Selling online is no joke and that’s why you’ll need the best eCommerce solutions. Enter our Ecwid vs Shopify comparison where we’ll review the pros and cons of using two of the industry’s most popular eCommerce builders. Our goal is to help identify which is best suited for your online business.
Shopify and Ecwid allow users to create fully functional online stores without prior coding knowledge. Both web builders will equip you with tools for the ongoing management of a digital products inventory.
At this point, you might be wondering what kind of eCommerce platform would be best for your specific needs – especially if you’re a digital marketing newbie. That’s why we put together this comprehensive Shopify vs Ecwid review to help you hit the ground running.
Shopify Vs Ecwid: How Do They Compare?
The simple truth is Shopify and Ecwid are both industry leaders. But before making a selection, you’ll want to know more about their strengths, shortcomings, key features, and which eCommerce platform offers the best value for your money.
Pricing
There are 4 Ecwid plans available on offer along with 1 free plan. You can use the free plan to launch a single-page website complete with an in-built online store. Ecwid transaction fees and plan prices range between $15 monthly to $99 annually with each one offering varied eCommerce features.
Shopify has 5 plans with each one customized to suit different online business needs. You’ll also find online store building templates in 3 of Shopify’s plans.
Shopify's plans cost anywhere between $29 monthly for basic features and $299 monthly for more advanced features.
Ecwid has the edge here thanks to its free plan offerings; especially since you can use it to preview what your online store would look like without paying a dime.
Ease of Use
With Ecwid, you have a user-friendly online store builder. All it takes is a few clicks for you to integrate it with your existing website. Moreover, you needn’t worry about hosting, coding, or even updating anything. You can simply add an Ecwid widget on your site and your online store is ready for use.
Shopify also makes it super easy for you to build and operate your online store. However, the process involves more commitment and as such, you’ll likely need a considerable amount of time to set up since you’re building an entire online store from scratch.
And while building with Shopify certainly involves a bigger process, the streamlined system is available to guide your every step. As with Ecwid, Shopify users don’t have to bother about coding, hosting, or updates management as all that is already sorted out for you.
Furthermore, Shopify features inventory tracking tools, tons of apps, and can provide you with real-time shipping quotes from selected couriers.
Designs and Templates
Shopify is excellent for designing your online store as it offers improved customization options and updated theme selections.
Shopify lets you build an ecommerce store after selecting your preferred theme and template. Afterward, you can use the drag-and-drop editor to customize the online storefront by adding images and text to suit your purposes. There are 70 paid and 10 free themes available to choose from.
In contrast, Ecwid comes with a default store design that you can integrate with your existing website. You’ll soon discover that this feature helps ensure a consistent theme across your website. This means that your new online store’s design will automatically reflect your existing website’s design template, font, and colors.
Customer Support
Ecwid offers excellent Customer Support options. These include phone and live chat services for premium customers. Unfortunately, these support features are not available on its lower-priced plans. Ecwid’s free plan doesn’t include live customer support.
Shopify on the other hand provides you with complete Customer Support services immediately after signing up. You'll find an extensive Help Center that comes with video tutorials, a community forum, 24/7 phone, email, and live chat support.
Editor
Shopify and Ecwid feature similar editing or content management systems. Ecwid’s editor boasts of a well-designed and user-friendly control panel so anyone can easily locate anything without having to browse through multiple options. You are guaranteed to discover multiple adjustable settings to suit your Ecwid store design needs.
Moreover, Ecwid integrates seamlessly with most sites. By installing the latest Ecwid add-on on your website’s backend, you can avoid having to learn and adapt to an entirely new system.
Shopify on the other hand comes with a flexible drag-and-drop website editor which offers increased customizability than Ecwid. Although Shopify’s editor is easy to use, its structure is more complicated.
Still, Shopify is ideal for both professional and beginner designer needs thanks to the platform’s practical application and visually appealing process.
Ecommerce
Shopify provides you with all the eCommerce tools and support features you'll need to scale your online business for long-term growth. With the Shopify platform's flexible and comprehensive solutions, your side-gig could easily develop into a business enterprise.
Ecwid also lets you set up and manage your business with handy eCommerce tools required for selling online. Inventory management, product variants & options, shipping, POS, and multiple payment integrations are some of the Ecwid eCommerce store benefits.
Business owners can use both Shopify and Ecwid online store eCommerce solutions to manage sales and inventory even while on the go.
Apps and Widgets
With an impressive collection of over 5,000 software integrations, the Shopify App Market dominates this section of our Shopify Ecwid reviews 2020. Here, you can expect to find all the inventory management, product shipping, and customer support tools you’ll need to boost your online store’s operations.
Shopify users can quickly browse the app market by category or collection to find what they’re looking for. There’s also a section for trending apps and top choice apps made by Shopify’s in-house developers or from third parties.
And while Ecwid features a remarkable app store, it simply cannot compete with Shopify in terms of quantity or quality. Moreover, Ecwid’s apps are not accessible on its free plan.
SEO
Shopify’s Search Engine Optimization options are generally strong. Shopify also offers an abundance of adjustable SEO components including URLs, page titles, headers, Metadata, etc.
Shopify provides a standalone, internal emailing system complete with a countless number of marketing apps. On Shopify, you are assured of improved SEO store practices.
In contrast, Ecwid’s SEO marketing options are more limited than with Shopify. Most of them perform reasonably well - especially for the paid plans.
Overall, both Shopify and Ecwid website SEO tools will help optimize your store to rank better during local search results thus allowing more people to go online and find your accurate product information.
Blogging
In this final section of our Ecwid to Shopify comparison, we sampled both platforms’ blog offerings.
Blogging is an effective approach to building an online audience and generating increased sales traffic for businesses. As such both Ecwid and Shopify come with in-built blogging engines.
Setting up your Shopify site’s blog will help you build product reputation and online community trust around your brand.
The Ecwid store also represents a great option for publishing relevant posts to engage website visitors. Ecwid essentially operates as a widget that you can integrate with your existing blogs or website transforming it into a fully functional eCommerce store.
Conclusion
That’s it for our Ecwid vs Shopify comparison where we attempted to clear user concerns over whether Shopify is good for business or is Ecwid legit?
Ultimately, we strongly recommend using Shopify if you don’t mind building your online business site from scratch.
Ecwid is also a user-friendly product that enables you to create and effectively manage functional online stores. However, it simply does not offer the same comprehensive service as Shopify.