15 Useful Tools for Building an eCommerce Site

Many website builders offer free plans, however, we all know that “there’s no such thing as free cheese.” In many cases, you start using a free plan, and after investing a lot of effort in building your site, you suddenly realize that the chosen free plan limits your options and abilities, and it’s simply impossible to use. So-called “free” website builders and tools bait you and consequently make you buy expensive plans.

We decided to test some of the major tools to find out which ones will actually help you build a functional site for free. Even though some of the services/tools below have limited free features they still can be used to build (or customize) your eCommerce site. We mean it! We have personally used every software tool, CMS, and website builder on the list to see what cool features it can offer.

It was an interesting experience, in which we encountered some surprises. Of course, all free builders have their limitations, the same goes for tools and services. However, some of them will still allow you to do much more than others. 

Read on to find out more and see, which free eCommerce tool is right for you.

What to Expect from Best Free Website Builders and Tools

As mentioned above, we don’t want to recommend some random free website builders. These days, there’s a huge mountain of garbage for every bit of useful information. Here’s what we decided to pay attention to when testing our candidates:

• Beautiful, functional templates – you want a site that looks solid, not some “hello from the 90s.” plug;
• Ease of use – what good is a tool if you don’t know how to use it? Many people choose a website builder because it’s free. After they start using it, they spend hours just trying to figure out the interface. Here’s where drag-and-drop website builders come to the rescue. They make it easy to take site elements and place them wherever you want, allowing you to stay on top of the latest website design trends;;
• Long-term benefits – we didn’t even consider “free trial” options. You want a free site that you can use for as long as you need it;
• Easy and inexpensive conversion to the paid version – if a site is really good, it can start to pay for itself, whether it’s advertising revenue, leads for business, or whatever. It’s always good to know that if (and when) the time comes, you can easily start generating income from your site, without going bankrupt in the process.

If you need a simple online store with little functionality, you can probably manage it on your own. For such tasks, there are a number of ready-made solutions: website constructors or CMS, which will be discussed in just a few minutes. Often, hosting providers include the opportunity to use such platforms in their packages by default. The advantage here is that it’s really cheap and fast. However, uniqueness and functionality will suffer.

Thinking about where you can actually build an online store, if we talk about CMS, the most popular platforms for online sales are OpenCart, PrestaShop, Joomla, Magento, OsCommerce, and ZenCart. Let’s talk about them first.

Opencart. Secure, Open Source Platform

This engine is focused exclusively on the creation of trading platforms, which is its unique feature. The admin panel contains all the necessary tools to create a good online store. The administrator can access the following features:

• Saving purchase history;
• Order status tracking, different delivery, and payment options;
• Clear and fast registration;
• Convenient shopping cart with data on selected products (incl. quantity and cost);
• Connection of several payment methods;
• Online profiling (availability to collect user data and record their behavior on the site);
• Assignment of a certain product status;
• Numerous filters for customers to find products they are interested in;
• Subscription to a news blog of the online store.
• Free CMS with hundreds of templates and modules available;
• Installation is simple and fast, clear interface; 
• No difficulties with SEO and integration with third-party services.

The disadvantages of Opencart include:

• Increased hosting requirements;
• Problems with 404 error page output and semantic URL,
• Most of the modules and templates are paid.

To summarize:

• License: free;
• Suitable for: beginners;
• Out-of-the-box version available;
• Quality technical support;
• SEO-settings;
• A large number of modules.

Joomla! Free Open Source CMS 

The uniqueness of Joomla! is that you don’t need any HTML and CSS knowledge to launch your projects here. Mastering the platform can be done in the shortest possible time. The product is free and has open-source code. You will not have to choose a suitable package, pay for or renew the license, etc.

You will need to install additional modules like EShop, JooCommerce, VirtueMart, etc. to sell products. With their help, you will install payment systems, organize a system of discounts, prepare eCommerce tools, etc. In total, there are about 8,000 free extensions.

Joomla’s interface provides blocks for inserting keys and descriptions of content. You can enable/disable indexing for pages. This CMS has all the necessary tools for SEO.

Here are a few additional advantages of Joomla!:

• Low server requirements;
• A lot of educational information on the web;
• A large number of adapted templates;
• However, this CMS has no technical support, has a sufficient number of vulnerabilities, and is difficult to integrate with various business services. 

To summarize:

• License: free;
• Suitable for beginners;
• Out-of-the-box version available;
• SEO settings;
• A large number of modules;
• No quality technical support.

Magento. All-In-One eCommerce Platform 

Magento is used by about 100 thousand owners of online stores. It’s a multifunctional platform, designed specifically for eCommerce, which is the main feature of the CMS. 

• The platform is fully adapted for SEO, which means all the settings are configured via the Magento panel;
• A lot of marketing tools to increase sales and attractiveness of the online store;
• Several hundred modules including payment and delivery;
• A convenient user profile;
• The ability to add a large number of product types;
• Opportunity to use newsletters;
• Customer groups and the ability to set personal parameters for each one.

The community version of Magento is free,  but many modules and templates are still paid. Magento Commerce is the enterprise / paid version of the platform, currently owned by Adobe   The platform’s tech support works great: online trading platform owners, as a rule, can quickly get answers to their questions. Also, CMS perfectly integrates with most eCommerce services.

To summarize:

• License: free;
• Suitable for beginners;
• Out-of-the-box version available;
• Quality technical support.
• SEO settings.
• A large number of modules.

OsCommerce

Tens of thousands of online stores in the world work on free CMS osCommerce, which is considered one of the oldest systems for the site. Although this platform is difficult to master for the average user, it has infinite possibilities for creating a multi-functional online resource (5,000+ modules).

The system has a large number of additional plug-ins, due to which you can realize practically any desired functionality.

Among the disadvantages of CMS osCommerce users highlight:

• Lack of design templates. However, there are additional modules that allow you to customize the design of your store;
• The platform wasn’t updated since 2007, which slowed down a bit the development of CMS in general;
• To work with the platform, you need to have programming skills, because to install add-ons, editing of program files is required;
• The unclear interface of the system.

Business Name Generator

The TRUiC AI Powered Business Name Generator is an innovative tool designed to help entrepreneurs and businesses discover the perfect name for their ventures. With the advanced capabilities of artificial intelligence, this generator generates unique and creative business names tailored to specific industries, niches, and preferences. The AI algorithm analyzes various factors, including keywords, industry trends, and brand identity, to deliver a diverse range of catchy and memorable name suggestions. Whether you’re starting a tech startup, a fashion brand, or a consulting firm, the TRUiC AI Powered Business Name Generator is a reliable resource that simplifies the naming process and sets the foundation for a strong and distinctive brand.

PrestaShop CMS. Customized for Online Stores

PrestaShop CMS is designed specifically for online stores. The system has 120 built-in extensions, which you can use to solve all basic issues, related to sales, analytics, and finances.

PrestaShop is free of charge. There is an adaptive design, many templates and modules, good tech support, and SEO opportunities. But not everything is so smooth. Most of the modules are quite expensive. The source code is difficult to edit, and during internal optimization, there are often various bugs.

Use this CMS, if you run small or medium-scale projects. In terms of functionality, this engine is definitely superior to most free counterparts.

To summarize:

• License: free;
• Suitable for beginners;
• Out-of-the-box version available;
• Quality technical support;
• SEO settings;
• A large number of modules.

MODX. Free Platform for Collaborative Processes

MODX is an open-source CMS that has two versions: Revo (new) and Evo (previous).

The CMS supports any design options that can be imported into the system. You can work with two sites simultaneously, which is quite convenient if you have a network of resources. Note that the CMS also has a comfortable syntax of tags – you can specify convenient URLs, descriptions, and headlines. MODX helps to do basic SEO.

Porting your site to MODX, on a remote server is as easy as possible. The system has a clear admin panel, which even a beginner can deal with. The advantages are also cross-browser and cross-platform. All major browser types are supported, including mobile browsers.

Unfortunately, MODX doesn’t have many templates. Unlike WordPress, their number is measured in dozens, not hundreds. The same applies to modules: there are few pre-made elements. Technical support for CMS is quite weak because of the lack of a large number of experts.

To summarize:

• License: free.
• Suitable for beginners.
• Out-of-the-box version available;
• SEO-settings;
• A small number of modules;
• Weak technical support.

Shopify Free Tools

Though Shopify itself is not a free eCommerce platform. it still offers dozens of high-quality free tools to online users. This is where you can find a handy logo generator, the image resizes tool, financial calculators, a business name generator, free website templates, and more!

You can check the Shopify Burst tool in your Shopify admin or on their Burst website. New images are added to their growing collection of stock images at least twice a week to ensure they are in line with the latest eСommerce trends. So if you sell makeup brushes or clothing, you’ll find high-quality images to use for your banners, ads, and other marketing materials. For some of the products you find on Oberlo, there’re stock photos for the same product on Burst, which means you don’t have to resort to generic photos. Burst specializes in photography for online store owners, which makes them the best platform for stock photos for novice entrepreneurs. Plus, the images are free.

Hatchful ( a logo maker). This tool takes logo design to the next level! You can choose from a variety of fonts, styles, and colors to create an epic logo. If you have zero budget, you can choose from free designs. And if you have some room in your budget, you can check out their premium designs. You’ll find designs for niches like fashion, beauty, technology, and more. Some designs have colorful logos and others are simpler in design. Regardless of your budget or style, you will find a logo that fits your brand.

Image Resizer. When you first import your own product images, you may end up realizing that they’re not all the same square shape. Enter the Shopify Online Image Resizer tool. You can choose from three sizes, all square. Its main purpose is probably to ensure that the product photos provide uniformity across your entire product collection. 

When it comes to choosing the right size for your images, choose according to your needs. Do you want your site to load faster? Select “Compact.” Otherwise, if you want your product images to show smaller details – select “Large.” And if you’re resizing multiple images at once, use the drag-and-drop feature, which allows you to upload up to six images at a time.

Shopify also has three financial calculators that you can use to help you manage your store’s finances. You can use a free CPM calculator to determine the cost of your ad campaigns. By entering the total cost of the campaign and the number of ad impressions, you’ll find out what your cost per thousand impressions is at the click of a button. 

Another Shopify tool you can check out is the Gross Profit Margin Calculator. Add the cost of the product and the markup percentage to find out what your profit margin and retail value should be. This calculator helps ensure that your business is profitable. Don’t forget to consider your advertising expenses by checking your profit margin. 

The third financial tool is the Business Loan Calculator, which lets you find out how much your loan will cost, based on the loan amount, annual interest rate, term length, and additional monthly payments. Knowing the total cost of your loan will help you better decide if getting a loan is the best solution.

Lastly, you are able to send out abandoned shopping cart reminders, invoices, order updates, promo codes & payment reminders via SMSGlobal’s Shopify SMS Integration. 

Oberlo

Oberlo is an app that allows you to import thousands of products from AliExpress into your existing Shopify online store.

Oberlo connects your online store to AliExpress, making it faster and easier to sell products found there. You can find Oberlo in the Shopify app store or download the extension in Chrome.

Aftership

The story behind the development of the Aftership app (tracking software) is much like a Cinderella tale. In 2011, an unknown team of developers from Hong Kong won a startup competition – first locally, then internationally. In its early stages, Aftership worked with only 40 courier services. Now that number has grown to 700!

We would call it one of the best programs for iPhone and Android due to the following reasons:

• Great design. In Aftership, everything is simple and tasteful: icons and fonts are comfortable for perception, the color scheme is quite eye-pleasing;
• No ads. Given that the app can be downloaded for free, this is a very nice bonus;
• Simple communication system. You can get in touch with the carrier with just one click;
• Multiple track number adding ways. If the user is inconvenient to write the tracking number manually, he can enter it using an integrated barcode scanner. The number can also be exported from the clipboard.

As for the downsides, users consider the complete absence of settings in the app. However, you can’t call it a serious drawback – why bother with the settings when the program can easily do without them?

Responsinator

Thanks to the site you can see how your site will look on smartphones and tablets. The most popular resolutions are used for testing. This service is very convenient to use for debugging cross-platform layout online.

Weebly

Weebly is a free website builder with a visual editor. It’s a veteran of the website building industry, and can even give a head start to Wix and Squarespace in terms of functionality and price. It has beautiful templates and a hassle-free editor, which means it simply has to be on our list.

This site editor doesn’t try to do everything for you. That is, an AI assistant didn’t try to help us build a site, and we had to set up the demo content manually. However, you will need to use your own content when you create a real site anyway. So whether the lack of an AI assistant is an advantage or not is basically up to you, as well. 

Weebly allows you to create business cards, corporate sites, portfolios, blogs, event posters, and, of course, online stores (if you don’t mind having a Weebly subdomain or the branding on the site). Weebly is focused on beginners and more or less advanced users. It allows you to add your code to the site, track its performance in detail, promote it in search engines and within your TA via numerous marketing tools.

Free eCommerce (in some countries). Okay, this feature is not available in every country. However, you can definitely set up an online store and sell goods for free in the U.S. (and a few other countries). The only limitation of this feature is that there’s no shopping cart on free and cheaper plans. That is, your customers will have to buy one item at a time.

Free apps. Weebly App Market includes free apps, premium apps, and apps available on both free and paid plans. You can use them to integrate your site with social media, create advanced forms, and more.

Free SEO/Marketing Tools. The free plan includes a set of basic but useful tools. As far as SEO is concerned, you’ll be able to customize all the page metadata manually. On the marketing side, you’ll be offered a newsletter subscription tool. You can also embed surveys and monetize your site with Google AdSense, all for free. That’s pretty impressive because most free builder plans don’t give you monetization tools at all.

Weebly has an app store that gives you access to a host of plugins that extend the functionality of your site. Another interesting feature is that you can assign other editors to your website. So if you’re working in a team, you’re not limited to one access account.

Jimbo

Jimbo actually offers two versions of a site editor. The “new” version is simple, fast, does everything for you (more or less), and is generally quite easy to use. The “old” version is more complex but, theoretically, more flexible. You get more control over the appearance and functionality of your site.

There are a lot of settings and statistics of the store in the personal account. You are able to create a full-fledged marketplace by importing hundreds or even thousands of products. Expect no commission fees (your revenue is all yours), a local pickup feature, flexible payment methods, Instagram and Facebook integration, and mobile optimization. After registering a free account you will need to answer a few questions about your online store, choose design/colors that match your brand, add your product photos/text, make final edits, publish your online store, and start selling! 

The actual website editor basically allows you to add premade “sections” of content to your site. You have some control over the layout, but not much. This is definitely the easiest website builder to use. There are a lot of product options when manually adding – almost as many as there are for top profile eCommerce systems: item type (physical, digital item, service, prepared meal, event, etc.), title, regular and sale price, description, visibility, images, shipping terms, item number, stock tracking, tax, an ability to add extra product properties/modifications, and SEO settings (semantic URL, header, and description).

Automatic SEO. Are you tired of manually entering keywords and page descriptions? Jimdo AI will do it for you! Given the current limitations of AI, you might want to double-check everything before you hit “Publish,” but it’s a really cool feature.

Image Library. A library of free images can help you get started with your design. You can also pull images from your social media accounts. For example, if you have an Instagram portfolio, importing that one will be very easy.

Wix. Best Website Builder for Ultimate Freedom

Wix has been at the forefront of the website creation industry for quite some time, and it’s constantly evolving. Unfortunately, creating an eCommerce site here is not free, but we just couldn’t resist including this website builder in our list. After all, Wix can safely be called one of the most full-featured website builders in the world! With it, your website is sure to amaze all its visitors!

Create an account, choose from 500+ professional online store templates, customize your website’s design, add your product photos, connect your payment provider, set up shipping, choose a custom domain, publish your store, and start selling!

Of course, Wix has one of the best free plans where you get access to almost all of the features. There’s no reason to leave the free Wix plan at all. All of the Wix templates are available there, and they are very good. You can easily create a free site.

Bootstrap. Free HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Library 

Originally created by the Twitter dev team, Bootstrap is now the world’s most popular platform for creating adaptive mobile-oriented websites.

It’s essentially a free HTML, CSS, and JavaScript library that helps simplify the process of building a website from scratch. There are dozens of features, including a grid system, responsive breakpoints, and a rich library of components that make coding easier and faster.

WordPress. For Your Web Design Needs

WordPress is an alternative way to customize and develop a website for Bootstrap. It’s an open-source content management system that makes it easy to set up a website in just a few minutes. It’s important to note that WordPress is free to download but for hosting your WordPress you need to find the WordPress hosting solution that offers managed platform..

There are thousands of free plugins available to download and install. This means you can extend the functionality of your site to look and function exactly the way you want it to. This simplifies the entire customization process and means you don’t need programming skills to develop your site.

As the world’s largest open-source CMS, WordPress offers a wide range of solutions for all your web design needs, including WooCommerce, the leading eCommerce platform. As of 2021, more than 36% of the Internet is powered by WordPress.

Conclusion

Brands know that online competition is getting tougher by the minute. Consumers judge a brand in seconds, simply based on its website design. To make visitors stay on your site and learn more about your business, you need to make sure that your site looks absolutely attractive and is updated on time.

That’s why we’ve put together these helpful tools to make your decision-making process easier when choosing the right tool for your eCommerce website. Use any of these carefully selected tools that will help you save time and money. And as a bonus, here’s a gold background freebie that you can use to create amazing art for your sliders & graphics on your new website!