A shop that already uses Square at the counter, a business selling through WordPress, and a wholesaler managing customer-specific orders may need three different ecommerce platforms. Choosing the most familiar name is only useful if it fits the way your business actually sells.
For a Canadian business, start with your catalogue, payment methods, shipping requirements, and the person who will manage the store. Then compare the software cost with the work needed to keep everything running.
Below are eight popular ecommerce platforms worth considering, with current pricing and the limitations that can change your decision. Prices and features were checked on September 13, 2026. C$ means Canadian dollars; US$ means US dollars. Annual-billing prices are monthly equivalents paid for the year, not month-to-month subscriptions. Taxes, promotions, and checkout terms can affect the final amount.
Which ecommerce platforms belong on your shortlist?
| Your main requirement | Start by comparing | Check before committing |
|---|---|---|
| A first dedicated online store | Shopify | App costs and the checkout features you need |
| Selling inside an existing WordPress site | WooCommerce | Hosting, maintenance, and extension compatibility |
| A growing catalogue with demanding integrations | BigCommerce | Sales thresholds and payment-provider fees |
| A service website that also sells products | Wix or Squarespace | Product, booking, and digital-content requirements |
| Connected counter sales and online orders | Square Online | Inventory, pickup, delivery, and branding limits |
| Adding a store without replacing the whole website | Ecwid | Product limits and the plan needed for key features |
| Complex enterprise or multi-brand commerce | Adobe Commerce | Implementation scope, integrations, and operating budget |
This is a shortlist by business need, not a market-share ranking or a claim that every platform suits every store.
Start with what the store must do
An ecommerce platform manages the buying process: products, cart, checkout, orders, and connections to payment and fulfilment services. A general website builder may include these tools, but a good-looking page alone is not a complete store.
If you are still defining the business itself, start with how ecommerce works to clarify your sales model, fulfilment responsibilities, and the costs behind each order.
If you mainly need a brochure website, portfolio, or enquiry form, our website builder comparison covers that broader decision. This guide focuses on businesses that need customers to place orders.
There are three common approaches:
- Hosted platforms: the provider runs the underlying platform and hosting. You still manage your products, settings, apps, and business processes.
- Self-hosted software: you choose the hosting and have more technical control, with responsibility for updates and maintenance.
- Enterprise implementations: the platform forms part of a larger system involving inventory, accounting, multiple storefronts, and specialist development.
You do not need the most complex option to build a successful store. You need one that handles your important orders reliably.
1. Shopify: a practical starting point for a dedicated store
Best fit: businesses that want a managed commerce platform and a relatively straightforward route from product setup to selling.
Shopify brings storefront management and checkout into one hosted system. It is worth shortlisting when the store is the centre of the business and you want fewer infrastructure tasks.
Price: Shopify Basic in Canada is C$37/month on annual billing or C$49/month on monthly billing. Apps, payment processing, premium themes, and professional work can add to the total.
Main trade-off: specific checkout changes, carrier integrations, and retail workflows can depend on your plan or apps. Build a test around your hardest product and delivery requirement before choosing a subscription.
Already deciding between Shopify and WordPress? Our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison for Canada covers their payment costs, shipping restrictions, B2B features, and maintenance differences in more detail.
2. WooCommerce: control within a WordPress website
Best fit: businesses with an established WordPress site, a substantial content library, or ordering requirements that need custom development.
WooCommerce’s core platform is free. You choose the hosting, theme, payment gateway, and extensions. That flexibility can be valuable when the store needs to work closely with the rest of the website.
Price: US$0 for the core software. Hosting, a domain, paid extensions, maintenance, and payment processing are separate. There is no single standard price for a complete WooCommerce store.
Main trade-off: someone needs to own updates, backups, testing, and recovery. Compare hosting renewal rates and support coverage using our guide to cheap versus premium WordPress hosting.
The current stable WooCommerce release is 11.1.0 at the time of review. For an existing store, check extension compatibility before updating rather than assuming every connected tool is ready.
3. BigCommerce: evaluate the catalogue and the new pricing rules
Best fit: businesses evaluating a dedicated commerce platform for a growing catalogue, multiple selling channels, or more demanding integrations.
Price: BigCommerce now lists Core, Growth, Scale, and Performance. Core is US$39/month or US$29/month on annual billing. Growth is US$105 or US$79 respectively; Scale is US$399 or US$299.
Main trade-off: Core and Growth have trailing-12-month GMV thresholds of US$30,000 and US$100,000. Exceeding a threshold can trigger a plan upgrade. GMV is the sales measure BigCommerce uses for its plan rules, so check its definition rather than substituting your accounting revenue.
Payment-provider choice matters too. Orders through Embedded Payment Providers have no additional provider fee from BigCommerce, while eligible orders through Open Payment Providers attract fees of 2% on Core, 1% on Growth, or 0.6% on Scale. Payment processing itself remains separate.
Older comparisons using Standard, Plus, and Pro, or claiming no added payment-provider fee in every situation, can lead to an inaccurate budget.
4. Wix: a business website with commerce and services
Best fit: businesses that want product sales alongside service pages, bookings, and a flexible visual website editor.
Wix Core includes payment acceptance and basic ecommerce. It is a useful option when selling is part of the website rather than its only job.
Price: the Canadian pricing page displayed Core at C$33/month and Business at C$44/month, both on annual billing. Light and the free website plan are not substitutes for a payment-enabled store plan.
Main trade-off: confirm the exact inventory, shipping, subscription, and booking features in your tier. A business selling appointments and physical products should test how those journeys work together, including confirmation emails and refunds.
5. Squarespace: a visually led brand with straightforward selling
Best fit: creative businesses and brands that want a polished content website with a manageable product catalogue.
Squarespace’s current plans include commerce, but their fees differ. That makes the cheapest subscription an incomplete basis for choosing.
Price: the Canadian page displayed Basic at C$21/month on annual billing, with a 2% online-store transaction fee. Core displayed C$32/month on annual billing with a 0% online-store transaction fee. Check promotional and renewal terms at checkout.
Payment processing is additional. Digital content and memberships have a separate fee schedule, so a physical-product seller and a course creator should not assume the same costs.
Main trade-off: test the specific product, shipping, and integration requirements you need. Strong visual presentation does not automatically mean the platform fits a complicated fulfilment or wholesale process.
6. Square Online: connect online orders with the counter
Best fit: retailers and local businesses already using Square, especially where pickup and local ordering matter.
Square Online’s Canadian plans support connected POS and online selling, with pickup, local delivery, and shipping options.
Price: Free has no monthly subscription, with online processing listed at 2.8% + C$0.30 per transaction. Plus is C$36/month on annual billing and includes custom-domain connection and removal of Square branding. Premium is C$99/month on annual billing, with online processing listed at 2.5% + C$0.30.
Main trade-off: the free plan is useful for testing, but branded storefront requirements can make a paid plan necessary. Check how stock, returns, and pickup availability stay consistent between online orders and staff at the counter.
7. Ecwid: add selling to a site you want to keep
Best fit: businesses that want to add a store to an existing website without rebuilding the entire site.
Ecwid by Lightspeed can be embedded into an existing site or used with its own storefront. Its plans differ by product limits and selling features.
Price: Starter is US$5/month for up to 10 products. Under the pricing effective after March 2, 2026, Venture is US$35/month or US$29/month on annual billing. Venture supports up to 100 products and adds features such as digital goods and access to the App Market.
Main trade-off: check the plan required for the complete store, not just the number of products. Discounts, integrations, product options, and storefront requirements can make the entry tier too limited. Ecwid’s 0% platform transaction fee does not remove payment-processor charges.
8. Adobe Commerce: for requirements that justify an enterprise project
Best fit: businesses with complex B2B operations, multiple brands or storefronts, and a dedicated implementation budget.
Adobe Commerce currently offers both a SaaS Cloud Service and a dedicated cloud PaaS option. Its wider offering includes catalogue, merchandising, and integration capabilities for more complex commerce operations.
Price: custom quote. Adobe does not publish a universal entry price for these packages, so an old “starts at” figure is not a reliable current quote. Request the licence, implementation, integrations, and ongoing support costs together.
Main trade-off: complexity and operating effort. This is rarely the first shortlist option for a small business with ordinary retail requirements. Clarify which deployment and capabilities are actually included before comparing it with a simple hosted store subscription.
What Canadian businesses should check before choosing
Payments, currency, and total cost
Confirm that your business can use the preferred gateway and receive payouts in the required currency. Then separate card processing, platform transaction fees, currency conversion, refunds, and disputes.
Compare a full year of the same setup: subscription or hosting, required apps, domain renewal, support, and any usage charges. For a clear illustration, a C$30/month app adds C$360/year before tax. Several small subscriptions can outweigh a modest difference in platform pricing.
Our Canadian website cost guide explains how operating expenses differ from the initial build.
Shipping and the complete customer journey
Check whether the plan supports your required carrier, your own carrier account, pickup, local delivery, and package rules. Printing a shipping label and displaying negotiated rates at checkout are different capabilities.
Test nearby, out-of-province, and remote destinations with realistic product weights. If you sell in English and French, review product options, checkout, emails, and returns information in both languages. Have your accountant confirm the tax setup for your registrations and products.
Integrations and the cost of leaving
Make a short list of systems that must connect: accounting, inventory, fulfilment, email, subscriptions, and POS. Ask what synchronizes, in which direction, and what happens when an update fails.
Also check what you can export. Products, customers, orders, reviews, gift cards, and subscription records may have different transfer paths. A data export does not mean the entire design, checkout, or app setup will move unchanged.
How AI changes the platform decision
AI now affects store creation, daily operations, and product discovery. These capabilities are useful, but they solve different problems.
AI that helps you build and manage the store
Website-generation tools can create an initial layout or product-copy draft. Merchant assistants such as Shopify Sidekick can help with operational tasks and analysis. Check what requires review and what a tool is allowed to change.
A convincing demo still needs accurate product specifications, delivery rules, and payment configuration. Do not choose a commerce platform only because it can generate an attractive homepage quickly.
AI that helps shoppers choose
Customer-facing assistants can answer suitable questions and guide visitors to relevant products. Their usefulness depends on current catalogue information and clear limits around prices, stock, and recommendations.
For WordPress stores, our MWD AI Assistant with its WooCommerce add-on can show product cards with current prices, stock information, and product-page links. The add-on is US$69/year for one site and requires a paid core licence; Pro starts at US$79/year. The entry combination is US$148/year before tax and separate AI provider usage.
That is an optional shopping-assistance layer, not a replacement for WooCommerce or its checkout. Our website chat guide compares AI guidance with human live chat.
Products appearing in AI shopping channels
Shopify’s agentic storefronts support eligible stores selling through AI channels, but eligibility and checkout behaviour vary by channel. Product discovery and an in-channel purchase are not the same feature.
Evaluate the channels available to your business today, not just announced capabilities. Keep product titles, variants, prices, availability, shipping, and returns information accurate wherever the catalogue is shared.
Test a real order before committing
A trial is most useful when you test the store you intend to operate. Use a realistic product and complete these steps on your two strongest candidates:
- Create the difficult product. Include its actual variations, personalization, bundles, or recurring purchase requirements.
- Complete checkout on a phone. Check the final price, shipping choices, payment method, and confirmation message.
- Process a refund or cancellation. Check inventory, customer notifications, and accounting records.
- Test a stock change. Confirm that connected channels show the correct availability.
- Check the product page. Review search-friendly content, image handling, navigation, and mobile loading with your intended apps installed.
- Price the complete setup. Include the plan required after your expected growth, not only the cheapest starting tier.
Use website speed tests on representative pages. No platform guarantees rankings, and moving stores solely for SEO can introduce migration work without fixing weak content or navigation.
Once the platform is chosen, use our product page design guide to organize product information, options, delivery details, and the mobile purchase flow.
Frequently asked questions
Shopify is a sensible starting point for many dedicated stores. WooCommerce fits an existing WordPress business with maintenance support. Square Online is worth checking when the business already uses Square. Your products and operating requirements should decide the shortlist.
Square Online offers a free subscription tier, while WooCommerce’s core software is free. Neither means every sale and operating expense is free. Check processing, hosting where needed, branding limits, and features that require an upgrade.
Marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy are places to sell within another company’s shopping environment. The platforms in this guide help you operate your own storefront. A business can use both, but fees, customer access, and operating rules differ.
Usually only when separating the storefront from the commerce system solves a concrete requirement, such as several custom customer experiences sharing one backend. It introduces development and maintenance work. A standard storefront is often the better starting point.
Choose the platform around the business you are building
Shortlist two platforms, demonstrate the hardest order, and compare the complete annual cost. Keep the existing platform if it can meet your requirements with a sensible improvement rather than a full migration.
Maple’s ecommerce website design services focus on Shopify and WooCommerce stores, with Starter builds from C$3,300 and migration projects from C$4,900. Platform subscriptions and operating expenses are separate.
If either platform is on your shortlist, request a store quote with your product list, shipping requirements, and must-have integrations. Those details make the recommendation useful before the build begins.
