7 Best Free Online Boutique Website Builders in 2024

There are tons of website builders out there that all promise to help you set up your boutique, which means that picking the best one can be challenging. Plus, not all of them can give you the presentation and sales features you need. Choose wrong and your brand might never see the light of day; choose right and your sales could increase dramatically.

As someone who has done a lot of online shopping – and also tested out all of the web builders on this list – I have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t. Some builders excel in making your site look pretty, while others give you more tools to sell more effectively. But here’s the good news: no matter which builder you go with from this list, you’ll end up with a sleek site, minimal effort required, without emptying your pockets.

Wix really stands out in this crowd with its user-friendly interface and customization options. You can see where it really shines when you’re ready to upgrade from its free plan to a paid subscription. Packed with features to boost your online store at a low monthly fee, Wix is a solid choice for getting your brand out there without overspending.

What We Look For in the Best Website Builders for Online Boutiques

When I was testing website builders for online boutiques, these were my main selection criteria to ensure that these platforms can not only meet but exceed the needs of online retailers.

• High-quality templates. High-quality templates set the first impression and enhance the brand’s visual appeal. I prioritized builders that offer a wide range of aesthetically pleasing templates.
• SEO tools. SEO tools help increase visibility and attract more traffic to your online boutique. Effective SEO features ensure that your store ranks higher in search engine results, making it easier for customers to find you. I ranked builders with robust SEO tools highly in my evaluation.
• E-commerce functionality on a free plan. The ability to sell on a free plan is especially important for new or small online boutiques testing the waters. This feature allows boutique owners to start selling without initial investment, making e-commerce more accessible.
• Competitive pricing for upgrades. As your boutique grows, you should have access to more advanced features without financial strain. Affordable upgrade options are essential for scaling your business efficiently, so I favored builders that provide great value at every pricing tier.

1. Wix: Tons of Features and Free Templates for Boutiques

If you’re planning to host a boutique website on Wix, you’ll have no trouble even as a beginner. In addition to Wix’s proprietary drag-and-drop builder and 24/7 support, you get access to lots of pre-made templates. Whether you’re running a flower boutique, fashion boutique, or even a high-end jewelry boutique, you can find a template to fit your needs.

To sell products on Wix, you must sign up for either Editor or Studio’s higher-tier plans, as the basic plans don’t offer online store capabilities. I recommend starting with a free plan to build your store and ensure you have everything you need before committing to a paid plan​.

Depending on what plan you upgrade to, you unlock premium e-commerce features such as product reviews by KudoBuzz, unlimited back-in-stock notifications, advanced shipping, and multiple currencies for your boutique.

Features

• Reliable e-commerce. You get up to 50,000 products in your store, abandoned cart recovery, automatic discounts, accepting orders manually, accepting pre-orders, and automatic discounts on all of the e-commerce-compatible plans.
• Wix App Market. Wix offers over 500+ apps in its apps store, which can help you add features to your website and boost sales. For example, you can include PayPal functionality, live chat, forms, and other standard features. Some other apps that can help you boost sales include Visitor Hook, which displays promotional pop-up offers to customers, and Birthday & Loyalty Club, which creates loyalty programs for your customers.
• Wix’s free SEO wizard. The Wix SEO Setup Checklist optimizes online boutiques for search engines by creating a personalized SEO plan. This plan includes step-by-step instructions to improve your site’s visibility, such as optimizing product pages with keywords, enhancing meta titles and descriptions, and ensuring mobile-friendliness, making it easier for potential customers to find your boutique online.
• Dropshipping tools. If you’re interested in starting a dropshipping boutique, Wix offers integrated tools that allow you to easily start and manage your business directly from your Wix website. By connecting with dropshipping platforms such as Modalyst, you can access a vast selection of products to sell, automate the order fulfillment process, and update inventory in real time, all without the need to manage stock physically.

Read our expert Wix review for more details.

2. Shopify: Attractive Visuals and Fantastic E-commerce Features

Shopify’s wide suite of features, including seamless integrations with over 8,000 apps, makes it one of the best choices for online boutiques. There’s an app that expands your boutique’s reach by allowing you to sell directly on Amazon. Other tools can help you in areas like marketing automation, customer engagement, and business operations.

You can use Shopify as a newcomer, but also as a seasoned e-commerce veteran who wants to migrate to a different platform. Shopify’s 3-day free trial is a great opportunity to test out its extensive e-commerce capabilities, from inventory management to payment processing and website customization, and see how well the platform aligns with your business needs.

Plus, after the trial expires, you only pay a dollar for the first month, which is less than a cup of coffee. So, if you think 3 days aren’t enough to get accustomed to the platform or set up your shop, this discounted period can feel like an extended almost-free trial.

Features

• Unlimited products, bandwidth, and online storage. Shopify allows you to list an unlimited number of products, offering vast flexibility for inventory expansion and showcasing a wide range of items without any restrictions.
• Advanced abandoned cart recovery. Shopify’s abandoned cart feature sends customizable emails to entice customers back, featuring dynamic content like product recommendations and unique discounts. It includes analytics to monitor recovery rates, allowing you to optimize follow-up strategies and capture lost sales more effectively.
• Discount codes and promotions. With Shopify, you can easily create and manage discount codes, promotional offers, and seasonal sales. This grows customer engagement and encourages repeat business.
• POS system integration. With Shopify’s Point of Sale (POS) system, boutiques can sell products and accept payments in physical locations while keeping inventory and sales data synchronized across online and offline channels. This is great if your online business complements your brick-and-mortar shop.

Read our expert Shopify review for more details.

3. BigCommerce: A Strong Start for Enterprise-Aspiring Boutiques

BigCommerce stands out as a great choice for enterprise-aspiring boutiques due to its extensive inventory management and advanced analytics and reporting features. By simplifying stock control through capabilities such as bulk import/export, low stock alerts, and automated reordering, you can efficiently ensure your boutique meets demand.

Plus, BigCommerce’s advanced analytics offer detailed insights into sales, customer behavior, and marketing effectiveness. This helps you make data-driven decisions and allows you to scale up by optimizing your marketing strategies based on customer interactions and sales data. Basically, this translates to easier growth and greater market competitiveness.

You can see what BigCommerce is capable of when you get the 15-day free trial. Personally, I think it offers a strong suite of features, especially if you’re not a solo entrepreneur and you have a bigger team behind.

Features

• Responsive design templates. BigCommerce offers a wide range of mobile-friendly and customizable templates that ensure online boutiques look professional and engaging on any device for a great shopping experience on the go.
• Multi-channel selling. BigCommerce integrates seamlessly with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay, allowing your boutique to reach customers across multiple sales channels from a single dashboard.
• Built-in SEO tools. This platform comes equipped with advanced SEO features to help improve search engine visibility, including customizable URLs and automated image optimization, driving more organic traffic to your boutique.
• Integrated payment solutions. BigCommerce supports a variety of payment gateways without additional transaction fees, offering secure and flexible payment options for customers worldwide.

Read our expert BigCommerce review for more details.

4. Squarespace: Stunning Templates for Online Boutiques

If you’re looking to create a website with a distinctively modern aesthetic, then Squarespace is the way to go. Squarespace offers over 40 highly customizable online store templates.

Thanks to Squarespace’s grid editor, you can edit any template as much as you like until you have the perfect site for your boutique, even the ones that aren’t store-specific. All you need to do is go to any page and add a “Products” section. With that out of the way, you can go to the Commerce menu and add products, sales, payment methods, and more.

Squarespace doesn’t have a free-forever plan at the moment, but you can try any plan with the 14-day free trial. At just $27.00, however, the Commerce Basic plan is more than worthwhile to sell your products online and see your business grow. There’s also a Commerce Advanced plan with more features if your business needs them, such as subscription selling or advanced shipping and discounting.

Features

• Free custom domain. Squarespace offers a free custom domain for the first year, providing online boutiques with a professional and memorable web address that aligns with their brand identity. This feature helps you establish brand credibility and make a strong first impression on potential customers.
• Advanced SEO. With Squarespace’s advanced SEO tools, you can improve your boutique’s visibility on search engines, attracting more organic traffic to the site. Features like customizable URLs, meta tags, and sitemaps help ensure products are discoverable and the boutique ranks higher in search results, driving sales.
• Third-party extensions. Any Squarespace plan gives you access to third-party extensions such as AfterShip (advanced shipping management plus a branded tracking page), FreshBooks (a one-stop platform for managing financial information), and Mailchimp (an email marketing platform).
• Integrated e-commerce tools. Squarespace’s platform includes integrated e-commerce tools that allow boutiques to manage inventory, process payments, and track orders all in one place. This includes flexible shipping options (flat-rate, weight-based, and real-time shipping rates), easy-to-understand tax tools, and a Custom Merch option thanks to the partnership with Printful.

Read our expert Squarespace review for more details.

5. SITE123: Have Global Reach with Website Translation

One thing that SITE123 does better than other website builders is website translation. You can build your website in more than 80 languages to make it multilingual. This is perfect for those wishing to tap into multiple markets where people speak a different language.

To sell products, you’ll need to use SITE123’s Premium plans. However, please note that these plans have certain limitations. For example, the highest-tier Platinum plan provides a storage capacity of only 100 GB and a bandwidth of 100 GB. These limitations could pose restrictions, especially when hosting media on your boutique website. If you need more, you can always try a service like Wix or Shopify which offer unlimited storage.

Features

• Quick setup. SITE123 will let you create a boutique website quickly, but some of your design options may be limited compared with those you’d get from other builders. SITE123’s themes and templates offer a quick way to get your store online, but it doesn’t provide as many specialized templates for boutiques as other platforms do.
• Easy customization. The good news is you can find a webstore theme or template that best suits your personal style and customize it using your products and images. SITE123 does support a wide variety of third-party plugins, allowing you to customize your website how you wish. This is where you can add features such as live chat, specialized photo and product galleries, and more.
• Basic e-commerce. With SITE123’s e-commerce integration, setting up your online boutique is straightforward. It’s not the most advanced, but it allows for easy product listings, payment processing, and inventory management.
• Free SSL security certificate. SITE123 includes a free SSL security certificate with every website, so that all transactions and customer data are encrypted and secure. This feature helps build trust with shoppers by protecting their personal and payment information, a vital aspect of maintaining a reputable and reliable online presence.

Read our expert SITE123 review for more details.

6. IONOS: Intuitive AI Helps Build Your Site Fast

If you want additional assistance in website creation, IONOS could be the ideal solution. Its AI-powered website builder offers convenience and efficiency for a quick launch of your boutique. By answering a few questions about your preferences and needs for the boutique, the AI crafts a personalized website in minutes.

To operate an online boutique on IONOS, selecting an Online Store Builder plan that includes e-commerce functionality is crucial, as the default Easy Website Builder plans may not support online store features. While there is no free plan or trial, the Plus plan starts at just $1.00 per month for your first six months. That’s a huge discount for a long time, so it’s definitely worth a try if you ask me.

Features

• Advanced AI Design Tools. IONOS helps you elevate your boutique’s website with intuitive editing, AI Image Generator, and AI Color Palette Generator. These tools ensure your site stands out with a professional design and also resonates with your brand’s unique aesthetic.
• AI SEO and content support. With the AI SEO Text Generator and AI Text Improver, IONOS helps optimize your content for search engines, increasing your boutique’s visibility. These AI-driven tools assist in creating engaging, SEO-friendly content that attracts and retains customers.
• In-depth e-commerce and analytics. With IONOS, you get a free domain for your first year and a professional email address. Beyond these essentials, IONOS’ Plus plan offers 50 GB webspace and 200 pages, plus SiteAnalytics for an in-depth understanding of your visitors’ behavior. On the Pro Plan, you get unlimited webspace and pages.
• Excellent support. IONOS offers 24/7 assistance to help you navigate through every step of setting up your boutique, from product addition to integrating payment solutions like PayPal. While many website builders offer strong support, IONOS prides itself on personalized assistance and expert guidance.

Read our expert IONOS review for more details.

Other Notable Website Builders for Online Boutiques

7. Web.com

Web.com offers a range of services from website design to digital marketing, making a one-stop shop for setting up your boutique’s online presence. Its editor is fairly easy to use and you can generate content via AI, which makes it a great starting point if you want your store up quickly.

However, it doesn’t offer any free plans or trials, and after the initial discount, you have to pay the subscription at full price. Other add-ons such as the professional email or SSL certificate are free only for a limited period of time, so you’ll end up paying for them on top of the subscription as well.

Choosing the Right Website Builder for Your Online Boutique

So far, I’ve pinpointed key features that can significantly enhance your e-commerce venture, from SEO tools and e-commerce integrations to attractive templates for online boutiques. Based on these insights, here are my final recommendations tailored to meet various needs and priorities:

If you’re seeking exceptional design flexibility and a user-friendly interface, Wix is my top recommendation. It offers an impressive array of high-quality templates and robust SEO tools, perfect for those looking to create a visually stunning online boutique with ease. Plus, it has a free plan you can use indefinitely.

If your main priority is having comprehensive e-commerce capabilities, consider Shopify instead. Shopify is ideal for growing boutiques, providing extensive apps, integrations, and a powerful platform to scale your business. You also get an almost-free subscription for your first month.

If advanced features are key for your online boutique, consider BigCommerce. BigCommerce is perfect for powerful analytics and customizations, with a free 15-day trial to kickstart your journey.

FAQ

Is Wix a free website builder?

Yes, Wix is a free website builder that offers a basic plan allowing users to create and publish websites without any cost. However, the free version includes Wix advertisements on your site. To access more advanced features and remove ads, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.

How can you create an online boutique as a beginner?

As a beginner, you can create an online boutique by choosing a user-friendly e-commerce platform such as Wix or Squarespace. Select a design template that matches your boutique’s aesthetic, add your products with descriptions and images, set up payment methods, and use built-in marketing tools to promote your store.

What is the best website builder for an online store?

Shopify is often considered the best website builder for an online store due to its comprehensive e-commerce features, ease of use, and scalability. It’s specifically designed for creating and managing online stores, offering robust inventory management, payment processing, and marketing tools. However, it doesn’t offer a free plan like Wix does.

How to create a shopping website for free?

Many e-commerce platforms like Wix, Shopify, and BigCommerce offer either free plans or free trials that allow you to create an online store. For example, BigCommerce offers a 15-day free trial, so you have plenty of time to see how it works and make your own boutique before you commit to a paid plan.