Create an Online Store: The Best Platforms and WordPress Plugins

With advancements in technology and software solutions, launching an online store has become easier and more accessible than ever. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to sell physical products, a creative entrepreneur offering digital goods, or a professional looking to monetize your services, having the right e-commerce platform is key to your success. The good news is that there’s no shortage of powerful tools and platforms that cater to businesses of all sizes and industries.

From all-in-one platforms like Shopify and LaunchCart to customizable solutions like WooCommerce and SureCart, each platform offers unique features designed to help you grow your business, manage your store efficiently, and provide an excellent shopping experience for your customers. But with so many options available, how do you know which one is right for you? Choosing the right e-commerce platform can save you time, reduce headaches, and help you scale your business faster.

In this post, we’ll break down some of the most popular shopping cart platforms and WordPress plugins available today. Whether you’re looking for something simple and user-friendly, or a more robust and customizable solution, this guide will help you make an informed decision by highlighting the key features, pricing, and suitability of each platform. Ready to find the perfect solution for your online store? Let’s dive in!

Top Shopping Cart Platforms

1. Shopify

Shopify is a widely-used e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create online stores, manage sales, and integrate with various apps. It offers a drag-and-drop store builder, built-in hosting, multiple payment gateways, and a large app ecosystem, making it a favorite for businesses of all sizes.

• Key Features: All-in-one e-commerce solution, built-in hosting, multiple payment gateways, easy drag-and-drop store builder, and a large app ecosystem.
• Drawbacks: Transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments; customization can require coding.
• Pricing: Starts at $29/month. Transaction fees apply unless using Shopify Payments.

2. LaunchCart

LaunchCart is an e-commerce platform that emphasizes affordability and ease of use. It offers built-in design tools and multiple payment options with no transaction fees. LaunchCart is ideal for small businesses looking for a lower-cost alternative to Shopify.

• Key Features: Affordable alternative to Shopify, no transaction fees, built-in design tools, and pre-integrated with payment gateways.
• Drawbacks: Limited to fewer apps and integrations compared to Shopify.
• Pricing: Starts at $27/month. Transaction fees apply.

Note: LaunchCart previously had a free, limited plan that simply charged a 6% platform fee (in addition to the payment transaction fees) on each sale made through the shop. This was an offer that made it possible to open multiple stores for free – it is unclear if that plan is still available. Their website now advertises a free 2 week trial and it does not appear possible to sign up for the free plan anymore.

3. Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart)

Shift4Shop provides an all-in-one e-commerce solution with built-in SEO tools, customizable themes, and support for multi-channel selling. U.S.-based businesses using Shift4 Payments can access the platform for free.

• Key Features: Free for U.S.-based businesses with Shift4 Payments, robust SEO features, customizable themes, built-in blogging.
• Drawbacks: Limited to U.S. merchants using Shift4 Payments to get the free plan.
• Pricing: Free if using Shift4 Payments (with at least $1000 in sales); otherwise, paid plans start at $39/month.

4. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a free, open-source e-commerce platform known for its flexibility and customization options. It’s ideal for businesses with technical resources or those looking for a highly customizable online store.

• Key Features: Open-source platform, free to use, highly customizable, and offers hundreds of integrations and themes.
• Drawbacks: Requires hosting, technical setup, and may need developer assistance for advanced customizations.
• Pricing: Free with self-hosting*; however, if you choose to host it with them, it is $216/month.

5. Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Magento is a powerful e-commerce platform designed for large enterprises. It offers extensive customization, scalability, and a wide array of features, but requires significant technical expertise to manage.

• Key Features: Highly scalable and flexible, suitable for large enterprises, extensive customization options, and a strong developer community.
• Drawbacks: Requires significant technical knowledge, setup complexity, and potentially high maintenance costs.
• Pricing: Free (Open Source version) with self-hosting* or Enterprise version (starts at $22,000/year).

6. OpenCart

OpenCart is an open-source e-commerce platform that allows users to create and manage online stores. It is highly customizable, with thousands of extensions, but requires hosting and technical knowledge for setup.

• Key Features: Open-source, highly customizable, and supports multiple languages and currencies. Wide variety of extensions and modules available.
• Drawbacks: Requires hosting and technical setup. Additional features typically need to be purchased via add-ons.
• Pricing: Free with self-hosting*; paid extensions may be required.

7. Volusion

Volusion offers an easy-to-use online store builder with built-in SEO tools and analytics. It’s a great option for smaller businesses, though it may lack the design flexibility and integrations found in other platforms.

• Key Features: Easy-to-use builder, built-in SEO tools, and multiple payment gateway options. Offers decent analytics and reporting.
• Drawbacks: Limited design flexibility, smaller app ecosystem compared to competitors.
• Pricing: Plans start at $35/month.

8. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a simple e-commerce platform designed for artists, creatives, and small businesses. It’s easy to use but lacks advanced features required for larger stores.

• Key Features: Ideal for creatives and small businesses, easy-to-use platform, offers free plan for up to 5 products.
• Drawbacks: Limited features compared to bigger e-commerce platforms, suitable for smaller stores only.
• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $15/month.

9. Weebly (Now part of Square)

Weebly, now part of Square, offers a user-friendly platform for building online stores with drag-and-drop functionality. It’s best suited for beginners or small businesses looking to get online quickly.

• Key Features: Drag-and-drop builder, great for beginners, integrated with Square for payments, and mobile responsive designs.
• Drawbacks: Limited customization options for advanced users.
• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $10/month.

10. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a robust platform that offers no transaction fees, multi-channel selling, and built-in SEO tools. It’s ideal for growing businesses but can be complex and expensive for smaller stores.

• Key Features: Full-featured platform, built-in SEO features, no transaction fees, and multi-channel selling.
• Drawbacks: Costs can scale quickly for larger businesses, design customization requires some coding.
• Pricing: Starts at $39/month.

11. Squarespace

Squarespace is a website builder known for its beautiful templates and easy-to-use platform. It includes e-commerce capabilities, making it a good choice for creative professionals and smaller online stores.

• Key Features: Beautiful, professionally designed templates, ideal for portfolios and e-commerce, built-in payment gateways.
• Drawbacks: Not as feature-rich for large e-commerce businesses, higher transaction fees.
• Pricing: Starts at $16/month for general sites; e-commerce starts at $27/month.

12. Wix

Wix is a beginner-friendly website and e-commerce builder with drag-and-drop functionality. It’s great for small businesses, though it may lack some advanced e-commerce features for larger stores.

• Key Features: Beginner-friendly, drag-and-drop editor, built-in templates for online stores, and flexible pricing.
• Drawbacks: Can get expensive with add-ons; limited functionality for very large stores.
• Pricing: E-commerce plans start at $27/month.

13. Sellfy

Sellfy is an all-in-one e-commerce platform designed for creators, artists, and small businesses to sell digital and physical products. It offers a simple, no-fuss interface with built-in tools for email marketing and customizable storefronts, making it ideal for those selling digital goods like ebooks, design assets, or physical merchandise.

• Key Features: Easy-to-use platform for selling both digital and physical products, built-in email marketing, print-on-demand integration, embeddable buy buttons for websites and social media, and support for subscriptions.
• Drawbacks: Limited advanced features for larger businesses, basic customization options for storefront design, and transaction fees for lower-tier plans.
• Pricing: Plans start at $22/month for up to $10,000 in sales per year.

14. Etsy

Etsy is a popular platform for creators and small businesses to sell handmade, vintage, and unique items, offering a built-in audience of buyers looking for creative products.

• Key Features: Easy-to-use marketplace for handmade and vintage items, built-in audience, integrated payment and shipping options.
• Drawbacks: Transaction and listing fees can add up; competitive marketplace; limited branding options.
• Pricing: Standard plan is free; plus plan is $10/month. $0.20 per listing, 6.5% transaction fee + 3% + $0.25 payment processing fee per sale.

15. eBay Shops

eBay Shops provide a customizable storefront within the global eBay marketplace, making it ideal for selling a wide range of products, including new, used, and collectible items.

• Key Features: Global marketplace, auction or fixed-price options, bulk listing tools, shipping integration.
• Drawbacks: High fees compared to some other platforms, intense competition, limited control over branding.
• Pricing: $0.30 per listing + 12.9% final value fee per sale; store subscriptions start at $4.95/month (with annual subscription).

*Note: Self-hosting is where you purchase website hosting and then install the software on your hosting plan. Most web hosting companies, like HawkHost, have a tool available such as “Softaculous” that makes it easy to install software on your hosting plan.

Top WordPress E-commerce Plugins

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, offering flexible and customizable features for both physical and digital products. It supports a variety of payment gateways and integrates well with other WordPress plugins.

• Key Features: Most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, flexible, highly customizable, integrates with various payment gateways, and offers many extensions.
• Drawbacks: Requires WordPress knowledge; some advanced features come with additional costs.
• Pricing: Free to start; premium add-ons vary in price.

2. SureCart

SureCart is an e-commerce plugin that makes it easy to sell digital and physical products through WordPress. It’s ideal for creating membership sites, selling subscriptions, and more, with a simple and intuitive interface.

• Key Features: Easy-to-use plugin for selling digital and physical products, built-in payment gateways, ideal for membership sites and subscriptions.
• Drawbacks: Some features require paid plans after you hit a certain sales threshold.
• Pricing: Free plan available to start with, paid plans start at $19/month (if paid yearly).

3. Ecwid

Ecwid allows you to add an online store to any website, including WordPress, and supports multi-platform integration. It’s a cloud-based solution that works across multiple languages and currencies.

• Key Features: Multi-platform integration, allows you to add e-commerce to any website, cloud-based, and supports multiple languages and currencies.
• Drawbacks: Not as customizable as WooCommerce, limited free tier features.
• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $21/month.

4. Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a lightweight plugin designed specifically for selling digital products. It offers integrations with various payment gateways and many extensions to enhance functionality.

• Key Features: Ideal for selling digital products, lightweight, integrates with various payment gateways, and offers several extensions.
• Drawbacks: Primarily for digital products, additional features require paid extensions.
• Pricing: Plans start at $99.50/year.

5. WP EasyCart

WP EasyCart is an affordable e-commerce plugin that integrates seamlessly with WordPress themes and allows you to sell both digital and physical products. It’s simple to use and includes various customization options.

• Key Features: Affordable, easy-to-use e-commerce plugin, integrates with WordPress themes, supports digital and physical products.
• Drawbacks: Limited in advanced features; scaling may require extensions.
• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $69/year.

Which are the Cheapest and Easiest to Use?

If you’re looking for the cheapest and easiest solutions, SureCart, Ecwid, and Wix stand out as the easiest and cheapest options for small business owners who want to get started quickly and with minimal cost. SureCart is especially appealing for WordPress websites, while Wix and Squarespace offer all-in-one solutions for those preferring non-WordPress platforms. For sellers focusing on marketplaces, Etsy and eBay remain great options for ease of use and built-in traffic.

Best Solutions Overall

1. SureCart

• Why it’s great: SureCart is particularly strong for WordPress users. It’s simple, free for up to $1,000 in sales annually, and integrates smoothly with WordPress websites. ZipWP’s AI-generated sites make it even easier to get started with e-commerce, including SureCart as part of the setup. To learn how you can build an entire website (complete with content) using AI instantly and cheaply, check out our post on it that explains is in 11 steps.
• Cost-effectiveness: Free for up to $1,000 in sales, with plans starting at $228/year ($19/month). Minimal setup costs if using WordPress hosting.
• Best for: Digital products, memberships, or small product lines.

2. Ecwid

• Why it’s great: Ecwid offers a free tier and is ideal for those starting small or wanting to add e-commerce to an existing website. It’s easy to integrate with WordPress, Squarespace, and social media. Ecwid makes it easy to sell across multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and mobile, while also offering advertising tools to promote your products on Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok.
• Cost-effectiveness: Free plan available for up to 10 products and limited features, with paid plans starting at $21/month.
• Best for: Small businesses and sellers looking for a simple, low-maintenance solution.

3. Wix

• Why it’s great: Wix is beginner-friendly with a drag-and-drop editor and includes built-in tools for creating an online store. You can manage both digital and physical products with ease.
• Cost-effectiveness: Starts at $23/month for e-commerce plans, with no additional transaction fees.
• Best for: Creative businesses and those wanting an easy all-in-one solution.

4. Squarespace

• Why it’s great: Squarespace offers beautifully designed templates, perfect for creatives or small businesses. It provides a streamlined interface to build, manage, and promote an online store.
• Cost-effectiveness: Starts at $23/month for e-commerce plans, making it budget-friendly for small shops.
• Best for: Creatives or businesses focused on aesthetics and brand presentation.

5. Etsy & eBay Shops

• Why they’re great: For those wanting to avoid the complexity of setting up their own store, Etsy and eBay are excellent marketplaces with built-in traffic. No website is needed, and it’s easy to set up product listings.
• Cost-effectiveness: Low upfront costs (no monthly fees) but come with transaction and listing fees (5-6.5% on Etsy, insertion and final value fees on eBay).
• Best for: Sellers of handmade, vintage, or unique products, as well as businesses focused on marketplaces.

6. Weebly

• Why it’s great: Weebly is a good option for small businesses that need a basic online store with easy setup. It’s affordable and integrates well with Square for payments.
• Cost-effectiveness: Free plan available, with paid plans starting at $12/month.
• Best for: Simple online stores with a small product range and easy payment processing.

Best for Selling Digital Products:

• SureCart (WordPress Plugin)
  Why it’s great: SureCart is a modern e-commerce plugin designed specifically for selling digital products like software, courses, and digital downloads. This plugin is a powerful, easy-to-use shopping cart solution for WordPress.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free tier available, with affordable pricing tiers for advanced features.
• Sellfy
  Why it’s great: Sellfy is an all-in-one platform for digital creators. It offers easy setup, integrated payment gateways, and allows selling everything from e-books to digital subscriptions.
  Cost-effectiveness: Starts at $22/month, making it affordable for digital creators with growing audiences.

Best for Selling Physical Products:

• SureCart (WordPress Plugin)
  Why it’s great: SureCart makes it easy to sell physical products, supporting a variety of shipping and delivery options. It’s lightweight, fast, and easy to install on WordPress websites.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free tier available, with affordable pricing tiers for advanced features.
• Shopify
  Why it’s great: Shopify is one of the leading platforms for selling physical products. It offers an intuitive interface, extensive third-party app integrations, and multi-channel selling options.
  Cost-effectiveness: Starting at $29/month, Shopify provides strong value for stores of all sizes.
• LaunchCart
  Why it’s great: LaunchCart is a feature-packed, cost-effective alternative to Shopify, with built-in tools for managing inventory, product listings, and marketing.
  Cost-effectiveness: Plans start at at $27/month.
• eBay Shops
  Why it’s great: eBay Shops allow sellers to reach a global audience with a highly customizable storefront. It’s ideal for selling new, used, or collectible physical products.
  Cost-effectiveness: Store subscriptions start at $4.95/month, plus a 12.9% final value fee per sale. It’s an affordable platform for sellers who want access to a wide market with little upfront cost.

Best for Subscription-Based Services:

• SureCart
  Why it’s great: With built-in subscription billing and recurring payment options, SureCart is perfect for subscription-based businesses like membership sites or SaaS products.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free to start with affordable subscription plans as your business grows.
• WooCommerce Subscriptions (WordPress Plugin)
  Why it’s great: For those already using WooCommerce, this plugin allows you to manage recurring payments, subscriptions, and memberships easily.
  Cost-effectiveness: Starts at $199/year, providing robust features for subscription-based businesses.

Best for Customizable E-Commerce Websites:

• WooCommerce (WordPress Plugin)
  Why it’s great: WooCommerce offers unmatched flexibility for customization with hundreds of extensions and themes. You can build any kind of store, from physical products to digital downloads.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free plugin, but costs come with themes, hosting, and plugins.
• Magento
  Why it’s great: For businesses needing full control over the look and functionality of their store, Magento offers a high level of customization and scalability.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free for the open-source version, but hosting, development, and extension costs can add up.

Best for Print-on-Demand:

• LaunchCart + Printful/Printify
  Why it’s great: This combination is perfect for print-on-demand businesses, allowing you to add custom products without holding any inventory. LaunchCart integrates easily with both Printful and Printify, handling production and fulfillment, while LaunchCart gives you a flexible platform to sell both digital and physical products.
  Cost-effectiveness: Plans start at $27/month. Printful and Printify have no upfront costs; you only pay per sale.
• Printful + Shopify
  Why it’s great: This combination is ideal for print-on-demand businesses where you don’t need to hold any inventory. Printful handles the production and fulfillment, while Shopify provides an easy-to-manage platform.
  Cost-effectiveness: Shopify plans start at $29/month, and Printful has no upfront cost (pays per sale).

Best for Creatives and Handmade Products:

• Etsy
  Why it’s great: Etsy is the go-to platform for creatives selling handmade, vintage, or unique products. With a large and dedicated audience, it’s perfect for artists, crafters, and makers looking to reach a global marketplace.
  Cost-effectiveness: The standard plan is free, the plus plan is $10/month. Etsy charges $0.20 per listing and a 6.5% transaction fee, plus payment processing fees of 3% + $0.25. Despite the fees, it’s highly effective for creators targeting niche audiences.
• Big Cartel
  Why it’s great: Big Cartel is an easy-to-use platform designed specifically for creatives selling handmade goods, art, or indie products.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free for up to 5 products, or starts at $15/month for premium features.

Best for Global and Multi-language Stores:

• PrestaShop
  Why it’s great: PrestaShop is a free, open-source platform with powerful features for international selling. It supports multiple languages and currencies right out of the box.
  Cost-effectiveness: Free to use, though themes, extensions, and hosting can add to the cost.
• Wix E-commerce
  Why it’s great: Wix offers excellent features for building multi-language stores with easy-to-use translation tools and support for different currencies.
  Cost-effectiveness: Starting at $23/month, it’s a budget-friendly option for global stores.

Best for Large-scale Enterprise Stores:

• BigCommerce
  Why it’s great: BigCommerce offers an enterprise-grade platform with scalable features, powerful SEO tools, and multi-channel selling for large businesses with high-volume sales.
  Cost-effectiveness: Pricing starts at $39/month for standard plans, but enterprise solutions are customized based on business needs.

Conclusion

Choosing the right e-commerce platform or WordPress plugin is a crucial step toward building a successful online store. Whether you’re selling digital products, physical goods, or offering subscriptions, there’s a solution to fit your specific needs. From user-friendly platforms like Shopify and LaunchCart to highly customizable options like WooCommerce and Magento, the possibilities are endless. By weighing the key features, pricing, and unique benefits of each platform, you can make an informed decision that will set your business up for long-term success.

Remember, it’s important to consider your business model, target audience, and budget when selecting the right platform. With the right tools in place, you can efficiently manage your store, scale your operations, and focus on growing your brand. Don’t hesitate to experiment with different platforms, and as your business grows, you’ll have the flexibility to upgrade or switch to solutions that better align with your needs.