# Ecwid Alternatives (2026) Source: https://lotsstore.app/blog/ecwid-alternatives Published: 2026-10-30T00:30:29.720614+00:00 If you want a store of your own rather than a cart that sits on another site, the closest Ecwid alternatives are LotsStore, Shopify, Square Online, Big Cartel, Squarespace and WooCommerce. LotsStore is $12 a month with unlimited products, every feature on every plan and 0% of your sales. Every price below was checked on 29 October 2026 on each company's own pages. Ecwid itself also takes 0% of your sales and starts at $5 a month for up to 10 products, so the reasons to compare are different ones: a product limit that sets which plan you need, features that arrive plan by plan, or wanting the whole store, not just a cart, in one place. This page shows which alternative fits which need. ## Ecwid alternatives at a glance Checked on 29 October 2026. US dollars, before tax. Monthly price first, then the monthly price when billed yearly. | | Starts at | Cut of your sales | Products | Good fit if you want | |---|---|---|---|---| | **LotsStore** | Starter $12 ($10 billed yearly), 1 store | 0% | Unlimited on every plan | A full store for a shop or product brand, every feature on every plan | | **Ecwid** (for reference) | Starter $5; Venture $35 ($29); Business $65 ($49); Unlimited $149 ($119) | 0% | 10, 100, 2,500 or unlimited by plan | A store added to a website you already have | | **Shopify** | Basic $39 ($29) | 0% with Shopify Payments; 2% on Basic with another provider | Not stated on the pricing page | A large app store and shipping options | | **Square Online** | Square Free $0 a month per location | Card processing from 3.3% + 30¢ online on Square Free | Not stated on the pricing page | One system for in-person and online sales | | **Big Cartel** | Gold free; Platinum $15; Diamond $30 | "We never take a cut" | Gold is 5 product listings | Artists and makers, with shipping labels | | **Squarespace** | Basic $25 ($19) | 2% on Basic, none from Core ($39, $29) | Not stated on the pricing page | A design-led website with a store | | **WooCommerce** | Free plugin, hosting separate | No revenue share | No cap stated | A store on a WordPress site you run yourself | ## 1. LotsStore: the whole store, one price per store LotsStore is built for shops and small product brands taking their business online, including people who sell through Instagram or WhatsApp today. You pay per store, and every store gets everything. **Plans.** Starter is $12 a month ($120 a year) for 1 store, Pro is $29 ($290) for 3 stores and Business is $79 ($790) for 10 stores (pricing page and pricing-facts, checked on 29 October 2026). You can also skip plans and pay as you go at $15 per store a month from credits. New accounts get free credits when they sign up, no card, enough to run one store for about a month. **No product caps.** Products, variants, orders, customers and teammates are unlimited on every plan, so the $12 store holds the same catalog as the $79 plan. A growing range never pushes you up a tier. **Every feature on every plan.** Plans differ only by how many stores they cover. Every store gets a fast storefront with HTTPS on a free `yourstore.mylots.store` address or your own domain, products with variants, categories and collections, stock per variant with a low-stock view, discount codes, shipping zones and rates, shopper accounts with wishlists and reviews you moderate, and analytics with a visit-to-order funnel. **Money straight to you.** LotsStore takes 0% of your sales and never holds your money. Shoppers pay into your own Stripe account (in the countries Stripe supports) or Razorpay account (businesses registered in India), and your provider charges its own processing fee. You can also take UPI to your own UPI ID and accept orders on WhatsApp. **You stay in control of orders.** You accept each order, then fulfil it, ship with any carrier (with a tracking number and link) and refund from the dashboard. For UPI orders, the owner has 24 hours to accept once the shopper reports paying. You also get a WhatsApp message for every new order. **Tax.** Set your own rates by country, state or ZIP, choose tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive prices, group products by tax category and issue numbered tax invoices. If you take Stripe payments you can switch on Stripe Tax. Stores in India get GST with HSN and SAC codes. **A team from the first plan.** Invite as many teammates as you need, each with a role: owner, admin, manager, staff or viewer. **Nothing deleted if payment lapses.** The storefront stays readable, new orders pause and the dashboard turns read-only until the store is funded again. You can also manage the store from ChatGPT or Claude. LotsStore works with the AI agent you already use: connect it on the [setup page](https://lotsstore.app/mcp). Adding a custom connector with full read and write depends on your ChatGPT plan, and on some plans only admins can add one. For agencies that build stores for clients, Pro covers 3 stores and Business 10 in one account, each with its own products, orders, team and payment account. That is covered in [LotsStore for agencies](https://lotsstore.app/blog/lotscommerce-for-agencies). For a direct side-by-side, read [LotsStore vs Ecwid](https://lotsstore.app/blog/lotscommerce-vs-ecwid). ## 2. Shopify: apps and shipping options Shopify's pricing page lists Basic at $39 a month ($29 billed yearly), Grow at $105 ($79) and Advanced at $399 ($299), with Plus from $2,300 (checked on 29 October 2026). Card rates start at 2.9% + 30¢, and a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic (1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus) applies when you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. Shopify fits if you want to add apps as you grow and use live third-party shipping rates (listed from Advanced). If you want to keep selling from a website you already run, Shopify's Buy Button sales channel embeds buy buttons on an external website or blog and uses Shopify Checkout. Details: [LotsStore vs Shopify](https://lotsstore.app/blog/lotsstore-vs-shopify). ## 3. Square Online: sell online and in person Square's pricing page includes the online store in every Square plan. Square Free is $0 a month per location and charges 3.3% + 30¢ on online card payments; Square Plus is $49 a month per location at 2.9% + 30¢ online, and Square Premium is $149 (checked on 29 October 2026). Square's page also lists pickup and local delivery, shipping label printing and a free 30-day trial on Plus and Premium. Square fits if you also take card payments in a shop, at a market or on a counter and want one system for both. Details: [LotsStore vs Square Online](https://lotsstore.app/blog/lotsstore-vs-square-online). ## 4. Big Cartel: simple and made for makers Big Cartel has a free Gold plan with 5 product listings and no credit card, a Platinum plan at $15 a month (7-day free trial) and Diamond at $30 a month. Its page says "we never take a cut", Platinum and Diamond list shipping label printing with shipping discounts, and every plan lists sales tax autopilot (checked on 29 October 2026). Big Cartel fits artists, musicians and small makers who want something simple and are happy with one shop. Details: [Big Cartel alternatives](https://lotsstore.app/blog/big-cartel-alternatives). ## 5. Squarespace: a website first, a store second Squarespace's website plans are Basic at $25 a month ($19 billed yearly) with a 2% online store transaction fee, and Core at $39 ($29) with no fees on online store transactions (checked on 29 October 2026). Each plan includes a free domain for the first year when you pay annually, and a 14-day free trial is listed. Squarespace fits if the design of the website matters most and the store is a part of it. ## 6. WooCommerce: free software on your own WordPress WooCommerce's pricing page calls it a free, open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress with no platform fees and no revenue share. You choose a host (WooCommerce estimates $25 to $350 a month for most stores) and add extensions at $29 to $299 a year each (checked on 29 October 2026). You also look after updates and security yourself. WooCommerce fits if your site already runs on WordPress and you want full control. Details: [WooCommerce alternatives for agencies](https://lotsstore.app/blog/woocommerce-alternatives-for-agencies). ## What Ecwid does well Ecwid, by Lightspeed, is a strong choice in these cases (Ecwid pricing page, checked on 29 October 2026): - **A $5 start.** Starter is $5 a month for up to 10 products. - **A store on any site.** Add a store to an existing website on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or another platform, or to several sites at once from one account. - **Payment choice.** Over 70 payment providers, including PayPal and Stripe. - **Selling channels.** Instagram and Facebook selling from Venture, marketplaces through third-party apps from Business, and POS syncing with Lightspeed Retail, Square and Clover. - **Automated tax calculations** from Venture. ## Which one should you choose? - **LotsStore:** you sell products and want a full store with no product caps, a team from the first plan, one price per store, and money paid straight into your own account. - **Ecwid:** you want to add a shop to a site you already have, or you need PayPal, marketplaces or POS sync. - **Shopify:** you want to add apps as you grow and use live carrier rates. - **Square Online:** you also sell in person. - **Big Cartel:** you are a maker and want the simplest setup, including a free plan. - **Squarespace:** the website design leads. - **WooCommerce:** you run WordPress and are happy to host and maintain it. If cost is the deciding factor, say so plainly: Ecwid Starter ($5), Big Cartel Gold (free), Square Free ($0 a month plus processing) and WooCommerce (free software, paid hosting) all start lower than LotsStore's $12. Compare them by the products you sell and the features you need. More on this in [ecommerce platforms with no transaction fees](https://lotsstore.app/blog/ecommerce-platforms-with-no-transaction-fees) and [LotsStore pricing explained](https://lotsstore.app/blog/lotscommerce-pricing-explained). ## How to move from Ecwid to LotsStore 1. **Create your store.** Sign up, name your store and pick your country; it opens on a free `yourstore.mylots.store` address. Add your logo, colours, pages and policies. 2. **Export your catalog from Ecwid.** In your Ecwid admin go to Catalog, then Data Import & Export, and click Export Catalog. Ecwid's help center lists this for Venture, Business and Unlimited, and the file is a CSV (checked on 29 October 2026). 3. **Import into LotsStore.** Download the LotsStore template in the store's product import, copy your columns across and upload it. Imports take up to 500 products per file, and rows that fail can be downloaded and fixed. 4. **Connect how you get paid.** Connect your own Stripe or Razorpay account, or turn on UPI and WhatsApp orders. Guides: [connect Stripe](https://lotsstore.app/help/connect-stripe) and [connect Razorpay](https://lotsstore.app/help/connect-razorpay). 5. **Set shipping and test.** Add your shipping zones and rates, place a test order and refund it. 6. **Point your domain.** Connect your own domain; HTTPS is set up for you. Keep the Ecwid store open until the new one is live. You can hand the repetitive parts to your AI agent. For example: > Create a store called Harbor Hat Co. Add the products in this spreadsheet as drafts, with their sizes, colours, prices and stock, sorted into the categories in column C. Then list anything that's missing a photo or a price before I publish. Every change shows up in your dashboard, where you review it and publish. Prices and plans are on the [pricing page](https://lotsstore.app/pricing). ## FAQ ### What is the best alternative to Ecwid? It depends on what you sell and where. LotsStore suits shops and small product brands that want unlimited products and every feature on every plan from $12 a month. Shopify suits shops that need apps and live carrier rates, Square Online suits businesses that also sell in person, and WooCommerce suits sites already on WordPress. ### Does Ecwid charge transaction fees? No. Ecwid's pricing page says it doesn't charge any setup or transaction fees on any of its plans (checked on 29 October 2026). Your payment provider still charges its own fee. LotsStore also takes 0% of your sales. ### How much does Ecwid cost? Starter is $5 a month for up to 10 products. Venture is $35 a month ($29 billed yearly) for up to 100 products, Business $65 ($49) for up to 2,500, and Unlimited $149 ($119) for unlimited products (checked on 29 October 2026). LotsStore is $12 a month for 1 store, $29 for 3 and $79 for 10, with unlimited products. ### Is there a free Ecwid alternative? Big Cartel has a free Gold plan with 5 product listings, Square Free has no monthly fee (you pay processing on each card payment), and WooCommerce is free software, though you pay for hosting (checked on 29 October 2026). LotsStore starts at $12 a month, with free credits when you sign up, no card, enough to run one store for about a month. ### Can I move my products from Ecwid to LotsStore? Yes. Export your catalog from Ecwid as a CSV (Venture and higher), copy it into the LotsStore template and import it, up to 500 products per file. ### Does LotsStore hold my money? No. Shoppers' payments go straight into your own Stripe or Razorpay account, or to you directly for UPI and WhatsApp orders. LotsStore never holds the money and takes 0% of your sales. ## Sources Checked on 29 October 2026: [LotsStore pricing](https://lotsstore.app/pricing), [Ecwid pricing](https://www.ecwid.com/pricing), [Ecwid: exporting your store catalog](https://support.ecwid.com/hc/en-us/articles/8677667799452-Exporting-your-store-catalog), [Shopify pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), [Square online store plans](https://squareup.com/us/en/online-store/plans), [Big Cartel pricing](https://www.bigcartel.com/product/pricing), [Big Cartel Gold plan](https://www.bigcartel.com/plans/gold), [Squarespace pricing](https://www.squarespace.com/pricing), [WooCommerce pricing](https://woocommerce.com/pricing/).