BigCommerce

This BigCommerce review covers what the platform is used for, its key features, BigCommerce pricing and plans, how it compares with Shopify, where it shines and falls short, and which other ecommerce platforms are worth a look. BigCommerce is software as a service: it hosts your store, handles security and checkout, and gives you a drag and drop builder, themes and an app ecosystem on top. BigCommerce offers a business model built for growing businesses that have outgrown a starter store, sell to both consumers and other businesses, or need several storefronts and sales channels from one back office. The company was founded in 2009 in Sydney, is based in Austin, Texas, and went public in 2020. Since July 2025 its parent company is called Commerce.com, which also owns Feedonomics and Makeswift; the BigCommerce platform keeps its name.

What is BigCommerce used for?

BigCommerce is used to run online stores for brands, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. Typical merchants have large or complex catalogs, many product variants, several currencies or languages, or B2B customers who need their own price lists, quotes and company accounts. Many run B2C and B2B on the same platform. Merchants also use BigCommerce as the hub for multi channel selling: the same catalog feeds Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Google Shopping, Meta, TikTok and Pinterest, and inventory stays in sync across them.

The other big use is headless and custom commerce. Developers can keep BigCommerce as the backend for products, carts and checkout and build the front end with Catalyst, BigCommerce's Next.js storefront framework, or with WordPress or another CMS. That makes it a common choice for agencies that build custom stores for established businesses.

Key features

• Storefront and themes: free and premium themes, a drag and drop builder (Page Builder, and Makeswift for Catalyst storefronts), customizable URLs and mobile-first checkout.
• Catalog: large catalogs with variants, custom fields, product filtering on higher plans, file storage and multiple inventory locations.
• Checkout and payments: one-page checkout, stored credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay, and dozens of payment providers such as PayPal, Stripe, Adyen and Klarna.
• Marketing and SEO tools: coupons, discounts and gift cards, abandoned cart saver, customer groups for segmentation, Google customer reviews, editable URLs and meta data, and an AI tool to generate product descriptions.
• Multi-channel selling: built-in connections to major marketplaces and social channels, with Feedonomics for larger product feeds.
• B2B Edition: company accounts, buyer roles, price lists, quotes, purchase orders and a buyer portal.
• Multi-storefront: several branded storefronts, currencies and languages run from one BigCommerce store.
• APIs and developer resources: REST and GraphQL APIs, webhooks, the Stencil theme framework and the Catalyst headless framework (Catalyst docs).

BigCommerce pricing

BigCommerce has four plans. The prices below come from the BigCommerce pricing page as of September 2026; annual prices are per month, billed annually.

• Core: $39 a month, or $29 billed annually. Up to $30K in sales over the trailing 12 months, then the plan upgrades automatically to Growth.
• Growth: $105 a month, or $79 billed annually. Adds customer groups, abandoned cart saver, stored credit cards and 24/7 phone support. Up to $100K in trailing 12-month sales.
• Scale: $399 a month, or $299 billed annually. Adds advanced product filtering. Covers $33,333 in monthly sales; above that BigCommerce charges 0.9% of the extra sales.
• Performance: custom pricing from $1,499 a month, billed annually. Contracted terms, B2B price lists and a Customer Success Manager. Stores that reach $2 million in trailing 12-month sales move to this plan.

There is no free plan. A 15-day free trial lets you launch a store and take payments without a credit card. There is no contract on Core, Growth and Scale.

The cost surprise to check is that BigCommerce prices by sales volume. Your annual online sales, not your features, decide the plan, and the upgrade happens automatically. Payments through embedded providers such as BigCommerce Payments, Stripe or PayPal carry zero transaction fees from BigCommerce, but an "open" payment provider adds 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale. Premium themes, paid apps, extra storefronts ($30 to $100 a month each) and custom development are hidden costs on top of the subscription cost.

Several third-party reviews still use the older pricing tiers. At the same prices, the Standard plan matches today's Core, the Plus plan matches Growth and the Pro plan matches Scale, while the Enterprise plan with custom pricing is now Performance. Check your current plan against the names and the automatic upgrade rules on BigCommerce's own page, which are the current ones.

BigCommerce Enterprise and B2B

For enterprise ecommerce, BigCommerce sells the Performance plan, often still called BigCommerce Enterprise. It is priced on annual revenue and order volume, with contracted payment terms, priority support, a Customer Success Manager and account management. High volume merchants use it with B2B Edition, which adds company accounts, buyer roles, quotes and price lists for different customer groups, so wholesale and retail buyers see their own prices in the same store. Multi-storefront covers multiple languages and currencies. Customer segmentation, promotions and marketing automation through apps such as Klaviyo support growth without a custom build, and the APIs give a seamless integration with ERP, PIM and order systems.

Comparing BigCommerce vs Shopify

BigCommerce and Shopify are both hosted ecommerce platforms, but they are not the same. Shopify has the larger app store, more themes and a simpler admin, which makes it easier for new or small stores and what most stores start on. BigCommerce includes more out of the box: B2B features, multi-storefront, product options and more native payment processors without a platform fee when you use an embedded provider. Shopify charges its own transaction fee when you do not use Shopify Payments; BigCommerce does not charge a fee for its embedded providers, so you can accept payments through the payment processors you already use. On price, the entry plans are close; BigCommerce's sales thresholds can make it more expensive for fast-growing stores with a low average order value, while Shopify's app costs add up for complex catalogs. For B2B, headless builds and large catalogs, BigCommerce is often the better fit; for a simple direct-to-consumer brand, Shopify usually is (BigCommerce vs Shopify, vendor comparison).

Where BigCommerce shines — and where it falls short

Strengths:

• Strong B2B and B2C on one platform, with price lists, company accounts and quotes.
• No BigCommerce fee on embedded payment providers.
• Multi-storefront and multi channel selling from one back office.
• Open APIs and a headless option for custom development.
• SEO capabilities and built-in marketing tools without extra apps.

Trade-offs:

• Plans are tied to annual sales, so costs rise with revenue even when your needs do not.
• A smaller app ecosystem and theme choice than Shopify.
• A learning curve for the admin and for Stencil theme customization, and ongoing maintenance when you rely on many apps.
• Advanced features such as product filtering and B2B price lists sit on higher plans.

How BigCommerce compares

• Shopify: the largest hosted ecommerce platform, with the biggest app store; simpler for direct-to-consumer brands.
• WordPress: with WooCommerce, a self-hosted store with full control and more maintenance.
• Wix and Squarespace: website builders with ecommerce for small online businesses.
• Webflow: design-first sites with lighter ecommerce, often paired with a commerce backend.
• Gumroad and Payhip: simple checkouts for digital products and creators.
• Stripe: payments and billing APIs for teams that build their own checkout on other platforms.

Is BigCommerce worth it?

BigCommerce is worth it for growing and established businesses that sell a large or complex catalog, run B2B next to B2C, need several storefronts or sales channels, or want a headless build on a stable backend. Zero transaction fees on embedded payment providers and the built-in features keep the app bill low. It is less of a fit for new or small stores that want the simplest setup and the biggest app store, or for high-volume stores with low margins, where the sales-based plan upgrades hurt. If you want help to build, migrate or extend a BigCommerce store, the BigCommerce agencies and developers on LowCodeDevs can take it on.

Sources

• BigCommerce pricing: plans, prices, sales thresholds, transaction fees and the free trial.
• BigCommerce vs Shopify: the vendor's own comparison.
• Catalyst overview, BigCommerce Docs: the Next.js headless storefront.
• Introducing Commerce: the 2025 parent brand for BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift.
• BigCommerce, Wikipedia: founding and company history.
• BigCommerce pricing breakdown, Swell: hidden costs and total cost of ownership (written by a competitor; it uses the older plan names Standard, Plus and Pro).
• Best BigCommerce alternatives, ecomm.design: alternatives and reasons merchants switch.