The hidden costs of free e-label solutions and what to consider when making your decision
Since the EU introduced digital labeling requirements for wine, plenty of providers have entered the market, and some give their solution away for free. The real question is how long those free solutions last. Choosing an e-label provider is a long-term decision, and here is what to weigh before you commit.
How long do e-labels need to be available?
In our opinion, e-labels need to stay available for at least 10 years, as long as your wines are in circulation. Wines are often stored for years, and the information must remain accessible throughout the product's entire lifecycle. EU guidelines don't specify an explicit timeframe, but the availability of nutritional values and ingredients must be guaranteed as long as the wine is on the market.
What does long-term availability mean for e-label solutions?
Keeping labels online is not free to provide. Someone has to pay for the server infrastructure, the web servers, databases, and cloud services that host every label. The software needs regular updates to keep working with new browsers, operating systems, and devices. Legal requirements shift, so the labels need adjusting when they do. Security holes appear and have to be patched. And none of it happens without people: developers, support staff, and legal experts who keep the system running. All of that has to be funded for years, not months.
How do free e-label providers finance themselves?
A free offer still has to pay for itself somehow, usually in ways that are not obvious. Your wine data and user behaviour can become the product, packaged for advertising and market analysis or sold on to third parties. The free tier can be a hook, where the basics cost nothing but the features you actually need sit behind a fee. It can be an entry point for other paid products. It can quietly disappear once it stops paying off. Or the free version slowly shrinks as features move behind paywalls. Every one of these models puts the long-term availability and quality of your e-labels at risk.
What happens to my data with free providers?
With a free service, a few questions deserve real answers. Are your data being resold or used for advertising? Do they stay on EU servers, GDPR-compliant? Who can see information about your products and customers? How transparent is the provider's privacy policy? And can you fully delete or move your data whenever you want?
At Glasswise, data protection and transparency come first. Your data belong to you. We don't sell them, and we use them only to run the service for you.
How do I recognize sustainable e-label solutions?
A few questions separate a solution built to last from one that isn't. How does the provider make money over the long run? A business model you can actually see is a good sign. Can you take your data with you if you decide to switch, or does leaving mean a dead end? How is the product kept up to date, and is there real, ongoing development behind it? Can you get more than compliance out of the data you enter and reuse it in more than one place? Are security and GDPR compliance simply a given? And who is behind the product, with what track record, and for how long? Proven experience buys you security.
What happens if my e-label provider discontinues the service?
If your provider shuts the service down, the fallout is real. The QR codes printed on your bottles stop working. You can fall out of compliance with the law. Consumers lose the information they are entitled to. You have to find and roll out a replacement fast. In the worst case, you reprint labels.
It gets worse if you have no way to export your data and move it elsewhere, which is why data portability matters from day one.
How is Glasswise different from free providers?
Glasswise runs on a business model you can see. Prices are fair and open, with no hidden costs and no data exploitation. You get an unlimited number of e-labels and pay no per-label fee. Your data stay yours, and you can take them with you whenever you want. The product keeps getting developed and updated. Every label is built around your brand instead of a generic template, and the data you enter can work across your website, your marketing, and more. Your e-labels come with a long-term availability guarantee. Fair value for a future-proof solution that grows with your winery.
Can I switch to Glasswise if I'm already using another provider?
Switching is meant to be painless. We migrate your existing data for free. If you come from another provider, your first year is free. Your wine information and QR codes carry over without a hitch, and you can move gradually, without swapping out labels that are already printed.
As a member of the Safe E-Label Initiative, we are committed to fair standards and data portability. Not every provider is. Some rely on vendor lock-in to keep customers. We help you get past that.
E-labels are not a box you tick once. They are a ten-year commitment to the digital presence of your wines. Price is the easy thing to compare. Sustainability, data protection, and whether the label still works in a decade are what actually decide whether you chose well. A free offer can look attractive today and cost you later. A fair, transparent solution gives you the confidence that your e-labels will still resolve in ten years, with real value on top.
Want to learn more about our e-label solutions or switch to Glasswise? Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
