Ecwid by Lightspeed vs WooCommerce API + MCP

Ecwid by Lightspeed

The REST API has 40 access scopes, a published limit of 600 requests a minute per token with Retry-After on a 429, field selection through responseFields, and Markdown docs with an llms.txt index. Tokens never expire, there is no test mode or idempotency key, API access needs a paid plan, and carts are built only in the browser.

WooCommerce API + MCP

Free GPL software with no platform fee or revenue share. Uptime, speed and security depend on each store's host and plugins. No vendor status page.

Ecwid by Lightspeed

1. Send the token as Authorization: Bearer to https://app.ecwid.com/api/v3/{storeId}. Tokens in the query string stopped working in March 2025
2. Use the secret token server-side only. The public token reads enabled products and places orders that are not marked paid
3. Add responseFields, for example total,items(id,name,price), to keep responses small, and page with offset and limit (maximum 100)
4. Stay under 600 requests a minute per token and wait the Retry-After seconds on a 429. Repeated calls with a bad token get the token and IP blocked for longer
5. Work in a separate test store. There is no test mode, and POST /orders writes a real order with no idempotency key
6. After changing an app's scopes, uninstall and reinstall it, then replace the stored tokens. The old ones stop working

WooCommerce API + MCP

1. Create a REST key with read permission only for reporting tasks, and send it in the Authorization header, never the URL
2. Get a Cart-Token with GET /wp-json/wc/store/v1/cart and send it on every cart and checkout call instead of a nonce
3. Add _fields=id,name,price to REST calls to cut response size
4. Page with per_page up to 100 and stop at X-WP-TotalPages
5. Product delete only trashes unless you pass force true, so check the trash before assuming it's gone