Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BigCommerce
Score 7.9 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BigCommerce is a SaaS platform that allows SMBs to develop eCommerce sites. Features include the capabilities to design the storefront, configure products, manage payments, generate traffic, and optimize conversion.
$39
per month
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Shopify Plus is an eCommerce solution built for enterprise-level companies that enables them to sell online and offline across social channels like Facebook , Pinterest, and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
$2,300
per month with a 3-year commitment
Pricing
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Editions & Modules
Standard
$39
per month
Plus
$105
per month
Pro
$399
per month
Enterprise
Custom
per month
3-year term
$2300
per month
1-year term
$2500
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Considered Both Products
BigCommerce
Chose BigCommerce
Compared to Shopify, which is the biggest competitor to BigCommerce, we had several meetings with Shopify and then considered going with Shopify Plus. We realized that while Shopify is more user-friendly, it also costs significantly more than BigCommerce, and I did not like how …
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a great and powerful platform that has lots of upside. We still have a couple basic sites running on BigCommerce, mainly for backing up customer and order data. At this time, we have moved most of our businesses over to Shopify Plus b/c we feel that we get much …
Chose BigCommerce
Volusion didn’t have some product presentation features we wanted, Shopify felt small for designs, Shopify Plus was closest but inventory handled differently. In the end it was about recommendations from other 3rd party users that helped make the decision.
Chose BigCommerce
We used both Yahoo's ecommerce platform which was awful and very limited, not to mention incredibly difficult to find developers for, to also using Shopify Plus which had a lot going for it too but was surprisingly limited out of the box compared to BigCommerce but has more …
Chose BigCommerce
When we compared BigCommerce to Shopify Plus, we found that BigCommerce had better SEO benefits available without needing an additional paid app to control it. We were also able to manage listings and orders more efficiently with better value for money. Shopify Plus offered …
Chose BigCommerce
We switched from Shopify due to the restrictions they implemented on our industry. While we spent tens of thousands of dollars investing in our Shopify store, we can't have them cutting us off anytime they want. We reviewed WooCommerce, but didn't like the storefront or …
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce has more modern tools than Yahoo Small Business, is managed unlike WordPress/WooCommerce, and is cheaper than Shopify with better product options management.
Chose BigCommerce
Every criterion we evaluated against BigCommerce either won outright or held its own. What got us over the line was the incredible personal support at every step of the way from onboarding and implementation through to BAU. I had a support ticket this morning which I resolved …
Chose BigCommerce
Of all the eCommerce platforms we evaluated, only Shopify would compete. Shopify is a better bet with smaller catalogs and less custom business requirements in our experience. While the app store in Shopify is robust, BigCommerce has better native features that were important …
Chose BigCommerce
We very much liked BigCommerce because it was the perfect fit or the best of both worlds as far as our business is concerned. It had a really robust shopping cart experience that comes standard and it allows for a Sandbox environment that we can use for future custom build-outs.
Chose BigCommerce
We originally started a relationship with Shopify. I spent hundreds of hours working on customized our store. Shopify's customer service and tech support were very frustrating. I finally decided to abandon Shopify since we could never get our store to function exactly as we …
Chose BigCommerce
With BigCommerce you have great support (not with the open-source alternatives) without the high order fee that comes with Shopify. You also never have to worry about server settings or up-time. And you still have a lot of freedom with the design and functionality.

BigCommerce …
Chose BigCommerce
It is cleaner and easier but sacrifices apps and features. It includes SSL where 3dcart charges. Magento is just too bulky for one person to operate.
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce was the platform our company already used when I joined - we will likely transition to a new platform. Shopify is faster, OpenCart is more scalable.
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce offers so much more features and capabilities out-of-the-box than all the other options combined. Sure the other options have a large marketplace of apps and add-ons, but things tends to break when a platform relies on their 3rd party apps to provide basic …
Chose BigCommerce
I have managed to build 2 large websites on BigCommerce and it is fast and reliable. Have managed builds on Magento as well as small website projects on Wix, GoDaddy and Shopify and they all have their pros and cons. This is an ever-changing space and it really comes down to …
Chose BigCommerce
We evaluated and used numerous platforms before finally landing with BigCommerce. Some of the platforms were cookie-cutter and didn't offer enough freedom to customize certain things. Other platforms required each individual piece of the platform to be manually added.... adding …
Chose BigCommerce
If you've been in the eCommerce business for long and don't roll your own solution, odds are you've compared Shopify against BigCommerce. We started on Shopify but decided to switch when Shopify wanted to penalize us 1% of our gross sales for not using their in-house credit …
Chose BigCommerce
Other than Shopify all of these solutions require a lot of development and maintenance as they are very custom. Shopify had a good product for direct to consumer but not as good on the B2B facing side of our business. We also don't like the stance they are taking on customer …
Chose BigCommerce
WordPress is ridiculously hard to learn, manage, and integrate. It’s not designed to be a one-stop-shop like BigCommerce. I like Shopify, but I would have to pay more to get what I get with BigCommerce, and I would have more apps to manage, sync, and update.
Chose BigCommerce
Shopify, while it has a larger learning curve, is better able to meet our needs as we grow. The customer service is easy to understand and often has step by step instructions in order to do what we need it to do. They offer different courses and have access to more apps that …
Shopify Plus
Chose Shopify Plus
We found BigCommerce to be almost identical to Shopify in many ways, but Shopify had more apps in their marketplace and we couldn't find another significant difference at the time.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is WAYYYYYY better than anything else that we have used, and it's not even close. The websites are faster and more reliable, both of which are critical to running an online business. The cost to run is way less. We are running five websites on Shopify Plus for less …
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify had the quickest go-to-market and most robust API among the products we compared. CommerceCloud required a VERY LONG integration phase that we just didn't have time for. BigCommerce fell short on the number of features and API coverage that we needed. Overall Shopify …
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is the most advanced and most widely accepted "DIY" website tool. While WordPress has some capabilities and is certainly cheaper, it is still a blogging platform with e-commerce capabilities added later, and you can tell that's what it is when you use it. BigCommerc…
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify is more robust and has more functionalities than its competitors like BigCommerce and Kibo. It offers the best UI in the business and the most exhaustive app marketplace ecosystem. It is more cost effective than big system and doe snot require large teams of developers …
Chose Shopify Plus
There are all good for business who are just starting but as the business grows the platform has to be able to scale with it
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify is a much easier and more intuitive platform to use.

The mobile focus is outstanding from the other competitors and the capability to modify the store without previous code or experience makes them the best e-commerce platform.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus has the most robust capabilities of the pure cloud plays and the app store ecosystem is the largest and best.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus offers a more robust solution than Woo commerce and is easier to train on than Big Commerce. Woo commerce is freeware with no support. Big Commerce offers more SEO features and is a more powerful solution, but harder to remote train users on - lots more …
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is way ahead of the pack in terms of features, automated and worry free maintenance / security / scaling / infrastructure, customer support, and speed. We've been building eCommerce sites for over a decade and it seems almost every positive trend in eCommerce is …
Features
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.4
439 Ratings
5% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.4
45 Ratings
8% above category average
Product catalog & listings8.0435 Ratings8.843 Ratings
Product management7.7432 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Bulk product upload7.6331 Ratings7.940 Ratings
Branding7.0381 Ratings8.242 Ratings
Mobile storefront7.7421 Ratings8.743 Ratings
Product variations7.4408 Ratings7.943 Ratings
Website integration7.5361 Ratings8.239 Ratings
Visual customization6.8424 Ratings8.543 Ratings
CMS7.1314 Ratings8.540 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.6
424 Ratings
0% above category average
Shopify Plus
8.6
44 Ratings
12% above category average
Abandoned cart recovery7.5382 Ratings8.442 Ratings
Checkout user experience7.7419 Ratings8.943 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
8.2
420 Ratings
1% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.8
42 Ratings
6% above category average
eCommerce security8.2420 Ratings8.842 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.4
425 Ratings
3% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.4
44 Ratings
9% above category average
Promotions & discounts7.5401 Ratings8.543 Ratings
Personalized recommendations7.2333 Ratings8.438 Ratings
SEO7.7395 Ratings8.343 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.6
430 Ratings
5% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.2
43 Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-site management7.8203 Ratings00 Ratings
Order processing8.2409 Ratings8.743 Ratings
Inventory management8.1363 Ratings7.742 Ratings
Shipping7.0370 Ratings8.142 Ratings
Custom functionality6.8365 Ratings8.342 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Small Businesses
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(458 ratings)
9.1
(45 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(54 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(28 ratings)
8.8
(12 ratings)
Availability
8.4
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.4
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(28 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.2
(15 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.4
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.9
(362 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
BigCommerce
Big Commerce is great for managing our items for sale all while serving as a home base for our customers. - Whether they want to buy PPE, learn about PPE or have any questions or concerns, they know they can come to our site and get the service/product they need!
Read full review
Shopify
Shopify Plus makes order management simple and less error prone. Connecting our ERP allows us to seamlessly manage our product listings, fulfill orders, and sync customer data. Limitations to the number of product variants requires attention from our staff to make sure our products sync without issue. Other than being arbitrary, there's really no need to limit the number of product variants.
Read full review
Pros
BigCommerce
  • They are "SUPPOSEDLY" better for SEO but we have not gotten data on that yet
  • Sales guy was good at what he does (no value to our website though)
  • No fear they will go out of business anytime soon
  • Customer support is generally available, in my opinion, just not very helpful
Read full review
Shopify
  • Syncs directly with ShipBob WMS.
  • Shopify Scripts and the Script Editors allows us to tailor our checkout screen.
  • Gives us advanced sales reporting, showing trends, performance, year to year, and even projections.
  • Scalable for high volume, handles spikes in traffic without downtime.
Read full review
Cons
BigCommerce
  • Better and easier localisation for stores outside the US
  • Speed - it is not the fastest
  • Make sure that third-party theme developers update regularly and use best practice
  • Consider EU and country-specific rules and legal obligations and make customers aware of whether BC is actually fully compliant
Read full review
Shopify
  • When linking to our communication service some customers have several emails with orders and only one email generates orders. It would be nice if we could combine all of this information into one account.
  • If a customer has multiple accounts you are also unable to edit the email address as it is already used, another reason merging accounts would be helpful.
  • Some of the processes in Shopify are too easy to complete. I’m certain scenarios a peony of “are you sure you would like to complete(this action)” would be extremely helpful and avoid mistakes that are not reversible.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BigCommerce
I personally would not even consider another e-commerce website platform.
Bigcommerce may have the same (or close to the same) functionality and integrations as other SaaS platforms but they excel at customer service and tech support. At the end of the day you need a company that will answer the phone in less than a minute especially if you're having a 5 alarm issue. That said, we hardly ever have any issues. The site was down for a few minutes one time 5 years ago. Sometimes we have issues with coding or apps and they help me with that too. They even walked me through installing our new theme when the contracted developers told me that wasn't included in the development of our new website.
Bigcommerce comes out with new innovations every year, not including apps that other people write for the platform, and there are a lot of those and new ones all the time. And there are a LOT of awesome themes to choose from (Halothemes are the best).
And the price is reasonable!
I'd give Bigcommerce my business any time and recommend them to anyone looking to run an e-commerce website. You could even use them for a non-shopping site, we have one of those too!
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Usability
BigCommerce
I think that overall it has a great front end for the customer. On the back end, it takes a little spin-up time, but in just a couple of hours you can really have your head wrapped around everything you're going to need 99% of the time. It takes me about 5 minutes to train a new user on how to interact with customer orders.
Read full review
Shopify
It is extremely easy for merchants to get to know how Shopify Plus works. Comparitive to other platforms such as Magento and WooCommerce it is extremely lean and easy to operate, meaning clients who migrate over to it find it very intuitive to use. There is also a lot of guides and up to date information online
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
BigCommerce
So far in my time with BigCommerce I have not had any down time when it comes to my webstore or accessing it at any time I need to. Knowing that they have such a good uptime, it makes me feel comfortable that my customers can access things anytime, but also keep sales going 24/7
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Performance
BigCommerce
I have not had any issues with pages loading slow or any real other issues, not that I have encountered so far. Speed of the site and images loading are fantastic and everything just seems to work nicely, which may seem like a simple thing to say about things, but when something just WORKS! Its rather nice vs fighting with things to work right.
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
BigCommerce
Because they are always there no matter how simple or complex the question is, if they don't know the answer they don't fake it and just make you go away feeling frustrated.. they get you to someone that does know the answer. I always appreciate their help and their honesty!
Read full review
Shopify
Always are quick to answer our questions and help us find a solution
Read full review
Online Training
BigCommerce
They have a comprehensive online help file system that makes it easy to do almost anything. They cover just about everything you'd want to do with your online store with images, clear descriptions and in some cases video. I will, however, say the videos should be a little more professorially done and not sound like the employees are doing it in their cubical.
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
BigCommerce
A certified BigCommerce design and solution partner will usually comprise a team of highly experienced designers, developers and marketers. It is our view that in the vast majority of cases, this will pay dividends in the long-term - especially for those teams that could use the extra support.
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
BigCommerce
We switched from Shopify due to the restrictions they implemented on our industry. While we spent tens of thousands of dollars investing in our Shopify store, we can't have them cutting us off anytime they want. We reviewed WooCommerce, but didn't like the storefront or backend. Plus it seems like Wordpress/WooCommerce runs into tons of hacking issues and bugs.
Read full review
Shopify
Shopify had the quickest go-to-market and most robust API among the products we compared. CommerceCloud required a VERY LONG integration phase that we just didn't have time for. BigCommerce fell short on the number of features and API coverage that we needed. Overall Shopify gave us the most bang for the buck.
Read full review
Scalability
BigCommerce
I believe after seeing all of the parts of this platform, one is able to develop the business and keep adding on select features for the business. There are multiple options for purchase with the various platforms once the business grows more. The different features being offered by the platform can lead us to scalability.
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BigCommerce
  • Provides a robust platform to sell a high-risk product.
  • Page Builder saves you time and money by negating the need to buy a template.
  • Includes robust promotion settings that allow for codes and automatic discounts, bulk discounts, and customer groups (i.e. military discount), all native options.
Read full review
Shopify
  • The pricing of Shopify Plus over the regular Shopify Account solution is about 10x if not 20x the cost. But with this cost comes the increased reliability and trust you have in your eCommerce Software solution/website. We still have a great ROI with the Shopify Plus Pricing.
  • With Shopify Plus, we have been able to drill deeper into a more robust eCommerce experience for our customers
  • With Shopify Plus, we have been able to customize our Website further with recommended apps, features, and customizations based on our Dedicated Account Reps expertise.
Read full review
ScreenShots

BigCommerce Screenshots

Screenshot of enterprise ecommerce for high-volume brands like Skullcandy.Screenshot of the integration that lets you list products on Amazon directly from the BigCommerce control panel, with centralized inventory and order processing and fulfillment.Screenshot of where to customize the look and feel of a storefront.

Shopify Plus Screenshots

Screenshot of The home screen of your Shopify admin, including proactive home cards and reporting and live view insights.Screenshot of Your Shopify Plus store is ready for mobile commerce. Customers can browse and buy from your store with an optimized experience on device.Screenshot of Editing products across sales channels.Screenshot of Easily edit colours, typography, settings, and drag and drop sections for each of your store's templates with the theme editor.