The Best Ecommerce Platform for a Small Shop, and What Each One Costs at Your Sales Level

Key takeaways

• Shopify is the best fit if the shop is the business. Every ranking list we read names it, and Basic with Shopify Payments comes to $204 a month at $5,000 in sales on our worked example.
• Square Free is the cheapest way to begin. It costs $0 a month, with a higher online rate of 3.3% + 30¢. It stays cheaper than Shopify Basic up to about $7,250 a month in sales.
• Wix suits a service business that also sells a few products. Core works out the same as Shopify Basic on our sums, and it adds scheduling.
• Etsy costs the most per sale and brings its own shoppers. At $5,000 a month its listed fees come to about $520, against $204, but no standalone shop starts with buyers already searching.
• Squarespace's cheapest plan gets dearer as you sell more. Its 2% commerce fee adds $100 a month at $5,000 in sales, and Core drops that fee for about $10 more.
• WooCommerce looks cheapest on paper. The sum leaves out your own time on updates, which is the real price.

We did not run stores on these platforms for this page. The fees come from each maker's pages, and the sums are ours. Amariq builds online stores on several of them, so we have a stake in the subject.

The short answer

What each one costs at three sales levels

This is the table we did not find on the pages we read. It adds the plan price to the fees on each sale, assuming a $50 average order paid by a domestic card through the platform's own payment service. So $1,000 is 20 orders, $5,000 is 100 and $15,000 is 300.

Worked example, Shopify Basic at $5,000: the plan is $29, 2.9% of $5,000 is $145, and 100 orders at 30¢ is $30, so $204. Etsy at the same level: 6.5% transaction fee is $325, 3% processing is $150, 25¢ on 100 orders is $25, and a 20¢ listing renewal on 100 sold items is $20, so $520.

Please read this as a comparison of fees, not as your final bill. Our ecommerce website cost guide adds the build and shows how many orders pay it back. It leaves out shipping, sales tax, paid apps, a domain, premium card rates, and advertising. Etsy's Offsite Ads charge a further 12% to 15% on orders those ads bring in, and shops past $10,000 in yearly sales cannot opt out.

Where the lines cross

• Square Free against Shopify Basic. Square charges 0.4% more per sale and Shopify charges $29 a month. $29 divided by 0.4% is $7,250 a month in sales.
• Square Free against Square Plus. The same 0.4%, and $49 a month. That crosses at $12,250.
• Squarespace Basic against Core. The 2% fee against about $10 a month crosses at about $500 in sales.
• Etsy against your own Shopify store. At a $50 order, Etsy costs about 6.9% of sales more, so on fees alone it passes $29 at about $420 a month. That only counts fees. A shop on your own domain has to find its own visitors, and that costs money too.

Sources for the fees, read 5 November 2026

• Square online store plans: Free $0, Plus $49, Premium $149, per location, with the rates above.
• Etsy fees policy, last updated 5 October 2026: 0.20 USD listing, 6.5% transaction. The 3% + 25¢ US processing rate comes from Etsy's own help result in Google.
• Wix plans: Core $29 on yearly billing. Wix Payments fees: 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards, as Wix's help result shows in Google.
• Squarespace plan guide, updated 28 October 2026: fees by plan.
• WooPayments fees: 2.90% + $0.30 on US cards, no setup or monthly fee. The $17 hosting example is Hostinger's Unlimited renewal price of $16.99, rounded, from our WordPress hosting guide, read 1 November.

Shopify and Squarespace price by the visitor's country, so we did not rely on what their pages show us. Shopify's $29, $79 and $299 yearly prices are from Google's US copy of its page, and the 2.9%, 2.7% and 2.5% online rates come from guides dated July to October 2026 that agree with each other. The Squarespace prices come from JPK Design Co's plan guide. Confirm yours on the maker's page.

What the ranking pages say, and who wrote them

We searched Google (United States, English) on 5 November 2026. Shopify appears on all of these. The other picks differ, and the publishers have varied interests.

They are useful for what each tool does, and Zapier's use-case list is a good one. What we did not find on the pages we read was a monthly total at a set sales level. Shop owners tend to think in sales, so that is the question this page tries to answer.

The platforms, one by one

Shopify. MRPeasy calls it the safest all-round choice for small businesses, and Zapier picks it for getting up and running quickly. Using an outside payment provider adds a fee, which our Shopify cost guide sets out along with apps and themes. Budget for apps, since they are where the bill tends to grow.

Square. It suits a seller who already takes payments in person, since Zapier picks it for selling in-person and online. Square's Free plan includes a website builder and pickup, local delivery and shipping. The Plus plan adds subscriptions and QR code ordering. Square asks larger sellers, above $250,000 a year, to talk to its team for custom pricing.

Wix. Expert Market ranks it first for small US businesses. Core lists "basic eCommerce" and Business, at $39, lists "standard eCommerce", so check the compare page for the store features you need. Our Wix cost guide adds up the first year.

Squarespace. Its Basic plan already lists unlimited products, point of sale and subscription products, which is generous. Choose Core once your sales pass about $500 a month. Our builder guide shows how it compares for service businesses.

WooCommerce. The plugin runs on WordPress, so you add hosting and keep it maintained. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce post shows who looks after what, and paying for a care plan would change this row's total, so add it if you will not do the work yourself.

Etsy. It is a marketplace, not a site of your own. You pay more per sale, and shoppers arrive looking for that kind of item. Many sellers run both. Etsy also sells a small website tool, Pattern, at $15 a month.

Ecwid by Lightspeed. Zapier picks it for starting cheap and growing. Its pricing page showed us Starter at $5, Venture at $29 and Business at $49 a month on annual billing, with limits of 10, 100 and 2,500 products. Other sites quote different figures, so check for yourself. It adds a store to a site you already have, which is its best use.

BigCommerce. Zapier picks it for large-volume sellers. Search results give about $29 a month on annual billing for its entry plan, but we could not read a current price on its own page, so it is left out of the table.

Webflow. Fine if design is the point and the range is small. See Webflow Ecommerce vs Shopify for where it stops.

How to choose for your shop

1. Work out your likely monthly sales. Be honest about the first year, and use the crossing points above.
2. Count your products and variants. A range of 10 is a different job from 2,000, and plan limits differ.
3. Decide where you sell in person. If you do, the till matters as much as the website.
4. Ask where shoppers will come from. With no audience yet, a marketplace can pay for itself while you build one.
5. Check the checkout payment methods. Your customers may expect wallets or instalments, and these can carry a higher rate.
6. Decide who runs it. Someone has to update stock, answer orders and fix what breaks.

Your domain, your data, your exit

Whichever you pick, keep the domain in your own name. Export your customer and order lists regularly. Check what comes with you if you move, since themes rarely do. If you plan to switch later, redirects protect your search rankings, as our redesign SEO checklist explains. For the design side, a small shop can begin with a theme, and ecommerce website design for small brands shows what to get right first, and our guide to what a website costs shows what paying for custom work involves.

How we help at Amariq

Our work on stores includes UV Gadget Baba, a real client's ecommerce site. We can set up a shop on Shopify, WooCommerce, Webflow, Wix or Squarespace, picking the platform for your numbers and not ours. A quote comes from the scope of the job, and hours are not how we charge. Three stages cover payment: 40% up front, 30% on design sign-off and 30% just before launch. When that last payment clears, you own the design, copy and code, and the domain, hosting and analytics stay under accounts in your name. Read more on our web design services page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best ecommerce platform for a small business?

Shopify, if selling products online is the main business. Square Free suits a seller with a physical shop or low online sales, Wix Core suits a service firm with a few products, and Etsy suits handmade goods while you test demand.

What is the cheapest ecommerce platform for a small business?

On our sums, Square Free at low sales, since it has no monthly fee. At $5,000 a month, WooCommerce with a $17 host comes out lowest at $192, not counting your time. At $15,000 it is still WooCommerce, then Shopify Basic, Wix Core and Squarespace Core at about $554.

Is Shopify or Squarespace better for a small business?

Shopify for a shop that lives on orders, stock and many channels. Squarespace for a brand or service site that also sells a small range. On Core, Squarespace's fee matches Shopify Basic's on our example, so choose on how you work and not on price.

Are there monthly fees on Square Online?

The Square Free plan is $0 a month per location, and you pay 3.3% + 30¢ on online card sales. Plus is $49 a month with 2.9% + 30¢, and Premium is $149 at the same online rate.

Do I need an LLC for ecommerce?

The platforms' plan pages we read do not ask for one, but tax and registration rules depend on where you are and what you sell. Ask a local accountant or adviser. This is not legal or tax advice.

Can I sell online without a website?

Yes. Etsy and other marketplaces give you a shop without one, and our guide on whether you need a website shows when that is enough. You trade a higher fee per sale for shoppers who are already there.

What does a custom ecommerce site cost?

Published ranges vary widely, and we set them out in how much a website costs. A theme on a hosted platform costs far less than a custom design, and suits most small shops at the start.