Ecommerce is a huge and complex industry. You have multiple platforms to choose from, with each one offering different features and having their fair share of pros and cons. The top five ecommerce platforms to use in 2021 listed below have been ranked by ecommerce experts and experienced merchants around the world. The rankings are based on certain factors, such as advanced functionalities, scalability, excellence in customer service and ease of use.
Looking for best ecommerce platforms available in India? As a small business owner you are looking for the best ecommerce platform to launch your online store without any investment. If yes, here’s the solution for you. In this article we will discuss about top 5 ecommerce or open source platforms to launch your online store and start your business to next level.
If you are looking for a great way to start an ecommerce business and sell online, I am sure you will agree that sometimes it is hard to choose the best platform. There are many platforms to choose from, but some are better for certain types of businesses. Some require very little capital to get started, while others may cost a lot up front. In this post I have highlighted five of the best ecommerce platform that I think are perfect for anyone starting a new ecommerce business. I have explained each platforms unique features so you can decide which is the right one for you!
What is a platform?
A platform is a business model that creates value by facilitating exchanges between independent groups, which usually brings together customers and producers. Platforms create communities and markets that allow users to interact and transact through network effects. The shift to digital and advanced technology in commerce has changed the way we do business, create both resources and opportunities for business doers.
Those who want to seize this opportunity can’t ignore the application of digital and technology in selling products. Given that, online stores are sustainably replacing brick and mortar stores.
Brands strive to succeed with their first online stores, but the results don’t come in expectation. One of the worst mistakes they made is to partner up with the wrong eCommerce platform.
Fundamentally, an eCommerce platform is the backbone of an online retailer. An eCommerce platform is a software in which businesses launch, host, and manage their online stores. The platform provides features that allow merchants to build a branded online storefront to locate and sell their products and services.
An online business, like all other businesses, needs additional software to manage backend functions such as accounting, order management, inventory management, and customer service.
It’s possible to piece together many different software solutions to create a complete platform, but the process is quite complicated and causes your website frequent maintenance and inefficient functions.
Fortunately, a new breed of business software can solve this problem by integrating all essential commerce and business functionalities into a single platform.
When it comes to the eCommerce platform, there is a critical term you need to understand, “platform design.” The platform design isn’t just about considering technical factors. It’s about understanding and creating features for the whole business operation.
It creates value for both users and stores as well as build a network around them. Remember that an eCommerce platform is a business model, not just a piece of technology.
When you look at ecommerce software, it can be really hard to tell how seemingly minor differences in features and performance can have a major impact on your bottom line, but they can.
All vendors say they’re faster, more reliable, better geared for search engine optimization, PCI ready for credit cards, etc. than the competition. But what’s the reality?
The last thing I want is for you to customize your ecommerce site and load up your products only to have it running super slow. Or find out you need to spend an additional $399 a month to sync your inventory to Amazon and dropship products.
We decided to compare the features, performance, ease of use, design & themes, and integrations of the top ecommerce platforms using real site data. You’ll learn which platform meets your needs, performs the best, and gives you value to dominate your niche.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is the best overall ecommerce platform. Its robust product search engine makes it ideal for larger retail brands. It’s also a good choice for people who want to start an ecommerce store, or who have a brick and mortar store and want to expand their operations to include online orders. Its available tools make it possible for any niche or industry to be successful.
The interface allows you to customize your online shop without having to know how to code by using any of the customizable templates to design your store, sell and market your products. It’s aimed at those without so much web dev skills, but it also allows tech-savvy people to tweak the HTML and CSS.
I love BigCommerce themes; you will see advanced and buyer-centric templates in the store, however only very few are free. Two to be exact with variations on both making a total of seven free themes.
On the fly side, there’s a broad community of designers and developers. The partner directory helps you find experts for an extra hand.
As for pricing, the lowest plan costs 29.95/month. Some goodies like checkout codes, gift cards, unlimited bandwidth, and professional reporting come along. However, you don’t get a custom SSL or abandoned cart saver, but it’s still really good for simple stores not getting sales worth more than 50k per year. As the plan goes higher, so does the sales limit.
Pros
- Flexible and scalable
- Excels with multi-channel selling
- Strong SEO Performance
- Fantastic Theme Designs
- Comprehensive abandoned cart feature
Cons
- Inconsistent speeds in consecutive studies
- Gets expensive for high volume stores
- Cart abandonment isn’t on entry plan
- No 1-click Selling/Upsells
Product Summary Ratings 
BigCommerce Try For FreeReviewFlexible and scalable.Excels with multi-channel selling.Strong SEO Performance.Inconsistent loading speed.High volume stores pay more.No 1-Click SellingValue 4.0Features 3.9Performance 4.5Ease of Use 4.8Design & Themes 3.8Integrations 4.24.3Overall Score User Rating 4.4 24 reviews
Shopify
Shopify is the best platform at selling. If you plan to dropship, rely on Facebook Ads or Instagram marketing – this is the best choice. I wouldn’t use Shopify if I was going to rely on SEO. I also wouldn’t use Shopify if I were creating a large store with many products. I’d use BigCommerce instead.
Shopify is slightly better in several areas over BigCommerce such as post-purchase 1-click upsells – but far behind in terms of performance. I’ve used Shopify on my site before and have worked with many Shopify sites in the past, but I like WordPress better because I have an affiliate revenue model in addition to products. Product Summary Ratings 
Shopify Try For FreeReviewFast Loading & Easy To UseExcellent For Dropshipping1-Click Selling Apps AvailableWeak at SEO/Content MarketingCheckout Not CustomizableApps Are ExpensiveValue 4Features 3.8Performance 3.9Ease of Use 4.9Design & Themes 4.0Integrations 4.64.2Overall Score User Rating 4.2 47 reviews
It’s easy to set up the online store with Shopify’s drag and drop interface. Most beginners to website development can get the hang of it in a few minutes.
Their apps are far too many to list.
They also have the Shopify POS for simple brick and mortar stores looking to take payments via the mobile app. Complex stores can use it as well.
Like everything else, they have downsides. The not-too-bad one is that they have just 10 free themes right now. The paid themes hover around $100 to $180.
The big disadvantage they have is SEO. Weak ranking performance highlights one of my concerns with their SEO.
Also, they have a rigid URL structure; you cannot change sections of it. I’ve seen many strange unstructured URLs in Shopify sites well beyond the /products/, /pages/, and /collections/ slug restrictions. I also noticed during our research that websites using Shopify have weak ranking. In terms of SEO, Shopify is very middle of the pack at best.
Finally, they charge transaction fees if you are not using Shopify Payments. And no one likes those. Then again, Shopify Payments is a solid option.
Pros
- Lighting fast load time
- Super easy to set up
- Lots of certified partners to help you
- 1-Click selling
- Allows multiple channel and social selling
- Great themes with varied designs
Cons
- Rated poorly in SEO in consecutive studies.
- Unable to customize the checkout process
- Apps can add up and become costly
- Need a developer for advanced features
Product Summary Ratings Shopify Try For FreeReviewFast Loading & Easy To UseExcellent For Dropshipping1-Click Selling Apps AvailableWeak at SEO/Content MarketingCheckout Not CustomizableApps Are ExpensiveValue 4Features 3.8Performance 3.9Ease of Use 4.9Design & Themes 4.0Integrations 4.64.2Overall Score User Rating 4.2 47 reviews
Wix
Wix ecommerce has come a long way in a few years. When I first started writing ecommerce platform reviews in 2017, Wix wasn’t even on my list. Once they got added to my list, I gave them a really poor rating and would not recommend them.
Now, Wix is a major force in the ecommerce space and they deliver amazing value for solorprenuers and small ecommerce businesses. Wix’s ecommerce features have evolved drastically in a few years, they now offer multi channel integration, abandoned cart recovery, dropship and print on demand capabilities.
In previous years, they’ve had significant issues with SEO. Few were resolved; some, like the short extra string to the URLs of blog posts and product pages still remain. That’s not ideal for SEO, especially for large ecommerce businesses.
As you grow, you might need to switch because aside from the limited features, the storage space is 20GB and if you are dealing with lots of heavy digital products or other materials, that space might not do.
It’s beginner friendly. Of all the top website builders that I’ve dealt with, Wix topped most for on-page customer support while creating the store.
You can drag and drop elements to add cool videos, functionality, and create the website you want. They have over 500 themes of which 72 are free. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with whatever theme you chose at the time of publishing your site except if you used their ADI.
Pros
- Tons of free amazing themes.
- Really simple to use and set up
- On-page support for numerous needs
- 72 free themes
Cons
- Trying hard to fight a bad SEO reputation. Made improvements, but tested very poorly.
- Many sites were not secured
- Lacks upselling features and advanced automation
- Difficult to fully customize template
Product Summary Ratings Wix Try For FreeReviewTons of Free, Amazing ThemesSimple to Use and Set UpIncludes Marketing AutomationPoor SEO PerformanceWeak Upselling CapabilitiesWeak Integration with AmazonValue 5Features 3.7Performance 3.9Ease of Use 4.2Design & Themes 4.7Integrations 3.54.1Overall Score User Rating 3.0 2 reviews
Shift4Shop
Since its release to the public in 2001, 3dcart (now Shift4Shop) has served over 22,000 online businesses with clientele including PCMag. They have some practical features like unlimited storage and no transaction fees. You can also use their POS, and they support multi-channel selling. In 2021, the company rebranded as Shift4Shop.
Shift4Shop doesn’t do as well as BigCommerce and Shopify despite being older than they are and the reason is clear. It’s not for beginners. Although there is a nice onboarding video when you log into your dashboard, the whole operation is hard to figure out; the builder is not very visually appealing.
The templates they have are more industrial, but they feel outdated. Also, customizing the store takes a lot of time to understand and get used to except for experienced users because there’s no drag-and-drop functionality. Fortunately, there’s a community of developers willing to assist with theme development and other modifications.
I think one of their strongest points is in shipping; they provide advanced shipping solutions with no API required.
Similar to BigCommerce, Shift4Shop restricts the volume of sales you bring in on each plan. The lowest which costs $19 per month allows up to 50k.
The value overall is great. I still think it’s missing out by not offering abandoned cart saver as a core feature. Shopify made a move to make it included – really undercutting the competition. Nevertheless, it still has more features out of the box than Shopify.
Pros
- Better blog feature than other SaaS ecommerce
- Supports all the integrations you would need
- Great business user management tools (email, QuickBooks, inventory, etc.)
Cons
- Templates are inline with trends, but never at the cutting edge
- Negative feedback on customer support
- Potential issues upgrading
- Not for beginners
Product Summary Ratings 
Shift4Shop Try For FreeReviewBetter Blog Feature Than ShopifyTons Of IntegrationsGreat Business Management ToolsTemplates Feel DatedNegative Reviews On SupportPotential Issues UpgradingValue 4Features 3.8Performance 3.0Ease of Use 4.3Design & Themes 4.3Integrations 4.13.9Overall Score User Rating 4.5 1 reviews
Zyro
Zyro is an affordably priced SaaS platform targeted at small businesses. Though it’s a relative newcomer to the market, it’s a product from web hosting company Hostinger. In addition to a website builder, they offer a variety of AI tools to help business owners:
- Make logos and favicons
- Resize, upscale, and remove backgrounds from images
- Create a business name and slogan
- Come up with blog post titles and write content
In addition to a drag-and-drop builder to customize your site, there are a variety of free themes to use as a basis for your design. It allows for you to sell both digital and physical products.
Pricing wise, you must use either the Business, Online Store or Advanced Store, plans to take advantage of the online store features. Pricing starts at $4.90/month for the Business plan.
Pros
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth on all plans
- AI tools to handle many tasks
- Marketing integrations included all plans
Cons
- No subscription or recurring billing available
- Room for improvement on SEO
Product Summary Ratings 
Zyro Try For FreeReviewAffordableNo Transaction FeesAI ToolsNo recurring billing optionSlow mobile speedsProduct limitsValue 4.5Features 3.2Performance 3.3Ease of Use 3.7Design & Themes 5.0Integrations 3.93.9Overall Score
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the best single platform to run ecommerce and affiliate site under one roof. But the true ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify sell better, but not by much.
It works with WordPress to turn any website into a functional ecommerce store. Also, there are extensions available for integrating payment gateways, social media, email marketing, 1-click selling, and shipping.
The biggest problem though is not the setup; that can be solved with YouTube tutorials. The problem is scalability. Most users have reported it slowing down as they get more products and customers.
For cost, it is free. Few extensions have prices attached to them, and some WordPress themes are expensive. However, you might not need those extensions, and there are good free themes.
If you are familiar with the WordPress platform, then WooCommerce is a breeze for you. You only have to install it, add your own products and fix your settings.
People who aren’t familiar with WordPress will struggle with the technical details. That includes buying hosting, installing WordPress, setting up your theme and plugins.
Pros
- WordPress is the best platform for SEO
- 1 Click selling app available
- Lots of WordPress experts available
- Highly customizable
- Many marketing options and plenty of other integrations
Cons
- Good hosting can be pricey
- Have to deal with blame game for troubleshooting.
- Virtually zero support
- You need extensions for simple stuff
If you want to use WooCommerce, but need a bit of help on the hosting side, Nexcess StoreBuilder is an option. We cover it in more detail in our section on other builders to consider. Product Summary Ratings 
WoocommerceTry For FreeReviewBest Platform For SEO1-Click Selling Apps AvailableLots of Service ProvidersHosting Can Be Expensive Difficult To TroubleshootNeeds Lots of ExtentionsValue 4.5Features 3.9Performance 3.1Ease of Use 3.3Design & Themes 4.3Integrations 4.14.0Overall Score User Rating 4.8 3 reviews 
Volusion
Volusion was founded in 1999 but launched in 2002 as an ecommerce solution provider. It’s a great option for those selling physical products because for now automatic digital downloads after payment is not allowed.
Volusion provides an easy to use website builder with drag and drop and in-page editing. There are 11 free themes and a good number of premium themes. Those cost about $180, and you’ll also have to purchase an SSL certificate. That is a hefty extra cost that some other platforms provide for free.
It also doesn’t come with blogging capabilities which is a huge downer mostly in this day where building SEO with blogs is king. To get that, you’ll need to use a third party like WordPress and a plugin or other means to connect the blog to your store.
The dashboard is nicely structured with all of the main action areas in the top navigation menu. You can also manage inventory and work marketing from there. The marketing options include SEO, sell on Google, eBay, Amazon, social selling, rewards, and coupons.
Their prices have a limitation to the number of products you can sell. The first two plans that cost $29 and $79 per month have restrictions of 100 and 5000 products respectively. That may change at some point because they used to have a limitation on bandwidth, but that is no more. The constant improvements give us hope.
Beginner support is a big thing; from the dashboard, you’ll immediately see tons of learning materials available on how to build your store step by step with Volusion, starting and growing your online business.
All in all, it’s a solid platform for subscription ecommerce business. Dropshipping is also good but not print on demand. I would rate it higher if the Amazon integration were better, but that might not matter to you at all.
Pros
- Great onboarding and help center
- Great flexibility with Sitemaps
- Built-in subscription/recurring payments
- SMB friendly
- Well laid out dashboard
- Clear inventory and marketing system
Cons
- Lacks up/cross selling features
- Many sites had poor URL structure
- One of the slower SaaS platforms
- Many of the sites I studied looked VERY dated
- No built-in blogging functionality
Product Summary Ratings 
Volusion Try For FreeReviewGreat On-boarding / Help CenterSubscription/Recurring Payments IncludedSMB FriendlyLacks Up/Cross SellingSlower Load TimesMany Sites Look DatedValue 3Features 3.5Performance 2.9Ease of Use 4.1Design & Themes 3.7Integrations 3.53.4Overall Score User Rating 1.3 2 reviews
Sellfy
Sellfy was founded in 2011 as an ecommerce platform exclusively for digital products. Over the years, they’ve expanded the platform so that no matter what business model you use, you can build your own online store in a matter of minutes. It’s an easy to use website builder that requires no technical knowledge to start using.
If you want to start selling online with Sellfy, you have three options:
- Connect your Sellfy store to your existing website
- Attach your store to a custom domain
- Use “Buy Now “and other embed options to make sales from other platforms.
The free plan allows users to sell up to 10 physical products, but doesn’t include a custom domain.
Premium starts at $29/month, with the highest tier plan coming in at $159/month before annual discounts. Compared to other ecommerce platforms, Sellfy is one of the most affordable options. Considering the features and ecommerce functionality you get standard, you can save a lot of money compared to Shopify. You’ll have to invest in some expensive third-party apps to take advantage of things like recurring subscription billing.
Sellfy’s claim to fame is that you can get your store up and running within five minutes. While there are limits on the number of and types of products you can sell on the Free plan, upgrading to a paid plan means you can sell unlimited products, digital products, and subscription products, too.
Sellfy includes its own print-on-demand platform, so you can sell a variety of POD products without relying on a service like Printful or Printify.
Pros
- Free forever plan – All plans come with a 4-day free trial, no credit card required
- Has a Wix integration
- Multiple options for online selling
- No transaction fees
- Email marketing included in all paid plans
Cons
- Poor ratings for SEO traffic
- Limited options for payment gateways
- Must use Zapier to facilitate most third-party integrations
- Missing key marketing tools like 1-click upsells
Product Summary Ratings 
Sellfy Try For FreeReviewFree forever planDigital product sales Built in print on demandLimited integrationsLimited SEO CapabilityPoor Google PageSpeed ScoresValue 4.0Features 2.8Performance 3.1Ease of Use 3.5Design & Themes 5.0Integrations 2.03.3Overall Score
Squarespace
Squarespace is another one of those platforms that offers drag-and-drop. Founded in 2003, they have sleek templates and design capabilities.
If you don’t need a lot of features, try them out. It’s also great for print on demand ecommerce business.
The prices are quite low. To start selling, you need to at least be on the Business website plan that’s $18/month when billed annually. Note that you’ll have to pay 3% on transaction fees.
You can escape that with any one of the ecommerce plans at $26 and $40. The top plan allows you to get abandoned cart auto recovery, sell subscriptions and gift cards, and give flexible discounts.
The package comes with all the basic features you’d expect from an ecommerce platform all arranged on the side menu.
The website design part is not that easy though. Their drag and drop editor is not as great as Weebly’s. You might have to try your hands on it a few times before you get the hang of it. When you have gotten past the website design phase, you’ll enjoy the access to marketing, inventory, social selling, SEO, and analytics features.
Squarespace integrates ShipStation and allows you to install Printul and ShipBob from the app section. Real-time calculation of shipping rates from major providers (UPS, FedEx, USPS) is also available.
The biggest downsides are payment processors and third-party applications. They only support Stripe and Paypal. As for the apps, they only integrate with very few third-party tools.
Pros
- Easy To Set Up
- Great For Simple Stores
- Stunning Designs
- Solid SEO tools
- Integrates with ShipStation and ShipBob
Cons
- No dropshipping
- No marketing automation integration
- No Amazon integration
- Could be faster for the price
- No app store for more features and functionalities
8 Key features of an eCommerce platform
Though different platforms offer different features. So many platforms out there with countless features and functions available can get you overwhelming.
Among the sheer number of choices, always remember that an average eCommerce platform provides you with the unification of core business processes to achieve complete visibility across your company and ultimately satisfy the most discerning customers.
It’s sometimes hard to say that which eCommerce platforms will offer the function you want, or it will still be cost-effective as your store is scalable.
To choose a winning eCommerce platform, you can rely on the following features:
- Run on a single, unified platform: an eCommerce platform should provide natively unified eCommerce, accounting, POS, inventory, and order management, marketing, customer service, financial, merchandising on a cloud-based platform.
- Offer a complete customer view: a good eCommerce platform should deliver consistent experiences, targeted marketing, and excellent customer service. All customer interactions and transactions should be in a single view across all the touchpoints and channels.
- Intelligent order management: create the most convenient way for customers to purchase, fulfill, and return the products. Centralize the order management to maximize profitability. It’s optimal to have a single view of the inventory across all channels and units in the supply chain of your company.
- Provide superior customer experiences: choose a platform that creates responsive, friendly, personalized and rewarding mobile, web, and in-store experiences for customers if you want to make your store stand out and live up to customers’ expectations.
- Support bottomless expansion: fully support multiple business models, brands, channels, locations, currencies, and languages all on the same platforms.
- Site security: if you’re a new store owner, terms like “PCI compliance” or “eCommerce SSL certificates” might give you a head-spinning. But you will be familiar with them soon. Choose a platform that offers an SSL certificate and PCI compliance to assure the security of your store and customer data it contains.
Many platforms offer additional security packages. You can consider these packs depending on your demands, your store’s future needs, and your budget.
- Easy to create content: you should look for platforms that allow you to easily create content on new or existing pages, also new pages, and contact forms. It should be a snap to create and publish content on your store. If your store doesn’t have strong supporting content, it will suffer much in Google searches.
You can think about a platform with a reputation for having a reliable content management system (CMS).
- Highly dedicated support and document: your platform provider should provide help whenever you need it. Companies often offer support via many channels such as email, live chat, ticket support, or direct phone calls. Choose which one is the best for you, then you can reach out to your platform provider if you have any problems related to the platform.
Conclusion
E-commerce is here to stay, but not all ecommerce platforms are created equal. Some are more suited for beginners and others for advanced users. Which is best depends on the type of business you run, your goals and what you need to achieve.
Choosing a high-quality ecommerce platform is one of the most challenging tasks for an online store owner. A good commerce platform should provide all necessary functions for selling goods and services on the Internet. One of the most important features is a wide range of automated marketing tools, allowing you to launch promotions without engaging external teams or spending hours on tedious marketing activities.