Which one among BigCommerce and Shopify would be the best for your next development project?

BigCommerce and Shopify hold imminent positions in the e-commerce industry. Choosing one between the two can be extremely challenging. However, thorough research and a proper comparison between the two might be quite helpful to startups and established enterprises alike in making sound and intelligent decisions.

BigCommerce development and Shopify are online store-building platforms that allow businesses to sell physical and digital products. These platforms are specially developed to assist businesses that do not want to invest hugely in building e-commerce sites. Both of these products run in browsers, hence, no additional software is required to operate these. These platforms enable developers to build their e-commerce websites without writing code. Instead, developers just need to choose the most appropriate template for their business, upload their products and set the most relevant prices.

Separating BigCommerce from Shopify at first seems like separating sand from salt. But once the target audience of each is known, the differences between the two automatically manifest. In this article, we have presented the comparison between the two, which would further enable business owners to smoothen their e-commerce journey. 

Comparison between BigCommerce and Shopify

Annual Sales Limit

The sales limit varies with different plans in BigCommerce. The sales limit is limited to $ 50,000 if the standard plan is chosen. If the plus plan is chosen, the sales limit is $ 180,000 and 400,000 with the pro plan. Sales limits in BigCommerce are non-negotiable and are described as ‘custom’. Once this upper sales limit is over, the enterprise further offers a 1,000 – 2,000 order limit to their users and does not prevent any additional orders from coming through until they exceed the supplementary order limit offered. However, Shopify, on the other hand, does not contain any order limits. Hence, Shopify is the clear winner here.

Customized Templates

Both BigCommerce and Shopify allow users to customize their templates using pre-existing tools or by diving into the site’s HTML and CSS code. In Shopify, users get access to a large range of fonts and they can use any of these in the free templates provided. However, in BigCommerce, the range of web fonts is limited. In this scenario, to meet up the demands, users need to manually install other themes to enhance the look and feel of a template and match with their corporate branding.

Payment Gateways

Payment gateways enable organizations to accept credit card payments and thus facilitate selling products and services. Both Shopify and BigCommerce allow one to connect an ample range of payment options to one’s store. Integrating a third-party payment gateway is considered baffling and hence, users prefer platforms that offer out-of-the-box features to smoothen the transaction process. Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer these features that just needed to be dragged and dropped into the workspace. 

Product Categories

In both Shopify and BigCommerce, categories can be set up straightforwardly and without any fuss. However, Shopify’s approach is far better. As, in Shopify, one can create smart products which can be automatically populated with products based on the supplied conditions. This is an extraordinary feature offered by Shopify which facilitates the listing down of products using mentioned criteria. Though BigCommerce possesses a bulk edit option, it does not provide a smart collection facility. Hence, the clear winner here is Shopify. 

Product Options and Variants

BigCommerce beats Shopify in the domain of product options. Shopify is only limited to offering 3 sets of options per product to the customers. For instance, color, size, or material. It becomes quite frustrating when business owners need to sell products that come in more than three versions. Though developers can purchase third-party apps like ‘infinite options’ to eliminate the limitations that come along with Shopify, the process can be extremely baffling and time-consuming. BigCommerce on the other hand offers flexibility to the developers as it allows them to create large lists of product options. Moreover, the product variant limits offered by BigCommerce are just like a cherry on the cake, as developers can have up to 600 variants. Whereas, in Shopify, it’s just 100. 

The BigCommerce and Shopify battle is a never-ending one. It’s difficult for us to declare a winner between the two. Because the winner solely depends on the requirement and the budget. If the judge of the battle is someone who wishes to run an online business. Or is looking forward to expanding it across multiple channels. And wishes to utilize built-in features without facing any hassle of installing and paying for them separately. Then BigCommerce should be chosen. However, if one wants authority over the features on the website and to run a large-scale business with a complex inventory then Shopify should be chosen. No matter who the judge of the battle is, stellar services and complete satisfaction will ensue if either one of them is chosen.