The best ecommerce platform for agencies: a checklist to compare them

22 Oct 2026 · Updated 22 Oct 2026 · 8 min read · Gaurav Kunal, Founder, DripFunnel

A man in a dark suit presents a hand-drawn growth plan on a whiteboard to three colleagues in a bright attic office. — Photo: Yan Krukau on Pexels

There is no single best ecommerce platform for every agency. There is a best one for the way you want to work: whose brand your clients see, who bills them, who keeps the shop running and how you earn after launch. This checklist helps you compare them.

In short

The best ecommerce platform for agencies is the one that fits your business model, not just your clients’ shops. Compare platforms on brand, billing, upkeep, margin and how many stores you can run at once.
Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and BigCommerce host the shop for you, but the client becomes their customer and you earn through their partner terms. WooCommerce and Magento give you control, and the servers, updates and security that come with it.
A white-label platform puts your brand on the portal your clients use, lets you set the monthly price and keeps the hosting with the platform.
Score every platform with the same ten questions below, then read the detailed guide for each one.

Most “best platform” lists are written for shop owners and compare themes, checkout and apps. An agency has a second set of questions: who owns the client, who sends the bill, who gets the support call and what you earn in year three. This guide gives you one checklist to score any platform, a quick comparison of the main ones, and a detailed guide on each.

What makes an ecommerce platform good for an agency?

A platform can be excellent for a single merchant and awkward for an agency that runs twenty of them. For an agency, a good platform does five things well:

It keeps the client relationship with you. Your clients know your name, call you for help and stay with you when they grow.
It lets you earn after launch, not just on the build. Monthly income is what makes an agency steady.
It doesn’t make you the night shift. Hosting, security and updates are handled, or clearly priced if they are yours.
It works for your clients’ market: payment methods, delivery and tax where they sell.
It scales across many stores without a new login, process and invoice for each one.

The checklist: ten questions to score any platform

Score each platform from 0 to 2 on each question. The total tells you more than any feature list.

Whose brand does the client see every day? On most hosted builders it is the platform’s. On a white-label platform it is yours. See Shopify alternatives for agencies that want their own brand.
Who owns the store account and the data? Find out what happens if the client leaves you, or you leave the platform. Read who owns a client’s store on a white-label platform.
Who bills the client, and who sets the price? This decides whether you have a product or a referral. See Client billing on Shopify, Wix and white-label platforms.
How do you earn after launch? A revenue share, a referral fee, a maintenance contract or your own margin? Compare the Shopify Partner Program with a white-label platform and BigCommerce’s partner programme, then do the margin maths.
What does each store really cost each month? Add apps, fees on orders and extensions, not just the plan. See Shopify app costs, Shopify transaction fees and the real cost of running WooCommerce sites.
Who keeps it running? Servers, updates, backups and security are someone’s job. Read WooCommerce hosting for agencies and why agencies move away from WooCommerce.
Is the shop good enough for your clients? Test payment methods, delivery and tax in the countries they sell in. Check the limits too: Wix, Squarespace and Webflow each have their own.
Can you run many stores from one place? Count the logins, invoices and dashboards at twenty clients. See why agencies standardise on one platform.
How easy is it to move clients in? Your existing clients are on something already. See the migration plans for Shopify stores and WooCommerce shops.
How much developer time does it need? Custom code is powerful and expensive to keep. Read headless or hosted? and when Magento agencies switch to a hosted platform.

How the main platforms compare for agencies

Here is how the platforms agencies use most compare on the questions that shape your business. Facts come from each company’s own pages, checked on 21 October 2026; see Sources below. Prices and fees change, so check them again before you advise a client.

Ecommerce platforms for agencies: who runs what, and how you earn (checked 21 October 2026)
Platform	Who runs hosting and updates	Fees on orders (from the official page)	How the agency earns after launch
Shopify	Shopify	0.2% to 2% by plan when a third-party payment provider is used instead of Shopify Payments	Partner Program revenue share on eligible plans, on Shopify’s terms
Wix (Studio)	Wix	None listed on the plans page	Revenue share on yearly plans when you are the site’s first owner
WooCommerce	You, with a host you choose	No revenue share; payment processing fees only	Your own hosting and maintenance contracts
BigCommerce	BigCommerce	0.6% to 2% on lower plans for payment providers outside its built-in list	Its partner programme
Squarespace	Squarespace	2% on store sales on Basic, 0% on higher plans	Circle discounts and referral payments
Webflow	Webflow	2% on the Standard ecommerce plan, 0% on Plus	Certified Partner rewards
Magento Open Source / Adobe Commerce on your servers	You	Set by your licence and payment provider	Build, hosting and support contracts
White-label (DripFunnel)	DripFunnel	No DripFunnel fee on the shop’s orders	Your plan price minus the wholesale fee, every month

Two patterns stand out. With hosted builders, the software is looked after, but the client is the platform’s customer and your income depends on terms you don’t set. With self-hosted software, the client can be fully yours, but so is every update and outage. A white-label platform is built to give you the first without the second.

Which platform suits which kind of agency?

Build-and-hand-over agencies that work on larger brands often stay with Shopify or BigCommerce, charge for the project and earn a partner share afterwards.
Design studios that sell content-led websites with a small shop often use Wix Studio, Squarespace or Webflow, and accept the platform’s limits on catalogue and checkout.
Developer-led agencies that enjoy control often choose WooCommerce or Magento, and sell hosting and maintenance as a monthly contract.
Web and marketing agencies that want their own product, with clients on a monthly plan under the agency’s name, are the ones a white-label ecommerce platform is built for.

How DripFunnel scores on the checklist

DripFunnel’s partner programme is a white-label ecommerce platform for agencies, and more than 75 partners across the globe run client stores on it. We’d score ourselves like this, gaps included:

The agency checklist, answered for DripFunnel today
Question	DripFunnel today
Whose brand?	Yours on the merchant portal, on your own address; the “Powered by DripFunnel” line is set by your contract
Who sets the price?	You build the plans and set monthly and yearly prices in your contract’s currencies
How you earn	Your price minus a wholesale fee per store, shown as “You keep” on every price
Fees on orders	None taken by DripFunnel
Who runs it	DripFunnel: hosting, updates and security
Many stores	One console with every store’s plan, status, last month’s sales and domain
Moving clients in	Shopify import brings products, versions and photos; spreadsheet import for the rest
Gaps to know	Shop payments in India and the US only today; English only; no partner API yet

If your scores point to white-label, read Choosing a white-label ecommerce platform: questions to ask before you sign next. When you’re ready, tell us about the shops you run and we’ll walk you through the console.

Every guide in this series

Questions to ask a white-label platform before you sign

Questions

What is the best ecommerce platform for agencies?

It depends on how your agency earns. Agencies that build and hand over shops often use Shopify or BigCommerce. Agencies that want clients on a monthly plan under their own brand use a white-label ecommerce platform such as DripFunnel, where they set the price and the platform runs the software.

How should an agency compare ecommerce platforms?

Score each platform on the same questions: whose brand the client sees, who owns the account, who bills the client, how you earn after launch, the real monthly cost per store, who keeps it running, whether it works in your clients’ countries, and how easily you can run and move many stores.

Do agencies earn from Shopify or Wix after a store launches?

They can, through each company’s partner programme. On 21 October 2026, Shopify’s help centre described a revenue share on eligible plans, and Wix’s described a revenue share on yearly plans for the site’s first owner. In both cases the platform sets the terms.

Is WooCommerce a good platform for agencies?

WooCommerce is free and gives agencies a lot of control, with no revenue share taken. In return, the agency or client chooses the host and is responsible for hosting, updates, extensions and security, which grows with every store.

How do I become a DripFunnel partner?

Tell us about the shops you run through the partner contact form. We agree your wholesale fee and contract, invite you to the partner console, and review your branding, plans and legal pages before your first stores go live, usually within 2 business days.

Sources

Run shops for your clients under your own brandJoin 75+ partners across the globe.See the partner programme

Keep readingChoosing a white-label ecommerce platform: questions to ask before you sign White-label ecommerce: what it is and how agencies use it How web and marketing agencies can sell online stores as a monthly service