eCommerce Website Builders · October 2026
Shopify vs BigCommerce: the biggest ecosystem or more built in
Shopify
BigCommerce
Shopify is a fully hosted commerce platform for anyone from a first-time seller to a large brand. It offers themes and an AI store builder, more than twenty-one thousand apps, the Shop Pay checkout, its own POS for in-person sales, and selling across social channels, marketplaces and borders. Using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a third-party transaction fee.
BigCommerce puts more into the core product. It supports more than twenty embedded payment providers without platform payment fees, B2B tools such as account pricing, quotes and buyer approvals, multiple storefronts with multi-language and multi-currency, and open APIs for headless builds.
The difference: Shopify wins on ease and ecosystem, BigCommerce on built-in features and payment freedom.
| Shopify Our pick | BigCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 9.7/10 · Outstanding | 9.4/10 · Excellent |
| Rank | #1 in eCommerce Website Builders | #2 in eCommerce Website Builders |
| Price |
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$29.95 |
| Highlights |
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| Get Deal | Get Deal |
Our verdict
Shopify leads for most readers because it is the quickest way to a store that sells. Setup is simple, themes look good out of the box, and if a feature is missing, its app store almost certainly has it. Shop Pay gives returning customers a fast checkout, and the same back office runs online, social and in-person sales. For a new or growing direct-to-consumer brand, that combination is hard to beat.
BigCommerce is the better choice if you want to keep your existing payment provider without an extra platform fee, if you sell to businesses as well as consumers, or if you run several brands or regional stores from one account. Its B2B features and multi-storefront are part of the platform rather than add-ons, and its APIs suit teams planning a headless build. Note that BigCommerce plans are tied to annual online sales, and a store that grows past a limit moves up a plan.
Both offer free trials, so build a few product pages on each before deciding.
Get Deal — ShopifyRead the full reviews: Shopify review · BigCommerce review · or see all our eCommerce Website Builders picks.