Best AI ecommerce website builders: an honest cost comparison

The short answer

• Shopify if selling products is the whole business and you plan to grow. Its store features and app store go deeper than any other platform here.
• Wix if you want lots of built-in features and design freedom. Choose Core ($29) or above, because Light cannot take payments.
• Squarespace for a small catalogue where the look matters. Basic ($19) takes 2% of store sales, so most sellers are better off on Core ($29).
• Hostinger if the lowest price matters most. The store is not on the $2.99 plan, and the low price needs a 48-month prepayment.
• 10Web if you want WordPress underneath at a low annual price.
• WebNewBiz if you want the store, the website and (from the Growth plan) a CRM in one place. Its store starts on Starter ($29), and it has far fewer apps than Shopify.

What the AI actually does, and what it leaves to you

The AI does much the same job in all six tools. You describe your shop, and it drafts a homepage, product and category pages, colours, copy and placeholder images. Most will also write product descriptions and suggest page titles for search.

None of them knows your products. The AI does not have your photos, prices, stock, shipping rates, returns policy or tax settings. It saves you from starting with a blank page. After that, plan to spend a few evenings on the parts that make people buy:

• Real product photos, taken in good light
• Descriptions with sizes, materials and care details
• Shipping zones, rates and a realistic delivery time
• A clear returns and refunds policy
• Tax settings for the places you sell to
• A test order with a real card before you tell anyone the shop is open

Judge the AI on two things: how close its first draft comes to something you would publish, and how easy it is to change afterwards. Judge the platform on cost and on what it does once orders arrive. If you mainly need a website rather than a store, our guide to the best AI website builders covers the wider field.

The real monthly cost of a working store

The headline price is rarely what a seller pays. The table below shows the cheapest plan on each platform that can actually take payments. Prices are US prices on annual billing at the time of writing (October 2026), except WebNewBiz, which is shown at its monthly price.

Card processing fees apply on every platform. In the US they are typically around 2.9% plus 30 cents per online card payment, and they vary by country and card type. You cannot avoid those. You can avoid the platform fees and the plan traps by choosing carefully.

Three traps that change the maths

Wix Light cannot take payments. At $17 a month it looks like the starting plan, but you cannot sell on it. For a store, Wix really starts at Core ($29). Wix does not add its own transaction fee when you use Wix Payments.

Squarespace Basic takes 2% of store sales. Basic is $19 and Core is $29, a $10 gap. 2% of $500 is $10, so once you sell more than about $500 a month online, Core is the cheaper plan. At $2,000 a month in sales, Basic costs $19 plus $40 in fees, a total of $59, against $29 on Core.

Hostinger's low price needs a four-year prepayment. The $2.99 Premium plan does not include the online store. The plan that does costs $3.99 a month, but only if you pay for 48 months at once ($191.52 on the day you sign up), and it renews at $16.99 a month. That is still cheap, but it means committing four years of money before your shop has made a sale.

Shopify has a milder version of the same problem. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own fee to each sale: 2% on Basic, less on the higher plans. Shopify Payments is not available in every country, so check whether it covers the country where your business is registered before you build.

Shopify: the strongest choice if products are the business

Shopify's built-in website builder can create a store from a short prompt describing your brand. It generates layouts with images and text, which you then edit in the theme editor. Sidekick, its AI assistant, is included on every plan, and Shopify's AI tools write product descriptions and marketing copy inside the admin.

Shopify is the better choice when selling products is the whole business and you expect to grow. Inventory, shipping, discounts, sales channels and reporting go deeper than on general website builders. Its app store is by far the largest in this comparison, so there is usually an app for needs like subscriptions, bundles, wholesale pricing or print on demand. Basic is $29 a month, Grow $79 and Advanced $299.

The downside is that costs creep up. Many useful extras are paid apps with their own monthly fees, and the extra charge for third-party payment providers adds up if Shopify Payments is not available to you. If your site is mostly about services or bookings, with a few products on the side, Shopify can be more store than you need. Our guide to Shopify alternatives covers the other options in more detail.

Wix: the most built-in features, from Core upwards

Wix's AI builder creates a site from a text description, including an online store with product galleries. Its AI agent, Aria, makes changes when you ask, such as adding a new product to your catalogue. You can then adjust everything in the drag-and-drop editor.

Wix is the better choice for a small shop that wants lots of features built in and full control over the design. Core at $29 a month covers selling, Business is $39 and Business Elite $159.

The weak points are the Light plan trap above and the sheer number of options in the editor, which can slow down a first-time seller. As with most hosted builders, moving away later means rebuilding the design.

Squarespace: best for small, visual catalogues

Squarespace's Blueprint AI asks about your brand personality, your sector and the pages you need, then builds a starting site. Independent testers rated it one of the quicker AI builders, producing a usable starting point in around five minutes. Its templates are among the best looking of the six platforms here.

Squarespace is the better choice for a creative brand with a modest catalogue where the look matters: ceramics, prints, a small clothing label, or a studio selling a few products alongside its services. Every plan can sell.

There are catches. Because of the 2% fee on Basic, most sellers should budget for Core at $29. AI use is metered: Basic includes 10 one-time AI credits and Core 20 a month. It also has far fewer third-party extensions than Shopify.

Hostinger: lowest price, longest commitment

Hostinger's builder generates a site with AI and can fill product pages with AI-written titles, descriptions and images. Hostinger charges 0% transaction fees of its own (your payment provider still charges its fee), and the editor is simple to learn.

It is the better choice for a very small shop on a tight budget, provided you are happy to pay four years up front and confident you will still want the same platform in 2030.

The catches go beyond the prepayment. The store is on the $3.99 plan, not the advertised $2.99 one, and the price rises to $16.99 a month on renewal. An independent review from April 2026 also points to a cap on the number of products, no support for subscriptions or product bundles, and no third-party app market to fill the gaps. We compare it with Wix in Hostinger vs Wix AI website builder.

10Web: AI on top of WordPress

10Web's AI ecommerce builder starts from a prompt, a link or your own files, such as product photos or an Instagram page. It asks about shipping and payments and shows every page it plans to build. You then edit with AI or by hand. WordPress runs underneath, and payments go through Stripe, which charges its own card fee.

10Web is the better choice if you want WordPress under your store at a low annual price without setting up hosting yourself. AI Starter costs $10 a month on annual billing, and 10Web's pricing page lists the ecommerce dashboard on that plan.

The catches: AI credits are capped each month (100 on AI Starter), and 10Web's plan line-up has changed over time, so confirm exactly which store features your plan includes before you commit. A WordPress site also needs a little more looking after as it grows.

WebNewBiz: store, website and CRM in one place

WebNewBiz is our own product, so read this section with that in mind. You describe your business in plain language and the AI drafts a complete website, store pages included. You then change it by chatting with the AI Copilot (copy, sections, pages, design, images) or in the Design Studio visual editor. The online store has a cart and secure checkout and accepts card payments through Stripe, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. It runs on WooCommerce, Shopify or WebNewBiz's own engine.

It fits best when the store is one part of a small business rather than the whole of it. The AI CRM is included from Growth ($79 a month). Website enquiries land in the CRM automatically and store buyers become contacts, so following up with a customer does not mean exporting spreadsheets. Pro ($149) adds email campaigns and social media posting, and Ultimate ($199) adds AI Mockups for product photos.

The honest limits: the store starts on Starter at $29 a month, not on the $9 Lite plan, and there is no free plan (the first month costs $1). It is a young platform with far fewer apps and a much smaller community than Shopify, so if you know you need a particular niche app, check before you switch. And as with every tool here, the AI's first draft still needs your own photos, prices and facts.

A ten-minute checklist before you choose

1. Check payments in your country. Confirm the payment provider works where your business is registered and pays out in your currency.
2. Find the cheapest plan that can sell. Ignore the headline price. Wix Light, Hostinger Premium and WebNewBiz Lite cannot run a store.
3. Add platform fees at your expected sales. Multiply your monthly online sales by any platform fee and add the result to the plan price.
4. Read the term and the renewal price. A low price on a 48-month prepay is a different commitment from a monthly plan you can cancel.
5. List the three features you cannot do without. For example product variants, subscriptions, bundles, local delivery, digital downloads or wholesale prices. Check that each one is built in, or available as an app, on the plan you would buy.
6. Think about what happens after the sale. Where do customer details go, and how will you send a follow-up or answer an enquiry? Some platforms need extra tools for this, while others include it on higher plans.
7. Assume you will rebuild the design if you ever move. On most hosted builders, WebNewBiz included, your content and domain can move, but the layout has to be rebuilt.
8. Test the AI on your real business. Give two or three tools the same description of your shop and compare the drafts side by side.

Quick answers

What is the best AI ecommerce website builder?

If your business mainly sells products and you plan to grow, choose Shopify, because its store features and app store go deepest. For a small shop that also wants a full website, Wix Core or Squarespace Core are strong choices. If you want the store, website and a CRM together, WebNewBiz is worth comparing.

Which AI store builder is the cheapest?

Hostinger has the lowest average price, at $3.99 a month for the plan with a store. That price needs a 48-month prepayment of $191.52, and it renews at $16.99. 10Web's AI Starter is $10 a month on annual billing.

Can I sell on Wix's cheapest paid plan?

No. Wix Light ($17 a month) cannot take payments. You need Core ($29) or above to run a store.

Does Squarespace charge transaction fees?

On Basic ($19 a month), Squarespace takes 2% of online store sales on top of card processing. Core ($29) and above have no Squarespace transaction fee. Once you sell more than about $500 a month, Core is the cheaper plan.

Can AI build my whole online store?

It can draft the pages, layout, copy and product descriptions in minutes. You still have to add real photos, prices, stock, shipping rates, tax settings and policies, then place a test order before you launch.

Does every WebNewBiz plan include an online store?

No. The store starts on Starter at $29 a month. Lite ($9) has no store, and the AI CRM starts on Growth ($79). Every plan costs $1 for the first month.

Related guides

• Does Shopify have a CRM? What is built in, what is missing and what it costs

Try it with your own shop

The fairest test of any AI store builder is to give it your real business and see what comes back. For a quick first look, the free AI Website Preview designs a homepage from one sentence.

If you like the idea of having your store, website and customer follow-up in one place, take a look at our AI website builder, or start for $1 and cancel any time. If Shopify, Wix or Squarespace suits your shop better, choose that instead: the right platform is the one whose costs and features match how you actually sell.