Switching to a new eCommerce platform is a significant decision that affects every aspect of your business. Companies don’t make this decision lightly; it usually occurs because the current platform is limiting your business’s ability to grow. It’s important to ask yourself “Why do we need to make this change now?” to better understand which limitations are having the biggest impact on your business and how you believe addressing them with a new platform will enable future growth. The reasoning for this change will influence which platform is the best fit for your business.
While there are many reasons why a business may choose to use a SaaS (Software as a Service) ecommerce platform like BigCommerce or Shopify, here are a few common reasons:
- Architectural Challenges: The current platform experiences stability, scalability, security, compliance, or performance issues which impact the website’s ability to effectively handle traffic and transactions at scale.
- Content Marketing Limitations: The current platform does not provide sufficient ability to easily update the website content in order to effectively support SEO and marketing initiatives.
- Inadequate User Experience: The current website fails to provide a satisfactory shopping experience for customers, suffering from usability, performance, mobile optimization, and accessibility issues.
- Integration Difficulties: The current platform cannot easily support necessary system integrations, and lacks straightforward plug-and-play integration options.
- Data Management Constraints: The current platform does not support the ability to easily add additional data models which are necessary to achieve business goals.
- High Operating Costs: The cost of maintaining the current platform (including platform and systems costs, as well as the cost of regular updates) is high, or results in operational inefficiencies which are increasing the platform’s overhead cost.
Both BigCommerce and Shopify, as SaaS eCommerce platforms, can address these challenges by simplifying online store management with scalable, secure, and maintenance-free solutions, allowing your business to concentrate on marketing and growth rather than technical issues. However, the extent to which each platform meets these specific pain points will depend on your business’s unique needs.
Before proceeding, take a moment to checkout how BigCommerce compares themselves to Shopify, and how Shopify compares themselves to BigCommerce.
Pricing
While BigCommerce’s plans and Shopify’s plans are priced similarly, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee if you do not use Shopify Payments. For most merchants, that means using Shopify Payments will be the most economical choice, as Shopify Payments’ transaction fees are comparable to (and in some cases even lower than) the standard fees of other industry-leading payment processors. While BigCommerce does not provide a first-party payment processing solution, they have partnered with Braintree to provide special rates to BigCommerce customers (which are lower on average than Shopify Payments’ rates); BigCommerce also does not charge any additional transaction fees for using another provider. Your annual cost will depend upon the plan you select, the payment processor you use, your annual revenue, and the total number of transactions through your website. Based on these metrics, either BigCommerce or Shopify can be a more affordable platform, though generally both platforms are competitively priced for businesses of similar size.
However, platform pricing isn’t the only consideration when it comes to cost—the cost of development and maintenance as well as the cost of third-party services will impact your total cost of ownership.
Out-of-Box Features
One way that BigCommerce differentiates itself from Shopify is by including more built-in features.
| Feature | BigCommerce | Shopify |
| Multiple option display types | ✓ | Requires app/theme customization |
| Wishlists | ✓ | Requires app |
| Persistent cart | ✓ | Requires app |
| Blog | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple blogs | Requires app | ✓ |
| Ratings and Reviews | ✓ | Requires app |
| Reporting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Category filtering | ✓ | Requires app First-party app available |
| Real-Time Shipping Quotes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Language Capabilities | Requires multiple storefronts | ✓ |
| Customer Group Pricing | ✓ | Requires app |
| Content Scheduling | Requires app | ✓ |
As can be seen above, BigCommerce does in fact include more functionality out-of-box. However, Shopify has fully adopted the “app” architecture, and provides a number of free Shopify-built apps which expand the capabilities of the platform. Similarly, BigCommerce’s B2B Edition is achieved via a first-party BigCommerce-built app.
In a SaaS architecture, both out-of-the-box features and those added via apps offer limited customization, as they cannot be programmatically changed. Each app provides an interface (e.g. app dashboard) with specific customization options, limiting how much you can alter the feature’s appearance and functionality. This means built-in platform features may not be as feature-rich as those available through paid apps. Therefore, it’s crucial to evaluate whether the built-in features meet your needs or if additional apps are necessary.
Both platforms host app stores; Shopify’s contains over 6,000 apps, while BigCommerce has fewer than 1,000. However, not all these apps may meet your quality standards, and the most popular services typically offer solutions for both platforms. Sometimes, features that are built-in on BigCommerce, like wishlists, can be easily added to Shopify through low-cost apps.
If the out-of-the-box features of a platform like BigCommerce align with your business needs, choosing that platform can save costs and simplify your setup. However, if these features don’t meet your more advanced requirements, the distinction between Shopify and BigCommerce’s out-of-box functionality might be negligible.
Theme Customization
While prebuilt themes are available on both platforms via the BigCommerce theme store and Shopify theme store, both platforms also offer the ability to deeply customize the “look and feel” of a website. Both platforms feature an intuitive drag-and-drop Page Builder, and a theme engine which allows for full customization of your websites content and design. For bespoke branding needs, both platforms allow for the creation of custom components, widgets and templates that can include animations and interactive elements.
Though Shopify’s theme store themes tend to be more feature-rich when compared to BigCommerce themes, there is little technical reason why this difference should exist, as themes on both platforms are customizable using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, ensuring similar capabilities for aesthetic appearance and functionality.
Custom Data and Metafields
Additionally, both BigCommerce and Shopify allow the storage of custom data via custom fields and metafields, enabling the integration of non-native structured data into your theme. These tools provide more native flexibility and greater customization. There are some distinctions, however: BigCommerce’s custom fields and metafields only accept string values, while Shopify’s metafields can be typed. This provides Shopify with better backend validation and a more user-friendly admin interface for field editing. In BigCommerce, editing metafields directly in the UI isn’t supported yet, requiring an app for associating metafields. Businesses typically populate and synchronize metafield values through data integration systems (like PIM) or bulk-update tools, and these values may not change frequently, so the absence of a native metafield editing interface in BigCommerce may not significantly impact usability.
Here are the current data types which support metafields on each platform:
| Data Type | BigCommerce | Shopify |
| Products | ✓ | ✓ |
| Variants | ✓ | ✓ |
| Collections (Categories) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Orders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Locations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Markets (Channels) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Companies | ✓ | |
| Company locations | ✓ | |
| Pages | ✓ | |
| Blogs | ✓ | |
| Blog posts | ✓ |
Shopify also supports metaobjects, which allow for the creation of entirely new types of structured data within your store. These metaobjects can be used as shared resources, such as size charts or FAQs that vary by product type but are shared among multiple products. While not natively available in BigCommerce, similar functionalities can be implemented via apps.
Headless
Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide powerful APIs that enable the development of a custom headless frontend, giving you more flexibility and control over your online store’s user experience. Headless commerce separates the visual layer of your store from its eCommerce functions, allowing developers to use any technology for the frontend while still leveraging the robust eCommerce capabilities of Shopify or BigCommerce. Although there are minor differences between each platform’s APIs, both allow for virtually limitless customization, enabling you to craft any user experience you desire with either platform.
Checkout Customization
BigCommerce’s checkout is a headless app that can be fully customized as needed. BigCommerce’s documentation explains that while changing the styling of the page is supported, altering the page’s HTML or introducing functional changes significantly increases risk. As an alternative, BigCommerce provides the ability to develop a fully custom checkout, though it requires considerable effort.
The checkout page plays a crucial role in your business, and any issues here can greatly affect your operations. One of the main advantages of using a SaaS ecommerce platform (i.e. BigCommerce) is the secure and thoroughly tested checkout experience that is fully supported and maintained by BigCommerce. Introducing modifications to the page can lead to security, compliance, browser compatibility, performance, and user experience risks. Additionally, because BigCommerce maintains the core code of the native checkout, checkout updates pushed by their team could disrupt any customizations.
Shopify does not allow for direct modification of the checkout code, but Shopify supports a feature called “checkout extensibility” which provides a standardized way for apps to customize checkout while safeguarding elements of security and user-experience.
SEO
From a coding standpoint, themes on both Shopify and BigCommerce can be effectively optimized for search engines. Both platforms offer built-in tools for editing page titles and meta descriptions, which can be enhanced with metafields if needed. While Shopify does not allow you to fully customize its URL structure, BigCommerce provides the ability to use any URL structure you wish. This may have some slight advantages for overall user experience and SEO, though this isn’t usually a concern for most businesses. Ultimately, the success of a website’s SEO efforts depends more on the quality and uniqueness of its content and how well the SEO strategies are executed, rather than the platform itself.
Store Management
Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer user-friendly admin interfaces, albeit with distinct stylistic and functional approaches. Shopify’s admin UI is modern and highly praised for its simplicity and ease of use, featuring a streamlined design that emphasizes visual appeal. This design is particularly user-friendly, making it an attractive option for those who may be intimidated by more complex systems.
In contrast, BigCommerce’s admin interface, while still straightforward, has a more utilitarian appearance. It provides robust functionality that some may find less sleek but equally effective. Like Shopify, BigCommerce uses an app-based model to extend functionality, requiring users to integrate external apps for additional features. Both platforms encourage app developers to use their design systems—BigDesign for BigCommerce and Polaris for Shopify—to ensure that these apps integrate smoothly and maintain a cohesive feel with the core platform.
A significant advantage of BigCommerce is its allowance for unlimited staff accounts across all plans, making it an excellent option for larger businesses or those experiencing rapid growth. This feature enables businesses to provide system access to a broader team without incurring extra costs. Shopify, however, limits the number of staff accounts based on the chosen plan. Basic plans start with only two accounts, with more available in higher-tier plans—up to 15 in the Advanced Shopify plan. Unlimited staff accounts are only available with Shopify Plus, which may necessitate costlier upgrades for expanding businesses.
Multi-location Inventory & Fulfillment
Shopify and BigCommerce both offer support for multi-location inventory, but there are differences in their approach to certain features like multi-origin shipping and Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPIS).
On BigCommerce, while multi-location inventory is supported, multi-origin shipping isn’t natively supported, and implementing it requires a custom solution. Similarly, BOPIS functionality is achievable through APIs but not part of the native user interface.
In contrast, Shopify offers more integrated solutions for multi-location inventory and fulfillment. Shopify natively supports BOPIS, which it refers to as “local pickup.” This feature is directly accessible within the Shopify admin panel, making it easier for merchants to set up and offer to their customers. Additionally, Shopify provides various options for configuring fulfillment from each inventory location, providing flexibility for shipping and pickup services. This built-in support simplifies the process for merchants and enhances the customer experience by providing clear, immediate pickup options during checkout.
Analytics & Reporting
Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer built-in reporting and analytics features. Shopify provides a variety of default reports which can be customized using date ranges, filters, and view options to fulfill specific reporting needs. Customers subscribed to the Advanced Shopify plan or higher can save these customized reports for future use. Additionally, the Advanced plan and above includes a feature called “Predicted values,” which forecasts future spending patterns by customer cohort.
Similarly, BigCommerce offers a selection of default reports that can be tailored by adjusting the date ranges to better analyze different aspects of your business performance.
While Shopify’s reporting capabilities are slightly more sophisticated, especially with features like predictive analytics on higher-tier plans, both platforms adequately cover the essential reporting needs most businesses require.
Discounting
Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer comparable native discounting functionality. Both platforms enable discounts that can be automatically applied based on cart conditions such as “buy X get Y”, amount off, and shipping discounts.
Additionally both Shopify and BigCommerce support the combination of coupons (discount codes) with automatic discounts. However, in BigCommerce, only one coupon can be used per order, whereas Shopify allows customers to use up to five discount codes on a single order.
For businesses needing more advanced discounting capabilities, Shopify offers a feature called Shopify Functions which allows merchants using Shopify Plus to create custom discount implementations with almost any logic they require.
B2B
Shopify and BigCommerce both provide comprehensive B2B features designed to support wholesale businesses, although they implement these features differently. (Shopify’s B2B feature is available only to stores on the Shopify Plus plan.)
- Corporate Account Management: Both platforms support corporate accounts, allowing the creation of company profiles that include various permissions, payment terms, and tax exemptions. These accounts can also accommodate multiple contacts and locations, with tiered buyer roles and permissions.
- Note: Shopify’s B2B implementation requires merchants to use Shopify’s “new customer accounts”, which allows app vendors to plug-in to the Account section more easily. A potentially undesirable by-product of this implementation is that a Shopify-branded login page is displayed when customers are logging into a new customer account.
- Customer-Specific Catalogs and Pricing: Both platforms allow you to create customer-specific catalogs that facilitate product filtering and offer custom price lists tailored to individual wholesale clients.
- Quoting Functionality: Shopify and BigCommerce enable sales agents to generate and share quotes with companies. These quotes can include customized product selections, shipping rates, and discounts on top of the pre-agreed pricing.
- Quick Order Pad: While a Shopify theme can be customized to include a Quick Order List, BigCommerce natively features a Quick Order Pad which allows users to quickly add items to orders by typing in SKUs, choosing products from past orders, or uploading a CSV file.
- Admin Capabilities and User Interface: BigCommerce includes a “Super Admin Masquerade” feature, which lets super admins log into the buyer portal as any assigned company to view the storefront from the customer’s perspective and place orders. Conversely, Shopify provides sales staff accounts that must operate from the admin dashboard. This typically suffices as it grants access to all necessary capabilities within the admin UI.
Both platforms are equipped to handle complex B2B operations, offering tools that simplify the ordering process and enhance the management of wholesale customer relationships.
Update 2024/09/25: Following the publication of this post, Shopify’s B2B product team contacted Trellis via Trellis’ Partner Manager at Shopify. Shopify’s B2B product team requested a clarification to highlight that Shopify’s B2B functionality (available only to Shopify Plus stores) is built directly into the core Shopify platform, without needing an additional app. In contrast, BigCommerce’s B2B functionality was introduced via the acquisition of a third-party app named “BundleB2B”, which must be installed by BigCommerce support on behalf of the merchant. Additionally, BigCommerce’s B2B features require theme integration, particularly for templates in the My Account section; while BigCommerce provides a number of themes with this B2B functionality included, not all themes will support BigCommerce’s B2B functionality out of the box.
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