Bigcommerce vs Shopify
Bigcommerce vs Shopify Store Builder Comparision: We’re writing this Bigcommerce vs Shopify review because when we search for the term Bigcommerce vs Shopify in Google, we found many articles talking about Bigcommerce and Shopify comparison. What we personally noticed that most of the articles are misleading and gives half true information and some of them got too old and the updated information about Bigcommerce vs Shopify is not available.
You’re reading this Bigcommerce vs Shopify review because you may be planning to start an online shopping portal and have come to know from some authentic sources that Bigcommerce & Shopify are the two most trusted places where you can setup your online store without investing anything on infrastructure.
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Let’s start with the plans and pricing …..
Bigcommerce Pricing Vs Shopify Pricing : Who Charge You The Right Price
Bigcommerce offer 3 plans keeping small, medium & enterprise clients in mind. On the other hand Shopify offers 5 plans, which simply gives you more options. You can pick any one of them as per your requirements.
If you’re just starting up and planning to buy the lowest plan from any one of them then you must have noticed that Bigcommerce is cheaper compare to Shopify. Bigcommerce starter plan i.e Standard cost you only $10 per month while Shopify offer a similar plan for $14 per month.
Although the medium plans of both Bigcommerce & Shopify cost almost the same. Bigcommerce medium plan i.e Plus cost $79.95 per month and Shopify medium plan i.e Professional cost $79 per month.
Bigcommerce hasn’t written price of their large plan on their website and ask you to get in touch if you need the same. On the other hand Shopify offer a large plan i.e Unlimited cost $179 per month and if you’re expecting large number of sales you may contact them for their Shopify Plus plan.
Below are Bigcommerce & Shopify plans at a glance
Bigcommerce Plans & Pricing:
Standard Plan: $10.00 per month
Plus Plan: $79.95 per month
Enterprise Plan: You may contact their sales team for a custom plan as per your requirements
Shopify Plans & Pricing:
Starter Plan: $14 per month
Basic Plan: $29 per month
Professional Plan: $79 per month
Unlimited Plan: $179 per month
Shopify Plus: You may contact their sales team for a custom plan as per your requirements
Most of the time people generally headed towards these platforms when they start a new business. Starter plans are the most selling plans for both of them, so we investigated further to know who offer the best starter plan and here is our findings…..
We found that Bigcommerce starter plan is better compare to Shopify because it cost less and let you add unlimited products which otherwise not the case with Shopify. Shopify starter plan cost $14 per month which is higher compare to the Bigcommerce plan that cost only $10 per month and you can only add up to 25 products in your store if you go with Shopify starter plan. On the top of it, Shopify starter plan comes with only 1 GB of storage where Bigcommerce starter plan i.e Standard plan comes with unlimited storage. So here Bigcommerce is a clear winner.
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Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Transaction Fee
Bigcommerce do charge 1.5% transaction fee on their starter plan i.e Basic plan, on the other side Shopify doesn’t charge you any transaction fee if you opt for their Stripe powered ‘Shopify Payments’ option. If you doesn’t use Shopify Payments option, 2% transaction fee applies on Shopify basic plan. The only drawback I see with Shopify Payments, the stripe can only be use in US, UK & canada and if you’re outside US, UK & Canada, you’re bound to use any other payment gateway.
Both Bigcommerce & Shopify doesn’t charge any transaction fee on higher plans.
Some other major advantages of using Bigcommerce over Shopify are:
- There is no transaction fee on Bigcommerce higher plans which otherwise applicable on Shopify if you doesn’t use their stripe powered ‘Shopify Payments’
- Bigcommerce offer advance features like ‘Real-Time Carrier Shipping’ , ‘Checkout Hosted on Your Domain’ etc on their plus plan which cost only $79.95. For same features you’ve to buy Shopify unlimited plan which cost $179.
Bigcommerce vs Shopify: Discount on Annual Purchase
If you’re planning to pay upfront for 1 year, you can avail 10% discount on both Bigcommerce & Shopify plans. Although you can save 20% on Shopify if you pay upfront for two years.
So who is the winner in pricing …..
After reading this whole story about pricing, you may have got an idea that both Bigcommerce and Shopify has their own advantages and dis-advantages. Overall Bigcommerce impressed us in terms of pricing. The $10 per month pricing is unbeatable and transaction fee is also less compare to Shopify. So in pricing, Bigcommerce is a clear winner.
Trial: Try It Before You Buy
Both Bigcommerce & Shopify give you an opportunity to try their product before you get into any contract. Using a credit card is not required to avail the trial. You can try Bigcommerce for up to 15 days and Shopify for up to 14 days without spending a dime. If you like the service, you can purchase the plan. So if you’re getting confuse whom to choose, start with a trial is a good idea.
Template Collection
How your website will look is depends upon the template you choose? shopping websites who use beautiful templates sell more. When it comes to Template collection, Shopify win over Bigcommerce. Not only Shopify has great collection of paid templates but the collection of free templates is also good. Where Bigcommerce only has 14 free templates, Shopify offer 31 free templates to choose from.
A Free Shopify Template Example:
A Free Bigcommerce Template Example:
Shopify template collection really impressed us and no doubt Shopify has clear edge over Bigcommerce when it comes to website templates.
The best is, both Bigcommerce & Shopify allow you to customize any of the template quite extensively. If you’re a guy who knows HTML/CSS you can yourself customize the template quite extensively. You can also hire any professional to do so. Although it is not required as the default templates are quite beautiful.
I have myself seen professionals on freelance websites like eLance, Freelancer, People-Per-Hour etc, who’re expert in customizing these templates and if you think the template you’ve chosen doesn’t show your products the way you want to showcase, you can hire freelancers to do the job for you.
To edit Shopify templates, you may require some knowledge about Liquid, which is a Shopify specific templating language. One the other hand Bigcommerce templates can be edited with industry standard HTML/CSS/Java Scripts.
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Top Features: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
Let’s compare some important features that Bigcommerce & Shopify provides to their clients.
After analyzing both of the platforms we’ve concluded that both Bigcommerce & Shopify offers enough options to their customers to start a shopping website without having any technical knowledge. Still you should know who provides more options before you pick one out of two.
Payment Gateway: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
Both Bigcommerce & Shopify allows you to connect number of payment gateways. The exact number depends upon the country you belongs to. In general you’ll find major payment gateways supported in your country i.e Worldpay, Quickbooks, Paypal, 2Checkout etc
When we talk about the payment gateways with no additional fees, Bigcommerce win the race. Bigcommerce supports 60 payment gateways that don’t charge you an additional fee, where as Shopify supports only 1 such payment gateway.
If you don’t want to go with a third party payment gateway, you may simply use the default payment gateway offered by Bigcommerce & Shopify.
Transaction Fee: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
When we compare the transaction fee of these two eCommerce website solution provides, we found that Bigcommerce charge you the maximum 1.5% & Shopify charge you 2% transaction fee on their lowest plan. On higher plans they don’t charge any transaction fee.
So if you’re just starting up and want to save some money on transaction fee, Bigcommerce may be the the right option for you.
Abandoned Cart Recovery: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
Abandoned cart recovery is a great feature which allows you to send automated emails to visitors who added the product into their cart but didn’t pay for that. Both Bigcommrce & Shopify offers this feature. When we investigate this feature in details on both Bigcommerce & Shopify, we found that Shopify only allows you to send one email per customer whereas Bigcommerce let you schedule a series of emails that you can automate to bring the customer back. Bigcommerce claims that its Abandoned Cart Recovery feature helps you recover 15% of lost sales.
Integration With Alibaba, eBay, Facebook, Twitter & More: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
While both Bigcommece & Shopity allows you to integrate with major social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and shopping giant eBay, Bigcommerce give you something additional. After Bigcommerce recent partnership with Alibaba, You can intergate Alibaba with Bigcommere. With this integration your website visitors can browse up to 30000 Alibaba products within Bigcommerce platform.
Customer Support: Bigcommerce Vs Shopify
Both Bigcommerce & Shopify offers similar support options. You can get support via Phone, Chat, Forum & Email. Although Bigcommerce also offer customer support through Facebook & Twitter. The support team is available 24*7 all days.
The best thing we noticed with Bigcommerce is that they list all the available support options with the average response time.
Who is the Winner?: Bigcommerce or Shopify
After comparing both Bigcommerce & Shopify closely, We can say Bigcommerce has an edge over Shopify. It doesn’t mean Shopify is bad or you should not go with them, rather we would say both are almost equally good. Now it is your turn who you pick. If you ask us, we will recommend you Bigcommerce. You have to check your priorities, if you’re just starting up Bigcommerce standard plan is the best option. If you need more free theme options, you may go with Shopify.