Ecwid vs Shopify - Which is Better?

Which is better, Ecwid vs Shopify? Here, we will compare two well-known ecommerce platforms that are quite different from each other. Find out all about their key features, pros and cons, value for money, and what alternatives are available.

What are Ecwid and Shopify?

The ecommerce tools Ecwid and Shopify are very different from one another. Ecwid is perfect for users who want to add a little bit of ecommerce flair to their existing website, but Shopify is the best all-around ecommerce builder.

In a nutshell, Shopify and Ecwid allow users to sell products online.

It is possible to create and manage inventory on both platforms without any knowledge of coding.

However, their backgrounds and histories are quite different.

Originally, Shopify was designed to help users build an online store on the domain of their choice — a fully-functional website — whereas Ecwid allowed people to add a snippet of code to an existing site in order to sell products.

(This is why Ecwid is called an ‘ecommerce widget‘).

Over the past few years, however, the lines have blurred a bit. Shopify product catalogs can now be embedded into existing websites, and standalone online stores can be created using Ecwid.

Shopify is the older product — introduced in 2006 — with a larger user base (builtwith.com estimates that the platform powers around 4.4 million websites).

Ecwid was launched in 2009, and Builtwith.com estimates it powers nearly 946,000 sites. This company was recently acquired by Lightspeed, which offers point-of-sale solutions.

Differences Between Ecwid and Shopify? (Shopify vs Ecwid)

The Ecwid ecommerce plugin lets you add ecommerce functionality to a website. Founded in 2009, it has generated over $5 billion in merchant revenue since its founding.

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that lets you create your own online store. There have been a total of $200 billion in sales through Shopify since 2006!

Between Ecwid and Shopify, Ecwid is designed to add ecommerce to an existing website, whereas Shopify helps you build an online store from scratch.

Although they offer similar services, there is overlap between them – Shopify offers tools for adding ecommerce features to existing sites, while Ecwid offers an online store builder. These platforms just have different strengths.

Also Read More on : Shopify vs Shopifyplus – Key Differences Explained

Compared: Ecwid vs Shopify

Ecwid Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Turn your existing website into an online store quickly and easily – no need to start from scratch	The limited customization options don’t give you much creative freedom
The ability to sell across multiple channels allows you to grow your customer base easily	Tools for small-scale sales – Ecwid’s limits don’t allow for too much growth, so fast-growing stores may have problems
No programming skills required – you can quickly and easily add ecommerce capabilities to your website!	The free plan is very limited, with no access to the app market or phone support.

Shopify Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
With Shopify, you can manage all your sales across multiple platforms, from Instagram to Amazon.	If you do not use Shopify Payments, Shopify’s own in-house payment gateway, you will be charged transaction fees.
Managing large product catalogs and complex orders has never been easier with Shopify’s powerful inventory system.	There is no free plan on Shopify; instead, you use it for 14 days before choosing a paid plan.
According to our research, Shopify provides the best sales tools, and is the most recommended platform.	There is no automatic reformatting – if you switch themes after your store has gone live, you will need to manually re-format it.

Pricing

Ecwid pricing

The good news is, Ecwid offers four plans, one of which is free.

Here are the USD prices for the plans:

Free — $0 per month
Venture — $19 per month
Business — $39 per month
Unlimited — $99 per month

(Ecwid’s price varies in other countries. For example, UK prices are approximately 24% higher than US equivalents.)

Shopify Pricing

There are five main pricing plans offered by Shopify:

Starter — $5 per month
Basic — $39 per month
Shopify — $105 per month
Advanced — $399 per month
Shopify Plus — Shopify Plus fees typically start at $2,000 per month, depending on requirements

There are no restrictions on the number of products you can sell with Shopify – the main differences are the number of user accounts and real-time carrier shipping.

Ecommerce features

Ecwid and Shopify offer all the basic features and functionality you would expect from an online store builder.

Using either of them gives you the ability to:

Provide physical and digital products for sale
Provide a wide range of payment options
Managing inventory
Point-of-sale ecommerce facilitation
Establish shipping rates and rules

There are, however, some key differences to be noted.

Let’s take a look at them.

Payment Gateways and Transaction fees

A payment gateway is a software that securely processes your customers’ transactions. Payment gateways are offered by many companies, including Paypal, Stripe, and Worldpay.

Shopify and Ecwid work with an extensive variety of payment gateways – around 88 in Ecwid’s case, over 100 in Shopify’s.

Besides Shopify Payments, Shopify offers its own payment processing service. This is extremely easy to set up, and using it means that there are no transaction fees to worry about (so long as you’re on a ‘Basic’ plan or higher — there are 5% transaction fees on the ‘Starter’ plan regardless of whether you use Shopify Payments or another payment gateway.)