The Ultimate Comparison of BigCommerce vs. Shopify

BigCommerce vs Shopify

Both of the platforms are’software as a service’ (SaaS) tools that enable you to sell your products online. The two products run on a web browser, which means you do not need to install anything on your computer. If you have internet, you can basically access it from anywhere in the world. What makes these two ever so exciting is that you do not need to do any designing or coding to set your online store.

All you have to do is pick a template, upload your product pictures, set the prices and you are sorted. Apart from Shopify, BigCommerce’ competitors in the ecommerce space include: Magento and Volusion.

Even though both BigCommerce and Shopify are industry leaders, they have their own pros and cons. There is no clear cut winner, as both are equally good. However, depending on your business goals, it is critical to look at what each has to offer.

Pricing Plans

Since both the products are ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) tools and with any such tool, there is an ongoing cost – where you pay an annual or monthly fee to access it.

Shopify offers pricing plans ranging from $29 to $299 per month. There is a transaction fees too that decreases as you opt for higher plans. These costs are completely eliminated if you use Shopify Payments.

BigCommerce has similar pricing plans ranging from $29.95 to $249.95 per month, with no transactions fee. However, BigCommerce requires you opt for higher plans as your sales numbers grow.

Designs & User Experience

Shopify is known for its robust designs, which can easily be gauged by the platform’s user experience and an extensive themes library. Since Shopify’s user experience is similar to WordPress and other similar content management systems, it is relatively an easier tool to use.

Users have the option to build their stores around free themes offered by the platform or pick and customize themes created by third party designers. Shopify has been around for a while, which has enabled it to build an enormous ecosystem comprising of designers and developers.

Like BigCommerce’ competitors, it also has a strong focus on design too. Where Shopify has based its user experience around familiar web tool metaphors, BigCommerce takes a unique approach to most of its interface. This has its own pros and cons, where a simple task can become more cumbersome. However, if you are a vendor looking for additional advanced options offering finer levels of customization, then you would not mind the heavier feel.

Additional Tools

Shopify platform offers all the basic tools required for a store to: showcase products, manage inventory, configuring shipping details, set prices and taxes, among many others. And for any other additional advance tool, there is an App store that houses over 500 apps developed by in house and third party developers.

BigCommerce on the other hand, offers more advanced customizable features that are included in the plan for free. Some of these out of the box features include: built in shipping quotes, product reviews, gift certificates and a few email marketing tools. For additional capabilities, BigCommerce also has an App store.

BigCommerce Competitors

The most obvious reason to choose BigCommerce over Shopify is that it incorporates more helpful out of the box features that are cheap – gift vouchers, reporting, reviews and ratings. Another key reason would be product choices: on BigCommerce you can tailor them to however you want, where Shopify offers limited options.

BigCommerce is extremely appropriate for vendors who are looking to sell their own products, want maximum flexibility and are looking for a one stop solution in terms of the functionalities they want in their online store.

Shopify over BigCommerce would be ideal when it comes down to financials: there is no limit to how much you can sell, credit card charges are lower and you can enhance your competitiveness with their plans. Another reason would be the benefits of their more established ecosystem offering a wider range of design templates and Apps.