Every eCommerce business needs space to scale and thrive. Free eCommerce website builders have been helping several small businesses sustain their position in this competitive market.
Can you guess the revenue generated by the eCommerce store when put together? I bet when I disclose this to you, your eyes will be wide open and your jaw may drop a bit, haha.
It’s $4.5 trillion in sales per year, yeah not a million or billion – it’s trillion with a ‘T’!
This article will tell you those free eCommerce website builders that have a major hand in generating the revenue mentioned above!
So let’s get started!
Table of Contents
9 Best Platforms to Create A Free eCommerce Website
Square Up Free eCommerce Website- Sell easily with less effort
When the eCommerce market was just on the rise in 2009, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey found Square Up. Since then, it has been quite a successful platform and has both free and paid platforms to build an eCommerce store.
Features of Square Up – Helps Every Size Business Succeed
- Sell unlimited products: Square Up doesn’t limit the products you can sell in its free version
- Square POS: Sync your inventory, orders, and items with Square POS automatically
- Manages your shipment: Takes care of pickup, delivery, and shipping of your products
- Instagram integration: Show-off products and get noticed on Instagram
- SSL security: Build trust and saves your customers from being scammed by their SSL security
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Best platform to start your business with a low budget
- Enables omnichannel selling
- No monthly or annual fee
Cons
- Niches that are a bit on the grey side might violate the company’s policies
Being an old platform, Square Up has gained trust over time and upgraded itself to compete in this witty eCommerce market. I would happily rate it 4/5 for its great set of features, especially selling unlimited products.
Big Cartel: Best for Creative Products
Anna Brozek founded Big Cartel in 2005. The brand aims to build a profitable business for small brands, artists, and print-on-demand sellers. Here are some of the features you might wanna know:
Features of Big Cartel
- One image per product: Include an image with every product with the free plan
- Customizable themes: The drag and drop builder of Big Cartel lets you customize themes the way you like
- Use a custom domain: Just like your art, your domain reflects your creativity, so have a catchy domain with Big Cartel
- Shipment tracking: You and your customers can track shipment at any point in time
- Sell online or in-person: Bargain with all of your customers individually with Big Cartel – that’s quite unique!
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Perfect for selling products of your own
Cons
- Features lack depth and quality
The fact that you can bargain with customers one-on-one alone makes this platform a strong contender for creating a free eCommerce website. I would happily give it a rating of 4/5.
Ecwid: The Trojan Horse
Ecwid was founded in 2009 by Ruslan Renatovich Fazlyev, a Russian internet entrepreneur. The platform has been a trojan horse in the eCommerce market in recent years. Let’s have a look at the features of this platform.
Features of Ecwid
- Run ad campaigns: Run advertisements on Facebook, Google, Pinterest, and Snapchat to get quality leads
- Mobile responsive store: A fully functional mobile-responsive shopping cart that makes the purchasing process easier
- Bandwidth: Get unlimited bandwidth for your free store
- Simultaneous selling: Open multiple eCommerce website for free and sell on every site simultaneously
- Facebook pixel: Attach Facebook pixel on your site and run retargeting ads
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Integrate Ecwid with other eCommerce platforms like WordPress, Wix, etc
- Selling simultaneously on many websites is quite unique and an effective feature
Cons
- Add product variants to your store with the free plan
The rise in the use of Ecwid in recent years has been quite high. This is due to the stunning features and templates it has to offer. I would love to give Ecwid a 4/5 because of its simultaneously selling feature – that’s just phenomenal!
Weebly – Powerful Free eCommerce Website Builder
David Rusenko (CEO), Chris Fanini (CTO), and Dan Veltri (former CPO) founded Weebly in the year 2006. The platform has become powerful because of its powerful site builder. Let’s dive into more features!
Features of Weebly
- Free SSL Security: Ensure customer transaction safely with free SSL certification
- Great Storage: Lower plans start with 500 MB storage and the mid ones come up with unlimited storage, isn’t that great?
- Search Engine Optimization: Optimize your store to rank on Google organically
- Lead capture & contact forums: Set up forms, create funnels, and capture leads
- Chat & Email Support: Get great customer service with Weebly, even with the free plan
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Modern customization features
- Numerous integration options with other apps and add ons
- Commendable site speed
Cons
- No option for the personal backup of your store
With its customizable layout and an easy step-by-step guide on how to build a free ecommerce website, Weebly scores 3/5. The fact that you can’t have a store backup with its free plan is a major downside to the platform.
WebStarts – Create Seamless Websites and Stores
Adam Barger found WebStarts in 2007. It has been successful in setting up about 3.8 million sites over these since it started. Let’s see what WebStarts has in its feature basket for us!
Features of WebStarts
- No page limitations: Don’t worry about how big your website gets, WebStarts have got you covered
- Cloud storage: Get 1 GB of cloud storage which is more than enough to start your business
- Ads on all pages: Integrate your store with AdSense and earn from it as well
- Live chat: Integrate your store with live chat and clear all of your customer’s doubts
- Notification center: Get notifications of all the actions taken on your store
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Has social media integration option available with the free plan
- Get a customized domain name
- Videos tutorials and blog pages are available so that you can know the platform better
Cons
- Low-quality templates
When it comes to starting off with your eCommerce business, WebStarts is a decent platform. But, you eventually will have no option but to upgrade your plan for more competitive features. So I’d give it a 3/5.
Freewebstore: Create, Improve, and Nurture
Martin Hermansen founded Freewebstore in 2007. The vision of this free eCommerce website builder is – “create, improve, and nurture online business opportunities.” Let’s see what features of Freewebstore make their vision come to life.
Features of Freewebstore
- Annual turnover: With the free forever plan, you can have a turn over of $30,000
- Unlimited products: Sell unlimited products online for free
- 0% Commission fee: With a 0% commission fee, everything you earn on Freewebstore is yours
- 24/7 Support: Get 24/7 support for all of your queries, confusions, or any general inquiry
- Domain and SSL: Get domain along with an SSL certificate with your free plan
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A clean and user-friendly interface
- No commission fee for any sales
Cons
- Remove the Freewebstore watermark
- Have to pay $15 for a custom domain
Freewebstore has a smart way of putting a cap on using the platform. Unlike other platforms that limit the number of products you can sell, Freewebstore limits the sales to $30,000 – which is fair enough. Talking about its free forever plan, I’d give it a 3/5.
Constant Contact – The ‘OKish’ Platform
Constant Contact was founded by Randy Parker in 1995. It was named Roving Software at first and changed to Constant Contact in 2004. Although the brand isn’t majorly about website builder, it has some promising features to create a free eCommerce website.
Features of Constant Contact
- Sell unlimited products: There’s no limit to how many products you can sell
- Mobile Responsiveness: All the templates in Constant Contact are mobile responsive
- Free Hosting: Along with website builder, you also get a free hosting
- Blog page creation: Easily create a blog page and start content marketing right away
- Website analytics: Analyze all the essential KPIs of your store for free with Constant Contact
- Save website history: Keep backup of all your page version in case you wanna restore the older versions
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Analytics dashboard is easy-to-use and understand
- Has ADI that helps build your website quickly
Cons
- Frequent glitches in the backed makes the platform annoying at times
I personally think the website of Constant Contact is struggling in today’s market. The features are just common ones; nothing out of the box seems to be the case here. So I’d give it a rating of 2/5.
Mozello – Free & Easy Website Builder
Mozello is a small website builder platform founded by Kārlis Blūmentāls. It has a small team of 7 people but has a great free eCommerce website builder. Let me walk you through its features.
Features of Mozello
- Mobile device support: Operate the Mozello dashboard on the table along with its desktop version
- Inbuilt storage: 0.5 GB storage helps you keep all the files and data safe and secure in one place
- Marketing features: Comes with a set of modern marketing tools you require to scale up your business
- Wide variety of designs: Gives you access to a wide range of designs and themes to incorporate into your website
- Upload 5 products: Display up to 5 products on your store with the free version
Pros & Cons
Pros
- All the templates are mobile responsive
- Has a mobile builder
Cons
- No custom domain available with the free plan
- Limited to 5 products only
Well, to be honest, I am not a fan of Mozello. With no custom domain and product limitation, it makes it tough for you to scale your business. If you wanna scale, you will have to opt for the paid plan that’s $14/month. So, if we talk about the free platform, I’d give it 2/5.
Strikingly: Make Website in Minutes
David Chen, Dafeng Guo, and Teng Bao came together in 2012 and founded this great platform – Strikingly.
The platform is a simple drag-and-drop builder that helps you conquer the eCommerce market in any niche you enter. Let’s have a look at the winning features that come along with its free plan.
Features of Strikingly
- Unlimited free website: Open as many free stores as you want with Strikingly
- 5 GB Bandwidth: 5 GB of monthly bandwidth with Strikingly’s free plan
- 500 MB storage: Get 500 MB of storage for each free eCommerce website you launch
- Products: Sell 1 product per site
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The help center is friendly and resolves your queries quickly
- Easy to use platform
Cons
- Can only sell 1 product per site
Strikingly had put me down when I used its free version. There are just not enough features to make an epic store as compared to other free eCommerce website platforms. So I’d rate it 1/5.
The Bottom Line
Coming to the final decision, I’d say you should go with Ecwid or Big Cartel. These two platforms have a free plan that can help you build an eCommerce platform that brings sales.
Remember, when making an eCommerce website, the design of your store matters a lot. Although I’ve mentioned a bunch of platforms, you have to test them as per your needs. Good luck!
