Dropshipping is a business model that works on fulfilling orders without actually keeping those products in stock. The store owner lists a product on their eCommerce website, sells it to a customer, and passes the order to a third-party supplier to ship the item to the buyer. Once the sale is complete, you get a piece of the action.
If you’re looking to start a dropship business, we’ve compiled 18 of the best free dropshipping websites to grow your store this year.
Best Free Dropshipping Sites for Finding Suppliers
Here are some of the most popular dropshipping supplier websites online.
1. AliExpress
AliExpress is a global virtual marketplace that connects dropshippers to products. Most of the merchants listed on AliExpress are China-based and source their products from the region. Anyone can sign up to the platform for free and dropship to more than 200 countries worldwide, including the US.
Any package dispatched from AliExpress with standard shipping can take anywhere between 15 and 60 business days to arrive at its destination. With premium shipping, the delivery time can be shortened to 7-15 business days.
AliExpress features over 100 million different types of products in several different categories, including consumer electronics, children's toys, fashion, furniture, jewelry, skin care products, vehicles, and more. The platform is an excellent option for beginners and experienced dropshippers, provided you do your due diligence beforehand and focus on building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers.
2. Alibaba
Like AliExpress, Alibaba is also an online global marketplace that connects dropshippers to products. However, the difference between the two websites comes down to scale.
AliExpress connects dropshippers to single sellers, whereas Alibaba connects dropshippers to wholesalers. It facilitates transactions between dropshippers and manufacturers, meaning suppliers can provide items in bulk and fulfill dropshipping store orders.
The platform hosts over 200,000 suppliers and features more than 200 million products in several categories. It is worth noting that dropshipping with Alibaba can take time. Depending on the location, deliveries can take up to six weeks, so keep that in mind if you’re looking to use the platform for dropshipping.
Alibaba is an excellent option for advanced dropshippers looking to purchase goods in bulk for distribution to consumers. If you prefer private-label manufacturing, the platform would be a great choice for your dropshipping business.
3. CJDropshipping
CJDropshipping is another favorite. The platform is designed for retailers looking to scale their dropshipping enterprise conveniently and affordably. The marketplace allows you to import products into your online store at a lower price than what you would expect with other dropshipping platforms like AliExpress.
Products on CJDropshipping are sourced directly from popular marketplaces like Taobao and 1688. Since the platform uses warehouses based in the United States and works with leading logistics companies like FedEx, DHL, UPS, and USPS, you can execute same-day order fulfillment. If you’re shipping products from China, CJDropshipping has a separate shipping line known as CJPacket, which ships products to the US in eight days on average.
The platform is ideal for retailers looking for a one-stop shop for all dropshipping-related processes. Think product sourcing, order processing and fulfillment, and fast shipping to the US.
4. Modalyst
Modalyst is a dropshipping marketplace focused on luxury brands and high-ticket products. If your dropshipping business targets consumers interested in Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, and other premium brands, you will love what Modalyst brings to the table.
That’s not all. The platform’s Private Label Program also allows you to sell customized products with your branding. Moreover, since Modalyst has a partnership with AliExpress’ Booster Program, dropshippers can access a massive catalog of products that you can add to your store through a Chrome extension on your browser.
Modalyst’s marketplace consists of UK, US, and Australian suppliers and ships to over 80 countries worldwide.
5. SaleHoo
SaleHoo boasts a supplier base of over 8,000 wholesalers that support dropshipping. It caters primarily to retailers running their businesses using Amazon and eBay. The platform serves several markets, including the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. SaleHoo sources its merchandise from AliExpress.
Its dropshipping providers are pre-vetted, and it stocks inventory in several trending and profitable niches. Retailers can browse a wide range of products and conveniently import them directly to their online stores.
Unlike the other providers we’ve explored so far, SaleHoo charges a monthly fee for using its platform. You can subscribe annually or as needed, depending on your sales volume.
See also: How Profitable is Dropshipping?
6. Doba
Doba is another popular dropshipping platform. While its marketplace may be smaller than some of the other providers we've explored, the level of convenience it offers is unmatched. It hosts a little over 150 suppliers, all of which are integrated into the platform, allowing retailers to place orders with them through the intuitive centralized interface.
Doba charges dropshippers a standard monthly fee to use its platform and includes a push-to-marketplace tool that automates the product listing process when posting to eBay. If your retail niche only has a few suppliers and you’re looking to reduce the number of entities you’ll have to coordinate with, Doba might be the ideal choice for you.
Best Dropshipping Platforms With Free Trials for Building Your Store
If you're new to dropshipping or don't know enough about a particular eCommerce platform to make an informed decision, sign up for one that offers a free trial. The idea is to test the platform and get a feel for its capabilities before committing to a paid plan. With that in mind, here are the best dropshipping platforms with free trials for building your online store.
7. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a WordPress add-on that lets you build an online store. Since WordPress and WooCommerce are both open-source software, you can install them at no cost and customize your website exactly the way you want it. That said, you will still need to pay for your domain, hosting, security, and anything else required to make your dropshipping store fully functional.
Given how flexible and scalable WooCommerce is, it is suitable for dropshipping businesses of all sizes. Whether you're starting or already have a large-scale enterprise, the platform provides the functionality you need to run your dropshipping store efficiently and effectively.
8. Square Online
Square Online is another favorite among dropshippers. The platform is chock-full of useful features that allow you to run your dropshipping business easily and conveniently. Not only does it enable retailers to connect directly with suppliers, but it can also sync products to their stores automatically.
Square Online provides a host of SEO features and marketing tools and integrates seamlessly with other Square solutions, such as POS systems. While the platform itself doesn’t charge online merchants to use it, you may incur some fees when integrating certain features and payment processors, all of which are critical to the smooth operation of your online store.
9. Ecwid
If you're getting started in dropshipping, or you have a tight budget to work with and are looking for an affordable platform to use, Ecwid might be a worthwhile option to look into. Not only is it suited to businesses of all sizes, but it also has a free plan you can use to set up your online store and start selling products immediately.
One of the great things about Ecwid that dropshippers find particularly useful is that it integrates with various marketplaces, social media platforms, and website builders, making it easy to reach prospective customers through different sales channels.
Once you’ve set up your Ecwid store, you can customize your store’s layout and design to align with your brand messaging. The platform also makes it remarkably easy to manage inventory, process orders, receive payments, and handle shipping.
10. Mozello
With Mozello’s free dropshipping business plan, you can build and customize your online store even with no coding skills. It is user-friendly, reliable, and integrates seamlessly with several popular payment gateways. As a result, customers can make purchases from your store easily and conveniently.
The most outstanding feature of Mozello is its multilingual support. It is one of the few platforms that allow dropshipping websites to cater to customers worldwide regardless of their native language. Retailers can also leverage the built-in SEO tools it comes with to improve their website's visibility on search engines and ramp up organic traffic to their store.
Keep in mind that as great as Mozello's free plan might be, it limits the number of items you can feature in your online store. Nonetheless, it is a great starting point for individuals looking to dip their toes into the dropshipping pool.
11. Shopify
Shopify is another favorite for dropshippers, especially those who are starting. It gives users a free trial period to get a feel for its features and capabilities before committing to the monthly subscription. You can set up your store, start your dropshipping business, manage inventory, process orders, accept payments, and handle shipping.
Shopify provides a ton of dropshipping-specific apps and themes and a user-friendly interface that makes it easy even for non-tech-savvy store owners to manage their online store. If you run into any issues, the platform provides outstanding customer support and resources to help resolve them quickly and efficiently.
12. Wix
Wix is another popular dropshipping platform that offers a free trial to prospective merchants. Once you sign up for an account, you can build an online store and explore its dropshipping features.
The platform has an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder that you can use to build your dropshipping site from scratch or edit a professionally designed website template from its rich theme library.
Once the trial period is over and you find that the platform is suitable for your dropshipping business, you can go ahead and upgrade to a paid plan to keep using Wix.
Best Dropshipping Research Tools You Shouldn’t Miss
Let’s recap. You’ve decided to start a dropshipping business. You now have an idea of which eCommerce platform you can use to build your dropshipping store and which websites you can use to source products.
The question is: How do you know which products to focus on? How can you tell what’s popular among your target consumers?
That’s where dropshipping research tools come into play. Think of them as a guiding light to help you navigate the vast eCommerce landscape and unearth highly sought-after products so you can capitalize on their popularity.
Here are the best dropshipping research tools you should keep an eye out for.
13. Sell the Trend
Top on the list is Sell the Trend, a comprehensive product research solution built for dropshipping retailers. It offers a wide array of cutting-edge features designed to enhance various aspects of dropshipping, the key among which is an AI-focused product discovery tool dubbed "The Nexus."
This tool scans various online marketplaces such as AliExpress, Amazon, Facebook, and Shopify stores. It then extracts essential data points, including the number of stores selling a particular product, the selling price vs. product cost, total monthly orders, profit margin, etc. That way, you can use this information to make an informed decision when deciding which products to stock in your store.
Sell the Trend also allows retailers to use product images from AliExpress and other marketplaces to generate ads for social media. It can go a step further to analyze Instagram and Twitter metrics and evaluate influencers’ suitability to promote certain products.
See also: How to Find the Best Amazon Dropshipping Products
14. SaleSource
SaleSource is another powerful research tool dropshippers can use to gain valuable insights into popular products. This automated solution is designed to help dropshipping businesses source products and sell them across various online channels.
With SaleSource, you can streamline sourcing decisions by sorting through top products, suppliers, and buyers and get sales estimates from other online stores and competitors.
15. ZIK Analytics
ZIK Analytics is an automated product research tool designed for eBay dropshippers. Its robust framework provides valuable insights into profitable items, allowing sellers to find and sell them fast.
The Competitor Research feature allows you to scan any eBay seller and identify their best-selling items. You can also use the Manual Scanner tool to match the profitable items on Amazon, Walmart, and AliExpress to potential sales opportunities on eBay.
ZIK Analytics has helped over 100,000 dropshipping businesses scale their operations and has access to a database containing millions of products to identify the winning ones for eBay dropshipping.
16. Niche Scraper
Niche Scraper is an automation tool designed to help dropshippers identify highly sought-after products for their dropshipping store from popular eCommerce stores on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and more.
One of Niche Scraper’s top features is, no doubt, the Product Scraper. It identifies the best-selling and top-trending products in Shopify-powered stores and popular marketplaces like AliExpress, scrapes essential data points like the sales trends over a specific period, and analyzes the rate of change in the sales of products.
The tool also provides a curated list of products, individually selected by Niche Scraper’s in-house team, based on their popularity on various eCommerce platforms and social media channels.
17. Ecomhunt
Ecomhunt is another favorite. This product research tool adds and curates popular products daily to help online retailers save time and money by focusing their efforts on profitable items.
Ecomhunt accesses various databases in different marketplaces to provide valuable insights into trending products for sellers signed up for its service. Some notable features of the software include product costs, recommended retail price, profit margin projections, analytics, saturation inspector, social media engagement ideas, social media advertising ideas, and more.
18. Spocket
Last but not least is Spocket, a dropshipping platform designed to help sellers identify trending products from a database of US, UK, and EU suppliers. You can use it to research trends and products and even order samples when deciding whether to stock a product.
Through the platform, sellers can transfer product images, variants, and data from supplier listings to their dropshipping stores. Spocket has an integration that works with WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, and BigCommerce to simplify the management of your online store.
How Do Free Dropshipping Sites Benefit Your Dropship Business?
Dropshipping platforms offer several benefits to dropship businesses, the most important one being that they’re free. Keeping your financial investment low when starting an online store is the single most effective strategy for maximizing your margins. Here are some additional benefits you can get from these platforms.
1. Easy Set Up
Free dropshipping platforms come with intuitive tools and user-friendly interfaces so users can explore their features. It makes it easy for beginners and individuals with limited technical know-how to set up their online stores and get a first-hand feel for the platform.
2. Product Management
One thing most free dropshipping platforms have in common is that they come with built-in capabilities for managing product inventory. They support everything from adding and removing items to real-time tracking of stock levels, updating product metadata, and more. These features allow dropshipping merchants to streamline their operations and keep track of available inventory.
3. Effortless Order Processing
Order management functionality is at the core of most free dropshipping platforms. This feature allows retailers to process orders, track shipments, and address customer queries quickly and efficiently.
4. Minimized Entry Risk
The biggest hurdle most entrepreneurs face is the upfront financial investment required when starting a new business. Free dropshipping platforms allow you to set up your online store, test your business idea, and see whether it is viable without incurring the risk of financial loss if things don’t pan out as expected.
5. Scaling Opportunities
Open-source dropshipping platforms are free to install. They offer unlimited scalability since they support businesses of all sizes. Whether you have a startup or a fully-fledged large-scale dropship business, open-source eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce can host an unlimited number of products.
On the other hand, if you opt for a managed platform (also referred to as SaaS – Software as a Service), you're required to pay a monthly subscription fee once the free trial period ends. It is worth noting that the features and customization options you get on a free managed plan are limited and only designed to give you a basic feel for the platform. Additional features, most of which are essential to your dropship business, only become available once you upgrade to a paid plan.
6. Secure Payment Processing
Secure payment processing is at the heart of any dropshipping business. No free dropshipping platform would be deemed complete if it didn’t integrate with popular payment gateways. Most, if not all, dropshipping platforms allow retailers to accept customer payments safely and securely.
See also: How to Dropship on Shopify – The Ultimate Beginner Guide
What is the Best Free Dropshipping Platform? The Verdict
Ultimately, the choice of one dropshipping platform over the other comes down to your long-term goals, your budget, and your eCommerce experience. The goal of any dropship business should be to minimize the upfront and recurring costs and maximize the profit margin.
For this reason, you should opt for a free dropshipping website and leverage the customization options and business-critical features they come with. Whether that platform is WooCommerce, Square Online, Ecwid, Mozello, Shopify, or Wix is entirely at your discretion.
Are you looking to migrate from your current dropshipping platform to a different eCommerce provider? Cart2Cart can help you make the switch with no downtime or data loss. Our automated shopping cart migration solution can move your dropshipping store to a platform of your choice in a few easy clicks.
Want to see it in action? Sign up to Cart2Cart today for a free demo.
FAQ
Can you dropship for free?
It is possible to start a dropshipping business for free. All you need to do is pick an open-source eCommerce platform that’s free (such as WooCommerce) or make the most of a managed platform that offers a free trial (like Shopify and Wix). If you need to install plugins, opt for the free ones.
Is dropshipping with AliExpress free?
Anyone can sign up for AliExpress for free and start dropshipping to more than 200 countries worldwide, including the US. You can add AliExpress products to your online store and sell them without having to worry about the costs associated with shipping and inventory.
Is Shopify dropshipping free?
While Shopify is not free, it does give users a free trial period to get a feel for its features and capabilities before committing to the monthly subscription. You can set up your store, start your dropshipping business, manage inventory, process orders, accept payments, handle shipping, and unlock other critical features once you upgrade to a paid plan.
Which website is best for dropshipping?
The best free dropshipping websites for finding suppliers are AliExpress, Alibaba, CJDropshipping, Modalyst, SaleHoo, and Doba. The best dropshipping platforms for building your online store are WooCommerce, Square Online, Ecwid, Mozello, Shopify, and Wix. The best dropshipping tools for product research are Sell the Trend, SaleSource, ZIK Analytics, Niche Scraper, Ecomhunt, and Spocket.
October 30, 2024 
