Comparison

Plaza BTC vs Ecash App

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Plaza BTC

Discover Bitcoin-friendly businesses on a live map and pay them instantly using Lightning. Businesses can also use it as a free point-of-sale system to accept Lightning payments with zero fees.

Highlights
  • Live map of Bitcoin merchants
  • Instant Lightning payments
  • Free Bitcoin POS for merchants
  • Zero transaction fees
  • Nostr merchant identity
  • Sales analytics and reporting
Features
Read full description

Plaza is where Bitcoin customers meet Bitcoin merchants. DISCOVER Open the app and see a live map of Bitcoin-friendly businesses near you. Tap any merchant to see their details, get directions, or pay with Lightning. The map updates as you move — scroll to a new city and find merchants there too. PAY Connect your Bitcoin wallet and pay any merchant instantly with Lightning. No bank, no card, no middleman. Just scan and done. BECOME A MERCHANT Turn your phone into a complete Bitcoin point-of-sale. Accept Lightning payments at your business with zero transaction fees — not 2.6%, not 1%, zero. Payments go straight to your wallet. Plaza never holds your funds. Everything a merchant needs, free forever: - Full catalog with items, modifiers, and categories - Charge screen with custom tipping - Inventory tracking with sold-out states - Sales history with daily summaries - Blossom receipts with cryptographic signatures - Nostr merchant identity — your business on the open web - Publish to the plaza map so customers can find you - Sales analytics with revenue charts, best sellers, and peak hours - Transaction exports as CSV, PDF, or year-end summary - Low-stock alerts with restock tracking and history HOW IT WORKS Plaza uses Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) to generate Lightning invoices directly from your own wallet. No custodian, no mint, no intermediary. Your keys, your money. Always. BUILT DIFFERENT Most payment platforms take a cut of every sale. Square charges 2.6% per transaction. Plaza charges nothing. No processing fees. No monthly minimums. No hidden costs. Plaza is built on open protocols: Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr, and Blossom. No vendor lock-in. No proprietary systems. No permission needed. Plaza Technologies LLC plazabtc.com

About

Ecash App

Features
Read full description

Ecash App is an open source, transparent Fedimint wallet. It is an easy to use payments wallet, but allows for power users to access the full suite of Fedimint features. It works with every federation. Join a federation, hold ecash notes on your device, and pay. There is no account to create and no sign-up. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Pay and receive over Lightning — scan a QR code, paste an invoice, or open an LNURL link. • Claim a Lightning Address, so anyone can pay you at a name that reads like an email address. • Send and receive on-chain bitcoin, and watch deposits as they confirm. • Hand ecash to someone directly, as a string of text, with no payment network in between. • Discover federations over Nostr, and preview one before you join it. • Keep balances in several federations at once and switch between them. • Find nearby merchants that accept bitcoin, using BTC Map. • Sync your friend's payment information using Nostr • Lock the app with a PIN. NOTHING HIDDEN • Every fee, itemized, before you confirm a payment. • The Lightning gateways a federation has registered, and the one your payment will route through. • The on-chain UTXOs the federation holds. • The denominations of the ecash notes making up your balance. BACKUP AND RECOVERY Your wallet comes from a standard seed phrase. Write it down once, and you can restore your balances on another device. Recovery walks through each federation and restores what it finds.

Screenshots

Plaza BTC4 screens
Ecash App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Ecash App at 16.0 against Plaza BTC's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Plaza BTC ships an update every 3 weeks, Ecash App every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Plaza BTC versus Ecash App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlaza BTCEcash App
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPlaza Technologies LLCFrost Forge LLC

In-app purchases

None

Plaza BTC

No in-app purchases

None

Ecash App

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Plaza BTC free?
Plaza BTC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ecash App free?
Ecash App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Plaza BTC or Ecash App have ads?
Neither Plaza BTC nor Ecash App shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Plaza BTC or Ecash App?
Plaza BTC ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ecash App every 6 weeks. Most recently, Plaza BTC was updated on October 11, 2026 and Ecash App on October 29, 2026.

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