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As the world has become more connected, access to the global market has become easier. While there are, in fact, many developers of free online eCommerce pages, there are many who offer a free trial. There are also platforms that will allow you to create everything you need and then pay for the launch. A free trial is wonderful for you to launch your site and potentially sell enough to cover your first premium charge.
We’ve done some studies to find the best free eCommerce developers for June 2024, so you don’t have to. Here are our top picks.
We rank Squarespace as the number one eCommerce platform because of its mobile-friendly sites, traditional domain, and search engine optimization features. In the United States, approximately one-third of internet users make a mobile purchase each week. That’s why it’s very important to optimize your eCommerce site for mobile devices. A traditional domain helps brand your site, and search engine optimization features help attract potential consumers to your site.
While it doesn’t offer an absolutely free plan, Squarespace does offer a 14-day free trial so you can check out the platform and see if it’s right for you. With the free trial, you get full access to all of Squarespace’s features, however, you may not be able to settle for Squarespace Commerce payments and your site is password protected. To get the most out of your trial, try to create your entire eCommerce site from scratch, so you can see how it will look and work once it’s online. Plans start at $16 USD ($21. 15 CAD) per month (if billed annually).
Learn more: Read our full Squarespace review.
Who uses it: Small businesses and marketers who need an easy-to-use eCommerce website.
Square Online offers an absolutely free plan, which adds unlimited products, search engine optimization tools, omnichannel sales, QR code ordering, multiple shipping and delivery options, and Square POS syncs. And if you want to check out a paid plan, you get a 30-day free trial and those plans start at $36 USD ($47. 62 CAD) per month, billed annually. For a traditional URL, prefer a paid plan.
Even with its flexible plan, Square Online allows you to settle for Afterpay, which is a four-way payment option for your visitors. As a seller, you have quick access to the quote (minus a small fee) and the visitor also gets your product promptly. Afterpay takes the threat as the visitor who exhibits symptoms starts with a small amount they can borrow, and as they make their invoices on time, the amount they can borrow increases with upcoming purchases.
This four-in-four checkout option is an ideal feature for e-commerce outlets with a higher average cart total. In any of its plans, you can also settle for donations, Google Pay, Square Pay, Cash App, and Apple Pay.
Who should use it: Small businesses that need flexible, no-strings-attached eCommerce hosting.
Developed through Square, Weebly is an online eCommerce page builder with an easy-to-use interface. It offers both free and paid plans, but the free plan includes unlimited physical items, stock management, coupons, an automatic tax calculator, and Square gift cards. , search engine optimization and lead capture tools. Upgrade to receive pop-up notifications, phone support, shipping labels, and a shipping calculator.
Paid plans start at $10 CAD per month when billed annually. With paid plans, you can create a traditional domain, sell virtual goods, get a shipping calculator, print shipping labels, and set up pop-up notifications. remove Square ads, give you unlimited storage, allow you to accept PayPal payments, and get phone support.
Learn more: Read our full Weebly review.
Who uses it: Small businesses and marketers who need an online e-commerce page with stock control features.
Ecwid stands for eCommerce widget, and that’s precisely what it is: a shopping cart plugin that you can upload to your existing WordPress website. It offers a free plan with features such as a limit of ten physical products, unrestricted bandwidth, an instant site builder, a mobile-friendly shopping cart, and Apple Pay payment. To sell virtual products, you need a paid plan, which starts at US$14. 08 ($18. 62 CAD) per month when billed annually.
A paid plan will also give you features like stock management, live chat support, an app to manage your store, coupons, integrations, and Google Shopping. Your ultimate plan, even for yourself, is to create a traditional grocery shopping app. One of the best paid features is “pay what you need,” where a visitor can pay whatever value they need for a product. This works wonders for virtual products in particular.
Although the Ecwid plugin is free, hosting a WordPress site is not. To create a true eCommerce store, you buy a domain (although some internet hosts offer it for free for the first year), pay for an internet server, and pay for themes or templates to customize the look and feel of your entire site.
Who uses it: WordPress users who need to load eCommerce features into their existing website.
Like Squarespace, BigCommerce doesn’t offer a free plan, but it does give you 15 days to check out their plans. Paid plans start at 29 US dollars (38. 35 CAD) per month and come with unlimited products, staff accounts, and bandwidth. and record storage. With unlimited staff accounts, you can assign each member of your team their own ID to make adjustments in the store as needed. This way, you can seamlessly see who made what adjustments and when.
You can also sell through social media, online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, and even set up Google Shopping. It supports currencies and comes with a sleek drag-and-drop online page builder.
Who uses it: Those who create giant e-commerce websites and small businesses with giant groups allow the inclusion of unlimited staff accounts.
Learn more: Read our BigCommerce review
With Wix’s abandoned cart recovery feature, an email can be sent when your visitor has a registered email, has added products to their cart, and has not made any adjustments to the cart in an hour. What makes this automation unique is that you can see what a visitor has added to their cart by clicking on the “Abandoned Cart” tab in your dashboard.
To sell online, you need to have a paid Wix plan. These start at $28 CAD per month and come with 20GB of storage space, 24/7 visitor support, traditional domain, unlimited products, abandoned cart recovery, and social selling. . Wix also offers a flexible plan, but it’s not designed for eCommerce sites.
Learn more: Read our full Wix review.
Who deserves to use it: Small businesses and marketers who need their abandoned cart, which sends automated emails to consumers who abandon their carts.
Shopify is one of the most popular online eCommerce page builders, and for good reason. Merchants can have a full catalog of integrations, adding dropshipping ones, which is a simple way to sell products to their subscribers without ever having to stock. Each plan allows you to sell on social media and other online marketplaces. With coupon codes, you can offer your fans an exclusive code to stick to you, or you can even use codes for influencers to advertise your site. You can track your sales manually or use a Shopify integration, such as Refersion, LeadDyno, or UpPromote, to automate the process.
If you need to print on demand, Shopify makes it easy for you, too. With integrations with print providers, such as Printful or Gooten, you can design traditional products and auto-fill them when you shop from your store. With an integration, such as Etsy Marketplace Integration, you can have a storefront in either option and automatically sync your inventory.
Shopify offers a 3-day free trial. After that, plans start at $7 CAD per month. The cheapest plan doesn’t have full eCommerce features and only allows you to sell through social and messaging apps. The following package costs $38 CAD per month, paid annually, and provides you with an online service. store, point of sale (POS), 24/7 support, and sales channels.
Who uses it: Small businesses and marketers looking to build a dropshipping or print-on-demand business, as well as those looking to sell big through social media, given its useful social promotion integrations.
For the most productive free e-commerce online page developers of 2024, Forbes Advisor Canada analyzed many e-commerce providers based on a large number of knowledge points. We’ve weighted each factor, adding features, ease of use, visitor support, and free trial duration, we founded on the importance of each. The seven best free online eCommerce page developers are on our list.
The most productive eCommerce builder for you will depend on your business desires and budget. However, there are several features that can make your eCommerce adventure smoother, no matter which builder you use. Here are some of the most important features to look for:
Canada-specific edition and (including pricing) made through Anna Rey.
An online page builder is a platform that allows you to create an online page without having to code or design it yourself. Website developers have drag-and-drop equipment that makes it simple to upload text, images, and other elements to their online page. .
The cost of an online page builder varies depending on the features and services you need. However, most online page developers offer free plans that allow you to create a basic online page. You can upgrade to a paid plan for more features and services. .
No, you don’t want an e-commerce site to sell online. However, an e-commerce can make it less difficult to manage your inventory, settle payments, and track your sales.
There are other tactics for creating an eCommerceArray. You can use an eCommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, which give you everything you need to get started. Alternatively, you can use WordPress with a WooCommerce plugin or an Ecwid plugin. Finally, you can use a DIY builder like Squarespace.