Top 12 Best E-Commerce Platforms for Your Online Businesses

An e-commerce platform is a tool a virtual shop uses to manage everything it buys and sells. This tool covers stuff like showing products, getting feedback, handling payments, shipping orders, and dealing with returns. Choosing the best e-commerce platform depends on your business style and how you plan to grow. Check out this rundown of the best e-commerce platforms in 2023 to find the best match for your business.

What is The Best E-Commerce Platform?

1. Shopify

Price: ₹1499/m minimum

Users: Omnichannel sellers

Shopify stands out as one of the top software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms for e-commerce. It offers a robust system complete with tools for selling across various channels and dropshipping. Whether you're selling on your website, in a physical store, on social media, or on other marketplaces, Shopify covers it all.

Features:

• You can swiftly launch your store using over 100 themes, and no technical expertise is needed.
• It provides a suite of powerful business tools, including Shop Pay for payment processing with low fees, Shopify POS for in-person sales, and Shopify Fulfillment to ensure timely delivery.
• There are no limits on bandwidth or online storage, even as your traffic and business grow.
• Enjoy competitive shipping rates from top carriers like USPS, UPS, and DHL Express.
• The Shopify ecosystem comprises a range of seamlessly integrated apps, including third-party options that can enhance your experience.
• You'll find built-in tools like free email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, and SEO features
• The mobile app lets you manage your business with ease, handling orders, product additions, real-time sales and inventory updates, and more.

2. Ecwid

Price: Free; $14.08 or ₹889/m (billed annually)

Users: Sellers with a website or a blog

Ecwid stands out as one of the best e-commerce platforms. Despite its unique name, which is short for e-commerce widget, it's perfect for websites like WordPress blogs.

Features:

• It doesn't charge transaction fees, except for regular credit card processing fees.
• Plus, it offers a free plan.
• The Venture plan, priced at $14.08 or ₹889/m, enables you to sell across multiple channels and includes a point-of-sale (POS) feature.
• The Business plan, costing $29.08 or ₹1,649/m, allows for product variations, and staff accounts, and sends abandoned cart emails.
• If you choose the annual Unlimited plan at $82.50 or ₹4,990/m, you even have the chance to create your own branded shopping app for iOS or Android.
• By adding Ecwid's code using HTML, you can transform your existing site into a complete online store without the need to build a new one.

3. Wix

Price: Free; $16/m to $159/m (billed annually) or ₹399/m or ₹799/m (billed annually)

Users: Sellers who want to use a site builder to manage their online store

Wix is one of the best e-commerce platforms that lets you create your website by dragging and dropping elements.

Features:

• It offers customizable templates, web hosting, and domain name registration.
• While you can make a simple website for free, upgrading to a paid plan is necessary for using Wix's e-commerce functions.
• Sellers can track orders, accept online payments, sell products on different platforms, and set up abandoned cart campaigns.
• It doesn't have things like low-stock alerts and important inventory management tools. If you have more than around 10 products, you'll need another best e-commerce platform with better inventory tracking.
• Additionally, you'll need third-party apps to integrate social commerce.

4. BigCommerce

Price: $29.95 or ₹2,453/m (billed monthly or annually)

Users: Online retailers who want to integrate sales and marketing tools for effective lead generation and sales growth.

Features:

• Starting at $29.95 per month, these plans provide unlimited storage, bandwidth, and product listings.
• This best e-commerce platform supports international sales by allowing multiple currencies and various payment options, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay.
• Unlike Squarespace, domain names aren't included in plans, and not all themes are free.
• The entry-level plan caps at $50,000 in annual sales. If you exceed this limit, upgrading to a higher plan, like the Plus plan at $79.95 per month for up to $180,000 in annual sales, becomes necessary.

4. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)

Price: $22k minimum

Users: Medium to larger-scale sellers who might have to handle higher traffic and sales

Magento has transformed into Adobe Commerce, a powerful and one of the best e-commerce platforms out there. It doesn't make it easy to integrate social commerce, sell on marketplaces, or handle foreign currencies. If your business aims to go global, Magento might not be the ideal e-commerce choice.

Features:

• It comes with a user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder, eliminating the need for developers.
• It's perfect for advanced personalization as it seamlessly connects with various Adobe products like Experience Manager, Analytics, and Real-Time CDP.
• By utilizing Adobe Sensei, its AI technology, shoppers receive tailored suggestions for an enhanced experience.
• The platform offers two plan levels, and pricing details can be obtained through a demo.

5. WooCommerce

Price: Free, plus extensions

Users: Sellers who want to create and manage a unique and flexible online store.

WooCommerce acts like a special tool that can turn your WordPress website into an online store. The basic version doesn't cost anything and can be upgraded with various add-ons to suit your needs.

Features:

• These add-ons allow you to do things like booking appointments, selling subscriptions, and even receiving payments on a regular basis.
• You have lots of choices, from which shipping companies to use to creating coupons or taking pre-orders.
• The add-ons have different prices, some are free, while others can cost around $249.
• Remember, because WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress, you'll need to spend some time learning how to use WordPress, which might not be the simplest system to understand at first.
• You'll also have to buy your own domain name, get an SSL certificate for security, and get web hosting.
• Some businesses also choose to get a premium theme to make their online store look great with less effort.

6. Squarespace

Price: $23 or ₹1,884/m (billed annually)

Users: Beginners or those who primarily deal in information but also sell products on the side.

Features:

• Squarespace takes the top spot due to its appealing and free templates.
• Although it lacks a free plan, you can start with its Business package at $23 per month (if you pay yearly).
• This package lets you sell unlimited products, customize using CSS and JavaScript, and have a professional Google email.
• A more budget-friendly option starts at $14 per month (annual payment), but it doesn't include e-commerce features.
• For $27 per month (annual payment), the Basic Commerce plan offers a point-of-sale (POS) system, great for physical stores and market sellers.
• This plan also provides e-commerce analytics and the ability to tag products in Instagram posts.
• If you're looking for more, the Advanced Commerce plan at $49 per month (annual payment) allows subscription sales and automated emails for abandoned carts.
• Keep in mind, if you're not on a Commerce plan, a 3% transaction fee applies to sales. This is in addition to the regular credit card fees charged on all plans.

7. Square Online

Price: Free; $29/m (billed annually)

Users: Ideal for businesses that need both online and in-person sales capabilities, especially those in need of a point-of-sale system.

Square is a versatile tool and one of the best platforms for e-commerce used by various businesses, from restaurants to physical stores, thanks to its chip reader and point-of-sale solutions.

Features:

• It's a great choice due to its free plan and the ability to sell on different platforms like your website, Facebook, and Instagram. You can easily manage your inventory no matter where you make a sale.
• Paid plans start at $29 per month (billed annually) and come with a free domain for a year, no ads, and the option to use custom fonts.
• The most expensive plan costs $79 per month (billed annually) and offers benefits like reduced transaction fees and shipping rates.
• All plans have a standard credit card transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents, except for the Premium plan, which charges 2.6% plus 30 cents.

8. Big Cartel

Price: Free for up to 5 products; $9.99/m for up to 50 products

Users: Small sellers who deal with selling physical items online, without requiring a significant investment of time or money.

Big Cartel stands out as a pocket-friendly and one of the best e-commerce platforms to create your own online store. It's so budget-friendly that it even offers free plans allowing you to use your own domain name and sell up to 5 products. Although it's designed with creative industries in mind, anyone wanting to create an online store can utilize it without hassle.

Features:

• Using Big Cartel, you can sell your products through your website, in person, or on Facebook.
• It comes with essential features like managing orders and tracking inventory.
• While user-friendly, it's not excessively customizable and doesn't cater to those selling services or subscriptions.

9. Weebly

Price: $10/m with annual billing

Users: Small businesses venturing into website creation to establish an online store.

Weebly stands out as a highly regarded website builder for its user-friendly and straightforward nature. It belongs to the same company as Square, although these two best e-commerce platforms provide different offerings for online businesses. Much like Square, Weebly tailors all its website plans to cater to the needs of budget-conscious online retailers.

Features:

• It presents a free plan that allows unlimited products, giving users ample time to create an online store without any upfront costs.
• However, this plan doesn't allow you to link a custom domain, making it unsuitable for business purposes.
• For those looking to step up, Weebly's Professional plan comes at a fraction of the price compared to its main competitors, costing just $10 per month.
• This plan includes a free domain, SSL security, inventory management, shipping labels, calculators, and even an automatic tax calculator.

10. 3dcart

Price: $9.99/m for 25 products to $99.99/m for unlimited products

Users: Most commonly used by companies with 1-10 employees and revenue between 1 to 10 million dollars

3dcart presents itself as a cloud-based eCommerce solution that lets businesses create and launch their online stores. This best e-commerce platform covers everything from product sales and payment support to handling customer orders.

Features:

• It boasts an impressive array of more than 200 built-in features, including tools for SEO optimization, assisting drop-shipping, and even saving abandoned shopping carts.
• Beyond the basics, 3dcart goes the extra mile by offering social media integration, email marketing tools, order management, blogging capabilities, a Point-of-Sale app compatible with iPads, and a host of other powerful features for all its users.
• You can start with a 15-day free trial, and if you need more time, they're open to extending it.
• The platform also offers a variety of attractive templates in its theme store, ranging in price from $149 to $189.
• And if you're budget-conscious, fear not – they have over 90 free themes to choose from as well.
• They provide secure, PCI-compliant web hosting and even offer assistance in selecting and renewing your domain name each year at no extra cost.
• And if you're migrating from another site, they're ready to help with that too.
• The benefits keep coming – unlimited bandwidth, email hosting, daily backups, ample disk space, and regular software updates, all rounded off with an SSL certificate and FTP access.
• And for those managing their online store, 3dcart lets you assign staff roles with specific permissions.
• 3dcart has established partnerships with major players like WordPress, Google, PayPal, Amazon, and Square.
• Moreover, they've teamed up with trusted payment providers like Stripe, Fattmerchant, Authorize.Net, and Square.

11. Volusion

Price: $29/m, $79/m, $299/m, and the Prime Custom plan

Users: Sellers with 1-10 employees and $1M - $10M in revenue.

Volusion stands as one of the pioneers in the world of the best e-commerce platforms. Since its inception in 1999, Volusion has been a straightforward choice for businesses aiming to establish an online presence.

Features:

• It allows you to build essential components like your homepage and product pages.
• Furthermore, Volusion enables smooth transactions by integrating with over 30 payment gateways and accommodates an unlimited range of products for sale.
• However, it's important to note that Volusion doesn't offer a free plan, and it's designed solely for the sale of physical products.
• If you're considering selling digital goods like ebooks or music, you'll need to explore other e-commerce solutions that cater to those specific needs.

12. OpenCart

Price: Free

Users: Any seller with basic knowledge of PHP and technical skills

OpenCart stands out as a user-friendly, customizable, and the best platform for e-commerce that won't cost you a dime.

Features:

• It's easy to get started with and allows you to handle several stores while offering a handy dashboard displaying vital data such as sales and loyal customers.
• With an extensive array of over 13,000 modules, themes, and integrations, you can fashion your website to your liking.
• However, bear in mind that OpenCart doesn't offer a free plan, and if your products are digital like ebooks or music, you might need to look elsewhere for your e-commerce needs.

An Endnote

Leading online shopping platforms offer a convenient and budget-friendly way to create a thriving online store. However, given the abundance of excellent choices available, selecting the ideal system can be quite a task. To provide assistance, we conducted a thorough assessment to identify the top e-commerce platforms suitable for small businesses in 2023. These solutions encompass all the necessary features to swiftly launch your website, boost visitor numbers, and increase your sales.