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Best Ecommerce Platform for Small Business: Real 2026 Costs
James Crawford
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Start for freeThe best ecommerce platform for a small business is the one whose real yearly cost — subscription plus platform fees at your sales volume — stays low as you grow. At $5,000 a month in online sales, Square Online's free plan is cheapest at about $240 a year in extra card fees, and LaunchMyStore Starter is the cheapest paid plan that holds 100 products, at $288 a year ($230.40 with the current FLAT20 code). Shopify wins on app selection, Wix on simplicity for small catalogs, and Squarespace on design. Sourced prices and the full math are below.
- Entry plans cost $19 to $29 a month billed annually: Squarespace Basic $19, LaunchMyStore Starter $24, and Wix Core, Shopify Basic, and BigCommerce Core $29 each (each vendor's pricing page, checked November 2026).
- Platform transaction fees outweigh the sticker price. Squarespace Basic charges 2% per sale, and Shopify adds 2% on Basic if you use a third-party gateway — $1,200 a year at $5,000 a month in sales.
- BigCommerce moves you from Core to its Growth plan ($79/month billed yearly) once trailing sales pass $30,000 a year, and since June 2026 it adds 2% on Core for payment gateways outside its approved list.
- Square Online's free plan has no subscription but charges 3.3% + 30¢ per online sale, versus 2.9% + 30¢ on its paid plans.
- Check what the entry plan actually includes. LaunchMyStore Starter includes premium themes and all 34+ payment gateways; multi-currency and subscriptions start on its Gold plan.
Prices at a Glance (Checked November 2026)
For a small business, entry plans run from $0 to $29 a month billed yearly. LaunchMyStore Starter, our pick, costs $24 with 0% platform fees, premium themes and 104 storefront languages included; Square Online's free plan has no subscription but charges 3.3% + 30¢ per online card sale, Ecwid starts at $5 for 10 products, and Shopify Basic, Wix Core and BigCommerce Core cost $29 each.
Prices checked November 2026 on each platform's own pricing or fee page, linked in the table. US prices in USD; card processing is extra unless a row says otherwise. LaunchMyStore publishes this guide.
Why LaunchMyStore Is Our Pick
Every LaunchMyStore plan includes 0% platform transaction fees on all 34+ gateways, 104 storefront languages, premium themes, custom price lists for wholesale and B2B customers, and the Nova AI agent with an MCP server; product reviews are free with Foundry Reviews, LaunchMyStore's own reviews app, and Platinum adds a POS with 2 seats at no extra cost. A small business selling up to 100 products without variants needs Starter ($24 a month billed yearly, $30 monthly); sizes, colors, subscriptions and multi-currency need Gold ($70 a month billed yearly).
Pick something else if you need a specific app from Shopify's 16,000+, sell more than 5,000 products, take most payments at a counter (Square Online's free plan pairs with Square's point of sale), or only need a store inside a site you already run (Ecwid). The figures sit side by side in LaunchMyStore vs Shopify, LaunchMyStore vs Wix, LaunchMyStore vs Squarespace, LaunchMyStore vs Square Online, LaunchMyStore vs Ecwid and the six-platform comparison table. Moving from Wix? Start with the Wix migration guide. You can run your own numbers in the ecommerce platform cost calculator, and see every LaunchMyStore feature and current plan prices.
Why Does Platform Choice Matter More on a Small Budget?
Because a small business pays for a platform mistake twice: once in fees that scale with every sale, and again if it has to migrate. A $29 plan with a 2% transaction fee costs an extra $1,200 a year at $5,000 a month in sales — more than three years of the subscription itself. The monthly sticker price is the least important number on the pricing page.
That is why this comparison ranks platforms on what you actually pay at a realistic volume, not on the headline plan. Four things decide the real cost: the subscription, any platform fee charged per sale, what the entry plan leaves out, and whether growth forces you onto a more expensive tier.
What Should a Small Business Look For in an Ecommerce Platform?
For a team of one to five people, five criteria predict whether you will still be happy with a platform a year from now. Feature grids with forty rows mostly measure things a small store will never use; these five measure what reaches your margin and your evenings.
- Real yearly cost at your volume: subscription plus platform fees, calculated at the sales you actually expect.
- Platform transaction fees: a percentage the platform takes on top of card processing. Some charge 0%; some charge 2%.
- What the entry plan includes: payment gateways, themes, inventory, and discounts — versus features locked to higher tiers.
- Forced upgrades: whether crossing a sales threshold moves you to a pricier plan automatically.
- Time to launch without a developer: whether a non-technical owner can go live in a weekend.
What Are the Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Business in 2026?
The eight platforms below are the ones small businesses shortlist most. Each gets the same treatment: what it costs, who it suits, and the catch worth knowing before you commit. Prices were checked on each vendor's pricing page in November 2026 and are billed annually unless stated.
LaunchMyStore publishes this guide and is our pick, so it comes first; the rest follow by entry price billed yearly, lowest first.
1. LaunchMyStore: Our Pick
Every LaunchMyStore plan includes 0% platform transaction fees on all 34+ payment gateways, 104 storefront languages, premium themes and the theme editor, the Nova AI agent with an MCP server, and custom price lists for wholesale and B2B customers; product reviews are free with Foundry Reviews, LaunchMyStore's own reviews app. Starter costs $24 a month billed yearly ($288 a year), or $30 month to month, with a 7-day free trial (LaunchMyStore pricing), and is currently 20% off with the public FLAT20 code ($19.20 a month billed yearly). It also includes inventory management, discounts, advanced SEO tools and business analytics.
The limits are tier-based, so check them against your plans. Starter holds up to 100 products. Product variants (such as sizes and colors), multi-currency, digital products, subscriptions, marketing automation, and the Shopify and WooCommerce importer start on Gold ($70 a month billed yearly). Platinum ($132 a month billed yearly) adds a POS with 2 seats included. Its app marketplace lists 55+ apps, far fewer than Shopify's 16,000+, so confirm any must-have integration first.
2. Square Online — Best If You Also Sell In Person
Square Online has a free plan with no monthly subscription; instead you pay processing on each sale, which on the free plan is 3.3% + 30¢ for online payments (Square, November 2026). It connects directly to Square's point-of-sale hardware, so it suits cafés, market stalls, and shops that sell both at a counter and online.
Free is not free at volume. Square's Plus plan, at $49 a month per location, lowers online card fees to 2.9% + 30¢ (Square pricing), so the free plan's extra 0.4% costs about $240 a year at $5,000 a month in online sales. Store design and catalog features are also more basic than the dedicated ecommerce platforms.
3. Ecwid — Best for Adding a Store to a Site You Already Have
Ecwid is an ecommerce widget that embeds a store inside an existing website — WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or a plain HTML site — and on social channels. That means you can start selling without rebuilding a site you already run and rank with, which no other platform here does as directly.
Ecwid no longer offers a free plan on ecwid.com: Starter costs $5 a month for up to 10 products and Venture $29 a month billed yearly ($35 monthly) for up to 100, with no transaction fees on any plan (Ecwid pricing, November 2026). Because the store lives inside another site, its speed and design depend partly on the host site, and you are running two systems instead of one.
4. Squarespace — Best for Design-Led Brands
Squarespace starts at $19 a month billed yearly on its Basic plan ($25 monthly), but Basic charges a 2% fee on every product sale. Moving to Core at $29 a month billed yearly removes that fee (Squarespace pricing, Squarespace transaction fees, November 2026). Squarespace's templates are the most polished in this list, which suits brands where the look of the store is part of what customers are buying.
Do the fee math before choosing Basic. Core costs $120 a year more, and the 2% fee on Basic costs $120 once you sell $6,000 a year — so above roughly $500 a month in sales, Core is the cheaper plan. Digital content and memberships carry separate, higher fees on the lower plans: 7% on Basic and 5% on Core.
5. WooCommerce — Best for Developers Who Want Full Control
WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress, so the software itself costs nothing, but you supply and maintain everything around it: hosting, SSL, security, backups, and updates. WooCommerce itself estimates hosting at $25 to $350 a month for most stores (WooCommerce pricing, November 2026). It offers near-unlimited customization and full ownership of your data and infrastructure.
It rewards technical owners with total control and charges everyone else in maintenance time. Premium extensions, a theme, and hosting all add up, and a WordPress update can break a plugin at the worst moment. If you would rather not run a server, read our full breakdown of the best WooCommerce alternatives.
6. Shopify — Best App Ecosystem
Shopify's Basic plan costs $39 a month, or $29 billed yearly (Shopify pricing, November 2026), and its biggest advantage is the largest app store of any hosted platform, with over 16,000 apps (Shopify App Store), so almost any niche feature already exists as an install. Card processing through Shopify Payments starts at 2.9% + 30¢ per online sale on Basic (Shopify, October 2026).
The catch is the gateway surcharge. Use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments and Shopify adds its own fee on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced. Many features other platforms bundle come from paid apps, so the real monthly cost usually sits above the plan price. Compare exits in our guide to the best Shopify alternatives.
7. Wix — Best for a Small, Simple Catalog
Wix's Core plan, its entry ecommerce tier, costs $29 a month billed yearly, and Wix is the easiest drag-and-drop builder here for getting a small store online fast. Its strength is the editor: you can place anything anywhere, which suits a handful of products presented like a brand site.
Wix Core costs $29 a month billed yearly or $36 month to month (Wix, November 2026), so monthly billing adds about 24%. The commerce tools are lighter than dedicated platforms, and the free-form editor gets harder to manage as a catalog grows. See the best Wix alternatives if you expect to scale.
8. BigCommerce — Best for Large Catalogs
BigCommerce's Core plan costs $39 a month, or $29 billed yearly. It charges no platform fee on orders paid through its approved providers, which include Stripe and PayPal, but since June 2026 it adds 2% on Core for any other gateway (BigCommerce, 2026). Its strong built-in catalog and inventory tools remain the draw. That makes it a good fit for stores carrying many products and variants that would otherwise need several apps elsewhere.
BigCommerce ties plans to sales volume. Once your trailing twelve months of sales pass $30,000 you move to Growth at $79 a month billed yearly ($105 monthly), and past $100,000 to Scale at $299 a month billed yearly (BigCommerce pricing, October 2026). The low entry price only holds while you are small, so model where your sales will be next year, not this month.
How Do These Ecommerce Platforms Compare?
The table below lines up entry price, platform transaction fees, and forced upgrades — the three numbers that decide what a small store really pays. Card processing is separate on every platform and not shown here. For a wider feature-by-feature scoring, see our complete guide to choosing an ecommerce platform.
| Platform | Entry Plan (billed yearly) | Platform Transaction Fee | Forced Upgrade by Sales? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaunchMyStore (our pick) | $24/mo Starter ($30 monthly) | 0% — gateway rate only | No | A low fixed cost with 0% platform fees |
| Square Online | Free | None; 3.3% + 30¢ online processing on the free plan | No | Selling in person and online |
| Ecwid | $5/mo Starter (up to 10 products) | 0% | No | Adding a store to an existing site |
| Squarespace | $19/mo Basic ($25 monthly) | 2% on Basic; 0% from Core ($29/mo) | No | Design-led brands |
| WooCommerce | Free plugin, plus $25–$350/mo hosting | 0% — gateway rate only | No | Developers |
| Shopify | $29/mo Basic ($39 monthly) | 0% with Shopify Payments; 2% on Basic with a third-party gateway | No | Largest app selection |
| Wix | $29/mo Core ($36 monthly) | 0% | No | Small, simple catalogs |
| BigCommerce | $29/mo Core ($39 monthly) | 0% via approved gateways; 2% on Core otherwise | Yes — at $30K and $100K a year | Large catalogs |
Entry-Plan Price per Month, Billed Annually (Checked November 2026)
Subscription only. Platform fees and card processing are extra — see the yearly cost table below. Sources: Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, Square, and LaunchMyStore pricing pages, checked November 2026. LaunchMyStore shown at list price; 20% off with the FLAT20 code.
Which Ecommerce Platform Is Cheapest Over a Full Year?
At $5,000 a month in online sales, Square Online's free plan is the cheapest at about $240 a year in extra card fees, with LaunchMyStore Starter next at $288 ($230.40 with the FLAT20 code) for up to 100 products. The plans that look cheapest on a pricing page — Squarespace Basic, or Shopify Basic with an outside payment gateway — become the most expensive, because a per-sale fee grows with every order.
| Platform and Plan | Subscription (1 year) | Platform Fees at $60,000 Sales | Year-One Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Online (free plan) | $0 | About $240 (0.4% processing premium) | About $240 |
| LaunchMyStore Starter (up to 100 products) | $288 | $0 | $288 |
| WooCommerce (hosting only) | $300–$4,200 | $0 | $300–$4,200, plus extensions |
| Ecwid Venture (up to 100 products) | $348 | $0 | $348 |
| Shopify Basic (Shopify Payments) | $348 | $0 | $348 |
| Wix Core | $348 | $0 | $348 |
| Squarespace Core | $348 | $0 | $348 |
| LaunchMyStore Gold (variants) | $840 | $0 | $840 |
| BigCommerce Growth (sales above $30,000) | $948 | $0 | $948 |
| Squarespace Basic | $228 | $1,200 (2%) | $1,428 |
| Shopify Basic (third-party gateway) | $348 | $1,200 (2%) | $1,548 |
How we calculated this: $5,000 a month is $60,000 a year. Subscription = the billed-yearly monthly price × 12 (Starter $24 × 12 = $288; $29 × 12 = $348). Platform fees = the platform's percentage × $60,000, so 2% is $1,200. Square's free plan = (3.3% − 2.9%) × $60,000 = $240, its online card rate against the 2.9% + 30¢ that Square Plus and Stripe charge. BigCommerce is priced at Growth ($79 × 12 = $948) because $60,000 passes Core's $30,000 cap. WooCommerce = Woo's $25–$350 monthly hosting estimate × 12, before extensions. Card processing is left out because every option pays it. Prices checked November 2026.
Like for like: we add a paid app only where a free option doesn't match what LaunchMyStore Starter includes. Shopify's reviews are covered by Judge.me's free plan and 24 of its themes are free, so we add $0 (Judge.me's $15-a-month plan, per its Shopify App Store listing, or a $100–$500 premium theme would be optional extras). WooCommerce has reviews in its free core, Squarespace and BigCommerce include them, and Wix has its own reviews app; LaunchMyStore's reviews are free with Foundry Reviews. The example sells in one language: a second would add MultilingualPress ($149 a year, WooCommerce) to WooCommerce, while Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app (up to 20 languages), BigCommerce (5) and Wix (180+) cover it at no cost.
Two lessons fall out of this. First, a 2% platform fee is the most expensive line a small store can carry: at this volume it costs $1,200 a year, more than three years of any entry subscription on the list. Second, a free plan charges you per sale instead of per month, which is why Square's free tier costs about $240 a year, the same as a $20-a-month subscription, once you sell about $5,000 a month.
BigCommerce appears at Growth because its Core plan matches the $348 group only until trailing sales pass $30,000; at $60,000 a year it moves you to Growth at $79 a month billed yearly, or $948 a year. All figures exclude standard card processing, which you pay on every platform. For startup costs beyond the platform, see how much it costs to start an online store.
Which Ecommerce Platform Is Easiest If You're Not Technical?
Every hosted platform here — LaunchMyStore, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, Square Online, and Ecwid — handles hosting, security patches, and backups for you, so a non-technical owner can launch in a weekend. WooCommerce is the exception: you run the server, SSL certificate, backups, and plugin updates yourself.
Launch speed is only half of "easy." The other half is how the admin holds up a year later, with hundreds of products and daily orders. Test that during a free trial by loading 10 to 20 real products and processing one test order from checkout to refund. Every platform in the hosted group is a cloud-based ecommerce platform, which is what makes that weekend launch possible.
Which Ecommerce Platform Should a Small Business Choose?
Match the platform to your situation rather than to its marketing. Most small businesses fit one of the scenarios below, and the right answer changes with how much you sell, where you sell, and how much of the system you want to run yourself.
- Selling online on a tight budget: LaunchMyStore Starter — the cheapest paid plan here that holds 100 products, 0% platform transaction fees, and premium themes plus every payment gateway on the entry plan (product variants need Gold).
- You need one specific niche app: Shopify — the app almost certainly exists. Budget for app subscriptions and use Shopify Payments to avoid the 2% surcharge.
- Under 20 products, simplicity first: Wix — the fastest drag-and-drop start.
- The design is the product: Squarespace Core. Skip Basic once you pass about $500 a month in sales.
- Large catalog, fast growth expected: BigCommerce, with its sales thresholds priced into your plan.
- You also sell in person: Square Online, paired with Square's point of sale.
- You already have a website that ranks: Ecwid, embedded into the site you have.
- You are a developer who wants total control: WooCommerce, with maintenance budgeted honestly.
Pro Tip: Whatever you shortlist, build a 10-product test store on the free trial and process one real order end to end — checkout, shipping label, and refund. Thirty minutes of doing beats thirty tabs of reviews, and it is how most painful migrations get avoided. Then follow our step-by-step launch guide.
Running a bakery, café or home-food business? Read the best ecommerce platforms for food and bakery businesses, which compares delivery zones, pickup and order scheduling. If you also sell in a shop, see the best POS and online store for retail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best ecommerce platform for a small business in 2026?
It depends on your sales volume, but our pick is LaunchMyStore Starter: the cheapest paid plan here that holds 100 products, at $288 a year with 0% platform fees, premium themes and 104 storefront languages included. Square Online's free plan costs less at $5,000 a month (about $240 a year in extra card fees); Shopify wins on apps, Wix on simplicity and Square Online for selling in person.
What is the cheapest ecommerce platform for a small business?
Square Online's free plan is the cheapest way to start: no subscription, but 3.3% + 30¢ per online card sale. Ecwid Starter costs $5 a month for 10 products. For bigger catalogs, LaunchMyStore Starter ($24 a month billed yearly, 0% platform fees) costs less than Square's free plan once you sell more than about $6,000 a month.
How much does an ecommerce platform cost per month?
Entry plans cost $19 to $29 a month billed annually in 2026: Squarespace Basic $19, LaunchMyStore Starter $24, and Wix Core, Shopify Basic, and BigCommerce Core $29 each. Square Online has a free plan. Monthly billing costs more — Shopify Basic is $39 and LaunchMyStore Starter $30 when paid month to month.
Do ecommerce platforms charge transaction fees?
Some do, on top of card processing. Squarespace charges 2% per sale on Basic, and Shopify adds 2% on Basic with a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments. LaunchMyStore, Wix, and WooCommerce charge 0% platform transaction fees, so you pay only your gateway's rate. BigCommerce does too through approved providers, but adds 2% on Core with any other gateway.
Can I switch ecommerce platforms later?
Yes, but plan it. You will move products, customers, and order history, then set up redirects so search rankings carry over. LaunchMyStore's Gold plan includes a Shopify and WooCommerce importer, and most platforms offer import tools or migration partners. Choosing for where you expect to be in 12 to 24 months avoids an early move.
Do I need technical skills to run a small online store?
Not on a hosted platform. LaunchMyStore, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, Square Online, and Ecwid all handle hosting, security, and updates, with guided setup and ready-made themes. Only self-hosted WooCommerce expects you to manage a server, SSL certificate, backups, and plugin updates yourself.
Should a small business sell on its own site or on marketplaces?
Usually both, in that order. Marketplaces bring ready traffic but take a referral fee on every sale and keep the customer relationship; Amazon's fees run from 3% to 45% by category (Amazon, November 2026). Your own store keeps that margin and lets you market to repeat buyers. Compare the trade-offs in own store vs. marketplace.
Written by
James Crawford
Ecommerce Specialist at LaunchMyStore. Helping online businesses scale with data-driven strategies and the latest ecommerce best practices.
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