Beginner-Friendly Website Builders for Selling Online
By David Nge | Last Updated: September 24, 2025
My work is supported by affiliate commissions. Learn More
By David Nge | Last Updated: September 24, 2025
My work is supported by affiliate commissions. Learn More
If you're just starting out with your online business and want to sell products, take donations, or offer subscriptions, you don't need to learn to code or hire a developer.
But you do need a website builder that handles payments, has beginner-friendly tools, and doesn’t surprise you with hidden fees.
While there are literally over a hundred website builders in the market, there's only a handful that are beginner-friendly and payment-flexible.
Here we’ll compare Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, and Square Online, the four most popular website builder platforms that let you accept payments online.
| Feature | Squarespace | Wix | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $16/mo | $29/month | $5/mo | Free |
| Free Plan Available | No | Yes (Can't accept payments) | No (3-day trial) | Yes |
| Payment Gateways | Stripe, PayPal | 90+ (Stripe, PayPal) | 400+ | Square only |
| Extra Platform Fees | 3% on lower plans | None | 2% (if use third-party) | None |
| Digital File Size Limit | 300 MB | 1 GB | 5 GB | 3 GB |
| Subscription Support | Yes | Yes | Yes (via app) | Yes |
| Donation Support | Yes (block) | Yes (via app) | Yes (via workaround) | Yes (native) |
| Multi-currency | No | Partial | Yes | No |
| Best For | Design-focused sites | All-purpose sites | Dedicated eCommerce | Simple small stores |
Let's dive right in.
Squarespace is known for their minimalist templates and polished user interface.
You won’t be overwhelmed with options, but you also won't be able to freely customize. So if you want a well put together site with minimal effort, then Squarespace is a popular go-to.
When it comes to selling online, previously you'd need to subscribe to their business plan ($23/month) in order to accept payments online, but they've recently revamped their pricing.
Now you can sell products and services even on the cheapest basic plan ($16/month).
Squarespace recently introduced its native payment method, aptly named Squarespace Payments, on top of Stripe and PayPal.
The biggest advantage Squarespace Payments has over Stripe and Paypal is the ability to accept ACH and Klarna (Buy now pay later).
Otherwise, all of them lets you accept:
Note: Squarespace does not support Authorize.net and Amazon Pay at the moment.
Squarespace’s pricing looks straightforward, but the details matter—especially if you plan to sell online.
Important: Payment processing fees (Stripe/PayPal) still apply on every plan, with rates ranging from 2.5–2.9% + $0.30 per transaction depending on tier.
On the checkout page you can customize things like your logo, colors, and form fields to some extent.
You also have the option to host the checkout page on your own domain instead of the default Squarespace checkout.
You can’t change the layout or add custom code to checkout, however. This is by design to keep it simple and secure.
Overall the site design is a strong point. The drag-and-drop editor is section-based, ensuring designs look professional out of the box and making it more approachable for beginners.
Squarespace is perfect for selling a few types of items beautifully, especially if you care more about presentation than complex backend setups. But its limited payment options, hefty fees on lower plans, and file size limits for digital products may become frustrating as you grow.
Wix is a very popular website builder known for its design freedom. You can drag-and-drop elements anywhere and choose from hundreds of templates.
This flexibility makes it easy for anyone who wants creative control. It also doesn't hurt that Wix has a broad feature set (blogs, forums, bookings, etc.), and one of the largest third-party plugin store (App market) after Wordpress.
While Wix has a free plan, you need to upgrade to their Core plan ($29/month) or above in order to use their eCommerce features and to accept payment.
Most debit and credit card payments from all major brands are supported, including:
Wix doesn’t charge transaction fees on your sales beyond the regular Stripe or PayPal fees.
Apart from that, here are their paid plans that support payments:
No transaction fee on any plan.
You just pay the usual ~2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee.
You can sell almost anything on Wix, with a third-party plugin.
You have full control over your site’s look, and that extends somewhat to the store pages. You can design product pages and even your cart page in the Wix Editor.
Checkout customization, however, is somewhat limited to settings rather than layout (for security, the final checkout page is more standardized)
You can accept payments in multiple currencies (depending on gateway) as well as create multilingual sites with the Wix Multilingual plugin.
If you’re someone who wants total control, or if you’re building a business with many parts (classes, events, store, blog), Wix offers unmatched flexibility.
That said, if you add multipl apps/plugins, it tends to slow site speed, and Wix is also notorious for having a janky user interface when you add too many components on your site.
Shopify was specifically built for e-commerce.
It’s extremely popular for online stores and is a bit different from Wix and Squarespace: it’s less about content pages and more about eCommerce tools.
That said, it’s still quite user-friendly for beginners who focus primarily on selling.
Shopify’s strengths are its selling tools (inventory management, shipping integrations, tax calculations, etc.), a huge ecosystem of apps/integrations, and the ability to grow with your business (from a small store to high-volume eCommerce).
If your main goal is to sell products online (physical or digital) with as many features and integrations as possible, Shopify is often the top choice.
Shopify has the most extensive payment gateway support among these platforms: over 400 payment providers supported globally.
Check out all the supported payment providers here.
There is no free plan, but Shopify offers a free trial (typically 3 days) and sometimes promotional pricing for the first few months.
One other cost to consider — Many advanced features might require third-party apps, some of which have their own monthly fees.
You should budget for maybe ~$10–$50 extra per month for a few useful apps (depending on needs), although Shopify has been building more features natively over time.
Shopify's own native payment gateway omits the 1-2% platform fee that you otherwise have to pay if you use a third-party payment provider.
The ~2.9% + $0.30 credit card fees still apply.
You can sell almost anything, including but not limited to:
Shopify’s storefront design is template-based: you choose a theme and can customize it using a visual editor for colors, fonts, and layout options.
If you need a fully customizable checkout, you can only unlock it on the Plus plan.
Some beginners may find the ecosystem (themes, apps, reports) overwhelming. But if you need a dedicated commerce platform and your primary goal is selling products with the best experience, Shopify is the platform to go with.
Square Online is the website/store builder offered by Square (the payments company known for in-person card readers).
It was built on Weebly’s platform (Square acquired Weebly in 2018), meaning it’s also very beginner-friendly and geared towards quick setup.
Square Online is great it if you already uses Square for payments, or if you absolutely need a free online store.
Square Online is somewhat the opposite of Shopify and other platforms in this regard. They primarily use their own payment processing — Square Payments — for all transactions.
When you launch a Square Online site, it’s automatically set up to accept credit/debit cards via Square.
This includes Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Cash App Pay compatibility through Square’s system.
You will have to pay the standard 2.9% + $0.30 credit card charge per sale (2.6% on higher plans)
Square Online’s site editor is template-driven and structured (similar to Squarespace’s style, but with fewer template choices).
You can pick a theme and make simple customizations (colors, fonts, images). The checkout process on Square Online is fairly straightforward and not heavily customizable.
Because it’s tightly integrated with Square Payments, customers will see options like Square Pay.
If you're a local business and you need a free or low-cost way to get selling online, Square Online is a great pick.
The free plan comes with Square POS, online store, invoices, and more with zero processing fees. However, it’s not as design-flexible or feature-rich in non-commerce features as some others.
Choosing a website builder isn’t just about what’s “easy.” It’s about what will scale with you, support your product types, and not burn your budget with hidden fees.
Shopify supports the largest file size (5 GB) via its free app. Wix is next (1 GB), while Squarespace caps files at 300 MB.
All four support donations in some way: Squarespace and Square Online have native options, Wix has an app, Shopify requires a workaround.
Yes. All four platforms allow subscriptions, but setup varies. Shopify needs an app. Squarespace/Wix have built-in options. Square has Square Subscriptions.
Square Online (free plan). You only pay per transaction.
Shopify is the best here, with full support for multiple currencies and languages. Wix is second best. Squarespace and Square are more limited.
David Nge is the founder and writer behind MakingThatWebsite.com. Since launching in 2021, he’s been on a mission to help non-techies—especially small business owners—build better websites using easy-to-learn tools and smart, time-saving strategies. He specializes in website builders, SEO, and practical AI tutorials for small business owners.
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