PinnacleCart Review 2024

Edited by Amy Smith

Updated


Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported, which means we earn commissions from links on Digital. Commissions do not affect our editorial evaluations or opinions.

Bottom line: PinnacleCart is a full-featured e-commerce solution that is powerful and easy to use. It offers everything you need to create and manage an online store. This includes built-in marketing tools, integrated payment gateways, analytics, and seamless integrations with essential third-party apps.

Who should choose PinnacleCart?

  • New online sellers: The platform provides all the tools you need to facilitate a rapid, easy setup. Aside from a Quick Start Guide, PinnacleCart has a vast library of resources. If you’re still lost, customer support is a live chat away and responds instantly.
  • SMBs: PinnacleCart allows you to sell both physical and digital products, and the plans are designed for upgrading as your business grows.
  • Large enterprises: When you decide it’s time to sell online or venture globally, PinnacleCart, with its internationally accepted payment gateways, is a platform worth considering.
  • Major brands: Among the over 30,000 e-commerce websites built on PinnacleCart are Arizona Gunslinger Hot SauceStreamsong ResortDefender Outdoors, and Vet Med Plus+.
  • Multiple channel sellers: The marketing and integration tools on this platform include product syndication, which gives exposure to your brand and products on Google Shopping, Facebook, Amazon, eBay, and many more.

PinnacleCart may be the best e-commerce platform for: SMBs carrying physical or digital products and aiming to scale nationally or globally.

What we like about PinnacleCart

  • Easy to customize templates: When it comes to cart functionality and storefront design, PinnacleCart has a ton of great features for customization. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive and makes uploading images easy. I especially like the magnify and zoom attributes.
  • No product limits: Beyond selling physical goods, PinnacleCart also allows downloadable digital items such as e-books and MP3s.
  • Extensive selling and marketing assistance: Omnichannel selling is possible with the product syndication’s capability of exposure to other platforms like Google Shopping, Amazon, eBay, and Facebook. I also found the email marketing tool helpful for remarketing to customers with abandoned carts.

What fell flat

  • No point-of-sale (POS) capability: This is another bummer because, without this feature, you won’t be able to accept payments in a physical store.
  • Restrictive support: After contacting the support team through live chat, email (via ticket), and phone at different hours and days of the week, I was disappointed. The turnaround time for query resolution is unpredictable, and the live chat feature is also inadequate. I had to wait indefinitely to talk to an agent.

PinnacleCart’s Editorial Review

PinnacleCart is designed to suit all types of enterprises, from small to large businesses. Entrepreneurs who do not have the technical knowledge to sell their products online can use it. Its customers are those typically looking for a simpler solution than other platforms, such as Shopify or BigCommerce, which require more time and technical expertise.

PinnacleCart has an advantage in conversion-driven website designs and excellent customer support, but its monthly fees are higher than some competitors.

Featured Partners

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Hostinger

The cheapest and easiest option

Starts at $2.49 per month

  • 150+ design templates
  • 0% transaction fees
  • Marketing integrations
  • Free AI tools and site builder

Bluehost

For easy WooCommerce setup

Starts at $9.95 per month

  • Custom WP themes
  • Unlimited listings
  • Store promos
  • 24/7 ecommerce support

Web.com

The fastest way to sell

Starts at $13.95 per month

  • Perfect for your first store
  • Drag-and-drop builder
  • Built-in marketing tools
  • AI copywriting tool

See how we rate e-commerce platforms.

Plans & Pricing

Jump to Review

  • Free
  • Standard ($79.95 per month)
  • Advanced ($199.95 per month)
  • Enterprise (Custom pricing)

Features

Jump to Review

  • Store builder
  • Order and inventory management
  • Marketing and SEO
  • Third-party apps integration
  • Advanced security features

Security

Jump to Review

PinnacleCart shopping cart software is 100% secure and fully PCI & PA-DSS compliant and SSL security.

Support

Jump to Review

  • Live chat
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Customer group
  • Help center/FAQs

Plans and Pricing

PinnacleCart offers four tiers of plans, each corresponding to the current needs and level of your business.

  • Free
    • Good for: New users who want to test PinnacleCart before upgrading plans
  • Standard ($79.95 per month)
    • Good for: New users and SMBs learning to manage their e-commerce site
  • Advanced ($199.95 per month)
    • Good for: SMBs and international sellers
  • Enterprise (Custom pricing)
    • Good for: Large businesses, midsize businesses planning on scaling up, international sellers

PinnacleCart offers free and paid plans, with many premium options included in the free package. A 14-day free trial is also available, which helps people decide if the platform is right for them.

On the flip side, PinnacleCart is one of the most expensive e-commerce store builders on the market. While it doesn’t charge added transaction fees like most competitors, it has limitations like the limited number of themes and payment gateway integrations available.

Features

Store builder

It was so easy for me to set up a store, I’m confident even a novice can do it: simply sign up for a membership and select a template for your store. You can customize the colors, fonts, styles, and images before uploading products and assigning its prices and shipping rates. The whole process takes less than 20 minutes.

There’s no need for technical expertise. PinnacleCart has built-in features such as one-click installation of popular plug-ins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads for those looking to avoid writing HTML code.

Yet since this is an e-commerce website builder rather than an open-source software like WordPress, not all plug-ins are compatible. For example, I was unable to install Yoast SEO due to security restrictions.

Order and inventory management

After I logged in to the PinnacleCart dashboard, I was taken straight to the order and inventory management tab, where I could view all of my orders and current on-hand inventory. If you’re tracking product on-hand quantities and mark items as ‘fulfilled,’ they will show up as ‘sold’ in the Order Management section. This automatically lowers the quantity on hand for those products.

Marketing and SEO

PinnacleCart’s bold announcement, “No other platform does more to drive buyers to your store,” caught my attention. And the platform is probably justified in making that claim.

PinnacleCart’s SEO and keyword search tools are even better than Shopify, the leading e-commerce website builder in terms of boosting a shopping site’s rank on search engines.

You can increase your sales by offering your customers gift cards, promo codes, and QR codes. Also, you can take advantage of the platform’s built-in sales widgets, “Recommended Products,” and “Customers who bought x product also bought y product” features.

As for your marketing efforts, PinnacleCart includes a blog, Facebook store, newsletter, and automatic email marketing targeted at customers with abandoned carts. It could do with more social media marketing capabilities and customer reviews to help boost your brand presence, though.

Third-party apps integration

Each PinnacleCart plan integrates seamlessly with a number of third-part tools.

Third-party apps integration include:

Accounting:

Customer Engagement:

Marketing:

Shipping:

Customer Behavior Tracking:

  • Google Tag Manager
  • Google Analytics

While these apps are not as many as those provided by Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and even Wix, they are the bare essentials to ensure your digital shop runs smoothly, efficiently, and profitably.

Security

PinnacleCart is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant and has everything from fraud prevention to firewalls in place. It also provides secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates for ultimate protection, including free ones. With these standard security measures in place, you can rest assured your and your customers’ data is safe.

different SSL options
Source: PinnacleCart

The only bone I have to pick here is that PinnacleCart’s free SSL certificate is a shared one. Most other e-commerce platforms and website builders offer dedicated SSL certificates free during the first year of use. But in this case, you need to purchase one.

Support

PinnacleCart offer a variety of methods to get support from its FAQ Help Center to live chat, but as I mentioned in the Cons section previously, the response times were varied and unpredictable.

Compare PinnacleCart Alternatives

E-commerce platforms differ regarding their price, features, integrations, usability, scalability, and design flexibility. So how does PinnacleCart compare with its competitors?

To answer this question, I tried and tested the services and features of the best e-commerce platforms, including players like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Volusion, Wix, and WooCommerce. My extensive research will help you compare and contrast these options so you can choose the perfect one for your business.

Ecommerce Platform

Pricing + Basic Plan Features

$79.95 per month

  • Store builder
  • Order and inventory management
  • Marketing and SEO
  • Third-party apps integration
  • Advanced security features

Consider PinnacleCart if: You’re a SMB carrying physical or digital products and aiming to scale nationally or globally.

$29 per month

  • Unlimited products
  • 24/7 support (email, chat)
  • Marketing tools
  • Shipping tools
  • 2% transaction fee

Consider Shopify if: You prefer working on your own and navigating the process of e-commerce website building via self-help tutorials.

$29.95 per month

  • Unlimited products
  • 24/7 support (phone, email, chat)
  • Reporting tools
  • Marketing tools
  • 0% transaction fee

Consider BigCommerce for: Robust features for scalability and top-notch tech support through the BigCommerce University.

Free

  • Open source
  • Highly customizable

Consider Magento if: You want the freedom to build your online store with your brand and vision and have the coding skills to do so.

$27 per month

  • Unlimited products
  • Ticket, phone, and social media support

Consider Wix if: You want a “store-in-a-box” solution that doesn’t require coding or optimization.

Free

  • Unlimited products
  • Email support or WordPress.org forums for self-help
  • Limited reporting
  • No transaction fees

Consider WooCommerce if: You have an SMB e-commerce site built on WordPress and a limited budget.

$35 per month

  • 100 products
  • 24/7 support (chat)
  • Marketing tools
  • Reporting tools
  • Shipping tools
  • 1.25% transaction fee

Consider Volusion if: You have plans to scale your business in the near future.

Frequently Asked Questions About PinnacleCart

Will PinnacleCart ask for your credit card details?

Not when you sign up, because all the plans come with a 14-day free trial. If you decide to continue at the end of this period, you need to enter your credit card information.

Is PinnacleCart PCI certified?

Be assured that all your customers’ data is secured by the platform’s Level 1 PCI DSS compliance.

How do you get a free PinnacleCart account?

The only requirement is to use PruPay as your store’s payment processor. But you must maintain an active PruPay account to continue enjoying the features and services of PinnacleCart’s Standard plan for free.

Can you migrate your current store to PinnacleCart?

It offers this automated and free service.

Does PinnacleCart support different currencies and languages?

These features are available in the Localization tab of your shopping cart’s admin area.

How I Rated PinnacleCart

First, I researched the features and services offered by PinnacleCart and compared them with its competitors. Then, I set up a dummy store on the platform to try those assets first-hand. I gave particular attention to the most important functionalities of an online store — ease of navigation, customizability, availability of resources, and security.

Next, I checked whether the company’s customer support and price were competitive, and lastly, I determined the platform’s potential for scaling a small or medium business.

Overall, PinnacleCart scored high on all these points. Despite having fewer themes and integrated apps, the SSL certificate is shared (dedicated SSL is an additional cost), and both disk space and bandwidth are limited for the lowest tier of the plans.

I test e-commerce providers based on the following factors:

  • Value: What do you get for each plan — and does it hit that sweet spot of cost ratio to features?
  • Ease of use: Is it simple to use the platform with intuitive tools, familiar interfaces, and supportive tutorials or tours?
  • Features: Does the platform offer tools that support your business, including marketing integrations, plug-ins, reporting, and management? How effective are the features?
  • Security: Which measures does the platform take to protect your business? Does it offer Payment card industry (PCI) compliance and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates?
  • Support and improvements: How well does the platform help when you need it? And will it continue to grow with your needs?

Learn more about our review methodology.

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