By Bogdan Rancea
Shopify and Ecwid are easily two of the most popular options available to merchants looking for an easy way to sell products online – but they’re also very different.
Sure, both solutions give you the tools you need to master the world of ecommerce – but Shopify is an all-in-one website building and business management tool, whereas Ecwid simply lets you add ecommerce functionality to an existing website.
So, which option should you choose?
I put both options head to head to find out.
Shopify vs Ecwid: My Quick Verdict
If you already have a website that you just want to add ecommerce capabilities to, Ecwid is the most obvious choice.
It’s easy-to-use, flexible, and there’s a totally free plan available.
However if you want to build an ecommerce site from scratch, and access a huge range of advanced tools for things like omnichannel sales and business management, Shopify is the clear winner.
Shopify Pros and Cons
Pros
- Comprehensive website builder
- Powerful AI, marketing, and sales features
- Excellent omnichannel selling capabilities
- Massive app store
- Scalable plans for growing companies
Cons
- Higher priced plans (and transaction fees)
- Slightly higher learning curve
Ecwid Pros and Cons
Pros
- Affordable, with a free plan available
- No limits on product options
- Support for selling digital files
- Easy integrations with existing websites
- Convenient multi-channel selling
Cons
- Limited content creation options
- Basic website building
- No advanced features
Shopify vs Ecwid: Pricing Plans
Before we dive into the core features of each platform, I wanted to cover probably the most important topic for most companies investing in ecommerce: pricing.
Ecwid’s Plans
Ecwid is clearly the cheaper option of the two, with a free plan for beginners (although you can only sell 5 products).
Each of the core paid plans give you access to a few additional features, but the main difference is the number of products you can sell.
For instance:
- Venture Plan: $25/month: Sell up to 100 products. Plus, you get access to digital product selling, social selling, a mobile store management app, and the app market. You can also buy a custom domain, get built-in reports and analytics, automate tax calculations, and create a custom checkout.
- Business Plan: $45/month: Up to 2,500 products. This plan also includes selling on marketplaces, subscription selling, 2 staff accounts, phone support, abandoned cart recovery, and multi-lingual features. Plus, you can explore promotions, custom URL slugs, product reviews, and advanced reports.
- Unlimited Plan: $105/month: The sky’s the limit on products, and you also get priority support, POS integrations, and unlimited staff accounts.
All plans also come with an up to 16% discount if you pay annually.
Shopify’s Plans
Shopify’s plans are more expensive, but they’re also more comprehensive.
You can sell unlimited products on all plans, and you get access to abandoned cart recovery, marketing tools, automation features, and even Shopify POS Lite across plans.
Shopify doesn’t do freebies, but they do offer a 3-day free trial to let you test things out. The core plans are:
- Basic Shopify: $39/month: All the core features you need, including a website builder, 45% shipping discounts, 10 inventory locations, POS, apps, integrations, and more.
- Shopify: $105/month: The features of the Basic plan plus 5 staff accounts, and more advanced shipping discounts.
- Advanced Shopify: $399/month: All the Shopify plan features, plus enhanced chat support, 10x checkout capacity, 15 staff accounts, and advanced reporting.
Plus, Shopify also offers Enterprise-level plans (Shopify Plus), and Shopify Starter for social sellers.
The biggest downside? You’ll also need to pay transaction fees with Shopify – unless you use the company’s built-in payment processor.
Plus, thanks to the latest offers provided by Shopify, you can now access the Starter or Basic version of Shopify for a full 3 months for only $1 after your trial ends.
Shopify vs Ecwid: The Core Features
Now we’ve got the pricing out of the way – let’s look at the core features of both of these solutions.
Obviously, since they’re both ecommerce offerings, they do have overlapping capabilities, but they clearly shine in different areas.
Website Design Features
Looks matter online, and Shopify makes it easier for merchants to stand out with hundreds of customizable themes (free and premium), and a comprehensive set of website building tools.
All of Shopify’s themes are mobile responsive, and it’s really easy to dive into customizing your website with blocks and segments.
You even get a live customizer, so you can preview all the pages you’re making changes to as you work.
Alternatively, Ecwid is primarily a tool for adding ecommerce functionality to an existing website. It does give you some customization tools, but there aren’t nearly as many templates (similar to Shopify themes) to choose from.
The templates you get are mobile responsive, and I should note that you do get more customization options these days.
Since the New-Gen Instant Site update in 2024, Ecwid has introduced new options for building custom homepages and site pages using blocks.
Overall though, there’s not a lot of scalability. You can’t even access a built-in blog feature for content marketing.
Ecommerce and Sales Capabilities
From an overall ecommerce perspective, both Shopify and Ecwid are impressive in their own right.
Ecwid does make it very easy to sell digital products without additional apps – which gives it a slight edge over Shopify (you’ll need to use a third-party tool to sell digital downloads here).
Ecwid also offers a lot of the same core features as Shopify, like the option to schedule order pickups, offer access to one-tap checkouts, use product filters and variations, and create gift cards.
I also do like the fact that Ecwid allows you to sell on various channels, such as social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
However, you’ll need to upgrade to a more expensive plan for marketplace selling.
Shopify is better for selling physical products than digital goods, but it has a serious edge over Ecwid in many other areas.
As well as offering access to all the features mentioned above, Shopify supports omnichannel selling on all plans.
It also offers convenient access to drop shipping and print on demand apps, and even subscription apps for recurring sales.
Plus, if you’re selling offline, Shopify has its own POS solution built-in, no third-party tools required. You also get automatic tax calculation tools on some plans, as well as:
- International marketplaces for localized selling anywhere
- Shipping and delivery rules (with shipping discounts)
- Unlimited products on every plan
- Multilingual and multicurrency stores
- Integrations with a huge range of payment processors
Speaking of payment processors, Shopify supports over 100 options, including Shopify Payments – the only downside is that third-party gateways come with extra transaction fees.
Ecwid does allow you to use multiple payment processors without the extra costs – but there are fewer options.
Marketing and Business Growth Features
Again, both Shopify and Ecwid have their strengths from a marketing and growth perspective.
Shopify’s SEO tools are particularly impressive, with customizable URLs, meta-tags, and a built-in blogging solution (Something you don’t get on Ecwid).
Ecwid does take advantage of the SEO tools of the website builder you’re using, and offers access to promotions, discount coupons, and abandoned cart emails (but all of these are only available on higher-tier plans).
Plus, Ecwid doesn’t have its own chat and email marketing tools. It integrates with third-party solutions only.
Shopify integrates with popular apps and allows you to use built-in tools for email and multi-channel marketing.
For overall business management, both companies limit your ability to add extra staff accounts on lower tiers, but Shopify does give you more tools for managing your business.
You get a comprehensive hub where you can monitor sales, track inventory, and manage customer relationships. You can even create custom reports on some plans.
Ecwid does offer some of the same business management tools as Shopify, like inventory management (on paid plans), tax invoices, automatic tax calculations, shipping and delivery options.
Plus, it has a customer management dashboard too. But the reports and analytics you get aren’t nearly as in-depth, and staff accounts don’t come with a lot of controls.
MORE:
Integrations and Scalability
There are a few reasons why I’d once again give Shopify the win in terms of overall scalability.
First, from an integration perspective, Ecwid doesn’t offer a vast marketplace, but it does give you essential integrations with tools like Mailchimp, and QuickBooks.
Plus, it’s purposefully designed to help you add ecommerce features to existing websites built with tools like WordPress.
Shopify doesn’t really integrate with other website builders, but it does have an app marketplace with thousands of free and premium apps to choose from.
Beyond that, Shopify even has its own apps for POS systems, emails, and subscription selling.
Broadly though, Shopify is a lot more scalable for one simple reason – you can sell unlimited products on any plan.
With Ecwid, you need the most expensive plan to access this functionality. You won’t even be able to create customer groups or set up segmentation features on the free or cheapest plans.
So Shopify is definitely the better pick if you want to grow faster.
Shopify vs Ecwid: Ease of Use and Customer Support
In terms of simplicity, Ecwid could arguably be a little easier to use if you already have a website, because you just need to integrate the solution into your existing store.
You don’t have to overhaul your entire online presence to start selling, and you can manage everything in a simple dashboard.
Shopify’s setup process is a little more involved, because you’ll be building an entire website from scratch. However, the platform is still incredibly easy to use.
Everything clicks perfectly into place as you move through each step, following tooltips and guides.
Plus, Shopify has handy solutions like the AI-powered Shopify Sidekick, and Shopify Magic to help you with things like setting up pages and creating content.
Shopify also has an edge in terms of customer support, in my opinion.
You get 24/7 support via live chat on all plans (and email). Plus, some plans come with enhanced support, or phone access. Shopify also offers plenty of self-help resources and guides for beginners.
Ecwid’s support depends on your plan. Free users get email support, while paid plans unlock live chat and phone assistance.
Their help center is stocked with tutorials, but I don’t think these resources are as intuitive and in-depth as what you’ll get from Shopify.
Shopify vs Ecwid: The Verdict
So, which should you choose?
Ultimately, it depends on what you’re looking for.
My advice, overall, is to choose Shopify if you’re building a store from scratch and want a powerful platform that gives you everything you need to grow your business.
This platform is feature-rich, scalable, user-friendly, and absolutely brimming with valuable features.
Ecwid, on the other hand, is really only the best option if you’ve already got a website, you love and you want to add ecommerce functionality to the mix.
It is cost-effective and easy to use, but it lacks the advanced features of Shopify.
