Wix is the best ecommerce website builder, according to more than 100 hours of in-depth research of twelve top website builders. It offers a highly customizable and intuitive interface, and a powerful AI tool in Wix Harmony, which can create an online for you with natural language prompts.
Some website builders might be better suited for your particular ecommerce business, though, including Shopify for larger stores, Squarespace for design-focused stores, Hostinger for low-budget stores, and GoDaddy for fast setup.
Why Trust Us? Our Research Methodology
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we’re giving you the clearest, most useful product recommendations.
Here’s how our ecommerce website builder research came about, by the numbers:
- More than 100 hours
- Seven categories of investigation
- 36 subcategories
- 207 individual evaluations
The primary categories of investigation included website functionality (15%), design features (15%), sales features (35%), help and support (15%), reputation (5%), pricing (10%), and user experience (15%).
| Price The most affordable plan that offers ecommerce functionality | Staff accounts | Products | Multi-currency display | App market | POS compatibility | Checkout customization | Multi-location inventory | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST OVERALL  |  |  |  |  | |||||
| Wix | Squarespace | Shopify | Hostinger | GoDaddy | |||||
| $29/month | $16/month | $5/month | $2.24/month (82% OFF with code ‘TECH’) | $20.99/month | |||||
| Up to 15 | Unlimited | Up to unlimited | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 50,000 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1,000 | Unlimited | |||||
| 35+ | 100+ | 130+ | 75+ | 50+ | |||||
| | | | | | |||||
| Add-on | Square integration | | | | |||||
| | | | | | |||||
| | Add-on | | | |
Key Takeaways
- Best: Wix is the best ecommerce website builder, offering an intuitive interface with complex customization options and a powerful AI builder with Wix Harmony.
- Alternatives: Shopify is better for online stores with large inventories, Squarespace is better for design-focused stores, Hostinger is better for low-budget stores, and GoDaddy is better for fast and easy setup.
- Price: Starting plans for ecommerce website builders range from $5 per month to $299 per month. Ecommerce website builders generally do not offer free plans.
- AI features: Ecommerce website builders offer different kinds of AI features, from basic product description generators to vibe coding platforms to create online stores from natural language prompts.
Top Ecommerce Website Builders
We put each ecommerce website builder through rigorous testing and an analysis program to cut the wheat from the chaff. Based on our thorough tests, these are our favorite ecommerce website builders:
- Wix – Best for smaller ecommerce ventures
- Squarespace – Best for marketing features
- Shopify – Best for larger ecommerce businesses
- Hostinger – Best for businesses on a budget
- GoDaddy – Best value for money
1. Wix — Best for Smaller Ecommerce Ventures
Wix is the best ecommerce website builder for smaller businesses that want to get up and running with an online store quickly, particularly because of its all-in-one ecommerce management interface that includes built-in marketing and sales tools.
Likewise, Wix’s AI website builder generated a website for us in under a minute when testing, making it perfect for a rapid setup. Better yet, Wix’s new vibe coding platform, Wix Harmony, will create a site for you based on a single prompt, and you’ll be able to make changes as you go by simply conversing with the AI assistant. This makes it even quicker at building a fully functioning site.
Pros
- Customizable AI chatbot builder
- Email marketing that matches site theme
- 24/7 expert support across all parts of site creation platform
- AI image generator and advanced editing tools
Cons
- Expensive processing fees compared with other builders
- Vast design functionality is intimidating for beginners
- Inability to change site theme after publishing
- AI can be repetitive and inaccurate
- Free version available
- Light: $17/month
- Core: $29/month
- Business: $39/month
- Business Elite: $159/month
- Free domain with 1-yr contract
What are Wix’s strengths?
- Payment integrations: In addition to Wix Payments, the ecommerce website builder integrates with 80+ third party payment options, including Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Mobile functionality: The Wix Owner App allows users to manage inventory and track sales data from their phone, which means you can manage your store on-the-go, wherever you are.
- Native app builder: Our research shows that Wix provides users with a built-in app builder that can help your online store cater specifically to mobile buyers.
- Back-in-stock notifications: Wix allows users to create back-in-stock alerts for customers on the waitlist for certain products, so they can get informed as soon as they are available to buy again.
- AI tools: We just needed to answer a few questions from Wix’s AI website builder before it generated our site, which was ready to go in under a minute when we tested it. From here, you can fine-tune your site using Wix’s other range of AI tools, including a headline and content writer, and AI guided SEO support.
Testing Notes: Wix
As soon as I opened up Wix, I was invited to interact with its AI website builder to get my site up and running.
From this initial conversation, I was impressed with how Wix tailored itself to the preferences of my site. I told it I wanted to sell, and it set me up with ecommerce apps and marketing tools. Plus, it showed me which social platforms would be best suited for reaching my target audience, and added them to my dashboard.
This would definitely save a wealth of time for businesses that don’t want the hassle of slowly modifying a platform until it works for them.
2. Squarespace — Best for Marketing Features
Squarespace is great for ecommerce businesses that want to elevate their brand and reach their customers, thanks to its suite of marketing and sales features, including deeply integrated email marketing that helps you keep brand consistency across your website and campaigns.
Likewise, Squarespace offers some of the most beautiful and customizable templates we’ve ever used. These will give your business the opportunity to become instantly recognizable as a major player in a crowded industry, boosting conversion.
Pros
- AI site builder with flexible design controls
- Easiest to use interface for beginners across research
- Customizable checkout page with branding and guest checkout
- Some of the most stylish templates in the industry
Cons
- POS system is currently exclusive to the US
- Sorting and filtering of products requires add-on
- Not ideal for larger ecommerce stores
- No inventory reports available
- Basic: $16/month
- Core: $23/month
- Plus: $39/month
- Advanced: $99/month
- No transaction fees
- 14-day Free Trial
What are Squarespace’s strengths?
- Unlimited products: Our research shows that Squarespace offers unlimited products, services, and digital assets across all paid plans.
- Custom inventory management: Squarespace offers access to an open API for inventory, allowing you to fully customize how you keep track of your products.
- Advanced shipping: Real-time shipping rates based on location and shipping carrier are available to the customer at checkout with Squarespace, offering accurate and personalized rates.
- POS functionality: Squarespace integrates with Square POS, so you can easily combine your online and in-person store information.
- Payment integrations: Squarespace only offers payment integrations with Stripe and PayPal, as well as its own branded Squarespace Payments service.
- AI tools: Squarespace has an AI website builder that generated us a site in under thirty seconds, which is great for businesses that want to get started quickly with a first draft. Squarespace also has AI tools that can write content, articles, and headlines, as well as SEO site descriptions, and client and project proposals.
Testing Notes: Squarespace
What stuck out to me the most when I tested Squarespace was how good-looking the website it generated for me was.
Like Wix, I just had to answer a few questions about my site to get started. It actually took less time for Squarespace to create a website for me than Wix, and a better looking one at that.
3. Shopify — Best for Larger Ecommerce Businesses
Shopify’s robust set of sales features — the most out of all the providers we tested — makes it a solid option for larger ecommerce businesses that want a platform readily able to handle its complex operations. These features include strong inventory management and shipping options, as well as the ability for businesses to sell unlimited products in their online store.
Check out our Shopify POS review for more information.
Pros
- Add unlimited products with your own CSV
- Customizable member areas
- Intuitive product-adding experience for beginners
- AI site builder can have you live in seconds
Cons
- Monthly fees for POS system integration
- Scheduling and booking requires add-on
- No tutorials for setup, so tough for beginners
- Limited SEO settings available
- Basic Plan: $29/month
- Grow Plan: $79/month
- Advanced Plan: $299/month
What are Shopify’s strengths?
- Unlimited products: Shopify allows users to sell unlimited products in their online store across every single paid plan available, which we believe makes it perfect for larger businesses.
- Staff accounts: Shopify offers additional accounts in its more expensive paid plans, including up to 15 staff members with the Advanced plan.
- POS functionality: Shopify offers a branded POS system, including card readers and full-on terminals, to help you combine online and in-person selling efforts.
- Analytics: Shopify offers robust analytics, including access to more than 60 reports to track your store performance, and custom reporting tools available for all users.
- AI tools: Shopify’s AI site builder took less than thirty seconds to generate us a site during our tests. Likewise, Shopify’s AI assistant, Sidekick, acts like a consultant on your team, with the ability to analyze data and operations in real time. There is also Shopify Magic, that can help with writing product descriptions, email campaigns, and refine images. Plus, Shopify Flow is able to automate tasks for users, saving valuable time and maximizing efficiency. Overall, we found a wealth of AI options for Shopify users in our tests.
Testing Notes: Shopify
Shopify, in my opinion, has one of the strongest lineups of AI tools within an ecommerce builder. Not only is there a site builder, but Shopify’s AI assistant Sidekick can help with organizing and analyzing real-time data, which is a massive time-saver for businesses.
However, I did struggle to find and access these tools on occasion, and felt they could have been more visible on the platform.
4. Hostinger — Best for Businesses on a Budget
Hostinger offers some of the best in the industry, with an ecommerce plan that’s half the price of Wix’s.
In the process, it still offers a strong set of features. Therefore, it’s a great choice for businesses that are looking to save on an ecommerce builder, but don’t want to sacrifice some of the top features, such as AI tools that allowed us to get our site live as fast as possible.
Check out our Hostinger review for more information.
Pros
- Fastest site loading across research
- No transaction fees for selling products
- Most affordable website builder with special deals
- AI site theme builder for fast website setup
Cons
- Limited booking and scheduling tools
- No integrations with eBay, Amazon, or social media
- No POS compatibility
- No mobile app to manage your store on the go
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Renewal price from $6.99/month
- Up to 10% off (deal active now)
- Standard price: $11.99/month
- Free 1 year of 1 domain included with plan
What are Hostinger’s strengths?
- Transaction fees: Users pay 0% transaction fees on sales with Hostinger, which can be a huge boon when trying to keep costs low. Compared to the other providers we tested, this could be a huge boost for businesses with a high turnover rate.
- PWYW functionality: Hostinger provides infrastructure in the platform to implement a Pay What You Want (PWYW) campaign for customers to encourage sales, no matter the cost.
- Custom merch: A built-in Printful integration means you can create and sell custom products directly from one platform when using Hostinger.
- Site speed: Hostinger scored the highest in our site speed tests across both desktop and mobile, beating the likes of Wix and GoDaddy. For businesses that want to quickly create their site without being dampened by wait times, Hostinger is a great choice.
- Link in bio: Hostinger provides a handy linking tool that makes it easy to share your store on social media, websites, and other platforms. This will no doubt be highly beneficial for brands looking to maximize their visibility.
- AI tools: Hostinger offers an AI-powered drag-and-drop website builder, where you just need to describe your business to get a complete site structure. During testing, it took less than thirty seconds for our page to be generated. AI will continue to make suggestions on improvements as you edit your page. There are also built-in AI tools for generating headlines, product descriptions, custom images, and SEO assistance.
Testing Notes: Hostinger
The best thing about Hostinger is it’s price. Frequent deals on the provider mean you can snatch its Business plan for as little as $2.99 per month.
At that price, you’ll be able to access a wealth of AI tools, including an AI WordPress site builder.
Ultimately, I’d recommend Hostinger for businesses that want to utilize an AI-driven ecommerce solution, while paying very little in monthly fees and nothing in transaction fees.
5. GoDaddy — Best Value for Money
GoDaddy is a great middle-of-the-pack ecommerce website builder for businesses that want to take advantage of features available on most top providers, but at a slightly more affordable price, and with slightly more functionality than budget options. Like the other options on our list, GoDaddy’s AI tools made it easy and quick for us to generate a website.
Pros
- Built-in marketing platform
- Comprehensive mobile app for ecommerce
- Fastest setup process across research
- Customer interactions integrated into interface
Cons
- Less stylish design options
- Mobile optimization is limited
- Fewer integrations than competitors
- More difficult to use interface
- Basic plan: $9.99/month
- Premium plan: $14.99/month
- Commerce plan: $20.99/month
What are GoDaddy’s strengths?
- Unlimited products: GoDaddy allows users to sell an unlimited number of products with its Commerce pricing plan, which works well for businesses wanting sell plenty.
- Email marketing: GoDaddy gives users the opportunity to reach 100,000 users per month thanks to its email marketing features, allowing your business to reach as many customers as possible.
- POS functionality: GoDaddy offers a range of branded POS systems, including card readers and terminals, to combine your online sales with in-person selling.
- Inventory: GoDaddy makes sure that your inventory is up-to-date across all platforms with automated sync.
- Limited customizability: Our testing process found that GoDaddy’s templates are more rigid and don’t allow for the online store customizability that other builders have, which isn’t ideal for businesses that want to build a unique, eye-catching brand.
- AI tools: GoDaddy Airo is the provider’s collection of AI tools, with the ability to generate a site very quickly (less than thirty seconds, in our tests). Airo can also create blog posts, monitor and manage customer communications, create images, and boost your site’s SEO.
Testing Notes: GoDaddy
We found the GoDaddy set-up process was described as easy and smooth when we tested it, and many of our team highlighted the onboarding assistance and AI tools immediately available as among the more impressive aspects of the software.
However, in some cases, our users found the design options generated by the AI quite basic. We also weren’t too impressed with the images and text the AI had generated for us, with many expressing that they didn’t properly represent their brand.
Buying Guide 2026: Ecommerce Website Builders
With so many high-quality ecommerce website builders on the market, choosing the right one for your business isn’t always an easy task. To make the buying process a little less daunting, below we list some important factors to consider before you make your final call.
How to choose an ecommerce store builder
We’ve ranked the top website builders for online stores based on their overall potential, but the right solution for you will depend on a variety of factors. We list some important considerations below:
- What type of business do you run? Different ecommerce builders have different specialisms. For example, if you’re selling products, you’d be better off going for a platform that prioritizes stock management like BigCommerce.
- How big is your budget? There’s no point opting for an ecommerce builder you can’t afford. Therefore, choosing a solution that complements your budget is a must, with prices ranging from $20 to $300 per month.
- Are you an omnichannel seller? If you sell goods in-store as well as online, you should be looking for ecommerce builders that integrate with POSs like Square Online, Shopify, or Squarespace.
- Which online channels will you sell through? Not all ecommerce builders integrate with social channels, so if you want to sell goods through platforms like Facebook or Instagram, you should check if they offer this capacity first.
- How much design experience do you have? If you’re a beginner, choosing an ecommerce builder with a shallow learning curve and user-friendly design functions, like drag and drop builders, is a must.
Which is the easiest ecommerce website builder to use?
We’ve done the research and found that Squarespace is the easiest website builder to use, because of a user-friendly interface and easy-to-use AI builder.
If you’re already intimidated at the thought of using a website builder, you might be in the market for an easy-to-use website building option rather than a functionality-robust tool.
The simple drag-and-drop functionality allows beginners to fully customize the site, and the ability to change templates after it has gone live makes it that much better than Wix.
What AI features do the top ecommerce website builders have?
Below, we break down each provider in terms of the AI tools they have, so you can clearly see what features you’d be opting for.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an Online Store?
Broadly speaking, the cheapest ecommerce plans from Wix and Squarespace will cost you between $20-$30 per month. Wix’s ecommerce plans, for example, range from $29 per month for the Core plan, to $159 per month for the Business Elite plan.
Meanwhile, Shopify’s cheapest plan is $29 per month, giving you access to a serious ecommerce experience. However, its other plans cost $79 per month and $299 per month, which are a bit expensive, but you get what you pay for with the most comprehensive ecommerce website builder available.
The top tier plans are designed for established ecommerce stores, with complexities that require the extra features and profit margins that can accommodate the higher cost, so there’s no need to worry about these high prices if you’re just starting out.
Check out our website builder pricing guide for more information.
Methodology — How We Test and Rate Ecommerce Platforms
We rate our website builders based on six key criteria:
- Sales features (35%): The specific ecommerce features available from the platform, e.g. inventory limits, POS compatibility, and multi-channel selling.
- Website functionality (15%): The capabilities and functionalities offered by a website builder, e.g. blog functionality, SEO capability, and marketing capacity.
- Design features (15%): The aesthetic appeal and visual layout of a website created using a website builder.
- User experience (15%): How user-friendly and intuitive a website builder is for people with varying levels of technical expertise.
- Help and support (15%): The assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance.
- Pricing (10%): The balance between the cost of a website builder and the benefits it provides.
- Reputation (5%): This is the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular website builder.
Our in-house researchers regularly update this data to reflect current pricing and features.
The Verdict: Which Ecommerce Builder Is Best for You?
Wix is the best website builder for ecommerce, with a vast selection of templates that are second to none, as well as a large feature catalog and easy to use interface. It’s a great choice for smaller businesses and beginners, as it offers robust AI tools to create a website in response to just a few simple questions.
Shopify is another good option, offering an unmatched catalog of sales features and solid design functionality. It’s ideal for larger businesses because it provides robust inventory management and reporting tools that can help you grow your business.
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