E-Commerce · head to head
BigCommerce vs Inventory Lab

BigCommerce
E-Commerce
Hosted e-commerce platform that charges no transaction fee and no surcharge for third party gateways
- From
- $29.95/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Inventory Lab has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; Inventory Lab inventoryLab is no longer sold standalone and is now bundled into Three Colts' Seller 365 plans starting at $69 per month for a single user, rising to $199 per month for the Pro tier
- They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Inventory Lab covers FBA inventory tracking.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Inventory Lab actually diverge.
| Attribute | BigCommerce | Inventory Lab |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $29.95/month | Free |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Founded | 2009 | 2011 |
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Inventory Lab
- FBA inventory tracking
- Repricing automation
- Price monitoring
- Sales analytics
- Profit calculations
- Supplier management
- Alerts and notifications
- Forecasting tools
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 Inventory Lab
- A retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back officenot Inventory Lab
- A B2B seller who needs company accounts and customer-specific price lists without custom developmentnot Inventory Lab
- A team going headless who wants a managed commerce back end rather than a self-hosted onenot Inventory Lab
Inventory Lab
- Amazon seller managementnot BigCommerce
- multi-channel resellingnot BigCommerce
- inventory trackingnot 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.
Inventory Lab
- InventoryLab is no longer sold standalone and is now bundled into Three Colts' Seller 365 plans starting at $69 per month for a single user, rising to $199 per month for the Pro tier
- Multichannel listing requires the separate UniCon add-on, priced from $49 to $449 per month depending on tier
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
Inventory Lab
Free- Standard$69/month
- access to 10 tools
- 1 user account
- designed for independent resellers
- Teams$129/month
- all 10 tools
- up to 10 users
- shared workflows and collaboration
- Pro$199/month
- all pro versions of 10 tools
- up to 10 users
- premium support under 30-minute response time
- Enterprise$null/custom
- more than 10 users
- custom terms
Which should you pick?
Choose BigCommerce if
- You need no platform transaction fee.
- You also want stencil theme framework.
Choose Inventory Lab if
- You need fba inventory tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want repricing automation.
Questions people ask
- Is BigCommerce or Inventory Lab better?
- Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Inventory Lab at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Inventory Lab?
- Inventory Lab has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29.95/month for BigCommerce and Free for Inventory Lab.
- Does BigCommerce or Inventory Lab run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Inventory Lab for free?
- Yes. Inventory Lab has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month.
- 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 Inventory Lab is typically brought in for.
- What can BigCommerce do that Inventory Lab cannot?
- BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Inventory Lab covers FBA inventory tracking, Repricing automation, Price monitoring, Sales analytics.
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.
Inventory Lab: What is the free trial period for Inventory Lab?
Inventory Lab offers a 14-day free trial, with bonus days awarded when connecting Amazon accounts.
SourceBigCommerce: 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.
Inventory Lab: Can I save money on Inventory Lab with annual billing?
Yes, annual billing saves money: Standard saves $48/year, Teams saves $120/year, and Pro saves $192/year compared to monthly billing.
SourceBigCommerce: 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.
Inventory Lab: Is there an add-on to use Inventory Lab on channels beyond Amazon?
Yes, the UniCon multichannel add-on is available starting at $49/month for expanding beyond Amazon.
SourceBigCommerce: 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.
Related pages
More on BigCommerce
More on Inventory Lab
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