The 10 best ecommerce platforms for online businesses in 2023

It isn’t easy to label a platform as the best ecommerce platform without understanding who will be using it and for what. But after six grueling weeks of testing the top 10 ecommerce platforms for different use cases, I have a conclusive answer.

Shopify is the best ecommerce platform for most people. It is the easiest to learn, covers most ecommerce needs, and doesn’t need any technical skills to use. The only real drawback of Shopify is that it can be expensive if you need anything more than the features it offers out of the box.

If you have a specific business need, I’ve also ranked the top 10 ecommerce platforms for different use cases. Here’s a quick breakdown of the best ecommerce platforms in 2026 and what they’re most suited for:

Want more insight into why you should choose one over the other? Keep reading.

I’ll explain everything you need to know about the 10 best ecommerce platforms, share the factors you should consider when choosing an ecommerce platform, and highlight the pros and cons of each platform.

First, let’s start with my top 10 ecommerce platforms list.

The best ecommerce platforms in 2026

Let’s take a closer look at each top ranking platform to understand why it’s on this list and who should use it.

1. Shopify

Shopify is a leading SaaS platform that empowers you to create an online store and sell online without using code. It’s one of the top ecommerce platforms in the world and a popular choice for small businesses thanks to its user-friendly interface.

The best thing about Shopify is its code-free setup process, which allows anyone to build a professional-looking online store in a few hours, even without prior experience.

Shopify offers a drag-and-drop style user interface with a massive selection of design templates. So you can design your own site and customize it to match your branding without editing any code.

Shopify also has a large app ecosystem that lets you add more features to your store. That’s extremely useful when you want to improve the online shopping experience.

However, Shopify’s pricing is a bit expensive, and you need to sign up for its $399 per month plan to get features on par with platforms like Magento. It also adds extra transaction fees if you use third-party payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe.

I recommend Shopify to anyone who wants to build an online store without worrying about platform security and updates. It’s perfect for most use cases and the best platform for those who want a quick and effective solution.

Key Shopify features:

• Dropshipping integration.
• Multilingual storefronts.
• Mobile app for managing your store on the go.
• Point of sale (POS) system for brick-and-mortar stores.
• Automatic tax calculations.
• Customizable checkout process.

Best ecommerce platform for: B2C, D2C, and small businesses that needs a fully-managed ecommerce platform.

Shopify price: Ecommerce store hosting plans start from $39 per month.

2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce isn’t a standalone ecommerce software like the others on this list. It is a plugin for WordPress that adds ecommerce functionality to a WordPress website.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s the opposite, actually. WooCommerce ranks second in BuiltWith’s list of most popular ecommerce technology in the world.

And it’s no surprise why.

WooCommerce is incredibly user-friendly, and anyone can use it without code. You can install it on any WordPress website with a few clicks. That’s probably why 8.6% of all websites on the internet use WooCommerce.

WooCommerce offers tons of useful features, including a flexible checkout process, easy product management, and multiple payment gateways.

And thanks to WordPress’ massive plugin ecosystem, there are thousands of plugins available to customize your store as you like.

Another advantage of WooCommerce is that, unlike Shopify, it is an open-source ecommerce platform. That means you have complete control over your website and can choose which payment gateways to use without worrying about extra fees.

The only thing I don’t like about WooCommerce is that it’s extremely basic by default. That isn’t a flaw in the platform. It’s just how WooCommerce and WordPress are by design.

They’re offered with essential features, so you can add anything else you need using plugins after the fact. The only problem with that approach is that, sometimes, you can end up with way too many plugins.

And no matter how good the plugin is, managing plugin updates without breaking your store can be challenging.

For those reasons, I only recommend WoCommerce for small stores and those who want to build an online store with an existing WordPress website.

If you’re starting from scratch or need a proper ecommerce platform, you’re better off with Shopify, Magento, or BigCommerce.

Key WooCommerce features:

• Shipping and logistics management.
• Analytics and reporting capabilities.
• Extensive documentation and community support.
• Tons of free themes on the official theme store.
• Access to the largest ecosystem of free plugins.

Best ecommerce platform for: Small businesses who want a low-code ecommerce solution that offers control and customizability.

WooCommerce price: WooCommerce is free, but you need a WordPress website to use it. The official WordPress hosting service from Automattic starts at $25 per month when billed annually. You can also consider cheaper alternatives like Cloudways which starts at $12 per month and Nexcess which starts from $21.

3. Magento

Magento is the best open-source ecommerce platform on the market. No other platform, open-source or SaaS, offers the same functionality or control as Magento by default.

The best thing about Magento is that it gives you more functionality than Shopify’s $399 per month plan for free while giving you complete ownership and control over your online store.

It’s also completely customizable with a modular codebase and packed with ecommerce-friendly features to help you sell online quickly. So whether it’s catalog, inventory, customer, order, shipping, or code-free content management, Magento offers it all for free.

And that’s not all. Magento is endlessly scalable. It uses a horizontally scaling architecture that’s capable of supporting unlimited products. It also supports powerful caching technologies like Varnish and Redis for reliable performance.

Magento is also packed with security features to secure your online store. With measures like AES-256 encryption, strict content security policies, and two-factor authentication, allows you to sell online securely without using any third-party extensions or services.

But Magento isn’t perfect. The biggest challenge with Magento is that it requires technical expertise to set up and maintain. You’ll need to use the command line for basic tasks like installing and updating extensions. Plus, managing Magento upgrades isn’t easy.

But despite its strengths, Magento isn’t suitable for most businesses. It’s only worth considering if you have the technical expertise/resources to manage it or need a platform that’s customizable, scalable, and capable of handling large catalogs.

Key Magento features:

• Powerful catalog management tools.
• Advanced search options.
• Multi-store support.
• Multiple security features.
• Built-in upsell and cross-sell options.
• Flexible catalog and price rules.

Best ecommerce platform for: Medium and large businesses that need a customizable and scalable platform to support a large catalog.

Magento price: Magento Open Source is free to use. Fully managed hosting for Magento usually starts from $50 per month on average.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a reliable ecommerce platform that offers a range of features to help you create an online store without any technical skills. Its easy-to-use interface and intuitive design make it ideal for businesses of all sizes.

The best way to describe BigCommerce’s capabilities would be to call it a blend of Magento and Shopify. It gives you the scalability of Magento with the ease of use of Shopify.

BigCommerce offers a code-free page builder to help you design and customize your store without code or developer assistance. It also provides a streamlined checkout page and built-in image optimization courtesy of Cloudflare Polish.

What I like about BigCommerce is that it supports 55+ payment providers and offers popular shipping services by default.

You don’t need to worry about additional fees for using a payment gateway like Shopify, and you can fulfill orders easily from within your store dashboard.

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t positioned BigCommerce higher on my list if it’s so perfect. That’s because BigCommerce has some flaws, making it difficult to recommend for smaller businesses.

For one, BigCommerce limits important features like product filtering and Google customer reviews integration to their $399 monthly plan. And another reason is that their plans are structured based on the sales turnover.

That means if you’re subscribed to their base plan of $39 per month but have a turnover of $500,000 a year, they will force you to scale up to their $399 monthly plan. You’ll never experience anything like that with Magento or Shopify.

Besides that, BigCommerce is an excellent platform for serious ecommerce businesses. I recommend it for small businesses making around $500,000 a year since that’s where it gives you the best value for your money.

Key BigCommerce features:

• Unlimited products and staff accounts.
• Multi-store support for all plans.
• Built-in support for marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.
• Built-in Facebook and Instagram sales channels.
• Useful marketing tools.
• Multiple security measures with PCI compliance.

Best ecommerce platform for: BigCommerce is the best ecommerce platform for businesses selling across multiple channels.

BigCommerce price: The BigCommerce Standard plan starts from $39 per month for businesses with an annual turnover of up to $50,000.

5. Webflow

Webflow is the best ecommerce platform for design-led brands. It gives you complete control over your website design and allows you to build unique websites without using code.

No other platform offers features that can compete with Webflow’s design customizability.

As a no-code platform, Webflow is extremely user-friendly. What sets it apart from other platforms on this list is that it offers a code-free page builder tool that converts your designs into clean HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code.

It’s almost like you’re the developer, except you don’t write code. You drag and drop design elements or adjust layouts, and Webflow converts the final product into code for you.

You can create reusable design elements like grids, layouts, and even CSS classes. It doesn’t matter if you’re a designer, developer, or content creator, Webflow offers features that will let you build an attractive website from scratch in minutes.

Another great thing about Webflow is that it’s hosted on infinitely scalable AWS servers with multiple security features like Two-factor authentication, role-based access control, free SSL certificates, and easy backups.

Webflow is built for a very specific audience — design-focused brands. Every feature in the platform exists to let you control your branding and website design, which is great for creative ecommerce businesses but not so much for inventory-heavy stores.

Plus, you need a basic understanding of website design and how layouts and grids work to make the most of Webflow. Those aren’t difficult to pick up along the way, but you should expect a slight learning curve.

Key Webflow features:

• One-of-a-kind code-free designer.
• Complete branding control across the website and checkout.
• Gated content for customers.
• Fully customizable schema and SEO markups.
• Custom fields for products.
• Customized checkout flows.

Best ecommerce platform for: Webflow is best suited for design-led ecommerce brands with small catalogs like luxury brands.

Webflow price: Ecommerce-capable plans start from $29 per month with support for up to 2,000 products.

6. Squarespace

Squarespace is the best ecommerce website builder for creating an attractive online store without breaking the bank. It’s a great alternative to Webflow because it offers a code-free web design UI, but you can use it with limited knowledge of web design.

When it comes to features and capabilities, Squarespace is a lot like Shopify — it supports unlimited products, offers a code-free design tool, and even offers a Point of Sale app for iOS.

But Squarespace holds its own when it comes to design options thanks to its attractive templates.

You get all the basic ecommerce functionality you need to sell online, like merchandising tools, inventory management, and flexible shipping options. It also offers useful marketing tools like gift cards, social integrations, and subscriptions with the Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced plans.

Squarespace also offers a free custom domain for the first year on annual payments, in addition to a 30% discount. Although they don’t advertise the exact renewal cost, expect to spend anywhere from $20 to $70 per year after that, which is much higher than buying it yourself.

Squarespace is a great website builder for small shops. If you don’t need advanced ecommerce features and have a small inventory, I recommend choosing Squarespace. But if you need more than the basics, I suggest considering Shopify.

Key Squarespace features:

• Useful merchandising features.
• User-friendly inventory dashboard with support for low-stock notifications.
• Built-in support for USPS shipping labels.
• Flexible delivery options, including local pickup.
• Clean checkout with support for Stripe, PayPal, and Afterpay.

Best ecommerce platform for: Squarespace is best for artists and Etsy sellers looking to upgrade to their own store and ecommerce businesses selling digital products.

Squarespace price: Ecommerce plans start from $33 per month plus a 3% transaction fee. Higher plans offer more features with a 0% transaction fee.

7. Wix

Wix is another excellent Shopify alternative for small online stores that gives you everything you need to sell online at a great price point. It’s the perfect choice if you’re looking for an easy-to-use platform with a massive selection of design templates.

The official Wix template store has more than 500 professionally designed templates for ecommerce stores. Plus, it gives you free access to a massive library of over 1 million high-res images from Unsplash to optimize your website design.

What I like about Wix is that it doesn’t paywall its features as much as other SaaS platforms on this list. It supports multichannel sales, global retail, 80+ secure payment gateways, multiple currencies, and dedicated member areas.

Wix doesn’t rank higher on this list because it lacks support for grouped, bundled, and customizable products. It also limits product variations which can be restrictive if you sell apparel in multiple colors and sizes.

However, despite those shortcomings, I think Wix is an excellent platform for building a dropshipping store, selling online tickets, and even building a blog. You can’t go wrong with Wix if you’re looking for a reliable platform to handle a few products and a high volume of orders.

Key Wix features:

• Supports 90+ languages.
• Exclusive member accounts.
• Multichannel inventory management.
• Product subscriptions.
• Smart business automation.
• Capable of supporting up to 750 transactions per second.

Best ecommerce platform for: Dropshipping stores, events companies, blogs, and luxury stores with small inventories.

Wix price: Ecommerce plans start from $27 per month.

8. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an excellent alternative to WooCommerce because it offers a lot more functionality at a similar price point. Plus, PrestaShop is just as easy to use and maintain. You won’t need any technical skills to manage your theme or modules.

One of the first things you’ll notice about PrestaShop is that the backend admin is packed with features and settings. And although it might seem a little intimidating at first, you’ll appreciate its user-friendliness once you learn your way around it.

Next, you’ll appreciate the amount of functionality it offers for free. It’s significantly more than what you get with WooCommerce. You won’t need to worry about finding and installing extensions for basic things.

Even though PrestaShop makes it extremely easy to install extensions, it has a reputation for being unreliable with third-party extensions, especially since the version 1.7 release. I’d recommend thoroughly vetting extensions before installing them if you choose PrestaShop.

So why do I still recommend PrestaShop? It’s because the occasional hiccup aside, it’s still a great platform. It’s open-source and free to use, making it an excellent choice for small businesses with low-traffic stores.

Key PrestaShop features:

• Useful marketing features like discount codes and limited-time offers.
• Custom out-of-stock message.
• Reliable inventory management.
• Multi-currency and multi-language support.
• One-page checkout with support for custom text blocks.
• Legal compliance tools.

Best ecommerce platform for: Small businesses looking for a WooCommerce alternative that offers more features out-of-the-box.

PrestaShop price: PrestaShop is free to use. PrestaShop hosting starts from $11 per month with Cloudways or $2.99 with Hostinger.

9. OpenCart

OpenCart is a lightweight open-source ecommerce platform that packs a powerful punch.

The best way to describe it would be as a mix of Magento and WooCommerce. It has a lot of core functionality like Magento and is lightweight and easy to use, like WooCommerce.

My top two OpenCart features are the built-in module management and affiliate marketing tools.

The module management tool lets you add, enable, disable, and remove unwanted modules from the admin panel — no command-line access necessary. At the same time, the affiliate module lets you create affiliate programs with custom discount codes without any third-party extensions.

Another great feature is the built-in backup tool. You can take on-demand database backups and restore them without touching the command line. That makes managing backups extremely easy.

The downside, however, is that OpenCart’s default functionality is basic. My tests revealed that it takes twice as long to add products in OpenCart compared to Magento and WooCommerce.

Plus, the official documentation is limited. So you might need to rely on online communities for help.

If you’re willing to look past those issues, OpenCart is an excellent ecommerce platform. You can host it on VPS for as little as $11 per month and build an attractive store using any one of the 1,000+ free and paid ready-made templates from its official theme store.

Key OpenCart features:

• Code-free store and module management.
• Easy access to official support channels.
• Affiliate marketing tools.
• Massive online marketplace.
• Supports 35+ payment methods.
• Built-in rewards program.

Best ecommerce platform for: Small businesses on a budget that need a platform with affiliate marketing tools.

OpenCart price: OpenCart is free to use. OpenCart managed hosting plans start from $11 monthly on Cloudways VPS and $2.99 monthly on A2 hosting if paid annually.

10. Ecwid

Ecwid is an ecommerce widget, like WooCommerce, except it is a lot more versatile. You can use Ecwid with WordPress and other platforms like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Joomla, and even Tumblr.

The best part about Ecwid is that, unlike WooCommerce, you don’t need to host it yourself. Ecwid is hosted by the company behind the platform, and you can add it to an existing website using HTML code.

And if you don’t have a website, you can use Ecwid Instant Site, which gives you a free one-page ecommerce store, or add Ecwid to your social media profiles like Instagram or Facebook. There are multiple ways to build a store with Ecwid for free.

Keep in mind that Ecwid is built for basics. It adds an iframe to your website, making it look like an online store. The problem is that it can be extremely slow if you have more than 50 products. Plus, all functionality is diluted down to keep things user-friendly.

I wouldn’t recommend using Ecwid to build an online store that can scale. But if you want to sell 5 to 10 products, Ecwid will be the perfect solution. It’ll let you start an online store in minutes without messing with code or worrying about hosting or installation.

Key Ecwid features:

• Supports 70+ payment gateways.
• Translations for 50+ languages.
• Free mobile app to manage your store.
• Shipping calculator with real-time rates.
• PCI DSS compliant platform.
• Supports Google and Facebook ads.

Best ecommerce platform for: Small businesses on a budget selling up to 50 products.

Ecwid price: Free site for up to 10 products. Paid plans start from $15 per month.

What is an ecommerce platform?

An ecommerce platform is a software or solution that enables you to sell products and services online. It generally provides one or more features needed to run an online store, such as product, catalog, cart, and customer management. 

There are different types of ecommerce platforms on the market. Some, like Magento and WooCommerce, are open-source platforms you can download and use for free. Others, like Shopify and BigCommerce, are SaaS platforms you can access as a subscription.

There’s no such thing as the best ecommerce platform because every platform has strengths and weaknesses. Those strengths are designed for specific use cases and must be considered with the proper context.

How to choose the best ecommerce platform for your business: 10 important factors you should consider

Here’s a brief overview of my tried and tested 10-step process for choosing an ecommerce platform:

1. Identify your business needs: Evaluate your needs in terms of product types, technical support, and integrations. Based on that, create a list of platforms that address those needs.
2. Determine your budget: Review your finances and figure out how much you can spend on your online store. Keep in mind that you will need to budget for ongoing maintenance and third-party templates and extensions as well.
3. Consider the features you need: Think about the features you need for your products or audience. For example, B2B businesses might need quoting and purchase order support, whereas B2C businesses usually don’t need those features.
4. Evaluate the ease of use: Consider how much or how little support you’ll need for routine tasks like theme or extension management. Choosing a platform above your skill level will be expensive, while one below might feel restrictive.
5. Check the level of customization and flexibility: Identify how much customization you’ll need initially and down the line. You don’t want customizability to become a hurdle for growth once your business grows.
6. Determine the level of support and service available: Every platform offers different levels of technical support. Choose one that complements your skill levels. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself struggling to troubleshoot simple issues.
7. Research the security and reliability of the platform: Look for features like SSL support, Two-factor authentication, PCI compliance, and integrated payment gateways.
8. Assess the scalability of the platform: Consider how easy it is or will be to handle sudden spikes in traffic. You need a platform that can support viral moments whenever they happen.
9. Consider the integration capabilities: Have a custom POS or ERP system? Or perhaps want to integrate your store with a CRM? You’ll need a reliable API for those. So make sure you compare integration support.
10. Check the availability and average pricing of its apps and addons: Explore the official and third-party marketplaces of your shortlisted platforms. Compare the number and costs of themes and extensions and make sure they’re not too expensive.

Need more help? Consider reading my detailed guide on choosing an ecommerce platform to learn more.

How much does an ecommerce platform cost?

The cost of an ecommerce platform depends on factors like the underlying hosting infrastructure, features, customizability, and technical support. On average, you can expect to spend anywhere from $0 to upwards of $50 per month on your ecommerce platform.

Ecommerce platforms like Magento and WooCommerce are free to use but need hosting, costing upwards of $15 per month. In contrast, ecommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce handle hosting and installation for you but cost upwards of $39 per month.

Want to learn more about the expenses of owning an online store? Read my guide explaining the costs of an ecommerce store where I dig into the details.

Wrapping it up: The best ecommerce platforms compared

Shopify is the best ecommerce platform for most use cases. However, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce manage to hold their own for some unique reasons.

Throughout this guide, I’ve evaluated each platform objectively and highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

If you still can’t choose one, feel free to reach out to me with any doubts or questions. And make sure you sign up to our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest developments in the ecommerce industry.

Frequently asked questions about the best ecommerce platforms