BigCommerce vs Shopify: Which Platform Should You Use?

BigCommerce vs Shopify is the question behind most "which platform should I build my store on" conversations, and both vendors have spent the last few years closing the gaps that used to make this an easy call. This guide compares BigCommerce and Shopify on pricing, transaction fees, SEO, features and apps, design, B2B support, and the enterprise tiers each offers (Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise), with Magento, now Adobe Commerce, as the third option for a reader with a large catalogue on the shortlist too.

TL;DR

Shopify suits most new and growing stores; BigCommerce suits stores that want more built in; Magento (Adobe Commerce) suits large catalogues with a development team. Shopify's strengths are app-store depth, checkout conversion tools and an easier onboarding path, with Shopify Payments removing the third-party gateway fee where it's available. BigCommerce's strengths are built-in catalogue and B2B features and a $0 platform fee on an embedded payment provider at any tier, including Stripe, PayPal and Adyen. Both now offer editable URLs, built-in blogging, and comparable marketplace reach through channel apps, so several of the old reasons to pick one over the other no longer hold. Magento, sold today as Adobe Commerce alongside the free Magento Open Source, fits a business with a complex catalogue, in-house or agency developers, and a budget that supports custom-quoted enterprise pricing.

What Is the Difference Between BigCommerce and Shopify?

Both are hosted platforms run as a service: nobody manages a server, and updates roll out on their own. The honest line in 2026 is that the gap between them has closed a lot. Shopify built out stronger native B2B and catalogue tools than it used to have. BigCommerce closed a lot of ground on its app store and its checkout. Neither one is the clear all-round winner any more. The differences that matter now sit inside single features, not the two platforms as a whole.

Where they still split is in how each one is built. Shopify keeps a lean core and leans on its app store to add the rest. That keeps the base product simple, but it also means a feature that comes free on BigCommerce often shows up on Shopify as a paid app. BigCommerce goes the other way and builds more of the catalogue, discount and B2B logic straight into the core. That suits a store owner who would rather flip a setting than hunt down, install and pay for an app to do the same job.

Pricing

Shopify's current trial offer is 3 days free, then $1/month for the next 3 months, on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans. BigCommerce offers a straight 15-day free trial with no credit card required.

BigCommerce's lower three tiers carry a sales-threshold upgrade rule: a store that crosses $30K, $100K or $2M in trailing-12-month sales is moved up to the next plan automatically. Shopify's plans aren't gated by sales volume in the same way, though Advanced and Plus add features (lower transaction fees, more staff accounts, more locations) that growing stores tend to need anyway.

Transaction Fees and Payment Gateways

This is where the two platforms genuinely differ, and it's worth working through with real numbers.

Shopify charges a fee on top of card-processing costs whenever a merchant uses a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify Payments itself carries no extra platform fee on any plan, only the card-processing rate, but it isn't available to every merchant everywhere; where it isn't offered, the gateway fee above applies regardless of plan.

BigCommerce draws the line differently. It charges $0 in platform fees when a merchant uses one of its embedded payment providers, which include Stripe, PayPal and Adyen, on every plan. Merchants who choose an "open" (non-embedded) gateway instead pay a fee calculated as a percentage of sales: 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth, 0.6% on Scale, with Enterprise rates negotiated.

Worked example, $10,000 in monthly sales:

At entry-level plans the two platforms land in the same place: pick the platform's own preferred payment route and the fee disappears on both. The real difference is reach. BigCommerce's $0 list includes several major processors (Stripe, PayPal, Adyen), so more merchants can land on a $0 option regardless of country. Shopify's $0 route runs through Shopify Payments specifically, which is not available to every merchant everywhere, so merchants outside its coverage pay the gateway fee on every plan tier.

SEO

Both platforms now let a store owner edit page and product URLs directly. The old claim that Shopify locks URLs in place is out of date: a Shopify merchant can edit a product, collection or page's URL handle from the Online Store part of admin, just as a BigCommerce merchant can. Both platforms also support custom title tags and meta descriptions, 301 redirects set up from inside admin with no developer needed, and a built-in blog with its own URL structure.

Structured data, the schema markup search engines read, ships by default in modern themes on both platforms for products and for breadcrumbs. Apps fill in anything more specific on either side, such as FAQ or review schema. Site speed turns mostly on theme choice and how many apps a store runs, on both platforms, rather than on some fixed edge one platform holds over the other. A lean store on either platform, with few apps installed, will usually load faster than a heavily app-laden store on the other one.

One claim worth retiring outright: Accelerated Mobile Pages. Google's own AMP push has wound down across the industry, and BigCommerce's own help pages now mark its AMP support as deprecated. Neither platform's SEO case should lean on AMP today, and a reader who sees it listed as a current advantage for either platform is reading old marketing copy.

Features, Apps and Integrations

Shopify's app store lists over 16,000 apps, built on the idea of a lean core stretched wider by paid add-ons. Gift cards, advanced search, and most loyalty and subscription tools are app-based rather than built in, on the entry tiers.

BigCommerce's app marketplace lists over 1,200 apps, a much smaller number, built on a different idea: gift cards, tiered pricing, discount rules and a built-in site search come native to the platform, with no extra app or fee needed to turn them on.

Both connect to the big marketplaces, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and TikTok Shop, through dedicated channel or connector apps rather than one universal built-in switch. Which apps cover which marketplace shifts over time on both app stores, so check the live listing for the specific marketplace a store needs before leaning on either platform for that reason alone.

Dropshipping has moved on a long way from where either platform's older marketing still describes it. Oberlo, long the default Shopify dropshipping app, was retired by Shopify some time ago. DSers, AliExpress's own official partner app, is the closest Shopify-native replacement today. Spocket is a current cross-platform option that works with both Shopify and BigCommerce, a good fit for a merchant who wants a supplier network that isn't tied to just one storefront platform.

Whichever platform a store runs on, the customer messages generated by Amazon, eBay, Walmart and the webstore still have to land somewhere a team can answer them from one screen; see best helpdesk apps for Shopify or best helpdesk apps for BigCommerce for that side of the comparison.

B2B and Wholesale

Shopify's B2B tools, available on Plus, build wholesale into the same store as the DTC storefront: company accounts with multiple buyers and locations, custom price lists and volume pricing, configurable payment terms, deposits and tax exemptions, and a self-serve buyer portal for bulk ordering, all running through Shopify Markets if the same store also sells in several currencies.

BigCommerce's B2B Edition takes a similar shape but ships as its own distinct product: multi-company account hierarchies (parent companies, subsidiaries, departments), account-specific custom price lists, a quote-building engine for sales reps, shared shopping lists, and approval workflows that mirror a buyer's own procurement process.

The two are close in capability. Shopify's version suits a brand that wants wholesale living inside the DTC store it already runs on Plus; BigCommerce's version suits a brand for whom B2B is closer to the primary business and wants the deeper account-hierarchy and quoting tools built around that case specifically.

Design and Ease of Use

Both platforms ship drag-and-drop theme editors that a non-developer can use for layout and content changes, with a paid theme marketplace on each for a more distinctive look. Shopify's editor and documentation are generally considered the easier on-ramp for a first-time store owner; BigCommerce's is a little more configuration-heavy but gives more native control without needing an app or a developer for it.

Support channels are comparable at the entry tiers: live chat and email on both, with phone support and a larger self-serve help centre on each as the plan tier rises. The real difference in day-to-day ease of use is less about the editor and more about how much of what a merchant needs is already built in (BigCommerce's position) versus how much comes from browsing and paying for an app (Shopify's position); which of those is "easier" depends on whether the merchant would rather configure or install.

Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce Enterprise

One correction worth making plainly: Shopify Flow, often sold as a Plus-only advantage, sits on every Shopify plan, Basic through Plus, not behind the enterprise tier at all. What Plus really adds on the automation side isn't Flow itself. It's the scale of workflow a Plus merchant tends to run, plus priority access to Shopify's own build and support teams when a workflow gets complex.

Neither enterprise tier publishes a plain price list. Both are quoted against the merchant's own sales volume and the integrations they need, so the figures above are a starting point, not a ceiling. For the fuller breakdown of when the jump from standard Shopify to Plus pays off in practice, see Shopify Plus vs Shopify.

Where Magento (Adobe Commerce) Fits

Magento belongs to Adobe now, and the current names matter. Magento Open Source is the free, self-hosted version anyone can download. Adobe Commerce is the paid, supported product, offered as a cloud SaaS or as a dedicated cloud-hosted (PaaS) build, with a newer piece called Adobe Commerce Optimizer that handles storefront and merchandising and can sit on top of a commerce engine a business already runs.

Adobe Commerce's price is custom-quoted only. Adobe's own pages publish no fixed figure and no minimum spend. That's worth saying plainly because it's different from the old, widely repeated line about costs running up to $125,000 a month, a figure Adobe has never published and that shouldn't be treated as current without a named, dated source behind it. What can be said with confidence is simpler: Adobe Commerce sits well above both Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise on total cost once licensing, hosting and development time are all added up, and it calls for an in-house or agency development team in a way neither Shopify nor BigCommerce does, at any tier either offers.

Magento Open Source stays free to download and run, and some merchants with the development staff to maintain it still choose that path instead of paying for Adobe Commerce. Either way, Magento and Adobe Commerce fit one specific case well: a large, complex catalogue, a business that already has developers on staff or on retainer, and a need for custom work that goes past what Shopify Plus or BigCommerce Enterprise offers out of the box.

Pros and Cons, and the Verdict by Store Type

Shopify, in short: the larger app ecosystem, a strong checkout and conversion toolset, and the easier on-ramp for a first store. The trade-off is that more of what you need past the basics is a paid app rather than a built-in setting.

BigCommerce, in short: more built in at every tier (catalogue, discounts, search, B2B), no fee for an embedded payment provider on any plan, and genuinely strong B2B tools. The trade-off is a smaller app marketplace and a steeper learning curve for configuration-heavy features.

If WooCommerce is also on the shortlist, see Shopify vs WooCommerce for that comparison specifically. If the shortlist runs wider than these platforms, see Shopify alternatives.

FAQ

1. Is BigCommerce better than Shopify? Neither is better outright. Shopify suits most new and growing stores on the strength of its app ecosystem and checkout tools; BigCommerce suits stores that want more built in natively, pay nothing extra on an embedded payment provider, and need stronger B2B or catalogue features.

2. Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees? Not on embedded payment providers (Stripe, PayPal, Adyen), on any plan. Choosing a non-embedded gateway instead brings a fee calculated as a percentage of sales, from 2.0% on the Core plan down to 0.6% on Scale, with Enterprise negotiated.

3. Which is better for SEO, BigCommerce or Shopify? Both now support editable URLs, custom meta tags, built-in redirects and blogging, and ship structured data by default in current themes. Neither has a clear structural SEO advantage left; site speed and content quality, which depend on theme and app choices, matter more than the platform itself.

4. What is the difference between Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise? Both are custom-quoted enterprise tiers. Shopify Plus centres on checkout conversion tools (Shop Pay) and the Flow automation tool, which is actually available on every Shopify plan, not just Plus. BigCommerce Enterprise centres on native multi-storefront support, a dedicated international commerce feature set, and hands-on account management.

5. Is Magento better than Shopify or BigCommerce? For most stores, no; Magento, now sold as Adobe Commerce alongside the free Magento Open Source, asks for development resources and a budget that neither Shopify nor BigCommerce requires. It fits a large, complex catalogue with an in-house or agency development team already in place.

6. Shopify vs BigCommerce vs WooCommerce, which should I pick? That depends on whether you want a fully hosted platform (Shopify or BigCommerce) or more control at the cost of running your own WordPress hosting (WooCommerce). See our full Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison for that specific decision.