To assist you, we have gathered the top six ecommerce website builders conveniently in one location, making it hassle-free to construct an online store.
Having experienced significant growth of 4.2% since the previous year’s study, Shopify has solidified itself as the top selection for building ecommerce websites with an exceptional rating of 4.8 out of 5. This remarkable achievement can be attributed to remarkable enhancements in all aspects of our research, alongside the introduction of advantageous functionalities such as on-site testimonials, audio uploading, seamless integration with TikTok and Snapchat across multiple channels, as well as the capability to effectively manage and expand up to 1000 locations.
Wix, with an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5, comes in as a strong contender due to its excellent sales features and the ability to scale effectively for larger stores.
Although Wix is an excellent website builder, it lacks the impressive sales features that Shopify offers. Squarespace, scoring 4.4 out of 5, has slipped by -2.3% since last year when it achieved a rating of 4.5. It remains the most user-friendly builder in this list and offers visually appealing templates.
1. Shopify
Shopify, with its impressive track record of powering over 600,000 online stores and serving more than 1 million active users globally, is undoubtedly the top choice for creating ecommerce websites. It particularly excels in catering to large-scale stores that offer an extensive range of products, surpassing 10 in number. With sales on the platform exceeding $100 billion, Shopify’s success speaks for its effectiveness.
Our research has verified this information: Shopify has emerged as the top-ranked platform overall, experiencing a 4.2% growth in our ranking since the previous year. Its rating has elevated from 4.6 to 4.8 out of 5 due to its consistent efforts to surpass its competitors and introduce new functionalities, including the capability to oversee up to 1000 locations.
The greatness of Shopify lies in its compatibility with all platforms. With a vast library of over 6,000 plugins, you can easily add various features to your website.
Shopify’s editor may not have been the easiest to use due to its dependence on third-party apps; however, significant improvements have been made in this aspect. Our research shows a 13.4% increase in its ease of use score from last year, rising from 3.5 to 4 out of 5. Additionally, Shopify now offers its own internal service for selling digital products.
Despite not being the most cost-effective option, Shopify offers three pricing plans to choose from, and we believe that you get what you pay for. It is a website builder that will evolve alongside your business, supporting its growth. A remarkable 93% of Shopify customers expressed their satisfaction with this ecommerce website builder, based on our researchers’ findings.
2. Wix
With over 110 million users worldwide, Wix is a widely favored website and ecommerce web builder known for its drag-and-drop feature. Its expertise in creating websites and online stores is evident in its impressive score of 4.8 out of 5, tying with Shopify. This marks a 2.4% increase from last year’s score of 4.7.
Despite the tie in score, Wix is obligated to relinquish the winner’s position solely because Shopify possesses superior sales attributes.
Despite Wix’s continuous improvement in its ecommerce capabilities, with a 1.6% increase from 4.4 to 4.5 out of 5 in the past year, it is unable to surpass Shopify’s remarkable selection of features. Therefore, when evaluating the top ecommerce website builders, we need to prioritize the sales features more.
However, Wix’s success extends beyond one area, with its greatest achievement being as our most cost-effective ecommerce website builder. It achieves a rating of 4.4 out of 5 in this particular category, which is the highest among our research findings.
Although Wix’s sales features may not quite match up to those of Shopify, it excels in every other aspect. It reigns supreme as a website builder, surpassing other ecommerce-focused builders in terms of quality. With a starting price of $27 per month, it offers much more than just an online store, making it our top choice for great value.
Nevertheless, we would only suggest using Wix for smaller e-commerce businesses. Despite its impressive tools and features, it falls short in handling a substantial or intricate product inventory. For such cases, we would recommend either Shopify or BigCommerce.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is a top choice for small businesses or individuals selling digital products online due to its artistic expertise. Nevertheless, what truly impressed us during our research was how user-friendly Squarespace is. It ranked first in ease-of-use testing, with a rating of 4.3 out of 5, making it the most straightforward platform to navigate.
Despite the extensive creative freedom provided by the Squarespace editor, the outcomes never appear unattractive. The user-friendly nature of the editor makes it an excellent tool for beginners to familiarize themselves with website construction.
Squarespace’s design score has decreased by -5% since last year, dropping from 4 to 3.8 out of 5, due to heightened competition from ecommerce website builders like Shopify, despite consistently receiving a perfect rating of 5 out of 5 for its templates.
Despite a slight decrease of -2.3% from its score of 4.5 out of 5 last year, Squarespace remains an appealing choice due to its stunning templates, efficient inventory system, and plethora of high-quality features. Consequently, it holds the third position in our rankings, with an overall score of 4.4 out of 5.
Squarespace stands out for its exceptional user-friendliness. It secured the top spot in our ease-of-use evaluation, scoring a remarkable 4.3 out of 5, proving it to be the most effortless platform to navigate.
However, what about the aspect of business? Squarespace offers a highly robust option for seamlessly integrating an attractive online store with traditional ecommerce functionalities like generating discounts and displaying promotional pop-ups.
Squarespace’s professional templates will effectively showcase your products and enhance the visibility of your storefront. Choosing Squarespace for your online store is a reliable option, provided that you do not exceed its range of ecommerce features.
4. Web.com
When using website builders, you usually have to decide early on between a quick and easy setup or powerful features that can boost your web store’s growth. However, with Web.com, you don’t have to compromise. You get an incredibly user-friendly web store creator with numerous features to facilitate selling across various channels and keeping track of inventory.
You have the option to utilize their WYSIWYG site builder to personally construct your website. By conveniently dragging and dropping elements and with the availability of attractive templates to provide a strong base for your fresh site, you possess all the necessary resources to create an online store that aligns with your imagination.
However, imagine a situation where you urgently require a web store. You are unable to dedicate time and effort to create one yourself. This is where Web.com stands out from its competitors. They provide in-house web design services to cater to every customer.
By providing the experts at Web.com with all the information about your business, products, customer base, and objectives, they will create a sophisticated, search engine optimized, and fully developed web store that can be promptly implemented by your company.
They will achieve this through effective communication throughout the entire process, starting from the first call where they get to know your business and plans, to a welcome call and guiding you through the final inspection of your newly crafted website prior to its launch.
Regardless of the scenario, constructing your web store is just the first step. However, Web.com also caters to your ambitions of achieving rapid growth. By choosing Web.com’s eCommerce Premium plan, you gain numerous opportunities to increase the sales of your products or services, extending beyond your website’s limitations.
5. BigCommerce
Without the appropriate tools, rapid growth can either lead to success or failure for an online store. However, by using BigCommerce, you gain access to everything necessary and the reassurance you deserve in an ecommerce builder that adapts to your pace of expansion. Starting at $29 per month with an annual plan, paid options are available.
BigCommerce stands out by catering to online stores that fall within the intermediate range and aspire to accelerate their growth, unlike most ecommerce builders that target either small and startup businesses or those that are already huge.
Although the entry-level plan’s cost exceeds that of Wix, it provides significantly greater functionality and advanced features to enable the expansion of your online shop.
To achieve rapid expansion, it is essential to utilize automation, personalize customers’ experiences, and implement advanced strategies to attract new customers. BigCommerce integrates all these elements to assist you in quickly scaling your business.
At the heart of this website builder lies these three areas. Furthermore, you have the ability to sell on various platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest, select your preferred payment gateway, and escape transaction fees, enabling you to retain a greater share of your sales.
Most ecommerce website builders do not have revenue limits on their plans, unlike BigCommerce. The lowest-priced plan has a maximum annual revenue of $50,000. Therefore, it is a suitable option for beginners, but once your shop becomes successful, you will soon need to switch to a different platform.
The positive information is that when you surpass the $50k milestone, you will have the means to make a larger investment, thus upgrading should not impose a significant financial strain. Until you attain a sufficient income to warrant another upgrade, you can remain on this plan as it accommodates annual revenues up to $180k.
With every plan, you will receive unlimited products and staff accounts, allowing your entire team and all the products in your catalog to be onboarded without any additional charges. Additionally, you have the capability to integrate your store with popular marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
BigCommerce offers a single-page checkout process, which is one of its notable features that enhances conversions.
The majority of the builders featured in our list utilize a two-page checkout procedure, which implies that prospective customers are required to navigate through additional steps prior to finalizing their purchase. By implementing a one-page design and minimizing the number of clicks, the process becomes more streamlined, enhancing ease of use and potentially increasing sales.
It is convenient for customers to use their preferred payment method as they have the option to pay with various methods such as Apple, Google, and Amazon Pay.
No matter which plan you opt for, you will receive crucial ecommerce functionalities such as discounts and coupons, high-quality reporting tools for businesses, product ratings and reviews, a pre-installed blog, and immediate shipping quotes from multiple carriers.
As soon as you desire more advanced features, the software will adapt and grow alongside you. By upgrading to higher tiers, you will be able to utilize additional benefits such as conversion audits, abandoned cart emails, advanced segmentation, and in-depth SEO optimization capabilities, which will further enhance your growth.
With 85% of issues resolved on the first contact, you are guaranteed excellent customer support as well.
You have the option to get in touch with them at any time, day or night, throughout the year for any inquiries or for customized website assessments and personalized guidance. Additionally, there is an active forum powered by the community and extensive product documentation to provide comprehensive assistance as you proceed.
Building the Perfect Ecommerce Website
In today’s business landscape, establishing an online presence is essential for expansion. Even conventional physical stores should offer a means for addressing customer inquiries, sharing valuable business information, and allowing users to make online purchases.
With the utilization of a top-notch ecommerce website builder, you have the ability to construct a store that captivates customers and exhibits your range of products, all while presenting a user-friendly design.
