WooCommerce is a free plugin for installing eCommerce functionality onto a WordPress website. It's not available on WordPress.com's free hosting plans, but can be installed onto a paid WordPress Business plan or onto a self-hosted website using the downloadable WordPress.org software. Installation itself is easy, as you'll only need to select WooCommerce from WordPress's built-in plugin catalog.

WordPress is one of the most popular website builders today, and it's easy to see why — it's easy to use and extremely flexible design-wise. WooCommerce comes with that same flexibility, being able to use a wide range of WordPress themes and have its features expanded by plugins. With both plugins and themes, however, compatibility can be an issue, so ensure any you use are compatible not just with WooCommerce but with one another. Some plugins and themes do have a price, which can be a one-time charge or a monthly fee, making the total cost of setting up a WooCommerce store less predictable.

Volusion is quite similar to BigCommerce in the sense that they're both SaaS platforms, meaning that unlike WooCommerce, you don't have to handle web hosting or software updates. These and other technical details are handled by the platform provider so you can keep attention on your business. You can start using Volusion the same way you start with BigCommerce and other SaaS providers: just create an account and start building your store.

Volusion is one of the most user-friendly eCommerce platforms, but some users actually find it too simplistic in some respects, and it has fewer features than some other platforms, BigCommerce included. That being said, however, Volusion can still be a good choice if it fits the needs of your business.

Shopify is well-known in the eCommerce world as a leading platform supporting tons of retailers, small and large alike. It operates on the SaaS model just like BigCommerce, so there's nothing to install or update. It's also considered to be extremely user-friendly and welcoming to those without any technical knowledge. With Shopify, it's possible to get an online store up and running very quickly, but there are some downsides you should also be aware of.

Shopify's overall feature count is lower than the other SaaS solutions we've listed, with the exception of Volusion (although Volusion still has some features Shopify doesn't). Much of the missing functionality can be filled in using apps from Shopify's extensive app store, but nearly all of them have fees of their own, and many businesses find themselves needing to use so many apps that their monthly fees quickly become unmanageable. It's common to pay over 3 times your Shopify plan's fee in app charges alone.

Shopify also charges transaction fees on every sale (plus the payment processor's normal fee) unless you use their proprietary payment provider, Shopify Payments. This may seem like a quick solution, but Shopify Payments simply isn't feasible for some businesses. It's based on Stripe, which does not support any industry designated as "high-risk," which can be due to regulations, higher fraud rates, or other reasons. Shopify Payments has also gained a reputation for suspending service without warning due to perceived risk (regardless of what the store sells), freezing all collected payments and essentially closing the store.

Magento is known as a great platform for large eCommerce retailers, and is available in a free, open-source model similar to WooCommerce. It comes with tons of built-in features and receives constant development originating with its large open-source community. To use it, you'll need to install it onto a compatible web server, which admittedly will need to be relatively powerful to support bigger websites with more traffic.

Magento's biggest problem is the slowdown it suffers as more products and customers make their way to the website. This can be partially mitigated with good server hardware, but much of the issue lies with Magento itself. Still, the open source nature of the software means these problems can be addressed by a competent developer. If you're knowledgeable about code, or your business can hire a developer, you can do well on Magento — but if not, it will be better for you to go with another solution.