Ecwid vs WooCommerce are both popular eCommerce solutions that allow businesses to sell products online. However, each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, making it difficult to predict which one will win.
In this article, LitExtension will walk you through an extensive comparison between Ecwid and WooCommerce to help you decide which platform is best for growing your online business. Let's dive in!
Ecwid vs WooCommerce: At a Glance
WooCommerce is a robust, customizable eCommerce plugin for WordPress designed for businesses that require extensive control and scalability. Ecwid is a user-friendly, affordable SaaS platform ideal for beginners and small businesses looking for a quick and easy setup for selling online.
But how exactly do these two differ, and which one is better? Here are all the factors I chose to analyze in this article:
- Pricing
- Ease of use
- Design and customization
- Extensions (WooCommerce) and apps (Ecwid)
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Ecommerce features
- Integrations
- Support
Just a reminder: When discussing Ecwid, many people describe it as an eCommerce widget that can be incorporated into different website builders like WordPress, Wix, and social media platforms. However, in this article, I will mention Ecwid by Lightspeed eCom (E-Series), the updated version of Ecwid following its acquisition by Lightspeed.
Ecwid and WooCommerce Updates in 2024
There have been several notable updates and trends worth considering when comparing the two platforms.
Ecwid (Now Lightspeed eCom)
- Focuses on multi-channel selling with improved integrations with popular marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
- Adds customer reviews on product pages
- Improves the mobile experience for merchants and shoppers, recognizing the growing importance of mobile commerce.
- Incorporates AI-powered features into its platform for personalized product recommendations and automated marketing tasks.
WooCommerce
- Released WooCommerce version 9.0.
- Continuously works on improving the performance and speed of its platform by focusing on optimizing core functionalities and codebase.
- Refines the block editor experience, making it easier for users to create and customize their store pages with more flexibility and control.
- Focuses on Headless Commerce to allow the user to decouple the front and backend of their stores for greater flexibility and customization.
While there haven't been any groundbreaking, revolutionary changes to either Ecwid or WooCommerce in 2024 so far, both have been evolving to meet the changing needs of online businesses.
Now, let's see how these two compare with each other!
Pricing
Quick verdict: Ecwid is the winner for overall value for money, especially for beginners and small businesses.
WooCommerce is also good, but it's more for larger businesses with specific needs and a willingness to invest in customization and development for long-term growth.
Ecwid Pricing
To meet everyone's demand, Ecwid offers a range of plans that cost around $0 – $105/month. Here's the detailed plan:
- Free Plan: $0/month, up to 10 products
- Venture Plan: $21/month billed annually ($25/month billed monthly), up to 100 products
- Business Plan: $39/month billed annually ($45/month billed monthly), up to 2,500 products
- Unlimited Plan: $89/month billed annually ($105/month billed monthly), unlimited products
To me, Ecwid's pricing is quite reasonable compared to other hosted solutions like Shopify ($5-$399/month) or Wix ($17-$159/month). What's even more, Ecwid charges no transaction fee for each online purchase.
WooCommerce Pricing
Being an open-source platform, WooCommerce has a free initial setup. However, WooCommerce fees will apply to particular functions and features that are added to the website. You must determine which features are compatible with your online store because every business has different needs.
The basic maintenance costs will include:
- Hosting ($10-$40/month)
- A domain name (about $15 annually)
- SSL certificate (around $60/year)
- WooCommerce storefront themes ($0-$79/month)
- WooCommerce plugins (varies)
- Developer fees ($10-$100/hour)
- Transaction fees (around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction)
This charge could increase even further if you are working on a large site. For advice on how to acquire WooCommerce for the best price, refer to our WooCommerce Pricing.
As you see, while WooCommerce is free to start, its hidden costs for hosting, themes, and essential plugins quickly add up. If only value for money is prioritized, I can say that Ecwid offers better value due to its straightforward pricing and ease of use for most small businesses and beginners. Ecwid's clear, tiered pricing and no transaction fees make it more transparent and predictable. Its free plan also offers a good starting point.
Ecommerce Features
In most cases, you might have to manage your online store on your own. Therefore, a platform that can provide full eCommerce features may be a good choice. Let’s check out the comparison of eCommerce features between Ecwid vs WooCommerce!
Quick verdict: WooCommerce takes the crown in terms of eCommerce features.
Although Ecwid has more advantages in Inventory Management, WooCommerce is a popular platform with strong payment gateways and blogging features.
Inventory Management
Ecwid provides customers with all the tools they need to manage their sales and monitor their inventory wherever they are (for iOS and Android). After linking your online store with social media platforms or marketplaces, your online sales will immediately sync across all channels when using Ecwid.
Ecwid provides solid product management capabilities but has some limitations, like product limits on lower plans. With Ecwid, I can only handle basic product variations, but it might not be as flexible as WooCommerce for complex configurations.
With the help of the WooCommerce inventory management tool, you can effortlessly manage your stock and track inventory. Additionally, you can perform simple operations, such as adjusting any product component or creating inventory reports.
What I love most about WooCommerce is that this platform easily handles complex product variations (e.g., size, color, and material). It can also support selling digital products and services.
However, third parties may need assistance with WooCommerce inventory management to maximize your store's operation.
However, remember that Ecwid's focus on multi-channel selling and enhanced mobile experience might make it a more appealing option for businesses prioritizing those aspects. Furthermore, Ecwid's recent update in 2024, which added customer reviews on product pages, enhances the shopping experience and provides valuable social proof for potential buyers.
Payment Options
Ecwid provides a good selection of payment gateways, including popular options like Stripe, PayPal, Square, etc.
You can also connect 86 other payment gateways to Ecwid, including well-known ones like Sagepay, Stripe, 2Checkout, Authorize.Net, and many more. The range of options available will depend on where you are because some of these payment channels are country-specific.
Regarding WooCommerce payment gateways, this platform is a worthy adversary. It offers more than 100 additional payment processors created specifically for WooCommerce stores.
Downloading these payment plugins is free, and no setup or ongoing costs are required. Credit or debit card payments can be made securely as well. Allowing customers to pay you immediately without leaving your store may enhance your conversion rate.
Shipping & Fulfillment
Both platforms offer a variety of shipping and fulfillment options. Ecwid simplifies the fulfillment process by integrating with popular shipping providers, enabling automatic rate calculation and label printing.
WooCommerce, on the other hand, offers integrations with major carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS through its plugin library. These allow for real-time rate calculations, automated label generation, and streamlined order tracking. Additionally, plugins such as ShipStation and WooCommerce Shipping provide advanced features, including discounted shipping rates, bulk label printing, and seamless integration with fulfillment services.
Blogging
Let's talk about Ecwid blogging first. If your store is on the Free plan, you can still build a mini blog using your categories. All you have to do is add your products to one of the categories and use the description from the remaining category for your blog.
Meanwhile, WooCommerce creates a large playground for users who want to use the Blogging Feature. As a WordPress plugin, it inherits WordPress's exceptional blogging tools, making it powerful for creating and managing blogs.
In other terms, you can quickly establish a blog for WooCommerce by selecting the Posts category from the WordPress Admin dashboard and uploading a new post.
Ease of Use
Quick verdict: Ecwid is the winner when comparing ease of use between Ecwid vs WooCommerce.
Its intuitive interface, guided setup process, and streamlined functionality make it significantly easier to use than WooCommerce, especially for beginners. With WooCommerce, you have to build an entire site and add the WooCommerce plugin, which requires a lot more work.
Ecwid Ease of Use
Ecwid is simple to use thanks to its comprehensive feature set and user-friendly design. It takes relatively little time for me to get a store up and running with its neatly organized backend and extensive knowledge library.
So, I can simply follow the to-do list from Ecwid and my Ecwid's store can be ready to start selling in just a few clicks.
WooCommerce Ease of Use
As an open-source platform, WooCommerce requires users to install, handle updates, maintain backups, and optimize everything themselves. However, the WordPress Page Builder can help users navigate WooCommerce more easily, and essential functions like processing orders and adding products are straightforward.
Since I already have my own WordPress site, I can simply install the WooCommerce plugin. However, if you don't have a WordPress site, setting up WooCommerce involves building a complete website first, which is more involved than using Ecwid.
Design & Customization
Quick verdict: In this aspect of design and customization, WooCommerce is unquestionably the better choice.
WooCommerce offers thousands of paid and free themes. Users can also choose themes created by third-party developers. Meanwhile, Ecwid is limited to only 1 starter theme and minimal customizing functions.
Ecwid Design & Customization
Since Ecwid prioritizes ease of use and quick setup, its design and customization ability are simple for beginners.
With Ecwid's Instant Site feature, you can create a one-page website with your store built right in. This feature is perfect for beginners or anyone who wants a simple website with 40+ ready templates. If you know some coding, you can use CSS to customize your Ecwid store's look even more.
While this makes it incredibly user-friendly, it does come with some limitations in terms of extensive customization.
If you want a more customized store design, you must seek third-party apps at Ecwid's App Market to buy store design functions such as image zoom, custom background music, and more.
So, to give you a recommendation, Ecwid is only fine if you need simple pre-built customization. If you want to customize every little thing, I would tell you to go for WooCommerce.
Further reading: Wix is also a super easy-to-use platform with a board of stunning storefront design templates. If you're interested, here is our Wix vs WooCommerce comparison.
WooCommerce Design & Customization
So, WooCommerce offers outstanding design flexibility, allowing you to create a truly unique online store. Being open-source, it grants access to every aspect of your shop's design, from layout and typography to functionality and user experience. This means you can tailor your product pages to stand out and provide a distinctive shopping experience for your customers.
With over 80 themes in the WooCommerce Theme Store and thousands more in marketplaces like ThemeForest, you have a vast library of options. These themes cater to various industries, ensuring you'll find one that aligns with your brand and target audience.
If you're a developer or have coding skills, that's great; WooCommerce offers complete control. You can modify any aspect of your store to meet your precise requirements, ensuring a truly custom online experience.
Want to migrate Ecwid to WooCommerce?
If you intend to migrate from Ecwid to WooCommerce, LitExtension offers a great migration service that helps you transfer your data from the current eCommerce platform to a new one accurately, painlessly, and with utmost security.
Apps & Plugins
Quick verdict: WooCommerce has many advantages over Ecwid in terms of apps and plugins.
While both platforms offer a range of useful apps and plugins, WooCommerce boasts a significantly larger and more diverse selection.
Ecwid Apps
Here's the thing about Ecwid's App Market: it's definitely growing, but it's not quite as massive as WooCommerce's plugin library just yet. However, don't let that discourage you! From my experience, you can absolutely find some fantastic apps to cover your basic needs and then some.
Seriously, take a peek at Ecwid's App Market – you might be surprised by what you discover! They have a pretty cool selection of web applications to enhance your store. And hey, while you're there, I highly recommend checking out some popular options like Mailchimp for email marketing, Printful for print-on-demand goodies, and ShipStation for streamlining your shipping process. Those are just a few of my personal favorites.
WooCommerce App & Plugins
Let's talk about WooCommerce and its incredible power when it comes to apps and plugins. Now, when you first set up your WooCommerce store, it might feel a little basic, like it's missing some key features.
But don't worry; WooCommerce has many plugins for all your needs.
First, you've got the official WooCommerce Extension Store, packed with over 800 premium plugins specifically designed for eCommerce. These extensions not only improve your store's appearance but can also increase your conversions.
But, there's more! Because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin itself, you also have access to the entire WordPress Plugin Repository, which boasts over 59,000 free plugins. So, whether you need a simple contact form or a complex integration with a third-party service, chances are you'll find a plugin that fits the bill.
As you can see, WooCommerce offers a much more extensive selection of apps and plugins than Ecwid, providing users with more options for customization and control over their online stores.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Quick verdict: When it comes to SEO functionality, WooCommerce truly comes out on top.
Ecwid does not significantly promote SEO, which directly impacts your business's performance. However, SEO is extensively supported by WooCommerce.
Ecwid SEO
Ecwid isn't a strong player in the market because it lacks crucial SEO settings.
Due to the use of AJAX, Ecwid-launched web stores are regarded by search engines as JS scripts, which are not suitable for standard SEO promotions. Thus, Ecwid is not appropriate for SEO development and WooCommerce would be among Ecwid alternatives for SEO.
Further insights: While the platform you choose plays a role in SEO, other factors like high-quality content, backlinks, and user experience are equally important!
WooCommerce SEO
On the contrary, as a WordPress plugin, WooCommerce benefits from the extensive ecosystem of SEO-focused plugins and tools available for WordPress. This means that it integrates seamlessly with popular SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math, which offer comprehensive SEO tools for optimizing your product pages, blog posts, and overall site structure.
Even better, you can easily customize meta titles, descriptions, and Open Graph tags for every page and product on your WooCommerce store. Plus, you can create blog posts and other content, which can be super valuable for SEO.
If you're into advanced and technical SEO stuff, WooCommerce allows you to implement advanced SEO techniques like canonical tags, structured data (schema markup), breadcrumbs, and URL redirects, giving you greater control over your store's SEO performance. How cool is that?
Integrations
We need excellent tools to help us construct a superb eCommerce store on Ecwid vs WooCommerce.
Quick verdict: It's as tie!
In this situation, the competition has returned to equilibrium. Ecwid and WordPress WooCommerce integrate with many other eCommerce platforms, giving them many functions that make users' experiences more comfortable.
Ecwid Integrations
There are currently a lot of Ecwid integrations with well-known services (around 250 available). It also directly integrates with additional sales platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Google Shopping. Using the integration with TikTok, you can even tag products in postings.
Moreover, Ecwid's expansion of TikTok Ads' availability to more countries and its inclusion of sales source tracking in reports demonstrate its commitment to enhancing marketing capabilities.
Moreover, the multichannel application LitCommerce allows you to connect WooCommerce or Ecwid with eBay, Amazon, and other marketplaces.
WooCommerce Integrations
As a WordPress plugin, WooCommerce seamlessly integrates with the vast WordPress ecosystem. Thousands of WordPress plugins can enhance your store's functionality, including marketing, shipping, inventory management, and more.
To add more features, WooCommerce integrates with other eCommerce platforms. For example, you can integrate Shopify's Buy Now button into WooCommerce and showcase your WooCommerce products on eBay. These integrations help you tap into the excellent features of different eCommerce giants like Amazon.
What's more, WooCommerce boasts a powerful API that allows developers to create custom integrations and link your store to external systems. Pretty cool, right?
Support
Before deciding between Ecwid and WooCommerce, support is another important feature to consider.
Quick verdict: Ecwid has a wider range of support options as compared to WooCommerce.
Ecwid assists with each specific plan and fully supports the Unlimited Plan package. WooCommerce offers support to users through available documentation and responds to consumer inquiries on the community forum.
Depending on the plan you're on, Ecwid offers varying levels of customer service. With the free Ecwid plan, you'll have helpful resources such as a knowledge base, FAQs, and community forums at your fingertips. However, direct customer support is not available for users on the free plan.
Ecwid's paid plans start at $25 per month and include email and chat support from the Ecwid team. The higher-tier paid plans also offer phone support. No matter the time, Ecwid's support team is available 24/7 to assist paid plan customers.
Let's talk about WooCommerce support. WooCommerce is an open-source platform, so it does not offer customers live chat or email support.
In return, WooCommerce Docs usually offer assistance. The platform also has a FAQ section to address the most frequently asked questions. Furthermore, the community forum is another source of assistance.
Summarizing Pros & Cons of Ecwid and WooCommerce
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Ecwid vs WooCommerce: Which is Right for Your Business?
Alright, let's get down to the final verdict: Ecwid vs. WooCommerce – which one's the right fit for YOUR business?
Ecwid is a simple solution for startups and small businesses. It's all about simplicity and ease of use. Their “sell anywhere” motto is spot on, as Ecwid makes it super easy to set up shop and start selling across multiple platforms. Plus, their pricing is pretty reasonable, making it a budget-friendly option for those just starting out.
WooCommerce is a powerful solution for growing businesses and big corporations. It's built on WordPress, which is incredibly versatile and packed with features. Plus, you can customize your store thoroughly and personally with access to a massive plugin library.
Here's the bottom line: if you're a small business or startup looking for a simple, affordable, and easy-to-use platform, Ecwid is a great choice. But if you have a larger, more complex online store with room to grow and expand, WooCommerce is the way to go.
Ecwid vs WooCommerce: FAQs
Ecwid is better for beginners and small businesses with limited resources. WooCommerce is better for growing businesses and users with technical expertise that require extensive customization.
The “better” alternative to Ecwid depends on your individual needs and priorities:
- Shopify offers a wider range of features, greater scalability, and a more comprehensive app store than Ecwid.
- Squarespace is a user-friendly platform known for its beautiful templates and ease of use, making it a strong contender for design-focused businesses.
- Wix provides a drag-and-drop interface and a vast app market, offering extensive customization options and flexibility..
No, Ecwid doesn't use WordPress for its core functionality. It's a separate eCommerce platform that can be connected to WordPress using the Ecwid plugin, allowing you to embed your existing Ecwid store into your WordPress website.
To determine if there's something “better” than WooCommerce, consider your specific needs:
- Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform known for its ease of use and comprehensive features. It is ideal for those seeking a fully hosted solution with a less technical setup.
- BigCommerce is another robust, all-in-one platform suitable for larger businesses with complex requirements.
- Magento is a highly customizable platform suitable for enterprise-level businesses with extensive development resources.
Final Words
We sincerely hope that the above extensive comparison of Ecwid vs WooCommerce helps you choose the best eCommerce platform for your needs. Considering these recent developments alongside the broader comparison will empower you to choose the platform that best suits your evolving business needs in 2024 and beyond.
There's no need to worry if you want to switch your website between Ecwid and WooCommerce because LitExtension is here to help. Currently, LitExtension – the #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert is supporting migration services from 200+ carts to Ecwid or WooCommerce.
Please do not hesitate to contact the LitExtension support team if you require any additional help with WooCommerce and Ecwid migration or to join our eCommerce community and LitExtension blog for extra eCommerce advice!
