Best Ecommerce Website Builder (2026): Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix and Square Compared

Shopify is built for selling first. Every plan includes a full-featured online store with hosting, unlimited bandwidth and a free SSL certificate, inventory across up to 10 locations, and one dashboard for products, orders, shipping and marketing. You can sell on social channels and in person as well as online. Shopify’s own email app, Shopify Messaging, adds abandoned cart, welcome and win-back emails, with the first 10,000 emails each month free.

Which plan to pick: Basic for a solo founder. Grow once other people need their own logins, since Basic includes no additional staff accounts. The prices here are Shopify’s yearly-billing rates; paying month to month costs more.

Watch out for: payment choice. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. For stores created since May 12, 2025, that fee also applies to the part of an order paid with store credit or gift cards. Shopify’s pricing page showed us local currency; the US prices here come from Shopify’s own site, and you should confirm the billing term at checkout.

BigCommerce packs more selling features into the platform itself. Every plan includes single-page checkout, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay, multi-currency, real-time carrier shipping quotes, product reviews, a blog and more than 70 built-in discount options. Orders processed through its embedded payment providers carry no BigCommerce fee.

Which plan to pick: Growth for most stores that already sell. It adds the abandoned cart saver, customer groups, persistent carts, stored cards and 24/7 phone support, and covers up to $100,000 in trailing 12-month sales. Core suits a brand-new store; paying annually saves 25%.

Watch out for: sales thresholds and payment providers. When trailing 12-month sales (measured as gross order value minus 10%) pass your plan’s limit, BigCommerce upgrades you automatically. Orders through open payment providers carry a fee of 2% on Core, 1% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale.

Squarespace is known for polished designer templates, which matters for fashion, homeware, art and food brands. Every plan includes fully integrated ecommerce: unlimited products and services, subscriptions, gift cards, checkout on your own domain, abandoned cart emails, Facebook and Instagram catalog sync, and print-on-demand through Printful.

Which plan to pick: Core at $23 a month for most stores. It removes the 2% store transaction fee and adds discounts, payment plans, Google Shopping listings, UPS and USPS shipping labels, carrier-calculated shipping and ecommerce analytics.

Watch out for: Basic’s fee. The 2% online store transaction fee on Basic can cost more than the upgrade to Core once you sell a few hundred dollars a month. Squarespace’s US prices here are from our September 27, 2026 check; the pricing page showed us local currency on this check.

Wix is a general website builder with a store built in, and it suits businesses whose site does more than sell products: bookings, services, events or a blog alongside the shop. You can build the whole site on the free plan, then upgrade when you are ready to take payments.

Which plan to pick: Core is the first plan that accepts payments and includes basic eCommerce, 50 GB of storage and 5 site collaborators. Business moves you to standard eCommerce with 100 GB and 10 collaborators, and Business Elite to advanced eCommerce.

Watch out for: plan names versus features. Wix describes eCommerce as basic, standard or advanced by plan, so compare the plan details for the specific features you need, such as subscriptions or multi-currency, before you buy. The Core price is from our September 27, 2026 check.

If you already sell in person with Square, Square Online is the cheapest way to add an online store. The free plan has no monthly fee, and because it is Square’s own tool it is designed to work with the Square point of sale you use at the counter or at markets.

Which plan to pick: start on Square Free. Upgrade to Square Plus only if you also want Square’s loyalty, marketing and staff management tools across your business.

Watch out for: growth. Square Online is a quick, low-cost start. If online sales become your main business, compare it with Shopify or BigCommerce for deeper catalog, shipping and marketing tools. Square prices here are from our September 27, 2026 check.