BigCommerce vs Ecwid
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — BigCommerce is from $29/mo billed annually, Ecwid is free tier available.
- How to start: BigCommerce is from $29/mo billed annually, Ecwid is free tier available.
- Where they differ: only BigCommerce has sso (saml) and only Ecwid has mobile app; both offer public api.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What BigCommerce is
What BigCommerce isBigCommerce is the balanced choice between Shopify's speed and Magento's depth. As a SaaS platform, it is exceptionally flexible, especially for 'Headless Commerce' setups. A major advantage is that it takes zero transaction fees, protecting your profit margins. With strong native B2B features and complex product variation support, it shines where standard e-commerce packages fall short for growing brands.
What Ecwid is
What Ecwid isEcwid adds a store to an existing website, working as a widget rather than replacing your site. It suits a business that already has a site it does not want to rebuild: the catalogue and checkout drop into the existing pages. The limit is that your storefront is only as good as the site hosting it, and deep commerce customisation is not on offer.
Side by side
| BigCommerce | Ecwid | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce | E-commerce |
| How to start | $29/moverified | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | No |
| Visit | BigCommerce ↗ | Ecwid ↗ |
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What BigCommerce is built to do
- Multi-Storefront
- Manage all your different brands or international sites from one backend.
- B2B Edition
- Offer corporate buyers special price lists and bulk purchase options.
- Omnichannel Sync
- Instantly sync your inventory across Amazon, eBay, and Instagram.
- Open SaaS Architecture
- Combines SaaS security with the freedom of an API-based structure.
What Ecwid is built to do
- Embeddable storefront
- Adds catalogue and checkout to an existing site without replacing it.
- Multi-channel selling
- Syncs the same catalogue to marketplaces and social channels.
- Hosted checkout
- Handles payment, tax and shipping calculation in the embedded cart.
Choose BigCommerce if
- Stores that will use an embedded payment provider — those carry zero platform fee
- Growing merchants: the plan upgrades itself as sales pass each cap
- Trying it fully: 15-day trial with no card
Skip BigCommerce if
- You use an open payment provider — Core adds 2% of sales on top of your processor
- You are near a cap: Core auto-upgrades to Growth past $30K trailing-twelve-month sales, Growth to Scale past $100K
- You want to stay on the cheapest plan as you grow; the caps make that impossible
Choose Ecwid if
- Small sellers adding a shop to an existing website for $5/month (Starter, 10 products)
- Shops up to 100 products that want Instagram and Facebook selling: Venture $35/month or $29 yearly
- Businesses that want 0% transaction fees at every tier
Skip Ecwid if
- You have more than 2,500 products: only Unlimited ($149/month) removes the cap
- You need POS or more than 2 staff accounts below the Unlimited tier
- You want a free trial period — the pricing page did not state one
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
BigCommerce: pros & cons
- No Transaction Fees: Does not take extra commissions from your sales, unlike Shopify.
- B2B Ready: Features for wholesale are strong even in its more basic tiers.
- Variant Support: Easily handles complex products with thousands of different options.
- Headless Support: Integrates flawlessly with WordPress or React-based frontends.
- Templates: The number of free themes is lower and they may not look as modern as Shopify's.
- Sales Caps: Automatically pushes you to higher tiers as your annual revenue grows.
- App Ecosystem: Its app store is not as vast or diverse as that of Shopify.
Ecwid: pros & cons
- Adds commerce without rebuilding your site
- Free tier for a few products
- Works with most site builders
- Storefront is constrained by the widget model
- Product limits per plan
- Less control over checkout design
Our verdict on BigCommerce
The smartest choice for brands seeking corporate features without paying extra commissions.
Our verdict on Ecwid
The least disruptive way to add a store. Serious commerce deserves a proper platform.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
BigCommerce
- Core$29/mo billed annually
Core $29/month annual, $39 monthly
- Growth$79/mo billed annually
Growth $79/month annual, $105 monthly
- Scale$299/mo billed annually
Scale $299/month annual, $399 monthly
- Performance$1,499/mo billed annually
Performance from $1,499/month billed annually
Ecwid
- Starter$5/mo
Starter $5/month: 10 products
- Venture$35/mo billed annually
Venture $35/month or $29 yearly: 100 products, Instagram and Facebook selling, live chat support
BigCommerce vs Ecwid: common questions
- Does BigCommerce or Ecwid have a free plan?
- BigCommerce has no free plan listed, while Ecwid has a free tier with limits.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, BigCommerce or Ecwid?
- Ecwid has the cheaper first paid step: Starter at $5/mo, against Core at $29/mo billed annually for BigCommerce. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- What is the difference between BigCommerce and Ecwid?
- On the criteria we check, only BigCommerce has sso (saml) and only Ecwid has mobile app; both offer public api. The table above lists every criterion side by side.