BigCommerce vs Shopify: which fits your store?

Last verified 2026-08-29

BigCommerce and Shopify are both ecommerce platform tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-08-29, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Shopify starts cheaper (≈ $31/mo vs $39/mo); neither offers a free tier. — auto-generated from tracked data; editorial verdict pending.

How do BigCommerce and Shopify compare?

	BigCommerce	Shopify
App Store rating	—	—
Price from	$39/mo	≈ $31/mo
Free tier	✗ no	✗ no
Published plans	4	5
Data confidence	high	high

Detected on 3,797 tracked DTC storefronts

BigCommerce 13 brands

Shopify 2878 brands

→ Shopify leads among brands we track

What would you actually pay?

BigCommerce plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Core	$39	Up to $30,000 trailing-12-month GMV; automatically upgrades to Growth above the threshold.
Growth	$105	Up to $100,000 trailing-12-month GMV; automatically upgrades to Scale above the threshold.
Scale	$399	Includes up to $33,333 in monthly GMV; 0.9% overage applies to GMV above the cap. Automatically upgrades to Performance once trailing-12-month GMV reaches $2 million.
Performance	—	Custom volume limits and payment terms.

Prices are in US dollars and exclude taxes.

Verified 2026-08-29 from vendor pricing page.

Shopify plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Basic	≈ $31	10 inventory locations; no additional staff accounts listed; up to 3 B2B catalogs; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 1 headless storefront; 2% fee for third-party payment providers
Grow	≈ $86	10 inventory locations; up to 5 staff accounts; up to 3 B2B catalogs; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 1 headless storefront; 1% fee for third-party payment providers
Advanced	≈ $446	10 inventory locations; up to 15 staff accounts; up to 3 B2B catalogs; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 1 headless storefront; up to 2x API rates on select APIs; 0.6% fee for third-party payment providers
Plus	≈ $2441	200 inventory locations; unlimited staff accounts and B2B catalogs; 25 headless storefronts; up to 10x API rates on select APIs; up to 9 free expansion stores; 20 POS Pro locations included; 0.2% fee for third-party payment providers
POS Pro	≈ $92	Priced per physical retail location; Plus includes 20 locations

≈ prices converted from EUR at 1.1622 (ECB, 2026-09-07).

Subscription prices are shown in EUR and were not converted to USD. Some ancillary limits, credits, and fees are displayed in USD.

Verified 2026-08-29 from vendor pricing page.

Which features does each include?

Feature	BigCommerce	Shopify
Hosted online store	✓	✓
Point of sale	✓	✓
Multichannel selling	✓	✓
B2B / wholesale	✓	✓
Headless / API-first	✓	✓
App ecosystem	✓	✓
Themes & templates	—	✓
Abandoned cart recovery	✓ paid	✓
Multi-currency	✓	✓
Multilingual storefronts	—	✓
Native subscriptions	—	—
Carrier shipping rates	✓	✓ paid
Built-in email marketing	—	✓
SEO tools	✓	✓
Zero platform transaction fees	✓ paid	✓
Free plan	✗	✗

Extracted from each vendor's App Store listing (2026-07-15); "—" = not stated there. Verify tier availability on vendor pricing pages.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, BigCommerce or Shopify?

Shopify starts lower at ≈ $31/mo, vs $39/mo for BigCommerce (verified 2026-08-29).

Does BigCommerce or Shopify have a free plan?

Neither publishes a free tier.

Which is rated higher on the Shopify App Store?

App Store ratings are shown in the table above where available.

How we compare: pricing and plans are collected automatically from vendor pages on a schedule and shown with verification dates; ratings come from the Shopify App Store; merchant sentiment is synthesized from the most recent App Store reviews (paraphrased, never quoted). We currently have no affiliate relationship with either vendor. Found an error? The data snapshot behind this page is dated — check the vendor's page for same-day changes.

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