Best E-commerce tools

E-commerce platforms provide everything needed to sell products online — product catalogs, shopping carts, checkout, payment processing, and order management. The market ranges from all-in-one hosted solutions (Shopify, BigCommerce) to headless and open-source options (Medusa, Saleor) for developers who want full control.

Shopify dominates for good reason: it handles complexity behind a simple interface and has a massive app ecosystem. However, its transaction fees (unless using Shopify Payments) and customization limits push some businesses toward alternatives.

When choosing an e-commerce platform, consider your product type (physical vs digital), customization needs, transaction fee tolerance, and technical capabilities. For most businesses, starting simple and migrating when you outgrow the platform is better than over-engineering from day one.

S Sellfy E-commerce platform for creators selling digital products, subscriptions, and merch. $22/mo S Squarespace Commerce Beautiful e-commerce built into Squarespace's website builder platform. $27/mo Shopify Leading e-commerce platform for building online stores with themes, apps, and payments. $29/mo BigCommerce E-commerce platform with headless commerce, multi-channel selling, and B2B features. $29/mo T Thinkific Online course platform for creators and businesses to build, market, and sell courses and communities. Free WooCommerce Open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress with extensions and payment gateways. Free Medusa Open-source headless commerce platform built with Node.js for developer-first e-commerce. Free Saleor Open-source, GraphQL-first headless commerce platform for high-volume stores. Free Gumroad Simplest platform for selling digital products, courses, and memberships. Free Lemonsqueezy All-in-one for digital sales, subscriptions, and licensing with built-in tax handling. Free