When comparing Shopify and
BigCommerce
in 2024, both platforms offer robust eCommerce solutions, but they cater to different types of businesses and needs. Here’s a detailed comparison to help you decide which platform might be better suited for your specific requirements:
-
Shopify
: Known for its user-friendly interface, Shopify offers a simple, intuitive platform ideal for beginners. It provides an easy-to-navigate dashboard, drag-and-drop store builder, and a large selection of themes.
- BigCommerce: While BigCommerce is also user-friendly, it has a steeper learning curve compared to Shopify. The platform offers more built-in features, which might require more time to master.
- Shopify: Offers a vast app ecosystem, allowing users to extend their store's functionality through third-party apps. However, some essential features like advanced reporting or real-time shipping quotes often require third-party apps or higher-tier plans.
- BigCommerce: Comes with more built-in features out-of-the-box, such as advanced product options, robust SEO tools, and real-time shipping quotes. This reduces the reliance on third-party apps, which can save costs.
- Shopify: Provides over 70 customizable themes, both free and paid, which are mobile responsive and visually appealing. Shopify themes are generally easier to customize without needing extensive coding knowledge.
- BigCommerce: Offers around 150 themes (with fewer free options), all of which are mobile-responsive. BigCommerce themes are also customizable, but advanced customization might require some coding expertise.
- Shopify: Shopify’s pricing starts at $39 per month for the Basic plan, up to $399 for the Advanced plan. Shopify also charges transaction fees (0.5% - 2%) if you don’t use Shopify Payments.
- BigCommerce: Pricing starts at $39 for the Standard plan and goes up to $399 for the Pro plan. BigCommerce doesn’t charge any transaction fees, which can be a significant cost-saving for larger stores.
- Shopify: Shopify provides solid SEO capabilities, but some features require third-party apps. Shopify also offers built-in email marketing, and social media integrations are easy to set up.
- BigCommerce: Known for excellent SEO features built into the platform, such as optimized URLs, metadata, and advanced SEO settings. BigCommerce also includes advanced marketing tools like abandoned cart recovery and customer segmentation without needing additional apps.
- Shopify: Highly scalable, Shopify can handle businesses of any size, from startups to enterprise-level. However, high-volume sellers may face higher costs due to app reliance and transaction fees.
- BigCommerce: Also highly scalable, BigCommerce is particularly well-suited for growing businesses due to its comprehensive built-in features. It can handle large catalogs and high volumes of traffic without additional costs.
- Shopify: Supports over 100 payment gateways, including its own Shopify Payments. Using external gateways incurs additional transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments.
- BigCommerce: Supports over 55 payment gateways and doesn’t charge extra transaction fees regardless of the payment gateway you choose.
