The thought of creating an online store seems time-consuming and complicated. However, it can be quite rewarding when you perfectly open the store. You’ll need solid eCommerce website builders to cope with all the challenges of putting up an online store. With the appropriate e-commerce website builder, you can quickly launch an online store, attract consumers, and earn sales. Many simple website builders might aid your business in standing out. In this blog, I’ve made a complete list of the finest eCommerce website builders from around the web. Because each business has unique requirements, I’ve also highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of each website builder.
Website builders are important as they’re a great choice for small business owners with limited resources, time, and skills to create their clients’ websites. They allow you to develop a stunning website at a reasonable cost, so you can save money and use it to expand your business.
1. Ecwid
Ecwid is a good option for digital store owners who wish to add a free e-commerce store to their current website. At the time of writing, this platform had 1.6 million small enterprises as customers.
There’s a free version and three premium options, all of which include unlimited bandwidth and mobile compatibility. However, the paid-for solutions provide a higher level of customer support and a abandoned cart option that the free basic version does not provide.
Ecwid is compatible with various platforms, including WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace. You can only offer ten things for free, so if you have a wide choice of products, this isn’t the website builder for you.
Ecwid’s Distinctive Features
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No transaction fees except for payment processing.
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You can efficiently plug an Ecwid store into an existing website.
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An abundance of integrations is available.
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Ecwid stores have mobile-friendly layouts.
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In 2018, Ecwid’s interface was redesigned and is now more comfortable to operate.
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You can offer your shopfront in up to 45 languages.
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Ecwid allows you to publicise your store through the mobile app if the rest of your website isn’t mobile-friendly.
Here are a few reasons why you might want to uninstall Ecwid:
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On a free website, only one store theme is available.
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Limited SEO and GDPR choices corresponded to other websites.
2. Square Online
Square isn’t just a payment platform for enterprises and restaurants; they’ve also recently launched eCommerce website builders. There is no monthly fee; rather, each transaction costs 2.9 percent plus 30 cents for credit card processing. Square permits you to sell online and in-person, and it syncs your sales between your physical and online store.
Square’s base service includes a POS system, and WooCommerce and Ecwid also enable Square integration to meet that need.
What are the advantages that make Square Online unique?
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Square Online proposes a free URL and unlimited hosting.
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All of their paid plans cover limitless storage for files of any size.
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You can arrange in-store pickups and supervise the website. After that, it automatically updates the inventory for both your online and brick-and-mortar stores.
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There is no need for prior coding experience.
What are the disadvantages of Square Online?
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You’ll have to buy one of their paid-for plans to enjoy some extra features.
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Setting freight costs can be an issue as you need to choose either a flat rate or free shipping for all your products. This is sometimes problematic because you’re selling products at distinct weights and sizes, with varying price ranges.
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Problems with account resilience are common.
3. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source shopping cart that integrates with WordPress sites. Therefore, it’s a popular choice among WordPress users. WooCommerce has been around since 2001, with over 48 million downloads and powering roughly 30% of all online retailers.
It is the most satisfactory of all the websites, as WooCommerce is free to download, and doesn’t charge any transaction costs. Because WooCommerce is a plugin rather than an independent e-commerce site, you’ll need to pay for WordPress hosting to keep your WooCommerce site up to date. Also, if you’d like to use WooCommerce’s add ons, you’ll have to pay a fee.
What’s so special about WooCommerce?
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WooCommerce is an open-source solution, so it’s extremely flexible and customizable with multiple integrations.
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It’s an excellent e-commerce builder site for those who already utilise WordPress, as it’s designed specifically for that market.
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You can get help from an active community of developers and specialists.
Disadvantages of the WooCommerce builder:
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The WooCommerce plugin is free, but the cost of maintenance, development, and hosting is too high.
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It needs a lot of upfront research to be used. Operating WooCommerce can be a steep learning curve for beginners.
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WooCommerce needs a bit of learning and knowledge of using WordPress.
4. Magento
Magento was founded in 2008. Magento provides both a free version and a premium one. Magento Community Edition is a free alternative that is suitable for small enterprises and start-ups that are just getting started. Users may tailor it to their own needs, and there are forums where they can discuss tips and strategies.
There are free resources available that may help you expand your business, sell your products online, and much more. That’s in addition to the technical assistance you can get to get your e-commerce site up and running.
What are the advantages of using Magento?
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The free version is open source and has a lot of customization options.
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Their stores are easy to scale.
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There are several features for you to utilize.
What are the Drawbacks of Magento?
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You can utilise the Magento templates, but you’ll need experience in designing and customising the themes.
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The fees for web hosting, SSL certificates, and payment processing must still be covered.
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No customer support.
5. FreeWebStore
You may utilise your current domain name with Freewebstore’s safe cloud-based hosting, and it’s also available to individuals and industries. You can scour hundreds of different store layouts and select the one that complements your brand’s style.
All of the designs are mobile-friendly and include an image editor as well as the ability to link to your store’s social network profiles. There’s also access to Google Maps to make it easier for customers to find you, and this is specifically handy if you’re running a brick-and-mortar store.
Advantages of Freewebstore
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You can take payment from the customer through various modes.
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Freewebstore provides 40 layout templates to select from.
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You may sell an unlimited number of products in your store and makeup to $30,000 in monthly sales without ever having to enter a credit card number.
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You have access to CSS and HTML. It is ideal for those individuals or developers who want to develop their own store from the ground up or build on Free Webstore’s designs.
Drawbacks of Freewebstore
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If you sell your products for over $30.000 per year, you will be required to switch to the premium plan.
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There are certain limitations to the free version, such as no shipping labels or social networking links. You can’t add other sections to your website, such as a blog, etc.
6. MyOnlineStore
If you’re headquartered in the EU and want to sell to a global audience, this might be a good option for you. There’s a language translation choice, and if you like, you may organise your orders by nation or language.
There are numerous plans or packages available, the most basic of which allows you to sell up to 25 products for free. It accepts payments by different modes of payment, i.e., credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal, and also creates mobile-friendly websites.
What are the amazing features that make My Online Store so special?
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You receive a ‘drag and drop” website editor.
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You can place your orders by nation or language.
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You can place your orders by nation or language.
Some Drawbacks of My Online Store
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It doesn’t provide any social sharing options.
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You may only sell up to 25 products on the free plan. If you want additional features, you must subscribe to a premium subscription. However, to be fair to My Online Store, these premium plans are competitively priced.
7. Webstarts
Webstarts is known for their website builder, and they permit you to add a free online store. In general, it’s a generous free plan. This is most likely why it has 4 million users that rely on it for their online presence.
Creating the store is now a pretty good experience. If you’ve ever used Wix, you will understand that both sites are very similar, as you can quickly move the products on the page. Because templates aren’t inherently responsive, you may change them for mobile displays as well. The UI is a little antique, but for a free offer, it’s not awful.
Unique Features of Webstarts
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1 GB of space is available.
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You can sell everything, either digital or physical products.
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Get a generous free plan.
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It’s in the footer and doesn’t look offensive.
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Good payment options are available.
Some Drawbacks of Webstarts:
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You cannot track your inventory.
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No SEO options are available.
8. Mozello
The same offer applies to the online store or Multilingual selections. You can only sell up to five things, which isn’t enough, but other suppliers allow you to sell more. Not to be misperceived with Mozilla, this is a small Latvian company that isn’t a residence name. But they have one key feature that giant companies don’t, i.e., free multilingual websites.
Advantages of Mozello
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In the free version, 500MB of space is available.
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You can sell your product in numerous languages or in different nations.
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An inventory tracking facility is available.
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There are several product variants and options available.
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An SSL certificate is included.
Some Drawbacks of Mozello:
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In the free version, e-commerce will be slightly inelegant.
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You can’t sell digital products.
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No credit card payment option is available.
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You can only sell up to five products for free.
9. Strikingly
Strikingly, it permits you to “conquer the world” and “build your brand.” Aside from that, there isn’t much information available about them online, excluding that their products are free and contain a web store.
What’s so special about WooCommerce?
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You get a modern and responsive layout.
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Numerous online payment processors are available.
Disadvantages of the Strikingly:
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Here, you can sell only one product.
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Limited templates for the websites, and there are even fewer for e-commerce sites.
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An SEO plugin is not available.
10. Sellfy
Sellfy was founded in 2011 with the objective of “empowering creators from all over the world to earn a career doing what they love.” Their service is unique in that it allows you to sell both physical and digital products, as well as “print on demand.” Although you won’t be able to sell digital products on the free plan, you will have to access several essential services.
Advantages of Sellfy
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There are no limitations on sales.
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No transaction fees are charged.
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It’s great to have a discount code option as they can help raise sales and reward loyal customers.
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SEO options are available.
Disadvantages of the Sellfy builder:
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You’ll need to subscribe to the premium plan if you want to sell digital things like ebooks, music, or photographic files.
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You can only sell up to 10 products for free.
11. Weebly
This website builder, founded in the United States, is one of the most popular free eCommerce website builders, as it powers over 50 million websites. Weebly has strong e-commerce capabilities, such as automatically computed taxes, a robust inventory management system, and promotional codes.
Weebly was acquired by Square, the online payment company, and they opted to offer that cover for Weebly’s worldly-wise eCommerce abilities in their free plans as well, which is really kind.
What’s so special about WooCommerce?
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With the free version, you can sell as many products as you want.
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An SSL certificate is included.
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Weebly is one of the most user-friendly eCommerce website builders available. It has a drag-and-drop editor that makes it easy to use.
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If you want to publish a blog to go along with your online business, Weebly is one of the best options.
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Weebly has excellent e-commerce skills, so as your web business grows, they’ll be able to handle it.
Disadvantages of the WooCommerce builder:
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No offline payment mode is available.
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We have heard statements from those users who are not in the United States and didn’t see the free eCommerce option.
Summing Up
We hope that this blog has aided you in getting familiar with several free website builder plugins. You can make a more satisfactory decision regarding the CMS or website builder that best suits your requirements. Each alternative comes with its own pros and cons, but hopefully, you have a better idea of which store builder is adequate for your business. If you don’t want to create everything yourself, you may use website templates.
The best eCommerce website builders can help you grow your business. With so many free eCommerce website builders to choose from, there’s no question you’ll find the best one to help you create an online store that you’ll be proud of, that impresses clients, and that generates sales for you automatically. Because the world is moving toward a mobile-first environment, now is the best moment to employ website builders to quickly create websites.
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