The 17 Absolute Best Ecommerce Platforms for Any Type of Business in 2021

by Moritz B.

Published on

02.11.2020 0

The 17 Absolute Best Ecommerce Platforms for Any Type of Business in 2021

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If you want to sell products online, you need an ecommerce platform.

With an ecommerce platform, you can manage your entire online business activities. You can...

Build your own online store
Manage orders
Organize customer data
Perform marketing activities
Lots more...

There are hundreds of ecommerce platforms, but choosing the right one isn't easy. Every business has specific requirements that an ecommerce platform needs to fulfill.

For example, a dropshipping business needs another ecommerce platform than a local business - since a dropshipping business needs integrations to dropshipping partners.

A tech business might need another ecommerce platform than a fashion business.

That being said, here are the 17 best ecommerce platforms for any type of business in 2021:

The 17 Best Ecommerce Platforms for 2021

Here's a list of the 17 best ecommerce platforms for 2021:

In the following, I'm going to give you a quick introduction to each ecommerce platform. I'll show you the pros and cons, payment methods, pricing, and the main features of each software.

So if you want to know which ecommerce platform is best suited for your business, this article is for you.

Let's dive right in.

Squarespace

Squarespace was founded in 2004, has about 800 employees, and is based in New York City. Squarespace is known for its awesome website builder - however, they also offer an integrated eCommerce solution, except for the personal plan.

Squarespace is popular for its beautiful and modern templates and is the best ecommerce platform for small to mid-sized businesses and startups.

Pros:

Custom domain
Drag-and-drop builder
Beautiful templates
Unlimited products
Mobile optimized
All-in-One tool
You can sell physical products, digital products & services
Email marketing
Flexible solution
Analytics
Calendar
Manage finances
No additional fees with third-party payment solutions like PayPal or Stripe (only the fees of the payment processor)

Cons:

Squarespace might not be the best solution for enterprise ecommerce companies.

Payment methods:

With Squarespace, you can connect:

Stripe
PayPal
Square (only for Squarespace Point of Sale, US only)

Pricing:

Personal: $12 per month
Business: $18 per month
Basic Commerce: $26 per month
Advanced Commerce: $40 per month

You should check out all Squarespace plans here.

Shopify

Shopify is the most popular ecommerce platform in the world. Shopify was founded in 2006, has over 5.000 employees, and is based in Ottawa, Canada.

It's is an All-in-One ecommerce platform for small to large businesses. They also provide a drag-and-drop builder, so it'll be easy for you to build your online store from scratch.

They offer awesome support and over 3.200 Apps within their Shopify App Store.

Pros:

Drag-and-drop builder
70+ themes to choose from
Optimized for mobile devices
Custom domains
Customzationable with HTML and CSS
Email marketing, Google campaigns, and Facebook Ads
Integrated comprehensive store management tools
Marketing & SEO tools
Abandoned cart saving functionality
Analytics
Multi-currency selling
Great customer service
3.200 Apps
Dropshipping
Cross-border ecommerce
Shopify Point of Sale
Multichannel selling on social media like Facebook or Instagram

Cons:

You need to install lots of apps if you want to customize your store
Shopify Payments only allows you to sell from certain countries
Professional reporting functionality only comes with the more expensive plans
Email marketing functionality is pretty basic
Additional fees for third-party payment providers like PayPal or Stripe

Payment methods:

You can either use Shopify Payments or another third-party payment provider. In case you use Shopify Payments, you can let your customers pay with over 100 credit cards.

Here are the fees you've to pay with Shopify Payments:

Online Credit Card rates:

Basic Shopify: 2.9% + 30¢ USD
Shopify: 2.6% + 30¢ USD
Advanced Shopify: 2.4% + 30¢ USD

In-Person-Credit Card rates:

Basic Shopify: 2.7% + 0¢ USD
Shopify: 2.5% + 0¢ USD
Advanced Shopify: 2.4% + 0¢ USD

Additional fees using third-party payment providers:

Basic Shopify: 2.0%
Shopify: 1.0%
Advanced Shopify: 0.5%

Pricing:

Basic Shopify: $29 per month
Shopify: $79 per month
Advanced Shopify: $299 per month

If you're new to ecommerce, the Basic Plan will be enough, but I recommend switching to the Shopify Plan once your business grows.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is one of the biggest competitors to Shopify. The company was founded in 2009, has over 600 employees, and is based in Austin, Texas.

Like Shopify, BigCommerce is an All-in-One solution for small businesses and larger companies who want to sell online.

Compared to Shopify, BigCommerce has more in-built features from the start you don't need to pay extra for.

BigCommerce is especially popular for multichannel selling. You can easily sell on Amazon or other marketplaces like Facebook or Instagram.

They also offer an enterprise solution for large ecommerce companies and solutions for B2B ecommerce.

Pros:

Easy to use
Flexible solution
Large feature set compared to other solutions
No additional transaction fees for third-party payment providers
Reporting tools
Built-in product review functionality
Sell in multiple currencies
Sell on multiple marketplaces
Real-time shipping calculation with the lowest plan
Drag-and-drop builder
Blogging features
Point of Sale Apps
Unlimited user seats for employees

Cons:

Limits based on annual sales volume
Themes are not as good as with Wix or Shopify
The built-in blog doesn't have an RSS feed

Payment methods:

Choose from more than 65+ integrated online payment solutions without additional fees.

Pricing:

Standard: $29.95 per month
Plus: $79.95 per month
Pro: $299.95 per month

BigCommerce is a flexible solution for small to larger businesses that want more functionalities and pay fewer fees.

TRY bigcommerce

Square Online

Square was founded in 2009 and is based in San Fransico, California. Square offers a wide range of financial services, but they also have a great ecommerce platform.

When you use Square Online, it will be easy for you to integrate your online store into other Square services.

Square Online is an awesome solution for local businesses that want to take advantage of Square PoS.

Pros:

Easy to use
Sync with your existing Square PoS
Streamline inventory management
Multichannel selling
SEO tools
Analytics

Cons:

The website isn't that customizable
No PayPal

Payment methods:

Square Online lets you accept all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Square Pay.

Pricing:

Free: $0/month and 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
Professional: $12/month and 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
Performance: $26/month and 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
Premium: $72/month and 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction

Weebly

Weebly was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. In 2018, they had more than 625.000 paid subscribers.

Pros:

Drag-and-drop builder
Optimized for mobile devices
Over 200 integrations
Custom domain
Shop management
Mobile App
Sell physical, digital products, and services
Show customers remaining available products
Manage inventory & orders
No additional fees for third-party payment processing

Cons:

Weebly isn't suited for larger ecommerce companies
No Dropshipping

Payment methods:

Stripe
Paypal
Square (Support Point of Sale)

Pricing:

Ecommerce functionality is available with their Pro Plan for 10€/month.

Ecwid

Ecwid specializes in selling products through different marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram. It's also a very flexible ecommerce platform with lots of integrations.

With Ecwid, you can turn any website into an online store. For example, there are integrations for:

Wix
Weebly
Squarespace
Joomla
Tumblr
Blogger

But you can install Ecwid on any website.

What's also great is that they offer a free plan you can use to sell up to 10 products through your online store.

Pros:

Drag-and-drop builder
PoS
Mobile optimized
Lots of integrations
Multichannel selling
Fair pricing
Global solution
Marketing tools
Reporting tools
Shipping price calculator
Lots of payment solutions

Cons:

Limited design
Not suited for larger ecommerce companies
Phone support is only available with more expensive plans

Payment methods:

Around 70 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and many others. No additional transaction fees from Ecwid.

Pricing:

Free Plan
Venture: $15 per month
Business: $35 per month
Unlimited: $99 per month

Jimdo

Jimdo was founded in 2007, has about 200 employees, and is based in Hamburg, Germany.

It's an easy-to-use website builder with ecommerce functionality. It has an affordable pricing and is best suited for small local businesses. Medium to large ecommerce businesses should go for more powerful solutions like Shopify or BigCommerce.

Pros:

Easy to use
Mobile optimized
Order management
Affordable pricing
Custom domain
SEO Tools
Reporting
0% transaction fees
Logo creator
Great customer support
Set up discount codes

Cons:

Website isn't that customizable
Not a good fit for larger businesses
Not flexible

Payment methods:

Jimdo offers several payment options such as PayPal, Credit Card (Stripe—for Business customers), Invoice, Payment in Advance, Local delivery, Local pickup, Collect-on-Delivery, and Check (by mail).

Pricing:

Basic: 15€
Business: 19€
VIP: 39€

Sellfy

Sellfy was built to sell digital products, but now you can also sell physical products through it. Sellfy is the best platform for creators, bloggers, and small businesses who want to sell digital products, subscriptions, and physical goods on their site and through their social media profiles.

Sellfy also provides tools for email marketing, discount codes, upselling features to increase your sales, and more.

Pros:

Very easy to use
Website builder
Sell all kinds of products
Optimized for mobile devices
Embed your store everywhere, for example on your social media sites
Email marketing
Upsells
Analytics
1000+ Zapier integrations

Cons:

The main downside of Sellfy is that you can only use PayPal and Stripe as payment methods.

Payment methods:

PayPal
Stripe

Pricing:

Starter: $19 per Month
Business: $39 per Month
Premium: $89 per Month

Zyro

Zyro is relatively new in the ecommerce space. It was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Kaunas, Lithuania.

What's different about Zyro is that they provide AI solutions for their customers. For example, you can use a content editor that automatically generates SEO friendly content.

That's a perfect solution for absolute beginners who have no clue about copywriting.

Pros:

Easy to use
Website builder
Sell on marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram
Mobile optimized
AI tools
Affordable
Shop management
Analytics
Marketing tools
Coupons

Cons:

Complex domain handling
Limited customizability
Slow customer support

Payment methods:

Choose from over 50 quick and secure payment options.

Pricing:

Basic: $15.99
Unleashed: $16.99
Ecommerce: $25
Ecommerce+: $35

3dcart

3dcart was founded in 1997 and is based in Tamarac, Florida. 3dcart has been in the business for 20 years now and is a great option for advanced sellers.

If you've built online stores in the past, 3dcart is a great option for you to consider because it offers advanced features that you can take advantage of.

Pros:

50 themes
Great SEO tools
No transaction fees
24/7 customer support
Choose from 100+ supported payment processors
Integrations
Unlimited bandwidth
Web hosting
Free domain for one year

Cons:

The admin dashboard isn't user friendly
Designs are outdated

Payment methods:

Choose from over 100+ payment processors with no additional fees.

Pricing:

Startup Store: $19
Basic Store: $29
Plus Store: $79
Power Store: $129
Pro Store: $229

3dcart is the best ecommerce platform for SEO.

Wix

Wix.com is one of the most famous drag-and-drop website builders. The company was founded in 2006, has 2.562 employees, and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Wix.com is not only perfect to build standard websites without HTML and CSS knowledge - but you can also build online stores with Wix.com. They provide over 500 templates and features like collections, galleries, related products, or a customer wishlist.

In fact, Wix.com is popular for the simplicity of its system.

Pros:

Easy to use drag-and-drop builder
Custom domain
Optimized for mobile devices
Manage inventory, track orders, and communicate with customers
500 templates to choose from
Additional features like collections, galleries, related products, or a customer wishlist
Set up global shipping rules from multiple carriers
No additional transaction fees for third-party payment providers
Outsource fulfillment automatically
Dropshipping
Wix Point of Sale
Print-on-demand capabilities
Add suppliers or fulfillment services to the system
Multichannel selling on social media like Facebook or Instagram
Many more features like scheduling tools, social media automation tools, SEO tools, email marketing, video maker, Facebook ads, and so on
Financial tools

Cons:

Limited storage space - not suited for big ecommerce businesses
No upselling features
They had SEO issues in the past

Payment methods:

WixPayments (Credit Card, Pay Now, iDeal, GiroPay)
35+ payment providers, you should check out here.
PayPal
Manual

WixPayments is their internal payment system. If you're going to use WixPayments, you've to pay the following fees:

Credit Card:

EU Countries: 1.9% of the transaction amount + 0.30 EUR
Switzerland: 2.3% of the transaction amount + 0.30 CHF
United Kingdom: 2.1% of the transaction amount + 0.20 GBP
USA: 2.9% of the transaction amount + 0.30 USD

Pay Now:

Austria, Belgium, Germany: 2.5% of the transaction amount + 0.30 EUR
Switzerland: 2.5% of the transaction amount + 0.40 CHF

iDeal:

2.5% of the transaction amount + 0.30 EUR

GiroPay:

2.5% of the transaction amount + 0.30 EUR

While you don't have to pay additional fees for PayPal, keep in mind that you also have to pay the PayPal fees.

Pricing:

Business Basic: $23 per month
Business Unlimited: $27 per month
Business VIP: $49 per month
Enterprise: $500 per month

All in all, Wix.com is a great ecommerce platform for small to mid-sized business. If you run an enterprise ecommerce company, Wix.com might not be the best solution for you.

Volusion

Volusion was founded in 1999 and is based in Austin, Texas. It's a top ecommerce solution for those of you who want to sell only physical products. There's no restriction on how many products you can list within your online store - buy you can only sell physical products.

Pros:

Search functionality
Barcode creator
Related products
Inventory management
Collect customer reviews
Mobile App
Sell in multiple currencies
SEO Tools
Social Media Integration
Sell everywhere
Reporting
Discounts
Gift cards
Newsletters

Cons:

"Only" 30 payment providers
Limited integrations

Payment methods:

30 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon. They don't charge additional fees.

Pricing:

Personal: $29 per month
Professional: $79 per month
Business: $299 per month

Pinnacle Cart

Pinnacle Cart was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Colorado. Pinnacle Cart is an All-in-One ecommerce solution that provides lots of features.

Pros:

Great store builder
No transaction fees
Unlimited products
5 administrative accounts
25+ different payment providers
Complete customer management
Order Management
SEO & Marketing tools
Reporting tools

Cons:

Low learning curve
Customer support is not available 24/7
The PoS isn't in-built
It's not globally compatible

Payment methods:

They partnered up with over 25 payment providers. However, if you're going for the Standard Plan, you can only use PayPal and PayPru.

Pricing:

Standard: $79.95
Advanced: $199.95
Enterprise: -

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce was founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, has about 50.000 employees, and is based in San Fransico. Salesforce is the world's leading CRM system, but they also offer an ecommerce solution.

Their ecommerce solutions are suited for all kinds and sizes of business, and also for businesses focusing on B2B ecommerce.

If you want an ecommerce solution with an integrated CRM system, Salesforce Commerce Cloud would be your best bet.

Pros:

Integrated CRM
AI functionalities to improve UX
Enterprise solution
Order Management

Cons:

Might not be a good fit for small businesses

Pricing:

There's no fixed pricing. Pricing is not transparent on their website. You can request a quote if you're interested in Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is not an All-in-One ecommerce solution like Shopify or BigCommerce. It's rather a WordPress plugin that turns your WordPress site into an online store.

However, since most websites are built on WordPress, most online stores in the world are power by WooCommerce.

It's also a free solution if you already have a WordPress site. Yet, you need to pay for hosting and other services to run your WordPress site.

Pros:

Nearly unlimited features
Lots of payment gateways
Scalability
Localization
Analytics
Marketing features
Choose between multiple shipping carriers
300+ themes
Store management
All payment options
Flexible

Cons:

A large number of plugins can get overwhelming
Not suited for total beginners

Payment methods:

WooCommerce Payments: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for U.S. issued credit or debit cards, +1% for transactions paid using a card issued outside the US
100+ payment gateways without additional fees

Pricing:

WooCommerce is free to download.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an open-source ecommerce solution written in PHP. They have more than 1 million community members and 1.000 active developers.

Presta Shop is available in over 75 languages and they have over 300.000 users worldwide.

Pros:

Easy to install
Budget-Friendly
User-friendly
Easy customization
Demographic assistance
Secure payment

Cons:

Limited scalability
No official support team

Payment methods:

PrestaShop supports by default all major types of payment methods such as checks, cash on delivery, bank wire, PayPal, Moneybookers, and various other payment methods.

Pricing:

PrestaShop is an open-source software.

BigCartel

BigCartel is an ecommerce platform especially for people who sell artwork, clothing, jewelry, and photo prints.

Pros:

It's very easy to use
It's reliable
Perfect for artists and creators

Cons:

Not scalable
Not suited for large companies

Payment methods:

You can set up PayPal and Stripe. Big Cartel does not charge additional payment processing fees.

Pricing:

Gold (5 products): Free
Platinum (50 products): $9.99/mo
Diamond (250 products): $19.99/mo
Titanium (500 products): $29.99/mo

Conclusion

Choosing an ecommerce platform is an essential long-term decision that affects your business success.

It's uber important that you take a close look at each ecommerce platform before you make a decision. Take your time and determine what's important for your business.

For example, is it more important to stay flexible or do you want the highest productivity?

With this article, I gave you a guide in the right direction when choosing an ecommerce platform.

Here's a summary of all ecommerce platforms we've reviewed:

Squarespace - Best ecommerce platform for small to mid-sized businesses
Shopify - Best ecommerce platform for mid-sized to large businesses - Best ecommerce platform for dropshipping
BigCommerce - Great for mid-sized to large businesses
Square Online - Best for small local businesses
Weebly - Best for people who hate complexity
Ecwid - Best platform if you've an existing website
Jimdo - Great for small local businesses
Sellfy - Best ecommerce platform for bloggers and influencers
Zyro - Great for small to medium businesses
3dcart - Best for advanced sellers
Wix - Great for small to mid-sized businesses
Volusion - Great for small to mid-sized businesses
Pinnacle Cart - Open source
Salesforce - Best ecommerce platform for enterprise businesses
WooCommerce - Best ecommerce WordPress integration
Prestashop - Great for mid-sized to large businesses
BigCartel - Best ecommerce platform for designers and creatives

Moritz B.

Moritz Bauer studied business management and industrial engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Constance. He built his first Online Store when he was 16 years old. Now he teaches companies how to establish their business online.