one of the cheaper plans we’ve looked at. However, it has a product limit of 500, which could be limiting depending on the size of your product range. Squares free online plan for example, has unlimited space for products

6. Square: Best Free Online Store

Square is quite popular in the hospitality industry. It’s ideal for a the brick and mortar restaurant or the burger van at a festival. The Square POS (point of sale) hardware devices are, admittedly, an additional expense. However, Square’s ability to offer a very wide range of payment options for your customers is a big pull factor.

Square
3.7
Pricing $0-$79/month
Pros

Take payments on free plan

Sell unlimited products

Seamless integration with native POS system

Cons

Very limited customization on free plan

No multi-currency selling

Limited multi-channel integration (Facebook and Instagram only)

Who's it for?

Square is a great option for small businesses looking for an affordable way to sell online and in-person, since it offers a free version of both its ecommerce platform and online store. It has tailored solutions for retailers, restaurateurs, and appointment-based businesses, making it a versatile tool.

Who's it not for?

Square isn't a great option for ecommerce-focused businesses looking to grow online, since its ecommerce platform doesn't offer tools for full omnichannel selling, and can't support international sales.

Where Square stands out

Square’s free plan, is the most cost-effective way to sell online. On the free plan, you can sign up to sell online with no monthly subscription fees. Coupled with solutions specifically for retail, restaurateurs, and appointment-based businesses like salons, it allows businesses to create an online store pre-built around what they need to sell.

Its free POS app, and tap-to-pay on smartphone functions make it an accessible tool for new or very small businesses with a tiny budget.

Where Square could improve

The drawback of the Free plan is the basic nature of the editing tools. You won’t have as much design customization as you would with Square Plus. And you’ll have Square-branded adverts on your site.

The transaction fees could also build up over time, so it may not be suitable for bigger businesses that sell a lot of products. Shopify has much lower transaction fees, so may be more suitable if you are growing your business.

Square is also not the best for international sellers as it doesn’t offer multiple currencies. If you need to sell products in multiple currencies, look at a platform like Spotify

website editor basic menu view
In Square, I couldn't quite position my image as I would have liked it to display. Source: Expert Market

Features worth knowing more about

Square retail online store checkout includes a “buy online, pick up in-store” option. We really love that, across all price plans, you can opt for a courier to come straight to your location as soon as a sale goes through.

Shipping is now more streamlined, thanks to a refreshed Shipments Page, from which vendors can manage online, in-store, and subscription order fulfillment.

Square also offers AI-generated product descriptions, which help you to publish your new product pages faster. That’s a valuable time saver, and means you won’t have to spend time and money on professional copywriters each time you want to launch a new product. range

Since our last update...

Square hasn’t had any recent updates, but in March 2024 it launched improved product categorization across its online store and POS systems. Businesses can now create sub-categories, and assign separate customer-facing “channels” that are customer-facing, allowing you to display different categories on the backend and front end of the website.

Square pricing

Square has three price plans to choose from:

Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0

Free

Plus

Premium

Price (billed monthly)

$0 per month

Price (billed monthly)

$32/month

Price (billed monthly)

$79 per month

Price (billed annually)

$0 per month

Price (billed annually)

$29/month

Price (billed annually)

$72 per month

Best For

Smaller businesses

Best For

Growing your loyal customer base

Best For

Customer service-focused sales

Key Features

Sell unlimited products

Instagram and Pinterest integration

Collect customer contact data

Discount coupons

Key Features

Better site editing tools

Customer accounts

More item customization

Order status text alerts

Key Features

Lower card transaction fees

Real time postage pricing

Transaction Fees

2.9% + 30¢

Transaction Fees

2.9% + 30¢

Transaction Fees

2.6% + 30¢

Square’s premium price plans are good value for money, in our eyes. At just $29 per month, Square Plus will send personalized product recommendations to your customers (if they’re logged in). Customers will also get order status text alerts. That’s a surprisingly affordable price point for such a personalized customer experience.

Square’s simple pricing structure (monthly subscription fee + set fee per transaction) is also much easier to understand than Shopify’s multi-layered payment fee structure.

That said, you should be aware of the following payment processing fees with Square:

  • AfterPay (you get the full amount upfront, but the customer pays in installments): 6% + 30¢ per transaction fee
  • Cash App (digital wallet): 2.9% + 30c per transaction fee
  • PayPal: 3.49% + 49¢ per transaction fee
  • Google Pay/Apple Pay (via Square Payments): 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction fee

Buying Guide: How to Choose the Best Ecommerce Platform

The best ecommerce platform for Staples (a brand that happens to use Shopify) isn’t necessarily the best choice for you. Here are the factors you should bear in mind when it comes to selecting an online selling tool:

  • Selling location – Wix is better for digital sales, but Square is easy to connect with in-person selling
  • Level of technical skill needed – Wix is on the easy side, whereas WordPress/WooCommerce is harder
  • International selling capability – Shopify supports multiple currencies, but Squarespace doesn’t

After you’ve identified those key features of your business plan, you can move forward with selecting an ecommerce platform. We’ve gone into more detail about which type of user each tool is best suited to, in the reviews below.

What’s the Difference Between an Online Marketplace and an Ecommerce Platform?

It’s easy to get confused about the different types of online selling platforms. But the differences matter. A lot. An online marketplace is owned by a company, and shoppers can buy from many different sellers who list their goods there. By contrast, an ecommerce platform is a tool you can use to build your own online store, and yours are the only goods or services for sale on that website.

Here are the different examples:

Online marketplaceEcommerce platform
AmazonBigCommerce
eBayShopify
Walmart MarketplaceWix
EtsySquare Online

As you can see, the marketplace sites (also confusingly known as ecommerce sites), are akin to a shopping mall where you can choose to enter a number of different stores. But the ecommerce platforms are the online version of your physical store.

Ecommerce websites From sources across the web Amazon Shopify eBay BigCommerce Wix Walmart Magento Allbirds Best Buy
The Google results for "Ecommerce sites" confusingly combine ecommerce platforms and marketplaces.

Should I Use an Ecommerce Platform or Online Marketplace?

Honestly, nothing is stopping you from using both. But if you do, you’ll need to ensure you synch your inventory across all of your online sales channels. That way you’ll avoid a situation where you can’t fulfill orders from your website because you’ve already sold out on eBay.

Let’s quickly look at the differences between using an ecommerce platform versus an online marketplace:

Online marketplaceEcommerce platform
Website speed and hosting is managed by the platform owner (not you)You’re responsible for website speed and hosting
Quick and easy to set upMore involved set-up process
Minimal tech skills neededSome tech confidence needed
No control over user journeyCustomize checkout, pop-ups, and more
Compete for visibility of your products among other sellersShoppers only see your products on the site
Web domain is marketplace nameOption to use a custom domain name
Platform takes a large commission (8-15%) plus listing and payment processing feesPlatform takes a smaller commission (0-5%) plus payment fees (2-4%) plus monthly subscription fee

The main points of difference are the cost to you (the seller) and product visibility. Let’s look at each of those.

Costs of Ecommerce Platforms vs Online Marketplaces

The main cost of an ecommerce platform is typically the monthly subscription fee (although Square Online has a free plan), which online marketplaces typically do not charge. Almost all ecommerce platforms charge payment processing fees (except, again, Square Online, which instead charges a flat fee for its premium monthly plans).

Online marketplaces typically take a commission per sale – some ecommerce platforms do this as well, such as Shopify. This is what makes Shopify a pretty expensive ecommerce platform. Some online marketplaces charge a listing fee – eBay and Etsy do this. However, ecommerce platforms do not charge such a fee.

You can also pay extra to “boost” the visibility of your product listing on an online marketplace. On platforms like eBay, you are charged only when a click on a paid placement leads to a sale. On Etsy, however, you are charged per click no matter if the viewer buys your item or not. A model like this can cause you to lose out on profit per sale. However, promoted listings can draw in shoppers to browse the rest of your store.

four listings for brown women's coats, with highlighted text underneath each that reads "ad by etsy seller"
Etsy charges sellers per click on each promoted listing.

Product Visibility on Ecommerce Platforms vs Online Marketplaces

The supposed advantage of listing your products on marketplaces like Amazon is that buyers are already searching there. Therefore your products should automatically get lots of visibility from eager buyers. But if that were entirely true, there wouldn’t be any need for paid marketplace listings (described in the section above).

Therefore listing your products on a third-party marketplace is certainly no guarantee of better visibility for your wares.

With an ecommerce platform, SEO strategy is vital. That means you need to set your website up well enough that search engines pull in your product pages. However, you may also want to promote your ecommerce store with pay-per-click ads on Google, Bing, Ecosia or other search providers.

Expert Verdict

Our research found Squarespace is the best site to set up an online store in 2024. Although it’s on the pricey end, it’s got the advanced selling tools that confident, ambitious merchants need to scale up in the competitive arena of ecommerce.

If you’re put off by the extra fees and tricky online marketplace connections, then larger-scale sellers can look at Shopify for a smoother retail experience.

Alternatively, local businesses that sell services, subscriptions, and paid appointments are usually best off with Wix. We favor Wix for bookings and other face-to-face business ventures, thanks to its convenient scheduling features.

How We Test Ecommerce Platforms

We tested and researched 16 market-leading website builders to evaluate their functionality, usability, integrations, and customer support so we can make the most useful recommendations to UK businesses

Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in seven main categories of investigation and 33 subcategories. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting' to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers.

Our main testing categories for website builders are:

  • Sales features: The sales capabilities and sales functionalities offered by an ecommerce platform, including shipping, product capacity, payment options, tools for in-person selling, and more.
  • Website features: The capabilities and functionalities offered by a website builder, e.g. blog functionality, SEO capability, marketing capacity, and AI tools.
  • Design functionality: The aesthetic appeal and visual layout of a website created using a website builder. It encompasses aspects such as page templates, customisable themes, and content display tools (accordions, tabs, etc.)
  • Ease of use: How user-friendly and intuitive a website builder is for people with varying levels of technical expertise.
  • Value for money: The balance between the cost of a website builder and the benefits it provides. It considers factors such as pricing plans, subscription models, and available features.
  • Reputation: External customer opinion; the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular website builder – the market position and reputation a website builder holds.
  • Help and support: The assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance while using a website builder. This can include tutorials, knowledge bases, and email or chat support.

FAQs

How can I stop consumers abandoning their carts?
Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy all have the ability to send out email notifications if a potential customer abandons their cart, hopefully prompting them to complete their sale.
How can I switch ecommerce platforms?
Switching ecommerce platforms is a big task and takes a lot of time and effort to get right. But its necessary if you’ve outgrown your current platform.

Switching ecommerce platforms can be difficult sometimes. For example, Squarespace has some export limitations, meaning it’s more difficult to switch to another platform.

 

Written by:
Sabrina Dougall
Sabrina is a business journalist whose career began in news reporting. She has a master's in Investigative Journalism from City University London, and her work has appeared in The Times, The Daily Express, Money Saving Expert, Camden New Journal, Global Trade Review, and Computer Business Review. She specializes in writing about SEO (search engine optimization). Having run her own small business, Sabrina knows first-hand how critical digital marketing is to building a client base and local reputation.
Reviewed by:
A head shot of Natasha Willett - a blonde woman in a work shirt with a blue background
For over 9 years Natasha has worked as a mixed method researcher, across a range of sectors from insurance and policy development to business services and software. As a member of the Market Research Society, Natasha is an advocate for high ethical, commercial and methodological best practices.