I don’t hate BigCommerce. I have used BigCommerce and recommended it for years happily and proudly. My first real money post was a BigCommerce review when they launched in 2009 (from Interspire). As a platform though they are shifting their market from small to medium-sized businesses and more towards large-scale and enterprise businesses. I think it’s a great idea. Trying to work at both ends of the scale doesn’t always get you the best product.
5 best things about BigCommerce
- Lots of functionality usually found in third party apps.
- Customer and developer support is wonderful.
- Template and app development is simple and powerful.
- Very reliable, fast infrastructure.
- URL format and category control.
5 worst things about BigCommerce
- Pricing is based on usage and orders making it expensive.
- Focus has shifted to large scale leaving smaller businesses stranded.
- Templates do not fully support all logic and flow.
- Many integrations necessary for dropshipping are unavailable
- Limited support for use by non-English speaking businesses
Who Should Use BigCommerce
BigCommerce is suitable for large and enterprise customers and has the support and infrastructure to support them. Headless CMS solutions as well as custom integrations are all possible with sufficient resources and budgets. Pricing is reliable on Enterprise plans.
Who Should Avoid BigCommerce
Small and even medium businesses would be best advised in 2023 of looking at Shopify. BigCommerce is transitioning away from smaller scale businesses and with it support is less a priority and pricing is becoming less reliable and more out of reach.
BigCommerce
Features
Design and Themes
Apps and Integrations
Ease of Use
Customizability
Ease of Management
Cost of Ownership
Great platform for a large business
I don’t hate BigCommerce. This BigCommerce review isn’t great but that is more about suitability and audience than functionality and usability. BigCommerce has made the business decision to pull away from small and medium-sized businesses and focus on large and enterprise-sized businesses.
Pricing
| $39/month | $105/month | $399/month |
Support
xx
When would I use BigCommerce
It is a way better solution for an online store than almost any product on the market. The primary issue in 2023 is that BigCommerce has opted to focus on the larger enterprise market which leaves smaller businesses on their own. I would absolutely recommend it over Woocommerce or X-Cart.
What Should You Use Instead of BigCommerce
Shopify is really the only serious contender for a SaaS alternative to BigCommerce. You will need several apps to make us for missing functionality and you will be forced to accept no sub-categories and ugly URLs
About the reviewer
Andrew has used BigCommerce since 2009 when it was first released. He has managed shops, and built custom themes and applications, connected it headless to WordPress and migrated many customers to and from the BigCommerce platform. He has been so involved he has even spent time at the BigCommerce Sydney head quarters and met the founders
Is Bigcommerce suitable for Dropshipping
No. The apps and integrations are really not there. Fees are too much for any large-scale sites. No drop shipping focussed themes. No apps to drive urgency.
Is BigCommerce Cheaper than Shopify
No although you may require some third-party apps to get the same functionality in Shopify that you have in BigCommerce
Is BigCommerce Cheaper than Woocommerce
No – as expensive as Woocommerce is to own, BigCommerce is more expensive to own and operate