7+ Best Free Ecommerce Platforms in 2023

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You are looking for the best ecommerce platform to create your virtual store? If so, you've come to exactly the right place. In the beginning, ecommerce platforms cost thousands of dollars, which prevented many small businesses from creating an online store. Fortunately, today there are several best free ecommerce platforms that can help you achieve this goal in no time.

In this article, we will list the best free e-commerce platforms for small businesses. Then the pros and cons of each of them, so you can choose the best e-commerce website builder for your needs. Let's get started.

List of free platforms for online stores

  1. WooCommerce
  2. Web.com
  3. BuyNow Plus 
  4. BigCommerce
  5. Shopify
  6. Weebley
  7. Big Card

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the world's most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is a completely free open source e-commerce platform that you can download and run on any web hosting provider.

Since WooCommerce does not provide you with hosting, you will need to purchase web hosting. Also, you will need to purchase a domain name so that your site can be accessed by users around the world.

However, if you are not sure which hosting site to choose, you can consider between Bluehost or SiteGround. They are both among the largest hosting companies in the world and are officially recommended by WooCommerce. Bluehost even offers WPBeginner users a free domain name + SSL certificate. In addition, it also offers a generous 60% discount on hosting. In fact, you can start for $2.75 per month. Check out the pros and cons of Woocommerce below.

Advantages:

It's easy to get started with WooCommerce. You can create your online store quickly even if you are a beginner. Plus, you'll be hosting your website yourself, which gives you total control. Although you have to pay for WooCommerce hosting, it doesn't have to be expensive.

There are many WooCommerce themes (designs), giving you the ability to create a store that truly reflects your brand. You also have access to thousands of WooCommerce plugins that you can use to add new features and grow your business. You can sell anything with WooCommerce, whether it's :

  • Physical products,
  • Digital downloads,
  • Membership plans,
  • Dropshipping store or affiliate products.

You can add an unlimited number of products to your store. This gives you the freedom to grow your e-commerce business as you wish. Finally, WooCommerce does not charge you any transaction fees. All you have to do is pay your payment service provider like PayPal or Stripe, or your bank.

Disadvantages

If you're a total beginner, WooCommerce has a bit of a longer learning curve and can be harder to get started than some of the other options. Plus, you'll need to purchase hosting and a domain name.

You will be responsible for maintaining your online store as it grows. This may mean upgrading your hosting plan, optimizing your WordPress site for SEO or paying for a security plugin.

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Best free e-commerce sites : Web.com

Web.com, the business website creator, does not have a free plan. However, it does offer a very affordable plan that allows you to create an online store without spending much money. Web.com will also host your e-commerce store and even provide you with a free custom domain and a free SSL certificate. In addition, you can have up to 500 products in your store, accept credit cards. You can track and manage your orders, link to Facebook marketplace, etc.

Advantages:

You can create an online store with this drag and drop website builder. In addition, you can get the custom domain name of your choice for free. To sell both physical and digital products in your store, the Web.com builder is a great option. You can also use Web.com to track your inventory.

Email and live chat support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, you can add a free blog to your store website. This is despite the fact that the blog software is very basic and does not offer the same functionality as a blogging platform such as WordPress.

Disadvantages

The price starts at $13.95 per month for the eCommerce Essentials plan. Also, the eCommerce features are not as powerful as WooCommerce or Shopify.

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BuyNow Plus 

BuyNow Plus is one of the best free ecommerce platforms you can consider in 2023. Indeed, it allows you to create "buy now" buttons that you can put on any website. You will need to create a free Stripe account to use BuyNow Plus.

Advantages:

Transaction fees are quite low, around 3% per transaction. Keep in mind that Stripe also charges its own transaction fees. You can use BuyNow Plus to manage recurring credit card payments without your customers having to create an account.

If you sell recurring subscriptions for offline items, this feature is very useful. You can place the button links on social networks as well as on your website, or you can even use them in emails. Finally, there is no limit to the number of different products you can sell using BuyNow Plus.

Disadvantages

BuyNow Plus does not offer anything more, like inventory management or online store creation. The payment solution available is Stripe. This way, you won't have to pay BuyNow Plus transaction fees. You will need your own SSL certificate, but it is possible to get a free SSL certificate elsewhere.

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BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a best free software for e-commerce. Indeed, it is a fully hosted (or all-in-one) site that you can use to open an online store. A WordPress plugin is also available if you have an existing site that you want to use with BigCommerce. While they don't have a free plan available, there is a free trial that allows you to set up your online business and get started without paying anything. 

Advantages:

You don't need to enter your credit card details to enjoy the free trial. In fact, BigCommerce is very easy to use. Just sign up, enter your store details and start adding products. You can also get a free domain such as "mystore.mybigcommerce.com" if you don't want to pay for a custom domain name.

BigCommerce offers you many different ways to accept payments. It is integrated with many payment platforms, including PayPal powered by Braintree, Stripe, Authorize.net, etc. You can also add third-party applications to your BigCommerce store to extend its functionality. Finally, there are many pre-made templates and themes to give your storefront a professional look.

Disadvantages

The free trial only lasts 15 days, which doesn't give you long to start making money with your store. After that, you'll have to pay $29.95/month or more to run your store.

BigCommerce is an all-in-one platform, which means you are limited to using their add-ons and themes. You won't have the range of choices that you would have with other ecommerce solutions.

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Best free ecommerce platforms : Shopify

Shopify is one of the bestfully hosted free ecommerce platforms. It also offers a 14-day free trial and, like BigCommerce's free trial, this does not require a credit card.

Advantages:

What is the best free e-commerce platform? In terms of benefits, Shopify could be the answer to this question. In fact, it's very easy to get started with Shopify. Their website builder has a drag-and-drop interface, which means that even beginners can create a great ecommerce store.

Also, if you want to add additional functionality to your store, there is an app marketplace with many add-ons that you can purchase. Support is available 24/7 via live chat, phone, email and Twitter.

Finally, Shopify Payments (Shopify's integrated payment gateway) charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Since this is a built-in feature, priced the same as Stripe or other payment processors, users can easily get started.

Disadvantages

If you use other payment gateways, such as PayPal or Stripe, Shopify charges a 2% transaction fee. This is in addition to the fees charged by the third-party payment gateway.

The free trial lasts only 3 days. After that, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan. While the cheapest one is normally $29/month, it is currently reduced to only $1 for the first 3 months.

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Weebly

Weebly is not as well known as the best free e-commerce sites: Shopify and WooCommerce. However, it does offer a free trial so you can test the platform and create an eCommerce site.

Advantages:

You can add any type of physical or digital products to your store. The drag-and-drop interface is easy to use to create your site and manage your store items. There are about 100 different themes (designs) to choose from, so you should be able to find something that suits your site perfectly.

Integrated payment, inventory, shipping, and tax management features. In addition to the community forum, the free plan gives you access to live chat, email, and even phone support. If you want to upgrade to a paid plan, these are affordable, even for very small businesses and startups. The professional plan starts at $12 per month paid annually.

Disadvantages

Weebly charges a 3% transaction fee. This is in addition to the transaction fee charged by your payment gateway. If you are on the free or personal plans, Weebly will display ads and branding from Square, Weebly's parent company. Even with the paid starter plan, you are limited to selling only 25 products at a time.

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Best free ecommerce platforms : Big Cartel

Big Cartel is one of the best free ecommerce platforms hosted especially for artists and creatives. If you want to have a store selling handmade or similar products, this could be a great option for you.

Advantages:

The free plan does not have any transaction fees. However, you will have to pay Stripe or PayPal fees (these are the only options Big Cartel offers for payment processing). Next, the URL of your free store can be customized. It must be in the format name.bigcartel.com , but you can choose any name you want.

Many other platforms assign you a specific URL based on your username and you can't change it. Finally, you can have up to 5 products on your free plan, which makes it more generous than other hosted free plans.

Setting up your store is fast and adding your products is easy. Big Cartel guides you step by step through the process. The free plan includes features such as analytics and real-time marketing tools to organize promotions and discounts.

Disadvantages

If you want to customize your website theme, you will have to modify the HTML code of the theme. It's certainly not as beginner-friendly as most other e-commerce platforms.

The free plan has only limited functionality. You need to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to use things like inventory tracking or discount codes.

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Free hosting for e-commerce : conclusion 

We have finally reviewed the 7 best free ecommerce platforms that can get you started this year. Based on their pros and cons, you can choose the one that best suits your needs. However, your job is not limited to creating a store. After finding your supplier, you need a very powerful tool that will help you find the best products to sell in your store. For this purpose, we recommend Minea. It is a very powerful tool that is appreciated by thousands of merchants. You can start a free trial right now from $0 per month.

Frequently asked questions 

Can you create an e-commerce site for free?

Apart from the sites listed above, Wix can also allow you to create your own store for free. However, you will need to sign up for a paid plan once you are ready to start selling publicly.

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