BigCommerce has grown to become a leading e-commerce platform since the company was founded in 2009. There are four different pricing plans to choose from with each plan suited to different types of businesses based on the capabilities of each plan.
In order to make the right decision for your business, we cover each pricing plan in detail, from the features that are included to the types of online retailers each plan will suit best as well as looking into how BigCommerce prices compare to other platforms on the market.
BigCommerce is an e-commerce platform that’s used by a large number of merchants in more than 150 countries around the world. As a fully hosted platform, it’s second in size only to Shopify, making it a major player in the world of eCommerce.
BigCommerce is known for being a flexible solution for merchants and offers a wide variety of built-in features and templates, as well as supporting retailers with design, omni-channel sales and even fulfillment. As a result, the platform is suitable for businesses of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re a small start-up, a medium-sized business with ambitious plans to grow, or a large enterprise that requires a comprehensive solution, which means choosing the right plan is important.
It’s only natural to compare BigCommerce with Shopify, given they are the two largest e-commerce platforms out there and rivals when it comes to providing the best commerce solution. There are key differences between the two platforms, such as usability, key tools and features and marketing and sales capabilities, however, their pricing plans are also different.
Overall, BigCommerce is considered to be a slightly more cost-effective solution out of the two, even if prices appear similar at first glance. Both platforms offer tiered pricing and while both Shopify and BigCommerce prices are similar at first, it’s important to know how additional costs that are not included in the initial plan may impact the total amount you pay.
This is where BigCommerce edges it on price since they don’t charge transaction fees. In comparison, Shopify charges up to a 2% transaction fee, which can amount to a large monthly payment. It is important to factor this into your decision. Many of Shopify’s plug-ins and apps are paid for on a monthly subscription as well, whereas BigCommerce has more out-of-the-box features that are included in the original plan.
Price isn’t the only factor to consider when comparing BigCommerce with Shopify and there are other things to weigh up. However, if price is important to you then BigCommerce may be a suitable solution.
There are four plans that BigCommerce offer:
There are basics included in all plans but as each of the BigCommerce plan prices increase, so do the number of tools and features that are included within each plan as well as the level of support and service on offer. The different plans are also governed by your business's annual sales - if your sales exceed a certain amount you will need to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
Firstly, all plans come without transaction fees, which is what sets BigCommerce apart from Shopify as we touched upon earlier. The number of products that you can sell through BigCommerce is unlimited for all of the plans, as is file storage and bandwidth. The number of staff accounts you are allowed to create is also unlimited, something that sets BigCommerce apart from Shopify whereby you only get a certain number of staff accounts. Finally, all plans come with 24/7 tech support, which is available via phone, chat, & ticket support.
From a sales channel perspective, all plans come with an online storefront, point-of-sales (POS) and can be connected with Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Facebook and Instagram. Multi-storefronts are included, however the number available increases with each plan: you get up to 3 with Standard, 5 with Pro, 8 with Plus and then as many as you require with Enterprise.
There are set features that all plans come with, including Single-page checkout, coupons, gift cards and other out-of-the-box promotional tools that are designed to help increase average-order-value (AOV). A built-in blog, product ratings and reviews, free sitewide HTTPs, and dedicated SSL are also included. Features that are more sophisticated in the way of customer experience, marketing and product filtering start becoming available as you move up from a Standard to Pro, Plus or Enterprise.
Let’s walk through each of the pricing plans in a little more detail, discover how much they cost, what they come with and who they are most suited to.
BigCommerce Standard starts from $39 per month, or $29 per month if billed annually. All of the plans are cheaper when you choose to pay yearly, so it’s certainly worth it in order to save money in the long run. This yearly plan saves you $120. There are no transaction fees for the BigCommerce Standard plan, meaning you don’t pay extra for each sale that’s made.
Some of the main features included in the BigCommerce Standard plan are the ability to build and manage an online store with annual sales of up to $50,000 per year. If your business exceeds $50k then this plan isn’t suitable for your business and you will need to move on to BigCommerce Pro, Plus or Enterprise.
As well as that, this plan comes with a responsive mobile website, numerous payment options for consumers, multiple currencies, real-time shipping quotes, professional reporting, and more. Even though it is the cheapest plan that BigCommerce offers, it’s still a great solution and it can do all of the things that a small business needs.
BigCommerce Standard is ideal for small businesses who are starting their online journey or are established since the plan offers enough features to get the job done. By no means does basic mean inadequate - the Standard plan includes all of the same sales channels as the other plans, including a point-of-sales, up to three storefronts and an integration with Amazon, eBay and Walmart.
Overall, BigCommerce Standard is an effective low-cost plan and it is best suited to small businesses or budding entrepreneurs looking for a cost-effective eCommerce platform.
BigCommerce Plus starts from $105 per month, or $79 per month if billed annually. Choosing to pay yearly could save you $312. As with the Standard plan, there are no transaction fees with BigCommerce Plus.
One of the key differences between the BigCommerce Standard and Plus is that Plus allows up to $180,000 in annual sales, compared to $50,000 for Standard. This means your annual turnover is going to be an initial deciding factor when weighing up the best plan for your business. For example, if your turnover exceeds $50k annually then the best option is the Plus plan, or perhaps Plus or Enterprise.
BigCommerce Plus comes with a wider selection of advanced features that are tailored for business growth, making it a great choice for small businesses that are scaling in size.
You’ll get everything that’s included in BigCommerce Standard, however, there are also additional tools to enhance marketing and conversion rates, such as abandoned cart emails and options for customer segmentation.
Plus is one step up from the Standard plan and will be most suited to smaller e-commerce businesses that are on a mission to scale and grow. The annual sales threshold is higher than the Standard plan and the features available have been leveled up accordingly.
The BigCommerce Pro plan starts from $399 per month, or $299 per month if billed annually. Choosing to pay yearly could save you $1,200. There are no transaction fees with this plan.
The Pro plan is suitable for businesses with up to $400,000 in annual sales, a step up from both Standard and Pro from a turnover perspective. Straightaway, evaluating your expected annual sales can help to determine which of the four plans might be suitable for you.
Along with all of the features included in the Pro Plan, those who choose BigCommerce Pro enjoy advanced analytics. There’s a Google customer reviews integration with this plan and custom product filtering is available, improving the shopping experience for consumers because it allows them to easily and dynamically filter products. Beyond that, any custom product fields you choose to set up can be used as filters as well. For example, if your products are available to purchase in a wide variety of sizes or materials that are unique to your sector or business, your customers can use these fields to find what they are looking for more easily.
The features of this plan provide a greater level of personalisation and give you a little more control over functionality, which can help provide your users with a better experience.
BigCommerce Pro is well suited to small and medium-sized businesses that are keen to enhance customer experience and make use of more storefronts and inventory locations, which come with this plan. Businesses that are established, in need of a comprehensive e-commerce solution and have a higher turnover than $180,000 should consider BigCommerce Pro.
BigCommerce Enterprise does not have fixed pricing. The price of this solution will be based on the individual needs of a business and therefore tailored and customized. If BigCommerce Standard, Plus and Pro are not suitable options for you, then it’s recommended you get in touch with BigCommerce to discuss your needs and receive a bespoke quote.
Some of the sales channels and features that are included in the smaller plans are still available for Enterprise, though they are not fixed. Instead, they can be tailored to your needs and this will be factored into the cost of your Enterprise plan. For example, your annual sales, number of inventory locations and number of multi-storefronts available are customizable. This means if you need 10 multi-storefronts, you’ll be quoted a price based on 10, and so on.
An extra feature of BigCommerce Enterprise is price lists, which essentially provide your
B2B customers with a B2C-level experience with custom pricing at the SKU level for individual customer groups. You’ll also have the ability to automatically sync data from 3rd party systems (such as ERPs) straight into your BigCommerce account.
There are also additional service and support features included with BigCommerce Enterprise that include express routing, priority support, and customer success management, along with API support. API support essentially means BigCommerce will take care of functionality when it comes to APIs and support with development features work as intended. These features are not available with the smaller plans so if this higher level of service and support would be beneficial to your business, Enterprise might be the right plan for you.
BigCommerce Enterprise is the largest plan on offer and in line with that it’s best suited to medium and large companies and enterprise-level operations. Online retailers that have annual sales that exceed $400k, require more than 8 inventory locations and 8 multi-storefronts and need additional service and support from BigCommerce should choose this plan.
Choosing the right BigCommerce pricing plan requires careful consideration, starting with comparing and understanding what each of them has to offer. However, there are other key considerations that you should bear in mind when making a decision:
Fully understand what your business needs are, from the size of your product catalog, expected annual sales, and the types of features that you need in order to manage your business. Also, evaluate your budget for an e-commerce platform and how much you can afford or would be willing to pay for the right solution. The cheapest plan may not be the best fit and similarly, an expensive plan doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Following that, get to grips with each of the plan’s features in detail. The advice here is to not skim over the features that are on offer and instead think about them in the context of your business. As well as that, determine if there are any limitations to the features on offer for a given plan.
Factor in your growth potential and plans for growth for the year ahead and what your business's growth trajectory looks like. It’s important that the BigCommerce plan you select meets your current requirements, however, think about whether or not it’ll meet them in 3 months, 6 months and a year.
Be aware of any additional costs that may be associated with each of the plans so that there are not any surprises once you’ve signed up. As we’ve highlighted, all plans are without transaction fees. There are extra fees if you need an additional storefront, which range from $30 per month up to $100 per month depending on the plan you are on. Shipper HQ is available as an add-on for Standard, Plus and Pro, and special credit card rates on Braintree are available as an additional fee.
Finally, take advantage of the free trial period that’s available before you fully commit to a BigCommerce subscription plan. By doing so you will benefit from assessing BigCommerce as an option for your e-commerce platform in general and it will help you understand the capabilities and limitations of your trial plan, bringing you closer to a final decision.
Integrate your BigCommerce plan with a specialized feed management solution so that when you are ready to promote your products online and grow sales, you can quickly and effectively optimize your products for selling.
With DataFeedWatch, the first thing that you can do is set up a BigCommerce product feed, which happens in 3 simple steps. You’ll retain complete control and flexibility over your product feed and all of the feed attributes, manipulating them so they integrate seamlessly with other platforms, such as Google Merchant Center. The set-up and optimization element of the feed and products will be automated, meaning it’s both quick and easy.
As well as optimizing your feed, you can also use the feed management tool to finetune the products you promote by excluding those that are not relevant or those that perform poorly. By excluding certain products from your BigCommerce store you can essentially boost the sales of top-performing products.
The main benefit of integrating BigCommerce with DataFeedWatch is that this then opens the door to advertising your products on more than 2,000 channels online, resulting in increasing your revenue. From Search engines, social platforms and shopping channels, to online marketplaces and even custom channels, you’ll have access to a large audience of potential customers ready to shop your products.
Each of the four BigCommerce pricing plans is designed to meet the needs of different businesses that are at stages of growth, catering to all shapes or sizes. There is a suitable option for all, it’s about understanding what’s included in each of the pricing plans and matching that to what your requirements are as a business.
Once your e-commerce platform is in place, it’s natural to then seek out effective strategies to maximize the visibility of your products and to boost sales. Google Shopping is a key tool that has the power to reach a very large audience of engaged shoppers and from a technical perspective, it all starts with matching your BigCommerce fields to Google Shopping feed attributes.