BigCommerce vs Shopify

Once a shop is past its first year these are the two names on the list, and they are close enough on capability that the decision usually comes down to how each one charges as the shop grows.

How the fees work

Shopify charges a platform fee on top of the payment processor when its own payment product is not used, and most merchants avoid it by using that product. It is a real cost for anyone with a payment relationship they cannot move, and no cost at all for anyone without one.

BigCommerce charges the same kind of fee only when a provider outside its embedded list is used, and that list runs past twenty names including the most common ones. For most merchants it is zero.

The sharper difference is what happens on success. BigCommerce publishes a trailing-twelve-month sales threshold, and passing it upgrades the plan automatically to a tier costing nearly three times as much. That is a documented, automatic step triggered by doing well, and it is the thing most likely to surprise someone who priced the entry plan and stopped there.

What each is like to run

Both handle a large catalogue, per-page content control and staff roles. Shopify's advantage is the surrounding market: more apps, more themes, more people who already know it, and more agencies who will work on it.

BigCommerce's advantage is that more arrives in the box, so fewer paid add-ons accumulate underneath the subscription. Its published limits sit comfortably above small-business scale.

Neither is a design tool. Both assemble pages from theme sections, and getting past what the theme allows means editing its code.

Which should you choose?

Choose Shopify if you want the largest ecosystem around the shop and expect to hire help, and if you will use its own payments so the platform fee never applies.

Choose BigCommerce if you want fewer add-ons and no fee regardless of which common processor you use — and price the tier the volume threshold will move you to, rather than the one you start on.