BigCommerce vs. Shopify Plus

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 9.0 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
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
NoNo
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
Each platform has its pros and cons. However, overall, BigCommerce is the most challenging to work with from a developer's perspective. Simply finding files and locating the code in the theme editor takes too much time.
Chose BigCommerce
- Ease of Use: With guided onboarding, BigCommerce enables us to manage stores independently within days, reducing the need for extensive technical support. ​

-Comprehensive Built-In Features: BigCommerce provides a wide array of native features, minimizing reliance on …
Chose BigCommerce
easy for customization , no lengthy coding required.
Chose BigCommerce
I believe other platforms offer more robust CMS and experience managing tools making content and product updates easier to perform.
Chose BigCommerce
Although k-eCommerce may be a good fit for businesses who's ERP is Microsoft NAV Dynamics, we found the application to be cumbersome and lacking user friendly functionality as compared with BigCommerce. The k-eCommerce support was poor, impersonal and lacked situational …
Chose BigCommerce
I personally prefer BigCommerce over Shopify. Shopify is more confusing to use and takes longer to get a site up and running. Shopify also seemed to heavily lack some needed bulk editing tools that bigcommerce has. The only thing I preferred about Shopify was that it had more …
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce has more built in options than Shopify. While shopify has lots more apps that are available and a lower initial price. The use of third party apps is good to have lots of options but each option needs to be vetted and dealt with independently. They greater number of …
Chose BigCommerce
Big Commerce is definitely king in comparison to EvoX. Not only is Big commerce easier to use, it's also just a more powerful platform with many more capabilities (for example, EVOX has analytic capabilities but, nothing to the extent of Big Commerce's google analytics …
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce had a much strong B2B integration and platform in general than shopify. Netsuite was too expensive at the time to considering it.
Chose BigCommerce
I find BigCommerce easy to use from a non computer person stand point. It was easy to quickly get adjusted to and what they charge for building and running a website far surpassed there competitors.
Chose BigCommerce
We are moving away from BigCommerce. It has not met our needs.
Chose BigCommerce
Their B2B features are incomparable. Shopify was another contender but didn’t have the B2B capabilities that BigCommerce has
Chose BigCommerce
We deal in firearms. I tried Shopify first back in 2016 and that was a miserable mistake, very firearm NOT friendly there. Then we went to Volusion the next month and we were quite happy there for 7-1/2 years and several million $ in sales. The issue is Volusion was losing …
Chose BigCommerce
I chose BigCommerce over Shopify because I felt there were more built-in apps in BigCommerce. Other than that, I felt that both solutions are very similar.
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce combines the ease-of-use that you get form Shopify, with the ability to handle large numbers of Sku's like a custom Magento site might have.

But unlike a custom site like Magento, you don't need a coder or developer for every little change you want to make to the …
Chose BigCommerce
I find the UI to be more appealing and the storefront to be a little less recognizable as a typical Shopify storefront (more generic, etc.)
Chose BigCommerce
We chose BigCommerce over competitors due to customization and cost. We're able to have the site we're looking for, easily managed within our marketing team without hours of tedious revisions.
Chose BigCommerce
BigCommerce even with add-ons such as a PIM and B2B functionality wins for small businesses on affordability and ease of use. No servers or updates to worry about and no expensive agencies to pay. This being said, if the budget were no issue, for larger organisations Magento is …
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 is quick, easy to setup with tons of features, easy to integrate with other applications. All of these great features are available for very less as compared to other application. We have tried multiple application but BigCommerce is one of those who never …
Chose BigCommerce
Bigcommerce provide better security than wordpress , and live support is also avilable.
Chose BigCommerce
We have stuck with Big Commerce due to the amount of work and build outs we have created with the system. The issues we have come across do not raise too many red flags that we would need to switch programs at this time. If we do it is due to the promotion/ sales restrictions, …
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.
Shopify Plus
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 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
Shopify Plus is far more scalable and stable. It is much easier to implement, and the time to value is much shorter. Development resources are plentiful and skilled, and the product's user base is so massive that significant testing has been done prior to releasing any updates …
Chose Shopify Plus
Significant improvement. Magento did not have a B2B setting, so you needed to remember and alter the prices manually, and you could not create draft orders, so if you sent a customer a quote and they called up to pay, you then had to quickly create the order whilst the customer …
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus, once existing data imported awkwardly, handles so much of the basics of running an online shop in way that you know you can rely upon. It still requires many more third party tools to be able to use best-in-class analytics and AB testing.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is the best choice for DTC-oriented brands, especially if you are a leaner team and want more hands-on customization vs relying on an agency to manage your website backend.
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. …
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus's ease of use compared to Sticky.io was the biggest reason we had switched, and just the sheer customization and available apps allow you to adjust your store without needing to spend weeks custom developing tools.
Chose Shopify Plus
A far more professional approach to e-commerce in general. Servers and the core SSL are taken care of and you're left with a whole host of tools to sell, sell and sell.
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 is better supported, more powerful, and has much more ability for customization. Shopify as a platform is also much more stable than others and offers excellent customer support. New features are constantly being rolled out and it has a very large community.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is an all in one service. You are able to keep track of invoices and payments. Shopify Plus also offers options for shipping and connects your tracking number to you order which allows for easy tracking. Your tracking number is also a link which makes it even easier.
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 is the least expensive option.
Apps/plug ins are vast, inexpensive, and relatively easiest to integrate
Least amount of customization, but good for teams with small dev support
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
Netsuite SuiteCommerce, which has a very high cost of ownership, and Magento, which although powerful can be expensive and is too complex for the average eComm requirements. Too flexible can be bad in some cases.
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 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
I selected Shopify Plus because the clients found it easy to use to manage their website, whenever they needed an update of their website. Shopify Plus is great when it comes to e-commerce websites and should only be used for e-commerce.
Chose Shopify Plus
Our experience with SFCC was fairly poor. SFCC was very expensive, and the ecosystem of partners is very expensive. SFCC is a bit more mature but the time to execute is significantly slower.
Chose Shopify Plus
Shopify Olus is more of a SAAS than the self-managed Magento solution. With this comes a host of benefits such as hosting, security, updates, and new technology that you no longer have to worry about. Specifically, with Shopify Plus, scripts can be very powerful and when …
Chose Shopify Plus
Big Cartel, Magento, Squarespace, Wordpress, Wix, etc are all decent solutions for eCommerce, but none of them features the easy setup, ease of use, simple streamlined dashboard/interface, and customer website experience that Shopify Plus has. Shopify (non plus) alone is a …
Chose Shopify Plus
It doesn't. Shopify has some great features and add-ons. I particularly like the ability for customers to check out quickly with a text authenticator, the theme options, ability to customize the look and feel, and video integration but this is all surface matter. At its core, …
Chose Shopify Plus
While Squarespace has a more sophisticated site theme and template offering, the inventory management, and drop shipping options (while still not perfect, or ideal) makes Shopify Plus the right choice for powering e-commerce businesses.
Features
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.8
Ratings
0% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.6
Ratings
9% above category average
Product catalog & listings8.10 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Product management8.00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Bulk product upload7.40 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Branding7.80 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Mobile storefront7.90 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Product variations8.40 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Website integration8.20 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Visual customization7.60 Ratings9.20 Ratings
CMS6.60 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.9
Ratings
3% above category average
Shopify Plus
8.4
Ratings
9% above category average
Abandoned cart recovery7.60 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Checkout user experience8.20 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
8.2
Ratings
1% below category average
Shopify Plus
9.6
Ratings
15% above category average
eCommerce security8.20 Ratings9.60 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
Shopify Plus
8.3
Ratings
7% above category average
Promotions & discounts7.70 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Personalized recommendations7.30 Ratings8.30 Ratings
SEO8.40 Ratings7.90 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
BigCommerce
7.8
Ratings
3% below category average
Shopify Plus
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Multi-site management8.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Order processing7.70 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Inventory management7.70 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Shipping7.60 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Custom functionality7.70 Ratings9.10 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 9.0 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
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BigCommerceShopify Plus
Likelihood to Recommend
The ONLY reason we left Volusion was fear that Volusion was going to go out of business and our website/data would all be lost. I feel BigCommerce is lightyears behind Volusion in website/inventory control. In our experience, BigCommerce customer service severely lacks knowledge, at least compared to what we had in our 7-1/2 years with Volusion. There were times Volusion even helped us with stuff BigCommerce could not understand. I just feel sick about moving and that should not be the case. In my opinion, I downgraded heavily for the feeling BigCommerce would not be going out of business. I just feel sick.
Read full review
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
  • SEO - fast loading speeds, helps us rank on Google
  • Product customization - allows us to customize templates to our needs to fit all viable information
  • Integration with other platforms - seamless connection to other properties like Google Ads and Analytics
Read full review
  • Scales incredibly well. Forget about hardware concerns, load balancing, downtime, etc. and focus on eCommerce. We've seen merchants go from a few thousand dollars per month to having million dollar days, all on Shopify without having to worry about performance or scaling systems.
  • Great new features consistently being added, ahead of the curve on almost everything
  • Solid API to build on and work with, a few annoying quirks here and there for super complex use cases but overall very well documented and works well
  • Most Merchant Success Managers are good and genuinely want to be helpful
  • A fantastic user interface, very logical and easy to use
  • Tons and tons and tons of out of the box integrations. Easily the best integration marketplace of the e-commerce platforms. There's an app for that.
Read full review
Cons
  • 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
  • The Account Managers/Reps have become more scripted and seem like they are busier and handling more clients than before. It doesn't seem as personal and special anymore like when we first upgraded to Plus.
  • Shopify still has missing features in their software that might not have an app in their app marketplace available that fills this void.
  • The 24/7 support doesn't seem as dedicated as they once were.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
BigCommerce is a great platform! It does the job and has a very good API set. I would definitely recommend it to others, but I would warn them about the cost associated with BigCommerce. There are lower cost solutions, but definitely not as feature rich as BigCommerce. It's definitely not perfect, and has a few wrinkles to iron, but nothing is ever perfect. It does the job for us and I do enjoy using the platform!!
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
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 Plus is intutive as stated previously. It's easy to find what we want and edit (reports, products, online store theme, etc...) You dont need to have a ton of coding experience to be able to get a website up and running on Shopify Plus. The reason I wont give a 10/10 and gave an 8 is because I do think it is heavily realiant on app and it can open up a can of worms with the amout of apps that are out there, their costs, and which one to chose. There are also some internal limitations as stated previously with discounts and personalized message for different customer groups. But overall, it is a good platform that I recommend.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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
No answers on this topic
Performance
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
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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
Always are quick to answer our questions and help us find a solution
Read full review
Online Training
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
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Big Commerce is definitely king in comparison to EvoX. Not only is Big commerce easier to use, it's also just a more powerful platform with many more capabilities (for example, EVOX has analytic capabilities but, nothing to the extent of Big Commerce's google analytics integration. EVOX's data is very base level and does not provide much customer insight besides visits/pages viewed.
Read full review
Shopify Plus is an all in one service. You are able to keep track of invoices and payments. Shopify Plus also offers options for shipping and connects your tracking number to you order which allows for easy tracking. Your tracking number is also a link which makes it even easier.
Read full review
Scalability
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
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • 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
  • Definitely makes selling on multiple platforms easy, saving us time and effort.
  • Keeps all of our business in one place, saving us money on other apps to manage each aspect.
  • Automatically flags potential fraudulent orders, preventing us from accidentally shipping to a scam.
  • During our busiest months, we don't see any slowdowns, which allows us to go full throttle with all ads and marketing without worrying about whether or not the software can handle it.
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.