· Giraffe
Shopify vs BigCommerce for growing stores
You're past the "website builder with a shop" shortlist and looking at two hosted ecommerce platforms: Shopify and BigCommerce. Both take cards, both host the store for you, both scale past a hobby catalogue. The useful question isn't which logo is bigger — it's which admin and fee shape match how you plan to sell for the next few years.
Who this is for
This is for someone choosing between SaaS ecommerce platforms before (or during) a rebuild: a growing SKU count, maybe wholesale alongside DTC, and no appetite for self-hosting WordPress. If you mainly need a portfolio site with a few products, see Shopify vs Squarespace or Shopify vs Wix instead.
How they differ in practice
Shopify is an ecommerce platform with a themeable storefront, a huge App Store and first-party tools for payments (Shopify Payments, Shop Pay), retail (Shopify POS) and international selling (Markets). Hosting, SSL, PCI and checkout come with the plan. The editor works in sections inside a theme — stricter at first, steadier when you're iterating on products, discounts and orders every day.
BigCommerce is also a hosted ecommerce platform, with a Stencil theme layer and a control panel that leans catalogue- and ops-heavy out of the box. Multi-Storefront lets you run several storefronts from one backend. B2B Edition adds wholesale tooling (quotes, company accounts, price lists, buyer portals) that many brands otherwise assemble from apps.
Both handle hosting for you. Neither asks you to patch servers. Check current plan prices on Shopify's pricing page and BigCommerce's pricing page; figures and fee rules move often enough that quoting them here would age badly.
Storefront and apps
Shopify cites thousands of apps built around ecommerce — shipping, subscriptions, reviews, wholesale, marketplaces — plus Themes and Online Store 2.0 sections aimed at product pages, collections and cart. When you need a feature the platform doesn't ship, the App Store is usually the first stop.
BigCommerce ships more catalogue and merchandising pieces natively on higher tiers (product filtering, customer groups, abandoned-cart flows and similar) and has a smaller marketplace of apps and integrations. That can mean fewer paid add-ons early on if your needs sit inside what the plan already includes — and more custom or partner work when they don't. Headless options exist on both sides (Shopify Hydrogen / Oxygen; BigCommerce Catalyst and open APIs) if you're building a custom front end.
Payments, POS and selling channels
Both support their own payment options and third-party gateways. Card processing fees always apply. On Shopify, using a gateway other than Shopify Payments can add a platform transaction fee that varies by plan. On BigCommerce self-serve plans, orders through providers outside their Embedded Payment Providers list can incur an Open Payment Provider fee billed to you (not your shoppers). Check each vendor's current pricing page for your country rather than trusting an old comparison chart.
Shopify leans harder into unified commerce: Shop Pay at checkout, a first-party POS stack, sales channels (social, marketplaces and more) and Markets for multi-currency and international selling. BigCommerce covers multi-channel selling and POS via integrations (Square, Vend and others), and Multi-Storefront is the standout when you need separate brands, regions or B2B vs B2C experiences from one account.
B2B, catalogues and ownership
If wholesale is a real channel — negotiated price lists, quotes, company accounts and approval flows — compare the native stories carefully. BigCommerce's B2B Edition is built around those workflows. Shopify ships native B2B on higher tiers (company profiles, catalogues, payment terms) and a large ecosystem of B2B apps; on Plus you can also keep DTC, retail and wholesale under one admin. Neither "wins" for every manufacturer — pick against the quotes and ERP work you already do.
Both give you the SEO basics: editable titles and meta descriptions, custom URLs, SSL and mobile-friendly pages. Shopify handles a lot of technical ecommerce SEO for you (canonicals, product-friendly URL patterns). BigCommerce documents built-in SEO tools (customisable URLs, redirects, rich snippets, blog). For a catalogue you expect to rank on product queries, either is fine; the ecosystem and checkout you prefer usually matter more than the meta-tag UI.
You're renting either platform. Export products and customers before you need to leave. Shopify documents migration from BigCommerce via CSV, migration apps or a Partner. Migration is doable both ways — just never fun — so pick for the next few years of selling, not the next afternoon of theme tweaks.
When WooCommerce still fits
If you want full ownership of the stack, custom checkout code and plugins that run on your own server, WooCommerce on WordPress is still the usual answer — with the hosting and maintenance trade-offs that come with it. We've covered that trade-off in a short series: cost, maintenance, checkout and apps vs plugins.
Who each one suits
Choose BigCommerce if you need Multi-Storefront from day one, want heavier native B2B/catalogue tooling with fewer early apps, or your ops team already thinks in ERP-shaped control panels rather than theme sections and an App Store.
Choose Shopify if selling is the product — growing SKU count, apps you'll swap as you scale, Shop Pay and POS in the same family, multi-channel or Markets plans, and an admin built around orders with the largest ecosystem behind it.
Neither "wins" in the abstract. Try the free trial on both with the same three products, one real payment method and one B2B or multi-channel scenario you actually care about. The platform that feels boring after an hour of admin work is usually the one you'll still like in a year.
FAQ
Is Shopify better than BigCommerce for ecommerce?
For most DTC brands — apps, Shop Pay, POS and a faster path from idea to live store — Shopify is usually the safer default. BigCommerce is a strong peer when you need Multi-Storefront, heavier native B2B tooling or prefer more catalogue features built into the plan.
Can I switch from BigCommerce to Shopify later?
Yes. Export products and customers before you leave. Shopify documents migration from BigCommerce (CSV, migration apps, or a Partner). Migration is doable both ways — just never fun — so pick for the next few years of selling, not the next afternoon of admin setup.
Which is cheaper, Shopify or BigCommerce?
It depends on how you sell. Both are hosted plans with card processing on top. Shopify can add a platform fee when you use a gateway other than Shopify Payments; BigCommerce can add an Open Payment Provider fee on self-serve plans when orders go through non-embedded gateways. Check current prices on each vendor's pricing page — figures and fee rules move often enough that quoting them here would age badly.
When is BigCommerce the better fit?
When you need multiple storefronts from one backend (brands, regions or B2B vs B2C), want more native wholesale/B2B tooling (price lists, quotes, company accounts via B2B Edition), or prefer a catalogue-heavy admin with fewer paid apps early on.
Do both platforms support B2B and wholesale?
Yes, with different shapes. BigCommerce's B2B Edition centres on quotes, company accounts, price lists and buyer portals. Shopify ships native B2B on higher tiers (company profiles, catalogues, payment terms) and a large app ecosystem for anything missing — plus unified DTC, retail and wholesale under one admin on Plus.
If Shopify fits how you plan to sell, try it with the same three products you'd put on BigCommerce.