If you are going to start an online store and want to get profit with its help, you can’t do without an efficient e-commerce platform to manage your business. This is usually a purpose-built software with a pack of tools that enable you to be in full control of products, operations, website, and every other element related to online sales.
Since the variety of available platforms is truly overwhelming, we have done our best to narrow down the choice to 16 reputable and feature-rich software that can become reliable instruments for managing your trading activities.
Top 17 Ecommerce Platforms
- OpenCart - Over 13000 modules and themes
- Adobe Commerce - Compatible with plenty of extensions and templates
- BigCommerce - For large and fast-growing businesses
- Shopify - Many options for third-party integrations
- 3DCart - For advanced eCommerce users
- Yo!Kart - Multi-vendor eCommerce software
- Virto Commerce - Microservices architecture
- Wix - Drag & drop functionality
- EasyStoreCreator - Tools to optimize an online store
- Quick eSelling - Top-tier filtering and sorting
- Volusion - Excellent analytics features
- Weebly - Easy to use
- Yo!Rent - For startups and SMBs to launch a digital rental business
- Squarespace - Best designed templates
- BigCartel - For artists
- WooCommerce - For WordPress users
- PrestaShop - Powerful set of integrations
While selecting these online shopping platforms, we considered such parameters as feature set, objective performance data, and cost. Looking through the descriptions presented below, you’ll be able to figure out what platform perfectly matches your needs. Make sure to learn more about eCommerce image optimization for attracting more clients and boosting sales.
1. OpenCart - Our Choice
- Free and open source
- Convenient admin panel
- It is possible to manage several stores
- Back-ups and restoration settings
- None found
Verdict: OpenCart has everything you need to create and launch your e-commerce platform. Here you can find the tools to manage inventory and accept orders. If a basic set of features seems insufficient, you can visit their webstore to buy extras. Browse through 13000+ modules and themes and choose those you like.
The possibility to manage several stores (even if they have different themes) from one admin panel is a great advantage. Besides, it is also possible to update a product description in one store and have it published in other places.
With OpenCart, you can organize products into categories and subcategories, add as many goods as you need, include reviews for every position, and create a reward system to give clients bonus points. Thanks to the integration with FedEx, UPS, USPS, Australia Post, Citylink, Royal Mail, and Parcelforce, you can let your customers choose the most convenient method for receiving their purchases.
2. Adobe Commerce
- Detailed instructions
- Up-to-date page builder
- High scalability
- Consultation with specialists on the forum is available
- Difficult to master
- Lacks some built-in features
Verdict: Magento is now Adobe Commerce, which boasts AI-led tools and cutting-edge data sharing features, offering personalized B2C and B2B commercial transactions seamlessly and directly on the platform. Creating eye-catching content and shopping just got easier and faster with advanced drag-and-drop capabilities.
Adobe Commerce delights its users with AI-based product recommendations for key touchpoints, which significantly increase conversions. Whether you run offline or online store, you can inform shoppers about alternative products, real-time inventory data, and search algorithms to deliver an even better user experience.
With fast and easy integrations with current back-end systems, you can seamlessly create custom catalogs and price lists with just a couple of clicks.
3. BigCommerce
- Works really fast
- Adjustable product management
- Decent SEO performance
- Amazing themes
- Lots of payment options
- Free themes too similar to each other
Verdict: BigCommerce is often referred to as the best online store platform as it is used by such well-known brands as Clarks and Ben & Jerry’s and keeps extending its clientele base. The most notable feature is a well-developed search engine that appeals to many large retail companies.
The interface is really user-friendly with the possibility for absolute customization. If you lack programming skills, but still want to create an appealing online store, you can take advantage of adjustable templates meant for designing a website, organizing marketing and sales. Those with web development experience, can tweak the HTML and CSS and produce a truly unique shopping environment.
4. Shopify
- Adjustable and scalable
- User-friendly
- Wonderful and diverse themes
- Supports multi-channel retailing
- Extra transaction fees for using external gateways
Verdict: Shopify eCommerce platforms are highly popular among small and mid-size businesses. As for today, they have over 1mln stores, more than 2 million active users, and $155B+ worth of sold products on the platform. Users can take advantage of an in-house payment processing platform, and enjoy sufficient discounts on shipping fees.
Choosing eCommerce Shopify platform, you get access to 73 mobile-optimized themes and the possibility to add as many products as you want. However, to enjoy such goodies, you need to download a plug-in app from the dedicated app store, which is used for processing subscription services. You may also visit PageFly and download a complete package of tools for optimizing your Shopify store. MESA service will help you with Shopify integrations, automate routine tasks and solve many frequently happened issues.
Other praiseworthy features are gift cards, custom discounts, abandoned cart recovery, and embedded marketing instruments (email marketing, distribution via social media).
5. 3DCart
- More than 200 integrated features
- 50 buckshee themes
- Over a hundred supported payment processors
- First-class shipping solutions
- For tech-savvy users
Verdict: 3DCart is a go-to tool for many people starting their online trading business because of a rich variety of features needed to create an appealing e-commerce website with a modifiable store, shopping cart, and a blog for promoting purposes.
It deserves a place among top eCommerce platforms because of a bunch of innovative features - a special module for ordering gift-wrapping services, a purchase order system, the possibility to tun a loyalty program and offer recurring orders. 3DCart is also fitted with numerous templates for facilitating the process of creating a web store.
However, experienced users can start everything from scratch. But remember about one inconvenience, namely the admin dashboard requires some time to grasp what is what.
6. Yo!Kart
- Lifetime license
- Free technical support
- Multiple stores for vendors
- High load optimization
- Easy to customize and scale
- A limited number of templates
- Doesn’t require an extensive technical background
Verdict: Yo!Kart is one of the leading eCommerce platforms that can be used to build successful multi-vendor eCommerce marketplaces. The platform is feature-rich, affordable, and trusted by several brands around the world. To run an eCommerce marketplace effortlessly and achieve business-level objectives, you can use a wide set of features like a product catalog system, multiple payment options, a tax management module, multiple revenue streams, and many more.
Yo!Kart has a choice of buyer and seller features, such as streamlined checkout, banner advertisement, rewards & discounts, inventory management, ratings & review, etc. They cover almost all the use cases of every eCommerce business, which makes them perfectly suitable for every industry-specific marketplace. In addition, this service provides a range of digital marketing services that help companies improve their online presence across different channels. The lifetime license costs $1299.
7. Virto Commerce
- Advanced product management
- Personalization and customer segmentation
- Multi-language and multi-currency support
- Robust marketplace platform
- Limited features
- Customization overload
Verdict: Among the many e-commerce solutions I have reviewed as an entrepreneur, Virto Commerce stands out as especially suitable for B2B scenarios. An open-source modular architecture makes it very flexible and allows adjustments in order to scale our online store according to business needs.
What is most impressive in Virto Commerce is the further development of customer experience. Something very important, like the customer journey in B2B, and the ability to create an out-of-the-box seamless integration with ERP systems — advanced features like personalized portals and multi-vendor marketplaces, well, Virto Commerce is just perfect for all these features.
8. Wix
- 500+ eCommerce templates
- Multi-channel integration
- Dropshipping feature
- Free domain for 1st year
- Too basic inventory features
Verdict: Wix is one of the most popular website builders for photographers. However, it is also helpful when it comes to designing trading websites with the help of drag-and-drop functionality. The impressive variety of templates and designs comes in handy for newbie users and those with limited funds when they need to build a functional and eye-pleasing website.
The main features of this service are an adjustable checkout page, abandoned cart recovery, add to cart from a gallery, instant purchase button, loyalty programs, wishlists, customer accounts, and discounts.
You can fully rely on this platform if you strive to develop strong branding for your online store as it offers a highly customizable storefront. Unlike other e-commerce platforms, Wix doesn’t charge any transaction commissions. The only fees come from payment processors. If they seem too high, you can also take a look at the best dropshipping platforms recommended by AutoDS to select the one that suits your budget and needs the most.
9. EasyStoreCreator
- Full-fledged software to operate an online store
- Numerous functions to adjust the shopping cart
- SEO instruments
- Technical support
- Affordable price
- Without app-based phone management
Verdict: EasyStoreCreator offers not only an e-cart for your online store but also a full-service package including email, hosting, support, site statistics, partners tracking, banner management, and design tools. You can adjust the software according to your requirements and wishes. It is also possible to tweak a shopping cart.
It is a perfect option for any business since you will get a fully-functional service package to create and support your ecommerce platform without going bankrupt. EasyStoreCreator has an in-built ecommerce website builder, design options, management of informational bulletins, storekeeping, tools to work with clients and orders, auto-notifications via email, free templates, delivery tracking, and more for your Internet store.
Besides, the program provides possibilities to promote your online store on the net and increase your search rating by utilizing search optimization tools. EasyStoreCreator offers a shopping feed function for various platforms like Google Merchant Center, Amazon, Become, Bing, NexTag, Shopping, TheFind, Shopzilla, etc.
10. Quick eSelling
- Single CRM for Web & Apps
- Fully Hosted platform
- Multi-currency support
- QR/barcode scan
- Difficult to master
Verdict: Quick eSelling is engaged in the design, creation, and maintenance of web stores and mobile apps that businesses and individuals need to attract more clients and get higher revenue. There are numerous integrated features that make it possible to keep tabs on and handle business tasks both online and offline.
Quick eSelling is packed with mobile marketing instruments indispensable for efficient business running. All apps are very responsive, so users can have a good time surfing around.
All eCommerce info is integrated and synchronized, so you always stay informed whether you are using your iPad, Android smartphone, or your computer.
11. Volusion
- Server Message Block friendly
- Well-arranged dashboard
- Comprehensive inventory and marketing system
- Without transaction commission
- Agile
- Only for physical products
- No tools to run a blog
Verdict: Volusion is a cloud-based, hosted eCommerce option that you can use to build a full-featured online store from scratch.
The platform surpasses rivals with its more profound product management mechanism, including variant pricing and diversified text product descriptions. Selling goods and handling orders is a breeze thanks to payment integrations and native fulfillment features.
If you want to attract even more buyers, male use of embedded SEO tools, marketplace integration and the possibility to sell products on social media. However, mind that you can use Volusion only if you deal with physical goods. It is useless for selling digital products.
12. Weebly
- Reasonable cost
- Advanced emailing mechanism
- Intuitive dashboard
- Mobile app
- Simple to master
- Additional transaction fee
- No way to pay offline
Verdict: Weebly is an excellent free website hosting site. If you are looking for a simple tool to regulate your physical, digital and service-related sales, this is probably the best eCommerce software you can find. It allows adding packs of products and using integrated tools to control your stock levels.
There is also a mobile app that makes it possible to be well-aware of your trading status while being on the move. Another handy feature is the one meant for printing shipping labels from your home.
In addition to remarkable sales options, the software is supplied with instruments for expanding your website’s functionality. For instance, it is possible to start a blog to advertise the product line of your store.
13. Yo!Rent
- Easy to customize
- Detailed reports and analytics
- Doesn’t require coding skills
- Self-hosted
- Difficult to master
Verdict: Yo!Rent is a leading platform to build fast, reliable, and secure eCommerce websites for selling or renting products online. The software comes with dedicated modules for inventory management, accounts management, RFQ management, and business report generation, which allows its users to efficiently manage business operations.
Powering more than 1000 marketplaces in 70+ countries across the globe, Yo!Rent stands out with its highly customizable storefronts and niche-oriented designs. Additionally, the software comes with 20+ pre-integrated APIs to enhance user engagement and improve efficiency.
What makes Yo!Rent a unique eCommerce platform is its multi-sided functionality, which allows you to run sales and rental operations from the same website simultaneously. The website owner can also toggle any option at any point in time. To streamline operations, the software has plenty of features for both rental and sales operations. Yo!Rent is a great platform for building eCommerce sites. It comes at a one-time cost, includes free installation, and is completely white-label.
14. Squarespace
- Effective inventory system
- Decent SEO instruments
- Unlimited number of products
- Sell physical and digital products
- Mobile-optimized checkouts
- Steep learning curve
- Too limited payment and shipping options
Verdict: If you are striving to make your online store as appealing as possible, this is one of the best eCommerce platforms for the task. It offers numerous templates that are especially helpful for presenting your products in such a way that customers won’t be able to resist the temptation of spending some money.
What distinguishes this software from similar services is its promotional tools. You can supplement your products with various discount codes, attaching them to single items or a whole pack. Another attention-worthy feature is the inventory system.
However, while being a good eCommerce platform for small business, Squarespace tends to lag behind AVADA and other competitors when it comes to satisfying advanced online retail requirements and handling lots of inventory issues.
15. BigCartel
- Great SEO tools
- Straightforward navigation
- Doesn’t charge transaction commission
- Clear features
- Limited customization
- Aimed at smaller businesses
- Too few features
Verdict: Big Cartel is undoubtedly the best free eCommerce platform that can fully satisfy the needs of beginner makers, designers, musicians, and other creatives. Not only all the features and tools are available absolutely for free, but the software charges no transaction commissions.
Considering the provided toolset, it becomes obvious that the service is more suited for small stores and anyone looking for a website for occasional sales.
You have probably understood that the software is less efficient when it comes to adding different details about a product as there are no preconfigured templates for that. However, you can insert info manually.
16. WooCommerce
- Highly customizable
- Over 300 add-ons
- Supports numerous payment gateways
- Bulk email
- Varied store inventories
- Requires image management improvements
- No support
Verdict: If you are deciding between WooCommerce vs Shopify, keep in mind that the former isn’t a full-fledged e-commerce platform, but a free plug-in designed for any WordPress website and capable of turning it into a productive online store. You can even go further and upgrade your trading environment with paid extensions, themes for a storefront, and integrations.
There are also a couple of simple themes that you can use to create an online store. Alternatively, you can buy premium themes to separate your store from the websites created with the help of free themes. The service support different payment gateways ranging from standard credit cards to integrations with PayPal, etc.
Inventory management, shipping rates control, and tax calculation is carried out in the WordPress interface. If you experience difficulties with any of these processes, you can look for clear tips and guidelines on LearnWoo.
17. PrestaShop
- Multi-language platform
- Great SEO
- Secure transactions
- Amazing adjustability
- Clear UI
- Poor scalability
- Disappointing design
Verdict: This is an open-source eCommerce platform that is regularly improved and upgraded to meet modern industry demands. The service is multi-language and is popular in different countries. There you can find an integrated developed fraud detection that is offered for free.
The dashboard is the main working space where you can add modules, build and customize an online store. The dedicated marketplace is the best source of over 50 free modules for shipping options, marketing instruments, live chat plug-ins, reporting, etc.
The tech support is community-based, but you can look through detailed guides and a public forum to find answers to FAQ.
If you want something in between paid options and totally free offers, you can try ConvertCart. This is a modern solution for ramping up revenue at reasonable price.
