BigCommerce vs PrestaShop: Complete Comparison 2026

An in-depth comparison of features, pricing, and user experience to help you make the right choice.

BigCommerce

8.2(4,200 reviews)

SaaS ecommerce platform with built-in features for SEO, multichannel selling, and B2B, requiring fewer third-party apps.

7.3(2,800 reviews)

Free open-source ecommerce platform popular in Europe with built-in multi-language and multi-currency support.

Aspect	BigCommerce	PrestaShop
Best For	Growing stores tired of paying for Shopify apps to get basic features	European merchants selling across multiple EU countries with different languages and currencies
Pricing Model	Free Trial	Open Source
Starting Price	$39/mo	Free
Deployment	cloud	self hosted, cloud
Platforms	WEB, IOS, ANDROID	WEB
Rating	8.2/10	7.3/10

Zero transaction fees on every plan — you only pay your payment processor
More built-in features than any SaaS competitor: faceted search, multi-currency, B2B pricing included
SEO capabilities are the strongest among hosted platforms — customizable URLs and automatic 301s
Headless commerce API is excellent for developers building custom React or Next.js frontends
Supports 65+ payment gateways natively without extra fees or plugins

Annual revenue caps ($50K-$400K) force plan upgrades as your store grows
Theme marketplace is small — roughly 200 themes vs Shopify's 190+ free and 1,300+ paid
App ecosystem has ~1,300 apps compared to Shopify's 8,000+ options
Dashboard UI feels dated compared to Shopify and Squarespace
Checkout page customization is limited unless you use the headless Checkout SDK

Native multi-language and multi-currency baked into the core — no plugins needed for international selling
EU VAT handling including MOSS cross-border rules works out of the box
Completely free and open source with no transaction fees or revenue caps
Strong ecosystem of European developers, especially in France, Spain, and Italy
Back office is genuinely user-friendly for non-technical merchants managing daily operations

Module marketplace is expensive — expect to spend $500-1,500 on essential modules before launch
English-speaking developer talent is scarce compared to WooCommerce and Shopify ecosystems
Performance on shared hosting is poor — budget $30-100/month for decent hosting
Some modules have annual renewal fees on top of the initial purchase price
US payment gateway and shipping carrier support is weaker than European integrations

Product	Pricing Model	Starting Price
BigCommerce	free trial	$39/mo
PrestaShop	open source	Free0

Choose BigCommerce if...

Growing stores tired of paying for Shopify apps to get basic features

Choose PrestaShop if...

European merchants selling across multiple EU countries with different languages and currencies

Explore more alternatives or read in-depth reviews to make your decision.