TABLE OF CONTENTS
If you’re looking to start an online store in Canada or grow the one you already have, your success depends heavily on the platform you choose.
Not all ecommerce platforms in Canada are the same. Some are built for speed and ease. Others for customization and scale. And although templates and features are great, what really matters as a Canadian ecommerce business owner is whether the platform you intend to use understands Canadian-specific needs.
In this guide, we’ll explore the best ecommerce platforms Canada has to offer in 2025. As you read, you’ll find out the pros, cons, pricing, key features, and integrations of each platform.
Let’s get right in.
What Makes a Great Ecommerce Platform?
Before exploring each platform, let’s clarify what makes a platform great, especially in the Canadian market:
- Scalability: Can the platform grow with your store, or will you outgrow it in a year?
- Security: Look for SSL encryption, fraud detection tools, and PCI compliance to protect both you and your customers.
- Canadian Payment Integrations: Consider Interac, Moneris, Stripe, PayPal, and the platform’s ability to handle CAD transactions seamlessly.
- SEO + Mobile Optimization: The platform should support mobile optimization and SEO.
- Ease of Use: A user-friendly dashboard can save you hours of frustration (especially if you’re not tech-fluent).
The platform should also be able to meet Canadian-specific needs, such as:
- Local shipping integrations (Canada Post, Purolator, Canpar).
- Bilingual support (especially important for Quebec and federal compliance).
- Tax-friendly features (Provincial Sales Tax (PST), the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) automation).
- Customer support hours that align with Canadian time zones.
5 Best Ecommerce Platforms In Canada
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1. Shopify
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Source: Shopify
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms in Canada. With Shopify, you can seamlessly launch, manage, and scale an online store. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, Shopify provides you with a storefront, payment gateway, inventory system, marketing tools, analytics, and even Point-of-Sale (POS) options for physical retail.
List of Key Solutions
Shopify’s solutions are divided into four major categories:
Start
- Start your business: Choose your branding and business name.
- Create your website: Create a visual website editor with drag-and-drop tools.
- Customize your store: Choose themes for various industries and looks.
- Find business apps: Gain access to the Shopify App Store.
- Own your site domain: Purchase and manage domain names.
- Explore free business tools: Use logo maker, business name generator, etc.
Sell
- Sell your products: Sell in-person or online.
- Sell across channels: Use Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, etc.
- Sell in person: Explore that platform’s POS integration for physical stores/pop-ups.
- Sell globally: Use international currencies and translations.
- Sell wholesale & direct: Use the platform’s B2B selling tools.
Market
- Market your business: Use email marketing, promotions, and abandoned cart recovery.
- Market across social: Use the platform’s native integration with Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.
- Chat with customers: Use the Shopify Inbox live chat.
- Nurture customers: Use the Shopify Email.
- Know your audience: View advanced analytics and customer insights.
Manage
- Manage your business: Track your orders and fulfillment.
- Measure your performance: Explore the platform’s built-in reports and dashboards.
- Manage your stock & orders: Use real-time inventory tracking.
Key Features
- Canadian-Friendly Checkout: Accepts CAD, Interac, and integrates seamlessly with Canadian banks.
- Canada Post Integration: Print labels, track packages, and offer live rates at checkout.
- Multilingual & Multi-Currency: Sell in both English and French, and multiple currencies.
- POS System: In-person selling with inventory syncing.
- App Ecosystem: 8,000+ apps covering everything from upsells to accounting.
- Built-In SEO & Blog: Solid foundation for organic traffic.
- Abandoned Cart Recovery: Automatically emails customers who didn’t complete checkout.
- Fraud Analysis: Helps flag suspicious orders and reduce chargebacks.
Key Integrations
- Payment Gateways: Shopify Payments (no transaction fees), PayPal, Stripe, Moneris, Apple Pay, Google Pay.
- Shipping Carriers: Canada Post, UPS, Purolator, DHL.
- Marketing Tools: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Mailchimp (via third-party), Klaviyo.
- Analytics & CRM: Google Analytics, HubSpot.
- Social Commerce: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest.
Pros of Shopify
- A clean, intuitive interface makes it beginner-friendly.
- Native support for Canadian tax laws, shipping rates, and bilingual storefronts.
- Works for startups and enterprise-level businesses alike.
- Themes and checkout are fast and responsive across devices.
- Provides 24/7 customer service, plus Shopify Experts and agencies in Canada.
Cons of Shopify
- The platform’s monthly fees can add up especially when using premium themes or lots of third-party apps.
- Shopify uses its own Liquid language for deeper customization, which requires developer help.
- Unless you use Shopify Payments, you’ll pay extra per transaction.
Pricing
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Source: Shopify
2. Wix

Source: Wix
Wix started as a drag-and-drop website builder for bloggers, artists, and freelancers. But over the years, it has grown into an ecommerce platform with comprehensive tools for selling online. It’s especially ideal for Canadian entrepreneurs who want complete design freedom without needing to write code.
List of Key Solutions
- Online Payments Management: Wix allows you to accept and manage secure online payments with built-in tools like Wix Payments, while also supporting third-party processors such as PayPal, Stripe, and Square (all compatible with Canadian currency and payment standards).
- Mobile Business Management: With the Wix Owner App, you can manage your store, fulfill orders, communicate with customers, and track sales performance directly from your smartphone, making it easy to run your business on the go.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Wix includes a built-in CRM system that helps store owners track customer interactions, segment audiences, and automate key communications to strengthen customer loyalty and retention.
- Website & Sales Analytics: The platform provides in-depth reporting tools that offer insight into traffic sources, product performance, and sales trends, enabling you to make smarter, data-driven decisions.
- Email Marketing Campaigns: Wix supports the creation of visually engaging email marketing campaigns directly within the platform, with tools for automation, customer targeting, and performance tracking.
- SEO Optimization: With built-in SEO tools and the Wix SEO Wiz, users can optimize their website content for improved visibility on search engines, essential for reaching Canadian shoppers who search in both English and French.
Key Features
- Drag-and-Drop Builder: You can easily customize your store layout and design using an intuitive visual editor with no coding required.
- Secure Checkout & SSL Encryption: All Wix stores include HTTPS and SSL protection to ensure secure transactions for customers.
- Abandoned Cart Recovery: You can automatically remind customers of incomplete purchases with follow-up emails, boosting conversion rates.
- Multi-Channel Selling: The platform enables you to sell across social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, directly from your Wix dashboard.
- Flexible Product Variants: You can set up products with multiple options, such as size, color, and material, to meet customer needs.
- Automated Tax Calculations: The platform simplifies Canadian tax setup with automated GST/HST calculations based on customer location.
- Multilingual Capabilities: You can also build bilingual (English/French) stores to serve various Canadian audiences with localized content.
- App Market Integrations: Wix provides access to over 250 apps for shipping, live chat, reviews, marketing automation, and more.
Key Integrations
Wix’s app market has 250+ tools to improve your store, including:
- Canadian Shipping: Canada Post, ShipStation.
- Payments: PayPal, Stripe, Square, Afterpay, Wix Payments.
- Marketing: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Klaviyo, Mailchimp.
- Live Chat: Tidio, Wix Inbox.
- Bookings & Events: Eventbrite, Wix Bookings.
Pros of Wix
- Wix’s user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop editor make it one of the easiest ecommerce platforms for beginners and non-tech users.
- The platform offers a full suite of business tools, including hosting, payments, CRM, email marketing, and SEO, with no need for third-party plugins to get started.
- It provides complete creative control with hundreds of modern templates and customizable elements.
- It features robust mobile app support, allowing business owners to manage their store anytime, anywhere.
- It supports CAD payments, Canadian tax laws, and integration with local carriers, such as Canada Post.
Cons of Wix
- It may not be the best choice for businesses with extensive product catalogs or high-volume sales requirements.
- It does not natively support dynamic currency switching, which can be a limitation for international sales.
- Although growing, the Wix App Market still lacks some of the advanced e-commerce integrations found on larger platforms, such as Shopify.
- Its SEO customization is good, but it may be limiting for advanced users who want complete control over technical SEO elements.
Pricing
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Source: Wix
Wix offers four pricing tiers for different business needs:
3. BigCommerce

Source: BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an open SaaS ecommerce platform built for growing brands and established businesses that want flexibility, scalability, and advanced features, without sacrificing ease of use.
Unlike simpler website builders, BigCommerce focuses on helping merchants grow faster through enterprise-level tools, robust SEO, multichannel selling, and strong B2B capabilities. It's ideal for Canadian businesses looking to scale beyond basic ecommerce into global markets or wholesale operations, while still meeting local needs such as CAD payments, Canadian tax rules, and bilingual support.
List of Key Solutions
- Create: The platform lets you design a professional and high-converting storefront using fully customizable templates or custom-coded themes. It offers drag-and-drop tools for beginners and headless commerce for developers.l
- Convert: It optimizes checkout with fast, mobile-friendly experiences and customizable checkout pages to reduce cart abandonment and improve conversions.
- Market: It expands your reach through multichannel selling (connects to Facebook, Google Shopping, Amazon, and more), all from your BigCommerce dashboard.
- Grow: It supports advanced growth features, such as B2B e-commerce, multi-storefront, international expansion, and multi-currency pricing, making it ideal for Canadian merchants with ambitious plans.
- Operate: It provides a reliable, secure platform with PCI compliance and automated updates so you can focus on business instead of tech headaches.
Key Features
- Multichannel Selling: Sell on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, and more, all fully integrated.
- Customizable Checkout: Adjust layout, fields, and flow to match your customer journey, or use third-party checkout tools.
- Built-in SEO Tools: Get advanced control over URL structure, metadata, sitemaps, and schema markup for better Google visibility.
- B2B Functionality: Support wholesale customers with customer groups, price lists, custom quotes, and gated storefronts.
- Multi-Currency & Multi-Language Support: Sell in CAD and other currencies, and create storefronts in both English and French for Canadian shoppers.
- Mobile-Optimized Themes: Choose from responsive, fast-loading templates or build your own from scratch.
- Abandoned Cart Saver: Automatically send reminder emails to recover lost sales.
- Analytics & Reporting: Get performance reports on customers, orders, traffic sources, and product trends.
Key Integrations
BigCommerce integrates with a large ecosystem of tools and platforms, including:
- Payments: PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Square, Afterpay, Moneris (popular in Canada), and more.
- Shipping: ShipStation, Canada Post, FedEx, UPS.
- Email Marketing: Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend.
- Accounting: QuickBooks, Xero.
- CRM & Loyalty: Salesforce, HubSpot, Smile.io.
- ERP & Inventory: NetSuite, Brightpearl, TradeGecko.
- Marketing & Analytics: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Hotjar, GA4.
Pros of BigCommerce
- The platform is designed for growing brands, from startups to enterprise-level companies.
- Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce doesn’t charge additional fees for using third-party payment processors.
- It is great for ranking on Google with a full URL and metadata customization.
- The built-in support for wholesale pricing, quotes, and customer portals.
- It accepts CAD, calculates Canadian taxes, and integrates with local carriers.
- It is ideal for Canadian businesses that want to expand abroad.
- It provides access to front-end and back-end customization
Cons of BigCommerce
- More powerful tools in the platform mean a steeper learning curve for beginners.
- It is more expensive than entry-level platforms like Wix or Big Cartel.
- It is fewer free templates compared to competitors.
- The plans are tiered based on annual sales volume; exceeding the limit upgrades you to a higher-tier plan.
- You may require help to customize for enterprise needs.
Pricing

Source: BigCommerce
Here’s the pricing breakdown for the second image (eCommerce-focused Wix plans billed annually):
4. Squarespace

Source: Squarespace
Squarespace is best known for its stunning, design-forward websites. Over the years, it has evolved into a comprehensive platform that supports e-commerce, content creation, service bookings, and digital memberships, all from a single dashboard.
While it may not be the most advanced ecommerce engine on the market, it's one of the best ecommerce platforms in Canada for small businesses, service providers, and visual brands who want everything in one beautifully designed package.
List of Key Solutions
- Website Building: Squarespace offers professionally designed templates, an AI website builder, and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor that enables users to build stunning, responsive websites without writing code. It is ideal for personal brands, creatives, and service-based businesses across Canada.
- Ecommerce Tools: With ecommerce templates and dedicated tools for online product and service sales, Squarespace supports digital and physical goods, appointment bookings, memberships, and even donations.
- Invoicing & Client Services: Squarespace enables service providers to send invoices, accept payments, and manage client transactions all in one place.
- Scheduling & Bookings: Integrated scheduling tools (powered by Acuity Scheduling) allow Canadian service-based businesses to manage appointments, automate reminders, and sync calendars.
- Content & Memberships: You can sell digital content, offer exclusive member areas, or create paywalled blogs, newsletters, and online courses, all within Squarespace’s interface.
- Donations & Fundraising: Nonprofits and community projects can easily collect donations with customizable giving forms and recurring payment options.
- Marketing Tools: Squarespace provides email campaigns, customizable SEO settings, complimentary marketing tools, and social media integrations to help expand your audience and enhance visibility.
- Domain Services: You can also search for a custom domain, purchase it, and manage it all within the Squarespace platform. You can also transfer existing domains for full control.
Key Features
- Award-Winning Templates: Sleek, modern themes customized for ecommerce, portfolios, and service providers
- AI Website Builder: Smart design suggestions and layout assistance using machine learning
- Fully Integrated Checkout: Built-in ecommerce and donation tools with Stripe or PayPal
- Mobile-Responsive Design: All templates automatically adapt to mobile screens
- Advanced Blogging Tools: Native blogging functionality with tags, categories, and scheduling
- Email Campaigns: Build and send branded email newsletters without third-party tools
- SEO Toolkit: Clean URLs, meta descriptions, image alt tags, and Google-friendly markup
- Analytics Dashboard: Track traffic, conversions, popular content, and referrers.
- Membership Capabilities: Lock content behind a paywall or member subscription.
- Integrated Scheduling System: Accept bookings and automate reminders.
- Donations: Easily collect one-time or recurring donations
- Invoice and Billing Tools: Simplify payment requests for services
Key Integrations
- Payments: Stripe, PayPal (accept CAD payments).
- Shipping: ShipStation, Canada Post (via third-party plugin or Zapier).
- Marketing: Google Ads, Meta Pixel, Instagram Shop.
- Email & CRM: Mailchimp, Squarespace Email Campaigns.
- Scheduling: Acuity Scheduling (built-in and owned by Squarespace).
- Analytics: Google Analytics, Squarespace native analytics.
- Social Media: Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter integrations.
- Apps & Extensions: Squarespace Extensions marketplace (Zapier, Printful, QuickBooks, TaxJar).
Pros of BigCommerce
- Ideal for photographers, designers, consultants, and portfolio-based brands.
- Website, blog, ecommerce, scheduling, and email marketing under one roof.
- Structured for clean indexing by Google and Bing.
- Built-in scheduling, invoicing, and memberships.
- Accepts CAD via Stripe and PayPal.
- Everything works out of the box, no patchwork required.
- No need to connect to third-party tools.
Cons of BigCommerce
- Smaller third-party integration library compared to Shopify or Wix.
- Not ideal for high-volume or multi-warehouse operations.
- Displays a single currency per store.
- Lacks advanced inventory and fulfillment tools.
- May apply depending on your payment method and pricing tier.
- Custom code access is more limited compared to open platforms like WooCommerce.
Pricing
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Source: Squarespace
5. WooCommerce

Source: WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an ecommerce platform that gives you complete ownership and control of your online store. It’s built on WordPress, which means that it can pair seamlessly with world-class blogging, SEO, and content marketing capabilities.
For Canadian merchants, WooCommerce supports CAD payments, Canadian tax regulations (GST/HST), Canada Post shipping, and bilingual storefronts through multilingual plugins.
List of Key Solutions
- Open-Source ecommerce Engine: WooCommerce transforms any WordPress website into a fully functional online store, giving you complete ownership and control over their online presence.
- Endless Customization: Because it’s open-source, WooCommerce allows full design and feature flexibility through thousands of themes, plugins, and developer tools. It’s ideal for businesses that want to go beyond templates and pre-built options.
- Global & Local Selling: Supports CAD and multi-currency selling with tax automation, shipping zones, and multi-language plugins, making it adaptable to both Canadian and international markets.
- Payment Processing Options: WooCommerce works with dozens of payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square, Moneris (for Canadian businesses), and WooCommerce Payments, offering competitive rates and seamless integration.
- Shipping & Fulfillment: Supports shipping solutions like Canada Post, ShipStation, and custom rates. You can set up real-time rates, free shipping thresholds, and tracking with ease.
- Marketing & CRM: Through integrations and extensions, WooCommerce enables email marketing, social media selling, loyalty programs, customer segmentation, abandoned cart recovery, and more.
Key Features
- WordPress Integration: Built on WordPress, WooCommerce gives you complete control over website content, SEO, and blog functionality.
- Unlimited Products: Sell physical, digital, affiliate, or subscription-based products without limitations.
- Inventory & Order Management: Monitor stock levels, track sales, fulfill orders, and send customer notifications.
- Mobile-Responsive: Works seamlessly across devices and screen sizes, featuring responsive themes and mobile-first design options.
- Custom Checkout Options: Customize checkout flow, fields, and design to meet your store’s exact needs.
- SEO Friendly: Take complete control of SEO with Yoast, Rank Math, or other WordPress plugins.
- Sales & Conversion Tools: Coupons, cross-sells, upsells, subscriptions, memberships, and gift cards.
- Security & Compliance: SSL-ready, GDPR tools, and supports Canadian tax and privacy compliance.
- Customer Accounts & Guest Checkout: Let users choose their preferred experience.
- Multilingual & Multi-Currency Support: Add-ons like WPML and Currency Switcher let you cater to global customers.
Key Integrations
WooCommerce offers 1,000+ official extensions and thousands more third-party plugins. Some essentials for Canadian stores:
- Payments: WooCommerce Payments, Stripe, PayPal, Moneris, Square.
- Shipping: Canada Post, UPS, FedEx, DHL, ShipStation, Table Rate Shipping.
- Marketing: Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, AutomateWoo, Google Ads, Meta Ads.
- Analytics: Google Analytics, Metorik, Jetpack Stats.
- Taxes: Avalara, WooCommerce Tax, Quaderno.
- Loyalty & Rewards: Smile.io, Points and Rewards plugin.
- POS Systems: Square POS, Hike POS, WooPOS.
- Subscriptions & Memberships: Woo Subscriptions, Paid Memberships Pro.
Pros of WooCommerce
- You get unlimited control over your store’s functionality, appearance, and backend structure.
- It easily supports CAD, Canadian taxes (GST/HST), bilingual content (French & English), and Canada Post integration.
- It offers thousands of plugins and themes, catering to nearly every imaginable function.
- WordPress is widely regarded as the most SEO-friendly CMS, and WooCommerce leverages that.
- Perfect for businesses with technical resources that want custom solutions.
Cons of WooCommerce
- WooCommerce doesn’t include hosting, domain, or email services, so you will need to set these up separately.
- You’ll need to manage updates, backups, security, and site speed (or hire someone to do it).
- The setup process requires some technical knowledge or developer support, especially for scaling features.
- A poor hosting choice can lead to slow load times and a poor user experience.
- While the core is free, many essential features (such as subscriptions, advanced shipping, and marketing automation) require paid plugins.
Pricing
Pricing is available upon request.
Wrapping Up
So, what ecommerce platform should you choose?
Well, the truth is that there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Every business is different. Some require complete design control, while others prefer a simpler approach.
If you’re looking for something easy and visual to get started, Wix or Squarespace will provide you with the tools that you need. On the other hand, if you need a more advanced platform, Shopify is built for that.
What matters most is selecting a platform that supports your goals and can scale with you in the future.
Need help determining which platform best suits your brand? Book a free consultation with us. Let’s help you scale smarter and better.