Ecwid vs SamCart Comparison 2026
Ecwid is a general storefront that bolts onto a site you already have, tiered by product count from $5 a month for ten products up to $29 for a hundred plus digital goods. SamCart is not a storefront at all: it is a checkout built for testing offers, with order bumps, post-purchase upsells and cart abandonment recovery, sitting beside whatever already hosts the product, from $79 a month. Ecwid sells the shop. SamCart sells the moment somebody pays. A seller doing real volume through checkout conversion tests wants SamCart. Somebody who just needs products listed and sellable wants Ecwid.
A store that bolts onto a site you already have
Checkout pages built for testing offers
At a glance
- Ecwid starts cheaper, at $5.
- Neither has a free tier.
Side by side
Ecwid | SamCart | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $5 | From $79 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | Not stated | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export |
Ecwid
A store that bolts onto a site you already have
Ecwid adds a shop to a site that already exists rather than asking anybody to rebuild on a new platform, which is what makes it the answer when the site is fine and only the selling is missing. It will also stand on its own with an included site builder and a free subdomain. Plans are separated by product count first: ten on the cheapest, a hundred on the next. Selling through Instagram and Facebook, the mobile management app and automated tax all start one tier above the entry plan.
Our note
Count your products before choosing, because the jump from ten to a hundred is the whole difference between the first two tiers and it is not a soft limit. If the shop is going to be the main event rather than an addition, pay for Shopify or BigCommerce now instead of migrating in a year.
SamCart
Checkout pages built for testing offers
SamCart is a checkout designed to be tested: one-page carts, order bumps, upsells taken after the card has cleared, and recovery mail for the ones who left. It sits beside whatever hosts your product rather than replacing it, which is why people run it alongside a course platform. Courses are on the entry plan now, and used to be an upgrade.
Why people weigh these two
- SamCart instead of Ecwid
- SamCart swaps the catalogue for checkout pages built to test offers, from $79 a month, selling a few products hard rather than shelving many.
- Ecwid instead of SamCart
- Ecwid bolts a full store onto a site that already exists, rather than SamCart's single-purpose checkout page sitting beside whatever already hosts the product.
Which one should you pick
Ecwid is the pick for somebody who needs an actual storefront: a product catalogue, Instagram and Facebook selling from the Venture plan at $29 a month, and a shop that can stand alone or bolt onto an existing site.
SamCart is the pick for a seller whose revenue turns on checkout conversion and who will actually run tests on bumps and upsells. Core is $79 a month, considerably more than Ecwid, and it is poor value for somebody selling only a handful of items a month, who should start with a storefront that charges a percentage instead.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper?
- Ecwid, clearly, starting at $5 a month for a small catalogue or $29 for the Venture tier that adds digital goods. SamCart starts at $79 a month and does not include a storefront at all, just the checkout, so it is a different and more specialized purchase.
- Does SamCart host the products the way Ecwid does?
- No. SamCart sits beside whatever already hosts your product, which is why people run it alongside a separate course platform. Ecwid is the storefront itself, with a catalogue, templates and its own subdomain if there is no site yet.
- Does Ecwid do order bumps and post-purchase upsells like SamCart?
- The Ecwid brief does not describe order bumps or post-purchase upsells; its features are a shop, coupons, a custom checkout and analytics from the Venture tier. SamCart's entire product is built around exactly that: a second offer taken after the card has already cleared.
- Which one is better for somebody selling only a few items a month?
- Ecwid. Its $5 Starter plan is a genuine option for a shop with under ten products, and even Venture at $29 a month is far below SamCart's $79. SamCart's checkout-testing tools only earn back their monthly fee at real volume.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.