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Best e-commerce platforms in 2026

E-commerce platforms give you a store, checkout, payments, inventory and shipping tools. Hosted platforms handle everything for a monthly fee; open-source options give more control but need hosting and maintenance.

8 tools compared. Top picks first, then alphabetical. No paid placements.

Shopify

Free trialTop pick

The leading hosted e-commerce platform.

Best for: Businesses of all sizes selling online.

  • Online store builder
  • Checkout and payments
  • Inventory
  • Apps and themes

Wix

FreemiumTop pick

Drag-and-drop website builder with hundreds of templates.

Best for: Small businesses and beginners building their first website.

  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Templates
  • Online store
  • Bookings

Enterprise e-commerce platform built on Magento.

Best for: Large and enterprise retailers with development teams.

  • Highly customisable store
  • B2B commerce
  • Multi-store
  • Adobe integrations

BigCommerce

Free trial

Hosted e-commerce platform with strong built-in features.

Best for: Growing and mid-market online stores.

  • Store builder
  • No platform transaction fees
  • Multi-channel selling
  • B2B features

Ecwid

Free trial

Add an online store to any existing website (by Lightspeed).

Best for: Small businesses adding a store to an existing site.

  • Embeddable store
  • Sell on social media
  • Point of sale
  • Mobile app

Free, open-source e-commerce software popular in Europe.

Best for: Merchants who want an open-source store with hosting control.

  • Store management
  • Modules marketplace
  • Multi-language
  • Themes

Free, open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress.

Best for: WordPress site owners who want full control over their store.

  • Products and checkout
  • Payments integrations
  • Extensions
  • Themes

Squarespace

Free trial

Website builder known for elegant, design-led templates.

Best for: Creatives, portfolios and small businesses who value design.

  • Designer templates
  • Online store
  • Scheduling
  • Email campaigns