We recommend an ecommerce platform to a lot of the partners who come to us wanting to start selling online. So we decided to run a thorough piece of research, find out which platform really is the right one, and base our recommendation on that research. When a comment on the subject landed on our ecommerce SEO guide page, we published here the research we had done for ourselves.
This review is built around the ecommerce platforms based in Turkey, and we also brought in the ones that are popular worldwide but little known here. When you pick the right platform for your project, I would recommend talking to them yourself and judging the fit for your own project.
Ecommerce Platforms
| Platform | Standout features | Pricing (approximate) | Functionality and user benefits | Who it is for | SEO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideasoft |
| Pro: ₺25.900 a year, Entegre: ₺38.900 a year, Platinum: ₺65.900 a year (VAT included, payable in 12 installments) |
| From beginners up to mid sized companies | 80 |
| Ticimax |
| 2025 prices: Start: ₺12.000 a year, Special: ₺16.000 a year, Pro: ₺20.000 a year, Enterprise: custom pricing |
| From small ventures up to enterprises | 85 |
| İkas |
| Start: ₺7.908 a year plus VAT (₺659 a month), Grow: ₺12.948 a year plus VAT (₺1079 a month), Scale: ₺49.908 a year (₺4159 a month), Scale Plus: ₺95.988 a year (₺7999 a month), Premium: custom pricing |
| Businesses focused on cross border selling, every size from small to large | 90 |
| TSoft |
| Basic: ₺30.000, Basic+: ₺40.000, Special: ₺60.000, Special+: ₺70.000 (professional packages ₺90.000 – ₺550.000) |
| Businesses looking for solutions built for their sector | 75 |
| Entigo |
| 15 day free trial. Package prices on request |
| People new to ecommerce and small businesses with no technical knowledge | 80 |
| PlatinMarket |
| 9.990 TL upward. Basic Smart Ecommerce Package: ₺6.299, Middle Smart Ecommerce Package: ₺9.799, Large Smart Ecommerce Package: ₺13.899 |
| Businesses after broad management and integration | 70 |
| Projesoft |
| From 1800₺ a month (Pixa Lab), from 7650₺ a month (Projesoft). One off ₺5.250 |
| Small and mid sized businesses | 70 |
| Kobimaster |
| Starter: ₺99.000 (12 x ₺7.500 a month), Plus: ₺129.000 (12 x ₺12.500 a month), Premium: ₺179.000 (12 x ₺17.500 a month), Premium+: ₺229.000 (12 x ₺25.000 a month) |
| Small and mid sized firms, sellers on marketplaces, anyone after deeper integration and automation | 70 |
| Shopify |
| Basic: $39 a month (annually $29 a month), Grow: $105 a month (annually $79 a month), Advanced: $399 a month (annually $299 a month), Plus: $2.300 a month upward. Transaction fees 0.6% – 2% (for third party payment gateways) |
| Ecommerce businesses of every size, from solo founders to large operations. | 75 |
| Wix |
| Free plan available. Core: $29 a month (annually $26.10 a month), Business: $36 a month (annually $32.40 a month), Business Elite: $159 a month (annually $143.10 a month). Transaction fee 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Small businesses and individual founders after a customizable online store. | 90 |
| BigCommerce |
| Standard: $29 a month (billed annually), Plus: $79 a month (billed annually), Pro: $299 a month (billed annually), Enterprise: custom pricing. No transaction fee (payment gateway fees excluded). |
| From small businesses looking to scale up to large international brands. | 85 |
| Squarespace |
| Core: $23 a month (billed annually), Plus: $39 a month (billed annually), Advanced: $99 a month (billed annually). Core plan carries a 3% transaction fee (the others do not). |
| Users who care about design, small businesses, and anyone selling services or subscriptions. | 75 |
| Ecwid by Lightspeed |
| Free: $0 a month (5 products), Venture: $25 a month, Business: $45 a month, Unlimited: $105 a month. No transaction fee (payment gateway fees excluded). |
| Small businesses and individual founders who want to add ecommerce to a site they already have. | 60 |
| Volusion |
| Personal: $35 a month, Professional: $79 a month, Business: $299 a month, Prime: custom pricing. No transaction fee with Volusion Payments, otherwise 0.35% – 1.25%. |
| Small businesses. | 80 |
| Big Cartel |
| Gold (free): $0 a month (5 products), Platinum: $15 a month (annually $12 a month), Diamond: $30 a month (annually $24 a month). |
| Artists, designers and small boutiques with a limited range. | 70 |
| Weebly |
| Free: $0 a month, Personal: $10 a month (billed annually), Professional: $12 a month (billed annually), Performance: $26 a month (billed annually). |
| Beginners and small businesses who want a simple website or online store. | 70 |
| Lightspeed |
| Basic: $89 a month (billed annually), Core: $149 a month (billed annually), Plus: $289 a month (billed annually). Transaction fees 2.6% + $0.10 – $0.30 (with Lightspeed Payments). |
| Small and mid sized retailers, restaurants and golf courses with one or more locations. | 65 |
| Shift4Shop |
| End-to-End: $0 a month (once you sell $1,000+ a month), otherwise $39 a month. No transaction fee (payment processor fees excluded). |
| Businesses able to sell $1,000+ a month, with a little coding knowledge. | 65 |
| WooCommerce |
| Free (core plugin). Hosting: ~$100-150 a year, premium theme: ~$50-100 a year, plugins: ~$100-300 a year. Transaction fees 2.9% + $0.30 (with WooPayments). |
| WordPress users, and businesses of any size after customization and control. | 70 |
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) |
| The open source edition is free (you pay for hosting). Enterprise (cloud): annually $15.000 – $50.000+ (custom pricing). |
| Mid market and enterprise businesses, and experienced developers. | 90 |
| PrestaShop |
| The software is free. Hosting: $3-60 a month, themes and modules: $50-500 a month (one off or annual). |
| Developers, agencies, businesses wanting full control over the code, and international sellers. | 75 |
| OpenCart |
| The software is free. You pay for hosting. Themes are paid. |
| Businesses and startups on a small budget, and anyone managing multiple stores. | 70 |
| nopCommerce |
| The software is completely free. You pay for hosting. |
| Developers and store owners, from new online businesses to enterprise specialists. | 80 |
| X-Cart |
| Platform: from $199 a month, Automotive: from $999 a month, Marketplace: from $399 a month. |
| Businesses of every size, the automotive sector in particular. | 60 |
| NetSuite Commerce Suite |
| Standard: $2.499 a month, Advanced: $4.999 a month. Annual license fee plus a one off implementation fee. |
| Mid sized and large businesses after broad integration and detailed analytics. | 70 |
| Spryker Commerce |
| Entry: $100 – $500 (custom pricing). No free trial. |
| Mid sized and large businesses with complicated needs and a strong technical team. | 75 |
| VTEX |
| Custom pricing (based on annual sales). Minimum $250 – $500 a month. There is a transaction fee. |
| Large businesses and enterprise brands. | 75 |
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud |
| Custom pricing (subscription based). |
| Large businesses already inside the Salesforce ecosystem. | 70 |
| SAP Commerce Cloud |
| High licensing costs (custom pricing). |
| Large businesses, multi brand retailers, and anyone inside the SAP ecosystem. | 70 |
| commercetools |
| From $40.000 upward (custom pricing). Free trial available. |
| Mid sized and large businesses after bespoke solutions, with technical resources of their own. | 80 |
| Shopware 6 |
| Community Edition: free. Rise: $600 a month, Evolve: $2.400 a month, Beyond: $6.500 a month. |
| Mid market and enterprise brands, and developers. | 76 |
| Oracle Commerce Cloud |
| Custom pricing (enterprise level costs). |
| Large businesses operating in both B2B and B2C markets. | 70 |
| Sitecore Experience Commerce |
| Custom pricing (little detail published). |
| Enterprise businesses after heavy content customization and personalization. | 70 |
| Dokan (WordPress Eklentisi) |
| Free plan available. Starter: $127 a year, Professional: $199 a year, Business: $374 a year, Enterprise: $699 a year. |
| Businesses on WordPress and WooCommerce that want to build a multi vendor marketplace. | 90 |
| CS-Cart Multi-Vendor |
| Plus: $1.148 (one off), Ultimate: $2.805 (one off), Unlim: $6.197 (one off). |
| Startups, small and mid sized firms, agencies, enterprises, and anyone building a marketplace. | 70 |
| PinnacleCart |
| Standard: $79.95 a month, Advanced: $199 a month, Enterprise: custom pricing. Free trial available. |
| Businesses looking to grow their online operation. | 80 |
About the SEO Scores
For a company selling in Turkey, the platforms based here hold an advantage through local servers and Turkish language support, so their Türk SEM SEO score is set a little higher. If you are thinking about selling globally, the leading platforms in your own target market will hold that advantage instead. These are the criteria we built the SEO score on:
- SEO friendly foundation: whether the platform is generally built in a way that suits search engine optimization. That covers the basics: clean code, fast load times, and search engines being able to crawl the site easily.
- Site speed and performance: how fast a website loads is a critical factor for user experience and for search rankings. High site speed means a better SEO score.
- URL structure and how far you can customize it: clean, meaningful, customizable URLs help search engines understand and rank the content.
- Control over meta tags and descriptions: the freedom to edit meta titles, descriptions and keywords on product and category pages.
- Image optimization: being able to add alt text, and what the platform does automatically with images (resizing, compression).
- Mobile friendliness and responsiveness: the site working properly on different devices, on phones above all, and giving people a good experience.
- Blog and content management: being able to build and run a blog for content marketing is an important part of any SEO strategy.
- Structured data (schema markup) support: the ability to apply structured data that tells search engines more about products, reviews and other content (not named directly in the research material, so it was judged under general “SEO capability”).
- Keyword support and research tools: tools or integrations for doing keyword research and optimizing the content on the site.
- Analytics and reporting tools: what the platform gives you for tracking SEO performance, understanding traffic sources and finding what to improve.
A Note on the Research
We reviewed 37 ecommerce platforms, listed their main features and gave each one an SEO score. This research was put together to give you a first sense of the field and something to think with.
If your market is Turkey, the platforms based here hold an advantage on things like cultural fit, customer support in Turkish and a Turkish interface. If you are selling somewhere else, read that column with your own market in mind.
If you can code, the open source platforms are worth considering, and you can read what other owners have written about living with them. Keep in mind, though, that on a large, complex store the free open source options such as WooCommerce can create problems further down the road.
I hope this piece serves you well in your own research.
