Ecwid Vs Shopify: Which One Is Better for You?

Introduction

Ecwid and Shopify are the top leaders in the competitive world of e-commerce, but they have distinct strengths and weaknesses. We can determine which platform best fits your needs and goals by comparing their key features, pricing, and usability. This article will compare Ecwid vs Shopify and help you make a suitable decision.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Ecwid vs Shopify: Quick assessment
• Ecwid vs Shopify: The comprehensive comparison
• Price
• Discount
• E-commerce features
• Sales channel
• SEO tools
• Payment gateways
• Transaction fees
• Email marketing
• Product options
• Dropshipping
• Point of sale (POS)
• Shopping options
• Ecwid vs Shopify: Which is best for you?
• Wrap up

Ecwid vs Shopify: Quick assessment

Shopify and Ecwid are popular e-commerce platforms, each with its own strengths. With Shopify, you get everything you need for your online store in one place. It lets you create your website, process payments, manage inventory, and customize your store’s appearance. It’s suitable for businesses of all sizes and can grow with your business. Additionally, Shopify offers a wide range of apps to add extra features to your store.

On the other hand, Ecwid is known for being easy to add to existing websites and social media. It is flexible, letting users sell products on different platforms at once, which is great for reaching more people.

Ecwid platform

Shopify is good for expanding your store, while Ecwid might suit you better if you’re starting out or have a limited budget. It is simple to set up, offers a free plan, and is ideal for small or new businesses. Choosing between Shopify and Ecwid depends on your business needs, budget, and comfort with technology.

Ecwid vs Shopify: The comprehensive comparison

Below is a comprehensive comparison between these two platforms:

Price

The pricing for Ecwid and Shopify varies depending on the features and services included in each plan.

Ecwid:

• Ecwid has a free plan with basic features for small businesses starting out
• The Venture plan costs $15 a month and gives you more features, like unlimited products and more payment options.
• The Business plan costs $35 per month and adds features such as discount coupons and an abandoned cart saver.
• Ecwid’s Unlimited plan costs $99 a month and includes advanced features such as priority support and custom SSL certificates.

Shopify:

• Shopify’s Basic plan starts at $29 per month and offers features like unlimited products, 24/7 support, and a website with a blog.
• The Shopify plan costs $79 a month and includes additional features such as gift cards and professional reports.
• Advanced Shopify, priced at $299 monthly, includes advanced report building and third-party calculated shipping rates.

Even though Ecwid might initially seem cheaper with its free and affordable plans, Shopify gives you more features and ways to grow as your business expands.

Discount

Both Ecwid and Shopify allow you to offer discounts to customers. You can create various types of discounts for your products. Here’s a comparison:

• Ecwid lets sellers make discounts based on a percentage or fixed amount. They can apply discounts to certain products, categories, or the whole order. Sellers can set deadlines and how many times a discount can be used. Ecwid also lets you make discount coupons for customers to use at checkout.

• Shopify offers similar discount features, letting sellers create percentage or fixed amount discounts. Discounts can apply to products, collections, or whole orders. Sellers can set start and end dates and limit usage based on order quantity or customer eligibility. Shopify also allows making discount codes for customers to use at checkout.

In conclusion, both Ecwid and Shopify offer powerful discount features to help sellers attract customers and increase sales. Choosing between them depends on factors like cost, features, and suitability for the seller’s business.

E-commerce features

Ecwid and Shopify are both strong e-commerce platforms, but they have differences in their e-commerce features:

• Ecwid is known for its easy integration with existing websites and social networks. It’s simple to set up and use, perfect for beginners who want to start selling online fast without technical knowledge. Ecwid supports selling across multiple channels, including websites, Facebook, and Instagram. With a free plan offering basic features, it’s a great option for small businesses or those on a tight budget.

Ecwid provides various templates for your store

• Shopify is a complete tool for online stores, offering everything from website building to payment processing. It’s highly customizable with numerous themes and apps. Scalable for all business sizes, it includes features like abandoned cart reminders, detailed reports, and marketing tools to help sellers grow their online businesses.

Sales channel

Ecwid:

• Website integration: Ecwid smoothly blends with existing websites, letting sellers easily add an online store to any site.
• Social media selling: Supports selling on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, reaching customers directly.
• Marketplace integration: Enables selling on major marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, reaching a larger audience.
• Mobile app: Offers a mobile app for managing stores and shopping while on the move.

Shopify:

• Online store: Offers an all-in-one solution for building and customizing online stores effortlessly.
• Social media integration: Lets sellers sell products directly on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram with integrations and shoppable posts.
• Marketplace integration: Supports selling on various online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy through integrations.
• Point of Sale (POS): Provides a POS system for selling in physical retail locations, syncing inventory and sales data seamlessly with the online store.

In summary, Ecwid and Shopify help you sell products in different places, but in different ways. Ecwid integrates with websites and social media for selling in multiple areas. On the other hand, Shopify offers everything for selling online, on social media, in major marketplaces, and even in physical stores. Your choice depends on your business needs, technical knowledge, and preferred selling locations.

SEO tools

Ecwid and Shopify provide SEO tools to help sellers improve their online store visibility on search engines. Here’s how their SEO features compare:

Ecwid:

• Automatically creates SEO-friendly URLs for product and category pages. Sellers can customize meta tags like titles and descriptions to boost visibility.
• Adds structured data markup to product pages, helping search engines show rich snippets.
• Mobile-friendly stores, optimized for mobile devices. Integrates with Google Analytics for tracking traffic and user behavior.

Shopify:

• Customizable meta tags for products, collections, and blog posts.
• SEO-friendly URLs automatically generated.
• Sitemap generation (XML sitemaps) to help search engines crawl pages.
• Canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.
• Integration with Google Search Console to monitor performance and refine SEO strategies.

In short, Shopify and Ecwid both help sellers improve store visibility. Shopify may have a slight edge with sitemap creation and Search Console integration, but your choice depends on needs, cost, and fit.

Payment gateways

Payment gateways handle online transactions securely. Here’s how they compare:

Ecwid:

• Wide range of payment options: supports major cards (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx) and services like PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.
• Global availability with multi-currency support.
• Seamless integration without redirecting to external pages.

Shopify:

• Shopify Payments (own payment system) lets merchants accept payments directly on the store.
• Supports third-party gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, etc.
• Global availability and local currency support.
• Automatic setup and easy integration in supported countries.

Both make it easy to accept payments globally. Ecwid works with many services, while Shopify has its own system plus others, so you can choose based on location, payment preferences, and store needs.

Transaction fees

Transaction fee structures differ:

• Ecwid: Free plan has no transaction fees. Paid plans using Ecwid Payments avoid fees; third-party providers like PayPal/Stripe may charge their own fees.
• Shopify: Charges transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments. On the Basic plan, fees for online payments are around 2.9% + 30¢. Higher plans have lower fees. Using other gateways adds Shopify’s fees plus the gateway’s fees.

Ecwid can offer more flexibility to skip fees with its system. Shopify’s fees may be worth it for the added features. Your choice depends on sales volume and cost balance.

Email marketing

Both have email tools to help engage customers:

• Ecwid: Integrates with Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc. Offers abandoned cart recovery, automated campaigns, customer segmentation, and basic analytics.
• Shopify: Has Shopify Email to create and track campaigns. Includes segmentation, abandoned cart recovery, and integrates with platforms like Mailchimp. Offers analytics like open rates, click-throughs, and revenue.

Both provide effective email marketing tools. Your choice depends on desired features, pricing, and ease of use.

Product options

Ecwid and Shopify both offer strong product option features, enabling customizable products and variations for customers. Here’s a comparison of their product option features:

Both Ecwid and Shopify let sellers create customizable products with various options. Ecwid has unlimited variations and options, while Shopify’s customization tools are good but may have limits based on your plan. Your choice depends on your needed features, cost, and ease of use.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping abilities can greatly affect how well merchants handle inventory and order fulfillment. Here’s how Ecwid and Shopify compare when it comes to dropshipping:

In summary, both Ecwid and Shopify assist sellers with dropshipping, connecting with suppliers, automating order fulfillment, managing inventory, and allowing shipping customization. Your decision may depend on their supplier networks, required apps, pricing, and ease of use.

Point of sale (POS)

For point-of-sale (POS) capabilities, Ecwid and Shopify offer solutions to help merchants handle sales in physical stores. Here’s how their POS features compare:

Ecwid:

• Ecwid links with various POS systems like Square, Clover, and Vend, syncing online and offline inventory and sales data for merchants.
• Ecwid offers a mobile POS option, letting merchants accept payments and manage sales via a mobile device.
• Ecwid features sync inventory between the online store and POS system, ensuring accurate stock counts.
• Ecwid enables merchants to sell products online and in-store, using the same inventory and product information.
• Ecwid’s POS solution includes customer management features, letting merchants track customer information and purchase history across online and offline channels.

Ecwid provides various Point of sale

Shopify:

• Shopify has a built-in POS system, merging online and offline sales on a single dashboard for merchants.
• Shopify offers hardware like card readers and barcode scanners, letting merchants set up a full POS system.
• Shopify’s POS system syncs inventory between online and physical stores in real time to avoid overselling.
• Shopify’s POS system handles multi-location management, allowing merchants with multiple stores to control everything from one dashboard.
• Shopify’s analytics and reporting tools help merchants track sales performance and inventory trends across all channels.

In summary, both Ecwid and Shopify help sellers with in-store sales. Ecwid connects with other POS systems and has a mobile option. Shopify has its own POS system, handles multiple locations, and gives detailed sales data.

Shopping options

When comparing Ecwid and Shopify’s shopping options, it’s essential to think about the features and flexibility they provide for building and running online stores. Here’s a comparison:

Ecwid seamlessly integrates with websites, social media platforms, and marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. It offers a mobile app for on-the-go management and allows selling across multiple channels simultaneously.

Shopify is a comprehensive e-commerce solution, encompassing website building, payment processing, and inventory management. Users can customize online stores with themes and templates and integrate with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram for direct sales. Additionally, Shopify supports selling on online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. Its POS system facilitates sales in physical retail locations, synchronizing inventory and sales data seamlessly.

Both Ecwid and Shopify help sellers sell products across different channels. Ecwid integrates with websites, social media, and marketplaces for simultaneous sales. Shopify offers comprehensive tools for building online stores and integrates seamlessly with social media, marketplaces, and in-store sales.

Ecwid vs Shopify: Which is best for you?

Deciding between Ecwid and Shopify relies on your business requirements, preferences, and objectives. Here’s a breakdown to guide your decision:

Ecwid seamlessly integrates with existing websites and offers flexibility by allowing sales on various platforms like social media and marketplaces. It’s straightforward to set up and offers a free plan for budget-conscious businesses. Shopify provides comprehensive tools for building online stores and integrates well with social media, marketplaces, and in-store sales.

Choose Shopify if you need comprehensive e-commerce tools, extensive customization options, scalability for businesses of all sizes, and built-in POS integration for unified online and offline sales management.

In summary, Ecwid is ideal for simplicity, flexibility, and affordability, especially if you have an existing website. Conversely, Shopify is excellent for businesses seeking customization, growth options, and integration with in-store sales. Your choice depends on your needs and preferences.

Wrap up

This article compares Ecwid vs Shopify to help you choose the right platform for your online business, considering the numerous options available. Both Ecwid and Shopify provide strong online selling solutions. Your decision between the two depends on your business needs, preferences, and goals, whether you prioritize simplicity, flexibility, affordability, or advanced features.