Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which Platform Is Better? (latest updates 2023)

BigCommerce or Shopify - which one suits your eCommerce venture best? In this thorough comparison, we’re here to guide you!

Delve into our analysis to explore the nuanced strengths and weaknesses of these top-tier eCommerce platforms. Gain valuable insights and make your choice to kickstart your dream business a breeze!

Pricing

Regarding the pricing of Shopify and BigCommerce, please take a quick look at this comparison table.

Summary Table

*Transaction fees

Third-party transaction fees are expenses incurred with every transaction when employing an external payment service provider to process customer payments. It's noteworthy that BigCommerce doesn't impose transaction fees across its plans.

As for Shopify, no transaction fees apply to stores using Shopify Payments. However, opting for a third-party payment provider results in additional charges:

• 2% for Basic Shopify
• 1% for Shopify
• 0.5% for Advanced Shopify plans.

*Credit card fees

Shopify Payments charges fees ranging from 2.4% to 2.9% of the purchase amount and a fixed 30¢ transaction fee. These transaction-related charges usually include interchange fees, so you don't have to calculate them separately.

In comparison, BigCommerce imposes fees ranging from 2.05% to 2.9% of the purchase amount and an additional 30¢ per transaction.

Now, we'll analyze the pricing of the monthly plans for both platforms. We will delve into enterprise plans later.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Monthly & Annual plans

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer 3 pricing plans at the same prices: $39/month, $105/month, and $399/month.

BigCommerce plans include Standard, Plus, and Pro.

Shopify’s plans include Basic, Shopify, and Advanced.

For annual plans, as observed on the website in October 2023, BigCommerce has raised its discounts to match Shopify's level, offering a 25% discount if you pay annually. Previously, BigCommerce offered a 10% discount, whereas Shopify has maintained its 25% discount.

There are notable distinctions between the two platforms. One significant difference lies in the inventory locations offered: Shopify allows up to 1,000 locations, whereas BigCommerce only permits up to 8.

Furthermore, Shopify stands out by enabling users to translate their stores into multiple languages, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers in diverse markets. In contrast, for BigCommerce, you need to install a multilingual app to translate your store.

However, BigCommerce doesn't restrict the number of staff accounts you can create. In contrast, Shopify Basic plan allows only two staff accounts, with an increase allowed for higher plans. Moreover, BigCommerce allows you to create and manage multiple storefronts (3-8 storefronts) from a single account, while each Shopify account only permits one store.

Regarding the higher-tier plans, namely the $105/month and $399/month options, both platforms don't provide significantly enhanced features compared to their basic offerings.

Shopify’s higher plans

When you switch to Shopify's middle plan ($105/month), you can access features like gift cards and professional reports.

Upgrading to the $399/month tier unlocks advanced professional reports, and the ability to display calculated rates using your own account or third-party apps during checkout.

Additionally, you can estimate and collect duties and import taxes at checkout. This not only provides customers with complete cost transparency but also minimizes the risk of returns and parcel refusals, making it a vital feature for international commerce.

BigCommerce’s higher plans

With BigCommerce, the higher-tier plans introduce several enhancements to the shopping experience.

Upon upgrading to the BigCommerce Plus plan ($105/month), you can establish customer groups and segmentation, use the abandoned cart saver, and enable persistent cart features.

Additionally, with the $399/month plan, you can access Google customer reviews and enjoy product-related enhancements.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Enterprise Plans

BigCommerce introduces BigCommerce Enterprise, while Shopify offers Shopify Plus; both are enterprise-grade versions of their respective platforms.

BigCommerce Enterprise offers a 15-day free trial, with customer pricing available upon contacting the team. Exclusive features of BigCommerce Enterprise include:

• ShipperHQ Essentials (for advanced shipping options) are provided for free.
• Ability to manage multiple storefronts under one account.
• Custom pricing at the SKU level for specific customer groups.
• Additional API calls and support.
• Priority customer support services.

Shopify Plus is an affordable enterprise solution tailored for rapid expansion, starting at $2,000/month, and trusted by leading companies like Brooklinen, Allbirds, etc. Exclusive features of Shopify Plus include:

• Free inclusion of Shopify POS Pro.
• Ability to manage multiple stores through a single admin interface.
• Access to advanced applications for enhanced functionality.
• Fully customizable checkout page.
• Extra API calls for seamless integrations.
• Option to create password-protected wholesale sections for restricted access.
• Unlimited staff accounts and enhanced control over staff permissions and access levels.
• Priority customer support services and access to Shopify Plus Academy's educational resources.

Expert Takeaways

In terms of pricing, Shopify offers more value compared to BigCommerce.

With the same monthly plan prices, Shopify provides additional features, particularly those tailored for international commerce, making it a more comprehensive choice.

Moreover, Shopify presents a cost-effective entry point, offering a starter plan for just $5/month. This option allows for selling on social media platforms, although it doesn't provide a dedicated online store. This affordable choice is not available with BigCommerce.

Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce forces customers to upgrade plans depending on their online store’s annual sales. BigCommerce Standard plan is designed for shops that sell up to $50,000 per year; Plus plan caters to stores with annual revenue of up to $180,000; and Pro plan is for annual revenue of up to $400,000.

While BigCommerce excels in managing complex products and multiple stores, Shopify shines in innovation. Shopify has recently made significant advancements in AI development, boasts a well-developed ecosystem, and has a design aesthetic that resonates well with artists, fashion designers, and clothing stores.

Ease of use: Which platform is easier to use?

Shopify and BigCommerce feature remarkably similar user interfaces, both impeccably designed and smooth for actions. Moreover, both platforms offer extensive documentation and valuable guidance to assist you in your initial setup.

Both platforms provide a left-hand menu for selecting actions like adding content or viewing orders, while the right-hand side allows you to view data or edit content. If you're familiar with content management systems like WordPress or Squarespace, navigating through Shopify and BigCommerce will feel comfortable and familiar.

On the G2 review platform, Shopify received a score of 8.9/10 for ease of use based on evaluations from over 3,000 users, while BigCommerce received a rating of 8.4/10 from nearly 400 users.

In our experience, creating a new store is simpler with Shopify due to its sleek and straightforward dashboard layout. Every necessary option is easily accessible from the main menu on the left, and a helpful wizard guides you through setting up your store, step by step.

When using BigCommerce, it takes a while to grasp the platform's mechanics and start designing your store. The significant number of built-in features can be overwhelming for beginners, as it provides numerous options for various tasks, making the learning curve steep.

Moreover, Shopify consistently enhances its user experience through technological innovation. For instance, in April 2023, Shopify introduced a game-changing feature: AI Product Descriptions with Shopify Magic.

This new tool employs artificial intelligence to craft product descriptions. You can describe the product using basic features like color, size, and type (e.g., white t-shirt, medium), and the tool generates detailed product descriptions for you.

Furthermore, users have the flexibility to adjust the tone of the description, ranging from playful to serious, according to their preferences.

Expert Takeaways

Both platforms are user-friendly, yet Shopify takes the lead. BigCommerce presents a steeper learning curve owing to its multitude of options.

Moreover, Shopify's innovative features, such as AI integration, enhance user experience by simplifying and speeding up various tasks.

Themes and Customization options

Data of October 2023

Themes

Free themes

Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide a limited selection of free themes, with 12 available on both platforms. Shopify stands out for its user-friendly experience, as its free themes offer diverse layout options, enabling beginners to create visually appealing storefronts effortlessly.

With BigCommerce, some of its free themes exhibit striking similarities in terms of designs.
For instance, free themes like "Vault Cool" and "Vault Bright," or "Fortune Highlight" and "Fortune Contrast," might vary primarily in terms of color schemes.

Vault Cool by BigCommerce

Vault Bright by BigCommerce

On the other hand, in Shopify's case, their free themes exhibit more noticeable differences, allowing shop owners to select a free template to stand out significantly from their competitors.

Shopify free themes

Paid themes

Shopify provides a collection of over 150 paid themes, each ranging from $150 to $380 as a one-time payment. These themes cater to various industries such as Fashion and Clothing, Arts and Crafts, Home and Garden, etc.

You can refine your search based on price, product quantity, and features. Most themes, like Expanse, offer multiple theme colors and style choices.

The Modern, Classic, and Contemporary styles of Expense introduce unique atmospheres to the identical layout.

Plus, Shopify allows extensive customization beyond the preset styles, giving you the freedom to personalize your theme at any point.

Similarly, BigCommerce offers more than 250 paid themes, priced between $150 and $400. Their themes are categorized by price, industry, and specific collections like B2B and mega navigation. Much like Shopify, most themes come in different style palettes.

The Valiant Pet theme offers three styles: Valiant Pet, Valiant Gym, and Valiant CBD.

It's worth noting that BigCommerce provides a greater number of themes compared to Shopify; however, some of BigCommerce's themes are minor adaptations within the same theme "family." For instance, consider the Camden template family:

Although these templates appear different, they are essentially variations of the same layout, cataloged as 3 distinct templates. Hence, in essence, BigCommerce and Shopify offer a similar variety of template styles.

Customization options

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer drag-and-drop editors, enabling you to modify layout, color schemes, fonts, and more, and add or remove various page elements and widgets.

You have the flexibility and many options to deeply customize the templates offered by both Shopify and BigCommerce. For those with advanced technical expertise or additional resources, direct modifications to the HTML and CSS are also available, allowing for a high level of customization.

From our evaluation, Shopify offers a broader range of content blocks compared to BigCommerce, allowing users to incorporate diverse elements such as signup forms, contact forms, and blog strips. Also, it offers a broader selection of fonts for customization.

Shopify theme editor with diverse content block sections.

BigCommerce theme editor with widgets for customization.

In addition to a wide array of theme customization options, Shopify offers a bundle of integrations and apps, granting you the freedom and flexibility to customize your store extensively and scale your business in alignment with your objectives.

Let's explore this summary table detailing the integrations and third-party apps available on both Shopify and BigCommerce:

Shopify and BigCommerce both acknowledge the need for store owners to manage multiple channels through a unified dashboard. They allow synchronization of your Amazon, eBay, and social media stores with your website storefront. Additionally, both platforms offer built-in features enabling connection with Google Product data feed.

When it comes to the diversity of applications, Shopify's App Store outshines other eCommerce platforms with its extensive range.

Boasting over 8,000 apps, Shopify covers everything from Selling products, Store Design, to Marketing and Conversion, and Orders and Shipping, enabling you to tailor your site precisely to your preferences, all without the need for a developer's assistance.

Shopify App Store

In contrast, BigCommerce offers a more modest selection, totaling just over 1,000 apps.

BigCommerce App Store

However, this limitation stems from BigCommerce's dedication to crafting a platform rich in built-in features, albeit demanding a more significant learning curve.

Meanwhile, Shopify offers a user-friendly platform and allows expansion by seamlessly integrating from the vast array of apps in the Shopify App Store.

Expert Takeaways

We find the designs of Shopify themes more appealing compared to those of BigCommerce. They appear fresher and more contemporary, offering a wider range of choices and variety.

When it comes to customization options, we prefer Shopify due to its diverse array of content and premade sections available on its themes. This not only enhances the user experience but also saves a significant amount of time during the design process.

Also, we highly appreciate Shopify's wide selection of integrations and third-party apps, which offer numerous opportunities to test new features and optimize your strategies. This empowers online merchants to expand their businesses to their fullest potential.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Ecommerce Features

Summary table 

Point of sale

Processing retail transactions is made possible through a Point of Sale (POS) device, a crucial tool in the retail landscape. Integrating eCommerce with POS systems is vital as it establishes a communication link between your online store and your offline retail setup.

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer the flexibility of utilizing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for processing transactions. The beauty of POS lies in its ability to synchronize customer data and order information seamlessly with the backend of your online store, ensuring a streamlined operation.

With BigCommerce, businesses enjoy the freedom to select a POS provider tailored to their specific needs. Whether it's simplified inventory management, specialized solutions for fashion and apparel, multi-location inventory management, omni-channel capabilities, or handling high-risk products,

BigCommerce offers compatibility with several POS partners.
Popular options include PayPal Zettle, Square, Clover, Heartland Retail, ConnectPOS, Vend, Hike POS, and EPOS Now. However, integrating hardware from these third-party platforms is necessary.

Conversely, Shopify's POS system seamlessly integrates with the Shopify dashboard, offering centralized inventory management. This integration guarantees accurate stock level representation across online and offline channels, preventing overselling and providing a comprehensive view of inventory.

Shopify provides basic POS features in any subscription plan through Shopify Lite at no extra cost. These features include customer record management, email/SMS receipts, barcode scanning, cash tracking, refunds, etc.

For more advanced functionalities like on-site delivery management, daily sales reporting, in-app retail analytics, and automatic discount offers, businesses can opt for Shopify POS Pro, available at an additional cost.

Marketing features

Built-in SEO

Effective search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for achieving higher search rankings. BigCommerce provides an array of built-in SEO features, including optimized URLs, unique URLs, embedded microdata in product pages, 301 redirects, and URL rewrites that automatically adjust when products are renamed. Additionally, BigCommerce offers a content delivery network (CDN).

In comparison, Shopify offers limited SEO features, allowing users to modify meta titles and descriptions and edit web page URLs.

BigCommerce stands out by offering professional reporting tools across all its plans, whereas Shopify only provides standard reporting in its mid-tier plan and advanced reporting tools in its priciest plan.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify users can integrate Google Analytics for in-depth insights into website user behavior.

Overall, while BigCommerce excels in out-of-the-box SEO features, Shopify offers a wider selection of third-party apps for incorporating SEO functionality.

Email marketing

Both platforms support email marketing, but there are significant differences in terms of customization.

With Shopify, you can use the "Shopify Email" feature, allowing you to send 10,000 emails per month as part of your regular plan. If you exceed this limit, you're charged $1 for every additional 1,000 sends.

What sets Shopify apart is the array of pre-designed templates it offers for various email marketing campaigns, including promotions, announcements, product highlights, and holiday emails. These templates can be customized to match your preferences, ensuring brand consistency across your emails.

On the other hand, BigCommerce only provides options for customers to subscribe to newsletters, lacking email templates like Shopify.

Although BigCommerce allows customization of abandoned cart emails and transactional emails, the customization is restricted to filling in specific information fields, with no option to customize email designs.

Selling internationally

Payment processing

Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide a plethora of options, ensuring your customers can easily make their purchases. However, as a merchant, you'll find that the available options vary slightly between the two platforms.

Shopify provides access to a wide selection of over 100 payment gateways, whereas BigCommerce offers choices from slightly over 65. However, the numerical disparity between the options on Shopify and BigCommerce isn't the key concern.

What truly matters is the preferred payment gateways on each platform and the associated fees based on your chosen plan and gateway.

Shopify's go-to payment gateway is Shopify Payments, their proprietary service known for its user-friendly setup – just a single click in your store settings activates it.

However, if you opt for a different payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds an extra transaction fee on top of the processing fee charged by the chosen gateway.

BigCommerce, on the other hand, leans towards PayPal powered by Braintree as its preferred payment gateway. It offers a seamless setup process and competitive fees.

Importantly, if you choose an alternative payment gateway with BigCommerce, unlike Shopify, you won't face additional transaction fees.

Multilingual languages

Expanding your content into multiple languages is essential when targeting a global audience.

BigCommerce, unfortunately, lacks robust multilingual features. While you can set your store's default language and let the customer's browser settings determine the displayed language, adding multiple languages requires the Weglot app.

However, integrating Weglot incurs additional costs on top of your BigCommerce fees, making it quite expensive, especially if you have multiple storefronts to translate.

In contrast, Shopify's native multilingual capabilities shine brightly. Shopify allows you to incorporate up to 21 languages, and in 2022, they introduced Shopify Markets as part of their core functionality.

This tool empowers merchants worldwide, enabling them to sell to anyone, anywhere in the world, all from a single store.

Delivery

Shipping rate options

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer diverse shipping rate options, including free shipping, flat rates, rates based on weight, rates based on the product price, and real-time quotes directly from carriers.

Real-time shipping quotes are advantageous for both merchants and customers as they provide exact shipping costs based on the order's size, weight, and destination before the purchase is made. This transparency ensures plenty of choices and prevents both the merchant and the customer from overpaying for shipping.

BigCommerce includes real-time shipping quotes in all their plans, ensuring transparency and choice for users.

In the case of Shopify, if you reside in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, or Spain, and are willing to use Shopify's preferred carriers in these countries, you qualify for "Shopify Shipping." This feature provides real-time shipping quotes on all Shopify plans.

However, if you reside outside these countries and wish to access real-time shipping quotes with Shopify, you have to subscribe to the Advanced Plan or the Shopify Plus Plan.

Fulfillment

Order fulfillment encompasses the essential steps of delivering your products to customers, involving short-term storage, order picking, packaging, and final delivery.

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer integrations with third-party fulfillment services via different apps.

Notably, Shopify stands out by providing its own dedicated service, the Shopify Fulfillment Network. To qualify for this network, specific criteria for your Shopify store need to be met. Explore the requirements to join the Shopify Fulfillment Network for your business.

Customer support

Shopify and BigCommerce both provide similar customer support options, including FAQs, community forums, 24/7 live chat, video tutorials, and email support.

Their help centers are rich in valuable information, and what stood out was the helpful prompts integrated into their platform dashboards, guiding users directly to relevant pages within their knowledge centers. This feature is particularly beneficial for individuals seeking self-paced learning.

However, a notable difference lies in the ease of contacting customer support. BigCommerce simplifies the process; users can click the 'Help' link in their dashboard to access 24/7 customer support via phone, email, live chat, and the help center. Notably, BigCommerce also allows direct phone contact based on the user's location.

In contrast, Shopify's dashboard primarily offers access to the Shopify help center and community forums.

If users require urgent assistance, they can search for 'Contact Shopify Support,' initiating a chat with the support team, or leaving a message, with responses received within 24 hours. Unlike BigCommerce, Shopify does not offer phone support.

One area where Shopify surpasses BigCommerce in customer support is language availability. While BigCommerce provides support in 7 languages (English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Mexican Spanish), Shopify offers support in 21 languages for each plan except for Shopify Lite.

Expert Takeaways

Upon close examination, the differences between the two platforms are relatively minor. Understandably, both Shopify and BigCommerce closely monitor the market and actively incorporate new features introduced by their competitors.

When it comes to international eCommerce and multilingual setups, Shopify tends to offer a more straightforward approach. On the other hand, BigCommerce stands out with its advanced built-in site search feature.

BigCommerce exhibits greater generosity than Shopify, as it doesn't impose transaction fees regardless of the chosen payment gateways. In contrast, Shopify concentrates on expanding its extensive ecosystem of app extensions to enhance its features.

Consequently, while some features are unavailable on both platforms, Shopify provides users with app options as an alternative, both free and paid, ensuring users can unlock the full potential of their stores.

Which platform is better suited for your business?

BigCommerce and Shopify are leading eCommerce platforms, each offering robust features that empower users to create professional online stores.

As major competitors, both platforms deliver exceptional services, ensuring top-notch performance. However, there are notable differences between them. Let's explore a brief overview to highlight these distinctions:

You should go for Shopify because:

• Users can manage up to 1,000 inventory locations on any subscription plan.
• Significantly larger selection of third-party apps compared to BigCommerce.
• More variety in both free and paid themes offered by Shopify.
• Supports a wider range of integrations.
• Affordable email marketing tool available through Shopify Email.
• Better support for international growth, offering a wider range of international payment gateways and support for up to 21 languages, while BigCommerce requires an app for multiple language support.
• Point of Sale integration is more seamless with Shopify than with BigCommerce.

You should go for BigCommerce because:

• Built-in features are readily accessible without additional installations or payments.
• Better SEO capabilities are offered.
• No transaction fees apply, regardless of the chosen payment gateway.
• Easier access to customer support compared to Shopify.
• Third-party real-time carrier quotes are available on all plans.
• Unlimited staff accounts are allowed on all BigCommerce plans.
• Multiple stores can be built under one account across all BigCommerce plans, unlike Shopify's limited offering in the 'Shopify Plus' enterprise plan.