Top 10 Free Ecommerce Platforms In 2024

In this article, we’ll explore the 10 best free eCommerce platforms of 2024 to help you start your free online store and begin your journey in online sales.

Key Takeaways

1. Shopify – (free trial) – Best for fast-growing stores
2. Wix – (free to build, not sell) – Best for smaller stores
3. Squarespace – (free trial) – Best for selling art
4. BigCommerce – (free trial) – Best for fast-growing online store
5. Square Online – (free plan) – Best for food-related online stores
6. Big Cartel – (free plan) – Best for artists and makers
7. WooCommerce – (free to install) – Best for large online businesses
8. Magento – (free to install) – Best for enterprise-level businesses
9. Prestashop – Best free ecommerce platform for MVP testing
10. Opencart – Best marketplace for add-ons and extensions

Option 1: Top Ecommerce Website Builders With a Free Trial

#1. Shopify – Best for larger businesses

Overview of Shopify

Shopify is a highly versatile ecommerce platform that offers various powerful features and diverse themes, making it an ideal fit for small-scale online ventures and expansive ecommerce enterprises. With a catalog of over 8,000 apps, Shopify guarantees integration with nearly every possible feature your online store could need.

Features 

Sales Features

• Multichannel Selling: Shopify supports multichannel selling, allowing businesses to sell their products across platforms like Snapchat and TikTok. This feature expands the reach of the business and enables them to tap into a wider audience.
• Third-Party Applications: Shopify offers various third-party applications that businesses can integrate into their stores. These applications enhance the functionality and productivity of the online store, providing businesses with more tools to optimize their sales and operations.
• Digital Sales Support: Shopify can support digital sales, enabling businesses to sell digital products and services online. This feature benefits businesses that offer downloadable content, digital subscriptions, or online courses.
• Shopify Magic (Generative AI Technology): This innovative feature utilizes generative AI technology to craft product descriptions automatically. By leveraging AI, businesses can reduce administrative tasks related to product listings, saving time and resources.
• Boosted Productivity: With the multitude of built-in features and third-party applications, Shopify empowers businesses of all sizes to increase their productivity. These features streamline various processes and tasks, allowing businesses to focus on other critical aspects of their operations.
• Versatility in Product Offerings: With digital sales and multichannel selling support, Shopify offers businesses more versatility in what they can sell. This flexibility allows businesses to adapt to changing market demands and explore new revenue streams.

Ease of Use

• Dedicated Ecommerce Builder: Shopify is a reliable ecommerce platform, and its plans are designed specifically for selling products online. This specialization ensures businesses access a comprehensive set of ecommerce tools and features.
• Ease of Use: Shopify has significantly improved its ease of use, with a substantial 13.4% increase from the previous year’s testing. The platform balances powerful tools and user-friendliness, making it suitable for beginners and experienced users.
• Store Setup and Inventory Management: Shopify makes setting up a store’s pages and managing inventory as easy as possible. This feature benefits beginners who may struggle with running an online store.
• Dashboard Tips: Shopify’s dashboard contains valuable tips and guidance to help users get started with their online store. These tips provide helpful information and insights, making the onboarding process smoother for new users.
• Editor and Navigation: While Shopify offers powerful tools, some users found the editor slightly confusing, and there were comments about the need to navigate back to the dashboard to add products separately. Despite this, the platform’s overall performance and ecommerce capabilities make it a worthwhile choice.

Themes and Design

• Aesthetically Pleasing Themes: Shopify’s themes are visually appealing and optimized to showcase and sell products effectively. The design of the themes is geared towards enhancing the overall shopping experience for customers.
• Omnichannel Design Upgrades: Shopify’s design functionality has seen a significant 14.3% boost due to upgrades in its omnichannel design. This improvement ensures a consistent and user-friendly experience across different devices and platforms, making it easier for customers to navigate the store.
• Consistent Branding: Shopify’s efforts in improving design functionality address the issue of inconsistent branding, ensuring that your online store maintains a cohesive and professional appearance. A well-organized and visually appealing website can positively impact customer perception and encourage purchases.

Pricing

Subscription Fees 

Shopify offers a range of subscription plans tailored to different needs and budgets, allowing for flexibility and growth. Here’s an overview of their subscription offerings:

• Shopify Starter: $5/month – Ideal for beginners, this budget-friendly plan offers essential features to launch a basic online store.
• Shopify Basic: $39/month – Geared toward small businesses, this plan includes added customization, increased storage, and discount code creation.
• Shopify Advanced: $399/month – Targeting larger businesses, this plan provides enhanced analytics, transaction capabilities, and advanced inventory management.
• Shopify Plus: $2000/month – Designed for high-volume merchants and large enterprises, this premium plan offers dedicated support, top-tier security, and extensive third-party integrations. However, be aware of additional fees, such as transaction charges, advanced app costs, and potential customization expenses. To better understand these costs, you can use the “Shopify Plus Calculator” to estimate your total expenses effectively.

Shopify offers a free three-day trial, allowing you to explore the platform and its features without any cost for a limited time. You can click here to give it a try. 

After the free trial, Shopify provides an initial offer of just $1 per month for the first three months on any subscription plan. This special pricing allows you to use the platform at a significantly reduced cost during the initial months.

Transaction Fees

During the free trial, transaction fees will apply to your sales unless you use Shopify’s proprietary payment processor, Shopify Payments. The fees vary depending on the type of transaction:

• Online Transaction Fees: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
• In-Person Transaction Fees: 2.7% per transaction

Using popular third-party payment processors like PayPal may also incur additional fees of up to 2% per sale. Being aware of these fees is essential as they can add up over time and impact your budget.

Notes during your free trial:

It’s worth noting that Shopify doesn’t permit actual sales transactions during the free trial period. Your trial store will initiate with a storefront password and a hold on all checkouts. However, if you are not planning to start selling immediately, you can remove the password.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Multi-Channel Social Media Selling: Shopify enables you to extend your reach by selling across various social media platforms. This multi-channel approach can significantly expand your potential customer base.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Every Shopify plan offers abandoned cart recovery. This critical feature helps you re-engage with customers who have left items in their cart without making a purchase, thus increasing the chances of completing those sales.
• Efficient Inventory and Order Management: Shopify provides an easy-to-use interface to track stock levels and orders. This makes the management of your inventory and orders efficient, saving you time and minimizing the potential for errors.

Cons

• Separate Apps for Some Features: Certain features you may consider essential are available only through different apps in Shopify. While these apps can expand the functionality of your online store, having to use multiple apps might complicate operations.
• Transaction Fees: Unless you use Shopify Payments, the platform’s in-house payment processor, you’ll incur transaction fees for most payment methods. These fees can add up over time, affecting your overall profitability.

Shopify Gallery

#2. Wix – Best for small online stores

Overview of Wix

Tied with Shopify in our research for top ecommerce platforms, Wix stands out as our highest-rated overall website builder. Based on our experience, Wix offers a comprehensive suite of features, unlike any other website builder, eliminating the need for third-party apps while continually introducing new updates. Its recent addition, the Google Ads integration, is an invaluable tool for online businesses aiming to attract customers.

Features

Wix Sales Features

• Unlimited Product Selling: With Wix’s most affordable plan, you can sell unlimited products through your online store. This flexibility allows you to showcase various items and expand your product offerings to meet customer demands.
• Social Media Selling: Wix enables you to sell products on your website and on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This multichannel selling capability increases your reach and allows you to tap into a broader audience on social media.
• Discounted Shipping Rates: Wix provides access to discounted shipping rates, which can help you save on shipping costs and offer competitive shipping options to your customers. 
• Abandoned Cart Recovery Emails: Wix offers an automated feature to send recovery emails to customers who abandoned their shopping carts. This helps to recapture potentially lost sales and improve conversion rates.
• Customer Account Creation: Customers can create accounts on Wix-powered websites, enabling faster and more convenient checkout processes for repeat purchases.

Wix Free Plan Limitations

• Wix Ad Banner: On the free plan, Wix displays an ad banner on your website, promoting Wix and potentially distracting visitors from your content. This ad banner may affect the overall aesthetics and professionalism of your site.
• Branded URL: With the free plan, your website’s URL will include Wix’s branding (e.g., www.yourwebsite.wixsite.com), which may not appear as professional as a custom domain. A branded URL might not convey a strong brand identity and could affect how users perceive your business.
• Upgrade Required for Payments: To accept online payments for products or services on your website, you’ll need to upgrade your plan from the free version. The free plan does not include the necessary features for processing transactions, such as an integrated payment gateway.

Ease of Use

• Intuitively Designed Builder: Wix’s website builder has an intuitive interface, making it easy for users to navigate and understand the tools and features available. The drag-and-drop template editor allows for seamless customization of your website.
• Design Flexibility: Wix strikes a balance between user-friendliness and design flexibility. It offers many templates and design options, allowing you to create a unique and visually appealing website.
• ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence): Wix’s ADI feature particularly benefits users who want a quick and hassle-free website setup. By answering simple questions, ADI can generate a fully functional website with relevant text and images, saving time and effort.
• Customization Options: While the extensive design freedom of Wix may seem overwhelming at first, users can quickly adapt to the template editor. Wix allows additional customization options for those with coding knowledge, but even without coding, users can still achieve a professional-looking design.

Design

• Library of Over 800 Templates: Wix provides access to a diverse collection of templates, with more than 118 specifically designed for ecommerce purposes. This extensive library gives users a wide range of stylish website starting points.
• Design Flexibility: Wix stands out for its exceptional design flexibility, and the best part is that no coding skills are required. Users can easily tailor their chosen template to represent their business or brand uniquely.
• Range of Niches Covered: Wix’s template collection covers a broad spectrum of niches, catering to various industries and interests. Whether you’re running a clinical mortician service or a Pokémon fan club, Wix offers starting points that closely match your envisioned design.

Free plans limitation

• Wix Ads and URL: During the 14-day free trial, Wix displays its ads on your website, and your site’s URL will include the Wix branding, which may distract visitors and give the impression that your site is promoting Wix rather than your products.
• No Payments: While you can showcase unlimited SSL-protected physical and digital products during the free trial, you can only accept customer payments once you upgrade to a paid plan. Any sales made during the trial period will not result in immediate revenue.
• Limited Features: The free trial restricts access to certain essential features. For example, Google Analytics is unavailable during the trial period, limiting your ability to track and analyze website traffic. Additionally, your bandwidth will be restricted to 500MB, which may affect site performance and data transfer.

Pricing

• Free Plan – Ideal for those looking to experiment or create a simple online presence, this plan provides access to the basic Wix website builder without any cost.
• Light: $16 – A step up from the free plan, the Light package offers additional features and removes Wix ads for a more professional look, all for $16 per month.
• Core: $27 – Designed for growing businesses or individuals seeking more functionality, the Core plan provides enhanced features and customization options at $27 per month.
• Business: $32 – Targeting small to medium-sized businesses, the Business plan offers e-commerce capabilities and other business-centric features for $32 per month.
• Business Elite: $159 – Aimed at large businesses or those needing premium services, the Business Elite plan offers top-tier support, advanced analytics, and other high-end features for $159 per month.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Instagram Integration for Product Sales: Wix enables you to sell your products directly on Instagram, increasing your reach and convenience for potential customers.
• Product Videos: Wix allows you to add videos to your product listings. This enhances credibility and provides potential customers with more detailed information about your products.
• Mobile Editor: The platform offers a mobile editor to change your site even on the go. This adds a level of flexibility and convenience to managing your online store.

Cons

• Limited Scalability: Wix may not be the best choice for huge online stores. Its features and infrastructure might not be able to handle the needs of a large-scale ecommerce operation efficiently.
• Template Restrictions: Once your website is live, you cannot change your chosen template on Wix. Any significant design changes would require you to rebuild your site from scratch, which could be a considerable inconvenience.

Wix Gallery

#3. Squarespace – Best value for money

Overview of Squarespace

While Squarespace doesn’t match the robust power of Shopify, it’s well-regarded for offering some of the most visually appealing templates on the market. However, because Squarespace tries to cater to both ecommerce and non-e-commerce users, its online store design isn’t as refined as we’d prefer.

Features

Squarespace Sales Features

• Innovative Product Showcasing: Squarespace provides various creative options to showcase products effectively. These options include product videos, multichannel sales, and social media campaigns through Squarespace Unfold.
• Squarespace Unfold: Squarespace Unfold is a platform that enables users to create video templates for Instagram and TikTok. It allows users to promote their products using popular video content on social media.
• Flexible Checkout Options: Squarespace offers flexible checkout options to streamline the purchasing process for customers, making it convenient and easy to complete transactions.
• Selling on Social Media Platforms: Squarespace enables businesses to expand their reach by selling products on almost all major social media platforms. This integration with social media channels allows businesses to tap into a broader audience and leverage the power of social media marketing to drive sales.
• Versatility in Product Selling: The most affordable plan enables businesses to sell unlimited products, offer digital gift cards, and accept donations. This versatility allows businesses to tailor their product offerings to meet customers’ needs and preferences.
• Efficient Inventory Management: Squarespace’s ecommerce plans include efficient inventory management tools. Businesses can easily manage their products and variants, ensuring accurate stock levels and displaying “limited availability” labels when stock runs low. This feature prevents overselling and enhances the overall customer experience.
• Ideal for Selling Digital Products: Squarespace’s capability to sell digital products makes it an excellent platform for artists and creators selling digital art prints. This feature caters to businesses focusing on digital products and provides them with a platform tailored to their specific needs.

Squarespace Free Plan Limitations

• Upgrade to Receive Payments: The free plan on Squarespace does not allow users to receive payments for their online store. Users need to upgrade to a paid plan to enable payment processing and accept transactions.
• Random Squarespace Domain: During the free plan, users will be assigned a random Squarespace domain for their website. This means the website’s URL will include Squarespace branding, which may not be ideal for branding purposes.
• No Cart Abandonment Recovery: The free plan does not include features like cart abandonment recovery, which can be crucial for recovering lost sales and improving conversion rates.

Ease of Use

• Dramatic Improvement: Squarespace has significantly improved its user-friendliness over the years and is the most accessible platform among the tested ones.
• Real-time Modifications: The drag-and-drop template editor allows users to see real-time modifications to each page, making the design process more intuitive and efficient.
• Structured Design Process: Squarespace’s design process is organized around “rows,” adding order and structure to the design, ensuring that the online store will be perfectly structured.
• User-friendly for Beginners: Squarespace’s structured design approach and ease of use make it an excellent choice for those new to website design, providing a straightforward and smooth experience.

Design

• Stylish Templates: Squarespace offers a collection of visually appealing and professional templates for online stores. These templates are designed to attract customers and create a positive first impression, enhancing the overall branding and image of the business.
• User-Friendly Design for Multi-Channel Retailing: Squarespace’s platform provides a user-friendly design that allows businesses to manage their online stores across various platforms effectively. The structured design, based on “rows,” simplifies navigation and content organization, making it easy for customers to find products and complete purchases.
• Aesthetically Pleasing Online Store: The stylish templates contribute to a visually pleasing online store, improving potential customers’ overall aesthetics and engagement. A well-designed store can leave a lasting impression, increasing customer trust and improving conversion rates.
• Consistent Branding: Consistency in branding elements is crucial to establish a strong brand identity. Addressing any inconsistencies in Squarespace’s templates would ensure businesses can maintain a unified and recognizable brand across their online store.

Free plans limitations

• Accepting Payments on Paid Plans: During the 14-day trial period, businesses using Squarespace’s free plan cannot accept payments for their online store. Upgrading to a paid plan is necessary to unlock the full ecommerce functionality, including the ability to process payments and complete transactions securely.
• Testing Phase and Google Listing: While users can design and build their websites during this 14-day trial, Squarespace will not list the site on Google until the user upgrades to a paid plan. 
• Randomly Generated Subdomain: During the trial period, the website will have a randomly generated .squarespace.com subdomain. This subdomain is temporary and will be replaced once the user upgrades to a paid plan. 
• Broader Range of Domain Options: Squarespace’s recent acquisition of Google Domains offers users a broader range of options for connecting custom domains to their websites. This acquisition benefits new online businesses that may want to experiment with different domain names before settling on a final choice for their brand.

• Business Plan ($23/month): After the 14-day free trial, users can subscribe to Squarespace’s Business plan for just $23 monthly. This plan provides the necessary features and tools to sell products online and operate a primary store.
• Exclusive Discount ($20.70/month): With the complete Squarespace discount code, users can enjoy a reduced price of only $20.70 per month for the Business plan. This discount offers savings for businesses looking to establish an online presence without breaking their budget.
• Basic Commerce Plan ($27/month): Users who want to access Squarespace’s advanced merchandising tools and eliminate transaction fees can upgrade to the Basic Commerce plan for an additional $4, bringing the total cost to $27 per month. This plan suits businesses that require more advanced features to enhance their online store’s performance and overall user experience.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Powerful Features Included with Plans: Squarespace offers a broad range of robust features within their subscription plans, simplifying the process of building and managing your ecommerce site.
• The Easiest Ecommerce Builder to Use: Squarespace is recognized for its user-friendly interface, making it the most straightforward ecommerce builder to navigate, even for beginners.
• Insightful Analytics Tools: The platform provides comprehensive analytics tools, allowing you to effectively track your online store’s performance and gain valuable insights.

Cons

• Not Many Ecommerce-Specific Templates: One drawback is that Squarespace doesn’t offer a vast selection of templates specifically designed for ecommerce sites, limiting your design options.
• Fewer Payment Methods: Compared to other ecommerce platforms, Squarespace supports fewer payment methods, which might affect the purchasing experience for some customers.
• Editor Doesn’t Autosave Your Changes: A significant drawback is the absence of an autosave feature in the editor, which means you need to save your work to prevent losing any changes manually.

Squarespace Gallery

#4. BigCommerce

Overview of BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a highly regarded ecommerce website builder trusted by renowned brands like Clarks and Ben & Jerry’s, known for powering online stores to grow at an impressive rate. 

BigCommerce offers an extensive array of tools and features, making it an ideal choice for expanding online stores aiming to achieve robust and profitable growth. 

BigCommerce Sales Features

• Comprehensive Sales Tools: BigCommerce offers a wide range of sales features that cater to the needs of businesses aiming to expand their online store rapidly. These features include advanced inventory management, order processing, shipping options, and various payment gateways. 
• Quick Store Expansion: The platform can handle many products, traffic, and transactions without compromising website speed or stability. This scalability ensures that the online store can grow seamlessly as the customer base and sales increase.
• Regular Feature Updates: BigCommerce continuously enhances its platform by introducing new sales features and functionalities based on market trends and user feedback. Regular updates ensure merchants can leverage the latest marketing strategies and optimize their sales efforts effectively.
• Effective Promotions and Pop-ups: These features enable merchants to create attention-grabbing offers, discounts, and limited-time deals to entice customers and boost sales. Pop-ups can also be utilized for lead generation, email sign-ups, and cart abandonment recovery.

BigCommerce Free Plan Limitations

During the trial period of BigCommerce, users can access most features except adding a custom domain, installing a third-party SSL certificate, 301 redirects, and advanced product filtering. However, they can still add a payment gateway and conduct transactions, allowing them to start selling products online during the trial.

Ease of Use

• Complex Interface: BigCommerce’s interface employs technical jargon, which may be challenging for unfamiliar users. Users can efficiently manage their products and descriptions despite the complexity, ensuring a well-organized online store.
• Separate Backend and Frontend: The editor is divided between the backend (product management system) and frontend (customer-facing website), requiring constant switching, making it cumbersome.

Design

• Lack of Omnichannel Design: BigCommerce’s current score in omnichannel format is just 1 out of 5, which affects the overall design score. This means it has limited support for selling across multiple platforms seamlessly, potentially limiting a business’s ability to reach a broader audience.
• Theme Library: BigCommerce offers a library of over 100 themes, providing users with various design options when creating their online store. However, only a few of these themes (15) are free, while premium themes come from $145 to $235.
• Mobile Responsiveness: All themes provided by BigCommerce are fully mobile responsive, ensuring the website looks and functions well on various devices and improving the user experience for customers using smartphones and tablets.
• Automated Design Optimization: BigCommerce automatically optimizes the design, eliminating users needing to switch between different editing modes to adjust the formatting. This feature streamlines the design process and enhances efficiency in creating an aesthetically appealing storefront.
• Customization Options: BigCommerce provides excellent customization options despite its editing interface complexity. This allows users to create a unique and personalized online store that aligns with their brand identity and preferences. Customization flexibility empowers businesses to differentiate themselves in the market and establish a distinctive online presence.

Sales Features

• Product Upload Efficiency: BigCommerce offers a time-saving feature that allows users to upload products in bulk, streamlining the process for businesses with a large inventory. There’s no limit to the number of products you can sell, allowing you to expand your product offerings as your business grows.
• Comprehensive Analytics: BigCommerce provides detailed analytics reports to help store owners monitor and analyze their products and customers effectively. These reports include an overall store overview, real-time updates, customer behavior insights, abandoned cart statistics, and merchandising data. 
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: BigCommerce has a built-in abandoned cart recovery system, allowing you to reach out to customers who left items in their carts with customizable emails. 
• Exceptional Stock Management: BigCommerce boasts a robust stock management system capable of handling complex inventories with multiple variations. 
• Extensive App Store: While BigCommerce relies on third-party apps for some added functionality, it compensates with an app store containing over 600 apps. With this diverse range of apps, businesses can enhance and tailor their store’s capabilities to their specific needs.

Free plans limitations

• No Free Forever Plan: Unlike some other platforms, BigCommerce does not offer a free forever plan. However, you can use a 15-day trial period to test their plans and see if they meet your requirements.
• Paid Plans: BigCommerce’s paid plans start at $29 per month, and they come with various benefits, such as unlimited products, staff accounts, bandwidth, and file storage. Including unlimited staff accounts allow each team member to have their login, simplifying store management and facilitating tracking of changes and updates.
• Transaction Fees: BigCommerce charges a fee starting at 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction across all their plans for processing debit and credit card payments. Reviewing the pricing details for each plan to understand the specific processing rates is essential.
• PayPal Powered by Braintree: If you are a United States-based business and meet the qualifications of your chosen plan, you may be eligible for the PayPal powered by Braintree rate, offering competitive transaction rates for payment processing.

• No Free Plan: BigCommerce does not offer a free plan, so you must subscribe to one of their paid plans to create an online store.
• Entry-Level Plan: The entry-level plan starts at $29 per month, enabling you to sell products and access basic features for your online store.
• Plus and Pro Plans: To expand your business and unlock more advanced capabilities, consider upgrading to the Plus or Pro plan. These higher-tier plans have reduced transaction fees of 2.35% + $0.49 per transaction and 2.05% + $0.49 per transaction, respectively. Along with these lower fees, the Plus and Pro plans offer additional benefits and tools to support the growth and success of your store.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• 24/7 tech support for all plans: BigCommerce provides round-the-clock technical assistance to all its users, ensuring that help is readily available whenever needed.
• A built-in blog for better SEO: The platform includes a built-in blog feature, which is beneficial for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), helping to improve the website’s visibility in search engine results.
• Multi-channel selling: The platform supports selling on various popular online marketplaces, including Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, eBay, and Walmart, expanding the store’s reach and increasing sales opportunities.
• Mobile responsive site: BigCommerce websites are automatically optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that the store looks and functions well on smartphones and tablets, enhancing the user experience.
• Accept multiple currencies: BigCommerce facilitates transactions in various currencies, enabling international customers to shop easily.

Cons

• No true free plan, just a trial: BigCommerce lacks a permanent free plan, and users can only access the platform during the trial period before having to upgrade to a paid plan.
• Expensive premium plans compared to competitors: BigCommerce’s premium plans may be higher than other competing ecommerce platforms, making it less budget-friendly for some businesses.

BigCommerce Gallery

Option 2: Best Free Ecommerce Website Builders

#1. Square Online

Overview of Square Online

Square Online is a top-rated ecommerce platform with a solid overall score of 4 out of 5. It offers the advantage of selling at no cost, making it an excellent choice for those starting their first online business. 

Square Online stands out with its free ecommerce services and has improved its app store and website features. It is a compelling option for users aiming to expand their business before committing to a paid service.

Square Online Sales Features

• Immediate Selling: Square Online allows you to start selling immediately at no cost, making it ideal for those who want to launch their online business quickly and without upfront expenses.
• Square Online Payments: The platform provides its system, streamlining payment processing for a seamless and secure customer checkout experience.
• Unlimited Products: With Square Online, you can showcase and sell unlimited products, allowing you to grow your inventory and expand your online store without limitations.
• User-friendly Inventory Management: Square Online offers a user-friendly inventory management system, making it easy to keep track of your products, stock levels, and updates, enabling efficient store management.

Square Online Free Plan Limitations

The free plan offered by Square Online does have some limitations. It does not include the option to accept PayPal payments, feature product reviews, or recover abandoned shopping carts. Regarding website building, you won’t be able to add professional branding, advanced site layouts, or a personalized domain. To access these features, you must opt for the Plus plan, which costs $29 per month when billed annually.

Ease of Use

• Straightforward and Fast: Building a store with Square Online is quick and easy, thanks to its Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) technology that automatically generates a website based on your preferred style.
• Limited Customization: While Square Online’s ADI makes setup simple, it may not be the best choice for those seeking extensive customization, as it prioritizes mobile layout previews over desktops and offers limited personalization features.
• User-Friendly Setup: Square Online is generally simple to establish a store and add products, making it suitable for users who prioritize ease and speed over extensive customization.

Design

• Limited Layout Options: Square Online offers only two layout options: Shop All and Order Online, catering to specific types of businesses (retail ecommerce and restaurants/food businesses). 
• Customization within Constraints: While Square Online’s design options are limited, users can still make essential customizations on the available templates. These include changing color schemes, selecting fonts, repositioning page elements, adding a brand logo, and uploading photos, allowing for some personalization.

However, within the constraints of the available themes, you can make critical customizations on Square Online templates such as changing color schemes, choosing fonts, repositioning page elements, importing your brand logo and uploading photos.

Sales Features

• Sell Unlimited Products: Square Online’s free plan allows users to sell an unlimited number of products, which other free plans do not offer.
• Automatic Tax Calculator (US Only): The platform provides an automatic tax calculator for US-based businesses, streamlining the tax calculation process for online transactions.
• Easy Product Management: Adding products with various attributes is made simple, making it convenient for users to manage their online inventory effectively.
• Inventory Management System: Square Online offers a straightforward inventory management system, helping users keep track of their product stock levels efficiently.
• Flexible Shipping Options: Users can set up free or flat-rate shipping or customize shipping rates based on weight, quantity, or total order cost, providing flexibility in handling shipping charges.
• Payment Options: The free plan allows users to accept payments through Square Online’s payment system, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. However, PayPal support is not available.
• Basic Site Analytics: The site analytics provided in the free plan is basic, offering limited insights into website performance and customer behavior.

Free plans limitations

• Custom Domain Not Supported: The free plan does not allow you to connect a custom domain name to your site, and you’ll be assigned a free square.site subdomain instead.
• Transaction Fees Apply: For online payments, Square Online charges a transaction fee of 2.9% plus an additional $0.30 per transaction on the free plan.
• Limited Storage and Bandwidth: While you can list unlimited products, the free plan has a limited total storage and bandwidth allowance of 500MB, which may affect site speed if you have many products or high-resolution images.

• Free Custom Domain: The cheapest paid plan offers a free custom domain for the first year, allowing you to have a unique and branded website address.
• No Square Online Ads: Upgrading to the paid plan will remove Square Online ads from your site, giving your online store a more professional and uncluttered appearance.
• Affordable Plan: Square Online’s Plus plan used to be one of the most cost-effective options in the past, priced at just $12 monthly, making it an attractive choice for budget-conscious entrepreneurs.
• Market Price Increase: However, due to market shifts and external factors, the least expensive paid plan now costs $29 per month, reflecting an increase of 142%.
• Value for Money: Despite the price increase, selling on the free plan remains highly beneficial for entrepreneurs starting their businesses. Square Online still provides good value for money, according to evaluations.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Sales and Abandoned Cart Tracking: Square Online offers an intuitive platform that allows users to monitor sales and track abandoned shopping carts. This feature can provide useful insights for business strategy and customer behavior analysis.
• Responsive Help and Support: The customer service and support provided by Square Online are top-notch. Users have praised the quick and helpful responses from the support team, making troubleshooting and site management easier.
• Seamless Payments System: The payments system integrated into Square Online is user-friendly and seamless, allowing smooth transactions for both the seller and the buyer. This feature enhances the overall customer experience and can help to boost sales.

Cons

• Limited Design Freedom: One of the drawbacks of Square Online is that it offers less creative control over the site’s design compared to other platforms. This could limit your ability to create a unique and personalized aesthetic for your online store.
• Few Payment Processing Options: While the platform provides a seamless payment system, many payment processing options are limited. It doesn’t include popular payment methods such as PayPal, which can restrict customers’ payment choices and potentially impact sales.
• Not Suitable for Large Volume Selling: Square Online is not ideal for businesses with a large sales volume or a wide range of products. The platform is more geared towards small to medium-sized businesses. If you plan to sell on a large scale, you may need to consider other ecommerce platforms.

Square Online Gallery

#2. Big Cartel

Overview of Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a user-friendly e-commerce platform designed to cater specifically to artists and makers, providing them with the tools to create online stores. The platform’s simplicity allows users to build their custom shops using free design templates, making it easy to showcase their unique products.

Big Cartel Sales Features

• Core Functionalities: Big Cartel is designed for small businesses focusing on individual product sales and provides essential core functionalities to run an online store effectively.
• Customizable Store Appearance: Users can utilize free themes to customize their store’s appearance, allowing them to create a unique and visually appealing storefront that aligns with their brand.
• Discount Codes: Big Cartel allows users to create and utilize discount codes, which can be used to attract and retain customers through special offers and promotions.
• Inventory Tracking: With an easy-to-use inventory tracking system, users can efficiently manage their stock levels, ensuring they stay informed about product availability and restocking needs. This feature helps prevent overselling and keeps the store running smoothly.

Big Cartel Free Plan Limitations

The free plan limits you to one product photo per item, and the paid plans only allow up to 5 photos per product. If your products require more images to showcase their features effectively, you might find Big Cartel’s photo limitations restrictive.

Ease of Use

• Intuitive User Dashboard: Big Cartel offers an intuitive dashboard, making the setup process straightforward. Even individuals with limited technical skills can create an online store without the need for coding or prior website experience.
• Quick Setup: With Big Cartel, you can have your online shop up and running in just a few minutes. The platform ensures that building and launching your online store is efficient and accessible to all users, allowing you to start selling quickly.
• Flexibility in Design: While the initial setup is quick, users can take their time to add more design elements and additional functionalities through third-party integrations if desired. This flexibility allows users to customize their online store according to their preferences and needs.

Design

• Aesthetic Themes: Big Cartel provides a collection of clean and aesthetically pleasing themes that are suitable for artists and photographers.
• Limited Customization: While the themes are visually appealing, the customization options are more limited compared to other platforms. Users have less control over the mobile version of their store, as they can’t edit the mobile layout.
• Theme Selection: Big Cartel’s theme selection may not cover as many industries as its competitors, but users can preview each theme to find the one that best suits their business’s style.

Sales Features

• Core Functionalities: Big Cartel caters to small businesses focusing on individual product sales and offers essential core functionalities for running an online store.
• Customizable Appearance: Users can use free themes to customize their store’s appearance, allowing them to create a unique and visually appealing storefront.
• Discount Codes: Big Cartel enables users to utilize discount codes to attract and retain customers, encouraging repeat purchases and customer loyalty.
• Inventory Management: The platform offers easy inventory tracking to help users stay on top of their stock levels and manage their products efficiently.
• Bulk Editing: Big Cartel provides bulk editing capabilities, making it convenient for users to manage and update multiple products simultaneously.
• Google Analytics Integration: The platform integrates with Google Analytics, providing users with valuable insights into their store’s performance and customer behavior.
• Shipment Tracking: Shipment tracking ensures smooth order fulfillment, allowing customers to track their orders and providing transparency in the shipping process.
• Unlimited Bandwidth: Big Cartel offers unlimited bandwidth, ensuring smooth and seamless browsing for visitors to the online store.
• Product Listing Limit: Depending on the chosen price plan, users can list up to 25, 100, or 300 products, making it suitable for smaller-scale businesses looking to showcase their unique products.

Free plans limitations

• Product Listing Limit: Big Cartel’s Free Plan allows you to list only 5 products, and even their highest-tier plan (Titanium, $29.99/month) limits you to 300. This limitation may be suitable for small inventories but can be restrictive for businesses with a more extensive product range.
• Product Photo Restrictions: Detailed product photos are essential for customer satisfaction and increasing sales. Unfortunately, the free plan limits you to one product photo per item, and the paid plans only allow up to 5 photos per product. If your products require more images to showcase their features effectively, Big Cartel’s photo limitations may pose a challenge.

• Free Plan: Big Cartel offers a free version, allowing you to sell online without any upfront cost, making it unique among ecommerce builders.
• Platinum Plan: For $9.99 per month, you can upgrade to the Platinum plan, which enables you to sell up to 50 products with five images per product. This plan also provides features like custom domain usage, full coding access, Google Analytics, inventory tracking, and discount codes, which are beneficial for basic online selling needs.
• Diamond Plan: The Diamond plan, priced at $19.99 per month, is suitable for higher volume selling as it increases the product limit to 500.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• User-friendly and easy setup: Big Cartel is highly user-friendly and requires minimal configuration, making it ideal for beginners.
• Free plan for creative individuals: The Free plan is functional and suitable for artists or small businesses selling a few items. It also doesn’t charge transaction fees, making it cost-effective.
• Reasonable pricing tiers: Big Cartel offers three pricing tiers, from $0 for the free plan to $19.99 monthly for the most expensive Diamond plan, providing options to suit different budgets.
• Free mobile-responsive themes: The platform offers a collection of splendid themes at no additional cost, ensuring a visually appealing online store.

Cons

• Product listing limitation: The paid plans only allow up to 500 products, which could be restrictive for businesses with a large inventory.
• Limited theme customization: Themes in Big Cartel offer little room for customization, limiting the ability to create a unique and personalized storefront.
• Limited selling channels: Big Cartel only supports selling in person, on your website, Facebook, and Instagram, which may not be enough for businesses to expand to other platforms.
• Limited support options: Big Cartel lacks 24/7 live chat and phone support, which may be inconvenient for users who require immediate assistance or have urgent queries.

Big Cartel Gallery

Option 3: Best Free Ecommerce Software

#1. WooCommerce

Overview of WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin for WordPress that requires more technical knowledge than traditional website builders. Despite this, it’s relatively easy to install. However, to take full advantage of its features, you’ll need to do some coding and rely on additional plugins.

WooCommerce Sales Features

• Payment Methods: WooCommerce offers a wide selection of over 140 payment methods, giving you flexibility in accepting customer payments.
• Product Variety: You can sell various WooCommerce products, including physical items, digital products for members, and subscription-based services.

WooCommerce Free Plan Limitations

While WooCommerce offers the option to add various features, keep in mind that not all are free; some require payment. The average cost for a WooCommerce extension is about $79 per year. However, this could increase to roughly $299 per year for premium options. 

You’ll need a hosting provider with ample storage to accommodate these additional features and optimize your online store. We suggest using Bluehost because it’s rated as the top hosting provider in our research and comes highly recommended by both WooCommerce and WordPress!

Ease of Use

• Flexibility and Advanced Features: WooCommerce offers more complexity and advanced features than straightforward website builders like Wix or Shopify. It integrates as a plugin for WordPress, allowing you to add ecommerce capabilities to your existing WordPress site.
• User-Friendly Setup: WooCommerce provides a user-friendly setup wizard to guide you through getting your online store up and running.

To simplify managing WooCommerce on WordPress, you can opt for Woo Express. This package offers a code-free website builder, theme selection, and customer support via live chat and email for a monthly fee of $25. This can be a valuable solution for those who are hesitant about dealing with coding while still wanting the benefits of WooCommerce’s features.

Design

Free Themes with Extensive Customization: The WooCommerce marketplace offers three free themes that provide extensive customization options. While understanding HTML and CSS code can make the customization process smoother, it’s not strictly required. 

Premium Themes: If you’re looking for more options and are open to purchasing a theme, the cost typically falls between $39 and $79. This allows you to explore a wider range of design choices for your online store.

Sales Features

WooCommerce brings several built-in features, such as adding unlimited products and users. Its key strength lies in the vast range of additional functions you can introduce to enhance your online store. However, be aware that many of these extras come with an average cost of $79-$299 per year.

The WooCommerce Extensions Store offers many options, with over 55,000 plugins, making it a limitless playground for features. Exploring your options before settling on the ones you need is advisable.

Here are a few essential features that you might find beneficial for your online store:

• Payment Options: This feature allows your store to integrate with various payment platforms such as Amazon Pay, Stripe, Square, PayPal, Apple Pay, and others.
• Promotions: You can provide discounts on specific products or the entire cart and even offer free shipping to your customers.
• Abandoned Cart Recovery: This feature lets you email customers who have left their shopping carts before making a purchase, potentially recovering those sales.
• Customizable Checkout: You can customize everything at checkout – from changing the text on the ‘place order’ button to specifying the preferred contact method for your customers.
• Analytics: The software offers built-in reports of on-site views, clicks recorded, files downloaded, and customer locations. Plus, you can integrate Google Analytics for free for a more in-depth understanding of your store’s performance.
• Multi-Channel Selling: You can sell your products on other platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Instagram for an extra $79. Selling on Facebook is also possible for free via extensions.

Free plans limitations

• Customizable Plugin: WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress that allows you to add custom features to your online store. However, it may not come with all the standard features pre-packed like other ecommerce website builders.
• Hosting Provider Limitations: While you can add unlimited physical and digital products with WooCommerce, the ability to support many products depends on your hosting provider’s capabilities, such as storage and bandwidth. Consider using hosting providers like Bluehost, but there are other options available.
• Separate SSL Certificate: WooCommerce doesn’t include an SSL certificate, which is essential for secure online transactions. You’ll need to purchase one separately to ensure the security of your customers’ data.
• Transaction Fees: Once your store is operational, be aware of transaction fees. WooCommerce Payments charges a 2.9% + $0.30 fee for all US credit or debit card transactions, with an additional 1% fee for non-US cards.
• Additional Costs: While WooCommerce itself is free, you should be prepared to handle additional costs for hosting, SSL certificates, and transaction fees. These costs may vary depending on your specific needs and choices.

• Customizable Plugin: WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress that allows you to add custom features to your online store. However, it may come with only some of the standard features pre-packed like other ecommerce website builders.
• Unlimited Products: You can add unlimited physical and digital products with WooCommerce. However, the capability to support many products depends on your hosting provider’s resources, such as storage and bandwidth, not on WooCommerce itself.
• Transaction Fees: Once your store is operational, be aware of transaction fees. WooCommerce Payments charges a 2.9% + $0.30 fee for all US credit or debit card transactions, with an additional 1% fee for non-US cards.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Variety of Plugins: WooCommerce offers a vast selection of plugins, extending the functionality of your online store beyond its essential features. This flexibility allows you to tailor your site to your specific needs.
• Numerous Payment Options: It supports many payment gateways, giving your customers plenty of choices when paying for their purchases. This can include everything from credit card payments to digital wallets like PayPal or Stripe.
• International Selling Tools: With WooCommerce, selling products internationally is easy, thanks to its built-in tools for managing different currencies, languages, and shipping methods.

Cons

• Self-Installation of Features: Most features are not built-in and must be installed manually, which can be challenging if you’re not tech-savvy. Getting your store set up exactly how you want it requires a fair bit of work.
• Potential High Costs of Plugins and Tools: While WooCommerce is free, its plugins and tools can add up quickly, making it expensive to maintain. Some plugins require yearly subscriptions, which can significantly increase operating costs.
• WordPress Dependency: WooCommerce only works with WordPress. So, if you’re using a different content management system or website builder, you won’t be able to integrate WooCommerce. This restriction might be limiting for some users.

WooCommerce Gallery

#2. Magento

Overview of Magento

Magento isn’t the best fit for small businesses or those new to ecommerce due to its complex nature. However, if you’re tech-savvy, you’ll find it one of the most powerful ecommerce platforms available.

Similar to WooCommerce, Magento is an open-source platform that can work alongside other website-building tools, such as WordPress. mmended for large-scale businesses with a robust and loyal customer base.

Magento Sales Features

• Native Features and Extensions: Magento has some built-in features, but to fully unlock its capabilities, additional extensions may be required, some of which may come at a cost. These extensions are designed to cater to the needs of prominent brands, ensuring superior quality features for your online store.
• Free Shipping, Product Bundling, and GA4 Integration: Magento offers a range of functionalities essential for successful online businesses. These include options for free shipping, product bundling, and integration with GA4 (previously known as Google Universal Analytics). 

Magento Free Plan Limitations

Although you can install Magento’s open-source version for free, getting the functionalities you require will necessitate the use of various plugins, and these can add up in terms of cost.

Furthermore, unlike WooCommerce, Magento doesn’t offer support for as many hosting providers. We suggest considering A2 Hosting, which is particularly well-suited for larger websites. This aligns well to maximize the benefits of using Magento.

Ease of Use

Coding Skills Required: Magento is best suited for users with coding skills, as the setup and customization process can be challenging without web development experience.

Unmatched Scalability and Customization: For users with coding expertise, Magento offers unparalleled scalability and customization capabilities among ecommerce solutions, both open-source and proprietary.

Community Support: Magento has an active community support system through the Magento Forum, where users can find valuable advice, solutions, and discussions related to Magento-related issues. This resource can be beneficial for beginners seeking guidance. However, other platforms focusing on simplicity might be more useful for smaller online stores.

Design

Theme Options: Only one free theme is available in the Magento Marketplace. Users can access pre-made themes at an average cost of around $100, while custom themes can range from $600 to $25,000. These themes can be customized using CSS for users with coding knowledge.

Web Developer Customization: For those without technical expertise, hiring a web developer is the best way to fully leverage Magento’s design potential. A web developer can modify the theme to match specific needs. However, this option can be expensive, costing a few hundred dollars at a minimum.

Sales Features

• Built-in Features: Magento provides many built-in features, surpassing WooCommerce. However, users may need to incorporate extensions from the Magento Marketplace for advanced customization and additional functionality.
• Extension Options: The Magento Marketplace offers nearly 2,000 free extensions, allowing users to choose from diverse functionalities. Some extensions may be costly, such as multichannel integrations that can reach up to $499 each, but free options ensure flexibility.
• Comprehensive Inventory Management: Magento’s comprehensive inventory management system is one of its standout features. It supports bulk product imports, multiple product variables, stock management, and revenue reporting, making it suitable for businesses of all scales.
• Integration with Adobe’s Creative Suite: After Adobe acquired Magento, the platform was integrated with Adobe’s Creative Suite, providing access to professional-level creative tools like Photoshop, Premier Pro, After-Effects, Illustrator, and Adobe Stock. While mastering these tools may require time and effort, they offer industry-standard features trusted by professionals worldwide.

Free plans limitations

• High Product Capacity: The platform can efficiently handle over a million products, allowing for the sale of physical and digital goods. However, users may need to utilize plugins from the Magento Marketplace to unlock additional functionalities.
• Transaction Fees: Like other platforms, Magento imposes transaction fees, typically charging 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This fee is applied to online payments made with US credit or debit cards, and additional fees may apply for non-US cards.

• Self-Arranged Web Hosting: Running a Magento site requires users to arrange their web hosting. Magento-compatible hosts are not as widespread, which can add to the installation challenge.
• A2 Hosting Plans: A2 Hosting offers a range of plans specifically designed for Magento, providing a more streamlined installation process. Their plans start from $59.99 per month (billed annually) for the basic, unmanaged Virtual Private Server (VPS) option and go up to $529.99 monthly for the most premium offering, managed hosting.
• Budget Consideration: Upgrading to Magento may involve higher hosting costs than other platforms. It is essential to consider your budget and confidence in managing the platform before deciding.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Robust Features: Magento has high-powered features designed to accommodate large-scale online stores. It’s equipped to handle the demands of a substantial operation, providing the power necessary to run huge ecommerce businesses smoothly.
• High Product Capacity: Magento shines when managing a vast number of products. Its system is adept at handling thousands of product listings, making it an excellent choice for large-scale online stores that offer extensive product lines.
• Brand Trust: Magento is a trusted platform by prominent brands like Nike and Samsung. This trust factor suggests a level of reliability and performance that meets the high standards of well-known multinational companies.

Cons

• Complex Setup and Installation: Magento isn’t user-friendly for beginners. The setup and installation process can be pretty challenging and may require technical skills beyond the reach of those without a web development background.
• Need for Developer: Given its complexity, most beginners must hire a web developer to install, set up, and possibly manage their Magento site. This necessity adds to the cost and time it takes to get your online store up and running.
• Lack of Support: Magento doesn’t provide immediate help and support. While there is a community forum where users can share advice and solutions, a dedicated support team is not readily available to assist with issues that may arise.

Magento Gallery

Option 4: Other Top Free Ecommerce Platforms 

#1. PrestaShop – Best free ecommerce platform for MVP testing

Overview of PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a free and versatile ecommerce platform suitable for MVP testing. It helps entrepreneurs create and manage online stores with customizable features. This best free ecommerce platform offers various sales tools, supporting multiple payment gateways and marketing options for practical testing.

PrestaShop Sales Features

• Payment Gateways: PrestaShop supports various payment gateways, allowing customers to complete transactions quickly. This flexibility ensures businesses can cater to a broader audience with different payment preferences.
• Marketing and Promotional Tools: PrestaShop offers a range of marketing and promotional tools to help businesses attract and retain customers during the MVP testing phase. This includes discounts, coupons, and other promotional strategies to enhance the shopping experience.

PrestaShop Free Plan Limitations

Ease of Use

• Intuitive Interface: PrestaShop offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easy for users, even those without extensive technical knowledge, to navigate and manage their online store efficiently.
• User-Friendly Dashboard: The platform provides a centralized dashboard where you can easily access and manage critical aspects of your online store, such as products, orders, and customer information. The dashboard layout is designed to streamline the management process.
• Simple Installation: PrestaShop’s installation process is designed to be straightforward, allowing you to set up your online store quickly and with minimal hassle. This is beneficial for users who may not have advanced technical skills.
• Comprehensive Documentation and Community Support: PrestaShop offers extensive documentation and a vibrant community forum. You can find helpful resources, tutorials, and community support to address any queries or issues you may encounter during the setup and usage of the platform.

Design

• Customizable Themes and Templates: PrestaShop provides a variety of customizable themes and templates, allowing you to personalize the look and feel of your online store according to your brand identity. This flexibility is crucial for creating a unique and professional storefront.
• Responsive Design: The platform ensures the online store’s responsive design adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices. This is essential for providing a consistent and user-friendly experience to customers browsing from different devices.
• Drag-and-Drop Functionality: PrestaShop incorporates drag-and-drop functionality for easy customization of the layout. This feature simplifies arranging elements on product pages or the homepage, enabling you to create an appealing and functional storefront without coding skills.
• Multilingual and Multi-currency Support: PrestaShop supports multiple languages and currencies, facilitating global reach for online stores. This is particularly advantageous for businesses targeting an international customer base.

Sales Features

• Product Management: PrestaShop offers robust product management capabilities, allowing you to add, edit, and organize products easily. You can include various product attributes, manage inventory, and set pricing options for different variations.
• Secure and Integrated Payment Gateways: The platform supports secure and integrated payment gateways, ensuring smooth and secure transactions for the store owner and customers. This is crucial for establishing trust and providing a seamless shopping experience.
• Marketing Tools: PrestaShop includes marketing tools such as discounts, promotions, and coupon codes, empowering you to implement effective marketing strategies to attract and retain customers.
• Multi-Channel Selling: PrestaShop enables multi-channel selling, allowing you to expand your reach by integrating with other online marketplaces or platforms. This feature helps businesses tap into diverse customer bases and increase sales opportunities.

Free plan limitations

• Limited Features in Free Plan: The free plan of PrestaShop may have limitations compared to its premium plans. You should be aware of feature restrictions and consider upgrading to access advanced functionalities.
• Basic Reporting and Analytics: While PrestaShop provides reporting and analytics features, the free plan may have limitations regarding the depth and complexity of data analysis. Advanced reporting capabilities may require additional modules or an upgraded plan.
• Costs for Extensions and Modules: Some advanced features and functionalities may require purchasing additional extensions or modules. You should be mindful of potential additional costs when considering specific enhancements for your online store.
• Limited Scalability: The free plan may have limitations in terms of scalability, which could pose challenges for growing businesses. Users with expanding operations may need to consider upgrading to accommodate increased traffic and transaction volumes.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Open-Source and Free: PrestaShop is open-source, allowing you to modify and customize your online store. The free platform is accessible to startups and small businesses with budget constraints.
• Comprehensive Sales Tools: PrestaShop offers various sales features, including inventory management, order processing, and customer management. This ensures businesses have the tools to manage their online stores efficiently.
• Active Community Support: PrestaShop has a vibrant community of users and developers who actively contribute to forums and discussions. This community support can be valuable for issue resolution, learning, and sharing best practices.
• Scalability: PrestaShop is designed to be scalable, allowing businesses to grow their online presence seamlessly. This scalability is crucial for startups and small businesses planning for expansion in the future.

Cons

• Learning Curve: New users may experience a learning curve when navigating PrestaShop due to its feature-rich nature. However, users can become familiar with the platform with time and exploration.
• Design Limitations on the Free Plan: The free plan may have design limitations, impacting businesses with specific branding requirements. Users should assess whether the available design options align with their vision for the online store.
• Upgrade for Advanced Features: Some advanced sales features may require upgrading to a premium plan. Businesses should carefully evaluate whether the additional functionalities offered in the premium plans are necessary for their specific needs and goals.

PrestaShop Gallery

#2. OpenCart – Best marketplace for add-ons and extensions

Overview of OpenCart 

OpenCart stands out as the open-source best free ecommerce platform designed to empower businesses of all sizes. Its user-friendly interface and modular architecture make it a popular choice for entrepreneurs and developers. OpenCart provides a solid foundation for creating and managing online stores, focusing on simplicity, customization, and scalability.

OpenCart Sales Features

• User Management: For effective online store organization, collaborate with different people performing diverse roles. OpenCart lets you assign advanced user privileges, offering separate access for user groups and individual users.
• Multi-Store: Streamline operations by managing multiple stores from one admin interface. Display products in different stores, choose unique themes and localize store settings. Set individual product prices for each store.
• Affiliates: Utilize the built-in Affiliate system in OpenCart. Affiliates can promote specific products and earn commissions. Set different percentages and offer payment options like cheques, PayPal, and bank transfers.
• Discounts, Coupons, and Specials: Stay competitive by offering discounts, coupons, and specials. OpenCart provides these features to attract attention and boost sales.
• Back-up and Restore: Prepare for emergencies with OpenCart’s backup and restoration features. Easily update and bulk edit products, categories, and more using popular extensions available in the marketplace.

OpenCart Free Plan Limitations

Ease of Use

• User-Friendly Interface: OpenCart provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies setting up and managing an online store, making it accessible to users with varying technical expertise.
• Intuitive Dashboard: The platform features an intuitive dashboard that centralizes essential store management functions, allowing you to easily navigate and access essential tools for product, order, and customer management.
• Quick Installation: OpenCart’s installation process is designed to be quick and straightforward, enabling you to get your online store up and running with minimal effort.
• Community Support: You can benefit from a supportive community and comprehensive documentation, providing resources and assistance for any questions or issues you may encounter during the setup and usage of OpenCart.

Design

• Customizable Themes: OpenCart offers a variety of customizable themes, allowing you to tailor the appearance of your online store to align with its brand identity and create a unique storefront.
• Responsive Design: The platform ensures that store designs adapt seamlessly to various devices and screen sizes for a consistent and user-friendly experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Easy Customization: OpenCart facilitates easy customization of the store’s layout and design through intuitive tools, allowing you to arrange elements and create a visually appealing storefront without extensive coding knowledge.
• Multi-Language and Currency Support: OpenCart supports multiple languages and currencies, enabling you to cater to a diverse global audience and expand your market reach.

Sales Features

• Product Management: OpenCart offers robust product management features, allowing you to add, edit, and organize products efficiently. You can manage inventory, set pricing, and include various product attributes.
• Secure Payment Gateways: The platform supports secure gateways, ensuring a safe and smooth transaction process for the store owner and customers. This is crucial for building trust and providing a secure shopping experience.
• Marketing Tools: OpenCart includes marketing tools such as discounts, promotions, and coupon codes, empowering you to implement effective marketing strategies and attract and retain customers.
• Extensions for Additional Features: You can extend the functionality of your store by adding various extensions and modules, enhancing sales features, and tailoring the platform to your specific business needs.

Free plan limitations

• Limited Features in Free Plan: The free plan of OpenCart may have limitations compared to premium plans, and you should be aware of these restrictions. Access to advanced features may require upgrading to a paid plan.
• Basic Reporting and Analytics: While OpenCart provides reporting and analytics features, the free plan may offer essential data insights. Users looking for more advanced and in-depth analytics may need to explore additional tools or consider upgrading.
• Costs for Certain Extensions: While OpenCart provides a range of extensions, some advanced features and functionalities may require purchasing specific extensions or modules. You should be mindful of potential additional costs for desired enhancements.
• Scalability Considerations: The free plan may have limitations in terms of scalability, and businesses experiencing growth may need to assess whether upgrading to a paid plan is necessary to accommodate increased traffic and business expansion.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Open-Source: OpenCart is open-source, meaning you can modify it to suit your needs.
• Marketplace: Find a variety of add-ons and extensions in OpenCart’s marketplace to enhance your store.
• User-Friendly: OpenCart is easy to use, even for those not tech-savvy.
• Community Support: Join a community of users and developers for help and discussion.

Cons

• Learning Curve: If you’re new to ecommerce, OpenCart might take some time to get used to.
• Design Limits: While customizable, there are some design restrictions that might affect particular branding.
• Add-ons for Advanced Features: Some advanced features may require additional add-ons or extensions.

OpenCart Gallery

Is It Worth Upgrading to a Paid Plan?

Investing in extra features is a critical step for a thriving online store. These features have become more affordable with the array of website builders available today. Take, for instance, Shopify, whose paid plans start at a modest $5 per month with the Starter plan. So if you’re contemplating whether upgrading to a paid plan is worth upgrading, the answer is more than likely a resounding “yes!”

Opting for a paid plan is an upgrade to your business. Why? It’s simple: like any subscription service, the more you invest, the more you receive. Here are five essential features you can unlock with a paid plan:

1. No ads

You might have a developing or a small-scale business, but nobody would know unless you’re using a free ecommerce builder plan. Free plans often have unavoidable advertisements that make your site seem less professional. As a fresh business, portraying a professional image is critical, even if it means adopting the ‘fake it till you make it’ approach.

Paying for an ecommerce platform when your customer base or income isn’t guaranteed can be intimidating. But consider it a small but necessary business investment. Keep in mind that most of these platforms offer monthly payment options. This means you don’t have to feel pressured into making a long-term commitment if you are uncertain about the future.

2. Better sales tools

Opting for a paid plan gives your website a more professional look and equips it with advanced functionalities. Ecommerce platforms reserve premium features, such as sending abandoned cart recovery emails, for their paying members, and this strategy proves effective. Around 70% of online shopping carts get abandoned, but targeted emails sent to these customers can have an impressive 45% open rate, significantly boosting the chances of re-engaging them.

Even with the most affordable ecommerce plan upgrade, you’ll gain access to a wealth of better features. For instance, Wix’s Core Plan offers benefits like five hours of video storage and a free domain name for the first year.

3. Sell more products

Most free ecommerce plans limit the number of items you can sell. Upgrading to a paid plan gives you more freedom and offers your customers a comprehensive range of choices.

4. Get better support

Customers who pay for ecommerce plans often get more support options, including phone support. Even if you receive the same level of help as premium customers, free users may not be the top priority for assistance. 

Don’t wait until you face critical issues with your site or need urgent help. Upgrading to a paid plan now ensures better support and avoids potential frustrations later on. Your future self and your website will be grateful for the decision.

5. Increase payment methods

With paid plans, you can connect more payment methods, making the shopping experience easier for your customers. This convenience increases their chances of returning to your store for future purchases.

6. Don’t forget your hosting

Take Shopify as an example. When comparing Shopify’s free and paid plans, it’s essential to consider your hosting needs. With the free program, your online store will be hosted on a subdomain of Shopify, such as yourstorename.myshopify.com. While this is suitable for small or starting businesses, it might not provide the level of professionalism and branding that comes with a custom domain.

In contrast, the paid plans allow you to connect your custom domain, giving your store a more professional and credible appearance. Additionally, paid plans come with better-hosting resources, ensuring faster loading times and a smoother shopping experience for your customers.

Investing in a paid plan with Shopify unlocks advanced features and provides better hosting, which can significantly impact the success of your online store.

Best Ecommerce Platforms: FAQs