9 Best Free eCommerce Website Builders Comparison Chart

Update: 11-14-16 Drag and Drop Table added further down on this page.

Builder LogoBuilder NameMore InfoPricingSupport: PhoneSupport: Live ChatSupport: Email/Help DeskSupport: ForumBuilt-in Credit Card ProcessorsPayment ProcessorsNo Transaction FeesMobile App to Manage StoreExtensions or Add-onsThemes (All Mobile Ready)Drag & Drop BuilderHostingUnlimited ProductsDigital ProductsPoint of Sale SystemMarketing: Email/NewsletterMarketing: Discount Codes & CouponsMarketing: External Store IntegrationMarketing: Affiliate Program for your StoreMisc
X-CartVisit Site
Special Offers
1-time payment: Free, $495 | $1,495 | $3,995Yes but not 24/7YesYesAmazon Pay, Paypal, Authorize.net, +72 moreYesYesYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, for seperate monthly billYesYes, w/ Business PlanYesYesYesGoogle Shopping, Facebook Store, Ebay & Amazon with free or paid extensionsYesAbandoned Cart Reminder w/ Enterprise only
WooCommerceVisit Site
FreeNoNoYesAmazon Payments Stripe Authorize.Net PayPal +moreYesYes, iOS only for $4.99 1-time paymentYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, for a seperate monthly billYesYes, + SubscriptionsNoYes, many plugins to choose fromYesGoogle Shopping & Facebook Store w/ paid extensionsYes, w/ another Wordpress pluginAll Wordpress plugins are available to you
PrestaShopVisit Site
FreeNoNoMonthly fee for supportAmazon Payments Authorize.Net PayPal +50 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, CloudYesYesYes, w/ Paid ExtensionsYesYesGoogleShopping & Facebook Store w/ paid extensions Shopgate Mobile commerceYesAbandoned Cart Reminder
WeeblyVisit Site
Special Offers
Monthly: Free, $8, $12, $2524/7 w/ Pro & AboveYesYesStripe Paypal Authorize.netonly w/ Business PackageYesYesYesYes, Includedw/ BusinessYesNoYesYes on Business PackageNoNo, but OSI has a solutionCheckout redirects to weebly.com unless you have Business Package Abandoned Cart Recovery on Performance Package
ZencartVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoPaypal Authorize.net +4 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, w/ Free or Paid ExtensionsYes w/ Add-onYesNoYesVery helpful community on forums
OpenCartVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoAmazon Pay Paypal Authorize.net +33 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, w/ Paid ExtensionsYes w/ ExtensionYes w/ ExtensionFacebook Store with free or paid extensionYes
Big CartelVisit Site
Monthly: Free, $9.99, $19.99, $29.99NoNoYes, Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm EST. Light coverage weekends and evenings.Stripe & Paypal. Square Register and cash options via POS appYesYesYesNoYes, IncludedNo, each plan has a product limit. (look in Misc for more info)Yes w/ their integrated sister-serviceYes, iOS appNoYesFacebook TabNo, but OSI has a solution Click here for info
EcwidVisit Site
Special Offers
Monthly: Free, $15, $35, $99w/ Business package or higherw/ any paid packageYesStripe, Paypal, Authorize.net +40 moreYesw/ any paid package (Android & iOS)Yes, Paid & FreeNoYes, IncludedNo, see Miscw/ any paid packagew/ Unlimited PackageYes w/ Add-onw/ any paid packagew/ Business package or higherYes, via 3rd party Post Affiliate Pro Click here for info
Magento: CEVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoAmazon Payments, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Google CheckoutYesPaid (Android & iOS)Yes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, PaidYesYesFacebook Store Free, Google Shopping PaidYes, Paid extension

These are the best free eCommerce web builders on the market right now. Some of these will require your own web hosting which will cost you a couple bucks a month. That considered you could get a paid eCommerce service with hosting included through Shopify for $9 a month.

Absolutely free eCommerce platforms

You should definitely consider using marketplaces like Ebay as a must if building a brand or website is not important at this point.

The charts on this page include two types of solutions: Platforms and self-hosted. This difference is that a self-hosted solution would require you to download the software and uploaded it to your own hosting provider. A platform is all-in-one. They will allow you to signup to their website and they will also host your online store on a subdomain of their own website like: yourstorename.theirwebsite.com

So let’s get into the platforms that you can use that are absolutely free.

PrestaShop has cloud hosting and a self-hosted solution. No transaction fees. There is no product limit from what I can see for a free user of their cloud hosting solution.

Both versions share the majority of their features. The initial difference lies in hosting and customization:

  • PrestaShop Cloud:
    • PrestaShop hosts your shop for you, for free. You can use a subdomain or get your own domain.
    • You can use any of the thousands of options on PrestaShop Addons, including all the themes and modules.
  • PrestaShop self-hosted:
    • You must get a hosting provider, and most of the time a domain name too.
    • You can use any of the thousands of options on PrestaShop Addons, including all the themes and modules, and can also use non-Addons ones, such as your own theme and modules.

The global differences between PrestaShop Cloud and the self-hosted version of PrestaShop are thus:

PrestaShop Cloud

PrestaShop self-hosted
Instant store set up, free hosting and start selling in no time. Download PrestaShop, self-host and begin diving into the code.
High speed hosting, subdomain and data storage are included. Add a custom domain name or change your subdomain at any time. Choose your own hosting provider and manage your own data backups.
Customize the default template or choose from hundreds of professional themes from PrestaShop Addons. Edit the code, install themes or upload your own template.
Add features when you configure hundreds of built-in modules and extend your site’s functionality with PrestaShop Addons. Configure built-in modules, install modules from PrestaShop Addons and upload your own modules.
Rely on one-on-one assistance with a PrestaShop Support Plan and visit the PrestaShop forums. Visit the PrestaShop forums for answers to technical questions or enjoy personal support with a PrestaShop Support Plan.
You must create a PrestaShop account and respect our terms of service. Account creation is only required to participate on the forums and to make a purchase.

Additionally, PrestaShop Cloud has one limitation that the self-hosted version does not have: you can only use the modules and themes from the Addons marketplace. Non-Addons modules and themes are considered unsafe and therefore not allowed on the platform.

 

Weebly is another platform you could use. They host you on their own subdomain but the drawbacks here would be that they place ads on your store and limit your diskspace to 500MB. Their benefits would be that they provide chat & email support to free users as well and they have a really slick drag & drop store builder if that interests you. There are transaction fees for free users.

 

BigCartel will host you for free but they only allow you a maximum of 5 products. No transaction fees.

 

Ecwid is a really cool option because you can import your store into other websites. They will host your store and have a forever free plan but it has a max of 10 products. You can also setup a Facebook store which is a really nice feature considering others charge for this but here you can use it completely for free. No transaction fees.

If you want to compare them side-by-side use the chart below. Use the “Hosting” column to see whether or not they are an all-in-one platform or if you will have to get your own web hosting.

Compare 1 vs 1

Builder LogoBuilder NameMore InfoPricingSupport: PhoneSupport: Live ChatSupport: Email/Help DeskSupport: ForumBuilt-in Credit Card ProcessorsPayment ProcessorsNo Transaction FeesMobile App to Manage StoreExtensions or Add-onsThemes (All Mobile Ready)Drag & Drop BuilderHostingUnlimited ProductsDigital ProductsPoint of Sale SystemMarketing: Email/NewsletterMarketing: Discount Codes & CouponsMarketing: External Store IntegrationMarketing: Affiliate Program for your StoreMisc

Drag
Here

Drag
Here

Drag
Here

X-CartVisit Site
Special Offers
1-time payment: Free, $495 | $1,495 | $3,995Yes but not 24/7YesYesAmazon Pay, Paypal, Authorize.net, +72 moreYesYesYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, for seperate monthly billYesYes, w/ Business PlanYesYesYesGoogle Shopping, Facebook Store, Ebay & Amazon with free or paid extensionsYesAbandoned Cart Reminder w/ Enterprise only
WooCommerceVisit Site
FreeNoNoYesAmazon Payments Stripe Authorize.Net PayPal +moreYesYes, iOS only for $4.99 1-time paymentYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, for a seperate monthly billYesYes, + SubscriptionsNoYes, many plugins to choose fromYesGoogle Shopping & Facebook Store w/ paid extensionsYes, w/ another Wordpress pluginAll Wordpress plugins are available to you
PrestaShopVisit Site
FreeNoNoMonthly fee for supportAmazon Payments Authorize.Net PayPal +50 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoYes, CloudYesYesYes, w/ Paid ExtensionsYesYesGoogleShopping & Facebook Store w/ paid extensions Shopgate Mobile commerceYesAbandoned Cart Reminder
WeeblyVisit Site
Special Offers
Monthly: Free, $8, $12, $2524/7 w/ Pro & AboveYesYesStripe Paypal Authorize.netonly w/ Business PackageYesYesYesYes, Includedw/ BusinessYesNoYesYes on Business PackageNoNo, but OSI has a solutionCheckout redirects to weebly.com unless you have Business Package Abandoned Cart Recovery on Performance Package
ZencartVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoPaypal Authorize.net +4 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, w/ Free or Paid ExtensionsYes w/ Add-onYesNoYesVery helpful community on forums
OpenCartVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoAmazon Pay Paypal Authorize.net +33 moreYesNoYes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, w/ Paid ExtensionsYes w/ ExtensionYes w/ ExtensionFacebook Store with free or paid extensionYes
Big CartelVisit Site
Monthly: Free, $9.99, $19.99, $29.99NoNoYes, Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm EST. Light coverage weekends and evenings.Stripe & Paypal. Square Register and cash options via POS appYesYesYesNoYes, IncludedNo, each plan has a product limit. (look in Misc for more info)Yes w/ their integrated sister-serviceYes, iOS appNoYesFacebook TabNo, but OSI has a solution Click here for info
EcwidVisit Site
Special Offers
Monthly: Free, $15, $35, $99w/ Business package or higherw/ any paid packageYesStripe, Paypal, Authorize.net +40 moreYesw/ any paid package (Android & iOS)Yes, Paid & FreeNoYes, IncludedNo, see Miscw/ any paid packagew/ Unlimited PackageYes w/ Add-onw/ any paid packagew/ Business package or higherYes, via 3rd party Post Affiliate Pro Click here for info
Magento: CEVisit Site
FreeNoNoNoAmazon Payments, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Google CheckoutYesPaid (Android & iOS)Yes, Paid & FreeNoNoYesYesYes, PaidYesYesFacebook Store Free, Google Shopping PaidYes, Paid extension

Want to compare these shopping carts right next to paid eCommerce solutions? Click here.