WooCommerce vs BigCommerce

WooCommerce is open source software you host and maintain in WordPress; BigCommerce is a hosted service from 39 dollars a month with customer groups and product filtering in its higher plans. WooCommerce takes no share of revenue; BigCommerce charges up to 2% outside its embedded payment providers. The split: a technical person on hand, or a plan rising with sales.

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Both are reviewed in full in our ecommerce platform ranking: WooCommerce and BigCommerce.

1. 01

   Maintenance burden

   With WooCommerce you choose the hosting, apply the updates and own the security. BigCommerce is rented, so upgrades happen without you on every plan. A team with no technical person should treat this as decisive; a team that already maintains WordPress carries little extra weight.

   Edge: BigCommerce

2. 02

   How the bill moves when sales rise

   WooCommerce takes a 0% revenue share; its costs are hosting, which Woo puts at 25 to 350 dollars a month depending on traffic, and extensions. BigCommerce moves Core to Growth automatically above 30,000 dollars of trailing annual sales and Growth to Scale above 100,000, and adds 2%, 1% or 0.6% on orders through payment providers outside its embedded list.

   Edge: WooCommerce

3. 03

   Features before you add anything

   BigCommerce includes multi-currency on all plans, customer groups from Growth and product filtering from Scale, with extra storefronts as paid add-ons. WooCommerce is a plugin whose functionality you assemble from hundreds of extensions, which Woo prices at 29 to 299 dollars a year each. For a mid-size catalogue the hosted product starts further along.

   Edge: BigCommerce

4. 04

   Ownership and control

   WooCommerce is open source, which Woo describes as complete ownership of your store, inside a site you already run. BigCommerce is a service whose roadmap and deprecations are decided for you, and its theme ecosystem is on the thin side. Buyers who put control first land on WooCommerce.

   Edge: WooCommerce

5. 05

   Wholesale pricing

   BigCommerce offers customer groups for pricing and product access from its Growth plan at 105 dollars a month, but SKU-level price lists only on Performance, which starts at 1,499 dollars a month. On WooCommerce, the B2B for WooCommerce extension by Addify costs 156 euros a year and adds role-based prices, customer-specific prices, quote requests and catalogue visibility rules.

   Edge: WooCommerce

Do WooCommerce and BigCommerce charge transaction fees?

WooCommerce charges none and takes no share of revenue; you pay your payment gateway. BigCommerce charges nothing for its embedded payment providers, such as Stripe, Adyen and PayPal, but 2% on Core, 1% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale for orders through other providers.

Is WooCommerce or BigCommerce better for a team without a developer?

BigCommerce. With WooCommerce the hosting, updates and security are yours, so it does not suit a non-technical owner who wants no maintenance. BigCommerce is hosted and has a 15-day free trial, though it is not meant for a first store with ten products.

Which handles B2B better, WooCommerce or BigCommerce?

It depends on depth. BigCommerce gives customer groups from Growth, but individual SKU-level price lists sit on the Performance plan from 1,499 dollars a month. WooCommerce reaches customer-specific prices and quotes with a paid extension at 156 euros a year, provided someone maintains it.

What does each cost to start?

The WooCommerce plugin is free; Woo estimates hosting at 25 to 350 dollars a month for most stores. BigCommerce lists Core at 39 dollars a month, or 29 on annual billing, for stores up to 30,000 dollars in trailing annual sales.

• WooCommerce pricing page: WooCommerce 0% revenue share, hosting and extension cost estimates.
• WooCommerce features page: open source ownership claim and size of the extension marketplace.
• WooCommerce Marketplace: B2B for WooCommerce: price and features of the B2B for WooCommerce extension.
• BigCommerce pricing page: BigCommerce plan prices, sales caps, open payment provider fees, plan features and trial.