Ecwid vs Shopify: Which One Is The Best Option For Online Store Creation?
Last Updated | April 9, 2024
Table of Contents
Difference between Shopify and Ecwid
When it comes to choosing the best platform for your e-commerce store, Shopify and Ecwid are going to take the lead and give each other tight competition. However, Shopify has been more popular among users as compared to Ecwid. But it does not mean that Ecwid is any less useful.
Upon having a close look at all the factors that your successful e-commerce store must have, from e-commerce marketing to sales capabilities, you will understand the comparison between Ecwid and Shopify and how one surpasses the other in functionality, features, and ease of use.
Ecwid vs Shopify – Which is Better Shopify Plus or Ecwid
Ecwid e-commerce, as compared to Shopify, is different. Basically, it is different from all the other e-commerce platforms out there. It is because of fact that Ecwid is a store plug-in instead of a website builder and SAAS-based e-commerce software solution.
Ecwid enables users to transform any site into an e-commerce store with personalized and enhanced metrics and better insights into the KPIs of e-commerce.
Read Also Migrating Ecwid to Shopify
On the other hand, Shopify is known for being an efficient e-commerce site builder. It was created with this sole purpose, and therefore, it enables users to smoothly and easily manage all their operations.
Simply to say, Ecwid and Shopify are both industry leaders. Ecwid was introduced in the market in 2009, and since then, more than one million online merchants have used it. On the other hand, Shopify came in 2006, and since then, until today, users have managed to sell custom products worth more than $82 billion.
Ecwid vs. Shopify – Which E-commerce Platform Solution Is Suitable For You?
If you have been doing some research lately, you might have understood that there are two solutions available for creating online stores:
- Software that aids the creation of a complete e-commerce website.
- A program that permits the design of an online store that users can plug into their existing sites.
To be more precise, these two are entirely different things, and they are also the main differences between Ecwid and Shopify.
Generally, all pricing plans of Shopify are better for anyone who wishes to build an online store from scratch. On the contrary, Ecwid is suitable for entrepreneurs who already have existing websites or some sort of social media running.
Ecwid – What Is It Used For?
Ecwid is an affordable, excellent choice for medium to smaller-size businesses as it carries a good range of options at a very low price.
Read Also TOP 10 Best Alternatives to Shopify
It is made to scale along with your business’s growth, enabling your access to marketing capabilities, payments, sales strategies, product positioning, and so much more.
Moreover, Ecwid allows you to turn your existing site into a complete online store, including excellent features of a dedicated tool of e-commerce.
Shopify – What Is It Used For?
Shopify has proved itself as a proven and solid e-commerce platform. It checks various boxes for startups and people who wish to launch their online with comfort and ease.
The features of Shopify make it a perfect fit for implementing your strategy for positioning, and its capabilities of sales can help you level up the customer lifetime value. It is all possible without the requirement of too many technical skills.
One does not need to have any prior experience with coding in order to build an e-commerce store with Shopify. This makes it the best choice for even beginners who are attempting to open a Shopify store for the first time.
Ecwid vs. Shopify – Features
A platform is known for its features and its capabilities for specialization. Whether or not it aids in marketing and sales, or it offers some extraordinary templates, the perfect set of features can allow you to achieve your goals easily.
Features of Ecwid
Though it is a plugin, it offers a good range of feature lists. Users will get everything from being able to sell on multiple channels for social commerce to shipping on demand through dropshipping. There are various ways through which you can boost your sales and level up your marketing creativity.
From the first step, the setup feature enables you to build the ideal online store and that too without missing any important element.
Users can easily perform bulk inventory uploads and make changes to existing products. Moreover, you can also benefit from its shipping calculator and automatic tax.
Read Also Top 10 Shopify plugins for WordPress
With Ecwid comes various marketing integrations that can cover a good range of promotional bases, from creating promos to placing Google ads and coupons creation for boosting customer retender
Features of Shopify
Shopify brings an excellent range of features that include easy theme customization, high-quality themes that offer dragging modules, offline sales syncing ability, top-tier management of inventory, and built-in analytics.
Additionally, the super amazing marketing integrations help in promoting your business and enabling you to manage all the touchpoints of your customers’ lifetime journey.
One other notable feature of Shopify is that it has an Exchange marketplace where you can buy ready-made stores that match your needs and your brand. So you do not have to build your store from scratch. All have to do is buy one that has all the features you are looking for. It is just like upgrading a physical shop and making it a new one.
| Feature/Aspect | Ecwid | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | User-friendly with a simple interface. | Intuitive and easy-to-navigate dashboard. |
| Customization | Limited customization options compared to Shopify’s extensive themes. | Extensive customization with numerous themes and apps. |
| Payment Gateways | Supports multiple payment options, including PayPal, Stripe, and more. | Offers a wide range of payment gateways and supports Shopify Payments. |
| Pricing | Free plan available with limited features. Paid plans start from $15/month. | Basic plan starts at $29/month. Offers a 14-day free trial. |
| Scalability | Suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. | Suitable for small to large-scale businesses. |
| Apps & Extensions | Limited number of apps and extensions compared to Shopify’s App Store. | Extensive App Store with thousands of apps and extensions. |
| SEO Capabilities | Basic SEO tools available. | Advanced SEO features and capabilities. |
| Support | Email and chat support available. | 24/7 customer support via phone, email, and chat. |
| Hosting | Cloud-based solution. | Fully hosted solution. |
| Multi-channel Sales | Supports selling across multiple platforms. | Advanced multi-channel selling capabilities. |
| Inventory Management | Basic inventory management features. | Advanced inventory management tools. |
Why And How To Compare Shopify Vs. Ecwid?
Launching an online store is surely a huge step for small size businesses. No matter whether your shop is going national or local. Whether it will be completely e-commerce powered or it will require an additional push to stay synchronized, in today’s world, it is a must for every business to have its website, and one cannot avoid it at any cost.
In order to create your online store, you will require an e-commerce platform that brings a lot of useful features with it to enhance your store’s functionality and streamlines your overall processes. You will need a platform that has the perfect development plan for your business type along with the perfect blend of ease of use and tech innovation, which enables you to cater to your customers in the best ways possible.
Here is how Shopify and Ecwid are different in their own ways. Medium-scale and small-scale businesses can benefit from both of these e-commerce platforms when building an online store. Here are some important details about both of them that can help you build an understanding of how one is different from the other.
Shopify Best Works For Online Vendors That Do Not Exist Business Website
Shopify is popular for being a theme-based site builder, which enables users to set up a completely independent online store. It works amazingly if you are building things from scratch, and you wish to display your product site as the main site. On the contrary, if you already have a business website and you want to use Shopify, you will have to put a little more effort and manage two websites at once. This is because you cannot integrate Shopify with any of your existing websites.
Read Also Top Shopify Alternatives UK
Ecwid Best Works For Adding E-commerce To Any Social Networks and Business Website
If you are choosing Ecwid to build your online store, once you are done creating it, it is totally up to you when you decide to introduce it through the world wide web. It means that users will not have to waste time setting it up over social media and various websites. You achieve a perfectly designed and customizable and packed with useful features e-commerce store, which requires just a few clicks to integrate with any current website.
Laung A Starter E-commerce Store For Free
In some cases, you do not require a lot. You just need to have some essential things available at hand. For businesses that are small-scale and that are just getting ready to launch and begin exploring their e-commerce journey or businesses that have goals to achieve more with less, free Starter Site of Ecwid is just the perfect fit. It is available to you as soon as you sign up. The Starter Site is known for its one-page wholly customizable online store.
Build An Online Store On Shopify
Shopify is straightforward and simple. You just need to invest a little time and complete a few steps:
- Signing up and filling out the introductory information such as business name, type, revenue, and contact address.
- Adding your products such as their images, information, and descriptions.
- Choosing a perfect theme that matches the nature of your brand.
- Customizing mobile responsiveness.
- Researching and selecting payment processors in order to activate payment.
Build An Online Store On Ecwid
As we discussed above, Ecwid offers two things; number one: creating s starter site, and number two: an all-inclusive e-commerce store that can be added to any existing website of any social network. Both of these options are easy and user friendly.
Free Starter Site
- Start with registering for a free plan.
- Continue with the customization. Proceed with adding your business information, product images, description, and information along with your social media links and contact information.
- Setting up the shipping and payment methods.
And you are done!
All-Inclusive E-commerce Store
- Begin with registering for a free plan or choose the plan that suits your requirements.
- Look for the Ecwid plug-in in your site builder’s extension panel.
- Proceed with customizing the design of your e-commerce store and add your product images along with descriptions.
- Move on to the next step and set up shipping and payment methods.
- Once you are done, you will see your online store on your business website. If you have multiple websites, you can add your store to as many websites as you wish.
Functionality
Benefits Of Using Shopify Over Ecwid
One of the good things about Shopify is that of offers a huge range of modern templates. These are perfect for the creation and launch of e-commerce stores. Moreover, you can choose the one that reflects your brand.
Bear in mind that when you buy the basic plan of Shopify or a higher one, you will have full access to the HTML and CSS editor. This gives you the freedom to transform your vision into reality. This is only possible if you have a prior experience in coding.
Moreover, Shopify calculates the costs of shipping automatically based on the shipping location along with the weights of shipped products. One more thing that entrepreneurs love is how smoothly they can optimize their e-commerce store for search engine optimization. Users can edit the text, title, subheadings, meta descriptions, alt text of images, and URLs, etc.
When compared to Ecwid, Shopify is easier to use, and creating a simple-looking URL is just a matter of a few minutes. Users can make sure the URL is concise and have keywords that can help their store to rank in search engine results. In contrast, Ecwid does not give you much of a choice. You get an automatically generated URL and you will have to use that. However, you can create a title that is SEO-friendly in order to make sure that it is included your web page’s URL.
The users can also benefit from the ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages’ format. This supports web pages to load quickly when customers are accessing their websites using their mobile devices. It takes user experience on another level, and it is amazing for SEO. Unluckily, at the time of writing, users do not get this option when using Ecwid.
Benefits Of Using Ecwid Over Shopify
One main drawback of using Shopify is that users are only allowed to list only three options on each of their products. This is especially difficult when you are selling merchandise that has a lot of variations, such as designs, shapes, sizes, and colors, etc. How about you try Shopify Agency Partners for maximum assistance with integration?
On the contrary, Ecwid does not do that with you! It allows entrepreneurs to ask and store the information they require from the customers for processing customized orders—for example, a button for uploading a picture and copy of their engraving, etc. Keep in mind that to access these features, you will need to buy Ecwid’s paid plans.
Another important and useful thing about Ecwid is that users can display their storefront in almost 45 different languages. It is impossible with Shopify. Moreover, Ecwid creates a mobile application for your store that you can introduce to your customers to download via the Apple Appstore or Google Playstore.
Design
Whether it is Ecwid or Shopify Website design is important. No matter how big or small of a business you are, your website design must be attractive and responsible enough to keep users hooked. To be honest, how your customers remember you depend on your website’s design.
Themes
As Ecwid is a plugin, it does not behave the same way as a site builder as Shopify would.
Rather than giving you a choice to select a theme, Ecwid brings along a set store development that integrates with the current website. For instance, the colors of your store will change automatically according to the colors of your website.
On the contrary, Shopify allows you to pick a theme that you like. You have the choice of choosing from almost 60 themes. They range from free to $180. These themes are made to reflect diverse businesses such as food and drink, electronics, and furniture, etc.
You get features on the basis of the industry that you choose. Also, you can switch themes anytime you want. But you might have to do reformatting in order to keep your site well-maintained.
Shopify allows you to decide your theme development in the initial steps and then do all the other setups; however, Ecwid uses the design of your current website, and any further design-related changes come after that.
Customization
Ecwid is made to appear amazing as soon as it is added to a website. For example, it is automatically optimized to fit mobile and desktop screens. What if you want to edit and make some changes on your own?
Users can edit their storefront’s design, but they do not have much room for creativity. It offers very limited customization, such as changing the size of the images, tweaking the product and its description’s layout, and editing the color palette and navigation.
For some serious customization, users will have to use CSS for editing their colors and themes. CSS can be used to create a custom theme. However, it is only possible for people who are familiar with coding.
If you do not know how to code, you can use certain apps such as The Decorator app and The Store Designer App.
On the other hand, the Custom Shopify app enables it, users, to take control of their storefront’s design. They can customize themes whenever they like, and they can also customize the look of their store on mobile devices.
Shopify allows you to edit every single part during the theme development process from layout to colors. You can choose free stock images for using them on your storefront for giving it a more professional look. Shopify also offers an image editor where you can crop, resize, edit, and add filters to your product images.
People who have some experience with coding can use their coding skills in order to access all the CSS and HTML. This allows users to have greater control over the customization of their store.
Another best thing about Shopify is that when you are making changes, you can see real-time previews. This helps to see the new look of your website, and you can decide whether or not this is what you were aiming for. You can save a lot of time that you spend doing back and forth between your storefront and your dashboard.
Shopify is about building your brand, and this is why it provides you with all the tools you need to design your store just the way you have imagined.
Website Development Time
When you are using Ecwid to create your online store, you do not need to build anything. What we mean to say is that you already have your website and so all you need to do is get done with the set up in the Ecwid control panel as this is where you manage your orders and add products.
If you wish to build a Starter Site using Ecwid, it will not take long as it is a simple and single-page e-commerce store development.
On the other hand, any Shopify development company will require you to invest a little more time as you build your store from scratch with the help of a professional Shopify developer. You will have to select a theme, edit and customize it according to your requirements, and proceed with setting up the mechanic of the store. Such as adding shipping and product options.
Features
The best part about running an e-commerce store is ‘selling.’ It can be a tough job, especially if you do not have a team. That is where your online store can help you.
Ecwid brings amazing store management tools that can help you smoothly run your business. You will get a good range of e-commerce features, including:
- Inventory tracking
- Product variants and options
- Discount and Promotion Creation
- Sell digital Products and physical products
- Shipping options
- Abandoned cart saver
- Multichannel integration
- Unlimited bandwidth
Most of these are basic, but important features required to smoothly and successfully run an online store. Inventory management is a must, and you can save a lot of time by giving this job to machines.
Multi-channel store selling is very important for attracting customers. People will not visit your store, but if they can check your Facebook page, your business will rank in sales.
You get good coverage of important sales features with Ecwid that support the growth of small businesses.
Shopify, on the other hand, comes with a complete pack of features that you need to build an e-commerce store with maximized functionality. It brings a wider feature range, but it still covers some basic ones along with advanced and powerful e-commerce tools. Shopify features include:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Sell digital and physical products
- Powerful inventory management
- Selling unlimited products
- Automatic shipping rates
- Abandoned checkout recovery
- Multiple shipping options
- Automatic tax handling
- Customer accounts
- Multichannel selling
- Customize Cart Page Shopify
The inventory of Shopify tracks the levels of your stock and automatically stops selling products once they are out of stock. It completely supports selling on multiple channels, syncing over all the platforms, and also, you are enabled to track your sales with automatic built-in reports.
You can offer real-time updates and free shipping to your customers and achieve discounted rates from carriers you choose. Even if you get a lot of orders, you can deliver all of them easily.
Shopify offers a feature known as Shopify Lite, and It is a completely separate plan that costs about $9 per month. It is Ecwid’s direct competitor as it allows users to sell without building an e-commerce store.
Instead, you are enabled to sell your products via social media or add a buy button to your current website.
Payment Gateways and Fees
Payment Options
Getting paid is what all businesses love about their business. However, you need to set up your payment gateway.
Ecwid works with about 50 payment gateways, the main ones include:
Such gateways enable you to accept online payments. Make sure you select the one payment gateway that works in your region or country. However, you can also accept offline payment, such as wire transfers or cash on delivery.
Shopify works with almost 100 payment gateways, and it means that there is something for everyone. The Shopify payment gateways include:
Shopify supports manual payment, also such as cash on delivery. Moreover, it also supports alternative payments such as cryptocurrency such as BitPay.
Additionally, Shopify also offers its own payment gateway which is called Shopify Payments. So customers do not have to keep up with the third-party providers.
Fees
Ecwid will not charge you any transaction fees whenever you make a sale. However, ensure to check all the terms and conditions of your chosen payment providers as some of them might charge you.
With Shopify, you will be charged transaction fees on its third-party payment providers who are in addition to the processing fees that are charged b the provider. Transaction fees are not applied to manual payments such as Point of Sale (POS) or cash on delivery orders.
Budget and Pricing
Before you make up your mind about any tool, be sure that you can easily afford it.
Ecwid pricing is fair, and a long-term free option adds more attraction to it—moreover, every plan of Ecwid starts with a free trial.
Ecwid offers limited features as it has less number of themes and fewer functionality options. But if you are just a startup or a merchant selling just a few things, Ecwid will work for you.
The Venture Plan costs about $15 per month and $12.50 when billed annually. It gives access to a large number of themes and more inventory space along with a range of advanced features.
Shopify is quite expensive in its pricing. Its plans start at about $29 per month and $26.10 when annually billed. You will get access to a gid range of features without needing to purchase their higher plans for $299 per month or $269.10 when billed annually.
The basic plan appears useful to many. It gives access to the Exchange marketplace, a range of amazing themes, and SSL for the protection of sensitive information.
Customer Help and Technical Maintenance Support
With Ecwid, you will get help faster than you imagine. Ecwid offers:
- Live chat (for premium plans only)
- Phone support (for premium plans only)
- Email support
- Help Center
- Video Guides
- Community forum
- Priority support (included in the highest plan only)
If you are using a free plan, email only will be your support source, or you can also get help from Ecwid’s Help Center. For more support options, you will have to upgrade your plan which will unlock advanced options for customer help and technical support.
With Shopify, you will enjoy a great range of Shopify support options that include:
- 24/7 phone support
- Social media support
- 24/7 live chat support
- Help Center
- Community forum
- Email support
- Video tutorials
- Advanced Shopify Expert support (highest plan only)
Integration
The best e-commerce tool must act well with other software and tools in the field that is dependent on security, payment gateways, marketing, etc. If your e-commerce solution lacks essential integration capabilities, you will end up limiting your sales abilities.
Read Also Redbubble Shopify Integration
Ecwid is a plugin itself, but it does not mean this limits its integration ability.
It can blend perfectly with other software and increase the visibility of your store. Moreover, it can create promotions, sales, marketing, and so much more.
Additionally, it offers an app market where you can browse by category, but these options come at a cost.
Read Also Shopify SAP Integration
In terms of integration, Shopify is perfect. From finance and accounting apps to more than 100 payment gateways to some amazing marketing integrations, it covers all aspects of a perfect ideal e-commerce store. Shopify offers integrations for easy advertising across different channels.
SEO
In Shopify, Search engine optimization is really good. It is actually very easy to deal with all components of SEO, including headers, URLs, page titles, metadata, etc.
Ecwid is great at these things, too, but it is only possible when you are using a paid plan.
When it comes to creating URLs, creating a clean URL is possible with Shopify. It is easier to ensure that your URLs have product keywords in them so as to make it easier for search engines to find your web page.
Read Also How is WordPress or Shopify better for SEO?
With Ecwid, you have to do with what you are given. Your URL is automatically generated, It is your job to ensure that your product title is SEO friendly and it will be added to your Ecwid URL.
One more thing where Shopify takes the lead is Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) format. Web pages that are in this format tend to load faster and provide mobile users with a great user experience.
Along with the addition of third-party applications in Shopify, it is easy to display your store’s content in AMP format, which is impossible with Ecwid.
Read Also SEO Best Practices for Migrating to Shopify
Application Integrations
If you wish to enhance the functionality of an Ecwid or Shopify website or integrate some tools with any one of them, you can use their own app stores.
Read Also Teachable Shopify integration
They contain a range of applications that enhance their functionality, such as pop-ups, reporting, dropshipping, etc. You can do it while using other key business services and apps. You can find a blend of free and paid applications.
With Ecwid, you have limited apps. You will find more than 15- integrations which, as compared to Shopify, is very low. Shopify offers more than 3200 integrations.
Although Ecwid allows integration with necessary apps like Printful, Freshbooks, Xero, you will find that it is much easier with Shopify as it offers a wide range of popular applications.
Read Also Integrate Shopify into Existing Website
Ecwid offers integration with Zapier that is a well-known syncing app. It supports the creation of integrations between Ecwid itself and a host of popular applications. But the issue is that Zapier comes at a cost.
Final Thoughts
Which one to choose?
You can choose Ecwid if:
- You wish to build an e-commerce store that you can integrate with other websites as well.
- You are looking for only a widget that can be added to your current website.
- You do not have a high budget.
- You do not plan on paying transaction fees for your sales.
You can choose Shopify if:
- You wish to create an independent e-commerce store.
- You need a store with your brand name in the domain name or URL.
- You can pay the monthly subscription fee.
- You need a store that features static pages.
- You want a wide range of apps to integrate with your e-commerce store for free.
FAQs Ecwid vs Shopify
Is Ecwid Any Good?
Ecwid is a powerful and cost-effective solution to add the functionality of e-commerce to your current website or to place your online store on your Facebook page and any other social media network. It is favored for the way it handles multi-currency selling and GDPR cookie consent.
What Does Ecwid Mean?
It is a tool that helps you to make your online store. It is a software-as-a-service tool. It means that the user does not own this software but he must pay a monthly fee for using it.
What Are The Top Ecwid Pros And Cons?
Pros:
- You can use a completely free Ecwid Plan.
- It offers an easy way to add e-commerce to your current website.
- This is cheaper compared to other e-commerce solutions.
Cons:
- Users can only get phone support on paid plans.
- There are a very limited number of integrations/developed apps available in the app store of Ecwid.
- You cannot edit or change URLs in Ecwid.
How to add Ecwid to Facebook?
For getting started with Ecwid, go to the control panel select All sales channels, then select Sell on Facebook and click on ‘Connect to a Facebook page. After that, select the Facebook page where you wish to add your products. Click ‘Save.’
Read Also How to Tag Products on Instagram Shopify
How Much Does Ecwid Cost?
The Ecwid Venture Plan is $15 per month. It enables users to sell up to a hundred products.
Ecwid Business Plan is $35 per month. It allows users to sell up to 2500 products.
Ecwid Unlimited Plan is for $99 per month. It allows users to sell unlimited products.
How To Use Ecwid On Wix?
It is possible to add Ecwid e-commerce to your current Wix website. You can do it via the official Wix App Market.
