BigCommerce
The fully hosted platform built for zero-fee scaling
BigCommerce is a fully hosted ecommerce platform built around unlimited products, strong native features, and a payment model designed to avoid the transaction fees that competitors charge. It is the primary choice for mid-market merchants and B2B sellers who want Shopify-level convenience with deeper built-in catalog and customer-segmentation tools.
4.3/5 (Based on our analysis)
How We Scored BigCommerce
Every number below is derived from our published 9-phase testing methodology. We signed up as real BigCommerce customers, built functional test stores under the new June 2026 plan structure, imported a real product catalog, processed transactions, and ran independent technical audits. No number was taken from vendor marketing material.
| Category | Weight | Score | What We Found in Testing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical Performance and SEO | 20% | 8.3 / 10 | Strong native SEO controls with full URL editing. The new Catalyst storefront architecture improves Core Web Vitals over the older Stencil theme engine. |
| Total Cost of Ownership | 20% | 7.0 / 10 | No traditional transaction fee, but the new Open Payment Provider fee (up to 2 percent) applies unless you use one of BigCommerce’s 20+ embedded gateways. |
| Catalog and Inventory Management | 15% | 9.0 / 10 | Unlimited products, file storage, and staff accounts on every plan, a real advantage over tiered competitors that cap catalog size. |
| Checkout and Conversion | 15% | 8.0 / 10 | Native customer segmentation and abandoned cart recovery unlock starting on the Growth plan. Built-in B2B pricing tools are a genuine differentiator. |
| Design and Frontend Flexibility | 10% | 7.8 / 10 | Good native customization through Stencil and the newer Catalyst headless storefront framework. Less plug-and-play than Wix or Squarespace. |
| Ecosystem and Integrations | 10% | 8.0 / 10 | A solid app marketplace and more than 20 embedded payment providers with no added fee, a wider native list than most competitors offer. |
| Logistics and Fulfillment | 5% | 7.5 / 10 | Strong native shipping rules. Multi-location inventory expands on higher tiers. |
| Customer Support | 5% | 6.8 / 10 | Phone support now requires the Growth plan or higher following the June 2026 changes; the entry-level Core plan needs a separate add-on. |
| Overall Weighted Score | 7.85 / 10 |
Overall Score and Quick Verdict
| Best For | Avoid If | Starting Price | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-market merchants and B2B sellers who want unlimited products and native customer segmentation without per-app costs stacking up. | You process most sales through a non-embedded payment gateway or need predictable pricing with no GMV-based plan changes. | $29 per month billed annually (Core plan) | 15-day free trial, no credit card required |
Pros & Cons
✓ Pros
- ✓ 0% added payment fees across all plans
- ✓ Scalable pricing plans for businesses from startups to enterprise
- ✓ 24/7 live phone and chat support
- ✓ Unlimited products and users on all plans
- ✓ Advanced B2B capabilities and omnichannel tools on Enterprise plan
✗ Cons
- ✗ Revenue scaling fees apply on Pro plan beyond $400K GMV
- ✗ Custom pricing required for Enterprise plan
- ✗ Additional fees for extra storefronts
Best Use Cases
BigCommerce works best for these types of businesses and scenarios
Startups
Perfect for early stage businesses looking to quickly launch and scale their online store with minimal upfront investment and user-friendly tools.
Enterprise
Scalable solution for large businesses requiring robust features, advanced customization, and seamless integrations to handle high traffic and complex operations.
Agencies
Manage multiple clients efficiently by leveraging BigCommerce's multi-store capabilities, white-label options, and comprehensive support for custom storefront development.
Developers
API-first approach allows developers to build custom integrations, tailor user experiences, and extend platform functionalities with extensive documentation and developer tools.
BigCommerce Pricing
BigCommerce overhauled its plan names and fee structure on June 1, 2026. The old Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise tiers are now called Core, Growth, Scale, and Performance, and a new payment-related fee was introduced alongside the rename.
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Core
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Growth
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Scale
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Performance
|
|---|---|---|---|
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$29
/mo
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$79
/mo
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$299
/mo
|
Free
|
|
|
|
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According to BigCommerce’s own official pricing page, the Core, Growth, and Scale plans keep their old base prices unchanged under their new names, $29, $79, and $299 per month billed annually. Plan eligibility is tied to your trailing 12-month gross merchandise value (GMV), calculated as gross order value minus a 10 percent reduction. Exceed your plan’s GMV threshold and BigCommerce automatically upgrades you to the next tier, whether or not you need the added features.
The bigger structural change is the new Open Payment Provider fee. BigCommerce’s own blog post addressing the change directly states the fee applies only to orders processed through payment providers that are not on its Embedded Payment Provider list, and only for merchants on self-serve plans. That embedded list includes more than 20 providers, among them Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Klarna, Afterpay, and BigCommerce Payments itself. If your orders run entirely through an embedded provider, the fee is zero. If you use a provider outside that list, the fee is 2.0 percent on Core, 1.0 percent on Growth, and 0.6 percent on Scale.
BigCommerce Plans at a Glance
| Plan (formerly) | Monthly Price (billed annually) | Annual GMV Threshold | Open Payment Provider Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core (formerly Standard) | $29 | Up to $30,000 | 2.0% |
| Growth (formerly Plus) | $79 | Up to $100,000 | 1.0% |
| Scale (formerly Pro) | $299 | Up to $400,000, then 0.9% overage on monthly GMV above $33,333 | 0.6% |
| Performance (formerly Enterprise) | Custom quote | Custom | 0% |
12-Month True Cost of Ownership on the Growth Plan
| Cost Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Growth plan at annual billing | $948 per year ($79 per month) |
| Domain name registration | Approximately $14 per year |
| Open Payment Provider fee (if applicable) | 0% if using an embedded gateway, otherwise 1.0% of relevant GMV |
| Card processing fees through an embedded provider | Varies based on monthly sales volume |
| Premium apps and theme customization | $0 to $400 per year |
| Total estimated year one cost before card fees | Approximately $962 to $1,362 |
BigCommerce Features
BigCommerce’s plans share unlimited products and bandwidth across the board, but marketing automation, customer segmentation, and B2B tools expand at each tier.
Recommended Apps & Tools
Essential integrations to extend your BigCommerce store’s functionality
Feedonomics
Best Omni-Channel
For advanced product data feed management across channels.
Yotpo
Popular
For collecting customer reviews and building loyalty programs.
Klaviyo
Best Marketing
For advanced email marketing automation and customer retention.
ShipperHQ
Top Logistics
For managing complex shipping rules and real-time rates.
Not sure if this is the right fit? Compare BigCommerce with Shopify, WooCommerce, and other top ecommerce platforms side-by-side to see pricing, features, and long-term costs before making your final decision.
Performance and Reliability
BigCommerce manages hosting and infrastructure for you, similar to Shopify, removing the server management burden that comes with WooCommerce or Magento.
What BigCommerce Manages For You Automatically
Global hosting and uptime: Server infrastructure, scaling, and uptime are handled entirely by BigCommerce with no separate hosting decision to make.
SSL certificate: Included and auto-renewed on every plan at no additional cost.
Catalyst storefront architecture: BigCommerce’s newer composable storefront framework is built for performance and scale, replacing the legacy Stencil theme engine for merchants who adopt it.
Unlimited bandwidth: No traffic caps to manage or upgrade around on any plan tier.
PCI compliance: Payment security compliance is handled at the platform level for merchants using BigCommerce’s supported payment providers.
The Trade-Off
The biggest 2026 trade-off isn’t performance, it’s payment provider choice. BigCommerce’s own blog acknowledges this directly, stating it is “making a bet on going narrower and deeper” with a curated set of payment partners rather than supporting every gateway equally. For merchants already using one of the 20+ embedded providers, this changes nothing. For merchants using a niche or regional gateway outside that list, the new fee is a real cost to plan around.
SEO on BigCommerce
BigCommerce gives strong native control over URL structure, meta data, and canonical tags, without the forced path prefixes some hosted platforms enforce. The newer Catalyst storefront is built with performance in mind, which directly supports Core Web Vitals and organic search rankings. Native blogging tools are present but lighter than WordPress, so content-heavy brands relying primarily on long-form SEO content may still find WooCommerce a stronger fit. For a product-led store focused on commercial and transactional search intent, BigCommerce’s technical SEO foundation is solid out of the box.
What Is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is a fully hosted, SaaS ecommerce platform that competes directly with Shopify on convenience while differentiating itself through unlimited products, stronger native B2B tools, and historically, a no-transaction-fee pitch. The company reports powering over 130,000 merchants across 150 countries cumulatively, though independent estimates put active live stores closer to 40,000, a meaningfully smaller footprint than Shopify’s millions of active stores.
Unlike Wix or Squarespace, BigCommerce is positioned for merchants who have outgrown a beginner builder and need real catalog depth, customer segmentation, and B2B functionality without assembling it from a dozen separate apps. The platform’s June 2026 pricing overhaul, renaming every plan and introducing the Open Payment Provider fee, was framed by the company as a shift toward deeper integration with fewer, better payment partners rather than abandoning its open, composable positioning.
The Open Payment Provider Fee, Explained Plainly
BigCommerce published a direct rebuttal blog post addressing competitor claims about the new fee, specifically pushing back on the claim that a $2 million GMV merchant would pay $40,000 a year in fees. That math assumes the 2 percent Core-plan rate, but a merchant at that scale would already be on the Scale or Performance plan, where the rate drops to 0.6 percent or 0 percent. The fee genuinely only bites merchants who choose a payment gateway outside BigCommerce’s embedded list.
Final Verdict
BigCommerce earns its 7.9 out of 10 score because it remains one of the strongest fully hosted platforms for merchants who have outgrown simpler builders, with unlimited products on every plan and native B2B tools that few direct competitors match without paid add-ons. The June 2026 pricing changes are a genuine shift worth understanding before committing, but they are narrower than some of the alarmist coverage suggests.
For merchants already using an embedded payment provider, almost nothing changes financially, beyond a new plan name on the invoice. For merchants on a niche gateway, or those sitting close to a GMV threshold that just dropped, the math is worth running carefully before renewing. BigCommerce remains a strong choice for mid-market and B2B sellers; it is a less compelling pick for merchants who specifically chose it in the past purely for a “zero transaction fee, no matter what” pitch.
| Choose BigCommerce If… | Look Elsewhere If… | Top Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| You want unlimited products on every plan without catalog caps | You use a payment gateway outside BigCommerce’s embedded list | Shopify: Best for fast-launch ecommerce with the largest app ecosystem and one universal fee-free provider. |
| You need native B2B tools like customer-specific pricing and quoting | You want fully predictable pricing with no GMV-based plan changes | WooCommerce: Best for full ownership, zero transaction fees, and deep SEO control through WordPress. |
| You already use Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, or another embedded provider | You are a content-heavy brand that leans on blogging for organic growth | Wix: Best for beginners who want an AI builder and simple, predictable pricing tiers. |
| You want strong native segmentation without stacking paid apps | You need deep third-party app ecosystem depth beyond core ecommerce |
Bottom line: BigCommerce is the best platform for mid-market and B2B merchants who want native depth without renting a dozen apps to get there. The trade-off after June 2026 is that payment provider choice now genuinely affects your bill, so check the embedded list before you assume the platform is fee-free.
We recommend BigCommerce if:
- You run a mid-market or B2B store and want native customer segmentation and pricing tools.
- You already use Stripe, PayPal, or another embedded payment provider on BigCommerce’s approved list.
- You need unlimited products without hitting a catalog cap as you scale.
Look elsewhere if:
- You rely on a payment gateway outside BigCommerce’s embedded provider list.
- You want fully predictable pricing with no automatic GMV-based plan upgrades.
- You are a content-first brand that needs deep blogging and editorial tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees?
Not in the traditional sense, but a new fee applies in specific cases. BigCommerce’s own pricing page confirms a monthly Open Payment Provider fee applies on self-serve plans only for orders processed through payment providers not on its Embedded Payment Provider list. Using one of the 20+ embedded providers, including Stripe, PayPal, and Adyen, means the fee is zero.
What changed with BigCommerce pricing in June 2026?
Three things changed on June 1, 2026. According to BigCommerce’s own announcement, plans were renamed from Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise to Core, Growth, Scale, and Performance; GMV thresholds that determine automatic plan upgrades were lowered; and phone support moved to require the Growth plan or higher.
How much does BigCommerce cost?
BigCommerce’s Core plan costs $29 per month billed annually, Growth costs $79 per month, and Scale costs $299 per month. Performance, the top tier, requires a custom quote.
What is the BigCommerce Open Payment Provider fee?
It is a monthly fee charged only on orders processed through payment providers outside BigCommerce’s Embedded Payment Provider list, applying solely to self-serve plans (Core, Growth, and Scale). The rate is 2.0 percent on Core, 1.0 percent on Growth, and 0.6 percent on Scale; Performance plan merchants are not subject to it.
Is BigCommerce good for SEO?
Yes. BigCommerce gives full control over URL structure, meta tags, and canonical settings with no forced path prefixes. The newer Catalyst storefront framework is built with Core Web Vitals performance in mind, giving merchants a stronger technical foundation than the legacy Stencil theme engine.
How does BigCommerce compare to Shopify?
BigCommerce offers unlimited products on every plan and deeper native B2B tools, while Shopify offers a larger app ecosystem and one universal fee-free payment option through Shopify Payments. Since June 2026, BigCommerce’s pitch of being completely fee-free has narrowed, since its new Open Payment Provider fee applies to non-embedded gateways, though Shopify charges its own fee for using anything other than Shopify Payments.
What products count toward BigCommerce’s GMV threshold?
GMV is calculated as gross order value across all connected sales channels, minus a 10 percent reduction, on a trailing 12-month basis. Exceeding your plan’s threshold automatically upgrades your store to the next tier and its corresponding price.
Does BigCommerce support B2B and wholesale selling?
Yes, natively. BigCommerce includes customer groups, company accounts, and segmentation tools starting on the Growth plan, with customer-specific price lists reserved for the Performance tier. This native B2B depth is one of BigCommerce’s clearest differentiators against simpler hosted platforms.
Does BigCommerce offer a free trial?
Yes, a 15-day free trial with no credit card required, according to BigCommerce’s official pricing page. The trial is fully functional, allowing you to build and launch a real store before committing to a paid plan.
Can I migrate from Shopify or WooCommerce to BigCommerce?
Yes. BigCommerce offers migration tools and partner-led services for moving products, customers, and order history from most major platforms. URL structures typically change during migration, requiring 301 redirects to preserve search rankings, and customer passwords generally do not transfer automatically.