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E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Saleor

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
Saleor logo

Saleor

E-Commerce

Open-source, headless e-commerce platform with a GraphQL API

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Saleor 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.; Saleor saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.
  • They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Saleor covers GraphQL API.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Saleor actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Saleor differ
AttributeBigCommerceSaleor
Starting price$29.95/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebweb, api
Founded20092019

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 BigCommerce

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

Only in Saleor

  • GraphQL API
  • Admin dashboard
  • Webhooks and apps
  • Omnichannel order processing
  • Configurator CLI
  • OpenTelemetry tracing
  • OpenID Connect support

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 Saleor
  • A retailer needing several branded storefronts sharing one catalogue and one back officenot Saleor
  • A B2B seller who needs company accounts and customer-specific price lists without custom developmentnot Saleor
  • A team going headless who wants a managed commerce back end rather than a self-hosted onenot Saleor

Saleor

  • Custom headless storefrontsnot BigCommerce
  • Composable commerce architecturesnot BigCommerce
  • Omnichannel retail and B2B commercenot BigCommerce
  • Developer-built e-commerce requiring deep API accessnot 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.

Saleor

  • Saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.
  • Self-hosting requires managing infrastructure, scaling, and updates, which adds operational overhead compared to fully managed platforms.
  • Saleor Cloud's paid tiers start at $1,599/month, making the managed offering costly for small merchants compared to typical SaaS store builders.
  • The GraphQL-first, code-driven approach has a steeper learning curve for non-technical users than drag-and-drop e-commerce builders.

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

Saleor

Free
  • Sandboxes (Cloud)Free
    • Free forever tier for prototyping and development
  • Select (Cloud)$1599/month
    • Up to $200,000 GMV monthly
    • 0.8% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
    • Dedicated Slack channel
  • Volume (Cloud)$3999/month
    • Up to $1,000,000 GMV monthly
    • 0.4% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
    • Dedicated Slack channel
  • Enterprise (Cloud)$undefined/mo
    • Custom GMV limits
    • Fees negotiable as low as 0.2%
    • Project delivery lead

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose Saleor if

  • You need graphql api.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want admin dashboard.
Saleor review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Saleor better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Saleor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Saleor?
Saleor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29.95/month for BigCommerce and Free for Saleor.
Does BigCommerce or Saleor run on more platforms?
BigCommerce runs on Web. Saleor runs on web, api.
Can I use Saleor for free?
Yes. Saleor 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 Saleor is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Saleor cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

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.

Saleor: Is Saleor free to use?

Yes. Saleor is open source under the BSD-3-Clause license and can be self-hosted for free. Saleor Cloud also offers a free Sandboxes tier for prototyping and development.

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.

Saleor: How much does Saleor Cloud cost?

Saleor Cloud paid plans start at $1,599/month for the Select plan (up to $200,000 monthly GMV), with Volume at $3,999/month and custom Enterprise pricing for larger merchants.

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.

Saleor: Does Saleor provide a storefront out of the box?

No. Saleor is an API-only, headless commerce backend built on GraphQL; storefronts must be built separately using the API and are not bundled with the platform.

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.

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