Zero-commission online store builders in India (2026) — who really takes 0%, and what still gets deducted

1. Platform commission

A percentage of each sale that the platform keeps for being the platform. Marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart charge it: per our marketplace vs own website comparison, typically 5–25% of the sale price depending on the marketplace and the category, plus fixed closing fees and payment-collection fees, so the all-in take commonly lands between 15% and 25%. Some store builders charge it too, under a different name: StoreBase takes 10% of sales until a ₹999/month cap (as listed in August 2026), and Dukaan calls its cut a per-order service fee. The tell is any line on the pricing page that is a percentage of your sales rather than a fixed monthly amount.

2. Transaction fee

A percentage a builder adds on top of the payment gateway, usually for payments it did not process itself. The best-known example is Shopify: per our comparison it adds 0.5–2% on outside gateways unless you use Shopify Payments, which is not available in India, so every Indian Shopify store pays it. A quieter version is a sales cap: Sellfy advertises zero transaction fees, then charges 2% on revenue above each plan’s annual limit, which is a commission framed as a plan limit. A transaction fee is easy to miss because it sits next to the gateway fee and looks like part of it.

3. Payment gateway charge

The fee the gateway takes for moving the money from the buyer’s bank to yours. Per our Razorpay vs PhonePe vs Cashfree comparison (September 2026 rate cards; negotiated rates differ), Razorpay charges about 2% plus GST on most methods, with UPI often lower or 0% under promotions; Cashfree about 1.9–2% plus GST, with UPI often cheaper; PhonePe about 2% on cards with competitive UPI pricing. This charge exists on every channel, including marketplaces, where it is bundled into the payment-collection fee. It is not a commission, and no builder can make it disappear; a builder can only decide whether the gateway is yours (the money settles to your account, you see the rate card) or its own (the money passes through the builder first). Cash on delivery, WhatsApp checkout and a direct UPI transfer to your UPI ID have no gateway charge at all, though a courier may charge a handling fee on a COD parcel.

Dukaan — a per-order service fee

Per our 2026 comparison: roughly 4.99% per order on the free plan, down to 0.99% on the top tier, capped at ₹200 per order, on top of your gateway; a custom domain sits on paid tiers. Good at: the fastest catalogue you can put up. Not good at: the fee climbs with every sale until you pay for a higher tier to lower it, which is a commission in all but name. Confirm on their pricing page; alternatives in the best Dukaan alternatives.

StoreBase — 10% of sales until a cap

As listed in August 2026: ₹99/month plus 10% of sales, with the total capped at ₹999/month. Good at: managed setup and lifetime support, which is rare at this price, and at very low sales the total is small. Not good at: a seller doing ₹9,000 a month already pays the full ₹999, so above that it is a ₹999/month plan. Compared in the StoreBase alternative.

Shopify — a transaction fee on outside gateways

Shopify takes no commission, but per our comparison it adds 0.5–2% on outside gateways because Shopify Payments is not available in India, on top of a plan that starts around ₹1,994 a month, and UPI, COD and WhatsApp usually need paid apps. Good at: scale, international selling, the app ecosystem. Not good at: a small Indian store’s bill. See the Shopify alternative for India.

Instamojo — its own gateway plus a plan fee

Payment links first, storefront second. Per our comparison it uses its own gateway, Instamojo Pay, with MDR (the gateway charge) plus a plan fee, and its storefront plans step up as you add modules. Good at: selling digital products through payment links with no storefront. Not good at: a store where you want your own Razorpay account and the rate card in your own name. Compared in SitesPlaced vs Instamojo.

Digital-product platforms — Gumroad, Payhip, Sellfy

Gumroad charges 10% plus 50 cents on every sale with no monthly fee. Payhip’s free plan takes 5% and its $29/month plan takes 2%. Sellfy advertises zero transaction fees but caps annual sales per plan and charges 2% above the cap. Good at: a first digital product with nothing to pay until it sells, and Gumroad handles tax as the merchant of record. Not good at: volume; the per-sale cut never stops. Our worked comparisons: Gumroad, Payhip, Sellfy, and for Indian sellers selling digital downloads with no commission.

SitesPlaced — 0% on every plan, free to publish

The free plan publishes a real store: unlimited products and orders, 0% commission and no transaction fee, UPI, cards and net banking through your own Razorpay, PhonePe or Cashfree account (Stripe and PayPal for shoppers abroad), cash on delivery with an optional COD charge you set, WhatsApp checkout, coupons, the free-shipping bar, PDF invoices, Shiprocket and Shipmozo, and all 16 store templates, on a free yourname.sitesplaced.site address with a small badge. Money settles into your own gateway account; the only deduction is the gateway’s fee, and it goes to the gateway. Starter (₹199/month, ₹1,990/year) adds your own domain, removes the badge, turns on store analytics and Meta Pixel with the Conversions API, and keeps store pages ready close to shoppers so they answer about 4× faster than on the free plan (about 75 ms instead of about 330 ms, measured 28 September 2026 on live paid stores). Growth (₹499/month, ₹4,990/year) adds upsells, Buy X Get Y, verified reviews with Google stars, the loyalty programme, WhatsApp Business API order alerts and the 1-click checkouts. Code FREE7 gives 7 days free on Starter or Growth with autopay; cancel before the first charge and pay nothing. 45 real customer stores with 1,300+ products are shown in real websites built with SitesPlaced.

Good at: the plainest zero on this list: nothing per sale on any plan, your own gateway, and ₹0 to go live. Not good at: the things we do not have: per-product COD, pincode restriction, delivery slots, pre-orders, a returns module, gift cards, manual order creation and marketplace sync do not exist. Cart reminders need the AI Co-founder plan (₹1,499/month). Verified for Indian sellers; sellers elsewhere should check the integrations page.

WSTORES — 0% transaction fees, no free plan

As listed in August 2026: Basic ₹399/month, Pro ₹499/month, a ₹5,999 three-year plan, GST included, with 0% transaction fees on both monthly plans. There is no ₹0 tier; the 7-day trial needs a UPI AutoPay mandate and bills on day 8. Good at: a WhatsApp-first store with unlimited products on Basic, and the three-year deal for a seller who has decided to stay. Not good at: starting free; shipping, invoices and the custom domain are Pro-only. Details in WSTORES pricing explained.

StartupInMinutes — 0% platform fee on a real free plan

As listed in August 2026: a Free Forever plan with unlimited products, a 0% platform fee and Razorpay available on free; three images per product and two templates; shipping on the ₹999/month Pro plan, which also brings an onboarding specialist who stays until your first sale. Good at: a genuine ₹0 with no cut. Not good at: a store that ships through a courier without paying ₹999/month.

Shopexer — zero commission on its shipping plan

Its homepage lists a free-forever plan with unlimited products, UPI and card payments, integrated shipping, WhatsApp order updates and zero commission on the Shopexer shipping plan; the public pricing page returned a 404 when we checked in August 2026, so the free plan was the only one visible. Good at: free, with merchant apps for Android and iOS. Not good at: telling you what happens next; with no visible upgrade path, read the fee line carefully before you depend on it.

FlexiCommerce — 0%, from ₹999/month

As listed in August 2026: 0% commission, four payment gateways, GST invoices, a customer app, a delivery app and multi-vendor on higher plans; no free plan, ₹999/month Starter, and a 14-day trial whose store goes offline when it ends. Good at: a business that genuinely needs its own app in the Play Store or a multi-vendor marketplace. Not good at: a solo seller’s budget.

Wix and Squarespace — 0% on your own gateway, paid plans to sell

Both are general website builders with a store add-on and both take 0% on your own gateway. Per our 2026 comparison, Wix’s free tier shows Wix ads and cannot sell, and selling in India needs the Core plan at about ₹399/month billed a year upfront; Squarespace starts from about $16/month with commerce on higher plans. Good at: layout control and templates for a site where the store is one section. Not good at: the Indian defaults; UPI, COD and WhatsApp checkout are not built in the way Indian builders build them. Check their current plan page for what each tier includes.

Shop2Host and StoreMaker — commission not listed

Neither listed a commission figure when we compared them in August 2026. Shop2Host has a free tier of ten products with COD and its own built-in UPI (S2H Pay), with Razorpay, Shiprocket and a custom domain add-on on Pro at ₹690/month. StoreMaker has no free plan, a ₹50 trial, and Starter at ₹222/month for 30 products with UPI and COD only. “Not listed” is not the same as 0%: ask, in writing, before you pay.

Which online store builders in India charge 0% commission?

As of September 2026, the builders whose own comparisons or pricing pages list 0%: SitesPlaced (0% on every plan, free to publish, payments on your own Razorpay, PhonePe or Cashfree account), WSTORES (0% transaction fees, but no free plan, from ₹399/month), StartupInMinutes (0% platform fee on its free plan), Shopexer (zero commission on its shipping plan), FlexiCommerce (0%, from ₹999/month) and Wix and Squarespace (0% on your own gateway, on paid plans). Dukaan charges a per-order service fee, StoreBase takes 10% of sales until a monthly cap, and Shopify adds 0.5–2% on outside gateways in India. Prices change; check each pricing page.

What is the difference between a commission, a transaction fee and a gateway charge?

A platform commission is a share of each sale the platform keeps for being the platform; marketplaces charge it, and so do some builders under names like ‘service fee’. A transaction fee is a percentage a builder adds on top of the payment gateway for payments it did not process itself, such as Shopify’s 0.5–2% on outside gateways. A payment gateway charge is the fee Razorpay, PhonePe or Cashfree take for moving the money, about 2% plus GST on most methods as of September 2026, and it exists on every channel, including marketplaces, where it is bundled into a payment-collection fee. A builder can truthfully say 0% commission while one of the other two still applies.

Is UPI really free for a seller?

A direct UPI transfer to your own UPI ID has no platform fee and no gateway fee: the full amount lands in your account. UPI through a gateway at checkout is charged at the gateway’s rate card, which as of September 2026 was often lower than cards and sometimes 0% under promotions; Razorpay, PhonePe and Cashfree each publish their own. Cash on delivery has no gateway fee either, though the courier may charge a COD handling fee on delivery.

Does SitesPlaced take any cut of my sales?

No. SitesPlaced charges 0% commission and no transaction fee on every plan, including the free one. Online payments settle into your own Razorpay, PhonePe or Cashfree account (Stripe or PayPal for shoppers outside India), and the only deduction is that gateway’s own fee, which goes to the gateway. Cash on delivery, WhatsApp checkout and a direct UPI transfer carry no fee at all from us. The one optional per-order charge is Shiprocket’s 1-click checkout on the Growth plan, where Shiprocket charges a flat 2% of order value per successful order; you choose whether to switch it on.

Is Shopify 0% commission in India?

Shopify does not take a commission, but per our comparison it adds an extra 0.5–2% on payments through outside gateways because Shopify Payments is not available in India, on top of the gateway’s own fee and a plan that starts around ₹1,994 a month. Confirm on their pricing page.

Does Dukaan charge commission?

Per our 2026 comparison, Dukaan charges a per-order service fee of roughly 4.99% on the free plan down to 0.99% on its top tier, capped at ₹200 per order, on top of your payment gateway. It is not called a commission, but it works like one. Confirm on their pricing page.

What about GST on these fees?

Payment gateways add GST to their fee, so an ‘about 2%’ rate costs a little more than ₹20 on a ₹1,000 order. Some builders list plan prices with GST included (WSTORES does), others add it at checkout, so check before comparing two monthly prices. How to treat gateway fees and plan fees in your own books, and whether you need a GSTIN to sell, is a question for a CA; most small-merchant categories can connect a gateway as a sole proprietor with PAN, bank proof and identity.

Is a 0% builder cheaper than a marketplace?

Per sale, yes: on ₹1,000 you keep about ₹980 after the gateway on a 0% store, against roughly ₹750–₹850 on a marketplace whose all-in take is 15–25%. What the marketplace’s cut buys is shoppers you did not have. If most of your buyers already come from Instagram, WhatsApp or repeat orders, you are paying the commission on traffic you brought yourself, and that is the case for a 0% store. If strangers finding you is the whole game, the marketplace may earn its cut. Many sellers run both.