The shifting purchase patterns of the global consumer base have made e-commerce necessary for most businesses.
With more and more people moving to online platforms to make the everyday purchases that were once the domain of brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce presents an elegant solution to several problems while opening the door to revenue from across the world. Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just looking to take your first new product to market, finding the right e-commerce platform to build and manage your website is the first step to success.
The following tools are ranked alphabetically:
* These are the leading free e-commerce software solutions at G2 as of January 2024.
It’s also important to note that with e-commerce software, the adage does hold true: you get what you pay for. Most high-level features are relegated to premium websites with attached service fees.
This isn’t to say that free e-commerce websites aren’t worth your time; they’re probably the best way to enter the digital marketplace. Just don’t expect these free services to scale with your business indefinitely.
Finding the right e-commerce platform can help you build the online store of your dreams and take your business to the next level. With numerous options available in the market today, evaluating your requirements, desired features, and budget is essential before deciding which tool is right for you.
To help you make the best decision for your business, we’ve compiled a list of the best free e-commerce websites according to data collected from real user reviews. In the context of this list, vendors that offer a free trial are also considered free.
To be included on this list, a solution must have at least one of the following features:
*This data was pulled from G2 in January 2024, and the product list is mentioned alphabetically. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.
BigCommerce is a leading open Software as a Service (SaaS) e-commerce platform that allows merchants to build intuitive sites and grow their businesses online. The platform offers flexibility, scalability, speed, and agility to boost sales with best-in-class integrations and advanced features that facilitate enterprise-grade functionality. It is used by thousands of business-to-client (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies across over 150 countries and numerous industries.
"BigCommerce offers various customizable themes and templates to help you design your site. It equips users with robust product management tools and multiple secure payment gateways with seamless integration of third-party applications. BigCommerce provides excellent customer support and various resources, including a comprehensive knowledge base and community forum to help users get the most out of their e-commerce stores."
- BigCommerce Review, DMS R.
"Customizing un-templated needs can be cumbersome and requires heavy development."
- BigCommerce Review, Sam S.
CommentSold offers retailers businesses of all sizes best-in-class solutions for delivering engaging live video transaction experiences. From onboarding, strategy, go-live technology, and live selling best practices to backend solutions for inventory, invoicing, and fulfillment, CommentSold offers everything businesses need to thrive online.
"CommentSold is so easy to use for live selling. I love the ease of use and the fact that it handles all the invoicing. You can go live on mobile apps, Facebook, Instagram, and websites. The omnichannel experience is terrific."
-CommentSold Review, Elizabeth S.
"The learning and setup curve is steep. If you do it wrong the first time, it's a pain to go back and redo."
-CommentSold Review, Amy R.
eComchain is a cloud-based e-commerce platform hosted on Amazon web services (AWS) to maximize security. It offers a unique B2B2C model, the first of its kind. With eComchain's platform, manufacturers can reach out to a vast network of distributors who, in turn, reach out to their end consumers. The platform is equipped with intuitive features to cater to all your needs and offers 24/7 support in case any problems arise.
"Ecomchain comes with many outstanding features, but the front-end store loads especially quickly, unlike other solutions we have used in the past."
–Ecomchain Review, Rajesh M.
"The turnaround time to implement a new feature is quite high, which can lead to a loss of sales opportunities.The premium features cost on this platform is higher than on other platforms offering similar features. Proper support documentation needs to be provided for future reference and training purposes."
-Ecomchain Review, Ritesh G.
Ecwid by Lightspeed is an e-commerce platform that helps you create a professional-looking, easy-to-use online store. Start selling anywhere – online or in person! It can sync and sell across websites, social media, marketplaces like Amazon, and live in-person. The platform’s advanced features help you build and manage your marketing, merchandising, and sales from a single dashboard. Thousands of merchants in 175 countries use it.
"The most beneficial part of using Ecwid is the online chat support which makes creating and setting up your website easy. I have previously worked with other platforms, and designing, altering, and setting up sites was cumbersome and time-consuming. It is not the same with Ecwid."
-Ecwid Review, Dr Donna L. M.
"Limited customization is one of the significant improvements I want to see on Ecwid. While it allows some storefront customization, it offers less flexibility than other e-commerce platforms. It's a drawback for businesses looking to create out-of-the-box, authentic, and unique online stores. Additionally, the mobile app could be better developed. It redirects to the website mid-checkout."
- Ecwid Review, Bereket T.
FastSpring is an easy-to-use global e-commerce platform with all the features your company needs to reach a worldwide audience and sell more. It manages all payment needs, from subscription management and tax collection to remittance so your business can focus on what matters – building outstanding products.
"What I like best about FastSpring is how they have simplified the complexity of e-commerce for businesses. They have an outstanding team of designers and developers, knowledgeable and helpful account managers, and a proactive support staff. All this combined makes the process of setting up your site user-friendly and easy. FastSpring caters to all customer needs and regularly updates the platform to meet advanced requirements with minimal disruption to its users."
- FastSpring Review, Anabel B.
"Enhancing the dashboard's visual appeal can help users navigate it better, as it can be a little difficult to figure out how it works initially."
- FastSpring Review, Uriahs V
nopCommerce is the leading open-source e-commerce platform that is ASP.NET based. It’s a free solution with extraordinary features useful for new online businesses and enterprise-level e=commerce experts. You can take advantage of plenty of plug-ins and themes, upload unlimited products, use built-in marketing and SEO tools, and sell globally using multiple languages and currencies. The platform provides 24/7 free support from an active community worldwide.
"With nopCommerce, you can create plugins that modify the purchase flows and adjust them to your needs. The code is structured well, and you can find much information on the internet to customize it. "
- nopCommerce Review, Diego Joshua C.
"Some functions are challenging to integrate and implement or missing entirely. The support lacks quality, and bug fixes are delayed and incomplete."
- nopCommerce Review, Kevin F.
Pimcore is an advanced open-source platform trusted by Fortune 100 companies like Pepsi, Audi, and Sony. It offers advanced solutions for digital asset management (DAM), digital experience management (DXP), product information management (PIM), master data management (MDM), and multi-channel publishing. Businesses love it for its flexibility, 100% API-driven architecture, advanced technology, fast time-to-market, and strong global partner network.
"My company likes the flexibility and scalability of the platform. We could customize Pimcore to our exact requirements and connect it with a wide range of external systems. Over time, the platform has continued to grow with us, and we are far from reaching the limits of its functionality.”
- Pimcore Review, Stephan A.
"The asset portal extension of the DAM module is not compatible with mobile devices. We were expecting better mobile compatibility here. As we utilize more features, user management is becoming increasingly complex. Improving its intuitiveness could be beneficial."
- Pimcore Review, Emanuel K.
PrestaShop is a leading open-source solution available in Europe and Latin America. Nearly 300,000 sites already use its software. The highly flexible and scalable e-commerce platform comes with all the essential features you need to build and launch an online store to grow your business.
"PrestaShop allows you to integrate your product catalog directly into your WordPress pages and modify them with complete freedom. With this approach, you can manage vast product catalogs without paying for additional licenses. Additionally, they offer expert support for troubleshooting and fixing errors in WordPress versions."
- PrestaShop Review, Fernanda R.
"The availability of themes is low compared to Shopify and Woocommerce. It runs on a PHP-based backend, making it more vulnerable to attacks and viruses."
- PrestaShop Review, Kanishq G.
SamCart is the e-commerce platform for creators. Over 23,000 creatives use SamCart to sell over $2 billion of their products and services. It allows users to produce beautiful sales pages with a drag-and-drop page builder. With SamCart, you can simplify and speed up the sales process with available conversation templates and access to detailed reports to track campaign sales and subscriptions.
"What I love about SamCart is that the support team gets on a call with me prepared with a solution for my query. They also quickly go through the site and adjust it to help me sell better. I'm genuinely blown away by their effort to understand my business. SamCart makes purchasing from a sales page very easy which helps make the most out of e-commerce. I am currently using the course app through Samcart, which has a clean look and is easy to use. "
- SamCart Review, LeAnn P.
"The checkout designs look outdated, and their layout is not that customizable. Additionally, the price is high. There are also a few bugs in their reporting when filtering on dates."
- SamCart Review, Mikkel S.
Shopware is a leading digital commerce platform for mid-sized businesses. It helps elevate B2B and B2C businesses with comprehensive e-commerce solutions. Powered by cutting-edge open commerce technology, the platform offers maximum flexibility and scalability, backed by expert support at every stage.
"Shopware is a good program that allows you to easily create a multilanguage shop and showcase your products. After testing various systems, including XT-Commerce, Shopware is the best for us. It performs well in search engines, and unlike XT-Commerce, most updates can be done on your own without costly fees, making it a cost-effective choice for our needs."
- Shopware Review, Uwe L.
"The roadmap features need to be upgraded to work better for businesses. Silver subscribers' support should be improved. Discounts, especially after buying at full price a week ago, were disappointing, especially in B2B, where Black Friday doesn't matter. The professional tier lacks effective price management, making it not great for B2B use in production without a product information management system. Also, the import speed is too slow and needs to be faster."
- Shopware Review, Max H.
ShopWired is the UK's leading e-commerce platform building, launching, and growing online store. Employing its advanced features, merchants can create inviting storefronts and sell across multiple channels such as the web, social media, and mobile. It helps owners manage various operational processes and access detailed reports to improve performance and profitability.
"We have been using ShopWired for our eCommerce business,j and we are impressed with their product and support. Their customer service is exceptional, and we found their Live Chat facility particularly helpful during setup. We were given two weeks of free setup time, which allowed us to prepare our website's background and list some products before going live. Their SEO is top-notch, and the pricing is excellent and affordable. There are numerous free apps available that can be easily integrated into our website. The customizable themes are great and offer excellent drag-and-drop functionality, allowing us to change our site's overall look and appeal to our liking."
- ShopWired Review, Gwyneth G.
"Although The ShopWired Manual is a comprehensive guide, I believe that ShopWired could enhance its support by providing a user forum for self-service assistance. Such a forum could provide a wealth of knowledge beyond the scope of what is in the current manual and allow users to interact with each other and share their experiences and insights."
- ShopWired Review, Mervyn M.
Square Online (formerly Weebly) is now a part of the Square product suite. It’s a robust ecosystem of commerce solutions, helping to build sites that make it easy for users to scroll, shop, and pay on a web or phone browser. Whether it's a pop-up store or your own online, Square takes care of your operations and payments so you can focus on your business.
"In 2010, I started using Weebly with very little experience in web design. However, with its features, I was able to build and maintain a website that looks good and performs well. Weebly's intuitive tools helped me add images, link sites, and incorporate various widgets. To date, I have created eight sites using Weebly and have received compliments on their appearance and user-friendliness. Moving forward, I plan to continue using Weebly to build even more websites."
- Square Online (formerly Weebly) Review, Jenay A.
"Limited customization options are available, and customer support is functional only for some periods of the day, making it inconvenient. The transaction fees can add up to be quite lofty for high-volume sellers. "
- Square Online (formerly Weebly) Review, Johnathan S.
StoreHippo is an omnichannel e-commerce platform that helps enterprises and retailers build future-ready stores. With its innovative, tailor-made solutions, users can go to market quickly and unlock new growth opportunities across multiple channels. The feature-rich platform offers many plug-and-play solutions and 120+ simple-to-set-up integrations.
"StoreHippo allows you to manage and organize a well-designed e-commerce presence. We have seen significant improvements in our retail sales and growth trends by leveraging the various features available. Overall, this platform's ease–of–use and versatility has been a game-changer for our business, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to take their e-commerce game to the next level.”
- StoreHippo Review, Andrew B.
"The quality of the performance reports generated could be improved. They should be more detailed and provide more valuable insights. Support also is slow; the requested query should be resolved faster to improve customer experience."
- StoreHippo Review, Yash C.
Vendasta provides an end-to-end platform to marketing agencies, independent software vendors (ISVs), and media companies that sell digital products and services to small and medium businesses worldwide. Partners can build a store from their marketplace of cloud-based technologies with over 250 curated products. The platform provides AI-driven marketing automation, a single integrated business app dashboard, sales tools, and an integrated CRM to facilitate go-to-market.
"Vendasta goes above and beyond to provide top-notch support and software solutions. The support staff is consistently helpful, courteous, and diligent in solving any issues that reach them. My questions or concerns are always noticed and addressed, and that level of service is invaluable. The software features and products available for resale are unparalleled in my 20+ years of experience in the agency world. Thank you, Vendasta, for your outstanding service."
- Vendasta Review, Jonathan M.
"Some of their services lack quality – specifically, the control given with their web hosting package. Some of our clients complained of poor speeds, but the Vendasta web hosting package did not allow us to use our own caching plug-in and left the website slow, which hampered our overall user experience."
-Vendasta Review, Munib A.Volusion is an all-in-one e-commerce solution that helps businesses build unique stores with powerful features. It‘s a customizable platform that offers a wide variety of free and premium themes and powerful app integrations. With Volusion, users manage successful online stores without coding, efficiently gain awareness, and drive revenue.
"What I liked the most about Volusion is that you don't need to code to build your e-commerce store. All essential features are available on the platform; you select the options that suit your requirement and assemble them. This makes it easy to get your website up and running quickly."
- Volusion Review, Umang M.
"Volusion offers limited features for competitive marketing, and the inability to host an internal blog is a drawback for content marketing. The recent removal of the Slack channel has forced us to turn to other methods of seeking support. But the outdated and unreliable chat solution makes it challenging to get help, and phone support is very time-consuming. Integration capabilities with other SaaS tools are limited to about 20%, significantly hampering functionality. While Volusion is a good option for beginners, it needs a more advanced catalog, functionality, and marketing tools."
- Volusion Review, Travis R.
Zoho Commerce is a global e-commerce platform that equips users with all the tools they need to create their site. Merchants in over 30 countries use it to organize inventory, accept new orders, manage shipping, and finalize payments. With Zoho Commerce, you can build an online store in just a few steps without needing any coding proficiency.
"Zoho Commerce has a user-friendly interface, a built-in content management system, and additional features like social media integration that I really like. It's an excellent option for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to establish an online presence quickly and cost-effectively."
-Zoho Commerce Review, Saransh V.
"There's room for many new features, which could help improve the site's performance. The platform should focus on strengthening the knowledge base to provide users with the necessary guidance to maximize existing features. Additionally, enhancing the platform's marketing and SEO capabilities would enable users to extend the reach of their sites."
-Zoho Commerce Review, Zaneb I.
While having an e-commerce website provides a dedicated online space for your products or services, it's not the only way to sell online. You can also use third-party platforms like eBay, Etsy, Amazon, or social media marketplaces to reach customers.
However, having your e-commerce site provides more control over your brand, customer experience, and potentially higher profit margins. It depends on your business goals and preferences.
The time it takes to build an online store varies based on several factors, including the complexity of your website, your familiarity with the platform, and the features you want to include.
With simple website builders, you could launch a basic store in a matter of hours. However, more complex e-commerce sites with custom features may take weeks or even months.
Yes, creating a basic e-commerce website for free is possible using certain platforms and tools. While website builders offer free plans with limited features, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock more advanced functionalities and remove branding limitations.
Yes, most e-commerce platforms allow you to connect directly to various payment processors. Popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and others are often integrated seamlessly with major e-commerce solutions.
BigCommerce, Ecwid, and FastSpring are the top free e-commerce platforms.
Ready to create your online store? Choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial for success. With so many excellent options available, take the time to explore and find the one that aligns with your requirements and budget. A good platform enhances the shopping experience for your customers, so choose wisely!
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