Shopify vs Ecwid: Which Platform Is Better For Your Business?

Choosing the right e-commerce platform can be a game-changer for your online business. Having worked with both Shopify and Ecwid, I understand their unique strengths and challenges.

In this Shopify vs Ecwid comparison, I'll share my insights to help you decide which platform is the best fit for your needs, whether you're starting from scratch or enhancing an existing website. Let's dive into Shopify vs. Ecwid and find out which one suits your business goals.

What are Ecwid and Shopify?

Both Shopify and Ecwid are powerful eCommerce solutions that allow you to sell products online without requiring coding skills. However, they cater to different needs and business models.

Shopify: A Comprehensive eCommerce Platform

Launched in 2006, Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform designed for building fully functional online stores. It provides everything needed to create, manage, and scale an online business. Today, Shopify powers over 5.5 million websites, making it one of the most widely used eCommerce solutions.

Ecwid: A Flexible eCommerce Solution

Founded in 2009, Ecwid started as an eCommerce widget that enabled users to add online selling capabilities to an existing website. Over time, it evolved into a more robust platform and was acquired by Lightspeed in 2021. Now, Ecwid offers both website integration and a standalone online store option, making it a flexible choice for small businesses.

Key Differences Between Ecwid and Shopify

Shopify vs. Ecwid: Quick Verdict

If you already have a website and want to add eCommerce functionality, Ecwid is a cost-effective option, thanks to its free plan and easy integration.

If you're starting from scratch, Shopify is the better choice, offering a more robust ecosystem with advanced tools for dropshipping, print-on-demand, and POS systems.

Shopify is ideal for businesses looking to launch and scale an online store with comprehensive eCommerce tools. Ecwid is best for those who already have a website and need a simple way to add eCommerce functionality.

For a detailed breakdown, continue reading our full Shopify vs. Ecwid comparison below.

Shopify vs Ecwid: Detailed Comparison

Pricing

Shopify pricing

First, I would like to clarify that the Shopify Starter plan is basically Ecwid. It doesn’t let you create your own store, but put your products on different platforms.

Apart from that, the other 4 plans allow you to own your own online store with unlimited products, and categories, along with a POS system.

Higher-tier plans will offer you improvement on:

• credit card fees
• the number of user accounts you can have
• access to professional reporting
• real-time carrier shipping features

Also, higher-tier plans will upgrade your benefits in all other aspects as well.

Shopify doesn’t have a free plan. Instead, it offers a free trial, followed up by a $1 deal for the first month. This is a decent amount of time for you to try out all the features of a Shopify plan before deciding to invest real money in it.

Ecwid pricing

Among Ecwid’s 4 plans, the most notable difference is the product limits. The more money you pay, the more products you can add.

On the free plan, you can add up to 5 products. The next tier lets you add up to 100 products, and the tier after that lets you add up to 2,500 products. The final “Unlimited” tier, as its name suggests, lets you add an unlimited number of products.

Apart from that, more expensive plans offer you more features such as abandoned cart saving, gift cards, and so on.

All Ecwid plans let you embed your products on another site or create your own site. Note that Ecwid’s free plan won’t let you embed your product on major social media channels such as Facebook or Instagram.

Embed Products Capability

As I mentioned above, Ecwid was initially a tool for selling products on an existing website. Apart from adding products to a site, Ecwid also lets customers search for products, use filters, and sort products, along with many other eCommerce features.

Meanwhile, the Shopify Buy Button only displays products or collections on a site. When customers click on it, they will be navigated to a Shopify checkout page.

All in all, Ecwid still comes out ahead in terms of embedding products on a different site.

Website Building Capability

As for building a new full-pledged eCommerce website from the ground up, Shopify is clearly the winner.

It features 13 free themes along with 184 paid themes, all are carefully tested to ensure high performance and speed. There are a content management system, blogging features, variety of apps. All those features will let you create a professional online store that can scale however you want.

Ecwid also has the Instant Site features, which lets you quickly create a basic online storefront with your products and information about your business. If you are a beginner, who just wants to put things together quickly then this is a great option.

However, an Ecwid site cannot replace a proper eCommerce website with the necessary functionalities.

We are going into more detail in the section below.

Ease of use

Ecwid and Shopify have similar content management systems, with main features accessible from a left-hand menu and product management on the right. Ecwid excels in image management by allowing a global application of image ratios, saving time compared to Shopify's requirement for uniform aspect ratios before uploading.

Both platforms offer mobile apps for iOS and Android, enabling order fulfillment, inventory management, and customer support on the go. The main apps are well-received, with iOS versions scoring 4.6 out of 5 and Ecwid's Android app slightly outperforming Shopify's. Overall, both platforms are user-friendly with a modest learning curve.

Product Features

Shopify lets you add as many products as you want while Ecwid limits the number of products based on its plans. you are limited to 5 products on the free plan; 100 on its $25 per month ‘Venture’ plan; 2,500 on its $45 per month ‘Business’ plan; and unlimited products on its $105 per month ‘Unlimited’ plan.

However, Shopify only lets users add up to 3 product options while Ecwid allows you to add as many product options as you want. There are many ways to work around this Shopify limitation by getting an app that removes the limitation or by creating separate products, but it is quite a hassle.

Both platforms let you create a product collection fairly easily. But Shopify has an edge over Ecwid with the way it allows you to create product categories.

Based on the information you input for your product, Shopify can create categories automatically based on that information, including names, sizes, prices, tags, weights, and so on. This is especially useful for businesses with a huge number of products.

SEO

Shopify excels in search engine optimization (SEO) with strong features for tweaking headers, page titles, URLs, and metadata. It allows easy creation and modification of clean, SEO-friendly URLs and supports redirects from old URLs to new ones, which is crucial for maintaining search engine indexing. Shopify also has tools and third-party apps that help meet Core Web Vitals requirements, which can improve search performance.

Ecwid performs well in SEO for paid plans but has limitations compared to Shopify. URL creation in Ecwid is based on product titles and may require technical adjustments for SEO-friendly URLs on custom-built sites. Additionally, the plugin version of Ecwid lacks the ability to change existing product URLs or create redirects. Ecwid users might need manual steps and coding to meet Core Web Vitals standards.

Overall, while Ecwid can be optimized for search engines, Shopify offers a more robust and user-friendly SEO experience.

Intergrations and apps

Shopify boasts a vast app store with over 13,000 apps, providing extensive options for integrating a wide range of well-known apps and services. This abundance of apps offers greater flexibility and ease in enhancing store functionality.

Ecwid has a more limited app market, with around 325 apps available. While it includes important integrations like Freshbooks, Shipstation, and Printful, the selection is significantly smaller than Shopify’s. However, Ecwid users can use Zapier to connect additional services, though this involves extra fees and configuration time.

Overall, Shopify’s extensive app store and greater integration flexibility make it the superior choice in this aspect.

Customer Support

Ecwid offers multiple support channels, including live chat, email, and phone support, with phone support available on the $45 per month 'Business' plan or higher. Ecwid’s free plan includes live chat support for the first 30 days, after which users can rely on online support materials and video tutorials.

Additionally, Ecwid provides 'customization hours' for personalized support on higher-tier plans, giving two or six hours of assistance for 'Business' and 'Unlimited' plans, respectively.

Shopify provides email and live chat support for most subscribers, with phone support reserved for users on the $2,300+ 'Shopify Plus' plan. Shopify's live chat starts with an AI chatbot, which, while effective, might be seen as an inconvenience by some users. Shopify supports over 20 languages, compared to Ecwid's seven, offering broader linguistic support.

However, due to easier access to phone support and the added benefit of 'customization hours,' Ecwid has a slight edge in the support department.

Analytics and reports

Both Ecwid and Shopify provide basic sales statistics out of the box, such as visitors, orders received, and total revenue. However, for more detailed performance insights, Ecwid requires the installation of third-party reporting apps, which may not always be free.

Shopify also offers basic stats in the ‘Analytics’ section of the control panel, but full, professional reports are only available on plans costing $105 or more. Additionally, both platforms allow integration with Google Analytics for comprehensive tracking of traffic, behavior, and sales, though some configuration is necessary.

Check out more Shopify comparison article from Nextsky:

• Shopify vs. Weebly: Which Is Best for Your Business?
• Lightspeed vs.Shopify: Which One Is The Better POS Platform?