Ginta vs Ecwid
Ginta vs Ecwid: is Ecwid still free, and what will a small shop pay?
Ecwid, by Lightspeed, is an online store you add to any website or run on its own Instant Site, with paid plans from $5 a month. Ginta builds the whole website around your shop: you describe the business, it writes the pages and sets up the shop with your products, and buyers pay by card through your own Stripe account.
Ecwid no longer has a free plan for new accounts: its help centre lists four paid plans, starting with Starter at $5 a month for 10 products. Ginta's Free plan holds 25 products per website with sizes and colours, discount codes and gift cards, at a name.ginta.page address. Pick Ecwid if you already have a website, sell digital goods or subscriptions, or want PayPal and a point of sale. Pick Ginta if you want the website and the shop made for you, with no plan to upgrade for discounts or variants.
Checked on Ecwid's own website on . We make Ginta.
Ginta vs Ecwid at a glance
| What | Ginta | Ecwid |
|---|---|---|
| Price to start selling | Free plan with the whole shop. Your own domain from €5 a month (Hosting: you build with your own Claude or ChatGPT) or €19 (Light: Ginta's AI). Prices include VAT. | Starter: $5 (or €5) a month for up to 10 products. Venture: $35 a month or $29 a month paid yearly, up to 100 products. Tax not included. |
| Free plan | Yes: up to 25 products per website with card payments, at name.ginta.page with a small “Made with Ginta” badge. Paid plans hold up to 500 products per website. | No free plan for new Ecwid accounts: four paid plans. A free plan with 5 products is left only for stores added through Wix. |
| Fee on each sale | 0 % on every plan. Stripe's card fee applies, paid to Stripe. | Ecwid takes 0 per sale on every plan. Its own Lightspeed Payments charges 2.9% + $0.30 (US) or 1.9% + €0.25 (Ireland), in 7 countries. |
| How buyers pay | Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay on Stripe's checkout, into your own Stripe account. Or orders sent to you on WhatsApp. No PayPal. | Over 70 payment providers, including PayPal and Stripe. Apple Pay and Google Pay with Lightspeed Payments or Stripe. |
| Delivery and pickup | Delivery options by country or zone: flat, by weight or by order total, free from an amount. Pickup with time slots the buyer picks. | Scheduled pickup or local delivery on every plan; shipping labels in the US, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; carrier rates by size from Business. |
| Discounts, gift cards, upsells | Every plan: discount codes, buy X get Y, automatic discounts, volume prices, sets, gift cards, cart add-ons, back-in-stock emails, product reviews. | Discount coupons and gift cards from Venture; scheduled promotions, abandoned cart emails and product reviews from Business. |
| Digital products, subscriptions | Not yet: physical products and pickup only, no subscriptions. | Digital goods from Venture (25 GB per file). Recurring subscriptions from Business, through Lightspeed Payments or Stripe. |
| Build from Claude/ChatGPT | Yes: Ginta's MCP server (ginta.app/mcp, also in Claude's connector directory) lets Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex or Cursor build, publish and change the site, using no Ginta credits. | No official option. Ecwid's own AI writes product descriptions (Unlimited) and site sections (Venture and up); no MCP server for Claude or ChatGPT. |
Ginta's prices include tax and are the same number in euros (eurozone) or US dollars (everywhere else). Ecwid's prices can differ by country: check its pricing page before you buy.
When to pick Ecwid
- You already have a website. Ecwid adds a store to an existing site on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or any other platform, on every plan, and one account can sell on several sites.
- You sell digital goods or subscriptions. Downloads start on Venture (25 GB per file) and recurring subscriptions on Business. Ginta's Shop sells physical products and pickup only.
- You want PayPal or a local payment provider. Ecwid works with over 70 payment providers, including PayPal and Stripe. Ginta takes cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay through Stripe only.
- You also sell in a shop or at markets. Ecwid has a mobile point of sale app on paid plans and syncs with Lightspeed Retail POS (Business and up) or Square and Clover (Unlimited, in some countries).
- You want to sell on marketplaces and social. Facebook and Instagram shops start on Venture; Amazon, eBay and Walmart through third-party apps on Business and up.
- You have thousands of products. Business holds 2,500 and Unlimited has no limit. Ginta stops at 500 products per website.
When to pick Ginta
- You want to start without paying. Ginta's Free plan holds 25 products per website with the whole Shop and card payments; Ecwid's cheapest plan is $5 a month for 10.
- You sell sizes and colours. On Ginta every combination of up to two options has its own price, sale price, stock and photo, on every plan. On Ecwid, variations with their own stock start on Business.
- Discounts and gift cards from day one. Codes, buy X get Y, automatic discounts, volume prices, sets and gift cards are on every Ginta plan, Free too; Ecwid's coupons and gift cards start on Venture.
- A website, not only a store. Your story, opening hours, contact form, blog, bookings or events next to the shop, written for you from one description. Change anything later by asking, or in the Shop's settings.
- You build with Claude or ChatGPT. Your assistant can build the site and manage products and orders through Ginta's MCP server.
What Ecwid really costs a small shop
Say you sell 30 products in a few sizes, 20 orders of €30 a month, from Ireland. On Ecwid, 30 products need Venture: €35 a month, or €29 a month paid yearly (€348 a year), plus tax. If each size should have its own stock, that's Business: €65 a month or €49 paid yearly. Cards through Lightspeed Payments in Ireland cost 1.9% + €0.25, about €0.82 an order, so about €16.40 a month.
On Ginta, the same shop fits the Free plan at a name.ginta.page address, or €19 a month (VAT included) with your own domain. Ginta takes 0 %; Stripe charges its card fee, for a standard EEA card 1.5% + €0.25, about €0.70 an order, so about €14 a month.
Moving from Ecwid to Ginta
Export your products from Ecwid as a CSV file (its help centre shows how). Ginta's CSV import reads Shopify, Etsy and WooCommerce exports or any spreadsheet: it matches the columns, shows a preview first, and updates products with the same name. Add your photos, connect Stripe, then your domain. Keep Ecwid open until the new shop has taken its first order.
Sources (checked 8 November 2026)
Ecwid pricing · Purchasing a paid plan · Ecwid plans and features · Pricing changes after 2 March 2026 · Ecwid plans for Wix · Lightspeed Payments · Apple Pay and Google Pay · Shipping labels · AI product descriptions · AI site sections · Export and import products · Stripe: pricing, Ireland · Ginta: pricing, Ginta Commerce and limits
See your website before you decide
Describe your business in one sentence and see it live in about a minute. Free to start: 25 credits when you confirm your email, then 5 a day.
Start freeQuestions
Is Ecwid free?
Not for new accounts any more. Ecwid's help centre lists four paid plans: Starter $5 a month (10 products), Venture $35 ($29 paid yearly), Business $65 ($49) and Unlimited $149 ($119), tax not included. A free plan with 5 products remains only for stores added through Wix. Ginta's Free plan holds 25 products per website.
Does Ecwid charge transaction fees?
No: Ecwid takes nothing per sale on any plan. The payment provider charges its own fee; Ecwid's Lightspeed Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 in the US and 1.9% + €0.25 in Ireland. Ginta also takes 0 %, and Stripe's card fee applies.
Can I use my own domain on Ecwid's cheapest plan?
No. Starter has a free company.site address; connecting or buying a domain starts on Venture. On Ginta, an own domain starts at €5 a month (Hosting, with your own Claude or ChatGPT) or €19 on Light.
Does Ecwid have AI?
Yes, inside its own tools: AI product descriptions on Unlimited, AI-made site sections from Venture, and an AI text assistant in the site editor (beta). We found no official way to build or run an Ecwid store from Claude or ChatGPT. Ginta builds the whole site from a description, and its MCP server lets your own assistant do it.
How do I move from Ecwid to Ginta?
Export your products from Ecwid as a CSV file and import it on Ginta: the import matches the columns and shows a preview first. Then add photos, connect Stripe and your domain.
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