Choosing between BigCommerce and Shopify is one of the most common decisions facing ecommerce businesses. Both are leading SaaS platforms with strong feature sets, but they serve different needs and priorities. This comparison covers the key differences to help you make the right choice.
Platform Philosophy
Shopify prioritizes simplicity and ecosystem breadth. Its approach is to provide a clean, intuitive core platform and let merchants extend functionality through its massive app store (8,000+ apps). Shopify’s strength is making ecommerce accessible while scaling up to enterprise-level needs with Shopify Plus.
BigCommerce takes an “out-of-the-box” approach, building more features natively into the platform. BigCommerce includes features like product ratings, multi-currency support, and price lists without requiring third-party apps. This means fewer ongoing app costs but potentially less flexibility in choosing best-of-breed solutions.
Pricing
Both platforms offer tiered pricing, but the total cost of ownership depends on your specific needs:
- Shopify: Plans range from $39/month (Basic) to $399/month (Advanced). Shopify Plus starts at $2,300/month. Transaction fees apply unless you use Shopify Payments.
- BigCommerce: Plans range from $39/month (Standard) to $399/month (Pro). Enterprise pricing is custom. No transaction fees regardless of payment gateway. However, BigCommerce has annual sales thresholds that can force plan upgrades.
Design and Customization
Shopify offers a larger selection of free and premium themes through its theme store. The Online Store 2.0 architecture with sections and blocks gives merchants significant customization flexibility without code. For developers, Shopify’s Liquid templating language is well-documented and widely known.
BigCommerce uses a Stencil theming framework built on Handlebars.js. While the theme selection is smaller, BigCommerce themes tend to include more built-in features. For headless implementations, both platforms offer capable APIs, though Shopify’s Hydrogen framework provides a more opinionated headless solution.
SEO Capabilities
Both platforms handle core SEO well, but there are notable differences:
- Shopify has fixed URL structures (e.g., /products/product-name, /collections/collection-name) that can’t be customized. While this is rarely a deal-breaker, it means you can’t create fully custom URL hierarchies.
- BigCommerce allows full control over URL structures, which can be beneficial for SEO-heavy strategies. BigCommerce also has slightly better built-in SEO tools, including automatic 301 redirects when URLs change.
B2B and Wholesale
Both platforms have invested in B2B capabilities:
- Shopify introduced native B2B features with Shopify Plus, including company profiles, custom catalogs, and payment terms. The B2B capabilities are integrated into the same storefront, allowing hybrid DTC/B2B operations.
- BigCommerce has offered B2B features longer, with native price lists, customer groups, and quote management. The B2B Edition add-on provides additional capabilities like purchase order support and shared shopping lists.
App Ecosystem and Integrations
This is one of Shopify’s clearest advantages. With over 8,000 apps in the Shopify App Store, there’s a solution for virtually every use case. The depth and quality of Shopify’s app ecosystem is unmatched, and most major SaaS tools (Klaviyo, Gorgias, Yotpo, etc.) offer Shopify as their primary integration.
BigCommerce’s app marketplace is smaller but includes many of the same popular integrations. Because BigCommerce builds more features natively, you may need fewer apps overall, which can simplify your technology stack.
Scalability and Performance
Both platforms are fully hosted SaaS solutions that handle server infrastructure, security updates, and scaling. For most merchants, performance will be comparable. Shopify Plus merchants benefit from dedicated support and higher API rate limits. BigCommerce Enterprise offers similar enterprise-grade support.
The Verdict
Choose Shopify if you want the largest app ecosystem, the most theme options, and a platform that scales from startup to enterprise. Shopify is the better choice for brands that value ecosystem breadth and want access to the most innovative apps and tools.
Choose BigCommerce if you want more built-in features without relying on apps, prefer full URL control for SEO, or need zero transaction fees with your preferred payment gateway. BigCommerce can be a cost-effective choice for merchants with specific technical requirements that are built into the platform natively.
For most growth-stage and enterprise brands, we recommend Shopify (and Shopify Plus) due to its ecosystem advantages, development community, and continued innovation. However, the right choice depends on your specific business requirements, technical preferences, and growth plans.