Although BigCommerce is a good ecommerce platform, there are many great BigCommerce alternatives to consider going forward. In this article, I am going to go over some of the best alternatives to BigCommerce to consider for your online store.
So, if you’re wondering “What can I use instead of BigCommerce?”, this article will cover the key areas for all of the BigCommerce alternatives.
Here are the platforms that I’m going to go over in more detail (clicking on the ecommerce platform will take you to that section in this article):
- Shopify: Best BigCommerce alternative
- Squarespace: Best for e-mail marketing campaigns
- Simvoly: Best for funnels & recurring billing
- Shift4Shop: Best for advanced ecommerce features
Why Search For BigCommerce Alternatives?
By no means am I taking anything away from BigCommerce. The platform has a nice set of out-of-the-box features, making their platform very competitive with Shopify).
Unfortunately, their ecommerce platform does have some downsides that may leave you searching for BigCommerce alternatives. Namely:
- Annual revenue limits on all plans, ranging from $50K to $400K.
- The free themes are outdated and very basic.
- No discounts or deals on shipping rates.
- The abandoned cart recovery is available with the more expensive plans.
- They tend to push everyone towards their Enterprise plan.
Top 4 BigCommerce Alternatives
Since BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform, all of the Shopify alternatives listed here are also hosted.
#1 – Shopify: Best BigCommerce Alternative
Whenever you mention anything about building an online store, Shopify is almost always first that pops to mind. The platform is very popular, hosting over five million stores.
Aside from their brand recognition, Shopify makes it easy for anyone to start an online store. And, for the ones that need a more technical and customized store, there are thousands of developers that work with Shopify.
However, the best thing about switching to a platform like Shopify is the extensions. If you need additional features or add-ons, Shopify has a large app store (see Shopify review).
Some noteworthy features include:
- Multiple payment methods
- Social media integration
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Sort & filter options
- Cross-selling
- Auto-calculated shipping rates
- Customer profiles
- Discount codes
- Analytics and reports
- Accept payments anywhere
Shopify User Interface 🖱
Shopify Pricing 💰
- Starter: $5 (sell on social media only)
- Basic: $39
- Shopify: $105
- Advanced: $399
- Shopify Plus: $2,000
Aside from reporting tools, there are a few other slight differences in the number of staff accounts, credit card rates, and shipping discounts.
Additional transaction fees (which are charged by Shopify) will not apply if you use Shopify Payments. However, if you use an external payment gateway (e.g. PayPal), you will pay anywhere from 1-2% in transaction fees.
With the exception of their Starter plan, the rest of the plans are eligible for a 25% discount with annual prepays.
Why Choose Shopify Over BigCommerce? 🤔
- There is no limit or cap on annual revenue and sales.
- Shopify has a fully integrated point-of-sale solution that connects your offline and online business in a single place.
- Product pages support multiple option for multimedia including images, GIF, videos, 3d models, and augmented reality.
- The app store is much larger, featuring over 6,000 different apps that can extend store functionality.
- Very popular platform, hosting over five million stores (about 5X more than BigCommerce).
Try Shopify (Best overall BigCommerce alternative) 👍
#2 – Squarespace: Best For E-Mail Marketing
Squarespace is a popular website builder that also offers full-fledged ecommerce support via their ecommerce plans. With an array of templates and complete control over CSS and Javascript, you should have no problem creating a design to match your brand.
The platform supports selling of subscriptions and services. A point-of-sale system is also available for those that plan on selling in-person.
Counting all websites and online stores, Squarespace powers over three million live websites.
Popular ecommerce features include:
- Customer accounts and profiles
- Integrated point-of-sale system
- Built-in email marketing
- Support for 20+ currencies
- Import and export products and data
- Multiple product variants
- Built-in search engine optimization (SEO)
- In-depth analytics tools
- Mobile editing
Squarespace User Interface 🖱
Squarespace Pricing 💰
- Personal: $23 (not for ecommerce)
- Business: $33
- Commerce Basic: $36
- Commerce Advanced: $65
Although Squarespace cheapest plan is $23 per month, it does not have ecommerce capabilities. The Business plan charges additional transaction fees of 3%.
In terms of features, the Commerce Advanced plan has no limitations. Things like abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping, Commerce APIs, and the option to sell subscriptions is included on the Commerce Advanced plan.
All plans are eligible for a discount ranging from 24-40% with annual prepays.
Why Choose Squarespace Over BigCommerce? 🤔
- Clean and simple website editor and customization.
- Slightly cheaper than BigCommerce.
- Built-in email marketing and campaigns at no extra cost.
- No cap or limits on annual revenue and sales.
#3 – Simvoly: Best For Funnels & Recurring Billing
Simvoly is a two-in-one platform – website and funnel builder. It also offers support for ecommerce and selling online. Their funnel builder can help with recurring payments, one-click upsells, product subscriptions, and more.
Aside from that, Simvoly also has integrated analytics for tracking metrics like keywords, conversion rates, and uptime.
Their popular ecommerce features include:
- Drag and drop editor
- Full checkout page customization
- One-click upsells and offer bumps
- Detailed analytics and tracking
- Abandoned cart functionality
- Recurring payments
- Booking and appointments
- Custom shipping and tax rules
- Funnel builder
- Email marketing and automation
Simvoly User Interface 🖱
Simvoly Pricing 💰
- Personal: $18
- Business: $36
- Growth: $69
- Pro: $179
All plans have the option to create standard content websites and ecommerce stores, as well as building funnels and email marketing.
In terms of ecommerce, the plans have differences in product count, recurring payments, and the number of admins. Additionally, there are other differences that are not related to ecommerce.
Simvoly has a 14-day free trial and a generous discount for yearly prepays (varies by plan).
Why Choose Simvoly Over BigCommerce? 🤔
- No cap or limits on annual sales and revenue.
- The ability to fully customize the checkout page.
- All plans include funnel builder and email marketing.
- Recurring billing is integrated into the platform without the need of external plugins.
#4 – Shift4Shop: Best For Advanced Ecommerce Features
Shift4Shop stands out with a selection of robust, out-of-the-box features and rock-solid security. The platform was designed to scale for growing businesses.
And, if your business happens to be in the United States, Shift4Shop is free with a few stipulations. Businesses outside of the United States would have to pay a monthly fee.
As an added bonus, Shift4Shop will migrate your current store to their platform for free.
Some of the popular ecommerce features are:
- Advanced promotional tools
- Built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Unlimited products, traffic, sales, and product options and variants
- Real-time shipping and tax rates
- Recurring orders
- Customer segmentation and grouping
- Automation rules for orders and customer groups
- Integrated email marketing
- Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools
Shift4Shop User Interface 🖱
Shift4Shop Pricing 💰
- Price: Free or $29
For US customers, the platform is free as long as you process $500 or more every month through their in-house payment processing service, Shift4. If you use Paypal or any other external payment processing service, the price would be $29 per month.
The price for international customers is $29 per month, regardless of the payment processing service being used.
Shift4Shop has a single plan and doesn’t restrict any features.
Why Choose Shift4Shop Over BigCommerce? 🤔
- Price – Shift4Shop is free for US customers. Even if you have to $29 per month, Shift4Shop is still the more budget friendly option.
- No limit or cap on annual sales and revenue.
- Similar selection of out-of-the-box features.
- More modern themes and design functions.
BigCommerce Alternatives Conclusion
Although BigCommerce is good for ecommerce, the BigCommerce alternatives I listed are just as good, if not better.
However, if I had to choose a platform, I would go with Shopify any day of the week. They have a huge customer base (over five million stores) for a reason. As long as Shopify checks all of the boxes for you, I would recommend their platform, especially to current BigCommerce users.
Here’s a recap of the platforms I discussed:
- Shopify: Best BigCommerce alternative
- Squarespace: Best for e-mail marketing campaigns
- Simvoly: Best for funnels & recurring billing
- Shift4Shop: Best for advanced ecommerce features
Please comment below with the ecommerce platform that you prefer or plan on using.
BigCommerce Alternatives: FAQS
Can I migrate or transfer my store?
Yes! You will be able to export your products, content, etc. However, the design may not be the same.
Will I lose any search engine ranking or SEO?
More than likely not. As long as there’s minimal downtime, the ranking and on-page SEO should stay the same.