Softwr

E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Shopkeep

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
Shopkeep logo

Shopkeep

E-Commerce

Cloud-based POS for small businesses

From
$89/month
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.; Shopkeep all plans require 24/7 phone and chat support; no tiered support options
  • They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Shopkeep 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 Shopkeep actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Shopkeep differ
AttributeBigCommerceShopkeep
Starting price$29.95/month$89/month
PlatformsWebiPad, Web
Founded20092008

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Shopkeep

  • Point of sale
  • Payment processing
  • Inventory management
  • Customer profiles
  • Sales analytics
  • Employee management
  • Mobile POS
  • Reporting

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

Shopkeep

No use cases recorded yet. See the Shopkeep review.

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.

Shopkeep

  • All plans require 24/7 phone and chat support; no tiered support options
  • Prices vary by business type and industry with additional service fees possible
  • Extra locations and registers incur additional charges beyond base plan cost

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

Shopkeep

$89/month
  • Basic$89/month
    • Retail POS platform
    • 1 register included
    • Integrated Payments 1.5%
  • Core$149/month
    • All Basic features
    • Advanced management tools
    • Business growth support
  • Plus$289/month
    • All Core features
    • Advanced customization
    • Established retail operations support

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose Shopkeep if

  • You need point of sale.
  • You work on iPad, Web.
  • You also want payment processing.
Shopkeep review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Shopkeep better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopkeep at $89/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Shopkeep?
BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Shopkeep at $89/month.
Does BigCommerce or Shopkeep run on more platforms?
BigCommerce runs on Web. Shopkeep runs on iPad, Web.
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 Shopkeep is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Shopkeep cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Shopkeep covers Point of sale, Payment processing, Inventory management, Customer profiles.

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.

Shopkeep: What is included in the Lightspeed Retail Basic plan at $89 per month?

The Basic plan includes 1 register, retail POS platform, integrated payments at 1.5% card-present rate, inventory management, Lightspeed Wholesale access, NuORDER Catalog with 5 million+ products, built-in eCommerce, loyalty programs, and 24/7 support.

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.

Shopkeep: How much can I save by paying annually instead of monthly?

Shopkeep (Lightspeed Retail) offers up to 18% discount when paying annually instead of month-to-month. All three plans (Basic, Core, Plus) qualify for this annual discount.

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.

Shopkeep: What additional costs should I budget beyond the monthly subscription?

Beyond the monthly plan cost, extra locations require additional charges, extra registers incur per-register fees, and hardware (terminals, scanners, iPad devices) have separate costs. Integrated payment processing charges 1.5% per transaction.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on BigCommerce

More on Shopkeep

Keep looking

Other head to heads