In less than one generation, a lot has changed. Some years ago it was absurd to think about building ecommerce without owning physical stores, but as our lives continue moving towards the digital it is all the opposite.
Online stores are increasing daily, and it is a tendency that will sustain for the years to come.
The increase in the number of online stores has made websites essential for online businesses as a way to identify their brand, but also as a platform to increase visibility and boost conversion rates.
What is the easiest way to create an online business? Well, if business owners want control over their brands and their income, the best option is to rely on ecommerce software or a website builder.
Website builders allow marketers to create their store’s layout and other pages like product listings, categories, photos, videos, etc.
The best news is you can use free website builders to design a professional-looking website!
In this article, we will break down some of the best free website builders small business owners can use in 2023 to build the best free ecommerce website possible.
Shopify Website Builder
The popular ecommerce platform has a free ecommerce website builder with everything you need to create an online store fast, without the need for coding or design skills. The free trial lasts 14 days.
Shopify provides multiple features and tools to help you build your store, such as a drag-and-drop website builder, template library, ecommerce functionality, and more. Additionally, Shopify provides free SSL, free business email, and free ecommerce features, making it a great website builder for ecommerce.
Wix Website Builder
Wix has a free 14 days trial period and a free plan (not for commerce). According to their website, the Wix free website builder enables users to create a website without previous coding experience or skills.
It has a user-friendly drag-and-drop tool, a template library, and fundamental ecommerce functionalities. What you will like the most about this user-friendly builder is its extensive library of templates, which saves you time and effort and provides a professional-looking design to your website.
The best feature Wix provides is a mobile app so that you can manage your website from anywhere.
Squarespace Website Builder
This free website builder stands out because it offers SEO-optimized sites, custom domains, and SEO features to help you drive potential customers to your site.
Unlike other ecommerce website builders, Squarespace has a library of free templates for blogs, service and product portfolios, business websites, and ecommerce stores. The free trial period is 14 days, and access to all the features, except for Squarespace commerce payments. Build your entire site right at the start of the trial to time monitor the performance.
Square Online Website Builder
The good news first! Unlike other website builders, Square online has a free plan and includes SEO tools, omnichannel selling, a QR codes for ordering, and multiple shipping and delivery options.
If after some time you decide to upgrade to a paid plan, you have the opportunity to have a free test for 30 days.
What we like the best is that the free plan allows you to accept Afterpay, which is an excellent option for your customers, and you can access your funds immediately (they take a small fee). Subscribing to paid plans widens your payment options and enables you to take donations and accept any of the following payment methods Google Pay, Square Pay, Cash App, and Apple Pay.
Weebly Website Builder
Weebly does not offer a free trial, but it has a free plan. With Weebly, you can create a website in minutes with a drag-and-drop builder, pick from hundreds of stylish templates, add content and images, and customize your website with advanced design tools.
The Weebly free plan gives you access to unlimited products, inventory management, coupons, gift cards, and SEO tools. An upgrade gives you access to phone support, pop-up notifications, shipping labels, and calculators.
Strikingly
Like other free website builders, Strikingly has drag-and-drop tools to create stunning single-page websites fast. It also has tools to help users customize their sites, like custom domains, SEO optimization, and analytics.
Additionally, Strikingly offers unlimited free sites (single product sites), ecommerce features, and product management, to help users turn their sites into online stores.
Jimdo Website Builder
Creating a Jimdo free account gives you instant access to the website builder, a royalty-free image gallery, practical insights on how to manage your business, and personalized customer support.
Jimdo website builder offers a range of features to help you customize your website and make it look great, including dozens of templates, drag and drop editor, and an integrated blog. The platform also provides eCommerce tools to help you create an online store, accept payments, manage products and inventory, and more.
Jimdo is excellent for those who want a free web hosting to get started and upgrade as their business grows.
BigCartel Website Builder
Using BigCartel you can have a fully hosted ecommerce website for free, and without a credit card, but it is a fit for small businesses because it allows only 5 products. If you decide to continue with the platform, you can upgrade to a paid plan ($9.99 for 50 products and $19.99 for 500 products).
As they say on their website, it is an excellent option for independent artists and makers. An excellent free ecommerce platform for jump-starting a creative business.
Wrapping up
To better understand your options on free ecommerce website builders start by looking at the features on ecommerce platforms, then determine what you need for your online store and determine the best website builder to achieve your objectives. Also, keep in mind that most free plans do not allow connecting a custom domain.
Most website builders and some free ecommerce platforms help you build multilingual websites, add it to your list of requirements if needed.
Finally, optimize your site for SEO from the start. The search engine optimization tools offered by some of the builders we listed offer an excellent option for your marketing needs. Choose wisely and thanks for reading!
About the Author
Joe Troyer – I’m one of the founders of Virtual Valley. We own and grow profitable bootstrapped ventures that are entirely bootstrapped and funded by customers, forcing us to focus on building products that customers, not investors, love.
Our latest venture Review Grower aims to compete in a market with competitors doing hundreds of millions a year. Our goal is simple: By creating enterprises that address the most pressing issues affecting tomorrow’s top firms, we enable growth in marketers, agencies, and companies.
