10 Best Hosted Ecommerce Platforms In 2023

Adobe Commerce is a solid choice for enterprise-sized ecommerce organizations that want a wholly tailored platform.

Why I picked Adobe Commerce: This platform made the list because it can manage the needs of enterprise-sized ecommerce businesses. B2C and B2B merchants can use Adobe Commerce to create large-scale ecommerce stores. Adobe Commerce supports enterprise commerce organizations by offering a large selection of add-ons and extensions and a significant ecosystem of ecommerce professionals.

Adobe Commerce’s flexibility and customization capabilities make it an excellent choice for enterprise businesses with multiple brands. This platform is also a good option for enterprise-sized companies because you’ll likely need developers and designers to help maintain the site. This can raise the final cost of your store more significantly.

Adobe Commerce Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include a staging environment that allows you to safely update your online store and prevent possible issues due to downtime. Adobe Commerce also offers AI-powered customer personalization capabilities that enhance customers’ experience with your store by personalizing product recommendations and search results.

Integrations include connections with popular business management tools like Adobe Analytics, Inxmail, Kleene, LiveChat, Mailchimp, Salesforce, SAP, Supplysail, Tableau, Zendesk, and other software options. You can also use a paid Zapier account or Adobe Commerce’s API to make custom integrations.

Shopify is a beginner-friendly hosted ecommerce platform that provides everything businesses need to start and operate an online store.

Why I picked Shopify: If you’ve spent any amount of time within the ecommerce space, you’ve likely heard about Shopify. It’s the most popular ecommerce platform available in the market that allows you to quickly build an online store within minutes. Shopify provides everything you need to start an ecommerce business with tools that help you manage product inventory and customize your site without any coding experience.

All Shopify stores are beautifully designed and come with a solid technical infrastructure. Their main product is an online store builder, but the platform also offers a business name generator, logo maker, slogan maker, QR code generator, and much more. Shopify also has an app marketplace that allows you to add features and functionality to your online store.

Shopify Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include SEO capabilities that will make it easier for your business to generate traffic from search engines and get a head start in earning revenue. Shopify also offers high-level security tools that will help secure your customers’ credit card information thanks to a 256-bit SSL encryption, the same security level banks use.

Integrations include over 2,000 connections with a wide range of business tools, such as ClickSend, Domo, FreshBooks, GetResponse, LiveAgent, Mailchimp, monday.com, Odoo, ShipBob, Zendesk, and other software options. You can use the platform’s API or a paid Zapier account to create custom integrations when using Shopify.

Squarespace offers an extensive selection of high-quality templates and design options for ecommerce stores. It’s a perfect option for businesses that want a site with beautiful, rich imagery and effective layouts alongside their product listings.

Why I picked Squarespace: If you’re looking for a high-quality website template to get your ecommerce website started, I added Squarespace as a robust option for consideration. Squarespace offers a library of professionally designed online store templates you can edit with a simple drag-and-drop tool. If you ever want to change your store’s design, the platform allows you to do this without starting your store all over again.

Squarespace Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include unlimited products on both Basic and Advanced plans, including unlimited pages, galleries, and blogs with unlimited storage and bandwidth. Squarespace also offers online store management tools that handle shipping, fulfillment, payments, taxes, and more, in a centralized area.

Integrations include over 300 connections with standard systems used by many ecommerce businesses, such as Apple Pay, Disqus, Dropbox, FreshBooks, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Workspace, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, Stripe, and other software options. You can also create custom integrations using Squarespace’s API or a paid Zapier account.

BigCommerce is a robust ecommerce platform ideal for ecommerce merchants with extensive inventories. It helps online stores simplify inventory management, regardless of how many SKUs, warehouses, channels, and product variants they have.

Why I picked BigCommerce: You may already have an online ecommerce business offering an extensive product line to customers, so I wanted to add BigCommerce to this article because it can effectively help you manage your inventory. BigCommerce’s complex inventory management allows up to 600 variants to be tied to a single product. You might not need this level of variety, but if you have an SKU that offers many finishes, colors, sizes, and so on, BigCommerce will make it easy for your customers to shop.

BigCommerce also allows you to sell unlimited products with no limit on the number you can distribute. So to simplify adding such a large number of products to your online store, BigCommerce offers a straightforward product-adding interface. The platform uses a tabbed system to make it as easy for you to add as much or as little product information as necessary.

BigCommerce Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include omnichannel management tools that enable you to easily track customers and earnings and adjust channels’ settings for supported networks and marketplaces, such as Facebook, Amazon, eBay, and TikTok. BigCommerce also enables you to build and tailor your online store without knowledge of HTML or CSS.

Integrations include over 600 connections with systems many ecommerce businesses use to handle operations, such as Avalara, Constant Contact, Freshdesk, HubSpot Operations Hub, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, ShipBob, Wrike, Zendesk, Zoho CRM, and other software options. You can also use BigCommerce’s API or a paid Zapier account to create custom integrations with your systems.

Site123 offers an ecommerce builder tool that enables businesses to quickly create an online store without any development skills.

Why I picked Site123: I added Site123 to this article because it uses a modular website builder to help your business create a new store site. You start by choosing a pre-designed layout to build your site and then add the images, texts, and other elements you want to see in your store. Site123 also offers a range of ecommerce tools, such as order management capabilities, that will help increase your store’s success.

Site123 Standout Features and Integrations

Features include extensive control over your store’s SEO and a guide to help you adjust your pages to see more organic traffic. Site123 also provides reporting and analytics tools that track your essential store statistics, including site traffic, visitor location, and average time on site.

Integrations include an app market that allows you to connect Site123 to your current systems, like Authorize.net, Google Analytics, Heap, Inspectlet, Intercom, LiveChat, Lucky Orange, Optimizely, OptiMonk, Zendesk Chat, and other software options. You can also use a paid Zapier account to create custom integrations with your current systems and applications.

Wix is an excellent hosted ecommerce platform for individual sellers who aren’t going to carry a significant number of products in their inventory.

Why I picked Wix: For those who are starting an ecommerce store on their own, Wix makes a good option for your new small business. The platform offers a few helpful ecommerce capabilities, such as order tracking, online payment processing, and abandoned cart campaigns. Every Wix plan includes a custom domain free for one year, unlimited products, and the ability to sell on social media channels.

Wix Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include quick setup tools for new users that include hundreds of industry-specific templates to get you started. Wix also provides a free-form drag-and-drop tool that allows you to place website elements anywhere on your web page.

Integrations include a marketplace full of native connections to third-party systems that extend your store’s functionality, such as Constant Contact, Google Drive, HubSpot, Intercom, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, monday.com, Privy, QuickBooks, ShipStation, and other software options. You can also make custom integrations with Wix’s API or a paid Zapier account.

Volusion is the ideal choice for businesses using a dropshipping model in their operations. It offers dedicated dropshipping capabilities to simplify the process for merchants.

Why I picked Volusion: Dropshipping is becoming a trendy business model, especially for beginner ecommerce entrepreneurs with smaller budgets. So, I added Volusion to this article because of the tools it offers to help you manage your dropshipping store. The tools Volusion provides for dropshippers will help them quickly connect with vendors and sell their products.

Volusion Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include an advanced search functionality tool that helps your customers find products in your store. Volusion also provides design experts that can help you design professional, unique websites to impress shoppers.

Integrations include over 100 connections with tools that help you manage your entire ecommerce business, such as Affirm, Avalara, AWeber, Constant Contact, LiveAgent, OptiMonk, QuickBooks, ShipStation, SkuVault, Stripe, and other software options. You can use the API from Volusion or a paid Zapier account to create custom integrations.

Big Cartel promotes itself as a cart built for makers because it was founded to help artists and small brands sell their creations online.

Why I picked Big Cartel: I wanted to add Big Cartel to this list to help smaller, creative entrepreneurs sell their products. The platform is a cloud-based hosted ecommerce platform for artists and creative sellers to help establish an ecommerce store. It hosts an extensive number of online stores, most of them being merchants that sell jewelry, music, fashion, arts, crafts, and other various creative endeavors.

Big Cartel offers these businesses some standard features you would find in more prominent platforms, such as click-and-drag customization tools and access to third-party extensions. To help these small businesses, Big Cartel provides unlimited bandwidth and orders without paying additional fees.

Big Cartel Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include store analytics to help you monitor your business’s performance from any device. Big Cartel also allows you to track order shipping from the dashboard and ensure customers receive your products.

Integrations include connections with various tools, add-ons, and extensions to help you get the most out of your store, such as Dext Commerce, Elfsight, Google Analytics, LiveChat, Lucky Orange, Mailchimp, Printful, ShipRobot, ShipStation, Stripe, and other software options. You can also use a paid Zapier account or Big Cartel’s API to create custom integrations with your toolset.

Shift4Shop offers a free hosted ecommerce platform only available to businesses in the U.S. Organizations outside of the U.S. are required to pay a monthly fee.

Why I picked Shift4Shop: The platform allows U.S.-based ecommerce businesses to create a free online store. If you’re in the U.S., you can use Shift4Shop to create custom checkout pages with either one or three pages or allow customers to checkout as a guest. Shift4Shop also provides a wide range of advanced features to help you create excellent websites without any hassles.

Shift4Shop Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include an extensive website builder that allows you to create a website that fits your brand and what you’re selling. Shift4Shop also offers built-in SEO tools to simplify the tasks necessary to rank your website high in search engine rankings.

Integrations include connections with over 100 third-party systems and tools to extend your store’s functionality and increase productivity, such as Appy Pie, AWeber, Drip, Klaviyo, LiveAgent, Make, Order Desk, Sellercloud, ShipStation, Shiptheory, and other software options. You can also use a paid Zapier account to connect Shift4Shop to thousands of the most popular apps.

NetSuite Commerce is an ecommerce platform that helps large-sized merchants meet customers wherever they prefer to buy products. The platform offers a centralized inventory and order management view across all sales channels.

Why I picked NetSuite Commerce: If you’re operating a large ecommerce business and utilizing multiple sales channels to sell products, NetSuite Commerce can effectively help manage your operations. The omnichannel ecommerce platform connects all your sales channels instead of separating them into silos. NetSuite Commerce can effectively handle all key processes for every channel in a single system.

NetSuite Commerce empowers you to monitor all inventory across your sales channels and equips your marketing and sales teams with the information they need to improve strategies. The platform helps you handle order fulfillment processes, from order capture to delivery, and improves customer service. With all its omnichannel features, you can ensure simple ecommerce operations for everyone involved.

NetSuite Commerce Standout Features and Integrations

Standout features include a unified customer relationship management tool that helps your company manage relationships and interactions with existing and potential customers. The platform also can assist you with customer support by providing customer information and product availability; it also offers artificial intelligence technology that answers frequently asked questions.

Integrations include connections with a small number of third-party applications. These include systems such as Affirm, Itembase, Lightyear, LiveChat, NetSuite CRM, Neuron ESB, Pacejet, Shipwire, and ZoneBilling.