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E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Retail Pro

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
Retail Pro logo

Retail Pro

E-Commerce

Comprehensive retail management software

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.; Retail Pro pricing details not disclosed; requires sales consultation
  • They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Retail Pro covers Point of sale.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Retail Pro actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Retail Pro differ
AttributeBigCommerceRetail Pro
Starting price$29.95/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
PlatformsWebiOS, Android, Windows
Founded20091988

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Retail Pro

  • Point of sale
  • Inventory management
  • Customer database
  • Employee management
  • Sales analytics
  • Promotion management
  • Multi-store support
  • Reporting 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 Retail Pro
  • A retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back officenot Retail Pro
  • A B2B seller who needs company accounts and customer-specific price lists without custom developmentnot Retail Pro
  • A team going headless who wants a managed commerce back end rather than a self-hosted onenot Retail Pro

Retail Pro

  • Multi-location retail POS operations (1 to 250+ stores)not BigCommerce
  • Inventory management with serialized product trackingnot BigCommerce
  • Customer loyalty programs via AppCard integrationnot 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.

Retail Pro

  • Pricing details not disclosed; requires sales consultation
  • No published technical requirements or system specifications
  • International deployment requires fiscal/tax compliance consultation per region

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

Retail Pro

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Retail Pro review.

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose Retail Pro if

  • You need point of sale.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want inventory management.
Retail Pro review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Retail Pro better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Retail Pro at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Retail Pro?
BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Retail Pro at On request.
Does BigCommerce or Retail Pro run on more platforms?
BigCommerce runs on Web. Retail Pro runs on iOS, Android, Windows.
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 Retail Pro is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Retail Pro cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Retail Pro covers Point of sale, Inventory management, Customer database, Employee management.

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.

Retail Pro: How much does Retail Pro cost?

Retail Pro does not publish specific pricing on its website. The company describes a 'Pay As You Grow' model but directs interested retailers to request a consultation or brochure to obtain actual pricing quotes customized to their business needs.

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.

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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