Ecwid vs WooCommerce
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress site into a store; you own the hosting, the theme and every extension, and the plugin ecosystem is enormous. Ecwid by Lightspeed is a hosted cart you embed into any existing site, social profile or marketplace listing, with hosting, security and updates handled for you. WooCommerce gives control and no platform fee at the cost of maintenance; Ecwid gives a store that runs anywhere within the hour at the cost of flexibility.
Ecwid is the pick when
- your site is on Wix, Squarespace or a static builder and needs a cart
- selling the same catalogue on the site, Instagram and marketplaces
- nobody wants to maintain plugins and PHP updates
WooCommerce is the pick when
- you already run WordPress and want full control of theme and checkout
- you need a specific extension only the WooCommerce ecosystem has
- you would rather pay for hosting than a platform subscription
Written by hand from both vendors’ own documentation, checked 2026-09-15. Sources: WooCommerce, Ecwid. Prices below come from the pricing we track. How we score tools.
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.
What WooCommerce is
What WooCommerce isWooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a store, with the source open and the data on your own hosting. Owning the code and the database is the argument: no platform fee and no limit on how the checkout behaves. The bill arrives as hosting, plugins and maintenance, and performance is your responsibility rather than the vendor's.
Side by side
| Ecwid | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-commerce | E-commerce |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | Yes |
| SSO (SAML) | No | No |
| Visit | Ecwid ↗ | WooCommerce ↗ |
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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.
What WooCommerce is built to do
- WordPress-native store
- Adds catalogue and checkout to an existing WordPress site.
- Open-source core
- Allows direct modification of store behaviour and templates.
- Extension ecosystem
- Covers payments, shipping and subscriptions through plugins.
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
Choose WooCommerce if
- WordPress site owners who want a free, open-source store with no platform fee or revenue share
- Merchants who want to choose any payment gateway without penalties
- Stores that prefer paying for hosting and extensions over a monthly SaaS tier
Skip WooCommerce if
- You have no hosting: the vendor estimates $25–$350/month for most stores
- You need many premium extensions — each runs $29–$299 a year
- You want zero maintenance; updates, backups and security are on you
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
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
WooCommerce: pros & cons
- No platform fee on sales
- Full control over data and hosting
- Enormous plugin and theme ecosystem
- You own updates, security and performance
- Extensions add up in cost
- Scaling requires real hosting work
Our verdict on Ecwid
The least disruptive way to add a store. Serious commerce deserves a proper platform.
Our verdict on WooCommerce
The right answer when control matters. Total cost of ownership is higher than the licence suggests.
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.
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
WooCommerce
No published plan prices verified. WooCommerce either quotes on request or renders its prices in a way we could not read from the pricing page.
Ecwid vs WooCommerce: common questions
- Does Ecwid or WooCommerce have a free plan?
- Both do: Ecwid has a free tier with limits, and WooCommerce has a free tier with limits.
- What is the difference between Ecwid and WooCommerce?
- On the criteria we check, only WooCommerce has open source / self-hostable; both offer public api and mobile app. The table above lists every criterion side by side.