BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Which One is Better?

Launching an online store in 2025? The eCommerce platform you choose can significantly impact your success, scalability, and bottom line.

Among the leading contenders, BigCommerce and WooCommerce stand out.

But which one is better for online store owners to build their websites? 

In this comprehensive BigCommerce vs WooCommerce comparison,  we’ll analyze everything from pricing and features to ease of use and scalability, helping you choose the best one for your needs.

Key Takeaways

• Compare WooCommerce and BigCommerce to find the best features, scalability, and value.
• See how BigCommerce’s SaaS simplicity streamlines setup with robust built-in features.
• Unlock WooCommerce’s open-source flexibility for limitless customization and WordPress integration.
• Understand BigCommerce’s higher upfront costs through its subscription model.
• Discover WooCommerce’s budget-friendly setup with added hosting and plugin expenses.
• Choose the platform that perfectly aligns with your business goals and growth plans.

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Overview of BigCommerce vs WooCommerce

WooCommerce and BigCommerce are among the top eCommerce platforms. According to Statista, WooCommerce is the most popular, covering 36% of the eCommerce market. BigCommerce, on the other hand, comes in at under 1%.

But don’t let that confuse you—BigCommerce is still quite popular and has carved its niche as a premium hosted platform trusted by major brands.

Before delving into the specific details, let’s overview what WooCommerce and BigCommerce offer.

What is BigCommerce

BigCommerce, launched in 2009 by Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper, has grown into a leading SaaS (Software as a Service) eCommerce platform. The platform powers over 60,000 online stores in more than 150 countries.

According to BigCommerce, merchants using their platform grow approximately 28% year-over-year, nearly twice the industry average.

BigCommerce is a fully hosted eCommerce platform that offers the services needed to create an eCommerce store, including hosting, design, content, SEO, payments, and marketing features under one roof.

Entrepreneurs can quickly create and manage online stores with zero technical hassles.

What is WooCommerce

WooCommerce, introduced in 2011 by WooThemes, is a powerful WordPress plugin that transforms any WordPress website into a fully functional online store. It’s one of the most popular eCommerce solutions, powering over 4.4 million websites worldwide, which accounts for about 28% of all eCommerce sites.

A key advantage of WooCommerce is its seamless integration with WordPress. This allows users to leverage WordPress’s flexibility and vast ecosystem of plugins and themes. This makes WooCommerce highly customizable and suitable for small businesses and large enterprises alike.

In the following section, we will elaborate on the user-friendliness of both platforms.

Feature Comparison

When comparing eCommerce platforms, it’s essential to examine their core features. Here’s how BigCommerce and WooCommerce compare.

Features of BigCommerce

BigCommerce comes with a plethora of built-in features designed to empower online retailers.

• Scalability & Security: Handles high traffic volumes with built-in SSL certification, DDOS protection, and PCI compliance, ensuring the security of your online store.
• SEO Tools: BigCommerce provides advanced SEO tools, including customizable URLs, meta tags, automated sitemaps, and analytics dashboard.
• Multi-Channel Selling: From a single dashboard, you can sell across various channels, such as Amazon, eBay, and social media platforms.
• Built-in Payment Processing: BigCommerce supports many payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square.

Features of WooCommerce

WooCommerce offers extensive customization possibilities while requiring additional plugins for certain features.

• WordPress Integration: WooCommerce’s seamless integration with WordPress allows users to work with WordPress themes, plugins, and content management.
• Customization: You can customize your WooCommerce store with access to thousands of WordPress themes and plugins.
• Open Source: WooCommerce is open-source, providing flexibility and control over your online store.
• Flexible, Secure Payments: Accept major payment gateways, Bank transfers, checks, and COD.
• Extension Library: Numerous WooCommerce extensions, from payment gateways to shipping options, can enhance your store’s functionality.
• Community Support: WooCommerce boasts a vast community of developers and users, offering extensive documentation, forums, and third-party resources.

Ease of Use and Setup

Choosing an easy-to-use platform has many benefits. You can quickly make changes or fix issues, giving you more time to focus on growing your business.

Let’s compare BigCommerce vs. WooCommerce to help you choose the better option for your needs.

User interface and navigation in BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a straightforward approach to launching and managing an eCommerce store. As a fully hosted platform, there’s no need to set up hosting, install software, or worry about security, backups, and performance.

To get started, sign up for their 15-day trial plan and set up your store in three easy steps: enter your email, a few store details, and you are ready to go.

BigCommerce Setup Steps

Setting up a store on BigCommerce takes just a few minutes.

Once completed, you’ll access an intuitive dashboard that offers quick options to preview your store, add products, and customize it.

BigCommerce Dashboard

In the BigCommerce dashboard, you can preview your store design with ease. If you wish to customize the design, you can switch themes or customize the existing one. Afterward, add products to your store.

The admin panel contains all other settings and options, including managing orders, products, customers, marketing, analytics, apps, and more.

BigCommerce provides a free subdomain (https://mystore.mybigcommerce.com) to start with. You can also purchase a custom domain directly from BigCommerce or any domain registrar.

If you are an existing WordPress site owner, you can even integrate BigCommerce through their official plugin while maintaining the existing content management system.

User interface and navigation in WooCommerce

WooCommerce, unlike BigCommerce, is not a hosted platform. It’s a WordPress eCommerce plugin that needs to be installed on your WordPress website.

To start a new store, you must purchase a domain name and hosting account. Then, install WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin.

However, choosing a WooCommerce hosting provider like Bluehost eCommerce hosting or SiteGround WooCommerce simplifies the process since they come with the software pre-installed.

For step-by-step instructions, refer to our guide on how to start an online store with WooCommerce.

Once WooCommerce is installed, run the setup wizard to configure your store quickly. The wizard assists in setting up essential elements like pages, payments, currency, shipping, and taxes in just a few minutes.

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: 

After completing the setup, start adding products to your store.

While this basic setup is enough to launch an online store with WooCommerce, you may want to do more to enhance its functionality and appeal.

You can change themes to improve design and use WooCommerce plugins and extensions to add more advanced eCommerce features.

You’ll also need to manage your eCommerce site’s maintenance, including security, backups, caching, and performance.

Overall, WooCommerce has a steeper learning curve than BigCommerce. However, many free resources, including the official knowledge base, community forums, and video tutorials, can help you resolve any issues.

Design and Customization Options

Design flexibility is crucial for creating a unique and engaging online store. Let’s explore how these platforms help you create a professional-looking store.

Themes and templates available in BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a variety of professionally designed themes, both free and premium.

• Responsive Themes: All themes are mobile-responsive, ensuring a consistent user experience across devices.
• Customizable Templates: Themes are highly customizable, allowing you to tweak elements to match your brand without writing a single line of code.
• Theme Marketplace: BigCommerce’s marketplace provides access to numerous themes catering to different industries and styles.

Themes and templates available in WooCommerce

WooCommerce benefits from the extensive selection of WordPress themes.

• WordPress Themes: Access thousands of free and premium WordPress themes compatible with WooCommerce.
• Customization: With WordPress, you will find various customization tools like Gutenberg, WordPress’s default block editor, WordPress customizer, and custom CSS. These tools make it easy to design a unique store and adjust your theme’s layout.
• Theme Builders: Popular page builders like Elementor and Divi can be used to create custom layouts.

eCommerce Features and Functionality

Both platforms have their own set of features and functionality that can help make your business successful.

Bigcommerce offers an all-in-one solution with a hosted platform, easy-to-use interface, and built-in marketing tools to help drive sales.

On the other hand, WooCommerce is an open-source, customizable platform that allows for more flexibility and control over the design and functionality of your store.

Let’s examine what each platform includes.

Built-in features of BigCommerce

BigCommerce is known for its robust, out-of-the-box features.

• Fully Hosted Platform: No need to set up hosting, install software, or manage updates. Everything is handled for you, ensuring a seamless experience and allowing you to focus on your core activities without the hassle of technical maintenance.
• Product Management: Advanced product management tools, including bulk pricing, product variants, and inventory tracking.
• Marketing Tools: Built-in marketing tools like abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, and email marketing integrations.
• Payment Options: It supports multiple payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square. Moreover, it ensures secure payment processing with PCI compliance.
• Analytics: Comprehensive analytics and reporting tools to track sales, customer behavior, and store performance.

Built-in features of WooCommerce

WooCommerce offers essential eCommerce features out of the box, including product management, payment gateways, tax calculations, and shipping options.

• Open Source Platform: The platform is open source and free to use, offering extensive customization options.
• Product Management: Manage products, categories, tags, and attributes with ease.
• Extensive Theme Options: To stand out, your online store should reflect your business uniquely through its design. WooCommerce is compatible with WordPress themes, helping you achieve this.
• SEO and Marketing Extensions: Numerous extensions are available for email marketing, social media integration, and SEO optimization.
• Payment Options: WooCommerce simplifies payment processing for its customers. It comes with built-in gateways for Stripe, PayPal, Credit Cards, Bank transfers, Checks, and Cash on Delivery. Most payment options can be activated with a single click.
• Analytics and Reporting: Access reports on sales, orders, and customer stats through the WooCommerce dashboard. Integration with Google Analytics for enhanced tracking.

Integrations and Add-ons

No matter how powerful an eCommerce platform may be, its core software will always have a limited set of features. This is where integrations and add-ons become invaluable.

The most sought-after integrations for eCommerce websites include email marketing tools, lead generation, analytics, and outreach services.

Let’s now examine how BigCommerce and WooCommerce compare regarding their available third-party integrations.

Third-party integrations available for BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a wide range of third-party apps and integrations to enhance your store’s functionality. You can find both free and paid add-ons in the BigCommerce app marketplace.

BigCommerce Apps:

• Featured Collections: The marketplace features six key app collections categorized as must-haves, shipping essentials, design, marketing, and payments. You can easily select apps from these collections to improve your store.
• Additional Categories: Beyond the featured collections, numerous apps are available in various categories, such as accounting and tax, analytics and reporting, CRM and customer service, product sourcing, and more.

Third-party integrations available for WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source plugin built on WordPress, the most popular content management system (CMS). This provides access to over 55,000 free WordPress plugins and thousands of premium plugins.

WooCommerce Plugins:

• WordPress Plugin Repository: You can find an extensive selection of plugins in the official WordPress.org plugin repository, the official WooCommerce website, and various plugin websites.
• WooCommerce Extensions Store: The official WooCommerce extensions store offers over 250 free and premium extensions to enhance your eCommerce features.

With this vast array of plugins, you can add almost any feature imaginable to your store, such as contact forms, lead generation forms, analytics, SEO, performance optimization, and more.

Most popular third-party services have developed their own plugins for easy integration with WooCommerce.

Additionally, if you have coding skills or hire a developer, you can create custom WooCommerce add-ons tailored to your specific needs.

Support and Resources

Quality support can make or break your eCommerce success, especially during crucial sales periods or technical issues. Let’s compare how each platform handles customer support.

Customer support options for BigCommerce users

BigCommerce, as a fully hosted platform, offers excellent support options. From your BigCommerce dashboard, you can access multiple support channels, including phone support, email support, live chat support, community support, and more.

• 24/7 Availability: BigCommerce support is available around the clock, ensuring you get help whenever needed.
• Help Center: The BigCommerce help center is a comprehensive resource with a rich knowledge base, a Question and Answer community, and a blog for the latest news and updates.

Customer support options for WooCommerce users

WooCommerce also offers various support options across different platforms.

• Core Plugin Support: For issues related to the WooCommerce core plugin, you can visit the WooCommerce support forum on WordPress.org or the official WooCommerce website. These forums contain solutions to common problems and allow you to post new issues.
• Documentation and Tutorials: The WooCommerce website has a support page with extensive documentation, tutorials, and guides to help you find solutions independently.
• Theme and Extension Support: For issues related to your WooCommerce theme and extensions, support is available from the respective developers.
• Community Resources: Numerous WordPress blogs, like WPBeginner, offer WooCommerce-related tutorials, reflecting the platform’s popularity and providing ample support options. //

Pricing and Cost Comparison

When selecting an eCommerce platform, it’s essential to consider the costs involved in starting and maintaining your store. Understanding the cost structure of each platform is crucial for making an informed decision. 

Let’s compare the cost differences between WooCommerce and BigCommerce.

BigCommerce pricing plans and features

BigCommerce operates on a subscription-based model with four pricing plans: three Essential plans for small businesses and one Enterprise plan for large agencies.

Pricing Plans:

• Standard Plan: $29 per month, includes everything needed to launch your store with a BigCommerce subdomain.
• Custom Domain: $12 per year, if you prefer a custom domain name instead of a BigCommerce subdomain.
• Included Features: All plans come with no transaction fees, unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts. However, they do have sales thresholds. For instance, the Standard plan has a $50,000 annual sales limit.
• Upgrading Plans: If your sales exceed the threshold, BigCommerce automatically upgrades your plan.
  For example, if you surpass $50,000 in sales on the Standard plan, you’ll be upgraded to a higher plan. For sales beyond the Pro plan’s limit, additional charges of $150 per month apply for every additional $200,000 in online sales.
• Additional Costs: Premium themes and apps can incur extra costs. While there are free themes available, premium themes start at $150.

WooCommerce pricing structure and costs

WooCommerce is a free, open-source WordPress plugin, but setting up a WooCommerce store involves other expenses.

Basic Costs:

• Domain Name: Around $14.99 per year.
• Web Hosting: Approximately $7.99 per month.
• SSL Certificate: Around $69.99 per year.

These initial costs can add up, making it seem expensive for small-budget startups. However, specialized WooCommerce hosting services can make it more affordable.

Affordable Hosting Option:

• Hostinger WooCommerce Hosting:  This is an officially recommended WooCommerce hosting provider. You can start for just $2.99 per month, including a free domain name and SSL certificate.
• Additional Costs: If you choose premium WooCommerce themes or paid extensions, expenses will increase. However, many free WooCommerce plugins and themes are available to minimize costs.

BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Pros and Cons

Every eCommerce platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Let’s summarize the pros and cons of BigCommerce and WooCommerce.

Pros and Cons of BigCommerce

Pros:

• All-in-one solution with built-in eCommerce features.
• Excellent scalability for growing businesses.
• Enterprise-grade security with automatic updates

Cons:

• Higher pricing plans may be costly for small businesses.
• Limited customization compared to WooCommerce.
• Dependent on BigCommerce’s ecosystem for features.
• Forced plan upgrades based on sales volume.

Pros and Cons of WooCommerce

Pros:

• Seamless integration with WordPress.
• Full access to site code and database
• Highly customizable with thousands of themes and plugins.
• Cost-effective for small businesses.
• No sales volume restrictions.

Cons:

• Requires more technical knowledge for setup and maintenance.
• Additional costs for extensions and hosting.
• No built-in support; reliance on community and documentation.
• Security monitoring is required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thought – Which is Right For You?

Choosing between BigCommerce and WooCommerce depends on your specific business needs and goals. 

BigCommerce is the ideal choice if you want a fully hosted, all-in-one solution that handles technical aspects while providing enterprise-grade features.

Its robust infrastructure and dedicated support make it perfect for businesses focusing on growth rather than technical management.

However, if you value complete control over your store, WooCommerce could be the best bet for your online store.

Its seamless WordPress integration, extensive customization options, and cost-effective nature make it particularly attractive for small to medium-sized businesses comfortable with hands-on management.

We hope this article has provided a clear comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of BigCommerce vs WooCommerce.

Ready to start your eCommerce journey? Sign up for a 15-day free trial with BigCommerce, or launch your dream WooCommerce store today!