Free online store in Pakistan: what you can sell without paying

What free gets you on each option

You can open a free online store in Pakistan that takes cash on delivery orders, but only on a store builder whose free plan includes checkout. Of the options below, that is Storelala’s Lite plan, with up to 10 products. Shopify, Wix and WordPress.com let you build for free, then ask for money before a buyer can check out. Daraz, WhatsApp and Instagram cost nothing to start, but the checkout is not yours. Facts below come from each company’s own pages, as of October 2026.

Pick by what you need:

1. A page, not orders. An address, photos and your WhatsApp number. Wix Free or WordPress.com Free does it at no cost.
2. Orders with cash on delivery, and 10 products or fewer. Use a builder whose free plan has checkout. Lite is the one in the table below.
3. More than 10 products. Put your 10 best sellers in the store and keep the rest in a WhatsApp catalog, which holds 500 items. Move to a paid plan when the arithmetic in “When free stops being enough” says it pays.
4. You want Daraz’s buyers and can live with the commission. Start on Daraz.
5. You are about to pay US$228 a year to test an idea. Test it on something free first. Shopify, Wix and WordPress.com cannot take an order on their free tiers.

The table shows what you can do on each option without paying anything.

Two columns decide most choices: whether a buyer can place an order, and whether cash on delivery works. Most Pakistani buyers pay the rider, so a builder that cannot take cash on delivery orders on its free tier is a place to practise, not to sell.

Shopify’s trial is not free selling

Shopify’s Pakistan pricing page offers a free 3-day trial with no credit card, then most plans cost US$1 a month for the first 3 months before the standard price starts. Basic is US$25 a month, or US$19 a month billed yearly.

The free trial help page says that to let customers buy, you choose a paid plan, and that if the trial ends before you choose one, your store is paused. So the trial is for building, not for selling.

Year one on Basic comes to the same US$228 either way:

• Monthly: 3 months at US$1 plus 9 months at US$25 = US$3 + US$225 = US$228.
• Yearly: 12 months at US$19 = US$228.

At about Rs 277 to the dollar, the State Bank of Pakistan’s interbank rate on October 20, 2026, that is US$228 x Rs 277 = Rs 63,156, about Rs 63,200 before bank charges. Your card adds two more.

• The bank’s fee. Bank Alfalah’s schedule of charges for July to December 2026 lists 4.5% on foreign transactions on its credit cards. Another bank’s fee will differ.
• Advance tax under section 236Y. FBR’s withholding tax rate card sets it at 0.5% for filers on the Active Taxpayers List and 1% for non-filers, since July 1, 2026. Some bank schedules still print the old 5% and 10%, so check your statement.

For Shopify Basic, that works out as:

• Filer: 4.5% + 0.5% = 5%. Rs 63,156 × 1.05 = Rs 66,314, about Rs 66,300.
• Non-filer: 4.5% + 1% = 5.5%. Rs 63,156 × 1.055 = Rs 66,630, about Rs 66,600.

There is a second cost. Shopify Payments is not on the list of supported countries for Pakistan, so card payments need a local gateway, and Shopify adds a fee on those. Shopify’s third-party transaction fee page says the fee does not apply to manual payment methods such as cash on delivery and bank deposits. Our guide to what Shopify costs in Pakistan breaks the bill down plan by plan.

Wix and WordPress.com: free to build, paid to sell

Wix. Its plans page says creating a site is free, and that a Premium plan lets you connect your own domain and remove Wix branding. The free address looks like username.wixsite.com/sitename. Wix’s help centre says a site must be upgraded to a plan that supports payments before it can accept them, and its list of payment providers by country shows N/A for Pakistan. That leaves offline payments, where you add a title such as Cash on delivery and instructions for the buyer. On the plans page, Accept payments first appears on the plan called Core.

Wix prices change with the country you view the page from. On October 20, 2026 the plans page showed Core at US$29.77 a month billed yearly, GST included. A year is US$29.77 × 12 = US$357.24. At Rs 277 to the dollar, that is Rs 98,955, about Rs 99,000. Open the page on your own phone and read your price before you start building.

WordPress.com. Its pricing page says free sites display WordPress.com ads to visitors, and that Personal turns them off. The Payments block is available on Premium, Business and Commerce, and free sites must upgrade. It takes card payments through a connected Stripe account, and Stripe’s global availability page does not list Pakistan, so check that you can open a Stripe account before you pay for Premium. A full WooCommerce store comes with the Commerce plan.

• Premium: US$8 a month billed yearly = US$96 a year, about Rs 26,600 at Rs 277.
• Commerce: US$45 a month billed yearly = US$540 a year, about Rs 149,600 at Rs 277.

Both are before taxes and card charges, from the pricing page. WooCommerce on your own hosting has free software but paid hosting; read WooCommerce in Pakistan before you start.

Daraz, WhatsApp and Instagram

Daraz. The seller page lists no listing fee, and says Daraz deducts a percentage from the payment of your orders, with the rate depending on the category. So Daraz is free until you sell, then it takes a cut. The buyer, the reviews and the checkout belong to Daraz. Our comparison of Daraz and your own store lists the deductions and what each side gives you.

WhatsApp. The WhatsApp Business catalog holds up to 500 items, and each item can have up to 10 photos or videos. A buyer can add items to a cart, but the cart reaches you as a message, and the address, delivery charge and payment are settled in the chat. Our guide to the WhatsApp Business catalog covers the setup.

Instagram. Meta’s supported countries page for Shops on Facebook and Instagram lists 22 countries, including India, and Pakistan is not one of them (page copy dated September 17, 2026). So a Pakistani seller cannot open a Shop, and orders stay in the DMs, where you settle the address and payment by message. Selling on Instagram in Pakistan shows how sellers work around it.

What year one costs in rupees

Dollar prices are converted at about Rs 277 to the dollar (SBP interbank rate, October 20, 2026) and shown before taxes unless the row says otherwise. Prices are as of October 2026.

These figures cover the platform only. Three costs follow you onto every option, free or paid:

• Tax on cash on delivery. FBR’s withholding tax rate card lists 2% of the gross amount on cash on delivery by courier for sellers on the Active Taxpayers List and 4% for sellers off it. Say a Rs 2,500 parcel is delivered: Rs 50 at 2%, Rs 100 at 4%. The courier takes it before paying you, whether the order came from Daraz, Instagram or a free store. Online business tax in Pakistan has the rest.
• A domain, if you want one. PKNIC charges Rs 2,100 a year for a .pk, billed every two years, so Rs 4,200 at a time. A free address works until you want your own.
• Courier charges and returns. The platform does not change what a parcel costs you or how many come back. Read how to reduce COD returns before you judge any plan by its monthly price.

When free stops being enough

Free plans stop working for you at one of three points:

1. You hit the cap. A free plan limits products or photos: 500 items on a WhatsApp catalog, 10 products and 3 photos per product on Lite. If your range does not fit, you need a bigger plan or a different tool.
2. Buyers want to pay before delivery. Cash on delivery covers most Pakistani orders, but a buyer who does not trust the rider, or lives abroad, needs a wallet or a card. That needs a payment provider, which brings its own paperwork and fees.
3. You do the same job by hand, every order. If you copy each address into a courier app and message each tracking number yourself, time is the real cost. Count the minutes for one week.

A paid plan earns its keep when it brings back orders you would otherwise lose or lets you skip work. Take your margin per order after courier charges and returns; the COD profit calculator finds it. Assume Rs 600 an order:

• A plan at Rs 1,000 a month needs Rs 1,000 / Rs 600 = 1.7, so 2 extra orders a month.
• A plan at Rs 7,000 a month, close to Shopify Basic’s US$25 at Rs 277, needs Rs 7,000 / Rs 600 = 11.7, so 12 extra orders a month.

Rs 600 is an example. Put in your own margin, and decide whether your orders can carry the plan.

Where your store fits

Lite is Storelala’s free forever plan. You need no card to sign up. It is a full online store at yourbrand.storelala.com with cash on delivery, up to 10 products and 3 photos per product, and Storelala takes no fees on any plan. Cash on delivery is the only way to pay on Lite. Wallets, cards, courier booking and WhatsApp updates are on Core and Grow only, so on the free plan you book each courier and message each tracking number yourself.

Core is Rs 2,000 a month, or Rs 1,000 a month billed yearly, which is Rs 12,000 a year. It adds JazzCash, Easypaisa and debit or credit cards at checkout, PostEx, Leopards and TCS booked from the order screen with tracking sent to the buyer on WhatsApp, and up to 500 products. You can buy a .com inside Storelala on any plan, and Core and Grow can connect a .pk or .com you already own. See pricing for every plan, and the Shopify alternative for Pakistan for how the costs compare.

Questions sellers ask

Can I make a free online store in Pakistan?

Yes, but only on a store builder whose free plan includes checkout and cash on delivery, and those plans cap products and photos. Storelala’s Lite plan allows 10 products and 3 photos each. Shopify’s trial, Wix’s free plan and WordPress.com’s free plan let you build a site but not take orders, as of October 2026.

Can I make a free website for my business in Pakistan?

Yes, if you only need a page. Wix and WordPress.com both let you create a site for free, with their branding or ads and a free address on their domain. If buyers should be able to order, you need a store builder with checkout, because neither free plan takes orders.

Is Shopify free in Pakistan?

No. The trial lasts 3 days and you cannot sell during it. Most plans then cost US$1 a month for 3 months, then US$25 a month for Basic. A first year on Basic is US$228, about Rs 63,200 at Rs 277 to the dollar. With Bank Alfalah’s 4.5% foreign transaction fee plus 0.5% advance tax for filers (1% for non-filers), a card payment comes to about Rs 66,300 for a filer and Rs 66,600 for a non-filer.

Can I get a free domain in Pakistan?

You can get a free address, such as yourbrand.storelala.com or a wixsite.com address, but not a free .pk or .com. PKNIC charges Rs 2,100 a year for a .pk, billed as Rs 4,200 every two years. Start on the free address and buy a domain once the brand name is settled.

Is Daraz free to sell on?

There is no listing fee, but Daraz deducts a commission from the payment of every order, at a rate set by your product category. You find your rate in Daraz University under Marketplace Commission Structure, so check it before you price anything.

Is a WhatsApp catalog enough to run a business?

It is enough while you can remember every order. The catalog is free and holds up to 500 items, but a cart reaches you as a message and the address, delivery charge and payment are settled in the chat. When that chat work grows, a store with checkout saves the time.