How we compare e-commerce platforms
We list 13 e-commerce platforms sold to UK merchants. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page. Some headline prices are the monthly equivalent of an annual commitment, and where a vendor bills in US dollars we convert at a recorded rate.
The calculator asks for your monthly online revenue, your average order value and how many products you sell. For each platform it picks the cheapest published plan that covers your product count, adds the platform's own percentage of revenue where it charges one, and sorts by the total. One limit: BigCommerce gates its real plans on annual turnover and our engine holds it at its entry price of £29/mo (Core), so read its pricing page before committing. Commission does not change the order.
The UK-built e-commerce platforms and what their floor buys
Most of this market is American or Canadian software sold into Britain. EKM and ShopWired are UK-founded, price in pounds with no conversion, and staff their support here. That buys a working day matching yours. What you pay is a higher floor.
| Provider | Entry plan /mo | Customer support |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | £0 (open source) | 24/7 (Enterprise) |
| BigCommerce | £29/mo (Core) | 24/7 chat, phone, email |
| Ecwid by Lightspeed | £5/mo (Starter, 10 products) | Business hours |
| EKM | £327/mo (+VAT) | UK-based account manager, phone, email |
| GoDaddy Online Store | £13.99/mo (Commerce, annual) | 24/7 phone, chat |
| PrestaShop | £0 (open source) | Community + paid |
| Shopify | £19/mo (Basic) | 24/7 chat, email, phone |
| ShopWired | £34.95/mo (Essentials) | UK-based phone, email, chat |
| Square | £0 (Free) | Business hours UK |
| Squarespace | £12/mo (Basic) | 24/7 email; live chat (business hrs) |
| Webflow | £22/mo (Standard) | Help center, support portal, Webflow University |
| Wix | £16/mo (Core) | 24/7 online |
| WooCommerce | £0 (open source) | Community + paid |
Read the transaction fee row for both: ShopWired lists 0% and EKM lists 0% with EKM Pay, 0.6% external, so on EKM the cut depends on which payments you take through it. A higher subscription against a small or zero percentage on turnover is the argument for them, and it weighs more the more you sell.
If you are launching with a handful of items and no proven demand, the domestic floor is hard to justify. Several global platforms bill UK customers in pounds too, so pound billing alone is not a reason to pay more. UK support is, once an outage costs you orders. Where an open-source row reads free, the price is the software and not the shop: hosting, extensions and a developer's time sit outside it, and the Technical skill required row tells you whether that developer is you.
Wix or Shopify: the e-commerce platform question UK shoppers ask
This is a common head-to-head, and it is a price question that is really a shape question. Where they separate:
How the bill is built. Wix's entry plan is £16/mo (Core) with a platform cut of 0% and an in-house checkout rate of 2.9% + 30p (approx). Shopify's entry plan is £19/mo (Basic) with a cut of 2% (Basic) and a checkout rate of 2% + 25p (Basic). Which is cheaper turns on your revenue and average order value, so put your own figures into the calculator.
What you bolt on. Typical app spend runs £40 to £150/mo on Shopify and £0 to £40/mo on Wix. A deep app store is a capability and a running cost at once.
Dropshipping. Shopify lists it as Native (DSers, Oberlo legacy) and Wix as Via apps. Dropshipping from outside the UK also makes you responsible for import duty and VAT on the way in.
The platform's own cut: what an e-commerce platform charges on top of your gateway
Your payment gateway charges you to process a card; our card machines comparison covers that market. On top of it, some platforms levy their own percentage of every order placed through a gateway that is not theirs. It buys you nothing. It is a toll.
Take payments through the platform's in-house checkout and the cut is usually zero; use an outside gateway and it applies on top of the gateway's rate. Moving up a plan often removes it.
| Provider | Third-party gateway fee | Native processing rate |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | 0% | Via gateway (Payment Services / Stripe) |
| BigCommerce | 0% | Via partners (no native processor) |
| Ecwid by Lightspeed | 0% | Via connected gateway (no native processor) |
| EKM | 0% with EKM Pay, 0.6% external | EKM Pay (0% EKM fee) |
| GoDaddy Online Store | 0% | ~1.9% + 25p |
| PrestaShop | 0% | Via gateway (PrestaShop Checkout / Stripe) |
| Shopify | 2% (Basic) | 2% + 25p (Basic) |
| ShopWired | 0% | Via gateway (e.g. Stripe 1.4% + 20p) |
| Square | 0% | 1.4% + 25p (online) |
| Squarespace | 3% (Basic), 0% (Core+) | 1.4% + 25p |
| Webflow | 2% (Standard), 0% (Plus+) | Via Stripe |
| Wix | 0% | 2.9% + 30p (approx) |
| WooCommerce | 0% | Via gateway (WooPayments / Stripe) |
A cut of every order grows precisely when the business is going well, and it never appears in the pricing page's biggest number.
Selling to EU customers from a UK e-commerce platform
A parcel to Dublin or Dusseldorf is an export now. Goods leaving Great Britain for the EU are zero rated for UK VAT, but you need evidence of export. Import VAT falls due on arrival, and by default your customer pays it: the carrier collects the VAT plus a handling fee on the doorstep, which is the fastest way to turn a good order into a refund request.
Registering for the EU's Import One Stop Shop lets you charge the destination country's VAT at checkout on consignments up to 150 euros and remit it through one return. Every parcel still needs a customs declaration with the right commodity code, origin and value.
The platform's job here is narrow: show the right currency and tax at checkout, and carry the payment methods European shoppers expect.
| Provider | Multi-currency | Payment gateways |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | Yes | 100+ |
| BigCommerce | Yes | 65+ |
| Ecwid by Lightspeed | Yes (Unlimited) | 70+ |
| EKM | Yes | 40+ |
| GoDaddy Online Store | Limited | 3 gateways |
| PrestaShop | Yes | 100+ |
| Shopify | Yes | 100+ |
| ShopWired | Yes | 20+ |
| Square | No | Square only |
| Squarespace | No | Stripe, PayPal |
| Webflow | Yes (Plus+) | Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay |
| Wix | Limited | 70+ |
| WooCommerce | Yes (via plugins) | 100+ |
If the EU is a real slice of the business, this should narrow the table before price does.
VAT, the 14 day cancellation right and the business behind your e-commerce platform
People open the shop and register the business in the same week. The platform does neither legal job.
Incorporating and registering for VAT happen at different bodies. Companies House incorporates the company. HMRC handles VAT, and you must register once taxable turnover passes the threshold over any rolling twelve month period. Check the current threshold on GOV.UK and watch the rolling window rather than your financial year. Registering voluntarily below it is often worth it if you buy stock with VAT on it.
Digital goods are taxed where the buyer is. Sell downloads, memberships or courses to consumers in the EU and the VAT is due in their country from the first sale. GoDaddy Online Store lists digital products as No; every other row reads yes, Webflow's through a third-party tool. Check the tax settings before launch.
Distance selling gives your customer 14 days to change their mind. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations a consumer buying online can cancel for any reason within fourteen days of receiving the goods, has a further fourteen days to return them, and you refund within fourteen days. You cannot write it away in your terms, and you must tell the buyer about the right before they order or the window extends by up to a year. Digital content downloaded with express consent is one of the exceptions.
So your platform has to let you publish real policy pages and, ideally, adjust the checkout: WooCommerce lists a custom checkout as Yes (fully customisable) while Squarespace lists No. Pick a platform whose tax and policy settings you can actually reach.