This ecommerce platform comparison covers Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, and Adobe Commerce. Use the table to shortlist platforms by price and store type. Then run a test order and refund to see how each option works for the people who will run your store.
Ecommerce platform comparison at a glance
Prices checked November 14, 2026. Shopify and BigCommerce figures are US list prices in USD. Annual billing figures are shown as monthly equivalents. Check local pricing, renewal terms, and payment provider availability for your market.
| Platform | Starting cost | Best fit and features |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Basic $29/month billed yearly or $39billed monthly. | Retail brands that want hosted checkout, inventory management, and online and in-person sales. |
| WooCommerce | Free core. WooCommerce lists $25–$350/month for hosting most stores. | Businesses that want WordPress content and commerce in one place. Extensions add features. |
| BigCommerce | Core $29/month billed yearly or $39billed monthly. | Retailers that sell across marketplaces or manage several storefronts. Additional storefronts can cost extra. |
| Wix | Core includes basic ecommerce and payments. Pricing varies by location. | Small shops that want a visual site builder and straightforward online sales. |
| Adobe Commerce | Quote-based. Price the package and implementation together. | Enterprise teams that need company accounts, quotes, purchase approvals, or localized storefronts. |
Which ecommerce platform fits your store?
Small retail shops and direct-to-consumer brands
Start with Shopify if the store is your main sales channel and the team needs to manage orders, promotions, and inventory in one system. Try Wix if you need a branded site with a simple shop. Ask the person who will run the store to add a size or color, set up a promotion, and issue a refund in each trial.
Stores that already run on WordPress
Start with WooCommerce if buyers rely on your product guides, articles, or landing pages to decide what to buy. Budget for hosting, extensions, and maintenance. Name the person who will test checkout after updates and recover the store if an update fails.
Wholesale, larger catalogs, and multiple storefronts
Compare BigCommerce and Shopify using a real product file. Try a bulk price update, check how inventory moves across channels, and verify which features come with the plan. Shopify offers several business-to-business (B2B) features on lower plans. Assigning a catalog directly to a specific company or location requires Plus. Shopify B2B features by plan
Include Adobe Commerce if your buyers need negotiated quotes, approval steps, or local storefronts. Ask the vendor to show two companies buying the same item at different contract prices, then check what a signed-out visitor sees. Adobe Commerce B2B guide
Marketplaces with independent sellers
Map who owns the order, who gets paid, and who handles returns. A marketplace may have to onboard sellers, split payments, and adjust a seller’s balance after a refund. Work through those requirements before choosing a platform or scoping any custom engineering.
At Boxinall, we rebuilt 98 Degree North’s Shopify storefront with a custom Liquid theme and mobile product layouts. For LoBecho, we built a mobile commerce product with local-language onboarding, UPI payments, cash on delivery, and payments split between vendors. If your model looks like LoBecho’s, ask the vendor to show what happens when a customer returns an item after the seller has already been paid. Check the buyer’s refund, the seller’s balance, and the finance record. 98 Degree North case study · LoBecho case study
Compare first-year costs with your real payment mix
Get quotes for the same store, order volume, and support coverage. Include setup, hosting, apps, and staff time. Ask each vendor to list payment processing, platform fees, and sales-volume charges separately. Shopify charges a plan-dependent fee on eligible third-party payment transactions. BigCommerce’s self-service plans can charge 2% on Core, 1% on Growth, and 0.6% on Scale for eligible sales through Open Payment Providers. Shopify fee rules · BigCommerce fee rules
Here are two hypothetical quotes for a retailer with $600,000 in first-year sales and staff time valued at $60 an hour. Option A charges 0.75% on sales routed through one payment provider. In this example that provider handles 40% of sales. Both options assume the same base payment processing costs, which are outside the table.
| First-year cost | Option A | Option B |
|---|---|---|
| Setup, integration, and testing | $3,400 | $4,700 |
| Plan, hosting, and apps | $185 × 12 = $2,220 | $135 × 12 = $1,620 |
| Maintenance and support | 6 hours/month = $4,320 | 8 hours/month = $5,760 |
| Additional platform fee | $1,800 | $0 |
| Total | $11,740 | $12,080 |
At 40% of sales through that provider, Option A costs $340 less. At 50%, the fee rises to $2,250 and Option B costs $110 less. The break-even point is about 48% of sales in this example. Use a recent payout statement to estimate your own mix and ask how the platform treats offline orders and refunds.
Count the staff time spent fixing exceptions, too. If 120 orders a month need an eight-minute inventory or payout adjustment, that’s 16 hours a month, or $11,520 a year at $60 an hour. Add it to your estimate if it’s outside the maintenance hours already quoted. If you’re weighing a rebuild, see our three-year cost and migration guide for Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom builds.
Put your shortlist through the same $90 test order
Run this in a test store with the people responsible for orders, shipping, and finance. Use the same products, discounts, and return rules on every platform. If you depend on an accounting or warehouse integration, ask to see the matching records in that system.
- Place the order. Buy a $60 item and a $40 item. Apply 10% off both and use $0 for tax and shipping in this test. Look for one $90 payment against the same order ID, with line totals of $54 and $36.
- Ship from two locations. Send one item from each location with a separate tracking number. Each warehouse should see the item it needs to pack. The customer should see which item is in each shipment.
- Refund the lower-priced item. Receive it back in sellable condition. The buyer should get $36, the discounted amount. The order should show $54 in net sales before fees, and stock should return to the location that received the item.
- Repeat the refund notification. Have your integration owner replay the same notification in the test system. Check that accounting records one refund and inventory records one return.
- Match the payout. Trace the order, refund, and fees across the payout reports. If your test account has no settlement report, ask for a redacted example using the same payment setup.
Add one test specific to your store. If you sell subscriptions, fail a renewal and recover the payment. If you sell wholesale, try placing an order above a buyer’s approval limit. If you offer cash on delivery, process a refused shipment and check what happens to the balance due and available stock.
Record which steps worked as shipped, which needed an app, and which required manual work or code. For each workaround, name who owns it and add the cost to your quote. Pick the platform that passes the workflows you need on launch day and fits the budget you can operate within.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest ecommerce platform for a small business?
Compare plans that cover your actual shipping and checkout requirements. Wix or Shopify can be economical if you want hosted commerce. WooCommerce can make sense if you already have WordPress hosting and someone to maintain it. Count the apps and payment fees you’ll pay after launch.
What should I ask for in an ecommerce platform demo?
Bring one real product variation, one awkward return, and one integration you rely on. Ask your team to operate the demo and have finance trace the order through the payout. If your business needs to keep historical records, ask for a sample export that includes product variants and a refunded order.
Need help narrowing the shortlist? Bring a typical order, a slow refund, and the integration your store depends on most. We’ll help you work out what each platform has to prove. Request a platform assessmentEcommerce Platform Comparison by Cost, Features, and Store Type
