BigCommerce vs Shopify : Which is Right for You?

When it comes to building your online store, selecting the right eCommerce platform is crucial. BigCommerce and Shopify are two of the top contenders in the market, and for good reason. Each platform has its own set of advantages, but which one is the best match for your business?

In this post, we’ll explore the strengths, pricing, and features of both platforms, so you can make a well-informed decision that aligns with your goals.

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What is BigCommerce?

BigCommerce is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that helps you build and grow your eCommerce store. With over 46,000 active stores, it's a trusted choice for businesses of all sizes.

BigCommerce offers a robust set of features, making it a flexible option for entrepreneurs looking to scale. The platform is known for keeping costs affordable while providing powerful tools for growth. Some well-known brands and institutions that use BigCommerce include Procter & Gamble, the State of Wyoming, GE Appliances, Olay, Wired Italia, and One Kings Lane.

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What is Shopify?

Shopify is one of the leading eCommerce platforms, powering over 4 million active stores as of 2023. It's used by some of the world’s biggest brands, including Anheuser-Busch (the parent company of Budweiser), Heinz, the Lakers Store, Nestlé, Netflix Merch Store, Minecraft, Penguin Books, PepsiCo, and Sephora.

With a wide range of features and specialized apps, Shopify makes it easier for you to build and manage a successful online store. Its low start-up costs, customizable templates, and quick setup are key selling points for entrepreneurs looking to get their stores up and running without delay.

NoteShopify Lite is a more basic version with limited features, and it’s not included in this comparison.

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At a glance: Shopify vs BigCommerce

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BigCommerce vs Shopify: Detailed comparison

To help you decide which platform best suits your needs, we’ve broken down the essential features of BigCommerce and Shopify that every entrepreneur should consider. From pricing to SEO, analytics to apps, and eCommerce tools to customer support, we’ve got you covered.

Make an informed decision when launching your online store, and choose the platform that’ll support your growth and drive more sales.

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1.Pricing

Pricing is one of the most important factors for many entrepreneurs when choosing an eCommerce platform. Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer subscription-based pricing models that are quite similar, but there are some key differences to keep in mind.

Both platforms provide three pricing plans, with discounts of up to 10% for annual payments.

Shopify offers a flat-rate monthly subscription with transaction fees, which are broken down as follows. You can start with a 3-day free trial and choose from the following plans:

• ‍Basic Shopify – $39/month. Transaction fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Includes an online store, 2 staff accounts, 24/7 support, and blogging tools.‍
• Shopify Plan – $105/month. Transaction fees are 2.7% + $0.30. Additional features include professional reports, lower credit card rates, and up to 5 staff accounts.‍
• Advanced Shopify – $399/month. Transaction fees are 2.5% + $0.30. Offers the lowest credit card rates, up to 15 staff accounts, advanced reporting, and reduced third-party shipping costs.

On the other hand, BigCommerce has a flat-rate monthly subscription with no transaction fees and offers a 15-day free trial. BigCommerce also upgrades your plan automatically if your annual revenue exceeds a certain threshold.

• ‍BigCommerce Standard – $39/month. Annual revenue threshold of $50,000. Features include a product listing template, professional reporting, real-time shipping quotes, and gift card functionality.‍
• BigCommerce Plus – $105/month. Annual revenue threshold of $150,000. Additional tools for store management, growth, and marketing, including limited customer segmentation and abandoned cart recovery.‍
• BigCommerce Pro – $399/month. Annual revenue threshold of $400,000. Provides advanced marketing tracking, product filtering, and SSL certificate installation.‍
• BigCommerce Enterprise – Custom pricing and solutions available through consultation.

When comparing BigCommerce vs. Shopify pricing, they may appear similar at first glance. However, the key difference comes into play with transaction fees, which could impact your overall costs depending on your sales volume.

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2.Transaction fees

Transaction fees refer to the percentage that an eCommerce platform takes from each sale, and they can significantly impact your business's bottom line. Minimizing these fees is key to maximizing your profit margins.

For Shopify, the credit card fees for merchants using Shopify Payments in the U.S. range from 2.4% to 2.9%, depending on the plan.

Third-party transaction fees don’t apply to purchases made through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, or PayPal Express.

If you choose a third-party payment gateway, Shopify charges the following fees:

• ‍Basic Shopify: 2%‍
• Shopify Plan: 1%‍
• Advanced Shopify: 0.5%

BigCommerce, on the other hand, does not charge any transaction fees, regardless of the plan you choose. However, there are processing fees for debit and credit card payments, starting at 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction.

Both platforms have their preferred payment processors: Shopify promotes its own gateway, while BigCommerce prefers PayPal. Shopify offers over 100 payment processor integrations, while BigCommerce supports over 65.

While both platforms have similar credit card fees for their preferred payment processors, BigCommerce stands out by offering zero transaction fees, giving it a clear advantage over Shopify, which charges up to 2% in transaction fees if you're not using Shopify Payments.

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3.POS solutions

Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide point-of-sale (POS) solutions, allowing you to sell products in physical locations while managing payments and inventory online. These solutions support mobile devices, including barcode scanners, label printers, and apps for seamless payment processing.

Shopify offers POS functionality for all sellers, but its basic version is fairly limited. To access advanced features, such as selling from multiple locations, issuing printed receipts, creating staff roles, or offering in-store pickup, you'll need to upgrade to Shopify POS Pro, which costs an additional $89 per month on top of your Shopify subscription.

In comparison, BigCommerce requires third-party app integrations for its POS capabilities. There are currently over 30 POS apps available in the BigCommerce app store, including solutions like Connect POS, Point of Sale by Webkul, Square POS, and Shopkeep.

However, many of these apps, apart from Connect POS, have limited reviews or lower ratings, making them less reliable options. Connect POS, which costs $49 per month, offers functionality similar to Shopify POS Pro, including features like split or partial payments, order tracking, and fulfillment management.

While Shopify's Basic POS is integrated with Shopify Payments and may be sufficient for smaller businesses, BigCommerce wins in terms of flexibility if you need more advanced features through third-party apps like Connect POS.

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4.Ease of use

Both Shopify and BigCommerce are feature-packed and come with modern dashboards and intuitive website editors, designed to streamline your online store setup. However, the learning curve differs between the two platforms.

With Shopify, building your store is a breeze. It uses templates, so you don’t need to worry about traditional page editing. This makes it ideal for entrepreneurs with no coding experience, as you can launch a basic store within minutes. Shopify’s real strength lies in its simplicity, making complex eCommerce tasks like inventory management and payment processor setup easy to handle.

On the other hand, BigCommerce is more feature-rich right from the start, but it may not be as beginner-friendly. While it offers a solid website builder, it can be a bit more technical, which may require additional time and effort if you don’t have previous experience.

However, for those with a background in web-building, BigCommerce offers several built-in features across its lower-tier plans, which can save you time in the long run.

Ultimately, Shopify shines for first-time store owners due to its ease of use, while BigCommerce provides a more robust, feature-loaded experience for entrepreneurs with some web experience under their belt.

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5.Themes and design options

In the world of eCommerce, a well-designed, user-friendly website is key to staying ahead of the competition. In fact, 42% of users will abandon a site if it has poor design or functionality, so choosing the right design platform matters.

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer a variety of mobile-responsive themes, both free and paid, designed to enhance your online store's appeal and usability.

Shopify has a theme store with 12 free options and 144 premium themes, priced between $170 and $380. Shopify’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to adjust theme elements, though there is a medium to steep learning curve involved. You can test themes as much as you like before committing, and you only pay for them when you go live with your store. Shopify also allows you to switch themes without the hassle of rebuilding your site entirely.

On the other hand, BigCommerce offers 15 free themes and around 229 paid ones, priced between $150 and $400. While these themes are mobile-responsive and AMP-enabled, they are often similar in style, with a limited selection of free options like the Vault and Cornerstone themes. BigCommerce does allow advanced users to edit HTML and CSS for greater customization, but it’s better suited for those with web design experience. The platform also offers a drag-and-drop page builder, though the theme store's navigation has faced some glitches over time, making browsing somewhat challenging.

Ultimately, Shopify stands out for its broad selection of unique themes that are ideal for beginners, helping you create an attractive and functional store with ease. BigCommerce, while offering solid customization options for more technically-savvy users, lags behind in theme variety and ease of use for newcomers.

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6.eCommerce tools

When comparing BigCommerce and Shopify for eCommerce tools, there is a significant overlap in the core features both platforms offer. Both platforms include essential tools that are available across all plans:

• ‍Basic Shipping Tools: Set shipping rates based on weight or order value, print shipping labels, and define shipping locations.‍
• SSL Certificate: Ensures your store is recognized as a secure website for transactions.‍
• Multichannel Selling: Sell on multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, or Etsy.‍
• Inventory Management: Track inventory, analyze order trends, and manage stock.‍

BigCommerce has a notable advantage when it comes to built-in sales features, offering more comprehensive tools without the need for third-party apps. On the other hand, Shopify often requires external apps to access some of these features.

While BigCommerce offers robust built-in tools, its app store is much smaller than Shopify's, meaning there are fewer third-party apps to help drive business growth. Shopify’s larger app store gives you more flexibility and extra functionalities, even though some of these features are not native to the platform.

If you prefer having more eCommerce tools built-in without relying on external apps, BigCommerce may be the better option. But if you value a wide range of apps and customizability, Shopify offers more opportunities to expand your store’s capabilities.

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7.Marketing features

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is essential for driving organic traffic to your store. Over 70% of users only focus on organic results, so having a strong SEO strategy is crucial for increasing sales.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer solid SEO features, including:

• ‍Automatic site maps
• Customizable metadata
• URLs
• Title tags

These features help improve your store’s SEO. Additionally, both platforms have apps to enhance your SEO efforts, including tools like ChatGPT-powered product description tools.

However, when it comes to blogging and content marketing, both platforms have some limitations:

• ‍Shopify's native blog lacks features like galleries, sharing blog posts, inserting buttons, managing tags, and allowing comments—unless you use third-party apps.‍
• BigCommerce, on the other hand, allows you to connect an external WordPress blog, which offers more flexibility.

If you're looking for SEO apps, Shopify has an advantage, with around 640 SEO apps available. BigCommerce only offers about 25 SEO apps, making Shopify a better choice for merchants who want to explore different SEO tools.

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9.Apps

Apps are essential for adding extra functionality to both Shopify and BigCommerce.

• ‍BigCommerce offers around 1,346 apps in its store.‍
• Shopify, on the other hand, provides access to a vast library of over 8,000 apps.

While many of Shopify's apps are free, more than half require payment. BigCommerce also offers a good selection of free apps, but the number and variety of options aren’t as extensive as Shopify’s.

What’s the difference?

• ‍Shopify relies heavily on apps to provide specialized features, meaning the platform offers a broader range of tools and services to customize your store.‍
• BigCommerce, however, comes with more built-in features out of the box, so you can get started with fewer apps, saving time and costs.

Although Shopify’s app store provides more functionality, it can also lead to higher costs and potential slowdowns as you add more apps to your store. BigCommerce may be more efficient for those who prefer a more streamlined experience from the get-go.

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10.Analytics

Effective analytics are key to growing your eCommerce business. With the right data, you can optimize your sales process and create targeted marketing campaigns that drive revenue.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer solid analytics tools, allowing you to track:

• Product performance
• Sales channels
• Revenue per order
• Discounts, returns, and more
• Marketing performance

For advanced users:

• ‍Shopify Plus and Advanced plans provide customized reporting to dig deeper into your store’s performance.‍
• BigCommerce offers an additional eCommerce Insights report. This provides detailed analysis of shopping carts, products, and customer behavior, available for $49 (Standard/Plus), $99 (Pro), or $249 (Enterprise) per month.

Overall, both platforms offer powerful analytics to help you measure success and make data-driven decisions, so you can effectively scale your business.

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11.Customer support

When running an eCommerce store, great customer support can make all the difference, especially when you encounter challenges during setup or operations.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer comprehensive customer support, including:

• ‍24/7 phone support‍
• 24/7 live chat support
• Video tutorials
• Help center
• Email support
• Community forum

BigCommerce provides a detailed help center, while Shopify offers helpful prompts directly in the dashboard to guide you to the right resources.

For higher-tier plans, both platforms offer priority support:

• ‍BigCommerce provides an onboarding consultant and priority phone support for premium plans.‍
• Shopify offers access to a dedicated customer support agent on higher plans.

In general, both platforms deliver excellent support, but Shopify's active community forum and knowledge center may give it an edge for those looking for more self-service solutions.

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FAQ

1.Can I customize the look of my store on both platforms?

Yes! Both BigCommerce and Shopify let you customize the design of your online store. Shopify offers many beautiful themes that you can easily adjust. BigCommerce also has great design options but may require a bit more technical know-how to make significant changes. Both platforms aim for a nice look that helps you attract customers.

2.Which platform is better for marketing?

When it comes to marketing tools, both platforms have strong features. Shopify has a wide range of apps that can help you with emails, reaching customers, and online ads. BigCommerce includes many marketing tools in its plans by default, making it easier to start right out of the box. It really depends on how you prefer to market your store.

3.Which platform is better for SEO?

Both BigCommerce and Shopify have good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) features to help your store rank higher in search results. However, Shopify offers more apps dedicated to SEO, which gives you more options to improve your store's visibility online. Depending on your needs, either platform can help you optimize for search engines.

4.How much does BigCommerce cost compared to Shopify?

BigCommerce has four main pricing plans, starting at $39/month for the Standard plan, with no transaction fees.

Shopify offers three main pricing tiers, starting at $39/month for the Basic plan, but includes transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments.Both platforms offer discounts if you choose annual billing.

5.Which platform is better for beginners, BigCommerce or Shopify?

Shopify is generally easier for beginners. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and quick setup process. You don’t need any coding knowledge to get started, and it provides plenty of customizable themes and tools.

BigCommerce offers more built-in features but can be a bit more complex for first-time users. While it's beginner-friendly, it might take a little more time to get the hang of its interface.

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BigCommerce vs Shopify: Conclusion

Both BigCommerce and Shopify are solid choices for building an online store. Shopify offers extensive app integrations, making it highly customizable, though this can lead to higher costs as you scale. BigCommerce, with more built-in features, is better for those who prefer less reliance on third-party apps but may require plan upgrades for further expansion. Choose Shopify if flexibility is key, or BigCommerce for a more out-of-the-box solution.

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