BigCommerce is a cloud-based open SaaS (Software as a Service) e-commerce platform designed for businesses to build, manage and grow their online stores. It has various native features like built-in SEO, no transaction fees, multi-channel selling. It allows the merchant to manage and sell physical and digital products, customize themes using drag-and-drop editor. Shopify is also a similar type of e-commerce platform but operates on a totally different business model.
Here is why you should choose BigCommerce over Shopify for your Business:
Pricing:
In general, Bigcommerce and Shopify offer similar pricing for their different plans if paid annually. But when it comes to monthly billing. Shopify charges extra amount if the plan is billed monthly, while Bigcommerce does not bill monthly.
| Bigcommerce | Shopify |
| Standard $29/mo (billed annually) | Basic $29/mo (billed annually) or $39/mo (billed monthly) |
| Plus $79/mo (billed annually) | Grow $79/mo (billed annually) or $105/mo (billed monthly) |
| Pro $299/mo (billed annually) | Advanced $299/mo (billed annually) or $399/mo (billed monthly) |
| Enterprise (custom priced) | Plus $2300/mo (3-year term) |
Transaction fee:
BigCommerce does not charge any transaction fee no matter which payment method you use. But Shopify charges 0.2% to 2% transaction fee if you use a third-party payment method other than Shopify payments. The transaction fees add an additional cost when you choose to use Shopify.
Built-in features:
Bigcommerce has more out-of-box built-in features like facets and search, related products, gift cards, product reviews, multi-currency, customer groups, and many more. But Shopify use different apps from its app store which may cost you some additional charges.
Stronger B2B capabilities:
BigCommerce has native and advanced B2B features such as customer groups, price lists, and quote management, which are more practical than Shopify’s. This makes Bigcommerce a better fit for wholesale or hybrid B2B/B2C businesses. Shopify does not have these features.
Better SEO Flexibility:
Bigcommerce has more control over the URL structure of pages, products, and categories. Shopify uses prefixes like /products/,/collections/, and /pages/. BigCommerce also provides Open Graph sharing configurations alongside title tag and meta description editing, which Shopify does not provide. It has a strong built-in SEO. So, there is no need to rely on other apps for SEO optimization.
Multi-Storefront:
A single bigcommerce account can power multiple storefronts by sharing the same backend, catalogs, and other resources. Each store has their own pricing rule and currency. Shopify also has Shopify Markets (equivalent to multi-storefront) which is only available in Shopify Plus plan. Shopify Market only allows a region-based solution, like localized currency and localized payments geographically. BigCommerce multi-storefront is the better fit when you’re running 2+ different brands that share fulfillment but diverge on catalog, pricing, and identity. Shopify Markets is only better fit when your primary expansion is geographic rather than brand-based.
Product Customization:
Bigcommerce has better features regarding product customization based on user requirements. It has product modifiers that allow customers to select their own customization for the like embroidery, custom text printing etc. Meanwhile, Shopify does not have such features.
Shared variant/modifier options:
BigCommerce’s one of the best features is that you do not need to create same variant options and modifer option for every product. It has shared options and a shared modifiers feature. You can reuse the options and modifiers of one product in another product through shared variant/modifer options.
Checkout customization:
BigCommerce’s stencil framework gives developers direct access to customize the checkout experience. Developers can add UI changes and extra functionality to the checkout using different tools like Checkout SDK, but Shopify does not allow any of them. In BigCommerce, you can even use you own checkout by modifying the open source checkout of bigcommerce. In Shopify plus plan only, Shopify checkout can be customized.
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