Ecwid is a light-weight, versatile, and intuitive ecommerce extension that makes it simple to handle stock throughout a number of gross sales channels in a single place. Stacked up in opposition to its opponents, it affords a novel strategy to promoting merchandise on-line. And with almost 1 million clients, there’s little doubt it’s a well-liked selection.

However is it the only option for you? Maintain studying to see the way it compares to greater names like Shopify and BigCommerce, what it’s good at, and the place it falls flat.

Ecwid In comparison with the Finest Ecommerce Platforms

Ecwid is certainly one of our favourite ecommerce options, however we solely suggest it for particular conditions. Try an outline of our prime picks beneath or learn our full finest ecommerce platforms information to be taught extra.

If you wish to create a WordPress web site with a web based retailer, Bluehost’s WooCommerce internet hosting is the best way to go. All the pieces is pre-installed for you, so it’s able to exit of the field. Attempt it danger free for 30 days.

Shopify is the most effective place to start out should you’re critical about your on-line retailer, with all the things it is advisable construct a web site, promote it, settle for funds, and promote on a number of channels. Join as we speak to get three days free and construct your complete web site earlier than paying a penny.

Wix isn’t particularly for ecommerce, nevertheless it’s a beginner-friendly web site platform you need to use to construct any sort of web site, together with a web based retailer. Begin your seven-day free trial as we speak.

We suggest Squarespace for portfolios or shops that lean closely on product imagery due to its many interesting templates for showcasing your images and movies. Attempt Squarespace and get 14 days free.

If you have already got a web site, Ecwid is the most effective light-weight resolution for including ecommerce performance, no matter what platform your web site lives on. In case you don’t have a web site, we suggest going with certainly one of our favourite ecommerce options above.

Ecwid: The Good and the Dangerous

To kick our evaluation off, we’ll begin with an in-depth take a look at what Ecwid has going for it. Then, we’ll discuss the place it could actually enhance and discover the totally different plans accessible that will help you resolve which one’s best for you.

What Ecwid Is Good At

Free-forever plan: When you’ve got an present web site however wish to attempt ecommerce with out a main funding of time or cash, Ecwid’s free plan helps you to create a glossy storefront in minutes. You’ll be able to showcase as much as 5 merchandise to start out, then develop from there by shifting onto a paid plan.

Ecwid performs good with nearly any web site platform, so you’ll be able to embed your retailer seamlessly onto your present WordPress, Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace web site, no coding required. Or, you’ll be able to copy-paste code from the Ecwid dashboard onto some other CMS or web site platform and lift your storefront with just some clicks.

Whereas the free plan received’t unleash Ecwid’s full energy with subscriptions, providers, wholesale pricing, or automated tax calculations, you get user-friendly instruments to add merchandise, interact clients, and convert guests to clients. It’s a light-weight, frictionless manner so that you can promote on-line and get a really feel for the way simple ecommerce could be.

Inexpensive plans: If you wish to promote on-line with out spending a fortune, Ecwid beats the pants off conventional ecommerce web site builders like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace by way of value. In contrast to the competitors, Ecwid truly helps you to open an actual, working retailer at no cost. You’ll be able to add merchandise, customise the design, and even ring up gross sales with out ever needing to improve.

Once you do step as much as a paid plan, Ecwid remains to be a steal. Their starter tier ($14 monthly) is lower than half the worth of comparable plans from Shopify and BigCommerce, and it contains all the things it is advisable construct and increase your on-line storefront.

As your small business grows, Ecwid’s pricing stays aggressive. Even their high-octane Enterprise plan is just $82.50 monthly. Evaluate that to the $300 monthly price ticket for Shopify and BigCommerce’s highest-end plans.

Omnichannel promoting: With Ecwid, your merchandise can reside in every single place your clients are on-line—in your web site, on social media platforms, by way of on-line marketplaces, and even in particular person. Ecwid makes it easy to arrange a centralized catalogue of products one time, then showcase and promote them throughout mutliple platforms.

Image this. You spend a number of hours including your product specs, photos, and pricing into Ecwid. Then, with a number of clicks of your mouse, your storefront is embedded in your web site. However why cease there? You’ll be able to allow the free integrations for Instagram, Fb, TikTok, WhatsApp, YouTube, eBay, and Amazon Market, with each buy synced together with your Ecwid dashboard.

Digital merchandise and subscriptions: Ecwid helps you to promote bodily items, digital downloads, subscriptions, and providers, letting you create a diversified enterprise mannequin. Think about clients shopping for your handmade make-up, downloading a category with recommendations on easy methods to apply it, after which be a part of a paid membership the place they obtain a field of equipment and refills each month. Ecwid makes this all doable for as little as $14 monthly.

You’ll be able to promote digital items as much as 25 GB in measurement, ample allotment for promoting ebooks, video programs, graphic design belongings, or audio recordsdata. Ecwid additionally helps subscriptions for recurring providers or installment plans for high-ticket objects. With Ecwid as your ecommerce engine, you’ve the liberty to promote what you need, the way you need.

Dropship and wholesale-ready: If you wish to dropship merchandise from different suppliers or provide wholesale pricing to bulk consumers, Ecwid has you coated. Their paid plans present seamless integration with prime dropshipping providers plus highly effective choices for managing wholesale relationships. You’ll be able to join your retailer to Printful, Spocket, Printify and extra to automate product importing, stock syncing, and transport of orders. You’ll be able to even run a number of dropshipping companies from one Ecwid account, streamlining administration of deserted cart emails, taxes, transport, and funds.

Ecwid additionally affords a user-friendly approach to configure particular pricing for quantity consumers. Arrange a devoted wholesale catalog with password safety in your web site or use buyer teams that robotically obtain bulk reductions when logged in. There are additionally choices to create coupons for wholesale buyers solely or allow volume-based value reductions for sure merchandise.

No fee charges: With Ecwid, you retain extra of the income from each sale. Different ecommerce platforms cost you transaction charges or commissions on prime of what you already pay your cost processor. Shopify penalizes you for utilizing third-party cost gateways by charging an additional 0.5% to 2% payment per sale. Squarespace takes a flat 3% of each transaction on their introductory ecommerce plan. And, whereas Gumroad has no month-to-month charges, they hold a whopping 10% of all of your income.

With Ecwid, you pay a low month-to-month price and hold 100% of every transaction (apart out of your cost processor’s customary price). Think about making $10,000 in gross sales this month. On Shopify’s Fundamental plan, you’d pay at the least $50 in extra charges should you didn’t use their cost processor. Squarespace would take $300 proper off the highest. However with Ecwid, that $10,000 is all yours besides the everyday cost processing prices. For small and midsize companies, a number of share factors in further transaction charges every month can actually add up. Ecwid means that you can hold extra of your hard-earned cash and make investments it again into your small business.

100+ cost choices: With over 100 built-in cost gateways, Ecwid affords a wide selection of choices to just accept funds from clients, from Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal to bank cards, debit playing cards, cryptocurrency, and past. Let clients with out a bank card nonetheless pay in installments by way of Klarna or let your worldwide clients use Afterpay or PayU. Irrespective of the place your consumers are or how they prefer to pay, Ecwid has you coated.

Ecwid even gives an in-house cost processor referred to as Lightspeed with charges as little as 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction for U.S. and Canadian sellers. However should you favor Stripe, Sq., or some other gateway, you’re free to make use of them. Ecwid performs good with all cost choices and doesn’t penalize you with extra charges. With such a variety of cost strategies supported, Ecwid makes it simple to provide clients loads of choices for a quicker, frictionless checkout expertise.

Automated tax calculations: For sellers in 16 nations, Ecwid automates gross sales tax calculations so you’ll be able to keep compliant with out complications. Their one-click tax integration helps customers in the US., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, and the UK. Think about how a lot time you’ll save not having to set tax charges, file returns, and hold guidelines up to date for various areas manually.

After all, you’ll be able to nonetheless configure customized tax zones and charges for specialised product sorts. Ecwid gives the automation to deal with customary taxes but in addition the flexibleness to account for exemptions or particular conditions as wanted for your small business.

International gross sales made simple: With Ecwid, you’ll be able to showcase your merchandise to worldwide audiences and supply an incredible shopping for expertise for purchasers anyplace on the earth. Their platform makes it simple to promote globally by supporting 53 languages, a number of currencies, and the aforementioned automated tax compliance for a number of nations.

Ecwid might not totally translate your product listings or web site content material into totally different languages, however the platform will robotically translate all the things it could actually. It’s also possible to add customized translations to deal with what Ecwid misses. Nevertheless, it’s necessary to remember the fact that displaying your costs in a number of currencies requires a premium add-on that prices between $4.49 monthly.

Constructed-in stock monitoring: Stock administration could be tedious and time-consuming, however Ecwid’s built-in inventory monitoring affords a user-friendly resolution. You’re capable of effortlessly replace product portions, obtain notifications when inventory runs low, and conceal or show out-of-stock objects with the press of a button.

Say you promote t-shirts in sizes small via extra-large. As clients buy varied sizes, Ecwid will robotically deduct every merchandise out of your complete inventory, saving you from counting sizes and updating totals manually. In case your provide of enormous shirts begins to dwindle, Ecwid can ship you an automatic alert so you recognize to reorder earlier than utterly promoting out.

There’s additionally a built-in barcode scanner within the cell app that you need to use to replace stock ranges, discover particular merchandise or orders, and even add new objects to your on-line retailer. With Ecwid serving to you deal with the administration of your product inventory, you’re free to concentrate on attracting new clients and bettering your product choice.

Delivery companions: Delivery merchandise to clients in a well timed, cost-effective method is essential for any on-line retailer. That’s why Ecwid has partnered with over 20 main carriers to offer real-time transport estimates and label printing straight inside their platform. You’ll be able to even stand up to 50% off retail USPS costs by utilizing Ecwid.

When a buyer locations an order, Ecwid will immediately calculate the precise transport value utilizing the recipient’s deal with and both the burden or dimensions of every merchandise of their cart. The client can then select between supply choices like USPS Precedence Mail, UPS Floor, or FedEx SmartPost at checkout. As the shop proprietor, you’ve full management over which carriers are provided through which areas.

As soon as the client completes their buy, you’ll obtain a transport label with the required particulars  For prime-volume shops, Ecwid additionally integrates with success providers to deal with logistics so you’ll be able to concentrate on rising your small business.

Customized cell app: Designing and growing your individual customized app on your internet retailer could be time-consuming and costly. Fortunately, Ecwid affords a completely branded cell app on each Android and iOS for showcasing your merchandise. The most effective half? You’ll obtain it at no cost should you select an Ecwid Limitless annual plan.

For the reason that app is personalized to match your retailer’s design and branding, your clients get a cohesive expertise. And any updates you make to your product catalog, photos, or stock inside Ecwid will robotically sync to the app in actual time. The one requirement is that you’ve got a developer account with Google Play and the App Retailer to distribute the app. Ecwid will then create the app, checklist it below your developer account, and deal with all updates and upkeep. The top result’s a completely useful cell storefront at no extra value to you.

For customers who don’t want the Limitless plan or are paying for it month-to-month, Ecwid’s branded cell app can be accessible as a one-time add-on of $590 to any paid plan.

Customization on increased plan tiers: Ecwid’s crew of 20 consultants can construct customized integrations, automate processes, enhance the checkout expertise, arrange tailor-made e mail campaigns, create customized reviews and analytics, design skilled invoices, and extra for you on choose annual plans.With Ecwid dealing with the technical particulars, you’re free to concentrate on methods to showcase your model and interact buyers.

Ecwid Enterprise plans embrace two free customization hours to get began, whereas Ecwid Limitless plans embrace 12 hours to construct options tailor-made on your wants. Merely describe what it is advisable Ecwid’s crew, from bettering the checkout expertise to organising focused reductions or the rest, and Ecwid will deal with it. Extra customization hours can be found for $100 every when it is advisable transcend the free hours offered in your Ecwid plan. By talking with them about your imaginative and prescient, they’ll design an ecommerce resolution to assist take your small business to the following stage.

What Ecwid Is Missing

All-in-one retailer builder: Ecwid’s drag-and-drop web site builder helps you to create a easy one-page retailer rapidly, nevertheless it lacks the ability and capabilities of a full web site builder. Whereas the easy-to-use interface and curated fonts and pictures enable you design an attention-grabbing web site in minutes, the web site builder is simply too fundamental to function your solely on-line presence. There’s no running a blog performance, restricted customization, sparse styling choices, and no native advertising and marketing or search engine optimization instruments.

This serves as a simple approach to rapidly launch a starter retailer, however you’ll quickly outgrow its restricted capabilities. To construct an impactful, conversion-optimized web site, you’ll want a extra sturdy web site builder with larger design freedom and built-in advertising and marketing options. Ecwid is way more highly effective as a approach to arrange ecommerce performance on one other web site constructing platform than it’s when utilizing its personal web site builder to create your complete ecommerce web site from scratch.

Key options included: Many customary ecommerce options are solely accessible on Ecwid’s higher-priced plans or via third-party apps it’s a must to pay to get entry to. Ecwid’s free plan lacks vital options like transport price calculations, order monitoring, and the flexibility to promote on social media platforms.

Even on the entry-level Enterprise plan, performance like deserted cart restoration, product filtering, and subscriptions are unavailable except you improve to Ecwid’s Marketing strategy. On prime of that, lots of the apps that present key ecommerce functionalities should not free. Checkout progress bars, a number of forex choices, and cart abandonment popups require separate month-to-month charges to make use of.

So, whereas Ecwid touts itself as a simple, light-weight ecommerce resolution, including the options and performance it is advisable run a full-fledged on-line retailer can find yourself costing you a bit extra than simply your month-to-month plan price.

search engine optimization freedom: You received’t have complete management over particulars that considerably impression your search visibility and advertising and marketing efforts in Ecwid. For instance, you’ll be able to’t customise your product URLs or picture alt tags. They’re generated robotically. You can also’t edit or take away structured knowledge like pricing and availability that’s displayed in search outcomes.

Whereas this “set it and neglect it” strategy is definitely low-maintenance for web site homeowners, it might not yield the most effective ecommerce search engine optimization outcomes. The excellent news is you’ll be able to nonetheless optimize titles and descriptions to draw and interact your clients. For some, the simplicity and pace to stand up and working outweighs the downsides. For others involved with having extra management over their search engine optimization settings and on-line presence, the dearth of flexibility might be a dealbreaker.

Native integrations: Ecwid’s integrations are at present restricted to just some hundred choices. Whereas that appears like so much, it leaves out many fashionable enterprise instruments.

For e mail advertising and marketing, you’re caught selecting between Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and a handful of lesser-known platforms. The choices for accounting software program are QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Xero. And Ecwid solely affords native integrations with extra area of interest CRMs like Teamleader, Capsule, and Zoho. You’re in a position to connect with another fashionable platforms, like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Fixed Contact, by way of Zapier however which may imply a less-reliable sync than a local integration.

The excellent news is that Ecwid gives an API to construct customized apps, so that you might be able to create tailor-made integrations to suit your particular tech stack. Nevertheless, that requires developer sources and time that not all enterprise homeowners have available.

Ecwid Merchandise and Pricing

Ecwid affords 4 totally different plans starting from free to limitless. The pricing construction general is predicated on the variety of merchandise you’ve, the forms of items you wish to promote, and the channels you wish to promote on.

These plans are:

• Free: for as much as 5 bodily merchandise offered via a web based retailer
• Enterprise: for as much as 100 digital or bodily merchandise via your web site or social channels
• Enterprise: for as much as 2,500 merchandise via any channel, together with subscriptions
• Limitless: for limitless merchandise, precedence help, help for promoting in particular person, and a free cell app

Beneath, we’ll dig deeper into the options and capabilities of every plan, together with the nuances between them and who ought to use which one.

Free Plan

As a enterprise proprietor, you want options that enhance your productiveness with out hurting your backside line. Ecwid’s free ecommerce plan offers you a simple approach to showcase and promote merchandise on-line with no upfront prices or charges.

Their light-weight toolkit gives sufficient performance to launch a shocking on-line retailer in minutes. You’ll have entry to Ecwid’s intuitive interface, common updates, and responsive design that shows fantastically throughout gadgets. Promote your retailer on social media or embed it straight onto your present web site for a unified expertise.

Whether or not you promote handcrafted items on the facet or run a fledgling store that’s primed to develop, Ecwid’s free plan affords plug-and-play ecommerce. You’ll be able to create a web based retailer showcasing as much as 5 merchandise in a flash. There’s no must navigate sophisticated options or splashy customizations. Ecwid offers you a simple setup so you can begin making gross sales ASAP.

The Enterprise Plan

Ecwid’s Enterprise plan is an ecommerce resolution for small companies seeking to increase their on-line shops. It builds upon the Free plan by providing extra options for managing extra merchandise, advertising and marketing your model, streamlining operations, and promoting throughout a number of channels.

With the Enterprise plan, your small business can make the most of extra instruments to spice up gross sales and enhance the client expertise. You’ll have all the things from the Free plan, however you’ll additionally achieve entry to coupons and reductions, present playing cards, the flexibility to promote straight on Instagram and Fb, fundamental stock administration, and automatic tax calculations to simplify the checkout course of.

Ecwid’s Enterprise plan is designed for established small companies seeking to promote extra merchandise via an easy-to-use ecommerce resolution. With a mixture of important and superior options, companies can construct a focused, interesting on-line purchasing expertise for his or her clients.

The Enterprise Plan

With this plan, you’ll be able to showcase as much as 2,500 merchandise. You’ll have all the things from the Enterprise plan, plus the flexibility to ask workers members to assist run your rising retailer. Ecwid makes it seamless to sync your retailer with main marketplaces like Amazon and eBay on this plan, too, increasing your attain.

A bigger product catalog means extra decisions and higher experiences on your clients. Supply product variations with totally different colours, sizes, or supplies. For these shops that additionally provide an in-person purchasing expertise, Ecwid’s cell POS system helps you to settle for funds anyplace that keep synced together with your on-line retailer. And also you received’t let deserted carts slip via the cracks anymore, both, as Ecwid’s automated e mail advertising and marketing helps you re-engage clients that left earlier than buying and shut extra gross sales.

For corporations prioritizing the client expertise, Ecwid affords scheduled order pickup, wholesale pricing teams, and dimensional transport charges to maintain buyers completely happy. You’ll be able to even arrange recurring subscriptions and faucet into two free hours of Ecwid-built customizations, supplying you with the liberty to tailor Ecwid’s platform to suit your model.

Limitless

With Limitless, you’ll by no means run out of room on your product variations or run into some other limitations. Record 10 merchandise or 10,000. Give entry to your entire crew so everybody will help interact clients and drive gross sales. The plan even features a customized cell app at no cost, so your retailer is at all times open for enterprise in your clients’ pockets.

Join your retailer with fashionable POS techniques for a seamless omnichannel expertise, then use your 12 free customization hours to tailor Ecwid to your model wants. The precedence help you get solely on Limitless means Ecwid’s consultants are at all times readily available to information you to ecommerce success.

Limitless offers you the liberty and energy to construct your finest on-line retailer but. Showcase your full vary of merchandise, interact extra clients, and take your small business into the long run. The probabilities are almost countless.

Evaluating the Finest Ecommerce Platforms

There’s definitely a time and place for Ecwid. If you have already got a web site and don’t to mess with the effort of shifting it someplace it else or if you wish to hold your retailer and firm web site separate, Ecwid is a implausible path to spinning up an ecommerce operation.

Whereas it’s certainly one of our prime picks, it’s not proper for everybody. If you wish to construct a brand new, sturdy on-line retailer from scratch, you could wish to take a look at our different favourite ecommerce options:

1. Bluehost – Finest for automated WooCommerce retailer setup
2. Shopify – Finest all-in-one ecommerce platform
3. Wix – Finest ecommerce platform for newcomers
4. Squarespace – Finest portfolio-based ecommerce builder
5. BigCommerce – Finest for multichannel gross sales
6. Shift4shop – Finest ecommerce platform for builders
7. Ecwid – Finest free purchasing cart extension
8. WooCommerce – Finest ecommerce plugin for WordPress
9. Straightforward Digital Downloads – Finest WordPress plugin for digital merchandise
10. Volusion – Finest ecommerce platform for big shops
11. Magento – Finest enterprise commerce platform

See our full checklist of the most effective ecommerce platforms to be taught extra about our analysis course of, what to search for when selecting one, and in-depth evaluation of every.