Every 'best ecommerce builder' list looks the same: Shopify at the top, a comparison table, ten mini-reviews, done. What most of them skip is the number that actually matters, what the platform costs once you add the apps, the transaction fees, and the plugins every real store ends up needing. A $19/month plan and a $180/month plan can be the exact same platform, six months apart.
We build custom stores for clients who've outgrown builders entirely, so we see both ends of this, businesses that never should have left a builder, and businesses that stayed on one two years too long. This list is built around that experience, real costs, honest limits, and a clear read on when each platform stops being enough.
Quick comparison
| Platform | Best for | Starting price | Transaction fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Dedicated online stores, scaling brands | ~$19-39/mo | 0% with Shopify Payments, 0.5-2% otherwise |
| BigCommerce | Large catalogs, B2B, multi-storefront | ~$29-39/mo | 0% always |
| WooCommerce | WordPress users who want full control | Free plugin + hosting | 0% (processor fees only) |
| Wix eCommerce | Small stores, design-first sellers | ~$29/mo | 0% |
| Squarespace Commerce | Brand-led, creator-driven stores | ~$23-33/mo | 0% on Core plan and above |
| Square Online | Retailers already using Square in-store | Free, or ~$29-49/mo | 2.6-2.9% + $0.30 processing |
| Ecwid by Lightspeed | Adding a store to an existing site | ~$5-29/mo | 0% |
| PrestaShop | International, self-hosted flexibility | Free core + hosting | 0% (processor fees only) |
| Adobe Commerce | Enterprise, complex B2B catalogs | Custom, $22K+/yr | Varies by processor |
| Big Cartel | Artists and makers, small catalogs | Free for 5 products, ~$12/mo up | 0% (processor fees only) |
1. Shopify, best for dedicated online stores
Shopify is still the default recommendation, and for most product-based businesses it earns that spot. The app ecosystem is enormous, checkout is genuinely fast and trusted by customers, and it handles multichannel selling, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, Google, in-person via Shopify POS, from one dashboard.
What most reviews leave out: the entry plan is rarely what you end up paying. Product reviews, email marketing, SEO tools, and upsell apps typically add $45-75 a month on top of the base plan. Skip Shopify Payments and you'll pay an extra 0.5-2% surcharge per transaction on top of standard card fees. Budget for $150-250 a month once your store is actually running, not the $19-39 headline.
2. BigCommerce, best for large catalogs and B2B
BigCommerce packs more into its base plans than Shopify does, real-time shipping quotes, customer groups, faceted search, and multi-storefront support come native rather than bolted on as apps. Zero transaction fees regardless of payment processor is a real advantage once you're doing meaningful volume.
The trade-off is a steeper learning curve, and revenue thresholds can auto-upgrade you to a pricier tier if your store grows fast. Best suited to catalogs over 100 SKUs, wholesale pricing needs, or stores planning multiple storefronts.
3. WooCommerce, best for WordPress users who want control
WooCommerce is technically free. Everything around it isn't. Managed hosting, a premium theme, security and backups, and a handful of essential plugins realistically run $80-150 a month before you factor in any developer time for maintenance, which is where most WooCommerce stores actually bleed money. It's also, by a wide margin, the most flexible option for SEO, since it inherits WordPress's full content and metadata control.
Worth it if you already run WordPress and want your store and content in one system, or if full ownership of your stack matters more than convenience. Not worth it if you don't have a developer on call, plugin updates and security patching are ongoing work, not a one-time setup.
4. Wix eCommerce, best for small stores and design-first sellers
Wix has the most flexible drag-and-drop editor in this list, genuinely pixel-level placement, over 900 templates, and zero transaction fees. For a solo seller or small catalog that wants a real website with a store attached, not the other way around, it's a strong, fast option.
It's not built for scale. Large catalogs and high-traffic stores tend to hit real limitations here that Shopify and BigCommerce don't have.
5. Squarespace Commerce, best for brand-led stores
Squarespace wins on visual polish. For creators, makers, and businesses where design carries the brand, its templates produce stores that look custom-built without a custom-build budget. Core plan and above include zero transaction fees, and the total monthly cost tends to land lower than an equivalent Shopify setup once apps are factored in.
The app ecosystem is small next to Shopify's, and advanced ecommerce features like B2B pricing or multi-warehouse inventory aren't available. It's a website builder with strong commerce features, not a commerce platform first.
6. Square Online, best for retailers selling online and in person
Square Online's free plan is the most overlooked deal in ecommerce, a genuinely functional store with unlimited products and order management, not a stripped demo. If you already run Square in a physical location, syncing inventory between in-store and online is seamless.
Transaction fees run 2.6-2.9% plus $0.30 per sale even on the free plan, since that's how the platform makes its money. Fine for testing an idea or a business under $10K a month in online sales, worth reconsidering above that volume.
7. Ecwid by Lightspeed, best for adding a store to an existing site
Ecwid doesn't want to be your whole website, it's a store widget you embed into a site you already have, WordPress, Squarespace, a custom build, anywhere. That makes it the right call specifically when rebuilding your entire site just to add a shopping cart feels like overkill.
Feature depth is lighter than dedicated platforms, but for a service business adding a small product line, that's rarely a real limitation.
8. PrestaShop, best for international, self-hosted flexibility
PrestaShop is open source, free at the core, and supports over 300,000 merchants globally, with particularly strong multi-currency and multi-language handling out of the box. Like WooCommerce, it requires your own hosting and security management, and costs scale with the plugins you add.
A solid pick for merchants who want open-source control and strong international support without WordPress specifically.
9. Adobe Commerce, best for enterprise and complex B2B
Formerly Magento, Adobe Commerce is a different category entirely, multi-site, multi-brand, multi-currency commerce with deep ERP integrations and near-unlimited customization. Licensing alone starts around $22,000 a year, and implementation partners typically charge $150K-500K for a launch, with 3-9 month build timelines.
This only belongs on your shortlist if you're already operating at a scale where Shopify Plus or BigCommerce Enterprise are the actual alternatives being considered, not a first ecommerce platform.
10. Big Cartel, best for artists and makers
Big Cartel keeps things deliberately simple, free for up to five products, paid tiers scaling from there, and processor fees only, no platform transaction cut. It's purpose-built for small, curated catalogs rather than growth at scale.
Ideal for an artist, a small maker business, or anyone who wants a real store without the overhead a full ecommerce platform brings for a five-to-fifty-product catalog.
What a real store actually costs per month
Take a small store doing around $3,000 a month in sales. Here's a realistic total, not the plan price on the homepage:
| Platform | Base plan | Typical add-ons | Processing (~$3K sales) | Realistic monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | $19-39 | ~$45 (apps) | ~$90-117 | ~$155-200 |
| BigCommerce | $29-39 | Minimal, more built-in | ~$90-117 | ~$120-160 |
| WooCommerce | $15-35 (hosting) | ~$40 (plugins) | ~$90-117 | ~$150-190 |
| Squarespace Commerce | $23-33 | Minimal, built-in | ~$90-117 | ~$115-150 |
| Square Online | $0-29 | None | ~$90-117 | ~$90-145 |
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive option here isn't the platform fee, it's the apps and add-ons every 'basic' plan quietly assumes you'll need.
When a builder stops being enough
Most stores never outgrow a builder, and that's genuinely fine, it's not a compromise. But a few signals mean it's worth a real conversation about custom development instead of another app to patch the gap:
Your checkout needs logic no app can replicate, tiered B2B pricing, custom quote workflows, or approval chains. Your product data doesn't fit a standard catalog structure, configurators, complex variants, or real-time inventory synced across several systems. Or page speed is costing you measurable revenue and every builder plan you've tried still can't hit the load times you need.
If none of that describes your store, stop shopping platforms and start selling, the builder you already picked is almost certainly fine. If it does, that's a different project, and it happens to be one we build regularly, we design and develop custom ecommerce stores for businesses that have outgrown what a builder can offer, checkout logic, catalog structure, integrations, all of it. If that sounds like where you're at, get in touch and we'll tell you honestly whether custom is actually worth it for your store. It's also worth reading our breakdown of website builders vs custom coding before committing either direction.
Bottom line
Shopify remains the safest default for a serious, product-focused store. BigCommerce and Squarespace both undercut it on real monthly cost once apps are counted. WooCommerce and PrestaShop earn their keep for teams that want full ownership and can handle the maintenance. Everything else on this list is the right call for a specific, narrower situation, not a lesser choice, just a better fit for a smaller job. Pick based on your actual catalog and growth plan, not the plan price on the homepage.
