Is BigCommerce or Shopify better?

Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopify at $24/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Shopify?

BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopify at $24/month.

Does BigCommerce or Shopify 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 Shopify is typically brought in for.

What can BigCommerce do that Shopify cannot?

BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform, Payment processing, Inventory management, Order tracking.

E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Shopify

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 review Website

Shopify

E-Commerce

The most trusted ecommerce platform to start, grow, and scale your business

From: $24/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Shopify using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus
They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform.
Prices and features above were last checked on 15 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Shopify actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Shopify differ
Attribute	BigCommerce	Shopify
Starting price	$29.95/month	$24/month
Founded	2009	2006

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Shopify

Hosted ecommerce platform
Payment processing
Inventory management
Order tracking
Marketing automation
Apps and integrations
Multi-channel selling
SSL certificate

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

Shopify

Running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilmentnot BigCommerce
Selling across online, in person and social channels from one cataloguenot 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.

Shopify

Using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus
That fee makes the cheapest plan the most expensive place to use an outside processor, which is the opposite of how plans usually work
Card rates also improve with the plan, from 2.9% on Basic to 2.7% on Advanced
Amex is charged at a higher rate than other cards on every plan below Plus
Plus starts at $2,300 a month
The advertised lower monthly prices require paying a year up front

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

Shopify

$24/month

Basic$24/month
- For solo entrepreneurs
- $32/month on monthly billing
- 2.9% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Grow$69/month
- For small teams
- $92/month on monthly billing
- 2.8% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Advanced$299/month
- For global reach
- $399/month on monthly billing
- 2.7% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Plus$2300/month
- For complex businesses
- most competitive transaction rates

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

BigCommerce review

Choose Shopify if

You need hosted ecommerce platform.
You also want payment processing.

Shopify review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Shopify better?: Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopify at $24/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Shopify?: BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopify at $24/month.
Does BigCommerce or Shopify 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 Shopify is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Shopify cannot?: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform, Payment processing, Inventory management, Order tracking.

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.

Shopify: How much does Shopify cost?

Shopify's Basic tier is $24/month (or $32/month monthly), Grow is $69/month (or $92/month monthly), Advanced is $299/month (or $399/month monthly), and Plus starts at $2,300/month. Annual subscriptions include 25% discount versus monthly billing.

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.

Shopify: Does Shopify offer a free trial?

Yes, Shopify offers 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months without requiring a credit card.

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.

Shopify: What payment processing fees does Shopify charge?

Transaction rates vary by plan: Basic charges 2.9% + AED1.00 (standard cards), Grow charges 2.8% + AED1.00, Advanced charges 2.7% + AED1.00, and Plus offers the most competitive rates. American Express charges 0.1% higher across all plans.

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.

BigCommerce vs Shopify

BigCommerce

Shopify

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in BigCommerce

Only in Shopify

What people use each for

BigCommerce

Shopify

Where each one falls short

BigCommerce

Shopify

Pricing, plan by plan

BigCommerce

Shopify

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

Choose Shopify if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on BigCommerce

More on Shopify

Keep looking

Other head to heads