bigcommerce vs.shopify

When looking to start an e-commerce store, you may be overwhelmed by the number of different e-commerce platforms out there. That's why it's important that you not only find the best platform for you but one that is the complete e-commerce solution.

What that means is finding one that will not only host your website but also help you in the day-to-day operations and management of your store. One that will help you process payments and help with fulfilling orders.

In this e-commerce battle, we've identified two of the biggest e-commerce platforms today: BigCommerce and Shopify.

In this review of BigCommerce vs.Shopify, we'll compare some of the most notable aspects and see how they stack up against each other. We'll then choose a winner for each category and provide you with our overall winner at the end.

BigCommerce vs.Shopify - An Overview

For those unfamiliar with either BigCommerce or Shopify, here is a brief overview of these respective companies.

BigCommerce

• Was founded in 2009
• Was started in Sydney, Australia by Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper
• Also opened their first American office in 2009 in Austin, Texas
• In 2011, they raised $15 million in a Series A round of funding.
• In 2015, Brett Bellm replaced Machaalani and Harper as CEO.
• In 2016, they partnered with Amazon to provide retailers with inventory syncing capability.
• In 2020, they filed for an IPO and became a public company in August of 2020.
• Serves over 60,000 online stores across 120 countries
• Countries that use BigCommerce the most are the USA, Australia, UK, Brazil, and Canada.

Shopify

• Was founded in 2006
• Founded by Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake
• Origins of the company started in Ottawa, Canada.
• In 2013, launched Shopify Payments
• In 2015, they filed for an IPO and became a public company in May 2015.
• In 2017, they secured a key integration with Amazon.
• As of 2020, there are over 7,000 employees worldwide.
• In 2020, they announced the Alipay partnership for cross-border payments.
• As of May 2021, it has more than 1.7 million online stores across 175 countries.
• Generated $2.93 billion in revenue in 2020
• Countries that use Shopify the most are the USA, UK, and Australia.
• 25% of revenues come from the Shopify Plus pricing plan

User Experience And Overall Ease Of Use

One of the challenges with any tech platform is making it widely accessible while also making it easy to use. This is because not everyone is tech-savvy as some users can be vastly more experienced or less experienced than others.

Fortunately, BigCommerce and Shopify tend to both do well in ensuring that their platforms are relatively easy to use for everyone. On the whole, the interface for both platforms is intuitive and for areas that are perhaps more nuanced, they offer a short explanation.

Users that have experience with other content management systems (CMS), such as WordPress, will likely have a smoother user experience when using either platform.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a good blend of colors and things are generally easy to find with their dashboard. Like many other CMS platforms, BigCommerce uses a column on the left side as the main navigation area. To the right of the navigation is where the main content will be displayed from clicking any one of the links in the navigation.

Shopify

Shopify also charges zero transaction fees...but there's a catch. You will only be charged zero dollars if you use Shopify Payments. The Shopify Payments system is Shopify's own internal payment gateway that they use to process credit card transactions.

The one downfall to using Shopify Payments is that it is not available for use in all countries. While it is available for use in most developed countries, there also are some exceptions. One of them being that Shopify Payments is available in the USA but not in any American territories. Thus, if you were using Shopify in Guam, you would not be eligible to use Shopify Payments.

However, not all Shopify users are forced to use Shopify Payments. In fact, you don't have to at all. Just know that if you opt not to use it, you will be charged transaction fees. The percentage you will be charged is dependent on the type of pricing plan you're on with Shopify.

As for credit card fees, if you're using Shopify Payments, the fees you incur will depend on the Shopify pricing plan you're on. Take a look at the graphic below and you will see the percentage and fixed fee you will be charged by each Shopify plan.

The Victor: BigCommerce

BigCommerce is the big winner here simply because their no transaction fees come with no strings attached. You're not required to be on any type of plan with BigCommerce and offers users more flexibility.

On top of that, their credit card fees, when partnered up with PayPal, are slightly cheaper than the credit card fees attached to Shopify Payments.

Customer Support

Customer support is a critical feature to have for platforms where, with one simple click of your mouse, something can easily go wrong. The level of customer support can vary between different companies and so for e-commerce stores, you'll want to find a platform where customer support is excellent. We can easily say that BigCommerce and Shopify offer top-notch customer support for their users.

BigCommerce

The BigCommerce customer support prides itself on 24/7 customer support whether that's through the phone or via live chat. After all, they service customers around the world and it's only fair that customers in all regions are serviced if they need assistance.

While the 24/7 support is great, BigCommerce takes it a step further with its Help Center page. This page is for users that may just want to poke around and see if they can find the answers to their issues instead of seeking out a live customer support agent.

This page can best be described as a BigCommerce community of users all looking to help each other while getting access to the resources they need. Users will find different modules that will help them find the answers they want and learn more about how they can best leverage the BigCommerce platform.

They have a "Trending Now" section that shows users what the most popular groups are, the most recent questions asked, and recent news and updates. Overall, it's a great community support system and another excellent resource for BigCommerce users to have access to on top of their already stellar 24/7 customer support.

Though it's not customer support, when new users sign up to use the platform, a BigCommerce sales agent will give you a quick, 10-minute call. This call is intended to welcome you to the e-commerce platform and to also get an idea of what your business goals are. It's a nice onboarding gesture that helps make new users feel welcome.

Shopify

To the surprise of no one, Shopify also offers 24/7 customer support via phone and live chat.

If users prefer not to contact a live customer agent, they can also turn to the Shopify Help Center page. This page is similar to the one that BigCommerce with the exception being that the Shopify page does not include community members.

In fact, it's just a simple page where you find the category your issue may fall under and hope that your answer is there. We say "hope" that your answer is there because this Help Center is not very robust at all and may not tackle some of the technical issues users may have.

We should note that Shopify has a community page, but it is not connected to their Help page.

The Victor: BigCommerce

When it comes down to BigCommerce vs.Shopify's customer support, the clear-cut winner is BigCommerce. First, they take the time, even if it's just 10 minutes, to get to know you and what your goals are with your e-commerce store. This is something that Shopify does not do.

Second, their help page is a significant step above Shopify's because they include their community on this page. Engaging the BigCommerce community makes it a platform for everyone and users are able to see the questions and issues some users are having. If they are unable to resolve their issue on this page, other BigCommerce users can step in and help answer questions for them if they know it.

Both BigCommerce and Shopify are great with their live customer support that is available 24/7. However, BigCommerce's community-building aspect on their help page is what seals the deal for us.

Pricing

As many shoppers know, the final decision can often come down to pricing. After all, people want a good deal and don't want to overpay on something where the value may not be there.

Fortunately, both BigCommerce and Shopify have plenty of excellent features and offer great value for your online store. As you'll see, the pricing of both platforms is identical. However, there are some minor differences between the two.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce pricing gives users a choice to pay either monthly or annually. When paying annually, users of the Plus and Pro plans can expect to receive a 10% discount on their plans. A 15-day free trial is also offered for people who aren't sold on a paid plan yet.

Here are the BigCommerce pricing plans on a monthly basis.

Here are the BigCommerce pricing plans on an annual basis.

Click here to check BigCommerce's pricing & current deals.

Shopify

Shopify features three paid plans that are only offered on a monthly payment cadence. The least expensive is the Basic Shopify plan which is $29 per month while for $299 per month you can get the Advanced Shopify plan.

On top of this, you are also entitled to a 14-day free trial that does not require you to enter your credit card!

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is an enterprise plan that is primarily exclusive to online stores that generate a ton of volume and sales revenue. It offers users much more flexibility in terms of the apps that are available to them, customer support, and more.

Its pricing is different from the regular plans in that you are charged on a sliding scale which can range from $2,000 to $40,000 per month. This range is very wide because it is dependent on how many resources and the bandwidth your online store uses.

Shopify Lite

Shopify Lite is a watered-down version of Shopify's offerings where you can use some of Shopify's features but you can't build your online store with it. This plan is intended for people who want to sell their products in person but don't want to use all the features in a regular Shopify plan. If you already have an existing e-commerce store, you can also purchase the Shopify Lite plan to add a buy button to your website.

Shopify Lite will only cost you $9 per month.

Click here to check Shopify's pricing & current deals.

The Victor: Shopify

It's tough to pick a winner in the BigCommerce vs.Shopify pricing debate since both of their paid plans are identical. However, the features offered in Shopify outweigh the features you get in BigCommerce and even offset the 10% discount you receive on annual plans in BigCommerce.

Shopify's pricing is also more flexible than BigCommerce. They have plans for users that want to use some (but not all) of their features and for users that already do massive amounts of volume and sales revenue per month.

Therefore, Shopify is the clearcut winner in the pricing debate.

What Are The Pros And Cons Of BigCommerce?

Like any e-commerce platform, BigCommerce has its pros and cons.

Pros

• No transaction fees for online merchants
• Low credit card fees but only when partnered up with their preferred vendor, PayPal
• Good selection of third-party apps to integrate with
• Terrific selection of free templates to help you get started
• Easy to find design themes based on your store's category or niche
• Excellent reporting with the Ecommerce Insights package
• The drag-and-drop editing feature is easy and time-saving for beginners.
• Excellent customer support and community-building aspect when looking for BigCommerce help

Cons

• Ecommerce Insights reporting can be expensive depending on your BigCommerce plan.
• Third-party theme offering is not as plentiful as Shopify's.
• The dashboard can be overwhelming to use for beginners to content management systems (CMS).
• Does not have its own POS system
• Heavy reliance on third-party applications to get the most out of BigCommerce

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Shopify?

Here are the key pros and cons of using Shopify.

Pros

• Has a very clean and intuitive interface and dashboard
• Offers a great variety of flexible pricing plans
• Shopify Payments is a groundbreaking way for users to control the entire sales process inside of Shopify.
• Good variety of free and paid design themes
• Has a vast community of third-party applications and themes that Shopify users can purchase and use
• Superior marketing and sales functionality from its mobile app
• Good 24/7 customer support

Cons

• High transaction fees unless you opt to use Shopify Payments
• High credit card fees
• Switching templates can cause formatting issues to your site.

BigCommerce vs.Shopify: And the Winner is...

While both BigCommerce and Shopify have plenty of features to help online business owners sell their products, we think Shopify is the overwhelming winner in this battle of BigCommerce vs.Shopify.

Shopify is simply a much more polished platform between the two. In terms of e-commerce solutions, Shopify is probably among, if not the best in the market today.

Their platform and dashboard are easy and intuitive to use and they offer a good selection of free themes to get you started. Since it's such a widely used e-commerce platform, there are many themes you can also find on third-party websites.

Lastly, when it comes to payment, Shopify makes the experience seamless by offering their Shopify Payments. This path provides merchants with a singular way to process sales, check inventory, and ring up sales, all from our POS system.