BigCommerce review: Pros and cons in 2024

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BigCommerce

Blueprint Rating

Starting price for paid plans

$39 per month

Free trial available

Yes (15 days)

Maximum sales volume on base plan

Up to $50,000 per year

Pros

• No transaction fees.
• Social media and marketplace integrations.
• Drag-and-drop online store builder.

Cons

• Sales limits.
• Abandoned cart and persistent cart features are only available on upper-tier plans.
• No free plan.

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Whether your small business is now ready to branch out into the world of online sales or you’re dissatisfied with the platform you’re currently using, you may be considering BigCommerce. This e-commerce platform was founded in 2009 and has since grown to be one of the top choices for those looking to set up an online store. 

Before making a decision about whether this e-commerce platform is the best fit for the needs of your company, read through the BigCommerce reviews that follow to learn more and weigh the pros and cons.

BigCommerce overview

BigCommerce is a leading e-commerce platform offering solutions for both small and large companies. Businesses can use the platform to create an online store where they can sell their products or services to customers. BigCommerce also offers integrations with Amazon, Facebook, eBay and other social media sites and online marketplaces, increasing your selling capabilities. 

BigCommerce plans start at $39 per month (with monthly billing). Many features are included with all paid plans, but you’ll have to sign up for an upper-tier option to access the abandoned cart saver, stored credit cards or product filtering features. While BigCommerce does not charge transaction fees, it is important to note that each plan places limits on annual sales volumes.

BigCommerce pros and cons

Consider some of the pros and cons of choosing BigCommerce as you decide whether it is the right e-commerce solution for the unique needs of your business.

Pros

BigCommerce does not charge transaction fees, which is a benefit over some of its competitors. However, it is important to keep in mind that while there are no transaction fees, you are still responsible for credit card processing fees. For the first tier plan, processing fees are 2.59% plus $0.49 per transaction (the fees decrease slightly with each tier).

With integrations for Amazon, Instagram and other online marketplaces, BigCommerce can help you build your customer base and increase your profits. Connect your online store to Amazon and add the Buy with Prime option to drive more customers to make a purchase. You can also connect BigCommerce with Meta, enabling you to tag products from your online store in your Instagram photos, driving followers to your website where they can shop and explore everything else you have to offer.

A professional and attractive online store is essential for building your brand and earning the trust of potential shoppers. BigCommerce’s drag-and-drop page builder makes it possible to set up and customize the look of your online storefront, even if you have no prior coding or developing experience. 

Cons

There are some downsides to choosing BigCommerce that you’ll want to be aware of before finalizing your decision. The platform places limits on how many sales you can make each year. For example, with the Standard Plan, you can only sell up to $50,000 per year. 

The annual sales limits increase to $180,000 and $400,000 with the Plus and Pro Plans, respectively. Depending on the sales volume your business generates, these limits could force you to choose a more expensive plan than you may otherwise need.

Abandoned cart and persistent cart features are not included in the Standard plan. These are features that even smaller businesses with a lower sales volume may want in order to help customers follow through with placing an order, so the fact that they aren’t included with the entry-level plan is something you’ll want to consider. 

If you want to receive the benefits of these features, you’ll have to spend more than twice as much each month and sign up for the Plus Plan.

BigCommerce clients can sign up for one of four plan tiers. However, these plans start at $39 per month (with monthly billing), and there is no free option. This is in contrast with some of BigCommerce’s competitors, including Weebly, OpenCart and Shift4Shop, which all offer forever-free plans with basic features.

BigCommerce pricing and value

	STANDARD	PLUS	PRO	ENTERPRISE
Cost	$39 per month	$105 per month	$399 per month	Varies (contact sales for pricing)
Key Features	Sell up to $50,000 per year 2. 59% plus $0 49 per transaction Integrations with Square, Vend and other POS providers Unlimited accounts for staff 24/7 support	Sell up to $180,000 per year 2. 35% plus $0.49 per transaction Abandoned cart saver Stored credit cards Persistent cart Customer groups	Sell up to $400,000 per year 2.05% plus $0.49 per transaction Search result filtering Custom SSL	Price lists No annual sales limits Priority support Strategic account management

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There are four plan options available to BigCommerce customers: Standard, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. All of these are paid options, and there is no free plan available through BigCommerce. However, BigCommerce does offer a 15-day free trial, allowing businesses to test any of the tiers and their various features.

All of the plans include:

• Unlimited accounts for staff.
• Integration with several payment providers.
• A single-page checkout experience. 
• Integrations with Amazon, Facebook and other online marketplaces.
• Dedicated SSL.
• Compatibility with the mobile app.

Businesses can also create coupons for customers, develop discount rules and sell gift cards for their store.

One of the key differences between the various plan tiers is the maximum annual sales volume. Standard Plan subscribers can only sell up to $50,000 each year. This amount increases to $180,000 for Plus Plan subscribers and $400,000 for Pro Plan subscribers. 

BigCommerce does not charge transaction fees with any of its plans, but it does charge processing fees for credit cards. These rates also vary based on the tier, starting at 2.59% plus $0.49 per transaction for the Standard Plan and decreasing to 2.05% plus $0.49 per transaction with the Pro Plan. 

The Plus and Pro Plans also offer an abandoned cart saver, a persistent cart and the option for customers to store their credit card information. Upgrading to the Pro plan enables other features, such as product filtering and a custom SSL.

If you run a large company, you can contact the BigCommerce sales team to learn more about the Enterprise Plan. This will be a custom-tailored plan to match the specific needs of your company. 

E-commerce functionality

BigCommerce aims to make it easy for businesses to set up and run an online storefront, whether they are selling to businesses or everyday consumers. Many e-commerce features come standard with all plan options, including integrations with multiple payment gateways, single-page checkout, the ability to offer coupons and gift cards to your customers, shipping quotes in real-time and product reviews and ratings.

More features are added with the Plus and Pro Plans. With the Plus Plan, customers can store their credit card information for a faster checkout experience. The Pro Plan enables customers to perform more faceted searches and filter the results to find precisely what they are looking for.

Inventory management features

The inventory management system can help businesses track product stock levels, helping them know when to make or order more items to sell to their customers. BigCommerce offers a multi-channel management system, which means that when you sell in person, through social media or through various online marketplaces, you can sync your sales with the system. 

In addition to being able to set alerts to notify you when the stock of a product is getting low, you can also select the option to have these alerts displayed to your customers, encouraging them to act quickly before something sells out.

Web editor

The BigCommerce Page Builder enables users to set up their online store without any coding experience. Use the drag-and-drop editing tool to design webpages for your store with ease. Simply shift text and images until they are precisely where you want them on the page. Before making any changes live, you can preview the page and test out the navigation to make sure everything flows as you want it to for your customers.

Marketing and SEO

SEO and marketing tools can help you drive traffic to your site and increase your sales. BigCommerce can help you achieve these goals with some of the marketing tools it offers, such as the abandoned cart saver and persistent cart (only available with Plus, Pro and Enterprise Plans). You’ll also be able to sync your account with various email marketing platforms and create customer groups for better targeting for various sales campaigns. 

Founder and Managing Member of Zero Day Gear, James Koskela, who has used BigCommerce for his company’s online store, explained that its SEO tools could be better. He said, “The inability to modify SEO metadata on certain pages, such as the blog homepage, without a programmer is a significant oversight. The blog feature, a critical component for content marketing and SEO, feels like an afterthought in the BigCommerce setup.” 

Performance and security

BigCommerce offers several features to help you ensure your store is secure and that you aren’t compromising the information of your customers. For example, you can set security requirements for password complexity or lock a customer’s account after four failed login attempts. 

You also have the option to enable reCAPTCHA as an added measure when customers complete forms or place an order.

Mobile app

With the BigCommerce mobile app, you can manage your online store from anywhere. Use the app to check on orders, view your revenue and view conversion rates. You can also communicate with customers and share information about the status of an order. 

The BigCommerce mobile app is available on the Apple Store and Google Play Store. Once you download it, you can use the same login you have set up for your desktop browser.

BigCommerce vs. top competitors

	MONTHLY STARTING COST	TRANSACTION FEES	CREDIT CARD PROCESSING FEES	ABANDONED CART RECOVERY	SERVICE AND SUPPORT
BigCommerce	$39	$0	Start at 2.59% plus $0.49 per transaction	Included in all plans above Standard	24/7 phone, email and chat support
Shopify	$5	$0 when using Shopify Payments; 2% for third-party providers	Start at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction	Included in all plans above Starter	24/7 email and chat support; limited phone support
Wix	$34	N/A	2.9% plus $0.30	Included in all e-commerce plans	24/7 callback phone support, limited chat support

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Before making a final decision about which e-commerce platform is right for your business, take a few minutes to compare BigCommerce with two of its top competitors, Shopify and Wix.

BigCommerce vs Shopify

BigCommerce and Shopify are two of the most well-known e-commerce platforms. And while there are many features and functions that overlap, there are also some key differences that can impact your decision about which is best for your company.

Koskela shared, “One significant advantage of BigCommerce is its flexibility with credit card processors. Unlike some platforms that impose additional fees for using external processors, BigCommerce allows for a more cost-effective and versatile payment processing solution.”

BigCommerce does not charge any transaction fees, while Shopify users must pay a 2% transaction fee for any payments made through third-party providers (anything not through Shopify Payments). BigCommerce’s processing fees start at 2.59% plus $0.49 per transaction with the entry-level plan, compared to the 2.9% plus $0.30 starting point for Shopify plans.

Shopify’s Basic Plan (which costs the same as the Standard Plan offered by BigCommerce) includes an abandoned cart feature. BigCommerce users must upgrade to one of the more expensive plans in order to receive this feature, which can help encourage more customers to finish placing an order that they started.

Koskela noted one additional reason businesses may want to consider Shopify. He explained that BigCommerce’s “user community is smaller and less active compared to its rivals, which can impact the availability of peer guidance and third-party insights.”

BigCommerce vs Wix

Wix is another BigCommerce competitor that you might be considering. One notable difference between the two platforms is the number of integrations they offer. While BigCommerce offers over 1,300 integrations, Wix offers fewer than 400 integrations. 

Before deciding between the two platforms, it may be worth your time to do some research and determine which integrations are most important to your business and verify that they are available.

However, while Wix doesn’t offer the wide selection of integrations that you’ll find with BigCommerce, it does offer more templates, allowing you to customize the look and feel of your online store. With Wix, you can choose from over 800 different templates, including over 500 e-commerce templates. BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers only about 240 templates.

Featured website builder offers

Wix

Learn More

Via Wix’s website

Monthly fee

$17

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Web.com

Learn More

Via Web.com’s website

Monthly fee

$19.99

Free domain

Only when paying annually

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Squarespace

Learn More

Via Squarespace’s website

Monthly fee

$23

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)