15 Best CMS For Ecommerce in 2026: What a CMS Is and How to Choose One

In the ecommerce sector, online sales are expected to increase by 7.89 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2028, indicating a noticeable shift in consumer behavior towards digital transactions. The growth underscores the rising significance of online shopping in the market.

As businesses adapt, there is an increased demand for effective online ecommerce platforms. The main tool for these purposes and for convenient online business management in general is a wisely selected content management system (CMS). We describe the top CMS for ecommerce and its essential technical features, advantages, disadvantages, available versions, and pricing. Read on to get insights on what ecommerce CMS to choose for your online store.

Discover the optimal ecommerce CMS for your business needs! Reach out to us for expert guidance in selecting the platform tailored to your store’s requirements. Get a consultation

Discover the optimal CMS for your business needs! Reach out to us for expert guidance in selecting the ecommerce platform tailored to your store's requirements. Get a consultation

Table of Contents

What is an ecommerce CMS
Ecommerce CMS categories
Major advantages of having a separate CMS for ecommerce
How to choose the best ecommerce CMS
Best CMS for ecommerce
Ecommerce CMS Comparison Table

What is an Ecommerce CMS

An ecommerce CMS is an important software for online store owners. It enables them to craft, modify, and publish digital content without coding. With the help of CMS platforms, you can manage your content on the online store. An ecommerce platform allows you to create a website and an online store. Here are the main features of such systems:

• helps to create, edit, and publish product pages
• incorporates promotional banners
• manages product listings
• allows your audience to purchase products directly through your website
• offers advertising, showcasing, and overall product management solutions

When searching the landscape of the best ecommerce CMS and its options, it can generally be categorized as either Software as a Service (SaaS) or open-source CMS platforms. Both aim to simplify website content creation, formatting, storage, and publication, but an ecommerce CMS is designed to focus on building and managing online stores.

Ecommerce CMS Categories

When you decide which of CMS platforms is best for ecommerce, you face a decision of whether to opt for an open-source platform or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Each choice has distinct characteristics that cater to different business needs and preferences.

SaaS Platforms function as cloud-ready solutions tailored for any business, particularly those lacking extensive coding experience. These CMS platforms offer:

• The basic package of a SaaS platform encompasses all necessary features to initiate and promote a webshop
• Provided templates used for website creation
• Included hosting and maintenance services
• Often requires a monthly or annual subscription

However, the lack of complete customizability due to restricted access to the source code hinders online store owners from having complete control over the website’s functionality.

Prominent examples of SaaS platforms include Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and BigCommerce.

Open-source platforms provide a different paradigm, offering software with freely downloadable source code. Here are some of the most distinctive features of these systems:

• Allows building and modifying a PHP ecommerce website according to business needs
• Offers functions for flexible, scalable, and customizable websites
• Provides freedom to choose hosting preferences
• Free to download and modify

Note that basic versions with a set of features don’t include installation, security, hosting, maintenance, and support. Examples of open-source platforms are Magento Open Source, PrestaShop, Shopware, and WooCommerce.

Major Advantages of Having a Separate CMS for Ecommerce

Any business aiming to enhance its digital footprint should consider adopting CMS. Integrating an ecommerce CMS can significantly elevate the effectiveness of your marketing team, content operations, and overall customer experience. Here’s what a suitable CMS for ecommerce businesses can offer:

Easy to create and update the content

With a well-chosen ecommerce CMS, users can easily manage their website content without using extra coding skills. You can hire a cheaper specialist as a website administrator rather than a developer for simple website changes.

Developing a new channel to connect with potential customers

With social media channels such as Instagram or Facebook becoming increasingly popular, ecommerce brands must be active on social media. Having shareable and well-organized content is critical to building a brand and increasing the audience’s loyalty.

Good for SEO and search engine rankings

A good CMS will help you implement SEO practices for your website, even if you need to improve. Their functionality includes SEO capabilities for analyzing meta descriptions, like ALTs. Often but not always, the CMS platforms come with SEO features for generating suitable URLs, sitemaps, and robots.txt.

Easy optimization for a positive user experience

Ecommerce success hinges on meeting modern shoppers’ high expectations. A digital commerce CMS must offer flexible design options and optimize mobile content for a user-friendly interface and experience, which is crucial for coders and non-coders.

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Integration capabilities with third-party apps for website customization options

No CMS for ecommerce has a complete set of features that you can choose in the future as the business grows. However, you can achieve advanced customization through its integration capabilities with other tools and plugins to get specific ecommerce functionalities or future adaptability. Seamless integration with existing tech stacks and the ability to install plugins quickly indicate the CMS’s popularity and API friendliness.

Marketing and Sales features

All ecommerce platforms also offer various sales and marketing features. These could include wish lists, discount programs, banners, and discounts. The add-ons vary depending on the platform you choose. This is an important feature specifically for ecommerce platforms, as it will help you grow and find potential clients.

How to Choose the Best Ecommerce CMS

When looking for the best CMS for ecommerce, you might be overwhelmed by the variety. Considering the default features and customization options in the future is significant. Moreover, the choice hugely depends on your budget and the size of your ecommerce business.

We developed our own technique platform for comparative analyses, and we use it to help our clients to make beneficial decisions. So, we singled out several criteria to consider:

Popularity. The most popular and best ecommerce CMS platforms are high-quality but can be unsuitable for your business. That is why we recommend looking for brands that use CMS. If they resemble your ecommerce site, the chances are high that the CMS is accurate for you.

Type. It’s important to know whether the ecommerce platform you choose is hosted or self-hosted. Note that your coding team’s knowledge must be much more comprehensive with a self-hosted platform.

Customizability. Some contact management systems allow great customization of your store, including complex integrations, checkout or menu customization, and implementation of unique features.

Extensions. The more extensions you find, the more chances you have to customize your store at little cost.

SEO-friendliness. If you want more customers, you have to be on the first page of the search engines. Getting organic traffic might also be challenging when your ecommerce CMS needs to provide basic SEO tools.

Support. A technical team and a vast community allow you to fix the bug when it occurs without losing much money.

Design. Website design plays a huge role in industries like fashion, so the range of themes each CMS offers matters.

Ease of Use. A CMS should be easy to set up, avoiding lengthy onboarding processes. It enables entrepreneurs to quickly manage content, integrate plugins, adjust page layouts, and optimize for search engine visibility, promoting agility and experimentation regardless of technical expertise.

Security. Due to the wealth of sensitive information in online stores, a digital commerce CMS must ensure robust security. This involves regularly providing backups, firewalls, and other safety measures to prevent hacker attacks.

Features. Built-in marketing or sales functionalities lower the time and money expenses as you do not have to find and buy extra third-party extensions.

Cost. It’s essential to understand the total cost of CMS, including monthly payments, the cost of development, hourly rates, hosting, and transaction fees for using different payment gateways.

To protect you from launching your business on an unsuitable platform, we have created a list of the top ecommerce platforms with their pros and cons and reviewed every feature described.

Best CMS for Ecommerce

1. Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce)

Magento is known worldwide and used by 127,004 users. It offers rich ecommerce functionality and a marketplace with a wide selection of modules.

The platform has two versions. The free one is Magento Open Source, which you can download from the official website and use. The second one is a paid edition of Magento called Adobe Commerce. It can be on the Cloud or on-premises. By buying a Commerce Cloud license, you also get hosting with pre-integrated cloud services.

Magento Open Source: Key Features

You can download the ecommerce CMS for free and customize it according to your needs.

The key features are:

Responsive themes and an intuitive user interface (UI), enhanced site and catalog management options, easy product and catalog browsing

• One page, guest checkout, saved shopping cart, and multiple payment gateways
• Integrated shipping rates from UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL
• Extensive order management instruments, international support, and comprehensive customer service
• Advanced analytics, SEO capabilities, and marketing tools

Adobe Commerce provides some extra features, including the following:

• More personalized shopping experience and audience segmentation
• Dynamic rule-based product relations, instant purchases, content staging, and preview options
• Drag-and-drop visual merchandising in the shopping cart
• Integrated B2B functionality with tools like custom catalogs, price lists, company accounts, company credit, and quotes
• Advanced SEO features that provide URL rewrites to improve your store’s crawlability, and many others

Top brands using Magento

Kulzer, Multipower, Source, Chicwish, Coca-Cola Store, Helly Hansen, Cox & Cox, Barbour, Procter & Gamble.

Pricing & versions

Adobe does not charge fees for downloading the Magento Open Source platform. However, you must pay for professional Magento development. The prices vary in different regions: the hourly rate ranges from $40 to $149.

Magento Commerce costs start at $22,000/year. This software is for businesses that need the specific functions offered by this plan. You get additional features like content staging, B2B functionalities, and dedicated support from Magento. If you want a platform with hosting, you can get Magento Commerce Cloud (Adobe Commerce Cloud) starting from $40,000 per year.

BelVG’s expertise in Magento

Magento is one of our core specialties in ecommerce CMSs — we’ve developed, migrated, and supported Magento online stores of all shapes and sizes.

• Chicwish (Fashion)

Since 2017, Chicwish has relied on Magento’s flexibility to scale their fashion business. The migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 unlocked advanced native features, which we extended with custom modules like a “Shop the Look” gallery and an interactive sizing quiz. These tools enhanced product discovery and contributed to better conversions. Magento’s strong mobile optimization capabilities also ensured fast browsing for Chicwish’s 1.3M+ monthly users. These platform-driven improvements supported their growth from $10M to $60M+ in revenue.

• Kulzer (Medical Equipment Manufacturing)

Kulzer, a dental equipment supplier, faced slow site speed and complex ordering across multiple stores. We migrated their stores to Magento 2, unified store rules, and optimized performance, cutting product load times from 7 seconds to near instant.

Key improvements included dealer-specific product visibility, barcode-based reordering, advanced cart and order management, SAP and Algolia integrations, and a custom loyalty system. These changes simplified ordering for B2B customers and improved operational efficiency.

Kulzer’s B2B operations benefited from Magento’s robust multi-store architecture and rule-based configurations. After migrating to Magento 2, the platform’s performance framework allowed us to cut load times from 7 seconds to near instant. Dealer-specific product visibility, barcode-based reordering, and advanced cart & order management were implemented using Magento’s extensibility.

The platform’s API-first approach streamlined integrations with SAP and Algolia, while a custom loyalty system leveraged Magento’s customer management features. These platform-enabled upgrades simplified complex ordering and improved overall efficiency for B2B buyers.

• Multipower (German sports nutrition brand)

Multipower’s Magento B2B store upgrade highlighted the platform’s modular system and extensible architecture. Using Magento’s Page Builder compatibility, we enabled two content builders to work in harmony for effortless content management.

Key B2B features, like centralized ordering with account-based approvals, were built using Magento’s role and permission structures. Magento’s flexible APIs supported system integrations with SAP for logistics and Synfoxx for product data. On the marketing side, promotional pop-ups and GA4 tracking were layered on top of the platform’s native promotional tools.

Overall, Magento’s flexibility enabled effective content migration and essential system integrations, resulting in a more functional B2B site.

Conclusion

Magento is an ecommerce CMS with robust built-in SEO tools and marketing capabilities. It is suitable for ecommerce businesses that need high flexibility and extensive customization capabilities.

2. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an open-source ecommerce CMS platform that is among the top 10 most popular open-source platforms. It offers the opportunity to pay for hosting. PrestaShop’s primary consumers are pitch and medium businesses. It was created in France, so it’s popular among small and medium-sized French enterprises.

Features

Prestashop is a flexible platform suitable for international sales.

The key features are:

• Availability of 75 different languages
• There is a wide variety of themes and 4,000+ apps at the PrestaShop marketplace
• Easy product management options and the ability to configure payment processing and shipping methods, content, and navigation on the website
• Advanced SEO capabilities and marketing tools
• Easy order management, checkout configuration, and customer groups

Top brands using PrestaShop

Monsieur Chaussure, Papier Tigre, Bobbies, Kumulus Vape, Le Chocolat des Français.

Pricing & Versions

PrestaShop is free to download, but professional development and advanced customization will add extra costs. You also have to pay for web hosting and your shop’s domain name. If you decide to enrich your store’s functionality and buy modules and themes, you will also incur additional expenses.

For merchants who prefer a simplified setup, PrestaShop offers two hosted options:

• PrestaShop Hosted is a fully managed, cloud-based platform starting at around $30/month, ideal for small to mid-sized businesses looking for quick deployment and minimal technical overhead.
• PrestaShop Enterprise is a high-performance, managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) designed for large or growing stores. It includes enterprise-level support, optimized infrastructure, and automated maintenance. Pricing typically starts from $2,300/month, depending on contract length and scale.

Both hosted solutions allow you to maintain full ownership and control over your store’s data and codebase.

BelVG’s expertise in PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a great ecommerce CMS fit for European businesses and those looking for lightweight, customizable solutions — and we’ve worked with it for years.

• Rue du Cadre (Home Decor)
  We created a custom PrestaShop theme and built two interactive tools that let customers design and preview custom photo frames online. Rue du Cadre‘s project is an excellent example of combining usability with a personalized shopping experience.
• Polet-si (Retail)
  We’ve supported Polet-si’s three PrestaShop stores across different versions, handling everything from ERP integration to performance improvements to smarter product management.

Conclusion

PrestaShop is a smart choice for small to medium-sized ecommerce businesses that need a more straightforward solution than Magento but with extensive customization options.

3. Shopware

Shopware is an ecommerce CMS popular in European countries, especially Germany. It suits B2B and B2C models and is available on-premises and as a cloud solution. In 2026, over 29,000 stores run on Shopware.

Features

Shopware stands out among other ecommerce CSM platforms for its scalability and stable operation across all types of devices.

The key features are:

• Powerful PWA and API so sellers can connect with clients across multiple channels and devices
• Seamless integration capabilities with various sales channels, such as Facebook or Instagram
• Extensive marketing options, so users can assign a campaign to definite target groups, as well as specify a group or an individual seller, and set fixed prices and discounts on shipping costs
• Reliable built-in SEO tools and advanced media management are integrated
• Plugin Manager allows managing extensions in an easier way
• Various payment gateways, including PayPal, Klarna, and credit card options
• 100+ currencies and 200+ markets all over the world
• Such features as customizable products, extensive sales channels, and manufacturer support for the professional edition
• B2B suite for complex business models, unlimited staging environments, as well as individual and developer support for the enterprise edition

Top brands using Shopware

Bruno Banani, Mywalit.

Pricing & Versions

1. Starter edition is a basic free cloud option.
2. Community is another free edition.
3. The professional edition costs €199.00 per month.
4. Enterprise edition is the most expensive option; the exact price is provided upon request.

Conclusion

A platform offers profound customization possibilities and improves its offer every year.

4. Shopify

Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform that helps online small businesses set up and manage an entire store easily. If it is not the best CMS for an ecommerce website, then indeed, it is the most known – according to BuiltWith, it is the most popular ecommerce CMS in the world in 2024.

Features

Shopify is known for its simplicity. Although users do not have full control over the appearance and functionality, it is one of the best ecommerce platforms for startups and beginners.

The key features are:

• Domain name use, free SSL certificates, unlimited products for selling
• Custom marketing automation is provided
• Support of more than 100 different payment methods, including PayPal and CryptoCurrency, unlimited products, many app integrations, and an SEO guide
• 24/7 technical support through live chat, email, phone, and even Twitter
• Various sales channels that provide an opportunity to sell on online marketplaces and social media
• About 180 themes and 6500+ third-party Shopify apps with additional features for online shops

Top brands using Shopify

Biotikon, May Gem, BMT Pajarito, Mercedes‑Benz Group, L’Oréal (France), Philips (Netherlands), Bruno Banani, Mywalit.

Pricing & Versions

• Starter edition is a basic free cloud option.
• Community is another free edition.
• The professional edition costs €199.00 per month.
• Enterprise edition is the most expensive option; the exact price is provided upon request.

BelVG’s expertise in Shopify

For brands looking for fast setup and minimal maintenance, we often recommend Shopify and we help businesses get the most out of it.

• Puree Food Molds (Healthcare)
  We migrated the store from PrestaShop to Shopify Plus, updated the design, added regional pricing tools, and improved site performance. As a result, Puree Food Molds saw the bounce rate drop significantly, and customer engagement improved.
• REMI (Teeth Whitening | Shopify)REMI, a fast-growing DTC brand for teeth whitening and night guard kits, came to us with a heavily customized Shopify store full of hardcoded solutions. We cleaned up and rebuilt the backend using Shopify best practices, redesigned the storefront for better UX, and integrated tools like Lucky Orange for behavior tracking, Justuno for personalized popups, Yotpo for reviews, and Klaviyo for email marketing.We also improved site speed by 75%, added support for Amazon Pay, and boosted average order value by 27%. With CRO tools and a better user experience, REMI now has a high-performing store optimized for growth.

Conclusion

A platform offers extensive customization options and improves its offer every year.

5. OpenCart

OpenCart is a free, open-source platform that is easy to install. The CMS is in the top-10 of most popular ecommerce technologies, and it is easy for developers and admins to work with.

Features

OpenCart is a light platform and requires add-ons for better functionality.

The key features are:

• A user-friendly administrator dashboard that shows an overview of total orders, sales, customers, sales analytics, and people online
• Unlimited number of categories and products
• The opportunity to set user privileges and separate access for users and groups of users
• 36 payment gateways and 8+ shipping methods
• Technical support is available via email, phone, live support, training, and tickets.
• It is possible to integrate with the majority of popular shipping methods, such as USPS, Australia Post, Royal Mail, FedEx, and UPS.

Top brands using OpenCart

Kodak PIXPRO, 6 Dollar Shirts, Vicrez.com, rcMart.

Pricing & Versions

OpenCart is an open-source platform that you can download for free. However, merchants must pay for web hosting, a domain name, an SSL certificate, and extensions. The price for OpenCart extensions starts at $10.

Conclusion

It’s an open-source ecommerce platform, meaning it is highly customizable, but customization sometimes requires technical expertise. It can also fit businesses on a budget, as the CMS is free, hosting can be very cheap if your store does not require something sophisticated, and the developer’s rate is quite reasonable.

6. BigCommerce

BigCommerce provides extensive instruments such as various payment integrations, reliable hosting, advanced marketing, and security tools.

Key features:

• Integrating different sales channels such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Facebook, and Instagram is possible
• Seamless integrations with brick-and-mortar with native POS systems
• Abandoned cart feature that sends automated emails to website visitors who still need to complete the checkout and leave without a purchase
• Payment gateways can be used in 100+ currencies, including PayPal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Square, Adyen, Stripe, Authorize.net, Klarna, and credit card payments powered by Braintree
• Creating personalized discounts and exclusive coupons to promote their shops with targeted marketing is possible

Top brands using BigCommerce

Kelty, La Perla, UPLIFT Desk, Skullcandy.

Pricing & Versions

There are three available pricing plans for BigCommerce:

• Standard Plan allows you to create a decent store with basic ecommerce features. It costs $29/per month.
• Plus Plan has additional marketing tools to grow your online business, such as abandoned cart saver, persistent cart, and stored credit cards. The license costs $79/month.
• Pro Plan includes Google customer reviews and Custom product filtering. It is available at $299/month.
• The enterprise plan has the most advanced characteristics, such as unlimited API calls, express routing, priority support, API support, and customer success management. It is the most expensive one, and pricing is available upon request.

Conclusion

This ecommerce CMS platform suits medium and large businesses and allows growth within the same system. It’s not very suitable for small businesses because it’s a complex content management system, but only if your plans are not for rapid business growth.

7. Drupal

Drupal is a CMS with a powerful ecommerce content management framework focused on user-friendliness. It is among the top-5 of the most popular open-source solutions. It also helps to manage different types of website content.

Key features

Drupal is a content management system designed for something other than ecommerce sites, but it can be combined with different plugins and website frameworks to make it work for online stores.

The key features are:

• High-quality content presentation and implementation of new ways to make data structures, build APIs, and add multilingual capabilities
• Use of a flexible, fast, and secure theming engine called Twig
• Security features offered include database encryption, user access control, patching issues before they’re exploited, and mitigation of DoS attacks
• Pre-installed translations in the admin interface
• Marketing automation includes features such as bulk data management, real-time sales alerts, advanced email reporting for specific audiences, and sending an email offer about an abandoned cart

Top brands using Drupal

Cartier, Sport-Master, Lush, Eurocentres, Open Sesame.

Pricing & Versions

Drupal Commerce is free to download, but professional development is required. The cost to implement and customize a Drupal Commerce website can vary between $15,000 and $100,000, depending on the scale of the project and the developer’s hourly rate.

Conclusion

As the CMS platform is not designed for ecommerce businesses, it is better to use another one if you are creating an online store from scratch. But if you already have a website on Drupal and want to add the ecommerce functionality, it makes sense to use the CMS.

8. Volusion

Volusion is an all-in-one ecommerce CMS solution that was created in 1999 and became one of the first ecommerce software programs. The platform is best for small businesses and those interested in deep data analytics and exchanging lower fees for payment processing with fewer features.

Key features

The content management system targets ecommerce businesses and provides many tools to make a decent online store.

The key features are:

• Customizable responsive themes that adapt to any device
• UX that is enhanced with сustomizable layouts, HTML and CSS editor, and advanced search tools
• Product display customization, recurring pricing, dropshipping integration, and tax rate calculator
• Advanced SEO tools, ROI tracking, and admin social management
• Gift cards, discounts, and deals of the day options

Top brands using Volusion

Raw Paws Pet Food, USA Roller Chain & Sprockets, Halo Headband, Google, Intel Corporation, Fifth Third Bancorp, Deloitte Digital, Upwork Global Inc.

Pricing & Versions

• The personal plan has basic functions such as 100 products available, live chat and email support, an SSL certificate, web hosting, unlimited bandwidth, and free mobile-first themes. It costs $35/month.
• The professional plan includes additional features such as 5,000 products, ratings and reviews, abandoned cart reports, phone orders, and CRM. It is available for $79/month.
• The business plan allows for an unlimited number of products and features, such as integrations with leading partners, API Access, Batch Order Processing, and a Customer Loyalty Plan. It costs $299/month.
• Prime Plan has all the features of a Business plan + unlimited staff accounts and VIP support, a client success manager, low rates on additional Volusion services, and premier access to new features. The fee is calculated upon request.

Conclusion

Volusion CMS might not be as popular as Shopify and Magento, but it has all the features necessary for an ecommerce website. The platform is an excellent option for middle-sized and more significant businesses.

9. Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud, previously called Demandware, is a cloud-based ecommerce CMS. In 2024, this platform was among the top 10 in usage distribution of websites in the world.

Key features

The capabilities of Salesforce Commerce Cloud empower you to extend your reach across various customer touchpoints, provide personalized services, expedite market expansion, and enhance conversion rates.

• Two-click reorders, shopping carts accommodate many items per order, and access to CRM data
• Implemented AI helps set up and optimize digital storefronts, personalize every customer’s shopping experience, and use first-party data
• Multiple sites for different languages and locations can be managed in one place
• Mobile-friendly interface for websites

Top brands using Salesforce Commerce Cloud

ASICS, Ecco, Madewell, Merrell, Adidas, New Balance, Ralph Lauren, Crocs, Skechers, Disney Store,

Pricing & Versions

The price for the ecommerce platform is flexible, as it completely depends on income.

• The Starter plan costs 1% of gross merchandise value and includes one site to use, two price books, and 750K On-Demand Sandbox credits.
• The Growth plan offers 5 sites, 10 price books, and 1.2M credits for 2% gross merchandise value.
• The Plus plan provides unlimited websites and price books and 2.0M credits for 3% Gross Merchandise Value.

Conclusion

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a feature-rich CMS for ecommerce needs. It can be used by business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies.

10. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free ecommerce plugin for WordPress, the world’s most popular CMS. The plugin is the second most popular ecommerce technology on the Internet. However, it would help if you found a hosting service to start your online shop with this platform.

Key features

WooCommerce provides WordPress users with all the essential features an ecommerce store needs. It is also simple, so novice merchants can learn to manage online stores quickly.

The key features are:

• Easy adaptation and user-friendliness
• Customizing and enhancing an ecommerce site with hundreds of free and paid extensions and dozens of paid and free themes is possible
• Seamless integration with Google Analytics and Facebook Ads to track and report website traffic and measure your advertising ROI, and offers robust SEO tools
• Basic security features and SSL support for website protection
• Integration with multiple sales channels

Top brands using WooCommerce

AdauraTech, Vans, PlayStation Gear, All Blacks Official Store, Forage & Graze, ClickBank.

Pricing & versions

WooCommerce has two plans for launching a store.

• Essential plan offers hosting from WordPress.com, automated tax calculation, built-in payment processing, automated site backups, 50GB storage for product images and media, live shipping rates and order tracking, and other notable features for $39/month.
• The performance plan provides all the features of the previous one. For $70/month, it adds Automated abandoned cart recovery, Event-based email marketing, personalized product bundles, Discounted shipping rates, 200GB storage for product images and media, and many others.

WooCommerce is free to download, but make sure that you take care of the following details before installing it:

• Get a WordPress site where you will install the WooCommerce plugin.
• Choose a host for your store and buy a plan. Average hosting is around $120 per year.
• Registering a domain or site name usually costs about $15 per year for one domain.
• Decide whether to get a paid theme. It costs $20 – $100 per year.
• Decide whether to add advanced shipping extensions or not. Out of the box, WooCommerce provides options for flat-rate shipping, free shipping, or local pickup. Advanced extensions cost up to $150 per year on average.
• To run a successful ecommerce store, install extensions for customer communication for up to $130 per year, SEO optimization for up to $145 per year, and security for about $200 per year.
• Hire a WooCommerce developer to enhance a website further; the platform requires more technical expertise for serious store customizations.

Conclusion

If you already have a working website on WordPress but want to turn it into an ecommerce website, installing WooCommerce is for you. It is much easier than migrating a website to an ecommerce CMS platform. At the same time, there will be a limit to the company’s growth, and you will most likely have to switch to an ecommerce platform or pay more money for developers.

11. Joomla

Joomla is an open-source content management system. It is the third most popular open-source solution in the world. The platform is used not only for online store development but also for creating, managing, and publishing different types of content for all sizes of businesses, governments, and large organizations.

Key features

While ecommerce stores are not the platform’s main feature, various free extensions can convert a Joomla site into an ecommerce CMS.

• Easy content management thanks to a simplified system of articles
• Multiple user groups with different levels of permissions to access, edit, publish, and administrate content
• Support of multiple authentication protocols, including LDAP, OpenID, and Gmail
• Features include the Media Manager, who assists in handling media, and the Contact Manager, who helps find the right people and their contact details
• It is possible to set up banners with Banner Manager for promotional purposes
• A search engine feature that helps guide users to the most popular items and offers search statistics to the online shop admin
• Pre-built components, modules, and plugins allow you to create custom templates quickly and efficiently

Top brands using Joomla

IKEA, Linux.com, Wyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources, Family Motor Coach Association, iTWire.

Pricing & Versions

Users can create online stores on Joomla for free if they host them on their servers or a Joomla subdomain. If they choose a domain name, get a hosting provider, and care about design and maintenance, the total pricing will start at $700 monthly.

Conclusion

Joomla is a solid CMS platform that allows you to create simple yet efficient online stores.

12. Squarespace

Founded in 2003, Squarespace has become the platform for 376,758 live websites. It has a drag-and-drop website builder, solid design capabilities, and everything a small and medium business needs to create and maintain a decent ecommerce store.

Key features

Squarespace is one of the hosted ecommerce CMS platforms. It runs on its servers.

The key features are:

• The ability to sell an unlimited number of products, including physical goods, digital goods, services, and subscriptions
• Automatic abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, and discount codes
• Point-of-sale functionality
• 168 fully responsive templates can be added to the free Unsplash image library
• Possibility to configure a template according to your taste, add cool video backgrounds, and use a logo-designing app
• Easy content management allows adding images, text, forms, and videos
• Integrating social media points like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram into the online store.
• A great choice of marketing tools: email campaign launching, content creation, built-in SEO tools, and logo making
• Possibility to create many blogs on Squarespace

Top brands using Squarespace

Fighting Eel, Darren Booth, Lucia Balcazar, Aspect Home, Saysh, Minna, Soilboy, Rust & May, Conscious Clothing, Battle Axe.

Pricing & Versions

• The personal plan costs $25 per month and includes unlimited bandwidth and storage, two contributors, SSL security, SEO features for site search engine visibility, 24/7 customer support, and some Squarespace extensions available by default.
• The business plan includes advanced website analytics tools, a 3% transaction fee for physical products and services, promotional pop-ups, and banners, and is available for $36 per month.
• The Basic Commerce plan costs $40 per month and includes features such as customer accounts, limited-availability labels, and powerful ecommerce analytics and merchandising tools.
• Advanced Commerce is enriched with abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping types, discounts, and commerce APIs. It costs $72 per month.

Conclusion

The ecommerce CMS platform’s functionality is quite wide, including extensive built-in SEO tools and marketing tools. However, the software is hardly enough for large stores.

13. Wix

Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder. At the moment, about 8.1 millions of live websites run on Wix.

Key features

Although the platform isn’t officially classified as an ecommerce content management system, website owners can choose to integrate the commerce module if necessary.

• More than 500 website templates
• Fully compatible with mobile devices
• Plans and recurring payments help regularly generate payment plans, free plans, and one-time payment plans
• Special automated recovery emails remind customers about their abandoned carts with products
• Integration with other channels like Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, eBay, and others

Top brands who use Wix

Coca-Cola, Walmart, Renault Group, Tesla, Fiverr, AirAsia, Adidas, Ogi Eyewear, Haig’s of Rochester.

Pricing & Versions

The platform has four different pricing packages.

• The Light plan costs $17/month and includes a light suite of marketing features, 2 GB of data storage, and 2 collaborators.
• The Core plan provides 50 GB of data storage, an essential marketing and site analytics suite, and 5 collaborators. It accepts payments and costs $29 per month.
• The Business plan costs $36/month and provides access to 10 collaborators, 100 GB of storage space, a standard marketing suite, and site analytics.
• The Business Elite plan offers access to 15 collaborators, unlimited storage space, an advanced marketing suite and site analytics, and an advanced developer platform for $159/month.

Conclusion

Wix is one of the CMS platforms that small businesses can use without any additional developer’ help.

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14. Jumpseller

Jumpseller is a cloud-based ecommerce CMS and one of the top 5 popular platforms in South America. It’s easy to set up and budget-friendly for starting an online business.

Key features

The ecommerce platform offers the Jumpseller App, which allows users to view, search, and filter through store orders and update their history, payment, and fulfillment statuses. Here are the platform’s key features that help create an ecommerce website from scratch.

• A straightforward central dashboard handles product listings, ecommerce shipping options, and site design
• Adding new languages to the store with just a few clicks for localization
• An unlimited number of products can be added to the store
• The drag-and-drop visual editor helps create a customizable and intuitive interface for the store
• There are various ecommerce shipping methods and payment processing solutions to choose from that will work best for your ecommerce store
• Basic SEO tools, such as creating search engine-friendly URLs, choosing the right keywords, link building, and social media integration, help promote your products and increase search engine rankings

Top brands using Jumpseller

Micaela Larisch, Dentalmarket Chile, Depilice, Hans Andresen Chocolates.

Pricing & Versions

The ecommerce CMS platform has four different pricing plans to choose from.

• The Basic plan offers Unlimited Bandwidth & Storage, Email Support within 8 hours, Google Commerce for traffic increase, and other features for $11/month.
• Plus offers all the mentioned features, adds Code Editor, and allows selling any digital product for $21/month.
• The most popular Pro plan costs $42 monthly and contains additional features like Abandoned Cart Recovery, Manual Orders, Product Reviews, and Customer Login.
• The Premium plan offers all the features of previous plans and some extra features, such as Advanced Product Filtering, Custom Administrator Accounts, and Search Autocomplete, for $84/month.

Conclusion

This CMS for ecommerce suits smaller businesses or startups that are looking for a simple and affordable solution for their stores.

15. Ecwid

Ecwid is an open-source content management system that can be integrated with the platform you are already using to make your ecommerce site. The CMS offers basic ecommerce functionality, but the most attractive features are the smart shipping calculator and easy checkout.

Key Features

The platform includes a variety of ecommerce tools that enable users to easily create websites and customize their online stores based on their specific requirements.

• Customers can create a profile or enable checkout without creating a profile.
• The point-of-sale (POS) feature allows sellers to sell both online and offline. The platform also includes one-tap checkout with Apple Pay.
• Multiple sales channels help to use the full potential of ecommerce.
• Up to an unlimited number of product pages can be placed on the website.
• The platform offers free website templates for store design.
• Support via email for every pricing plan is available.

Top brands using Ecwid 

Automne Boulangerie, I-M Magazine, Fig & Honey, Just be Retro, Lovely Roses, Original Jerk.

Pricing & Versions

Ecwid has four different plans. The cheapest one can be installed for free. Using the plan, you have no transaction fees and can have up to ten products, but keep in mind that it can bring additional costs when setting up all necessary extensions.

• The Venture plan costs $19 per month and allows you to place 100 products on a website, sell on Instagram and Facebook, sell only e-goods, etc.
• The Business plan offers Everything in the Venture plan and includes Phone Support, subscription selling, a Multi-lingual store, and 2500 product pages to publish for $39/month.
• The Unlimited plan costs $99/month. It offers Everything in the Business plan, plus Unlimited product pages to place on the website, selling via a branded mobile app and in-person, Unlimited Staff accounts, and priority support.

Conclusion

Ecwid is an excellent platform for adding extra ecommerce functionality to your existing website or placing it on social media. The CMS can be used by small businesses because it’s easy to use and relatively inexpensive. However, building an online store from scratch is not recommended, as there are more convenient website builders for this type of online business.

Ecommerce CMS Comparison Table

Summing Up

There is a wide selection of ecommerce platforms that can help you start your online business. The main differences are always price and functions. Choose the one that can solve your business issues and allow you to grow.