BigCommerce vs Shopify: 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.

8.6(12,400 reviews)

All-in-one ecommerce platform to build an online store, sell across channels, and manage payments, shipping, and inventory.

Aspect	BigCommerce	Shopify
Best For	Growing stores tired of paying for Shopify apps to get basic features	Small to mid-size businesses wanting the fastest setup with minimal technical skills
Pricing Model	Free Trial	Subscription
Starting Price	$39/mo	$39/mo
Deployment	cloud	cloud
Platforms	WEB, IOS, ANDROID	WEB, IOS, ANDROID
Rating	8.2/10	8.6/10

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

Store setup takes hours — the fastest path from idea to first sale in the industry
Checkout converts at 15% higher rates than average thanks to Shop Pay and constant A/B testing
Over 8,000 apps cover every feature you could possibly need
Shopify Payments eliminates third-party gateway complexity and extra transaction fees
Infrastructure handles massive traffic spikes without you touching a server

Monthly costs balloon to $200-400+ once you add the 6-12 apps most stores need
Transaction fees of 0.6-2% on every sale if you use any gateway besides Shopify Payments
Blog and content management are basic — nowhere near WordPress capabilities
Migrating away is painful due to proprietary Liquid templating and limited data export
Theme customization hits walls quickly without Liquid coding knowledge

Product	Pricing Model	Starting Price
BigCommerce	free trial	$39/mo
Shopify	subscription	$39/mo

Choose BigCommerce if...

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

Choose Shopify if...

Small to mid-size businesses wanting the fastest setup with minimal technical skills

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