10 Best Ecommerce Platforms in 2024

It can be pain in the neck when you’re trying to find the right ecommerce platform but can’t find the right fit. You’re surfing the internet devotedly, but there’s so much data to crunch, information to process, and research to be done.

Here at Softailed, we provide you access to the best ecommerce platforms in the world. We turn hours of voluminous research into minutes while providing more information about every provider than you could find anywhere on the internet in long, overwhelming hours. First, let’s understand what ecommerce platforms are.

What Is an Ecommerce Platform?

Ecommerce is simply the buying and selling of goods and services online. An ecommerce platform, however, is a software service provider for online marketplaces. It allows you to create and launch your online stores to sell your products and services while allowing other users to buy them. Every ecommerce store has a platform on which it was built.

You may know that some ecommerce platforms vary according to some general features and specifications, such as payment gateways, how the software is hosted, and which possibilities you are getting to manage your online shop. However, when choosing the best of the best, you must take a deep dive into analyzing the in-depth characteristics of each ecommerce platform before making a choice for your business. Let’s get into that right away.

What Makes the Best Ecommerce Platform?

To determine the best ecommerce platform, our software analysts first employ market research to understand the user needs and services in detail.

We then collect primary data from the respective websites of each provider and their customer support teams when the required information is unavailable on the website. This interaction further allows us to evaluate their support quality. After intensive research, interviews with industry-leading experts, and analyzing thousands of user data, we categorically gather more information on each ecommerce platform based on the users’ wants, needs, and perspectives of what makes the best ecommerce platform. These include Price, Ease of Use, Features, International Selling, Integrations, Technical Specifications, Security, and Customer Support.

Once our entire dataset is complete, we assign scores to all the criteria after quantifying them using custom values based on the presence or absence of specific attributes. To quantify these characteristics on a scale of 10, we use the entry-level attribute values and entry price in USD to keep the scores consistent and comparable.

Let’s quickly walk through each criterion and see how they create the overall best ecommerce platforms:

Price

On ecommerce platforms, payments are usually categorized under monthly or annual subscriptions, custom plans, transaction commissions, and a free plan or trial period if available. We carefully examine these pricing structures according to each ecommerce platform. We use a binary value system to identify the presence or absence of these attributes and score them on a scale based on their presence or absence and from lowest to highest pricing rates. Pricing makes up 15% of the overall score. Click here to learn more about ecommerce platform pricing and see the cheapest options for ecommerce platforms.

Features

Features involve the characteristics and distinctive traits of an ecommerce platform. Some of the attributes of this criteria include the number of products every seller is allowed to upload to their online store, the presence of a suitable inventory management system, a real-time shipping calculator, and marketing automation, amongst others. Features make up 25% of the overall score. Want more information about the features? Click here for more detail about which features we look for, how they contribute to the score, and which platforms perform the best in terms of features.

International Selling

The international selling criteria reflect the ecommerce platforms' ability to adapt to cultural, geographical, and language diversity. This characteristic of ecommerce platforms describes how easily sellers can market and sell their products or services to a global audience with the right features. International selling makes up 15% of the overall score. You can get more information about how we analyze international selling for ecommerce platforms and check out the best global ecommerce platforms here.

Integrations

Integration means the ability to merge two or more things to improve performance. Therefore, integrations are the ecommerce platform’s ability to combine other applications to enhance its functionality and user experience. These integrations should allow sellers to offer features beyond the platform’s capabilities and provide a more holistic experience. Integrations make up 15% of the overall score. To better understand integrations click here to get more detail and see the ecommerce platforms with the best integrations.

Technical Specifications

This indicates the level of technical management coming from ecommerce providers. Is the platform fully managed, or is it a niche product? We evaluate if the platforms require their users to have experience with coding, if hosting is included and if a CDN is in place. These specifications make up 5% of the overall score. You can also find out more about the technical specifications on ecommerce platforms here.

Security

Security is an essential criterion when analyzing any ecommerce or online platform. You need to know that your business is secure regarding data, payments, and customer information. Security makes up 10% of the overall score. For more information about security in ecommerce and the best secure platforms, click here.

Ease of Use

This attribute indicates how easy the ecommerce platform is to work. We evaluate everything from a beginner's point of view to see how easy it is to navigate through the platform, design and set up your first online store, and manage a running store long-term. Click here to read more about ease of use in ecommerce and see our best picks for the easiest ecommerce platforms. Ease of use makes up 10% of the overall score.

Customer Support

Customer support can be important for sellers because it allows you to seek assistance and complain about technical and operational concerns and issues. Want to know which ecommerce platform has the best customer support? Click here. Customer support makes up 5% of the overall score.

The 10 Best Ecommerce Platforms

Choose the Best Ecommerce Platform for Your Needs

Choosing the best ecommerce platform can be a hassle when you haven’t precisely defined your needs. To decide on the best ecommerce platform to work with, you need to determine which criteria are most important to you and work with that towards finding the right fit. Do you need something affordable and manageable? Or are you ready to go with the best of the best?

The above list should give you a clear idea about which platforms have the best balance between all criteria. We hope our research is helpful for you in picking an ecommerce platform to launch your online store. Check out our ecommerce platform comparison tool and finder tool if you haven’t decided yet.