Best Free eCommerce Website Builders

Creating an online store for your business may seem overwhelming or an extra expenditure you can’t consider right now. However, it doesn’t have to be a time-consuming challenge or a drain on your bottom line.

Several free eCommerce options that can help you expand your business without creating an extra headache. We checked out several options and narrowed the list to the top ten choices.

What Are the Best Free eCommerce Website Builders?

Weebly – Best overall free eCommerce website builder
My Online Store – Best design options
WooCommerce – Best free eCommerce option for WordPress users
Magento – Best free eCommerce website builder for start-ups
Strikingly – Best for single product sales
Freewebstore – Best free eCommerce website builder for products with age limits
Squareup – Best free eCommerce website builder for brick and mortar stores
Webstarts – Best free eCommerce website builder for small stores
Mozello – Best multilingual free eCommerce website builder
Ecwid – Best free eCommerce plug-in for any website

Weebly is the best overall free eCommerce website builder because it’s easy to use with convenient drag and drop features, and there are no limits to how many products you can post with the free plan.

Strikingly offers exceptional customer service and works well for single product sales. Webstarts is an excellent choice for smaller stores, and Magento caters to start-ups.

Free eCommerce Website Builder Comparison

	Overall Score	Templates	Upgrade to Paid Plans?	SSL Included with Free Plan?	24/7 Support?
Weebly	4.5	50	Yes	Yes	No
My Online Store	4.25	n/a	Yes	No	No
Strikingly	4	29	Yes	Yes	Yes
Freewebstore	4	40+	Yes	Yes	Yes
Webstarts	4	40+	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mozello	4	50	Yes	No	No
Magento	3.75	2	Yes	No	Yes
Squareup	3.75	40+	Yes	Yes	No
WooCommerce	3.5	n/a	No	Yes	No
Ecwid	3.5	n/a	Yes	Yes	No

Let’s dig a little deeper on each platform. Read on to learn more about each free eCommerce website builder to see which could work best for you.

Weebly

4.5/5 Best Overall Free eCommerce Website Builder

With more than 50 million websites using Weebly, it’s arguably the most popular eCommerce website builders. It’s easy to use and has several features available with the free package.

Pros

Build your site with drag-and-drop editing.
There’s no limit to the number of products you can list with the free plan.
Includes a blog feature that complements your store and allows you to add a personal touch.
Weebly grows with your store and continues to meet your needs no matter how large you get.
SSL included for safe payments.
You can upgrade to paid plans if you want access to more tools and features.

Cons

You can’t offer offline payments.
There is no free plan outside the United States.

Ease of Use: 5/5

It’s tough to find a website builder that’s easier to use. Weebly is intuitive and easy to learn, even for beginners. Choose a template and customize it to meet your store’s needs.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

Even though you choose a template, there are plenty to pick from and a lot of room to customize designs to your tastes. Some users may want a little more control over the designs because they are simplistic. However, they look appealing, and you can easily incorporate your personal flair.

It’s not a bad alternative to building a custom site from the ground up. Who has time, knowledge, and funds for that?

Website Features: 5/5

Have we mentioned that there’s no limit to the number of products you can list with the free plan? If that’s not enough to win you over on Weebly, they also include a shopping cart, quick shop feature, in-store pickup option, and inventory management.

Help and Support: 4/5

They offer a lot of support in the help center, including SEO guides, to help you improve your Google ranking and keywords. You also have access to community forums, live chat, and email support.

However, Weebly’s customer service leaves a little to be desired. They don’t offer phone support unless you upgrade to a paid plan, and the live chat is not available 24/7 for users.

My Online Store

4.25/5 Best Design Options

For a newer company, My Online Store offers some chic design options. It’s one of the more modern choices available, and you can create the site in the language of your choice.

Pros

Chic designs that look modern and function efficiently.
Mobile-responsive designs function on most devices.
They offer online and offline payment options, including Bitcoin.
You can select different languages for your store.
Easy-to-use drag-and-drop features make it a solid option for beginners.
You can pay to upgrade beyond the free level for additional features.

Cons

SSL is not included with the free plan.
You can only sell up to 25 products with the free plan.
Though the designs are cool, there aren’t many templates.

Ease of Use: 5/5

Drag-and-drop editors make life easy, and you can’t really screw up any of these designs. Create slideshows to dial up the visual appeal and incorporate custom fonts and colors to match your brand.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

There aren’t a lot of templates to choose from. You can use the CSS editor to create a truly custom store; however, you need that knowledge to avoid messing up your site. For a price, you can use their design experts.

Website Features: 4/5

The free plan offers a lot, especially in terms of design and usability. Inventory tracking is easy, and they support a lot of payment options. It’s easy to generate invoices, notes about deliveries, and shipping options to improve your customer experience. However, you need to upgrade to a paid plan for most of the quality features.

Help and Support: 4/5

If you’re looking for marketing support, this isn’t the platform for you. However, My Online Store has an extensive FAQ list and blog with valuable nuggets of information, and they offer email (response within 24 hours) or messenger support (response within 30 minutes).

Strikingly

4/5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Single Product Sales

Strikingly’s free option allows you to sell one product via a single-page layout. It’s clean, efficient, and works wonders for people with one product or service seeking a minimal eCommerce site.

Pros

29 modern, responsive, appealing designs to choose from.
It’s quick and easy to set up a free site to start selling.
You can only have one product per site, but you can have unlimited sites.
Invite collaborators to help you operate the store.
You can purchase a custom email to go with your site for $25/year.

Cons

Since you only have one page, your SEO may suffer.
You have to use a Strikingly.com domain with the free plan.

Ease of Use: 5/5

Strikingly is exceptionally easy to use, and the claim you can create a store in minutes. Since your store is limited to one page and one product, there’s not much to set up. The single-page layout is easy to navigate and makes for a customer-friendly experience.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

There are not a lot of designs to choose from, but what they have looks fantastic. The designs are modern and mobile responsive, so you don’t have to worry about taking extra steps on your own.

Website Features: 3/5

Though Strikingly offers a lot of cool features, like blogging and coupons, you can access them with the free plan. You can access site stats, and you can choose plenty of payment options.

Help and Support: 4/5

Strikingly offers 24/7 support through live chat and email. The company’s page also provides an extensive help feature known as “knowledge base” with more than a dozen categories and loads of information to help you with your store.

Freewebstore

4/5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Products with Age Limits

With a tag line of “free eCommerce for everyone,” it’s tough to pass up Free Webstore. You don’t even have to use a credit card to get started because it’s free until you reach a set level of sales.

Pros

Your site is fully hosted by Free Webstore, so you don’t have to pay for a third-party host.
There are no transaction fees involved.
Several payment options to choose from, including Paypal and Skrill.
Free SSL is included.
You can set age limits for purchasing products.

Cons

You can only sell physical goods, no digital products or services.
Some features only apply to paid plans.

Ease of Use: 4/5

The system is a little out-of-date, but not over-complicated to use. It’s not quite as user-friendly as some of the other options, and you have to find plug-ins for some features, like printing labels and social media sales.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

Choose from more than forty different designs that you can customize and make your own. Fortunately, the templates don’t look cheap or dated, and they are mobile responsive. You can edit images and include customized logos and banners.

Website Features: 4/5

For a free platform, Free Webstore offers a lot, including an age verification option for products with age limits. The management features include low stock alerts and automatic stock management.

You also have a selection of marketing features to improve your sales, including a blog with optimized SEO and abandoned cart data. There is plenty of room to engage with your customers on social media.

Help and Support: 4/5

Freewebstore boasts about their commitment to customer service, and they answer more than 99% of all support tickets within 24 hours. The company offers support for DIYers with video tutorials and help guides.

Webstarts

4/5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Small Stores

Webstarts made a name as a website builder, but now you can add a store for free.

Pros

Smooth, easy-to-use platform works for beginners.
You get 1Gb of space with the free plan.
The advertisement for the paid plan is small and placed in the footer.
Several payment options, including Stripe, WePay, and PayPal.
The free plan allows you to sell ten different products and to 20 sales per day.
You can upgrade to paid plans if you want access to more tools and features.

Cons

You can’t include a SKU of any kind for inventory tracking.
There are no SEO options, like title tags and personalized URLs.
Mobile responsiveness is only available with paid plans.

Ease of Use: 5/5

Create your store by dragging and dropping features. It’s simple to set up and even easier to use on a day-to-day basis. You don’t have to code, but you can if you want to customize your site further.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

Choose from more than 40 templates then go to town customizing the design to fit your brand and store’s needs. You can tweak almost any element of the design, including font style, font color, and background images.

Website Features: 3/5

The free plan doesn’t include enough features to make Webstarts work for every business. There are some neat features with the free plan, but it may not be enough to meet your needs.

Help and Support: 4/5

One of the things Webstarts does well is customer service. You don’t have to resort to email just because you use the free plan because they offer live chat for immediate assistance. They also have an extensive FAQ section and video tutorials to guide you along the way.

Mozello

4/5 Best Multilingual Free eCommerce Website Builder

For a free platform, Mozello offers a lot, including multilingual options. Most companies don’t offer the option to sell in multiple languages, but this Latvian company chose to do just that.

Pros

You can sell your goods in fifteen different languages.
Inventory tracking includes alerts, so you know when to restock.
You can offer variations of products, including colors, sizes, and materials.
It’s quick and easy to set up your store and start selling.

Cons

The free plan is basic and only accepts PayPal
You can only sell physical goods.
You have to add SSL yourself.

Ease of Use: 4/5

Thankfully this platform is easy to use. Setting up your store is an intuitive process and takes minutes. However, the set-up is basic and may look too simplistic for some owners.

Design Flexibility: 5/5

Choose from 50 templates that you can fully customize. You can alter fonts, major elements, and adjust general layouts to achieve the look you desire. Of course, most templates have a chic, modern appearance to begin.

Website Features: 4/5

Though Mozello could use some improvement, the multilingual feature and inventory tracking options bring a lot to the table. Larger businesses may not see the appeal, but smaller companies should appreciate the options and convenience.

Help and Support: 3/5

Customer support relies solely on basic tutorials and FAQs or email correspondence. There is almost no troubleshooting help available, especially regarding store creation and function.

Magento

3.75/5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Start-ups

Magento, now owned by Adobe, is one of the best-known eCommerce options. It’s an excellent option for start-ups because it works with your business as it grows.

Pros

You can self-host on any PHP web hosting.
There are numerous ways to customize your store, and many developers know how to handle the tech side.
Works well for a single store or companies with multiple locations.
Choose from tons of extensions and plug-ins to make your site work for you.

Cons

You have to purchase some necessary features, like the SSL certificate.
There’s a learning curve involved with the program, especially as you add extensions and plug-ins.

Ease of Use: 4/5

The basic builder is easy to use with drag-and-drop features. It’s easy to track inventory and create product recommendations.

One of the biggest benefits of Magneto is the day-to-day use. Once you manage the set-up of your store, it’s easy to use each day. Plus, Magento creates one of the smoothest shopping and transaction experiences for your customers.

Design Flexibility: 2/5

Magento doesn’t offer custom designs, but you can go to a third party to find themes or build one yourself. Of note, the base design is not much to look at, so you definitely want to find something better.

Website Features: 5/5

Magneto thrives because they offer so many features. You can create and manage coupons, factor in multilingual support, and create product bundles. Set up gift options and even a newsletter.

Help and Support: 4/5

Now that Adobe owns Magento, you can expect about the same level of customer service as you get with any of their products. However, they do claim to provide 24/7 support unlike many of the others on this list.

Squareup

3.75/5 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Brick and Mortar Stores

You may already be familiar with Square, a famous point of sale system for smartphones, desktops, and tablets. The company expanded its offerings to include eCommerce so that you can sell in-person and online.

Pros

Seamlessly merges point of sale business with online selling.
You can sell tickets to future events at your store.
Tracking your physical inventory is easier.
You can sell unlimited products for pickup or local delivery.
SSL included for safe payments.
You can upgrade to paid plans if you want access to more tools and features.

Cons

It’s free to create the store, and there are no monthly fees, but they do take 3% of every transaction.
Unless you have a physical store, there are better options.
Limited SEO opportunities detract from the efficiency.

Ease of Use: 4/5

Fast and easy set-up is a major selling point, but that’s not all you have to look forward to with Squareup. You can set appointments and easily manage inventory to make your life easier.

Design Flexibility: 4/5

There are dozens of designs to choose from and customize to meet your needs. You can customize your store to fit your needs and even integrate with Pinterest and Instagram.

Website Features: 3/5

For physical businesses seeking to expand their offerings and reach more customers, there are plenty of features you want (and need). Squareup offers incredible marketing features and SEO tools, but the focus is local.

Help and Support: 4/5

The good news is, Squareup offers better support than Square has historically. Unfortunately, it’s not available 24/7 unless you pay for it and meet the criteria of a “larger company.” The website does provide several resources to help users navigate common issues.

WooCommerce

3.5/5 Best Free eCommerce Option for WordPress Users

If you already have a WordPress site and want to add a store, WooCommerce may be the best free plug-in available. WooCommerce is a powerful store for WordPress sites, and it works for stores of all sizes, so scalability is not an issue.

Pros

This plug-in can do almost anything as far as eCommerce is concerned.
Integrates a shop with your existing website design.
You can easily integrate SSL.
Product presentation is topnotch with carousels, galleries, and more.
It helps your SEO and Google ranking.

Cons

WooCommerce may be a bit tech-heavy for beginners, and you need to know WordPress well.
Support is non-existent through WooCommerce, you need to reach out to Google and tech forums for answers.

Ease of Use: 2/5

WordPress is a monster in terms of website building, and WooCommerce can turn your site into an eCommerce giant. However, it is highly technical and requires you to know WordPress well before you even start with WooCommerce.

Design Flexibility: 5/5

The only limits to design are your creativity and what you can accomplish with WordPress. There are loads of options for product presentation and several opportunities to customize your shop.

Features: 4/5

From browser extensions to flexible payment options, WooCommerce does it all. You can easily manage orders from your phone and enhances your store with extensions (like Google Analytics and Facebook) to help you grow.

Help and Support: 3/5

As mentioned, there’s not a lot of support beyond a public forum and Google. Even the WooCommerce webpage explaining their support policies is confusing and difficult to work through. However, you can hire a developer to improve or correct your design.

Ecwid

3.5/5 Best Free eCommerce Plug-in for Any Website

When you have an existing website and want to add a store, Ecwid is an excellent option. Unlike WooCommerce, Ecwid works with any site. It’s a versatile plug-in available in 50 languages.

Pros

The plug-in works with any website for easy integration.
You can sell ten items with the free plan.
SSL integration is easy.
You can work with more than 20 payment processors, including PayPal.
There are some chic options for displaying your products.

Cons

You need an existing website which affects your upfront costs.
The free plan customer support options leave something to be desired.

Ease of Use: 3/5

The plug-in is easy enough to use, but you have to have an existing website. It may be a little tricky to initially set it up and learn the interface, but once done, you could be set for an easy, user-friendly experience. You also have to integrate some aspects, like SSL.

Design Flexibility: 3/5

The design is pretty basic because it’s a plug-in to an existing site. If you’re looking for templates or special customizations, you have to go to your site’s design.

Website Features: 5/5

Ecwid has more than a million users because of the phenomenal features. Even the free plan offers a lot, including setting taxes, creating coupons, and point of sale options. You can set up carousels and galleries to showcase your products.

Help and Support: 35

The quality of support depends heavily on the plan you choose. That means the free plan offers the least amount of support and only by email. You could be waiting a bit to get your answer.

How to Choose a Free eCommerce Website Builder

Choosing an eCommerce website builder isn’t something to rush into. You need to take into account what your business needs to succeed.

Small businesses have different needs than larger businesses. Some eCommerce platforms don’t allow the sale of digital goods, so if you only sell digital products you don’t want to sign on to those options.

Understanding your team’s strengths and limitations is a good place to start, but make sure you know what you hope to accomplish. We created a list of considerations to help you make a proper eCommerce website builder wish list.

Ease of Use

Ask yourself (and your team) how tech-savvy you truly are. If coding is your hobby and you know how to rework some HTML, you may be able to go with a more technical platform. However, if you need something simpler to set up and navigate, you may want to look for a drag-and-drop platform.

Templates and Design Options

Design matters. From incorporating your branding to creating a visually appealing virtual storefront, you want a platform that provides plenty of room to customize. You also probably want an eCommerce website that looks unique.

Features

What do you need your store to do for you? Think about inventory management, coupons, and blogs. Remember to look at the difference between features that come with free plans and those you need to pay extra to access.

Scalability

Do you want to grow your business? Maybe you have half a dozen products now but hope to expand to a few dozen over the next few years. Unless you want to swap sites and reconstruct your store in a year or two, you probably want to choose a platform that can accommodate your growth.

Pricing

Even if you start out with a free plan, you may want to upgrade at some point. You may also need to pay for plug-ins or upgrades to enhance your platform. Some eCommerce website builders set sales limits on their free plans which means you may not have a choice as your company grows.

Help and Support

When things go wrong, you need help troubleshooting. If sending an email and waiting 24 hours (or more) for an answer sounds miserable, you may want to pay some attention to customer support options.

Even if you don’t require 24/7 support, you may want access to a live chat or phone call. Not every company allows people using the free plans to access all customer support. You may have to pay extra for more troubleshooting assistance.

Should You Try a Free eCommerce Website Builder?

If you’re contemplating eCommerce for your business but you’re not quite sure it’s right for you, you probably don’t want to enter a long-term agreement. Free eCommerce Website Builders allow you to dip a toe in the water and test things out.

Free plans save you money and give you a sample of what to expect going forward, but there are limitations. Whether you accept a short-term free trial or stick with a long-term free plan, you may eventually need to upgrade your account to access all of the features you desire.

Also, some platforms set limits on how much you can make before you need to upgrade. Others set limits on the number of sales you can have each day. If you don’t want to restrict your maximum sales for a day, you don’t want to choose an eCommerce website builder that limits you.

Best Free eCommerce Website Builders: Roundup

Making a choice comes down to personal preference. No matter what platform you choose, you can start selling your products and grow your business.

We suggest using Weebly as a free eCommerce website builder, but it’s not the only option. Here’s a reminder of our top ten and what makes each one stand out.

Weebly – Best overall
My Online Store – Best design options
WooCommerce – Best plug-in for WordPress users
Magento – Best for start-ups
Strikingly – Best for single product sales
Freewebstore – Best for products that require age verification
Squareup – Best for physical stores
Webstarts – Best for small stores
Mozello – Best multilingual platform
Ecwid – Best plug-in for any website

If you want a store that stands out from the rest, go with Strikingly, but be prepared to upgrade as you grow. For businesses seeking a platform to grow with them, Magento is tough to beat.

A user-friendly, functional eCommerce platform can help you grow your business and attract new customers. We hope you gained enough valuable insight from this piece and wish you the best!

FAQs

Is SSL important for an eCommerce store?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is crucial for eCommerce because it protects you and your customers. SSL certificates protect sensitive data, like credit card information and login credentials.

Many of the platforms we listed offer SSL certification with free plans, while others allow you to integrate them on your own. Whichever platform you choose, you definitely want to have SSL certification before you start selling.

Is it important to choose a platform that is mobile responsive?

How many times have you logged online to make a purchase? The truth is, mobile commerce is a massive market, and it’s projected to grow by 68% by 2023. Can you afford to miss out on that kind of traffic?

Remember, not all platforms include mobile responsiveness in their free plans. If it’s not clear that a platform is mobile responsive, you may want to reach out to customer service before building a store.

Is it better to add a plug-in to an existing site or create a dedicated eCommerce website?

Again, this situation comes down to personal preference. If you have an existing website that you love, it may be worth integrating a plug-in, like Ecwid, to keep everything in one place.

New businesses or people introducing an eCommerce option may prefer using a dedicated eCommerce platform. When you choose an eCommerce platform, you may want to consider whether you want to do a blog or how much effort you want to put into SEO.

Which free eCommerce website builder has the best templates?

It all comes down to personal preference, however, some platforms offer more options. My Online Store has the best personalization options because your choices are almost endless. Weebly has more than 50 templates to choose from, and a few others have more than 40 available.

Which free eCommerce website builder offers the cheapest paid option?

Mozello has the cheapest paid plans with a Premium Plus account at $14 per month. If you’re willing to go just a little more, Weebly offers a little bit more by way of features and usability for $26 per month or less.

How long will it take to start selling on my eCommerce website?

It may take a few minutes to start a store, but it takes a little more time to customize and populate it. Consider how easy it is to use the platform and how many products you have to set up. If you only have a few products, you could be up and running in an hour or two.

Remember, there is a difference between setting up a store and actually selling your products. Once you set up the store, you need to attract visitors and convert them to customers. That may require a little more work on your part!