Choosing the ideal ecommerce website builders for your small business might be challenging. Do you wish there was a quicker way to determine which e-commerce platform is best for small businesses? You’re fortunate! You receive a tailored suggestion from our fast and simple survey, letting you know which one is most appropriate for your requirements. We’ve prepared this helpful comparison for you rather than allowing you to fumble around and attempt to get all the facts.
For those of you launching your online businesses, here is a look at the top eight ecommerce website builders:
1. Wix
In our study of ecommerce website builders, Wix performed especially well in three key categories: cost-effectiveness, website functionality, and sales features. In terms of usability, it was surpassed only by Squarespace. Although Wix’s plans include many features, its costs are far lower than those of rival ecommerce website builders like Shopify. In summary, Wix provides you complete creative power, makes it simple for newbies to construct an online store, and includes a tonne of features in its ecommerce plans without raising its rates.
In our study, this has emerged as one of the best ecommerce website builders showing great performance in the assistance and support category was its significant area of weakness. Nevertheless, Wix offers consumers 24/7 help through a variety of channels, including phone support, live chat, and articles in the Wix help centre.
Wix, however, has a lot to offer a small business wishing to go online. Wix is a computer beginner’s dream since it’s simple to use and allows anyone to create a fantastic online business. Additionally, you can add product videos, which is a fantastic feature.
In terms of templates
The template layout and degree of creative customization offered by Wix are excellent. You may position text boxes, photos, and other elements on your website by simply dragging them there. This drag-and-drop editing method is incredibly simple and provides you with complete creative control over the store’s appearance.
In terms of pricing
Wix enables you to start a business without paying anything, so you may lay the groundwork for your e-commerce empire for nothing. However, you must upgrade to at least the $27/month Business Basic plan in order to really sell goods. As you can see, Wix is one of the best-suggested ecommerce website builders for small businesses for a variety of reasons. But don’t just believe what we say.
2. Squarespace
In the realm of robust ecommerce website builders, this is a platform that helps your business thrive whether you’re just getting started or are an established brand. Additionally, it enables you to present your goods in the best possible light, let customers browse your selection, add things to their carts, complete the checkout process quickly and easily, leave product evaluations, manage shipping and fulfilment, and taxes, payments, and more all in one location. World-class designers have created templates that are simple to alter in order to assist in the creation of the most expressive online businesses.
In terms of templates
Make room for this platform if you want to create an appealing portfolio or online company. Why? Due to the uniqueness of Squarespace shops. In our investigation of ecommerce website builders, this one certainly received a good design rating. Its layouts for online stores are cutting-edge, stylish, and designed to highlight your items. You may even recreate your template whenever you want, which is ideal for future rebranding efforts.
In terms of features
In contrast to Wix and other ecommerce website builders, in terms of performance, this passed our tests of its sales but the tools weren’t as good. In contrast to ecommerce website builders like Shopify, it only supports multichannel selling on Instagram, which is a rather restricted offering. Nevertheless, Squarespace’s built-in tools will still provide you with all you want to set up a small business for success. The Squarespace extensions app store allows you to add more sales functionality. In general, Squarespace is a fantastic option if you want a stunning shop.
In terms of pricing
Even the Squarespace price plans seem reasonable; the smallest ecommerce website builder plan is just $23 per month if you sign up for a year (or $33 per month if you choose a month-to-month agreement). However, if you use our exclusive Squarespace promotion code when making your first purchase, you can obtain the $23/month plan for just $20.70/month. To save 10% on any Squarespace plan, just enter the code WBE at the checkout.
3. Shopify
Shopify as one of the ecommerce website builders features all the tools you’ll need if you’re serious about selling and want to grow your small business and is hence just what you look for in ecommerce website builders. If you still can’t locate what you’re searching for, you may browse the sizable app store. Shopify is one of the ecommerce website builders that provide a specific focus on assisting you in creating an online store. Because of this, it offers more sophisticated sales features than Squarespace and Zyro, two popular ecommerce website builders.
In our study, Shopify achieved the greatest customer score in addition to placing first for its sales features. By asking users to use the builder and then assess it based on their experiences, we can determine this score. The most popular platform for creating online stores was Shopify.
The fact that Shopify has integrated dropshipping tools is an outstanding bonus that makes it one of the best ecommerce website builders. Therefore, Shopify can be your ideal choice if you’re a small firm seeking to locate storage for your items. If you currently sell things, Shopify provides applications that make it simple to integrate your inventory and manage all of your sales from one location. Additionally, Shopify offers fantastic multichannel selling possibilities, such as Instagram, Facebook, and even Amazon and eBay integration.
In terms of pricing
However, Shopify didn’t completely wow us in every aspect; value for money was the biggest fault compared to other ecommerce website builders. Since many of Shopify’s sales tools are really too sophisticated for small firms, you may not use them for a while after paying for them. When money is scarce, every penny matters! Although you may save money by committing to an annual plan rather than a monthly one, Shopify’s pricing levels begin at $29 per month.
If you join up for one year, you’ll save 10%, but if you sign up for two years, you’ll save 20%. This means you could save approximately $190 per year on the Shopify plan, which you could use for travel expenditures, office supplies, or other expenses.
In terms of features
You won’t profit from Shopify’s robust capabilities if you only want to sell one or two items. However, Shopify as one of the best ecommerce website builders provides the whole package to assist your small business if you’re ambitious and want to give your store a strong foundation.
4. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is one of the ecommerce website builders that are less dependent on third-party applications than platforms like Shopify since it contains the most sales functionality of any ecommerce builder. With an amazing feature rating of 4.6 out of 5, BigCommerce really offers the best sales features of any ecommerce platform we’ve reviewed!
As a result, BigCommerce is the most scalable ecommerce website builder available, which may help you reduce your costs. In light of this, if you have high hopes for your small business, this is the greatest option for you. You may sell using BigCommerce on several platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, and Walmart. This enables you to increase the reach of your shop while maintaining minimal prices.
The primary problem with BigCommerce is that many of its products are designed to serve big stores and support businesses that are growing quickly. You will discover that you are paying for things that are unnecessary for your small firm if you are not trying to grow.
Due to this, BigCommerce in the list of ecommerce website builders received a score of 3 out of 5 in our study for value for money, which was average. Because of the complicated vocabulary it employs, it also performed poorly in our tests of usability. For a small firm that wants to go online fast and with the least amount of trouble, this makes it less than ideal. However, BigCommerce’s sales features garnered top marks, and it offers excellent SEO capabilities to help your business get noticed via Google.
In terms of pricing
There are three ecommerce options available for this ecommerce website builder, the least expensive of which starts at $29.95 a month. You may try it out for 15 days without committing to a plan thanks to its free trial period! Overall, BigCommerce is the best option if you want some cutting-edge features to help you expand your small business. Undoubtedly a strong ecommerce function, it falls in the middle of the pack for most small enterprises.
5. Square Online
Weebly, a well-known ecommerce website builder, was purchased by Square, a major player in payment processing, in 2018. As a result, Square Online was created, an ecommerce website builder that integrates Square’s functionality with Weebly’s. Even when you join up with Square Online and receive additional tools, you still design your business using Weebly’s website builder.
This is particularly good news for novice users of Weebly, a simple website builder that makes use of drag-and-drop editing blocks. But this ecommerce website builder also has the same drawbacks as Weebly, mainly the restricted customization choices. Square Online creates a store for you that is customised to your needs using Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI). Builders like GoDaddy employ a similar technique, inquiring about your shop in order to design a style specifically for your website.
In terms of features
Why then would you choose Square Online over Weebly? In contrast to Weebly, Square Online offers added capabilities and connections including the ability to track consumer behaviour and generate personalised invoices. While we evaluated Square Online, one of the features that truly struck out was how it employs its AI technology to assist you follow best practices when adding items. For instance, it can save you time by helping you recognise goods and recommend a category name.
In terms of pricing
Square Online as an ecommerce website builder receives an amazing 4.5 out of 5 for value for money in our analysis, thus because of these characteristics, we suggest it to sellers who want to get the most for their money. The Square Online platform is user-friendly and reasonably priced without sacrificing quality features.
The fact that Square Online offers a free plan for you to sell on is one of the most obvious benefits to highlight. This is a highly uncommon offer that isn’t available with other best ecommerce website builders. Square Online offers four options with monthly prices ranging from $0 to $72. (billed annually).
6. Big Cartel
The primary selling point of Big Cartel as one of the best ecommerce website builders is the fact that you may create, publish, and even sell without spending any money. That is rather unusual. Big Cartel defies the standard that most other website builders for e-commerce need you to be on a paid plan in order to make sales on your website. However, given Big Cartel is one of the very simple ecommerce website builders, the adage “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. It is the poorest ecommerce website builder given that it ranks lowest in four of the seven research categories we looked at:
- Website Features: Big Cartel, for instance, lacks any integrated blogging facilities.
- Sales Features: It is lacking key features, such as PCI compliance and abandoned cart recovery.
- Help & Support: From Monday through Friday, you can only obtain assistance by email or through the Help Center.
- Value for Money: Despite the fact that you may sell for nothing, the premium plans’ features are relatively limited.
Big Cartel struggles to compete with other free rivals of ecommerce website builders like Square Online. Big Cartel may offer several advantages that put it on our list of the top ecommerce builders for small enterprises, but no builder is perfect. Big Cartel is designed for you if you’re just getting started and don’t mind staying that way.
It’s great for selling a select few one-of-a-kind things because it was created to assist artists, artisans, and creatives in selling their products online. Products cannot be added in bulk, so be ready to add each one individually! Big Cartel is one of those ecommerce website builders that won’t overwhelm you with features you don’t need, so it will be simple to keep your tiny business under control.
In terms of pricing
The reasonable price plans offered by Big Cartel are among its strongest features. Despite the fact that even the most costly packages’ features are restricted, these are quite affordable. You may sell up to five goods using Big Cartel’s free plan, which has extremely limited capabilities. You may sell up to 25 goods with the least premium plan, which costs $9.99 per month and unlocks all of Big Cartel’s features. Anytime is a good moment to update or downgrade.
7. Zyro
Zyro is one of the best ecommerce website builders for UX design lovers and business amateurs. It includes POS integration, which implies that the hardware and software assist with online checkout purchases made by your consumers. Zyro enables you to swiftly develop shops that are aesthetically beautiful thanks to an easy-to-use design editor. Despite having several excellent features, users have noted that finding these options in the builder might be difficult.
According to our study, Zyro’s website features receive a score of 3.4/5, which is somewhat below average. The primary problem with Zyro’s online store is that using it takes a lot of patience. It has several useful features, but many aren’t as in-depth as those of its rivals. Zyro excelled in the design field, which was one of his strengths. Zyro may not be cost-effective for small-business owners, though. Zyro, however, can be the spot for you if you’re looking for omnichannel design, product pages, and a space to express your creative creativity.
In terms of pricing
Zyro’s single monthly package is Unleashed, which costs $10.90. However, keep an eye out since Zyro offers weekly savings of up to 64% on a three-year plan or 46% on yearly subscriptions.
8. Shift4Shop
The alternative to Squarespace is Shift4Shop. Shift4Shop in the list of ecommerce website builders receives a dismal 2 out of 5 for its designs, making it the lowest option on this list for creatives. Instead, it focuses on robust back-end tools and inventory capabilities. You can’t modify your site while on the move because there isn’t a mobile app, but Shift4Shop has a surprisingly strong selection of integrated sales tools. Additionally, you’ll avoid having to purchase many programmes, which may soon add up in cost.
In terms of the sales features, this ecommerce website builder receives the same rating of 3.4 out of 5 as website builder Zyro. Nevertheless, Shift4Shop has a strong inventory system and a robust backend administration system.
In terms of its sales features, this ecommerce website builder receives the same rating of 3.4 out of 5 as website builder Zyro. Nevertheless, Shift4Shop has a strong inventory system and a robust backend administration system. When you switch themes, it also reformats your website for you, giving it points for design.
When we put this ecommerce website builder to test, it failed. It had the lowest customer score from our users that tried it out, making it the small company ecommerce builder that people were least likely to suggest. With a mere 2.8 out of 5 for ease of use, it is also the list’s most challenging ecommerce platform to use.
In terms of pricing
The least expensive plan for this ecoomerce website builder is $29 per month, which is also the same as the least expensive Shopify subscription. You may find places where you can spend your money and get better value.
Conclusion
For your small business, there is a vast variety of ecommerce website builders to choose from. These builders make it possible for you to start an outstanding online business at a reasonable price, assisting you in entering the world of e-commerce. You might want to think about transferring to a platform that is more suitable for large businesses, such as BigCommerce or Shopify if your store does see rapid growth, which is something you should aspire for. For the time being, we advise trying one of the various builders for your small business from the list above. Remember that each platform provides a free plan or a free trial, allowing you to start laying the groundwork for your future ecommerce empire with no out-of-pocket expenses.
