BigCommerce vs Shopify: Which Platform is Right for You?

For many retailers, the ecommerce platform decisions made 5 or 10 years ago are now being stress-tested. With customer expectations continuously rising, trading peaks are bigger, marketing channels are more complex, and now throw AI into the mix – internal teams are under pressure to move faster than ever. 

What once felt flexible and cost-effective can become operationally heavy; developer dependency increases, plug-in updates stack up, and performance becomes harder to guarantee.

That’s why so many brands are making the move to Shopify. It’s fast, scalable, and designed for retailers who want to spend less time wrestling with tech and more time selling. This article will help you weigh up whether to stick with BigCommerce or switch to Shopify. 

What is Shopify? 

Shopify is a fully managed ecommerce platform designed for both B2C and B2B brands. Infrastructure, hosting, security, and core platform updates are handled centrally, allowing businesses to focus more towards merchandising, marketing, and customer experience. 

What is BigCommerce? 

BigCommerce is also a SaaS ecommerce platform, it offers strong native functionalities and supports both traditional storefronts and headless commerce implementations. Also known for its openness and flexibility, particularly when managing complex catalogues, multiple storefronts, or bespoke frontend experiences. However, with that flexibility can come additional implementation complexity and a greater reliance on technical resources to maintain and evolve the platform over time.

Ease of use and day-to-day management

Shopify is widely known for its intuitive admin experience. Merchandising teams can quickly launch campaigns, update content, and manage products without relying heavily on developers. 

BigCommerce also offers a strong admin interface, but businesses with more customised setups may find ongoing management requires greater technical oversight, especially when integrating third-party systems or managing custom themes.

Scalability and performance

Both Shopify and BigCommerce are capable of supporting high-growth brands and enterprise-level traffic. However, Shopify’s fully managed infrastructure removes the majority of the operational burden associated with scaling during peak trading periods. 

BigCommerce provides robust performance capabilities too, but some businesses may need more hands-on management of integrations, frontend architecture, or optimisation strategies as complexity grows. 

Flexibility and customisation

BigCommerce has traditionally positioned itself around openness and flexibility, appealing to brands pursuing composable or headless commerce strategies. It can offer greater control over certain aspects of the tech stack and frontend experience. 

For some businesses, however, that flexibility can create additional implementation challenges. In a Shopify case study, D2C mattress brand Lull shared their experience after attempting a headless BigCommerce integration: “Initially, we tried to do a headless integration with BigCommerce. That project failed quite miserably, quite honestly. We had to abandon ship.”

Shopify has evolved significantly in this area through Shopify Plus, Hydrogen, and its growing API ecosystem. The platform now supports a wide range of custom experiences without requiring the same level of platform maintenance. 

International support

Shopify simplifies selling internationally with features such as multi-currency support, localised pricing, and unlimited languages as part of its monthly plans. Shopify Markets helps brands to expand their reach in over 150 countries worldwide. 

Shopify Markets is a native cross-border management tool that helps you identify, set up, launch, optimise, and manage international orders from a single store. You can also localise storefronts, customise content by market, show prices in local currencies and languages, and simplify tariffs, shipping, compliance, and conversions. BigCommerce’s equivalent functionality requires the use of third-party apps. 

Superior POS

Shopify POS specialises in connecting online and in-person inventory, payments, reporting, and customer profiles, all under one umbrella. With BigCommerce, a third-party POS system is required, which can disrupt user experience and cause issues in the back end. 

Total cost of ownership 

Platform pricing is only one part of the equation. Many retailers reassessing BigCommerce vs Shopify are actually evaluating operational efficiency: how much time, budget, and developer resource is required to keep the platform evolving. 

BigCommerce has, on average, 88% higher implementation and setup costs compared to Shopify, as well as 32% higher platform fees and ecommerce stack costs and 21% higher operational and support costs. In total, Shopify’s total cost of ownership is 31% better than BigCommerce’s on average.

Not every ecommerce brand needs to migrate. For some, open-source flexibility can remain the best fit. However, reassessment becomes worthwhile when: 

• Developer dependency slows execution 
• Maintenance consumes budget
• Peak trading invites performance anxiety
• Infrastructure complexity limits experimentation

Not every challenge can be solved by layering another app, plug-in, or new feature. Sustainable growth requires selecting a platform that aligns with your business goals and ambitions – and can scale with you as operational complexity increases over time. 

For brands prioritising agility, scalability, and operational simplicity, Shopify has become an increasingly popular option. Its managed infrastructure and extensive ecosystem help teams spend less time maintaining platforms and more time focusing on growth. 

Still have some questions? Download our BigCommerce to Shopify migration guide. 

Or if you’re ready to migrate, let’s talk about how to move your brand from BigCommerce to Shopify with minimal disruption to your business. Contact us here.