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E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Namecheap

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
Namecheap logo

Namecheap

E-Commerce

ICANN-accredited domain registrar that also sells shared hosting, SSL certificates and email

From
$0.88/year
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.; Namecheap domains are advertised at a promotional first year price and renew at the standard registry rate, which for many extensions is several times higher, so the visible cost of a portfolio understates what it costs to keep.
  • They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Namecheap covers Domain registration.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Namecheap actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Namecheap differ
AttributeBigCommerceNamecheap
Starting price$29.95/month$0.88/year
Founded20092000

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 Namecheap

  • Domain registration
  • Free WHOIS privacy
  • DNS management
  • Shared and VPS hosting
  • SSL certificates
  • Private email
  • Domain transfers

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

Namecheap

  • Registering and holding the domain for a store hosted on a separate platformnot BigCommerce
  • Consolidating a portfolio of defensive domain registrations under one accountnot BigCommerce
  • Managing DNS for a site whose hosting and mail live with different providersnot BigCommerce
  • Standing up a low traffic brochure site or landing page cheaply before a real buildnot 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.

Namecheap

  • Domains are advertised at a promotional first year price and renew at the standard registry rate, which for many extensions is several times higher, so the visible cost of a portfolio understates what it costs to keep.
  • ICANN rules impose a sixty day transfer lock after registration and after registrant detail changes, so a domain registered in the wrong account or under the wrong entity cannot be moved for two months regardless of urgency.
  • Shared hosting is oversubscribed by design, so a storefront on it degrades under traffic spikes, which is precisely when a promotion or a press mention makes traffic spike.
  • Support runs through chat and tickets with no telephone escalation, so an outage affecting DNS or mail is resolved at the pace of a support queue rather than at the pace of your revenue loss.
  • It is a registrar and host rather than a commerce platform, so anyone comparing it against a store platform is comparing two different purchases and will still need to buy the platform separately.

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

Namecheap

$0.88/year
  • Standard Domains$0.88/year
    • Domain registration
    • Free WhoisGuard
    • Dynamic DNS
  • Web Hosting$2.88/month
    • Unlimited bandwidth
    • Free SSL
    • Easy WordPress install

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose Namecheap if

  • You need domain registration.
  • You also want free whois privacy.
Namecheap review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Namecheap better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Namecheap at $0.88/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Namecheap?
BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Namecheap at $0.88/year.
Does BigCommerce or Namecheap 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 Namecheap is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Namecheap cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Namecheap covers Domain registration, Free WHOIS privacy, DNS management, Shared and VPS hosting.

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.

Namecheap: Can I run an online store on Namecheap?

You can host store software there, but shared hosting is not a sensible home for a transacting storefront. Use it for the domain and DNS and put the store on a platform built for it.

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.

Namecheap: Why is renewal more expensive than registration?

The first year is promotional. Renewal reflects the registry's standard wholesale price plus margin. Check the renewal rate, not the headline, before registering an extension.

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.

Namecheap: Can I move my domain away if I change my mind?

Yes, but not immediately. ICANN enforces a sixty day lock after registration or after changing registrant details, and the domain must be unlocked with an authorisation code to transfer.

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.

Namecheap: Is WHOIS privacy extra?

Namecheap includes it rather than billing for it annually, which is a real difference from several larger registrars where it is a recurring line item per domain.

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