When you want to open a store and have to choose between all the different ecommerce platforms, it can be hard to know which one is best for your business. So many options are out there, each with different features, prices, and more. Shopify and BigCommerce are two of the most well-known ecommerce platforms. Both can help you make a successful ecommerce website and have all the features you need to run an online store.
Which one is better? Shopify is, in short, the best. When it comes to features, price, and integrations, these two ecommerce platforms are very close to each other. In this article, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of both platforms so that you can choose the one that works best for your business.
BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Which Is the Best Ecommerce Platform?
Is Shopify better than BigCommerce? If you ask different people, you’ll get very different answers. What a specific online store needs in terms of features and the owner’s personal tastes can vary a lot. Shopify and BigCommerce are both very good at what they do, which is to help you build a successful online store.
Shopify is a complete ecommerce platform that has everything you need to make and run a successful online store. It’s easy to use, comes with a lot of features, and can grow with your business.
BigCommerce is another well-known ecommerce platform that gives online stores a complete set of tools. It’s a bit more complicated than Shopify and is made for bigger businesses, but smaller and medium-sized stores can also use it.
So, who is the best ecommerce platform, Shopify or BigCommerce? The answer is: it depends. It depends on what you need, how much money you have, and what you want from a platform. The good news is that neither of them is a bad choice, so you can’t really go wrong. But it’s still important to find the right fit, since you’ll build your whole business on the platform you choose. Below, we’ll compare Shopify and BigCommerce so you can decide which is the best ecommerce platform for your business.
The Difference Between BigCommerce and Shopify
Which is the best? Shopify or Bigcommerce? When choosing an ecommerce platform, there are many things to think about, such as features, price, integrations, and more. Let’s look at some of the most important things you’ll need to think about when making a decision.
Pricing
Pricing is the first thing that most people who want to start an ecommerce site think about. Since you’re just starting out, it’s important to know how much both BigCommerce and Shopify cost. But don’t just look at the plans and prices for new users. Make sure you think about how the cost will go up as your business grows.
Shopify and BigCommerce both have monthly plans that cost about the same, so price doesn’t have to be a big factor when choosing between these two powerful ecommerce platforms. Also, both Shopify and BigCommerce let you try them out for free before you have to pay. You should take advantage of this and use the platforms as much as you can during the trial period to make sure you’re making the best choice for your business.
Pricing and Fees for Shopify
- Simple: $29 a month, plus 2.9% plus $.30 per online transaction.
- Shopify costs $79 a month, plus 2.6% plus $.30 per online sale.
- Advanced: $299 per month, plus 2.4% plus $0.30 per online transaction.
Pricing and Fees for BigCommerce
- Standard: $29.95 per month, plus a fee of 2.59% plus $0.49 for each online transaction.
- Plus: a fee of 2.35% plus $.49 per online transaction costs $79.95 per month.
- Pro: It costs $299.95 a month, plus a fee of 2.05% plus $0.49 per online transaction.
- Enterprise: Contact sales for a custom quote
Integration
To have a successful ecommerce website, you need to make sure it works well with the other platforms and services you need to run your business. This is important for things like customer relationship management (CRM), accounting, shipping, and more. If you have the right integrations, your marketing and sales will be easier, and your store will be up and running faster.
Shopify works with some of the most popular services and apps. There are more than 4,000 apps in the app store that you can add to your store. You can also add a point of sale if you want to sell your products in person as well as online.
With BigCommerce, you can add more than 1,000 apps to your ecommerce website to help with things like checkout, accounting, payment, security, and more.
In terms of integration, the bottom line is that both Shopify and BigCommerce can be used with a wide range of other services. So either can be a great choice for building your ecommerce store, but if you have specific needs, you’ll need to look at the app and integration lists yourself.
Help for customers
Customer support is often forgotten when people are looking for an ecommerce platform. When you start an online store, it can really help to know that you have access to tech support. Because problems can happen at any time, make sure you sign up for an ecommerce platform with a customer support team that is always available to help you with any questions or technical problems you may have.
Shopify and BigCommerce have a lot of the same features when it comes to support, for the most part. Both have phone support and live chat available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as well as a help center, email support, and a lot of video tutorials. But there are a few small differences that you might want to think about.
Help with Shopify
Shopify has basic support options like phone and chat, but it’s also known for having a well-built, easy-to-understand knowledge center. It tells you how to fix problems at checkout and how to get help with products, payments, shipping, and a lot more. This lets Shopify users often solve problems quickly and easily on their own before they need to get in touch with customer service.
Help from BigCommerce
BigCommerce goes above and beyond the basics like phone support and live chat by giving new sign-ups a 10-minute call. On this call, BigCommerce wants to learn about your business and help you get started.
Themes
The look and feel of your ecommerce site comes from the themes and templates you use. This is important because it’s often the first thing potential customers will see when they go to your site. If it’s not good enough, the business could lose a customer. Most people who start ecommerce businesses aren’t designers, so you have to rely on templates and themes to make sure your website looks good and is easy to use. But Shopify or Bigcommerce has the best themes?
Themes for Shopify
One area where Shopify tends to do better than BigCommerce is with themes. With more than 70 free and paid themes and a drag-and-drop editor, you can make your store look great and offer a good user experience to your customers. All of Shopify’s themes are also mobile-friendly, which is important in a time when more people than ever are shopping on their phones.
Themes for BigCommerce
BigCommerce does have a few themes you can use to build your website, but compared to Shopify, the free themes aren’t as clean and modern. Also, they can be changed to fit your needs, and most of them are mobile-friendly, so people can easily shop in your store from their phones.
Payment processors
With a payment gateway, you can take payments on your e-commerce website. It’s important to have a payment gateway that customers can use easily, is safe, and works well.
Both Shopify and BigCommerce work with most of the most popular payment gateways, like PayPal, Stripe, and Square. But Shopify also has its own built-in payment gateway that is already connected to your store when you set it up. This is a pretty big benefit because it can make setup and approval easy, and you may not have to pay extra fees like you might with other payment gateways.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a way to do business in e-commerce where you sell products that you don’t have in stock. When a customer places an order, the dropshipping supplier sends the item directly to the customer. This can be a great way to get started with ecommerce because it doesn’t require a lot of money up front.
But how well do dropshipping stores work with Shopify and BigCommerce? Both Shopify and BigCommerce can connect to dropshipping apps, but Shopify’s app store gives dropshippers a lot more choices than BigCommerce’s. For example, Shopify works with Oberlo and Shopify’s own Dropify, which are two of the best dropshipping apps.
BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Is it Worth It to Use Shopify Payments?
Now that we’ve talked briefly about some of the main features you should compare when deciding between Shopify and BigCommerce to build your store, there’s one feature, Shopify Payments, that deserves a bit more attention.
Every Shopify store comes with Shopify Payments, which is a way to accept payments. This means that as soon as you set up your Shopify store, you can start taking payments without having to sign up for a separate payment gateway. And because it already works with your store, setting it up is pretty easy.
One thing to keep in mind is that Shopify Payments is its own payment processor, even though it is powered by Stripe. This means that Shopify Payments will collect payments for orders and send them directly to your account without going through a third party payment gateway.
With Shopify Payments, your customers can pay using almost any payment method, including credit and debit cards, accelerated checkout buttons (like Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Paypal), and Pay Later with Shop Pay. It works in 17 countries and with more than 130 different currencies. Depending on your plan, the transaction fees range from 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction.
Shopify Payments comes with fraud analysis, which runs automatically during each transaction to look for suspicious activity and protect you from fraud or fake transactions. This keeps your customers safe.
Shopify Payments is one of the most important reasons why you should choose Shopify over BigCommerce. Even though BigCommerce works with the most popular payment gateways, it’s not the same as having a payment gateway built right into their platform. Online store owners can’t find anything better than Shopify Payments when it comes to ease of use and safety.
The pros and cons of BigCommerce vs. Shopify
Now that we’ve talked about some of Shopify and BigCommerce’s most important features, let’s look at a quick list of the pros and cons of each platform.
Pros of Shopify
- This link gives you a free 45-day trial that you can extend for free.
- Themes that are professional and easy to change
- There are thousands of apps that can be connected.
- Shopify Payments is a built-in payment processor.
- All plans come with shopping cart abandonment tools.
- Knowledge base that is easy to use
- BigCommerce is easier to use.
- Access to some of the best dropshipping tools, such as Oberlo and Dropify
- Affordable plans to get started
- No selling limits
Cons of Shopify
- If you use a third-party payment provider, there will be transaction fees.
- Reports aren’t part of the basic plan.
- BigCommerce doesn’t have as many SEO tools.
Pros of BigCommerce
- Shopify’s transaction fees are a little bit lower.
- Free for 15 days before you have to pay.
- There are tools for marketing
- There are hundreds of apps that can be connected.
- More built-in features, so you don’t have to download as many apps.
- Gift cards are an option.
- Affordable plans to get started
Cons of BigCommerce
- Shopify has a better range of themes to choose from.
- not as simple to use as Shopify
- Selling limits on plans
Which Should You Choose: BigCommerce or Shopify? Shopify
So, in the end, does it come down to Shopify or BigCommerce? Both platforms can help you build a successful online store. Even though there isn’t a clear winner or loser because their prices and features are pretty close, we think Shopify has a slight edge over BigCommerce.
Shopify may be the best choice for most people who want to start an online store because it is easier to use, has better themes, and, most importantly, has a payment processor built in that makes things easier for beginners. Even though BigCommerce’s transaction fees are a little lower, we think Shopify is the better choice because it has a payment gateway built in (Shopify Payments).
In the end, what matters is picking the best ecommerce platform for your business. So make sure you do your homework and figure out which one is best for you. If you’re still not sure, we suggest starting with the free trial that both Shopify and BigCommerce offer so you can try each platform out for yourself before making a choice.
