Best online store builders in India for small sellers (2026): an honest comparison
The Slaby team6 min read
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The Slaby team6 min read
Short answer: if you sell mainly in India and want cash on delivery, UPI, GST invoices and returns to work without add-ons, pick an India-first, fully hosted builder. If you sell worldwide and want the biggest app ecosystem, Shopify is the usual choice. If you have a developer and want full control, WooCommerce. If you only sell from Instagram and want to start at no cost, an Instagram-first link-store tool can be enough for your first orders.
We make Slaby, so read this with that in mind. We have kept every competitor fact to what each company says publicly about how it charges and what it offers, and we link to our longer, dated comparisons so you can check each one yourself. We do not quote competitor prices here because they change often: open their pricing pages before you decide.
Facts as described on each company's public website in October 2026. Check their current plans before you choose.
Most comparisons rank themes and app counts. For an Indian seller, five things decide whether the store makes money: how you get paid, how cash on delivery is controlled, whether bills are GST-ready, how returns work, and what you pay per order on top of the monthly plan.
Slaby gives you a branded online store on name.slaby.in or your own domain, with UPI to your own UPI ID, your own Razorpay or Cashfree account, COD rules (order limits, pincodes, partial COD), GST invoices and returns with video evidence built in. There is 0% commission on your own store's orders.
It also does two things most builders do not: private wholesale prices that only buyers you approve ever receive, and counter billing for a physical shop that shares one stock with the website. Every store starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed; after that Lite is ₹299 a month for up to 20 products, with bigger plans as you grow.
Watch for: design freedom is narrower than a general website builder like Wix, there is no app marketplace like Shopify's, and the storefront is in English and Hindi only.
Shopify is one of the world's largest hosted ecommerce platforms, with a monthly subscription, a big theme store and thousands of apps. It publishes India pricing in rupees.
Watch for: Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on most plans when you use a third-party gateway such as Razorpay instead of Shopify Payments, and COD rules, GST invoices and RTO tools usually come from paid apps. It suits brands selling abroad or teams that already have a Shopify agency.
WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress site into a store. The plugin costs nothing; you pay for hosting, a domain, themes and extensions, and Indian gateways publish plugins for it.
Watch for: you (or your developer) handle updates, security and backups, and features like COD limits or wholesale pricing need extra extensions that vary in quality.
Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder; selling online needs a paid plan that includes ecommerce. It is a good fit when the site is mainly a brand or portfolio with a small shop attached.
Watch for: COD rules and wholesale pricing are not core features, and payment providers vary by country, so check what works in India first.
Dukaan is an Indian store builder for small businesses and D2C brands, run from a mobile app; its plans have changed over time, so check what it offers today. Instamojo is an Indian payments company that also offers a store builder, where payments run through Instamojo and a fee is charged per transaction.
Watch for: compare who processes your payments and what each order costs you, and whether trade prices can be limited to approved buyers if you sell wholesale.
These tools turn an Instagram page into a simple store link. DM2Buy offers a free plan with payments through its partner and a paid plan for COD and a custom domain. smolbusiness uses credit-based plans where credits are used per confirmed order. ShopDeck charges a success-based fee on each delivered order.
Watch for: they are quick to start, but check what you will pay per order once you have regular sales, and whether you get GST invoices, returns and exchanges, and your own payment gateway as you grow.
Go to /start, sign in with Google and pick your industry. You get a store with sample categories on name.slaby.in.
Start your storeAdd photos, price, sizes or colours and stock. A CSV import is there when you have many products.
Add your UPI ID to take payments straight away, or connect your own Razorpay or Cashfree account, then set your COD rules.
Payments guideWhat a shop's GST bill must show, how a B2B tax invoice differs from a B2C bill, and when to charge CGST + SGST or IGST at the counter.
Read the guideLots of 'price?' messages, few paid orders. Where DM selling loses buyers between the first message and payment, and the changes that close each gap.
Read the guideWhy buyers comment 'price?' instead of buying, why 'check DM' loses most of them, and a reply system that turns each price comment into a link to buy from.
Read the guide© 2026 Slaby. All rights reserved. Made in India
Put the store link in your Instagram bio and WhatsApp status. Buyers order on their own, and you get every order in one list.