Websites & E-commerce
Websites & e-commerce is the group of tools that put pages and stores online without code: website builders, e-commerce platforms and landing page builders. The right one depends on whether you need a whole site, a store that sells every day, or a single page that has to convert ad traffic.
Pick a category
Highest scores in Websites & E-commerce
E-commerce platformsShopifyThe strongest checkout, POS and app ecosystem, B2B on every plan and up to 2,048 variants, from $29 a month billed yearly; avoid outside gateways on Basic or pay 2% per order.
Website buildersWixThe most complete builder: the Harmony AI editor, a store and bookings from $29 a month, deep SEO controls and the best mobile Core Web Vitals pass rate of the big builders (81%). You can't export the site.
What does Websites & E-commerce cover?
Three kinds of tool that publish pages without code. They overlap at the edges, yet each solves a different problem, and buying the wrong one usually means paying twice.
- Website builders give you a whole site with hosting included.
- E-commerce platforms run your catalog, checkout, payments and point of sale.
- Landing page builders make single campaign pages and let you A/B test them.
Which one do you need first?
Decide what the page has to do. A business site, portfolio or blog starts with a website builder; a shop whose main job is selling starts with an e-commerce platform; and a landing page builder only earns its fee once paid ads send enough traffic to test.
- If you need a business site or portfolio, start with a builder. Most can sell a handful of products too.
- If selling is the point, especially with many products, in-person sales or several channels, start with a platform. Builder store plans get expensive as the catalog grows.
- If you run paid ads and want to know which page converts, add a landing page builder beside your main site.
- If you already run WordPress, WooCommerce adds a store free, but you pay for and manage the hosting; see hosting and domains.
What are the top picks in each category?
Wix leads the builders at 8.3. It sells from Core at $29 a month billed yearly, and 81% of Wix sites passed Core Web Vitals on mobile in August 2026, the best result among the big builders. You can’t export the site, though.
Shopify leads the platforms at 8.9, with the strongest checkout, point of sale and app ecosystem. Basic costs $29 a month on yearly billing or $39 monthly. Use Shopify Payments: on Basic, an outside gateway adds 2% per order.
Unbounce leads the landing page tools at 8.3. Unlimited A/B variants arrive on Experiment, $112 a month billed yearly, and Optimize adds Smart Traffic routing. Every plan caps visitors. Skip the testing tiers until the ads run; Swipe Pages tests from $69 when you get there.
| Category | Top pick | Price from | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website builders | Wix (8.3) | Free plan; Light $17/mo billed yearly | Small businesses that want everything in one place |
| E-commerce platforms | Shopify (8.9) | $29/mo on Basic billed yearly | Growing stores selling physical products |
| Landing page builders | Unbounce (8.3) | $22/mo on Starter billed yearly | Paid-ads teams that test pages often |
When does the answer change?
Sell in person? Square Online’s free plan runs your web store on the same catalog as Square’s point of sale. Selling digital products as a creator? Sellfy is built for it. Need one simple page with your own domain? Carrd costs $19 a year.
Portability flips things too. WordPress.com exports the full site and Webflow exports static code, while Wix exports nothing but product CSVs. If you’ve any chance of moving platforms, check export before you build. Most people check it after.
How do we score Websites & E-commerce tools?
Each score is a research score. We read official pricing, plan limits and fee pages, then add independent evidence: real-user speed data from the HTTP Archive Core Web Vitals report for builders, and a worked monthly cost at $5,000 in sales for stores, using Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ where a platform has no processor of its own. We don’t build test sites or run conversion experiments. When you see a landing page vendor’s conversion-lift claim on our pages, it is labelled as the vendor’s claim. Commissions never change a score.
Questions people ask
Should I use a website builder or an e-commerce platform?
Use a website builder if the site is mainly about your business, portfolio or content and you sell a few products; Wix sells from its $29 Core plan, billed yearly. Choose an e-commerce platform such as Shopify when selling is the main job, you carry many products or you also sell in person.
What does Shopify really cost?
Basic costs $29 a month billed yearly or $39 monthly. Shopify Payments then charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per online card sale on Basic, and an outside gateway adds 2% per order. On our model of $5,000 in monthly sales, the total comes to about $204 a month, the same as Wix Core.
Do I need a landing page builder if I already have a website?
Only if you run paid ads and want to A/B test pages. Builders like Unbounce test variants, swap ad keywords into the page and route visitors to the best version without touching your main site. Don't bother before the ads start: for one simple page, Carrd costs $19 a year with a custom domain.
Can I move my website to another platform later?
It depends on the platform. WordPress.com exports the full site, and Webflow exports static code and CMS content as CSV. Wix, Framer and Durable don't let you export the site, so leaving means rebuilding it. Check export before you commit, because it is the hardest thing to fix later.