Best eCommerce Platforms for Small Businesses in the UK

The best eCommerce platform for most UK small businesses is Shopify for a hosted shop or WooCommerce for a shop built on WordPress. Wix and Squarespace suit small catalogues where design matters most, Square Online suits businesses that also sell in person, and BigCommerce suits fast-growing catalogues.

This guide compares prices in pounds, transaction fees and the type of business each platform suits, based on each platform's published pricing and features.

eCommerce platforms compared (prices checked October-2026)

Card processing fees from your payment provider apply on every platform, on top of any platform transaction fee.

How Do You Choose an eCommerce Platform?

Choose an eCommerce platform by matching 6 things to your business: total monthly cost, number of products, your team's technical skills, how much design control you need, the systems it must connect to, and how fast you plan to grow.

Criterion	Question to ask	What it points to
Total cost	What is the plan fee plus card and transaction fees at my expected sales?	Compare the full monthly cost, not the plan price alone
Products	How many products and variants will I sell?	Large catalogues suit Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce
Skills	Who will run the shop day to day?	Non-technical teams suit hosted platforms
Design	Do I need a design that matches my brand exactly?	Custom themes on Shopify or WooCommerce
Integrations	Does it need to connect to stock, accounting or a CRM?	Check the app store or API before choosing
Growth	Will I sell abroad, wholesale or in person?	Check multi-currency, B2B and point-of-sale features

The Best eCommerce Platforms for UK Small Businesses

The 7 platforms below cover hosted builders, open-source software and an enterprise option. Each section states what the platform is, who it suits, what it costs and its main limits.

Shopify

Shopify is a hosted eCommerce platform that lets you sell online, in person with Shopify POS, on social media and on marketplaces from one dashboard. You design the shop with free or paid themes and add features from the Shopify App Store, without managing hosting or security updates.

• Price: Basic £19 a month, Grow £49 and Advanced £259, billed yearly†.
• Fees: online UK card payments through Shopify Payments cost 2% + 25p on Basic†. Using another payment provider adds a Shopify fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced†.
• Best for: most small and growing shops that want hosting, security and checkout handled for them.
• Limits: apps add monthly costs; heavy customisation needs a developer who knows Shopify's theme language, Liquid.

Shops that need a custom theme, private apps or a migration from another platform use Shopify development to extend the standard features.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress website into an online shop. You host it yourself, so you own the code and data and can change anything, but you also manage hosting, updates and security.

• Price: the plugin is free. You pay for hosting (managed WordPress hosting typically £15–£60 a month), a domain and any paid extensions.
• Fees: no WooCommerce transaction fee; your payment provider (such as Stripe or PayPal) charges its own card fees.
• Best for: businesses already using WordPress, or that want full control and no platform fee.
• Limits: someone must keep WordPress, WooCommerce and extensions updated; costs vary with the extensions you need.

Custom extensions, speed work and connections to stock or accounting systems are the usual reasons for WooCommerce development.

Wix

Wix is a website builder with eCommerce features, best for small catalogues where you want to design the shop yourself. You choose from eCommerce templates and customise them by dragging elements on the page, so you always see how the shop will look. You can also update the shop on the go with the Wix mobile app.

• Price: you need a paid plan that accepts payments, starting with Core, from £16 a month†. The free plan cannot sell.
• Fees: no Wix transaction fee; card fees depend on the payment provider.
• Best for: small shops that want an all-in-one website and shop with built-in SEO tools and apps from the Wix App Market.
• Limits: on the Wix Editor you cannot switch to a different template once the site is live, so choose carefully; third-party apps can add cost.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a website builder known for its design templates, with eCommerce added to it. It suits brands whose products sell on looks, and includes scheduling, email marketing, social media links and recurring payments for subscriptions.

• Price: from £17 a month†.
• Fees: the Basic plan charges a 2% transaction fee on online sales; Core and higher plans charge none.
• Best for: design-led brands with a small to medium product range.
• Limits: fewer apps and less flexibility than Shopify or WooCommerce; customising beyond the templates is harder.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a hosted eCommerce platform that includes more features as standard than most rivals, including product variants, so you need fewer paid apps. It is priced for growing shops rather than beginners.

• Price: Core from $29 a month, billed yearly; prices are published in US dollars.
• Fees: each plan has a yearly sales limit; when you pass it, BigCommerce moves you to a higher plan. Since 2026, orders through an open payment provider carry a fee of up to 2% on Core, falling on higher plans; orders through BigCommerce's embedded payment providers carry none.
• Best for: growing catalogues, wholesale (B2B) selling and shops that want features built in rather than added by apps.
• Limits: costs rise with sales because of the plan limits; US-dollar pricing makes monthly costs move with the exchange rate.

Square Online

Square Online is a free online shop from Square that shares one dashboard with Square's card readers and tills, so online and in-person orders, stock and customers sit in one place. Setup starts with a short questionnaire about your business, and the default design adjusts to your business type.

• Price: Free plan; Plus £20 a month and Premium £64 a month, billed yearly (Square UK, checked 15 October 2026).
• Fees: no Square Online transaction fee; online payments cost 1.4% + 25p for UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards (15p instead of 25p on Premium).
• Best for: cafes, shops and service businesses that already sell in person, or anyone who wants to start online for free.
• Limits: the free plan has no custom domain and shows Square branding; fewer design options than Shopify or Wix.

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Adobe Commerce is the licensed, enterprise edition of Magento, built for mid-size and large retailers with complex catalogues, several brands or international stores. Magento Open Source is the free edition, which you host and maintain yourself.

• Price: Adobe Commerce is priced on request; Magento Open Source is free, plus hosting and development.
• Fees: set by the Adobe contract and your payment provider.
• Best for: larger retailers with an in-house or agency development team.
• Limits: a steep learning curve and higher build and running costs; rarely the right first platform for a small business.

What Is the Difference Between Hosted and Self-Hosted Platforms?

A hosted platform, such as Shopify, Wix or BigCommerce, runs your shop on its own servers for a monthly fee and handles hosting, security and updates. A self-hosted platform, such as WooCommerce or Magento Open Source, is software you install on hosting you choose: you get full control, but you manage updates and security.

Choose hosted if you want to run the shop without technical upkeep. Choose self-hosted if you need full control of the code and data or already run WordPress. Custom builds and headless shops are a third route, explained in the ways to build an eCommerce website.

What Is the Cheapest Way to Sell Online in the UK?

The cheapest way to start selling online in the UK is Square Online's free plan, which has no monthly fee and charges 1.4% + 25p per UK card payment. WooCommerce has no platform fee either, but you pay for hosting.

The cheapest plan is not always the cheapest overall. A platform with a higher monthly fee and lower card rates can cost less once sales grow, so compare the total of plan fee, card fees and transaction fees at your expected monthly sales. The full cost of an eCommerce website in the UK, including design and build, depends on the platform and the work around it.

Should You Sell on a Marketplace or Your Own Website?

Sell on a marketplace such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy to reach buyers quickly; build your own website to keep your brand, customer data and margins. Many small businesses do both.

Marketplace	Your own website
Traffic	Built-in buyers	You must attract visitors
Fees	Selling fees on each sale, often with listing or subscription fees	Platform plan and card fees
Customer data	Owned by the marketplace	Yours
Brand	Limited branding; you compete next to rivals	Full control of design and messaging

When Do You Need a Developer?

You can set up a shop on Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or Square Online without code. You need a developer when the shop needs a custom design, connections to stock, accounting or delivery systems, features the platform's apps do not offer, or a move from another platform without losing products, customers or search rankings.

For those projects, an eCommerce development agency can plan the platform, build the integrations and migrate the shop.

eCommerce Platform FAQs

Which eCommerce platform is best for beginners?

Shopify, Wix and Square Online are the easiest to start with: each handles hosting and security, and you can build a shop without code. Square Online's free plan suits testing an idea; Shopify suits a shop you plan to grow.

Is Shopify worth it for a small UK business?

Yes, for most shops that sell physical products and plan to grow. Shopify's Basic plan costs £19 a month billed yearly†, and its app store covers most needs. It costs more than free options, so compare total fees at your expected sales.

Is WooCommerce free?

The WooCommerce plugin is free. Running a WooCommerce shop is not: you pay for hosting, a domain, paid extensions and someone to keep it updated.

Can I move my shop to another platform later?

Yes. Products, customers and orders can usually be exported and imported, though customer passwords often cannot be moved. Set up 301 redirects from every old URL so the new shop keeps its search rankings.

Which platforms accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal?

Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce and Square Online all support major wallets and PayPal, depending on the payment provider you connect. Fees and supported methods differ by provider, so compare payment gateways for UK online shops before choosing one.