Finding free ecommerce software can be difficult. You want an online store that looks professional and includes important features like inventory management and marketing integrations. However, you don’t want to spend hours setting up your store, only to realize it will be covered in pesky ads unless you pay for a $15 per month “upgrade.”
We did the difficult task of taking a close look at all the free ecommerce platforms on the market and picked out six that truly offer a great set of tools for free (and by that, we mean free forever).
Based on our evaluations, the free ecommerce website builders for 2021 are:
- Square Online: Best overall free ecommerce website builder
- WooCommerce: Best free ecommerce software for WordPress users
- PrestaShop: Best free open source ecommerce platform for developers
- Ecwid: Best free ecommerce solution for Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace users
- Big Cartel: Best for artists and for using custom domains
- Mozello: Best free ecommerce platform for international sellers
While all of the above are free to use, you will have to pay a credit card processing fee, which is typically 2.9% + 30 cents, when you make a sale. Besides that, none of these charge commission or have any hidden fees. There are optional paid upgrades and we’ll cover those in more detail below.
Top Free Ecommerce Website Builders Compared
Square | WooCommerce | PrestaShop | Ecwid | Big Cartel | Mozello | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Product limit | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 10 | 5 | 5 |
Connect a custom domain? | N/A | ✔ | ✔ | N/A | ✔ | N/A |
Free shipping calculator? | N/A | ✔ : USPS | N/A | ✔ : USPS, UPS, and Fedex | N/A | N/A |
Developer skills required? | N/A | ✔ | ✔ | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Payment Gateways | Built-in payment processing | Stripe, PayPal, and 100 others | Stripe, PayPal, and 50 others | Stripe, PayPal, and 60 others | Stripe or PayPal | PayPal |
Not sure which free ecommerce website builder is right for you? Take this four-question quiz for our recommendation (you won’t be redirected to another screen):
Answer a few questions about your business, and we'll give you a personalized product match.
How We Evaluated Free Ecommerce Website Builders
Similar to the way we evaluated ecommerce software, we compared seven ecommerce platforms based on site builder tools, sales and product features, and ease of use. However, we also considered each system’s limitations and only considered features available in forever-free plans. Our retail and ecommerce experts also weighed in and gave their evaluation for each software.
Based on the above criteria, Square Online is the best free ecommerce platform for small businesses. Square Online received the highest overall score (4.38 out of 5) according to our grading system. We have also personally found that Square Online is one of the easiest solutions to use, allowing you to create an online store in just a few minutes.
Click through the tabs below for a more detailed breakdown of our evaluation criteria. Note that we only graded the free plans of each software:
40% of Overall Score
First, we looked at the product limits on each of the software’s free plans and whether there are paid options that small business owners can upgrade to when their businesses grow. Finally, we gave points to platforms that integrate with the most popular payment solutions (like Stripe, PayPal, and Apple Pay), with bonus points for one-click checkouts because we find it’s a more user-friendly and revenue-driving option for small businesses.
15% of Overall Score
A solid ecommerce website builder is the foundation of every small ecommerce business’ online store. Thus, we considered the available templates, customization options, and the overall flexibility of the site builder. We also considered if the software includes an SSL certificate, unlimited storage and bandwidth options, and built-in SEO tools and site analytics. Additional points were granted for platforms that allow connecting to a custom domain. The quantity and quality of third-party extensions compatible with the software were also reviewed.
15% of Overall Score
We assessed features particularly important to online stores, including the ability to sell digital (downloadable) products, easy product set up, catalog and SKU management, tools for selling in-store and mobile, integrated social media selling, and marketplace selling (such as Amazon). We also took a look if its shipping solutions included discounts and label printing. Many small businesses also perform marketing themselves, so we looked into the availability of built-in marketing tools, such as abandoned cart recovery and promotions and discounts.
20% of Overall Score
Because online stores operate 24/7, we gave higher points to platforms that offer 24/7 customer support and have multiple customer touchpoints, such as phone, email, and chat—even on free plans. We also awarded points to solutions that are easy to set up or have guided prompts and a comprehensive help center.
10% of Overall Score
Finally, our retail experts considered any stand-out features of each individual platform and whether or not the software offers a good overall value for their free plans. We also rated each platform’s popularity with small businesses and its compatibility with other small business software. We also awarded points based on our personal experience interacting with the software and the company’s customer support.
Square Online
PROS
- Custom website with brand logo and colors
- Unlimited products with variants
- Includes POS software for in-person sales
CONS
- No shipping integrations without upgrade
- Square branding on footer
- Multiple languages not supported
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 3.13 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 3.88 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 4.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
When we say finding good free ecommerce software is tricky, we mean free plans often involve a lot of limitations. You might need to compromise and miss obvious features, sell only so many products, or display ads on your website pages. What we like about Square Online is that it has shockingly few limitations. It’s the closest you can get to creating a complete and professional web store without even needing to enter a credit card.
Square Online’s forever-free plan lets you list an unlimited number of products (physical or digital), track inventory, manage SEO, and integrate marketing software like Mailchimp—things you might not need right away but are very nice to have as you grow.
Based on our evaluation, Square Online earned a score of 4.38 out of 5. Square Online earned perfect points on having no product limits on its free plan as well as having one-click checkout options and the ability to sell digital products. It is also the only platform that allows you to sell online or mobile through its POS products, even on a free plan. The main downside to Square is that you cannot connect a custom domain with a free account. However, the yourstore.square.site subdomain that’s provided for free is still more professional than most.
Example of a free Square website template
(Source: Square)
What’s Included in Square Online’s Free Plan
- Unlimited products: List and sell an unlimited number of physical and digital (like e-books and videos) products with no website storage or photo upload limits.
- Full website: You can create a full website with the essential pages (such as contact forms, an email sign-up, and more) and have it custom branded with your logo and colors. However, you cannot fully edit the layout or add integrations as you can with other platforms like WooCommerce and PrestaShop.
- Coupon codes: Create coupon codes that visitors can enter to receive a percentage discount, dollar amount discount, or free shipping. Coupons can be valid for all orders, orders over a certain amount, or for specific items.
- Subdomain: Free plans come with a customizable square.site subdomain, so your website will appear as yourstore.square.site on the address bar.
- Square branded footer: Free websites also display “Powered by Square” on the footer of each page. It’s subtle and doesn’t look too bad compared to other free websites. However, to remove it, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Professional edition ($12 per month).
- Customer support: Support for Square Online is a little tricky to reach. You have to chat with its support robot and request to speak with a representative. Phone and live chat support are available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time and weekends from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. During my evaluation, it took about 30 minutes to get connected to a live support agent and one business day to get a response through email.
This “Powered by Square” footer is displayed on all free websites.
If you’re ready to get started, then create a free Square account and follow our guide on how to Set Up a Free Square Online Store.
When to Upgrade Square Online
- Use a custom domain: One of the main reasons to upgrade from the free plan is to use your own domain name, www.yourstore.com, instead of yourstore.square.site. To do this, you’ll need to upgrade to Square Online’s Professional plan ($12 per month), which includes a free custom domain that’s good for a year.
- Shipping tools: Upgrading to the Performance plan ($26 per month) allows you to purchase discounted shipping labels for FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL straight from Square Online. With a Premium account ($72 per month), you can use a shipping calculator that charges customers real-time shipping rates based on their location and the order weight. If you aren’t ready to upgrade yet, note that with WooCommerce and Ecwid, you can access some of these shipping tools for free.
- Customer reviews: If you want to give customers the ability to leave reviews of your products, then you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Performance plan ($26 per month).
WooCommerce
PROS
- Most feature-packed free ecommerce platform
- Charge real-time USPS shipping rates
- Expansive design control and variety
CONS
- Hosting not included
- Lengthy setup time
- No free customer support
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 4.75 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 4.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 2.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.50 | OUT OF | 5 |
WooCommerce is one of the few free ecommerce platforms that offer jam-packed features. It lets you sell unlimited digital and/or physical products, manage inventory, set up coupons, handle customer reviews, and use a USPS shipping calculator—and that’s just scratching the surface.
In our evaluation, WooCommerce came in right behind Square Online, with a score of 4.01 out of 5. WooCommerce’s extensive third-party integrations, unlimited storage, and easy product setup earned this software high marks. However, the need to pay for customer support and an SSL certificate prevented it from earning a perfect score.
WooCommerce requires you to use WordPress, which is free but can be complicated to set up and requires hosting. If you’re looking for something you can set up quickly, then Square Online and Big Cartel are simpler options. However, for tech-oriented people that don’t mind getting their hands dirty, WooCommerce offers unparalleled options.
What’s Included in WooCommerce’s Free Plan
How to set up coupons in a WooCommerce store
(Source: WooCommerce)
- Unlimited products: You can list an unlimited number of products, including physical and digital goods (like e-books and videos). WooCommerce also includes tools to manage your inventory such as low-stock alerts.
- USPS integration: Calculate the shipping price in real time when a customer checks out, then print discounted USPS postage straight from WooCommerce with the customer’s name and address already filled in. Other carriers like UPS and FedEx can be integrated for an additional fee.
- Coupon codes: WooCommerce lets you create coupon codes for discounts on the customer’s order. You can also create special rules such as requiring a minimum spend and excluding certain items.
- Product reviews: Allow customers to rate and submit reviews of your products.
- Support: WooCommerce does not have customer support available to free users, although there is a help forum where you can ask other users questions.
Product management options
(Source: WooCommerce)
If you are keen on using WordPress to build your ecommerce store, we have outlined how to sell on WordPress in eight easy steps.
When to Upgrade WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin and offers several third-party integrations. You can choose to pay for the following integrations:
- SEO: WooCommerce does not include great SEO tools out-of-the-box, so many users will install an SEO plugin like Yoast to help them edit search engine titles and descriptions for their products and pages.
- Multi-Language Capability: An extension is required to display your site in multiple languages, and this can cost around $200 per year.
- Marketing: Another common way users upgrade WooCommerce is by installing one of the dozens of marketing extensions. You can sell on Facebook, start an affiliate program, or create targeted email campaigns with special offers based on a customer’s previous purchases. Prices range from $0 to hundreds of dollars per year.
PrestaShop
PROS
- Highly customizable
- Has a strong and helpful community forum
- Supports over 75 languages
CONS
- Expensive customer support
- Developer skills required
- Limited scalability
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 5.00 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 4.69 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 1.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 3.63 | OUT OF | 5 |
PrestaShop provides features for store customization, inventory management, payment processing, and marketing campaigns. Its software is free to download and install as long as your computer and hosting can meet its minimum requirements. Extensions are available in its official marketplace, PrestaShop Addons, with extension apps costing anywhere between $50 and $150 per module.
PrestaShop earned a 4 out of 5 in our evaluation. It earned perfect marks for the quality of its native integrations—most features are already available in the software, eliminating the need for paid add-ons from its app marketplace. However, PrestaShop’s steep learning curve and the need to pay for customer support prevented it from earning a perfect score.
An example of a premium template in PrestaShop
(Source: Prestashop.com)
What’s Included in PrestaShop’s Free Plan
- Inventory management: PrestaShop offers basic and advanced inventory management solutions. Once you enable advanced stock management, you can specify quantities for every product (or combination) in your store, specify the warehouse in which the product is stored (with multiple carriers), track inventory movements, product current status, and more.
- Payment processing: You can set up various payment methods such as payments by invoice, cash on delivery (COD), check, bank transfers, credit cards, subscriptions, and POS or payment via physical stores.
- Marketing: You can enable features for promo codes, coupons, and discounts, as well as have price rules (special offers based on product, customer, or order). Abandonment cart recovery and engagement emails can also be done.
- Customer support: Support is a premium (paid) service. However, PrestaShop has a large and supportive community that contributes to its forum or help center.
A view on how to enable the Advanced Stock Management Option in PrestaShop
(Source: PrestaShop Manager)
When to Upgrade PrestaShop
- Customized website themes: While PrestaShop offers free website templates, most free offerings have either limited customization abilities or do not have appealing designs.
- Marketplace selling: If you want to connect your store to common marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Google Shopping, you’d need to pay for an extension module.
Ecwid
PROS
- No ads shown on free sites
- Free USPS, UPS, and FedEx shipping calculator
- Works on Wix, Squarespace, Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, and more
CONS
- Limited to 10 products
- No coupon codes
- No inventory tracking
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 2.50 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 4.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
Ecwid lets you sell online—through its storefront, an existing site, social media channels, and marketplaces—and in-person through its mobile app. You can create a new online store, or integrate a checkout into existing Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and GoDaddy sites. This option makes it a good fit if you want to add an affordable checkout to your existing website. Ecwid can be integrated with these platforms and any other website builders where you can insert custom code.
Based on our evaluation, Ecwid scored a 3.33 out of 5. Free shipping calculators and the ability to sell anywhere contributed to Ecwid’s high score. Ecwid’s free plan, unfortunately, is limited to 10 products, doesn’t provide the ability to track inventory or offer coupon codes. These features are unlocked when you upgrade to any of its paid tiers.
Ecwid can also be used as a free standalone website, although we have found that this is less commonly used.
What’s Included in Ecwid’s Free Plan
- Up to 10 products: Free users can list up to 10 unique products at a time. Customers can pay with a credit card, which can be processed through PayPal, Stripe, Square, and more than 60 other payment gateways. Free users cannot sell digital items like e-books and videos.
- Link to website: While Ecwid can be set up as a free standalone site, most users integrate it with their existing website. Ecwid has official integrations with Wix, Weebly, and WordPress, allowing you to add your free Ecwid store with just a few clicks. For other website builders like Squarespace, you can integrate Ecwid by copy/pasting HTML code.
- Shipping calculators: Ecwid is the only free ecommerce website builder we’re aware of that has free shipping calculators for all the major US carriers as well as Canada Post, Royal Mail, and more. This means you can charge customers actual shipping rates based on their location and the package weight. However, you cannot purchase shipping labels straight from Ecwid unless you integrate an app like ShipStation.
- Support: For free users, there is only email support available. Live chat and phone support are available to paying customers.
An Ecwid store being added to Wix website
(Source: Ecwid.com)
If you have a WordPress website, follow our guide on how to use Ecwid to sell on WordPress.
When to Upgrade Ecwid
- List more products: A Venture plan ($12.50 per month) lets you list up to 100 products at a time, whereas a Business plan ($29.17 per month) allows you up to 2,500. Meanwhile, an Unlimited plan ($83.30 per month) enables you to post unlimited products.
- Custom domain: If you’re using Ecwid to host your website, then you can use a custom domain (e.g., www.yourstore.com) instead of the storename.company.site domain that’s included for free.
- Multi-channel selling: One of the big perks of using Ecwid is that you can integrate your online store with more than one website—and you can do that even with a free account. However, with a Business level account ($29.17 per month), you can also list your products on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram. Some additional fees may apply.
- Multi-Language: Ecwid offers a multi-language functionality for users on the Business plan ($29.17 per month).
- Coupon codes: Another perk for paid users is the ability to create promotional coupons for customers to use at their store. Ecwid gives you a lot of control over coupons, as you can specify the number of times a coupon is allowed to be used, require a minimum order amount, only allow it for certain customers, or only allow it for certain items/item categories.
Big Cartel
PROS
- Connect a custom domain
- Design control
- Stylish themes with no ads or branding
CONS
- Limited to only five products
- No inventory tracking without upgrade
- Limited SEO tools
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 1.81 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 3.63 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 2.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 3.00 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 4.13 | OUT OF | 5 |
Big Cartel is the only free ecommerce platform we reviewed that allows you to connect to a custom domain. Big Cartel’s simple platform with aesthetically pleasing templates contributed to its high marks, however, product limitations and lack of inventory tracking (no SKU management) hindered it from getting a perfect score.
Its templates are stylish and modern and, unlike many competitors, don’t include pesky ads. There’s typically just a subtle Big Cartel logo on the footer, which you can remove using code.
Big Cartel was originally designed for artists and craftsmen and, as a result, it works best for businesses that have a relatively small inventory. If you only need to sell a few products at a time, Big Cartel is tough to beat.
Its product limit and nonexistent inventory tracking resulted in Big Cartel only earning a 2.62 out of 5 in our evaluation.
Example of a Big Cartel website. For this particular theme, the gray “Big Cartel” logo in the lower-left corner is the only branding displayed. (Source: Big Cartel)
What’s Included in Big Cartel’s Free Plan
- Use a custom domain: Besides WooCommerce and PrestaShop, Big Cartel is the only free ecommerce website builder we’re aware of that lets you connect a custom domain, such as www.yourstore.com. If you don’t own a custom domain, then you can use a Big Cartel subdomain, like yourstore.BigCartel.com, for free.
- Up to five products: Free plans list up to five unique products at a time, with one photo per item. Customers can check out using a credit card, which is processed through PayPal or Stripe. Free users cannot sell digital items, like e-books and videos.
- Full website: Create a full website with multiple pages and a contact form. Big Cartel lets you choose from many stylish themes that you can customize with your own logo and colors. Big Cartel gives you a surprising amount of control over the layout of your website and also lets you integrate a small but solid set of apps, including Mailchimp, ShipStation, and live chat apps.
- Support: Big Cartel has email support available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time, including weekends. During my evaluation, I submitted a question after-hours and received a helpful response first thing in the morning.
When to Upgrade Big Cartel
- More products and photos: The biggest reason to upgrade Big Cartel is the ability to add more than five products and to upload more than one photo per item. The $10 per month edition lets you sell up to 50 products, the $20 per month edition lets you sell 250, and the $30 per month up to 500. All paid versions of Big Cartel also let you sell digital items.
- Coupons: All paid versions of Big Cartel allow you to create digital coupons for customers. This can be for a percentage discount, a dollar amount discount, or for free shipping.
- More SEO options: Neither free nor paid versions of Big Cartel allow you to edit the SEO title and description of products. For most users, this won’t be an issue, since Big Cartel simply generates them automatically. However, those looking for more SEO control should consider Square or WooCommerce instead.
Mozello
PROS
- Ability to create a multi-language site
- Extremely easy to use
- Inexpensive upgrades
CONS
- Limited to only five products
- No coupon codes
- No SSL (except during checkout)
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing & Payments | 1.63 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Site Builder and Maintenance Features | 2.03 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Sales and Product Features | 2.13 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Ease of Use | 3.50 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Score | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 |
Mozello is one of the few free ecommerce platforms that lets you display your website in multiple languages. Choose from over 60 languages and let your customers change the language by clicking a link at the top of your site.
Based on our evaluation, Mozello earned a 2.35 out of 5 score. Mozello is extremely easy to use and is a solid website builder, however, this also translates to limitations on more advanced ecommerce features—related products and marketing integrations, for example, are not available.
Users can change the language using the links on the top-right. Also, a Mozello ad is displayed on the footer. (Source: Mozello)
What’s Included in Mozello’s Free Plan
- Up to five products: Free users can list up to five unique products at a time. Unlike Big Cartel, you aren’t limited by how many photos you can upload, but there is an overall storage limit of 500MB for free accounts.
- Full website: Mozello makes it very easy to create a full website with multiple pages and a contact form. Along with Square and Big Cartel, it’s easily the fastest ecommerce website to get up and running. That said, its design options are considerably more limited, and it has very few integrations.
- Multi-language: Mozello is the only free ecommerce website builder on our list that supports multi-language sites, and it’s the only one we’re aware of that covers more than 60 languages worldwide. Simply choose which languages you want to support, and write your website content (like product titles and descriptions) for each language. At the top of your site, visitors will be able to click which language they want to see.
- Subdomain: Free websites come with a customizable mozello.com subdomain, so your website will appear as yourstore.mozello.com on the address bar.
- Mozello footer: Free websites also display a small message on the footer that reads “Created with Mozello – the world’s easiest to use website builder.” While it doesn’t stand out too bad, it makes the website a bit less classy compared to the others on this list—particularly Big Cartel, Ecwid, and WooCommerce.
- Support: Mozello has free email support in English. I sent a few questions during my evaluation and received a very detailed and personalized response three hours later. While there is a phone support line, the office is based in Eastern Europe, so you will have to call early in the morning to reach them and may incur international charges.
When to Upgrade Mozello
- More products and storage: One of the main reasons to upgrade is to add more products and increase your storage for photos, videos, and other types of files. The $7 per month plan allows up to 15 items and 50GB of storage, while the $14 per month plan allows unlimited items and unlimited storage.
- Custom domain: Another key reason to upgrade is to use a custom domain instead of the yourstore.mozello.com subdomain, which is provided free of charge. All paid users can do this (starting at $7 per month), and a custom domain is even provided for free for one year. However, you can also connect a domain purchased from an outside registrar.
- SSL certificate: Paid users (starting at $7 per month) can enable SSL encryption, making your website more secure and changing your URL from HTTP to HTTPS. This makes your website more appealing to search engines and can help you rank higher in the results. Free accounts automatically get HTTPS during checkout to secure credit card information, but the rest of the site is HTTP.
- Coupon codes: Paid users can create promotional coupons for customers to use at their store.
Bottom Line
All free website builders come with certain limitations such as you may only be allowed to sell a certain number of products or you may find that certain features are “locked” until you upgrade.
These limitations might not be a problem when you are starting out but these can present major challenges as your store grows and your business needs to scale.
Among the free ecommerce platforms we have reviewed, Square Online has the fewest limitations while also being completely free with no hosting fees or commission. This is why we recommend using Square Online to build your free ecommerce website. To start setting up your own Square store, click the button below. There’s no credit card required.
You May Also Like …
- Learn how to build an online store or the ins and outs of starting a retail business
- Learn how to accept credit card payments online
