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E-Commerce · head to head

BigCommerce vs Swell Commerce

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
Swell Commerce logo

Swell Commerce

E-Commerce

Headless ecommerce for modern brands

From
$29/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.; Swell Commerce each plan carries an annual revenue ceiling, and exceeding it is charged as a percentage of the excess: 2 percent on Starter down to 0.4 percent on Unlimited
  • They diverge on capability: BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Swell Commerce covers Headless architecture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigCommerce and Swell Commerce actually diverge.

Attributes where BigCommerce and Swell Commerce differ
AttributeBigCommerceSwell Commerce
Starting price$29.95/month$29/month
Founded20092019

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 Swell Commerce

  • Headless architecture
  • GraphQL & REST APIs
  • Subscription commerce
  • Multi-currency support
  • Inventory management
  • Custom checkout
  • Webhook integrations
  • Developer-friendly SDK

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

Swell Commerce

  • Running a headless commerce backend with APIs for a custom storefrontnot BigCommerce
  • Selling subscription products alongside one off purchasesnot BigCommerce
  • Operating multi currency stores from one commerce backendnot 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.

Swell Commerce

  • Each plan carries an annual revenue ceiling, and exceeding it is charged as a percentage of the excess: 2 percent on Starter down to 0.4 percent on Unlimited
  • Starter at $29 a month allows 2 admin users and includes only 100,000 API requests and 1GB of storage per month
  • Additional API requests cost $5 per 100,000 and extra storage $5 per GB
  • Role based permissions and developer support are restricted to the Unlimited plan at $2,250 a month
  • Advanced reports and priced currencies require the Standard plan or higher
  • Published prices are the billed yearly rates, so monthly billing costs more

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

Swell Commerce

$29/month
  • Starter$29/month
    • Up to $50K annual revenue
    • Basic reports
    • Up to 5 admin users
  • Basic$79/month
    • Up to $250K annual revenue
    • Most popular plan
    • Basic reports
  • Standard$299/month
    • Up to $1M annual revenue
    • Advanced reports
    • Up to 15 admin users
  • Unlimited$2250/month
    • Up to $5M annual revenue
    • Unlimited scalability and granular control
    • Unlimited admin users

Which should you pick?

Choose BigCommerce if

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

Choose Swell Commerce if

  • You need headless architecture.
  • You also want graphql & rest apis.
Swell Commerce review

Questions people ask

Is BigCommerce or Swell Commerce better?
Neither clearly leads. BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Swell Commerce at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Swell Commerce?
BigCommerce starts at $29.95/month and Swell Commerce at $29/month.
Does BigCommerce or Swell Commerce 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 Swell Commerce is typically brought in for.
What can BigCommerce do that Swell Commerce cannot?
BigCommerce covers No platform transaction fee, Stencil theme framework, Multi-storefront, Faceted search. Swell Commerce covers Headless architecture, GraphQL & REST APIs, Subscription commerce, Multi-currency support.

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.

Swell Commerce: How much does Swell Commerce cost?

Swell offers four tiers starting at $29 per month for Starter and going up to $2,250 per month for Unlimited. Annual billing provides a 25% discount compared to monthly billing. All prices are in USD.

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.

Swell Commerce: What are Swell's revenue tier overages?

Each plan includes a revenue ceiling based on 12-month trailing sales. Starter allows up to $50K with 2% overage, Basic allows $250K with 1.5% overage, Standard allows $1M with 1% overage, and Unlimited allows $5M with 0.4% overage. Custom plans are available for merchants exceeding $10M annually.

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.

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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