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The Honest BigCommerce Assessment for 2025
BigCommerce is a solid platform with genuine strengths — but it’s not the right choice for every merchant. Here’s an unfiltered breakdown of what it does well, where it falls short, and how to know if it still fits your business in 2025.
BigCommerce Pros
- No transaction fees: Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce doesn’t charge transaction fees on any plan, regardless of which payment processor you use.
- Native B2B features: Customer groups, tiered pricing, purchase orders, invoice portal, and account hierarchy are all built in — no extra apps required.
- Generous catalog limits: 600 variants per product and 250 product options vs Shopify’s 100/3. Significant for complex product catalogs.
- API throughput: ~400+ req/min on Enterprise, enabling high-volume ERP/PIM sync that Shopify Plus can’t match.
- Multi-storefront native: Run multiple brands or regional stores from one backend without enterprise add-on pricing.
- Open SaaS flexibility: Headless, customizable URL architecture, direct robots.txt access, and no proprietary templating language.
- More built-in features: Faceted search, real-time shipping rates, multi-currency — included without extra apps.
BigCommerce Cons
- Smaller app ecosystem: ~1,000 apps vs Shopify’s 10,000+. Niche integrations often aren’t available, or appear on Shopify months/years earlier.
- Annual sales limits per plan: Standard caps at $50K/year, Plus at $180K, Pro at $400K. Forced upgrades as you grow can feel arbitrary.
- Checkout conversion: Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout benchmarks significantly higher. For DTC brands where checkout conversion is a key lever, this is a real gap.
- Smaller developer talent pool: Fewer BigCommerce developers available vs Shopify developers, meaning higher rates and longer search times for specialist work.
- Theme selection: Fewer premium themes than Shopify, with less variety in design styles.
- Innovation pace: Shopify consistently ships new features faster. BigCommerce’s roadmap is slower to respond to new commerce trends.
Who BigCommerce Still Makes Sense For in 2025
B2B manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers with complex pricing and purchasing workflows. Merchants with large catalogs (1,000+ SKUs with many variants). Brands running hybrid B2B + B2C from a single platform. High-API-volume operations needing deep ERP integration.
Who Should Be Looking at Shopify Plus Instead
DTC brands where checkout conversion is a primary revenue lever. Brands prioritizing marketing tech integrations and fastest access to new app capabilities. Any merchant finding BigCommerce’s app ecosystem is holding their growth back.
If the cons outweigh the pros for your store, our migration team can make the switch to Shopify painless.
