E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS: Best Rated UK Ecommerce Platforms in 2023, Updated (Free & Paid)

An E-commerce platform is a piece of software that allows companies to create, host, and manage online stores. A business owner can create a branded online storefront to locate and sell their products and services using the platform’s features. One of the most important considerations you’ll make when establishing your online business is selecting an E-commerce platform that allows for scalable, long-term growth. In this article, we’ll be through the best free E-commerce platforms in the Uk. Let’s dive in!

E-commerce Platforms Best

Your E-commerce software has a major impact on the profitability and stability of your business, whether you’re expanding a brick-and-mortar store, seeking an enterprise-level solution, or even establishing a business from scratch. Here we present to you the best E-commerce platforms to start with.

BigCommerce — Best Ecommerce Platform For Small Businesses

BigCommerce is a powerful all-in-one E-commerce platform that includes everything you’ll need to start selling online. This site, in fact, has more built-in native functionality than Shopify right out of the box. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by its capabilities, but for those who want to use them, knowing that you won’t have to pay extra for functionality is reassuring.

BigCommerce also makes managing sales across different channels a breeze. Customers will be able to buy from you on sites like Amazon, eBay, Instagram, and Facebook. BigCommerce also works with payment processors like PayPal and Square to provide your consumers more ways to buy your products. In terms of uptime, loading speed, security, and other performance indicators, the platform enjoy a stellar reputation. They provide one-of-a-kind solutions for B2B businesses, wholesalers, and WordPress users. BigCommerce also includes alternatives for E-commerce stores in a variety of industries. BigCommerce is a top choice to explore whether you’re beginning a new online store from scratch or expanding your brick-and-mortar small business into the e-commerce realm.

Pricing plans include:

$29.95 per month (basic) Plus, it’s only $79.95 per month.
$299.95 per month for Pro
Each tier, as predicted, comes with additional features and perks. BigCommerce’s pricing is unique in that stores will be automatically promoted to a new plan if they meet specific sales milestones over the course of a year.

The following are the 12-month sales limits:

Standard — $50,000 to $150,000 Plus — $150,000 to $400,000 Pro — $400,000 to $500,000
For example, if you join up for the Standard plan and earn $50,000 in the last 12 months, you’ll be immediately upgraded to the Plus plan.

Zyro — Best Website Builder

Zyro makes it simple to set up an online store in minutes. It’s also adaptable. Whether you’re building an e-commerce site, a portfolio to show off your work, or a simple blog, Zyro has a variety of gorgeous designs to choose from.
Their e-commerce capabilities are also top-notch. Their drag-and-drop website builder enables you to design the ideal online store and tailor it to your brand. It’s also quite responsive, allowing you to observe your modifications in real-time.

Their AI tool is one of their most distinctive features. Their AI Writer, for example, writes text for your website in a matter of seconds. That means you won’t have to worry about coming up with a compelling copy on your own.

Zyro is difficult to beat when it comes to cost. You can currently save 80% on full price if you join up for certain annual contracts.

Square Online — Best Free Ecommerce Platform Plan

The majority of people are familiar with Square’s software and solutions. They do, however, have an amazing E-commerce platform that works well with their other products. As a result, if you’re currently utilizing Square, you’ll be able to keep track of your inventory as you sell to clients.

You’ll be able to book appointments, receive donations, schedule pickups or deliveries, and even sell your products on Instagram using Square’s E-commerce platform.
Square also provides excellent online tools to help you improve your SEO and reach even more people over the internet.

The platform is absolutely free to use and offers Square POS connectivity, seamless inventory sync, and limitless pick and delivery products. However, there is a catch: each transaction charges 2.9 percent plus 30 cents.

Shopify — Best for Startups, Beginners, and Boutique Ecommerce Shops

Shopify is, without a doubt, the most well-known E-commerce platform on the planet. They power over a million E-commerce websites in a variety of industries and product categories.

This is due to the fact that it is both simple to use and set up while yet being quite strong. It’s an excellent alternative for newcomers or organizations who don’t have a lot of in-house IT. Shopify is also quite adaptable. It’s used by both small organizations and major corporations. . However, it might also be used as a small business. Shopify’s award-winning 24/7 support is another standout feature, which you’ll have access to even when you sign up for a Shopify account.

With Shopify POS, you can sell products from your online store, as well as through social media platforms, online marketplaces, and in-person. They also have a fantastic payment processor. It also works with the Shopify App Store’s more than 3,200 apps.

Pricing plans

Shopify has three distinct base plans to choose from:

Basic – $29 per month
Shopify costs $79 a month.
$299 per month for advanced Shopify
Keep in mind that these are only the starting points. You’ll have to pay more to add apps, process payments, and other capabilities. Get a personalized Shopify Plus quotation tailored to your needs if you’re a high-volume retailer looking for enterprise-grade solutions.

The entry-level plan will suffice to get you started, but I would recommend at the very least the mid-tier Shopify membership. It has more amenities, such as gift cards, professional reports, and shipping and payment processing reductions. All of Shopify’s plans come with a 14-day free trial.

Wix — Best Drag-and-Drop Ecommerce Site Builder With Easy Setup

Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder with a lot of flexibility. It may adapt to any of your website-building requirements.

The best thing about Wix as an E-commerce platform is how simple it is to use. Your e-commerce site will benefit from the same drag-and-drop features as a Wix website. To accept payments online, you only need to select an e-commerce plan.

Those of you who are already using Wix can always enhance their subscription to include the eCommerce feature. You can choose from more than 500 e-commerce templates on Wix. You can add collections, galleries, similar products, and a customer wishlist to your storefront.

You’ll be able to create global shipping rules that apply to numerous carriers. Wix does not yet allow dropshipping. However, their website indicates that a dropshipping platform will be available soon, so I would anticipate that within the next year.

Wix, unlike other E-commerce platforms, does not charge transaction fees. As a result, the payment processor will be the exclusive source of fees.

Pricing plans

Wix has four e-commerce plans to choose from, all of which accept online payments:

• Basic Business – $23 per month
• $27 per month for Business Unlimited
• $49 per month for Business VIP
• $500 per month (enterprise)

All plans include unrestricted bandwidth. At each price category, you’ll get more storage.

Wix is a newcomer to the world of E-commerce, as a result, the platform isn’t without flaws. However, they’ve recently made significant progress. You may now perform stuff like target abandoned shopping carts, which were previously unavailable. Wix’s Corvid is one such enhancement. This is a web development platform that lets you use the Wix editor to create apps. This could lead to improve CRM integration in the future.

Squarespace — Best Website Builder With Built-In Ecommerce Capabilities

Another popular website builder is Squarespace. Except for the entry-level plan, Squarespace features a fully integrated E-commerce platform built into every plan.

Building a great website is simple with Squarespace. The templates are contemporary and fully editable. You may even use many templates on one website and swap back and forth between them at any moment.

Squarespace is a platform that I would recommend to budding e-commerce businesses who aren’t sure what the future holds. This is due to the ease with which you may scale or pivot your sales strategy using this platform.

The lack of an app store to build additional integrations or extensions is a disadvantage of utilizing Squarespace. You get exactly what you see.

Pricing plans

Squarespace’s pricing and plans are as follows:

• $12 per month for personal use
• The monthly cost for a business plan is $18.
• $26 per month for Basic Commerce
• Advanced Commerce is a $40-per-month service.

The Personal plan does not have e-commerce features. You can sell online with the Business plan, but you’ll have to pay Squarespace an extra 3% transaction charge and won’t have access to all of the great e-commerce features. We’ll recommend the Basic Commerce plan as a starting point. There are no transaction fees, and you’ll have access to customer accounts, checkouts on your own domain, e-commerce analytics, social media selling, POS, and other e-commerce services.

You’ll need to pay up for the Advanced Commerce plan to get gift cards, abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions, and a few other higher-level services.

GoDaddy BEST FOR EASE OF USE

Because of its quick setup process and an intuitive single dashboard that puts everything business-related at your fingertips, GoDaddy is the best solution for newbies. In less than an hour, you can have a fully functional website. Alternatively, you can use the free plan to slowly build your product listings. Upgrade to the paid e-commerce plan when you’re ready to establish your store for business. In addition to ADI’s features, you can download a free theme from the company’s web store.

You may get started with GoDaddy by signing up for a free plan. You can upgrade to a paid plan right after you finish building your primary site, or you can wait until you’re ready to start selling. Although GoDaddy offers a variety of premium services, you may only sell things with an e-commerce subscription, which costs $24.99 per month when paid annually.

GoDaddy has a comprehensive help center and knowledge base. You can also reach out to customer service via live chat or phone at any time.

Weebly

Weebly’s platform and mobile app allow you to develop and manage your online presence without having to take time away from your day-to-day operations. Its free and low-cost paid options make it the greatest choice for brick-and-mortar businesses that wish to go online quickly and easily.

All plans, including the free one, provide the following features and functionality:

• Products are limitless.
• Inventory control is important.
• Gift cards and coupons
• Calculator for taxes on the fly
• Over 300 ecommerce apps are integrated.
• Stripe and Square are two popular payment processors.
• To operate your ecommerce site, you’ll need a mobile app.

Pricing plans

Weebly has four different plans to choose from:

Free: $0 per month for all of the following features

Personal: $6 per month invoiced annually or $9 per month on a month-to-month basis includes all basic services as well as digital products sales. Professional: $12 per month invoiced annually or $16 per month on a month-to-month basis for limitless Square ad storage and removal.

Abandoned cart emails, on-site evaluations, and PayPal payment processing cost $26 per month invoiced annually or $29 month-to-month. Weebly’s support area has a wealth of tutorials, and you can also chat online or via email. Phone assistance is included in the Professional and Performance subscriptions.

Magento- Best for Large Business

Magento, as an Adobe product, provides the most configurable solution for large businesses with aspirations to expand. Your non-tech staff will appreciate the accessible interface that makes it easy to manage and oversee your high-volume business, even if you need a developer to get started. For large businesses, Magento’s open source and hosted software is the ideal solution.

You can add any functionalities you wish to the free, open source software, but it comes with features like:

• Tools for searching the website
• Instant purchasing possibilities with a single click
• Total catalog management control
• You can use international shipping providers and accept a variety of currencies.
• There are over 1,000 extensions and themes available.

Pricing plan

Prices for fully hosted Magento Commerce software start at $1,500 per month with an annual purchase and include enterprise-level capabilities to help your business.

The premium edition includes a customer success manager and engineering assistance, but the open source version does not come with support.

Best E-commerce Platforms in the UK

Here is alist of the best E-commerce platforms in the UK;

• Shopify – Most popular platformin the UK
• EKM – Best cloud based E-commerce platform
• BigCommerce – Best solution for small enterprises
• Squarespace Ecommerce – Best website builder
• Wix Ecommerce – Best free and easy website builder
• Ecwid – Best all in one website builder
• Magento – Best for large business
• Big Cartel – Best for creative businesses
• Prestashop – Best open-source eCommerce platform
• WooCommerce

UK E-commerce Platforms

In the UK there are E-commerce platforms to aid businesses to grow a large customer base. Below are various E-commerce platforms you can start with in the UK.

Shopify

Shopify is currently the most popular (based on search volume) E-commerce platforms in the UK. This is also due to the fact that it is one of the simplest to set up and customize. With their huge selection of themes and apps, you can construct a one-of-a-kind online business with little to no coding experience. With Shopify Payments, they also make it super simple to start accepting credit card payments. Plus, using Shopify POS, they can assist you in starting to sell offline.

The primary disadvantage of Shopify is that it is not the cheapest choice available. They do, however, provide a 14-day free trial (no credit card required) that allows you to try out their platform before paying for it. If you want a simple, all-in-one eCommerce solution, Shopify is worth a shot because there is no risk and no upfront expense.

EKM

EKM was one of the first cloud-based E-commerce platforms in the UK, having been launched in 2002. On the surface, EKM looks a lot like Shopify, but because they’re based entirely in the United Kingdom, they’re a little more tuned in to the demands of UK businesses.

They provide an all-in-one E-commerce platform with everything you need to sell online, from your own domain name to payment processing. They have over 150 themes to choose from, so your store will stand out. Furthermore, all Ecommerce capabilities are included in all plans, so you won’t have to pay for pricey add-on apps. They claim to be in charge of over 30,000 shops globally, with a total sales volume of £5 billion. They also have a 9.4 out of 10 rating on Trustpilot, which is based on over 1,500 customer ratings.

Plans start at £34.99+VAT a month with no contract, and you can try it out for free for 28 days by clicking on our special offer link. (Normally, you are only entitled to 14 days of free service.) EKM is one of the finest Shopify E-commerce platforms alternative for UK businesses, and it should be their first choice in many, if not all, circumstances. It’s definitely worth a look, especially since you can try it for free.

BigCommerce

For businesses wishing to create an online store, BigCommerce offers three options. “A smart platform for increasing sales, organizing your business, and extending to new channels,” according to their standard solution for small enterprises.

Larger companies can use their Enterprise option, which includes a “E-commerce platform with greater stability and advanced capabilities for controlling your entire organization.” Finally, unlike the other platforms described, they provide customized solutions for B2B companies and wholesalers.

BigCommerce’s latest Visual Merchandising Tool is called Store Design. This release provides options for customizing the appearance and feel of the theme that were previously handled by Theme Editor. This version builds the groundwork for the future generation of visual merchandising tools (Widgets, Dynamic Widgets, CMS Promos, etc).

All of the solutions are fully hosted, all-in-one solutions with integrated Paypal payments (can use other providers). All of their plans feature unlimited items, file storage, and bandwidth, with pricing based on the amount of revenue generated each year. And, like many of the other E-commerce platforms in the UK, you may try them out for free for 30 days (exclusive) before entering your credit card information.

Squarespace Ecommerce

Squarespace Ecommerce is a website builder that is hosted in the cloud. It’s also one of the most popular solutions for creating any form of website online, similar to Wix. They are also one of the E-commerce platforms in the UK that allows you to rapidly and easily set up an online store.

Squarespace does not, however, provide a free plan, unlike Wix (although they do offer a free trial). They also have fewer payment choices (now only Stripe and/or Paypal). They do, however, provide almost all of the functionality you’d expect from an E-commerce platform. Squarespace is a fantastic platform for building beautiful, functional websites. However, because of the absence of payment alternatives and third-party apps, you should only use it if you don’t need or want to customize every aspect of your business.

Wix Ecommerce

Wix Ecommerce is the e-commerce service from Wix, the most popular free website builder. It’s as straightforward as you’d imagine getting started with them, and they have hundreds of templates to select from.

Even better, if you don’t have a lot of money to put up front, you can get started for free with their ad-supported version. We’ll have a look at their characteristics below. Wix is first and foremost a website builder, and then an ecommerce platform. This implies that while putting up a nice-looking online store is simple, implementing further features and/or switching platforms in the future may be challenging.

Ecwid

Ecwid’s description differs differently from that of some of the other E-commerce platforms in the UK. It can function in tandem with your existing website, social media company pages, blog, markets, and mobile app.

From a single control panel, all of the storefronts are synchronised and managed. It’s a cloud-based platform, which means they host it and you don’t have to install anything. It may be integrated into any website via a widget or a plugin for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Wix.

Pricing is fairly competitive, ranging from a Free Forever Plan to a £99/mo (+VAT) Ulimited Plan. Ecwid may be the ideal choice for you if you already have a website. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to start selling online because there’s no fee to get started and a large selection of options.

Magento

Magento is the most powerful of the Ecommerce platforms on our list, but it has a price. Their top-tier plans are far more expensive than the competition, but they provide you near-total control over how your site looks and functions.

In general, there are two Magento alternatives available. The first is Magento Open Source (previously Community Edition), which is an open source platform for developers and small companies that is free and adaptable. It does, however, necessitate Magento web hosting.

The second option is Magento Commerce, which is a cloud-based system that is not free (not including the free 30-day trial). Neither option is as simple to set up as the others on the list, but they are the only ones that offer a complete enterprise-level Ecommerce solution.

Magento is still one of the finest options if you require a full-featured, enterprise-level E-commerce platform. Most SMEs, on the other hand, would be better off choosing one of the less expensive platforms on our list.

Big Cartel

Big Cartel is one of the most well-known E-commerce platforms in the UK, with a particular focus on artists. “Nearly a million manufacturers, designers, singers, and other artists use Big Cartel to construct a distinctive online store and manage a creative business,” according to the company.

Their platform allows you to customize the design of your business using a variety of pre-made themes or alter the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript manually to create a completely unique look. They say that their website is mobile-friendly, allowing you to manage your store from any smartphone or tablet.

Big Cartel is less complicated to set up than Shopify, although it lacks several of the latter’s advanced capabilities. Their free plan, on the other hand, is ideal for modest artists who want to start selling online.

WooCommerce

According to build with, WooCommerce is now the most popular E-commerce platform by market share. It is used by 11% of the Top 10,000 Ecommerce websites (with another 9% utilizing WooCommerce Checkout). WooCommerce is a WordPress-based e-commerce platform that is “free.” This gives you the widest selection of plugins and themes available on any website.

The platform’s biggest disadvantage as compared to Shopify or EKM is that it requires a little more technical know-how to set up. In addition to a website theme and bespoke plugins, you’ll need to select your own WooCommerce hosting and payment gateway. You won’t have access to dedicated customer support as you would with a platform like Shopify or EKM, which means you’ll be on your own if you run into issues with your store.

WooCommerce offers the most flexibility and customization at the lowest price of any of the platforms if you know how to build a site in WordPress and are comfortable troubleshooting your own technical issues.

Prestashop

Prestashop is another effective, innovative, and open-source eCommerce platform that includes all of the tools you’ll need to launch an online store and grow your business. It has given over 300,000 merchants across the world access to the world of eCommerce. The platform is available for download and is free to use. You will only be responsible for fees such as hosting, SSL certificates, and other comparable expenses.

Prestashop’s professional-looking and sleek themes can be used to create your website. It has no restrictions on your creativity and ideas when it comes to creating your own website. You can personalize such themes to fit your own particular style and preferences.

A large number of addons and modules are now available to help improve the overall performance of your online business. You can keep track of your products, orders, and customer relationships, as well as get real-time statistics reports. Prestashop Modules Marketplaces, such as PrestaHero, can help you select the best modules for your store.

It’s also simple to add material to your websites, such as blogs, and post it on social media to draw in additional people. The platform allows you to offer your store in multiple languages and currencies, breaking down any barriers for your website. You can offer your products to any type of customer and in any country.

Notably, dropshipping can be readily integrated with your Prestashop store in just a few clicks, allowing you to scale your business without wasting time on inventory management.

Free E-commerce Platforms

Are you seeking the finest free E-commerce platform to use to create your online store?

Many small businesses were unable to open an online store since eCommerce systems cost thousands of dollars in the early days. Thankfully, several well-known E-commerce platforms now provide free or low-cost options. Below is a list of the best free E-commerce platforms.

• Square Online – The most generous free ecommerce plan.
• Big Cartel – (free plan) – Ideal for solo artists.
• Wix – (free to create, but not to sell) — Ideal for tiny internet shops.
• Shopify – (free trial) – This platform is best for larger companies.
• Squarespace – (free trial) – The best deal.
• BigCommerce – (free trial) – For a solely online business, BigCommerce is the best option.
• Constant Contact – (free trial) – Ideal for side hustles.
• WooCommerce – The best WordPress ecommerce plugin (it’s free to install).
• Magento – (free to download and install) – This platform is best for enterprise-level organizations.

Frequently Asked Question

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