7 Best Free eCommerce Website Builder for Small Businesses
If you are looking to build your own e-commerce website, there are a lot of options. However, most e-commerce solutions such as Shopify, Wix, etc, require you to pay outrageous amounts per month and transactional fees. Even with them, you’re limited by the features they offer. The thing is, if you are a complete beginner with no coding knowledge, it’s worth paying for Shopify and Wix. However if you can put in a little effect and know the basics of HTML and CSS, you can create your own e-commerce site for free. In case you are wondering, here are some of the best e-commerce website builders for small businesses.
Though all the e-commerce builders listed below are free, there will be some form of indirect payment. For example, some require you to self-host your e-commerce site, some require paid plugins, etc. But still cheaper than populare-commerce solutions.
Table of Contents
1. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the biggest and most popular e-commerce platforms to create your own small business store. One of the major advantages of WooCommerce is that it is built on WordPress. So, if you already have a WordPress website, you can install WooCommerce just like any other plugin. Once installed you can choose your own themes and configure the store however you want.
If you are beginner then I would recommend you go with WooCommerce. Sure, it will take some time to get familiar with the user interface but thanks to the huge community, free themes and plugins, you may build your store pretty quickly. Some of the popular sites running WooCommerce includes Clickbank,
GetWooCommerce
2. Jigoshop
Jigoshop is another WordPress only plugin that lets you create a full-fledged e-commerce store with all the bells and whistles. you’re able to use the regular WordPress interface to create product catalogs. The best thing about Jigoshop is that it is designed to load fast all the while giving you all the options and tools to manage your store.
If you want snappy and fast loading store and don’t mind lack of free payment gateways then I would recommend you go with Jigoshop. Keep in mind that, you need to pay for payment gateway plugins or implement your own system to receive payments.
DownloadJigoshop
3. AbanteCart
AbanteCart is a completely free and open source e-commerce builder. AbanteCart has a lot of essential features built into it and makes it quite easy to create your own store.
If you are looking for a solution that is built ground up to be an e-commerce website then AbanteCart is a great choice. Since almost all the essential features are built into the core you don’t need plugins for basic functionality.
DownloadAbanteCart
4. Magento
Just like AbanteCart, Magento is built to be an e-commerce application. The storefront gives you excellent customization options to make the store truly yours. The app has a huge community and support to get you started.
If you have a small store with only 100’s of products to sell, Woocomerce should work for you. However, if you have more products then Magento make sense. Unlike Woocommerce, Magento is packed with many eCommerce features. However, that also means, you will need to invest in better servers to keep it up and running.
If you are looking for a fully customizable and feature-rich e-commerce platform and don’t mind the learning curve, Magento is a good choice.
DownloadMagento
X-Cart is yet another application that is built to be an e-commerce platform. Using X-Cart, you can create a beautiful e-commerce site pretty quickly. Add to that, the backend user interface is very beginner friendly.
Though X-Cart is a pretty good solution and has all the basic features you’ll need to run a successful small business e-commerce website, you need to pay for good support. This is especially true if you want to fully customize your site. If you don’t mind that or willing to dabble a bit, try X-Cart. It is pretty good.
DownloadX-Cart
6. Drupal Commerce
While WooCommerce is built by and for WordPress, Drupal Commerce is built by and for Drupal CMS.
If you are already a Drupal user or know how to use Drupal then go with Drupal Commerce. Sure you need to install a lot of extensions to extend the functionality but it gives you greater flexibility in creating and customizing your store.
DownloadDrupal Commerce
7. nopCommerce
nopCommerce is an open source e-commerce site builder that has all the basic features you’d expect from an e-commerce builder. While all the above commerce sites can be built on Linux servers, nopCommerce requires you have a Windows hosting due to its ASP .Net backend.
If you are specifically looking for a Windows-based e-commerce solution then nopCommerce is a good choice. Otherwise, I’d recommend you choose from the other ones on this list.
DownloadnopCommerce
Closing Words
That is all for now. In a nutshell, WordPress with WooCommerce should work for most people. Another good option is to try Magento if you are looking for scalability. Shopify and Wix is also a good option for non-techy people.If you think I missed any of your favorite free e-commerce website builder for small businesses then comment below and share them with me.
Vamsi Krishna
Vamsi is a tech geek who enjoys writing how-to guides and tinkering with computers and software in general. He especially loves using Windows and writing about it. You can check out his Windows guides atWindowsLoop.
