WooCommerce and BigCommerce are very popular e-commerce platforms for building your online stores.
Stats from BuiltWith shows WooCommerce powers more than 500000+ sites while BigCommerce around 50000. So does this mean WooCommerce is your best bet to create an online store?
Well, here’s a WooCommerce vs BigCommerce comparison that will help you make the right choice.
WooCommerce overview
WooCommerce is a renowned WordPress plugin (Free) that is easy to use. You can easily set up WooCommerce as it provides a point-and-click installation process.
When the plugin was launched in 2011, it instantly became the primary solution for users to launch their online stores.
WooCommerce provides reasonable levels of flexibility and several vital features such as inventory and tax management, shipping integration and payments and that makes creating and managing an online store simple.
That’s the reason, why 500000+ businesses – small, medium and large prefer WooCommerce.
To get started with WooCommerce, you need to purchase and configure web hosting, then you can install WordPress, WooCommerce and different marketing tools.
BigCommerce overview
BigCommerce on the other hand offers a suite of services that includes design, hosting, SEO payments, cart, etc. into a single software for which you pay a monthly fee.
It is the world’s leading cloud e-commerce platform for established and rapidly growing businesses. It also has a range of plugins that can extend the functionality of the store in almost any way.
Combining enterprise functionality, an app ecosystem, open architecture and market-leading performance, BigCommerce enables businesses to grow sales with less cost, time and complexity than on-premise software.
BigCommerce powers B2B and B2C e-commerce for around 50,000 brands, 2,000+ mid-market businesses, and 30 Fortune 1000 companies.
BigCommerce vs WooCommerce – the major difference
BigCommerce is an e-commerce business web designer.
Not certain what that implies? Allow us to clarify.
An e-commerce business web designer is a program that encourages you to make your own online store. It likewise furnishes you with help on the most proficient method to deal with your webpage, support your deals, and be fruitful on the web.
BigCommerce gives you all the tools that you require, in addition to a helpful guidance manual.
WooCommerce is extraordinary. It’s intended for WordPress sites as a plugin. This means it’s an extra that you coordinate into your typical website to change it into an online store.
WooCommerce was built by Automattic – the web development organization that established WordPress. It’s described as the “most well-known and adaptable online business stage on the web”.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce – Detailed comparison
From the definitions above, you can clearly distinguish WooCommerce vs BigCommerce. However, the following features outline some specific e-commerce platform comparisons and will help you decide which platform will suit you.
Ease of Use
Website builders, such as BigCommerce provides a solid base to build on and offer ready support.
BigCommerce provides a domain, security certificates, and hosting while WooCommerce’s offerings are limited to e-commerce functionality. Therefore, BigCommerce may be useful for those with limited technical skills and experience.
Main features comparison
WooCommerce features
- One-click refunds – enables you to get money back for returns immediately.
- Unlimited customization – if you can code, you can change everything from the storefront to the checkout page without any restrictions.
- Blogging – the in-built capability to produce, publish, and share articles.
- Offers and coupons – set up discount coupons, promote related products via upsells and cross-sells. For an advanced WooCommerce coupons solution, use the original Smart Coupons plugin.
- Analytics and reporting – get reports on sales, orders, customers, products purchased in a basic overview. Try Putler for in-depth and advanced WooCommerce reports and analytics.
BigCommerce features
- Analytical tracking and reporting tools – check your store’s performance via sessions, email campaigns, sales, etc.
- Multi-channel integration – allows you to sell from your site directly on marketplaces such as eBay and social media like Facebook.
- SSL security – secures your online store by protecting payments, providing you a little padlock symbol next to your URL, so consumers know when checking out.
- Promotional codes and discounts – enables you to offer sales and deals on products by giving shoppers a code to use at the checkout.
- Abandoned cart recovery – gives your shoppers automatic email reminders when they leave their cart behind.
Design flexibility
Overall, BigCommerce has pricier design themes and limited customization possibilities.
It offers 7 free themes and 50 additional themes ranging from $145-245, compared to WooCommerce where you get multiple themes to choose from. Themes like Astra, Storefront, OceanWP are very popular. Check all the popular WooCommerce themes.
Still, BigCommerce has recently introduced a new front-end framework called Stencil, which allows you to design aesthetically pleasing storefronts without coding knowledge.
If you have an eye for design or like to have more control over how your online store looks, WooCommerce gives you endless options to customize your site. The downside is that editing can become time-intensive, and you also need coding knowledge.
With WooCommerce, the more technical know-how you have, the more you can edit.
Plugins and Integrations
No matter how powerful an e-commerce platform is, the core software will always have a limited set of features.
That is when the integrations and add-ons or plugins come in handy. The most sought integrations for e-commerce websites are email marketing tools, lead generation, analytics, and outreach services.
Now, let’s take a look at where BigCommerce and WooCommerce stand in terms of available third-party integrations for each.
WooCommerce plugins and Integrations
WooCommerce is an open-source plugin built on top of the most popular content management system (CMS) software, WordPress. This gives you access to more than 60,000 free WordPress plugins and thousands of premium plugins.
You can find these plugins at the official WordPress.org plugin repository, official WooCommerce website, and plugin websites.
The official WooCommerce extensions store contains over 840+ plugins to choose from to enhance your store.
With such an extensive collection of plugins, you can get a plugin for almost any feature imaginable.
There are plenty of choices for affiliates, marketing, subscriptions, bookings, product add-ons, contact forms, lead generation forms, cart and checkout, analytics, SEO, performance optimization, and more.
Most of the popular third-party services have built their own plugins to integrate with your WooCommerce store.
Also, you can create a WooCommerce addon just for your store if you have coding skills or by hiring a developer.
BigCommerce apps and Integrations
BigCommerce comes with hundreds of third-party apps and integrations to help you add powerful features to your BigCommerce store. There are both free and paid add-ons available in the BigCommerce apps marketplace.
It has featured app collections categorized as must-haves, shipping essentials, design, marketing, and payments. You can quickly choose apps from these collections for your store.
Furthermore, there are dozens of apps in categories like accounting and tax, analytics and reporting, CRM and customer service, product sourcing, and more.
Marketing tools
They are essential for getting your store in front of the right customers. They’re also vital for then keeping those customers, as well as continuing to draw in new ones.
BigCommerce marketing tools
BigCommerce seems to understand the importance of marketing for stores of all shapes and sizes. It includes key marketing features in all its plans, including:
- Coupons, discounts, and gift cards
- Blogging tools
- Product ratings and reviews
- Facebook and Instagram integrations
- eBay and Amazon integrations
You also get abandoned cart recovery and Google customer reviews included on all but the cheapest plan.
If you need more marketing features than that, you can install any of the BigCommerce marketing integrations available in its app marketplace. Popular choices include eDesk, Justuno, LeadDyno.
WooCommerce marketing tools
WooCommerce has 150+ marketing extensions in its marketplace, but it doesn’t provide many built-in marketing tools as BigCommerce does. This gives you customization control, but it can also create extra work.
For example, while BigCommerce includes abandoned cart recovery in its plans, with WooCommerce you need an extension for the abandoned cart recovery feature, plus separate extensions to send emails and follow-up messages.
Adding marketing features can quickly start to add up with WooCommerce. Most social media integrations for WooCommerce cost $79 – this applies to eBay, Amazon, and Instagram, although the Facebook integration is free.
One thing WooCommerce does support without installing extensions is a coupon feature, where you can create discounts or offer free shipping as an incentive for your customers.
Payment gateways and Fees
Being able to accept multiple payment options is great when selling to a broad range of customers. Both BigCommerce and WooCommerce accept credit and debit cards, along with some of the biggest payment gateways around:
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- Square
One thing that’s important to know is that each payment gateway has its own transaction fee charges. So, it’s worth looking these up before jumping into one straightaway.
BigCommerce payment gateways
With BigCommerce, you can accept credit cards via Paypal. As payment gateways go, it’s an effortless setup, and you’ll get access to BigCommerce’s pre-negotiated credit card transaction rates. These vary depending on the pricing plan you opt for:
- Standard: 2.9% + 30c
- Plus: 2.5% + 30c
- Pro: 2.2% + 30c
- Enterprise: 2.2% + 30c (or lower, depending on what you negotiate).
Or, you can use a third-party payment processor – there are roughly 65 available (depending on your country of operation). Here’s the complete list.
Subject to your chosen payment gateway, you may have to pay monthly fees and/or transaction fees. The payment gateway provider sets these, so you’ll have to contact them directly for further details.
WooCommerce payment gateways
WooCommerce supports over 80 payment gateways, including Authorize.Net, Braintree, Klarna and others.
In comparison, BigCommerce’s selection is slightly more limited, so if you want a more extensive choice, WooCommerce is the better choice.
Neither BigCommerce nor WooCommerce enforces their own transaction fees, so any extra processing costs come directly from your chosen payment gateway.
SEO
Looking at WooCommerce vs BigCommerce, it’s a close call. Both offer you the ability to improve your site’s SEO, giving you the best possible chance of ranking highly on Google.
Customer support
With any online venture, there’s a good chance you’ll need a helping hand at some point or another. In light of that, you’ll want the comfort of knowing there’s a helpful customer service team available should you need them.
WooCommerce support
- It has an active community offering extensive content in the form of blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Facebook groups and WordCamps.
- It includes hundreds of forums entirely dedicated to discussing WooCommerce and its issues.
- You can also reach out to the WooCommerce team and individual plugin vendors for email support.
BigCommerce support
- BigCommerce has an active community forum that provides answers to your queries.
- It also provides 24/7 phone, email and chat support for all plans.
WooCommerce Pricing
Using WooCommerce is free. The price you pay is for hosting, plugins and themes. It depends on your requirements.
Here’s what you pay to run a WooCommerce store.
BigCommerce Pricing
BigCommerce has four pricing plan options that vary based on the features and enhancements:
- Standard – $29.95/mo
- Plus – 79.95/mo
- Pro – 299.95/mo
- Enterprise
It is always advisable to go for higher plans to get all the benefits for your online store. With this comparison, WooCommerce is way cheaper than BigCommerce.
Conclusion
Both WooCommerce and BigCommerce are powerful solutions. Choosing a platform depends on your tech skills, budget and personal preference.
With the BigCommerce platform, you don’t need to set up anything, and you can get started quickly. However, the cons of BigCommerce is the limited control you would have. It’s expensive and you cannot use any tool outside BigCommerce.
On the other hand, because of its extendable nature, WooCommerce can integrate with more service providers and offers more apps or plugins than BigCommerce. You get full control over your store and it is also pocket-friendly.
The cons are the learning curve for beginners, and some scalability challenges as your business grows.
That’s it from this BigCommerce vs WooCommerce article!