Softwr

E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs commercetools

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
commercetools logo

commercetools

E-Commerce

The Digital Commerce AI Company

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; commercetools no published pricing: customers cannot see costs, tier details, or feature breakdowns before contacting sales
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and commercetools actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and commercetools differ
AttributeBigCommercecommercetools
Starting price$29.95/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 BigCommerce

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

Only in commercetools

Nothing recorded that BigCommerce does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

BigCommerce

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

commercetools

  • Composable commerce platforms for enterprise retailersnot BigCommerce
  • B2C and B2B commerce API infrastructurenot BigCommerce
  • Multi-region commerce operationsnot BigCommerce

Where each one falls short

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

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.

commercetools

  • No published pricing: customers cannot see costs, tier details, or feature breakdowns before contacting sales
  • Order-based pricing opacity: described as 'transparent' but actual fee structure per order is undisclosed
  • Free trial time-gate: 60-day trial does not reveal production pricing for ongoing operations
  • Marketplace distribution unclear: availability on Google Cloud and AWS Marketplaces implies pricing varies by channel without transparency

Pricing, plan by plan

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

commercetools

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the commercetools review.

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose commercetools if

Nothing in the data separates commercetools from BigCommerce on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

commercetools review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or commercetools better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and commercetools at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or commercetools?
BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and commercetools at On request.
Does BigCommerce or commercetools run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is BigCommerce best used for?
BigCommerce is most often used for a merchant whose volume makes a percentage transaction fee the largest line in the platform decision, a retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back office, a b2b seller who needs company accounts and customer-specific price lists without custom development, a team going headless who wants a managed commerce back end rather than a self-hosted one. Of those, a merchant whose volume makes a percentage transaction fee the largest line in the platform decision and a retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back office are not what commercetools is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that commercetools cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

commercetools: Does commercetools publish pricing online?

No. Pricing is not published on their website. Customers must contact sales, start a free 60-day trial, or purchase through Google Cloud or AWS Marketplaces to discuss pricing.

Source
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.

commercetools: What is the pricing model for commercetools?

commercetools uses order-based pricing (not Gross Merchandise Value dependent) described as 'transparent and growth-friendly' with 'no hidden fees or penalties for scaling,' but exact per-order costs are disclosed only through sales consultation.

Source
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.

commercetools: Does commercetools offer a free trial?

Yes. A 60-day free trial includes full access to production-ready infrastructure, APIs, tools, and preloaded sample B2C/B2B data, with the option to move MVP to production without setup costs.

Source
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.

Share

Related pages

More on BigCommerce

More on commercetools

Keep looking

Other head to heads