If you’re looking to move your business online, there’s a lot of choices that need to be made before you can get up and running. In all cases, you want to make use of the right tools early on to be successful.
One of those hard choices will be selecting an eCommerce platform. There are many similar looking tools in the market, and many online sellers end up debating between two or three options. The most popular ones include Shopify and Bigcommerce.
BigCommerce and Shopify are both powerful eCommerce site builders and store providers, so they’re both excellent choices. That being said, there are a few key differences between the two platforms that can help you determine which platform is the right choice for you.
In this post, we’re going to compare BigCommerce vs Shopify, comparing the two and highlighting their key differences and similarities to help make your decision a lot easier.
Shopify vs BigCommerce: The Similarities
Before we start focusing on the key differences between these two platforms, it’s a good idea to take a look at their similarities, because there are a lot of them.
They’re both powerful eCommerce website builders that make it easy for you to create gorgeous, high-functioning sites quickly. They both also offer native eCommerce hosting, making it exceptionally easy to build and run your site all in one place. You can manage your entire store from inside a single dashboard.
A few other great similarities to point out include that both offer:
- 24/7 support that’s available by phone, live chat, or email
- Access to names of pre-screened experts like designers, marketers, or store developers who you can hire if you want to outsource anything
- Free and premium themes available.
- Incredible capabilities for additional functionalities on-site (though they go about this slightly differently)
- Outstanding self-reported site uptime, with both saying they have more than 99.98% site uptime
Shopify vs. BigCommerce: The Differences
When it comes down to it, there are three really significant differences (which encompass lots of smaller differences) between the two platforms. Let’s take a look at each and how it could affect you.
- Transactional Costs
Transactional fees are the fees charged on every purchase a customer makes. If you’ve used PayPal for businesses before—you may have seen this—they take 2.9% + a flat fee of whatever money is being sent. Shopify does charge transactional fees. BigCommerce doesn’t.
Speaking as a business owner with a lot of transactional fees, you want to keep an eye out for those, because they can eat into revenue quickly. Shopify’s transaction fees do decrease as you upgrade your plan, so as you scale, the fees will go down. Still, it’s something to keep in mind.
Shopify Transactional Fees
2. Feature Set
When you’re choosing an eCommerce platform, you want to pick the one that gives you the most flexibility. The world is your oyster and all that. Ultimately, Shopify has more “core features” than BigCommerce. They have more themes—both premium and paid—and substantially more apps (think more than 1000 compared to BigCommerce’s several hundred). They also have more pre-screened/qualified experts lined up in their marketplace.
This makes sense—Shopify has more than 500,000 merchants, while Bigcommerce has hosted closer to 95,000 online stores
Shopify has more add-on potential, but BigCommerce gives you more out of the gate (and for free). A lot of functionality that BigCommerce gives merchants outright require add-ons on Shopify. This may give you more customization options on the latter, but it can also end up costing you more if you opt for paid apps instead.
3. Pricing
Pricing between Shopify and BigCommerce is pretty comparable. Both start at $29.99 a month for their most basic plans. Shopify’s Enterprise plan is more expensive at $299 instead of BigCommerce’s $249 per month, but that’s still relatively close.
Abandoned cart recovery is included in Shopify’s base plan, but not BigCommerce’s. Free SSL certificates come with all Shopify plans, but you need to upgrade to a higher plan on BigCommerce for your unique certificate there. You also don’t have a sales limit number on Shopify, though you do on BigCommerce.
BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers shipping quotes with the base plan model, but Shopify doesn’t offer this until you upgrade to their Enterprise plan. There are more affordable apps that can help with this, however, so if that’s the only feature of the base or mid-line plan that you need on Shopify, you can find a third-party tool to help.
Shopify vs BigCommerce: The Verdict
Both BigCommerce and Shopify are excellent site builders and online managers and there’s a lot of overlap between the two. All that being said, there are clearly some differences between the platforms that can help you differentiate between the two when you’re choosing which to go with. If one of your core business goals is to scale rapidly, choose the platform that you believe would best fit a scaling business in the future alongside the one that can best help you now.
Shopify vs BigCommerce – Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the main similarities between Shopify and BigCommerce?
A: Both platforms share several key features that make them strong choices for eCommerce businesses. They are both powerful website builders with native eCommerce hosting, allowing you to manage your entire store from a single dashboard. Both offer 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and email, and provide access to pre-screened experts like designers and developers. Additionally, both platforms feature free and premium themes, exceptional site uptime of over 99.98%, and capabilities for extensive additional functionalities.
Q: Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
A: Yes, Shopify does charge transaction fees on purchases, while BigCommerce does not. However, Shopify’s transaction fees decrease as you upgrade to higher-tier plans. This is an important consideration for business owners, as transaction fees can significantly impact revenue over time. As your business scales and you upgrade your Shopify plan, these fees will be reduced.
Q: Which platform offers more features and customization options?
A: Shopify offers more core features overall, including a larger selection of themes (both free and premium) and substantially more apps—over 1,000 compared to BigCommerce’s several hundred. Shopify also has more pre-screened experts available in their marketplace. However, BigCommerce provides more built-in functionality out of the gate, meaning features that come standard with BigCommerce may require paid add-ons on Shopify. This gives you a trade-off between extensive customization potential versus immediate, included functionality.
Q: How do the pricing plans compare between the two platforms?
A: Both platforms start at $29.99 per month for their basic plans, making them quite comparable. Shopify’s Enterprise plan is priced at $299 per month, while BigCommerce’s Enterprise plan costs $249 per month. The key differences lie in what’s included at each tier. Shopify includes abandoned cart recovery and free SSL certificates in the base plan, and has no sales limits. BigCommerce includes shipping quotes in the base plan but requires upgrades for certain features like unique SSL certificates, and does impose sales limits on lower-tier plans.
Q: Which platform is better for a rapidly scaling business?
A: The best platform for scaling depends on your specific business needs. Shopify’s larger app ecosystem and extensive customization options may benefit businesses that need highly specialized functionality as they grow. However, BigCommerce’s lack of transaction fees and built-in features may be more cost-effective for businesses with high transaction volumes. Consider both your current needs and future growth plans when making your decision, as the platform that works best for you now should also support your scaling objectives.
Q: What support options are available on both platforms?
A: Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer excellent support options available 24/7. You can reach their support teams through phone, live chat, or email. Additionally, both platforms provide access to directories of pre-screened experts including designers, marketers, and store developers who you can hire if you need to outsource any work or require specialized assistance with your store.
Q: Are there sales limits on either platform?
A: Shopify does not impose sales limits on any of its plans, allowing unlimited transactions regardless of your subscription tier. BigCommerce, however, does have sales limits on their lower-tier plans. As your sales volume grows on BigCommerce, you may need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan to accommodate increased transaction volumes.
Q: Which platform has better site uptime?
A: Both platforms report outstanding site uptime, with each claiming more than 99.98% uptime. This means both Shopify and BigCommerce are highly reliable for keeping your online store accessible to customers. The difference in uptime between the two platforms is negligible, so this shouldn’t be a deciding factor in your choice.
Q: How many merchants use each platform?
A: Shopify has a significantly larger user base with more than 500,000 merchants using the platform. BigCommerce has hosted closer to 95,000 online stores. The larger Shopify community means more third-party resources, apps, and experts are available, though BigCommerce still maintains a robust ecosystem for its users.
