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E-Commerce · head to head

Amazon Shopping vs BigCommerce

Amazon Shopping logo

Amazon Shopping

E-Commerce

Amazon's consumer marketplace app for browsing, buying and tracking orders

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
BigCommerce logo

BigCommerce

E-Commerce

Hosted e-commerce platform that charges no transaction fee and no surcharge for third party gateways

From
$29.95/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Amazon Shopping has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Shopping a significant share of listings are sold and shipped by third-party sellers, and counterfeit or mislabelled products from those sellers have been a well-documented, recurring problem that the platform does not fully prevent.; BigCommerce plans are gated on annual online sales, so a strong year pushes you into a higher tier and a higher subscription even though your traffic, catalogue and resource usage are unchanged.
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Shopping covers Product search and marketplace, BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Shopping and BigCommerce actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Shopping and BigCommerce differ
AttributeAmazon ShoppingBigCommerce
Starting priceFree$29.95/month
Pricing modelFree to use; optional Prime subscription for fast shipping and bundled mediasubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon Shopping

  • Product search and marketplace
  • Prime shipping tiers
  • Order tracking and returns
  • Amazon Photos and Alexa integration
  • Sponsored product placement
  • Subscribe and Save

Only in BigCommerce

  • No platform transaction fee
  • Stencil theme framework
  • Multi-storefront
  • Faceted search
  • B2B capabilities
  • Headless support
  • Built-in tax integrations
  • Multi-currency

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon Shopping

  • A shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailernot BigCommerce
  • A Prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchasesnot BigCommerce
  • A household using Subscribe and Save to automate reordering of consumables at a discountnot BigCommerce
  • Someone managing Alexa devices, Prime Video and Amazon orders from a single accountnot BigCommerce

BigCommerce

  • A merchant whose volume makes a percentage transaction fee the largest line in the platform decisionnot Amazon Shopping
  • A retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back officenot Amazon Shopping
  • A B2B seller who needs company accounts and customer-specific price lists without custom developmentnot Amazon Shopping
  • A team going headless who wants a managed commerce back end rather than a self-hosted onenot Amazon Shopping

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon Shopping

  • A significant share of listings are sold and shipped by third-party sellers, and counterfeit or mislabelled products from those sellers have been a well-documented, recurring problem that the platform does not fully prevent.
  • Search results and product pages mix paid sponsored placements with organic results, so the top listing for a search term is often an advertisement rather than the best-reviewed or cheapest option.
  • Fast, free shipping is effectively gated behind an Amazon Prime subscription, and the app's delivery estimates are designed to make non-Prime checkout feel slower and less attractive.
  • Returns and refund handling differ between Amazon-fulfilled and third-party-fulfilled orders, and a buyer often cannot tell which applies until after ordering.
  • Subscribe and Save and other recurring purchase features require active management to cancel, and abandoned subscriptions can result in ongoing charges for items no longer wanted.

BigCommerce

  • Plans are gated on annual online sales, so a strong year pushes you into a higher tier and a higher subscription even though your traffic, catalogue and resource usage are unchanged.
  • There is a documented ceiling on the number of variants a single product can have, which breaks configurable, made-to-measure and heavily optioned catalogues and forces awkward workarounds such as splitting one product into several listings.
  • The application marketplace is much smaller than the largest competitor's, so a specific integration or niche feature is more often a custom build, and custom builds are the line item that quietly exceeds the platform cost.
  • Theme customisation past the visual settings means Stencil, Handlebars templates and a local command line workflow, so changes that look small to a marketing team still require a developer and a deployment.
  • Migrating out moves products and inventory reasonably well and moves the things that matter badly, since customer passwords cannot be exported in usable form, order history rarely transfers intact, and reviews and URL structure have to be rebuilt with a redirect map you must produce yourself or lose the search traffic.

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon Shopping

Free
  • Standard accountFree
    • Browsing and purchase without Prime
    • Standard, slower shipping speeds
    • No access to Prime Video, Prime Music or Prime delivery windows
  • Amazon Prime$14.99/month
    • Free fast shipping on eligible items
    • Access to Prime Video and Prime Music
    • Also offered as an annual plan at a discounted effective rate

BigCommerce

$29.95/month
  • Standard$29.95/month
    • Unlimited products
    • 2 staff accounts
    • Basic reports
  • Plus$79.95/month
    • All Standard features
    • Up to 5 staff accounts
    • Advanced reports

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Shopping if

  • You need product search and marketplace.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want prime shipping tiers.
Amazon Shopping review

Choose BigCommerce if

  • You need no platform transaction fee.
  • You also want stencil theme framework.
BigCommerce review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Shopping or BigCommerce better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Shopping starts at Free and BigCommerce at $29.95/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Shopping or BigCommerce?
Amazon Shopping has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Shopping and $29.95/month for BigCommerce.
Does Amazon Shopping or BigCommerce run on more platforms?
Amazon Shopping runs on iOS, Android, Web. BigCommerce runs on Web.
Can I use Amazon Shopping for free?
Yes. Amazon Shopping has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month.
What is Amazon Shopping best used for?
Amazon Shopping is most often used for a shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailer, a prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchases, a household using subscribe and save to automate reordering of consumables at a discount, someone managing alexa devices, prime video and amazon orders from a single account. Of those, a shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailer and a prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchases are not what BigCommerce is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Shopping do that BigCommerce cannot?
Amazon Shopping covers Product search and marketplace, Prime shipping tiers, Order tracking and returns, Amazon Photos and Alexa integration. BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon Shopping: Do I need Amazon Prime to use the app?

No, browsing and ordering work without Prime, but fast free shipping, Prime Video and Prime Music all require the paid subscription.

BigCommerce: Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees?

No, and it does not surcharge third party payment gateways either. Revenue affects the price through plan sales thresholds instead.

Amazon Shopping: Are all products sold by Amazon itself?

No, a large proportion of listings are sold and sometimes shipped by third-party marketplace sellers, which affects returns and counterfeit risk.

BigCommerce: What happens when I exceed my plan's sales threshold?

You move to the next plan tier. Model this at your projected growth rate, because the increase is driven by revenue rather than by usage.

Amazon Shopping: How can I tell if a listing is sold by Amazon or a third party?

Check the "Sold by" and "Fulfilled by" fields on the product page, which the app does not surface prominently in search results.

BigCommerce: Is the app ecosystem large enough?

It covers the common integrations. For anything niche, assume a development project rather than an install, and price that in before comparing subscriptions.

BigCommerce: How hard is it to leave?

Products export cleanly. Customer passwords, order history, reviews and SEO URLs do not. Build the redirect map before you cut over, not after traffic drops.

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