Choosing e-commerce software is really choosing three things at once: the storefront your customers see, the checkout that moves money, and the plumbing that connects both to your bank and books. Most roundups stop at features and monthly price. This one focuses on total cost, integrations with your business bank account, and where six incumbent platforms and three AI-native newcomers actually fit. E-commerce is one part of our guide to the best software for small business.

What to look for in e-commerce software as a small business

The advertised monthly price is the smallest part of the bill. Total cost, required integrations, and operational fit determine the right platform for your business. The total cost of e-commerce software includes the monthly subscription fee, payment processing fees, platform transaction fees, and paid apps or extensions.

Total cost, not sticker price. A $29/month plan with a 2.9% + $0.30 payment fee costs very differently at $2,000/month in sales versus $20,000/month. Add the transaction fee some platforms charge if you use a third-party payment processor, plus paid apps for reviews, shipping, or email. Model your real volume before you commit.

Integrations with your bank, payment processor, and accounting tool. A store that connects natively to Stripe, QuickBooks, and your business bank account can reduce manual data entry, duplicate exports, and month-end reconciliation work. Look for direct integrations, not "available via Zapier."

Setup effort for non-technical owners. Hosted platforms (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Square Online) give you templates, drag-and-drop editors, and a checkout that already works. Self-hosted platforms (WooCommerce) hand you a blank WordPress install and a to-do list.

Inventory and order management. If you sell physical goods, you need variants, low-stock alerts, and a way to sync inventory across sales channels. Digital-only sellers can skip most of this. Dedicated inventory management software can bolt on if your platform's built-in tools don't cover multi-channel sync.

Room to grow. A platform that handles ten orders a month may fold at a thousand. Ask what happens to page speed, checkout reliability, and support tier when volume jumps.

What is the best e-commerce software for small businesses in 2025?

Six established platforms cover most U.S. small-business use cases. Three AI-native newcomers are worth watching if you want less setup or a creator-first storefront.

Shopify: broad app ecosystem for physical goods

Shopify is a common choice for owners selling physical products online because it has a large app marketplace, mature inventory tools, and a hosted checkout.

Shopify Payments is the built-in processor. If you use a third-party gateway instead, Shopify charges an additional per-transaction fee on top of the processor's own rate, a detail that trips up owners who assume switching processors is free.

Shopify integrates with Novo, so payouts from Shopify Payments can be deposited into a Novo business checking account without a manual transfer step. Learn more about Shopify.

BigCommerce: no platform transaction fees

BigCommerce does not charge its own transaction fee on any plan, regardless of which payment processor you use. That structure favors sellers with higher average order values or those who want to shop payment gateways over time.

Native features (product filtering, multi-storefront, B2B pricing) are strong out of the box, which means fewer paid apps than an equivalent Shopify build. Learn more about BigCommerce.

WooCommerce: low baseline cost, more setup work

WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin for WordPress. There is no monthly platform fee. You will, however, pay for hosting, an SSL certificate, a theme, and often a handful of premium extensions for shipping, subscriptions, or tax. You also own updates, backups, and security.

WooCommerce has the lowest baseline software cost but the highest setup and maintenance effort because it is self-hosted. It fits owners who already run a WordPress site or have a developer on call. Learn more about WooCommerce.

Squarespace Commerce: content-led sites adding a store

Squarespace is a fit when the site serves as your primary marketing — a portfolio, blog, or service site with a small product catalog attached. Templates are polished, the editor is straightforward, and Squarespace Payments handles checkout. It is a weaker choice for large catalogs or complex inventory. Learn more about Squarespace.

Wix eCommerce: drag-and-drop for first-time store owners

Wix offers a drag-and-drop editor, hundreds of templates, and an AI site builder for owners building their first website. The visual editor behaves like Keynote and makes the initial build fast. The design freedom that helps you start can slow you down later when you want to migrate templates or scale performance. Learn more about Wix.

Square Online: hybrid in-person and online sellers

If you take in-person payments through a Square reader, Square Online extends the same catalog, inventory, and reporting to a web store. Square keeps the catalog, inventory, reporting, payout schedule, and 1099-K in one dashboard. Feature depth is thinner than Shopify or BigCommerce, but the native integration fits hybrid sellers well. Learn more about Square Online.

Three AI-native platforms most roundups miss

Fourthwall: creator commerce with an AI assistant.

Fourthwall targets creators selling merch, memberships, and digital products. It is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and 776 and includes an AI product and store assistant. Fourthwall is designed for creators who sell to audiences on YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, or newsletters. Learn more about Fourthwall.

Amboras: YC-backed self-improving store.

Amboras is a Y Combinator Spring 2026 company building an AI-native storefront that automatically tests and optimizes product pages, copy, and merchandising. Amboras is early-stage, so test it carefully before relying on it for conversion-rate optimization. Learn more about Amboras.

Genstore: run a store by chat.

Genstore is an AI-native e-commerce builder that lets owners set up and operate a store through a chat interface: add products, change prices, run promotions, and answer support tickets by describing what you want. Also early-stage; treat it as a bet on the interface, not a battle-tested platform. Learn more about Genstore.

How do e-commerce software prices and fees compare?

The table below shows starting monthly prices, payment processing structure, and best-fit business type. Prices reflect published rates at the time of writing; check each vendor's pricing page for the current number before you commit.

| Platform | Starting monthly price | Payment processing | Platform transaction fee | Best fit | |---|---|---|---|---| | Shopify | From $39/mo (Basic) | Shopify Payments from 2.9% + $0.30 online | Up to 2% if using third-party gateway on Basic | Physical goods, broad app ecosystem | | BigCommerce | From $39/mo (Standard) | Any processor (e.g., Stripe from 2.9% + $0.30) | 0% on all plans | Growing catalogs, flexible payments | | WooCommerce | Free plugin + hosting (~$10–$30/mo) | WooPayments or Stripe from 2.9% + $0.30 | 0% platform fee | WordPress users, custom builds | | Squarespace Commerce | From $27/mo (Commerce Basic) | Squarespace Payments from 2.9% + $0.30 | 0% on Commerce plans | Content-led sites, small catalogs | | Wix eCommerce | From $27/mo (Core) | Wix Payments or Stripe from 2.9% + $0.30 | 0% | First-time store owners | | Square Online | Free tier available; paid from $29/mo | Square from 2.9% + $0.30 online | 0% | Hybrid in-person and online sellers |

Total cost equals the monthly fee plus the processing rate times your sales volume. Model your real numbers before you pick. Vendor pricing changes; verify current rates on each vendor's pricing page.

How to connect your e-commerce software to your business bank account

Separating business money from personal money is a practical and often legal requirement.

The IRS requires businesses to keep records that support income, deductions, and credits. Running Shopify payouts into a personal checking account can create avoidable bookkeeping work at tax time. For a fuller breakdown, see our guide on business vs personal checking.

Novo is a fintech that offers small business banking solutions and integrates with Shopify and Stripe, so e-commerce payouts can be deposited directly into a Novo business checking account. Novo business checking has a $0 monthly fee and free incoming wires.

Two setup steps that pay off later:

1. Connect Shopify or Stripe to Novo once, then leave it alone. Payouts land in your Novo account on the same schedule your processor already uses. Your accounting integration (QuickBooks, Xero) then pulls transactions from Novo, so sales, fees, and refunds reconcile against a single source.

2. Turn on Reserves for sales tax and inventory.

Novo Reserves is a budgeting feature within your Novo checking account that lets you allocate a percentage of each deposit toward sales tax or inventory. Funds allocated to Reserves stay part of your overall Novo checking balance — nothing moves to a separate account. If your blended sales tax rate is 8%, allocate 8% of each deposit to a Sales Tax Reserve and a separate slice to Inventory. When the quarterly filing comes due, the money is already earmarked. Owners who need firmer separation between operating funds, tax, and payroll can layer in business sub-accounts.

Note for cash-heavy sellers: Novo does not accept cash deposits, which matters for sellers who also take in-person cash payments. If a meaningful share of your revenue is physical cash — from a farmers' market booth or a cash-preferring service call — you will need a bank that accepts cash, or you will route cash through a separate account and transfer.

A sales-tax reserve rule you can copy into ChatGPT

Below is a plain-text prompt you can paste into ChatGPT or Claude to generate a spreadsheet that calculates your monthly sales-tax allocation from a Shopify or Stripe payout CSV.

``` You are a bookkeeping assistant. Build me a Google Sheets template with these columns:

• Date
• Gross sales
• Refunds
• Taxable sales (Gross sales minus Refunds)
• Sales tax rate (default 8%, editable in one cell at the top)
• Reserve allocation (Taxable sales * Sales tax rate)
• Running reserve balance

Add a summary block at the top with: total taxable sales this month, total amount to allocate to my Novo Sales Tax Reserve (a budgeting feature within my Novo checking account), and the current running balance. Format currency as USD. If your tools support it, return the sheet as a downloadable .xlsx file; otherwise return the formulas and column structure so I can copy them into Google Sheets or Excel. ```

If your AI tool supports file creation, it may return a spreadsheet you can download. Otherwise, ask it for the formulas and column structure to paste into Google Sheets or Excel.

User review ratings (Trustpilot)

Trustpilot scores as of July 2026 — click any tool for its current rating.

| Tool | TrustScore | Reviews | | --- | --- | --- | | Shopify | 1.3 | 4,843 | | WooCommerce | 2.3 | 141 | | BigCommerce | 1.2 | 455 | | Squarespace | 3.3 | 4,258 | | Square Online | 3.9 | 7,377 | | Fourthwall | 4.4 | 337 |

Wix has a separate Trustpilot profile; Amboras and Genstore do not have Trustpilot profiles yet.

Common questions about e-commerce software for small businesses

What is the cheapest e-commerce software for a small business?

WooCommerce has the lowest software cost — the plugin is free — but you will pay for WordPress hosting (typically $10–$30/month), a domain, and often a paid theme and extensions. Among hosted platforms, Square Online has a free tier with transaction fees only, which makes it the cheapest way to launch if you can live inside Square's ecosystem. Wix and Squarespace start around $16–$27/month for their commerce tiers.

Do I need e-commerce software if I sell on Amazon or Etsy?

Not to make sales, but many owners still run their own store as a second channel. Marketplaces own the customer relationship, set the rules, and can suspend your account. A Shopify or WooCommerce site gives you a customer list, an email channel, and a home base that is not at the mercy of a marketplace policy change. Plenty of small businesses run Etsy or Amazon and their own store, syncing inventory between them.

Can I switch platforms later without losing my products and customers?

Yes, with effort. Products, customers, and past orders can be exported as CSVs from every major platform and imported into another. What does not migrate cleanly: URL structures (you will need redirects to protect SEO), custom code and apps, and subscription customers on payment tokens tied to your old processor. Plan a switch during a slow month and expect a week of cleanup.

Which e-commerce software works best with Novo?

Novo integrates with Shopify and Stripe, so payouts from Shopify or Stripe-connected sales can be deposited into a Novo business checking account on the processor's normal schedule. From there, Novo Reserves can allocate a percentage of each deposit toward sales tax or inventory, and your accounting software pulls the reconciled transactions. Owners running a Shopify storefront specifically can dig deeper into our guide to the best bank for Shopify store owners.

Is Shopify the best e-commerce platform overall?

For many U.S. small businesses selling physical goods online, Shopify is a practical starting point because it has a large app marketplace, Novo payout integration, and a broad pool of developers and store builders. It is not the cheapest, and it is not the best for content-led sites (Squarespace fits better) or creators selling to a social audience (Fourthwall is purpose-built for that). Pick the platform that fits how you actually sell, not the one with the biggest brand.

Disclosures

Novo Platform Inc. ("Novo") is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC. The Novo Debit Card is issued by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., and the Novo Business Credit Card is issued by Continental Bank, pursuant to licenses from Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated and can be used everywhere Mastercard is accepted. The Novo Merchant Cash Advance is offered by Novo Funding LLC. Your eligibility for Novo products and services is subject to final Novo determination.

Novo Reserves is not a separate account. Novo Reserves is a budgeting feature within the Novo checking account. All funds within Reserves remain a part of the overall balance of the Novo checking account.

Novo Platform Inc. ("Novo") strives to provide accurate information but cannot guarantee that this content is correct, complete, or up-to-date. This page is for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice nor an endorsement of any third-party products or services. All products and services are presented without warranty. Novo Platform Inc. does not provide any financial or legal advice, and you should consult your own financial, legal, or tax advisor before making any financial decisions.