In a world where most people prefer to do their shopping online, starting an e-commerce business seems like a no-brainer. However, what comes with it is an endless amount of questions that need to be answered.
Are you going to be selling physical or digital products? Are you going to keep the stock with you or opt for dropshipping? Where are you going to keep your stock? What delivery options are you going to offer your clients? Where are you going to deliver – will it be a strictly domestic store, or do you want to cater to customers internationally? Are you going to be working on your own, or are you planning on hiring someone to help? These are just a few things that you need to consider.
Then, there’s also the question of how you’re going to build your e-commerce store.
WooCommerca and BigCommerce are two popular choices in this regard, which is why I prepared a comprehensive comparison guide that should help you understand which option will be better for your specific needs.
BigCommerce vs WooCommerce – The Comparison
Before I get into more depth about BigCommerce vs. WooCommerce, let me make one thing clear: Those two are not the same. While they both allow you to start selling things online, they do it in different ways.
BigCommerce is a website builder, meaning that you can use it to create a website from scratch without coding. WooCommerce, on the other hand, is a WordPress plug-in that you install when you already have an up-and-running WordPress website and you need something that will allow you to sell from it.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s move on to our main topic – how do both of these e-commerce platforms compare to each other?
Ease of Starting an Online Store
The first thing I decided to look at is how easy it is to set up an online store using both of these platforms.
When it comes to WooCommerce, the whole process is quite quick and easy, as long as you already have a WordPress website you wish your online store to be located on. If you don’t, and you’re starting from scratch, you will need to purchase things like a domain name and a hosting account. You will also have to deal with things like security and backups, as well as performance, on your own.
Once you install the plug-in, WooCommerce walks you through the process with its setup wizard, which makes it easy to open an online store and take care of things like shipping and payments, even if you don’t have any prior experience.
Now, for BigCommerce. Personally, I feel like the process of setting up an online store is much more straightforward. Sign up for their free trial, add some basic information about yourself, and answer a few questions about your future store, and you’re basically set. You can start adding your products.
One thing to note is that BigCommerce offers you a free subdomain, but if you want to have a custom one, you will have to purchase it either from them or from a third party.
I have to say, though, that I heard some mixed opinions as far as the ease of use goes, with some people saying that it can be overwhelming at the beginning and that some of the terminology used can be confusing for those who don’t have any experience with e-commerce.
Winner: Tie. For the overall ease of use, the crown goes to BigCommerce. But, if we were to only look at setting up the store, WooCommerce wins due to the setup wizard walking you through the whole process.
Design Choices
One of the most important things potential customers will look at is the design of your store. You probably catch yourself doing that as well – when you have two websites and a product you want to purchase has the same price on both, you will more than likely choose to purchase from the one that is more aesthetically pleasing to you.
There’s a reason why we say that first impressions are crucial, and choosing a good-looking storefront design can help you make a great one.
At WooCommerce, you can choose between 14 storefront designs, three of which are free, while the prices for the rest of them vary between $39 and $129. If you want to spice up your store, you will also have to add some storefront extensions, which, depending on which one you choose, can cost anywhere between $0 and $59.
At BigCommerce, on the other hand, you have over 60 themes to choose from, with 12 of them coming at no cost, while the others range from $150 to $300.
If you want to customize the theme, then you’re better off choosing WooCommerce, as they are far more customizable than BigCommerce themes – although I do have to say that you might need help from someone who knows his way around. BigCommerce customization, while not as extensive, is more straightforward – more suitable for beginners.
Winner: Although this one was a lot harder to choose, the crown for this one goes to WooCommerce.
Payment Options
Both WooCommerce and BigCommerce not only offer credit and debit card payments, but they also allow you to add some of the biggest payment gateways currently available to your online store, including PayPal and Apple Pay.
As far as transaction fees are concerned, neither of them enforces their own – if you do have to pay them, they will come from the payment gateway or card company directly.
Additionally, WooCommerce offers US store owners who do business in USD its own payment gateway called WooCommerce Payments. Definitely a good option if you’re looking for an affordable option, as it’s free to install, and there are no setup or monthly fees involved.
Winner: Both have no transaction fees on their own, but I’m going to give the trophy to WooCommerce because of the WooCommerce Payments.
Available Plugins and Integrations
WooCommerce is meant to be used with different plug-ins. That’s one of the main reasons why it doesn’t come with many built-in features – they want you to choose them on your own, adding the features that you want your online store to have.
Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, you have access to thousands of additional plugins that are available on WordPress and WooCommerce extension stores. The plugins are available for almost any area you can think of – SEO, shipping, marketing, payments, or analytics are just a few of them.
BigCommerce, while also having a wide variety of plugins to choose from, does not come anywhere close to WooCommerce. There are a few hundred third-party plugins available to help you with tasks such as marketing or tax automation.
Winner: There’s a clear winner here, and it’s WooCommerce.
Free Trial and Pricing
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plug-in. However, that doesn’t mean that opening an online store using it is completely free – you will have to pay for things like SSL security and hosting, and if you’re not a fan of the standard themes, you will also have to pay for a premium one. The silver lining is that, since you’re the one responsible for getting those things, you have more control over how much you spend on them.
On the other hand, BigCommerce has a fixed set of prices. Those are:
- Standard – $29/month if you pay annually, $39/month if you pay monthly.
- Plus – $79/month if you pay annually, $105/month if you pay monthly.
- Pro – $299/month if you pay annually, $399/month if you pay monthly.
The plans are similar to each other, with the main difference being the quantity holders of a specific subscription type are offered. For example, a Standard account holder can manage up to 3 storefronts, while for a Pro account holder, this number is increased to 8. There’s, however, one significant disadvantage to the Standard plan, and that is the lack of abandoned cart features.
They also have an Enterprise plan, although, for the pricing of this one, you will have to get in touch with BigCommerce directly due to the fact that it is custom-made for each client. They also offer a free 15-day trial, which is a good way to test out if the platform is what you’re looking for or if you need to continue your search without financial commitment.
Winner: WooCommerce due to the flexibility of costs it offers.
Customer Service
Both BigCommerce and WooCommerce have extensive knowledge bases that contain a lot of information in regard to simple issues that you can resolve on your own. If, however, nothing works or the issue you’re having is too complicated, both have dedicated support teams.
The team at BigCommerce is available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat. Similarly, you can contact WooCommerce’s support team through email or live chat.
Winner: BigCommerce for 24/7 availability and phone support not present in WooCommerce.
Popularity
When it comes to popularity, I have to say that there’s no doubt that WooCommerce is a clear winner.
According to a report from Store Leads, at the moment of writing this article, there have been over 4.4 million active stores running on the platform. BigCommerce, on the other hand, has about 46,000 active stores.
And if you look at Google Trends and how often both were searched, that just confirms that more people are searching for WooCommerce compared to BigCommerce.
Winner: WooCommerce, no doubt.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce – An Overview
| WooCommerce | BigCommerce | |
| What Is It | WordPress plug-in | Website builder |
| Free Trial | – | 15 days |
| Ease of Use | Quick and easy if you have a website already, requires a domain name and hosting for a new website. | Quick and easy, takes a few minutes, although there are mixed opinions. |
| Design | 14 storefront themes available, 3 are free, the rest ranges from $39 to $129. | Over 60 themes, 12 of which are free. Paid ones range from $150 to $300. |
| Design Customization | More customizable, but might require technical knowledge. | Less customizable but the process is more straightforward. |
| Available Plugins and Integrations | Thousands of WordPress plugins available, both free and paid. | Over 800 third-party plugins available. |
| Payment Options | No transaction fees; accepts debit and credit cards, as well as some of the biggest payment gateways; has its own payment gateway – WooCommerce Payments. | No transaction fees; accepts debit and credit cards, as well as some of the biggest payment gateways. |
| Pricing | Free plug-in, but you have to pay for things like domain hosting, SSL certificate, etc. | Fixed pricing, four plans available: Standard ($29/$39 a month)Plus ($79/$105 a month)Pro (($299/$399 a month)Enterprise (custom pricing) |
| Customer Support | Extensive knowledge base, email and live chat support available. | Extensive knowledge base, 24/7 customer team available via phone, live chat and email. |
How to Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform?
Before we wrap up, here’s a little cheat sheet on what to look for when in the market for a new e-commerce platform.
- Ease of use – You should be able to freely navigate the platform without additional training or hours spent on learning tutorials.
- Price – Starting an online store involves significant investments already, so consider how much you can afford to pay monthly for a service and try to stick to it. Of course, if you find a platform that perfectly suits your needs or you’re completely set on one, then go for it, but if you’re just shopping around, having a budget is a good place to start.
- Scalability – The platform you choose for your e-commerce store should be able to adapt to your needs, meaning that it can scale up or scale down when necessary.
- Customer support – Something can happen at any time, so the more available the customer support team is, the better.
- Payments getaways – Customers would appreciate having multiple payment options to choose from, but not all platforms are able to support all of them. Decide on a few, and look for a platform that can accommodate you.
The Bottom Line
Starting an online store requires you to make a number of decisions – and which e-commerce platform you’re going to use is one of them. While both BigCommerce and WooCommerce are popular choices nowadays, I have to say that, in my opinion, WooCommerce is the better choice.
Of course, there might be situations where BigCommerce will be the better option, so before making the decision, you need to carefully analyze your needs as well as your technical abilities. For example, if you don’t have much knowledge about building WordPress websites, then BigCommerce is definitely worth consideration.
So, just to sum up – both of them are great options, but which will be the best one… well, that depends solely on your situation and skills.
