In order to decide which ecommerce platform to use, Shopify vs. BigCommerce. There are many factors that you have to take into consideration. If you want to decide which e-commerce platform to choose, there are many things to consider.
BigCommerce is full of SEO features to help optimize an ecommerce website.
These features include, but are not limited to:
– Customizable URLs to make them more SEO-friendly. Google and other major search engines recommend such a procedure.
Metatags to provide data about the web page’s main goal and content to search engine spiders.
Image optimization (Useful for eCommerce websites that depend on image search).
Mobile optimization to be in line with the new search engine updates about mobile first.
Creation of microdata and schema markup. This helps provide info about content, context and how the spiders should crawl.
Shopify
Shopify is not SEO-friendly by nature. It needs customization, optimization, and a lot of work
Automatic sitemaps: Sitemaps are files that tell the structure and content of a website. To make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.
URL’s editability: You can edit the URLs of pages, products, collections, blogs, and articles. Achieving relevancy to your keywords is of great importance.
URL optimization: Shopify adds canonical tags to your pages. These tags are crucial in preventing duplicate content issues by redirecting old URLs to new ones in the case of any change.
SSL certification: Shopify provides a free SSL certificate for your website. They do that by encrypting data between your website and your customers. Improving customer trust, besides boosting your SEO rank.
Mobile friendliness: Shopify themes are responsive. They adhere to the mobile-first rule. These factors will make SEO performance and user experience better. As you know, mobile friendliness is a ranking factor for Google.
In BigCommerce, you can add canonical website URLs by default. using the “sortby” parameter could help you in this regard.
Shopify uses the main site/product/item URL as the canonical.
Yet, you can create a canonical URL in Shopify. By adding the link tag with rel=“canonical” attribute to the head of your theme’s HTML code, you can do it in an instant.
Page titles and meta descriptions are modifiable in BigCommerce. You can edit and optimize the content on category pages, product pages & other pages. You can also set your alt tags on images.
While in Shopify, it is more complicated than that. For most parts, the answer is yes. Shopify has nailed all basic SEO features, including the basic indexing controls.
Customizable HTML capabilities (Shopify Vs. BigCommerce):
In BigCommerce, there are many methods to customise HTML capabilities.
Some of the methods you can do that are diverse. To name a few, you can use JavaScript Customization, Custom templates or page builders.
In Shopify, there are many options too.
You can design a storefront using tech stack and a development framework. Storefront API is an option to integrate a custom frontend with Shopify’s platform. You can use Hydrogen, a React framework that enables custom storefronts creation.
Everyone is raving about the importance of sitemaps to SEO. So, what are sitemaps?
Sitemaps are files that guide search engine bots to discover your website’s content. A sitemap helps these bots to index and rank new sites faster. Crawling your website by spiders and bots is crucial for new websites. These websites usually contain little external links pointing to them. Crawlers or spiders might take some time to index them. Sitemaps help them perform the mission faster.
BigCommerce provides a built-in XML Sitemap. There is an auto-update feature that makes the required updates to the sitemaps.
All Shopify stores automatically generate a sitemap.xml file.
These files contain links to all your products by default. Primary product images, pages, collections, and blog posts will have the same privilege.
Integration with Google Analytics (Shopify Vs. BigCommerce):
Google Analytics is a service that measures user interactions with a website. You can do it through various devices and environments. Google Analytics installation comes as a plugin in your website. Or it can come as a text embedded into your website code.
BigCommerce is a popular ecommerce platform. It allows flawless integration with Google Analytics.
At the same time, you can integrate a Shopify account with Google Ads or Google Analytics for free. You’ll need a valid Google sign-in and a Google-provided JavaScript code box. You’ll need an active Shopify account.
Our verdict when it comes to BigCommerce vs. Shopify integration with Google Analytics. BigCommerce is a winner for the ease of use.
Product Tagging and Categorization (BigCommerce Vs. Shopify):
BigCommerce allows product grouping using a category to make them easier to find. You can create, organize, and manage your store’s categories. Navigation to Products › Product Categories. You can assign a product to multiple categories. These categories go on lists based on the attributes that matter the most to the customers. For instance: Men, women, and Kids categories for clothing/apparel.
BigCommerce and Shopify can both add up to 250 tags to a product. Shopify only uses letters, numbers and hyphens in tags.
You can tag products in Shopify from product pages and product detail pages. BigCommerce platform allows you product-tagging from the product page.
BigCommerce displays product tags to customers by default. In the meantime, Shopify does not do that. You could do it by using some themes that support that feature.
So, our verdict on BigCommerce Vs. Shopify abilities for product tagging and categorization will be in favour of BigCommerce.
BigCommerce has many ways to bulk upload products to the website.
Some of these ways are:
1- The BigCommerce Bulk Upload tool. This tool lets you upload many files at once. This tool will create product catalogues and product data profiles for each product.
2- Third-party tools for batch uploading like WEBDAV.
In Shopify, you can upload many products using the Shopify uploading feature, using a CSV file.
The Verdict of the Batch Uploading features between Shopify and BigCommerce. BigCommerce has more ways to batch upload products and thus has more flexibility.
Built-in Blogging & Marketing Features (BigCommerce Vs. Shopify):
There are blogging and marketing features in BigCommerce. These features can help you build and expand your online store.
Here are some features present on BigCommerce Platform:
Search engine optimization (SEO): BigCommerce creates SEO-friendly URLs for your web pages, posts, and products. Names adhere to the latest SEO guidelines.
Metatags, Sitemaps, robot.txt files and canonical tags are customizable.
Shopify has blogging features with an SEO-friendly naming scheme. You can customize the blog post names using the control panel. There are also third-party apps on Shopify. These apps can help you with SEO, marketing, social media and promotion strategies.
Anyhow, there are no built-in blog Analytics, or archiving features. You also can not search for blog posts with the Shopify built-in search.
So, our verdict is that BigCommerce platform has an advantage over the Shopify platform. Blogging and marketing features are better in the comparison between BigCommerce Vs. Shopify. BigCommerce -by design- is a blogging platform, and it is natural that it excels in this field.
Shopify is not that far, but it lacks some essential features that most bloggers need.
Social Sharing Buttons Availability (BigCommerce Vs. Shopify):
There are many ways to add social sharing buttons in BigCommerce eCommerce platform. If you checked the BigCommerce’s website blog, checked the ecommerce answers section. You’ll find that there are many easy ways to add sharing buttons. Some of these ways are registration for an addthis account. Registration will enable you to add social sharing buttons to your BigCommerce platform. You can add social sharing buttons by copying and pasting a simple code to the head section of your website, Elfsite is another way to add more than 50 social sharing buttons. Your BigCommerce visitors will be able to share your content in an instant.
There are two ways to add social sharing buttons to your Shopify eCommerce platform. One way is the manual way, where you edit the code of your website. To determine where to put the buttons and how they will look, you’ll need some knowledge about coding. Another way is to use some social sharing buttons apps in the Shopify app store. One of the easiest ways is a free app called DS. You can also integrate the DS app code in Shopify’s admin panel.
Content Management Capabilities (BigCommerce Vs. Shopify):
In Fact, BigCommerce is a Content Management System (CMS) at first. But BigCommerce is not only a CMS. It is a mighty platform that will give you the power to manage your business from one point. You can add products and categories. Or you can process inventory orders, shipping, and payment. You can also integrate it into other CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Magento or Drupal.
Shopify is a Content Management system that allows you to manage all the pages on your website. These options apply to your home page, blog or about us page, and products or categories pages. But there are some downsides, when it comes to using Shopify as an eCommerce platform. Some of these downsides are:
No multilingual support. -Limited customization options. -Limitation on the integration of the platform with other platforms or tools. -Limited layout and design options.
So, our verdict is, when it comes to Content Management systems Capabilities, BigCommerce wins over Shopify.
Discounts & Promotion Codes (Shopify Vs. BigCommerce):
For BigCommerce, you can create and manage various discounts or promo codes. Any discount or a code you can create, you can put on your BigCommerce-powered eCommerce website. There are monthly or weekly discounts.
You can add seasonal, holiday offers, and early bird offers. You can also use the features of abandoned cart offers, email newsletter promo codes and much more.
Shopify is not different in the field of discount and promo code capabilities. It offers almost the same features as BigCommerce.
BigCommerce Vs. Shopify comparison when it comes to Discount and promo code capabilities. We are having a tie.
The enhanced One-Page checkout and order confirmation page of BigCommerce is called simply Checkout. It has features that reduce friction and a simple checkout procedure to increase sale conversions.
Customers with a perpetual cart can easily access and modify items in their cart at any time during the checkout process.
Customers can check out without distractions on any device. It is possible because of the responsive, minimalist design.
Based on the customer’s IP address, the drop-down menu’s default country only displays available nations on the Shipping page.
A shipping method is pre-selected, to make the checkout process faster and easier.
For maximum credibility, text fields have an ideal layout, are properly labelled, and have security icons.
Shopify Checkout is famous for its best conversion. Its ease of use, credibility and results are all reasons. These reasons contribute to its big quota of the checkout market cake worldwide. Shopify checkout is easily customizable without compromising security or high conversion features. It is easy to use with address auto complete. And it has an arsenal of all the major payment options worldwide.
So, our verdict when we compare Shopify Vs. BigCommerce in their easy checkout features. The race is close, but Shopify outranks BigCommerce with its highest conversion rates.
Reporting Tools and Custom Reports (BigCommerce Vs. Shopify):
You can access all these reports from the Ecommerce Analytics section.
The reports are versatile, and you can create as much as you need.
We have special reports about performance, merchandizing, orders, inventory, customers, and carts.
You can enhance your search or report. You can use criteria like custom date ranges, traffic sources and channels.
At the front end, you can see top-line statistics. These statistics tell you about customers, returning customers, new customers and percentages.
All the other custom and standard reports are available. Depending on your goal, needs, and the information you need. You can choose reports that help you enhance your ecommerce website’s performance.
The Reporting tools in BigCommerce are available in all its plans.
There are reporting tools and custom reports in BigCommerce. Only basic reporting features are available with Shopify’s basic and mid-tier plan, while in-depth reporting tools are only available with the high price tag plans. Anyhow, users of BigCommerce and Shopify can integrate Google Analytics to get more detailed statistics on how visitors utilise their websites.
Our Verdict is, when comparing BigCommerce Vs. Shopify in the reporting tools and customs reports, we have a clear winner: BigCommerce.
Integration of Email Marketing Tools (Shopify Vs. BigCommerce):
Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide integration of email marketing third-party providers.
When using Shopify or BigCommerce eCommerce platform, you can integrate, add, and use email marketing apps.
Some of these apps are:
Chimpmail, Constant Contact, Omnisend, Klaviyo and Sendlane.
But Shopify has an advantage over BigCommerce here. That advantage is that it has a built-in email marketing app that you can use without the cost of a third-party email marketing subscription.
Here, with the ease of use and integration of email marketing apps with BigCommerce and Shopify.
We have a clear winner in the race between Shopify Vs. BigCommerce. It is Shopify, Thanks to its built-in email marketing tool.
Multiple Payment Options (Shopify Vs. BigCommerce):
Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide almost all payment options.
Most of the payment options can integrate into their eCommerce platforms.
Shopify also has its payment platform. Shopify payment is used only on the Shopify eCommerce platform.
There is an attached thread here. When you use other options in the Shopify platform, a transaction fee is paid.
(2% for Shopify Lite, 1% for Shopify and 0.5% for advanced Shopify).
While BigCommerce does not collect transaction fees, we have a winner here.
When we check the payment options in the comparison between BigCommerce and Shopify, BigCommerce is a winner because of 0.00% transaction fees on its eCommerce platform.
Both Shopify and BigCommerce are flexible platforms. They allow adding new ecommerce features.
Experts say that BigCommerce is more flexible than Shopify.
Here is a comparison of the two platforms’ flexibility:
Shopify
Shopify has a wide range of built-in features. These features include:
Product catalogue management.
Shipping
Payment integration.
Marketing tools
Shopify comes with a large and active App Store with over 6,000 apps that you can use to add new features to your store.
Shopify Provides a developer API that you can use to create custom features.
BigCommerce:
Offers a wide range of built-in features that resembles that of Shopify.
BigCommerce has a smaller App Store with over 3,000 apps.
Apps are generally more specialized and powerful than those in the Shopify App Store.
BigCommerce provides a more robust developer API than Shopify.
Besides the built-in features and App Stores, BigCommerce offers more flexibility. Theme customization and design is more flexible in BigCommerce than in Shopify. It easier to create a store that looks and feels unique to your brand in BigCommerce.
BigCommerce is the more flexible platform in case you need specialized features.
Shopify is a good option if your purpose is a platform with a spectrum of built-in features.
Shopify offers a few exclusive features that are not available on other platforms. Some of these features are:
Shopify POS: It is a point-of-sale system that allows you to sell your products the old way.
Shopify Payments: It is a payment processor. It allows you to accept payments from customers. This feature only works with Shopify-built websites.
Shopify Shipping: It is a shipping calculator that helps you calculate shipping costs.
Shopify Abandoned Cart Recovery: It is a service that helps you make sales from abandoned carts.
These exclusive features can be a valuable asset.
BigCommerce offers many features to help businesses of all scales make online business. There are some exclusive features that BigCommerce offers, including:
No limit for products: BigCommerce has no limits to the number of products you can use.
No limit for File storage: This gives you the flexibility to grow your business. BigCommerce will not force file storage limits.
No limit for bandwidth: Is your business ready for higher traffic and customers? BigCommerce will not put limitations. You’ll need this in seasons and holidays.
Bulk Pricing: BigCommerce is easy to use regarding bulk pricing for your products. They help you save money on shipping costs.
B2B Version: BigCommerce offers a dedicated B2B version that includes exclusive features. These features will serve businesses that sell to other businesses (B2B).
So, our verdict about which has more exclusive features. How can we choose Shopify over BigCommerce or the opposite? Let’s say the merchant should decide upon the needs they have. We’ll call it a tie here.
The global market share for the BigCommerce ecommerce platform is around 3.00% in 2023 (according to Twispay.com). It means that BigCommerce operates about 3.00% of all online stores.
Shopify has a larger market share that can go up to 20%. Why Shopify has this high market share? Because of the ease of use of the Shopify platform. BigCommerce has a steep learning curve. And most merchants are good with the features that Shopify provide. Most of them will not need the deep and customizable solutions BigCommerce has to offer.
Our verdict regarding which has bigger global market share is obvious. Shopify has more customers that BigCommerce due to its ease of use over BigCommerce.
There are some potential cons to using Shopify. Here are some of the downsides:
Monthly fees: Shopify charges monthly fees for its plans, starting at $29 per month for the basic plan. It can be a limiting factor for small businesses.
Transaction fees: Shopify also charges transaction fees for each sale. These fees can vary depending on the plan of choice and if you use Shopify payment.
Limitation to customization and design: Shopify’s themes and templates are easy to use. It can be good for a small business. Yet, it can be limiting for online stores that want to customize their store’s look and UX (User eXperience).
An overwhelming app store: Shopify has a large app store, but you may need to use many apps to get the features you need. It can build up to cost, load speed & technical issues of your store.
Hosting has a separate cost: Shopify does not provide hosting in its plans. You might need to buy a standalone hosting plan if you do not already have one.
Limited customer support: Shopify’s customer support is not available for all at the same quality level of service. The lite versions have limited choices and will not get comprehensive support.
Scalability: Shopify can be a good option for small businesses. You might face problems if you want to scale up as your business grows.
Non-Technical Users Difficulties: It can be difficult for non-technical users to install and use their store. Not to say that other platforms are easier to use, but some non-technical users face problems.
Not a cost-effective option for large businesses: Shopify’s transaction fees can accumulate for businesses with a lot of sales, especially if they’re not using Shopify payment.
BigCommerce is a powerful eCommerce platform that has its downsides.
In the next few lines, you’ll see some cons and downsides of the BigCommerce eCommerce platform.
Many competitors beat BigCommerce with the price.
BigCommerce has Limits on annual online sales: If your website store exceeds these limits, you need to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
The number of typefaces, designs and fonts included in the free themes is limited.
BigCommerce is not interchangeable or migratable with other platforms.
Inventory management is more difficult than Shopify: That means difficulties in shipping and other processes.
These BigCommerce cons show that it is a very robust ecommerce platform. It provides functionality that enables users to design something based on their own needs. As long as you can manoeuvre the negative points in BigCommerce, it is still a great platform when you’re ready to start an online store.
Data from the Builtwith.com website as of September 2023 shows that more than 44,000 websites and online stores use BigCommerce technology.
More than 33,000 of these online merchants are in the USA.
Shopify has a bigger user base than BigCommerce, with a whopping 45 million online stores worldwide. (According to the same source above).
These statistics show that most online stores are small to medium businesses that need simple solutions and good user experience, Shopify is an expert company in providing these solutions.
Hidden Charges & Fees (Shopify Over BigCommerce):
As with all products and services, Shopify might contain some hidden fees that customers are unaware of. There are some fees that you should be aware of, as the cost of doing business you’ll have to deal with:
Transaction fees: Shopify takes a 2.9% fee + $0.30 per transaction for all online orders under the Basic Shopify plan. Tangible purchases have a 2.7% fee per transaction.
Shopify Payment: If Shopify payment is not the preferred payment gateway, you’ll be charged 2.00% for each sale.
Credit card processing fees: Credit card companies charge some fees. Charges are different as there are differences in the type of card and transaction amounts.
Extra features: Nothing comes without price, especially if it was worth it. If you want these features, then you have to pay for it. Features like abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, and shipping labels are all chargeable services.
BigCommerce is not so different than Shopify. There are more fees and charges that you’ll pay.
No Transaction fees: BigCommerce does not charge any transaction fees. You are free to use any payment gateway you want, but the payment gateway you use will charge for the services.
Credit card processing fees.
Extra features and purchased apps: There are features you can add to your BigCommerce store. Adding such features and apps will cost money.
Why should you choose Shopify over BigCommerce regarding hidden fees and extra charges is? Shopify is a winner because they have Shopify Payment system, and you do not need to pay transaction fees when you use it.
Conclusion:
Here we are going to put a table of the points discussed above to make it easier for you to compare and decide:
eCommerce Platform
Shopify
BigCommerce
Price
7.0/10
8.0/10
SEO Friendliness
7.5/10
8.5/10
Page Load Speed
8.5/10
7.0/10
Canonical Website URL
9.0/10
9.0/10
Indexing Control
8.5/10
9.0/10
Customizable HTML capabilities
9.0/10
9.0/10
Sitemap Generator
9.0/10
8.5/10
Integration With Google Analytics
7.5/10
8.5/10
Product Tagging & Categorization
6.5/10
8.0/10
Batch Uploading
7.0/10
7.5/10
Mobile Optimization
9.0/10
8.5/10
Built-in Blogging & Marketing Features
7.0/10
9.0/10
Social Sharing Buttons
9.0/10
9.0/10
Content Management Capabilities
8.0/10
8.5/10
Discount & Promo Code Tools
9.0/10
9.0/10
Easy to Use Checkout
9.5/10
8.0/10
Reporting Tools & Custom Reports
8.5/10
9.5/10
Integration of Email Marketing Tools
9.0/10
8.0/10
Multiple Payment Options
9.0/10
9.5/10
Flexibility to Add New eCommerce Features
9.0/10
9.0/10
Exclusive Features
9.0/10
9.0/10
Market Share
9.5/10
6.0/10
CONS & PROS
8.0/10
8.5/10
Builtwith.com Data Index
9.5/10
8.0/10
Hidden Fees & Charges
7.5/10
7.0/10
Overall Assessment (Average)
8.40/10
8.38/10
*Disclaimer: These Comparison are based on our testing and Experience; different individual experiences might vary.
Ayman
My name is Ayman Al Dweik, I am a tech blogger who is interested in SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and all the software and cloud services related to eCommerce, online marketing and SEO.
I’ve been working as a blogger and growth expert for many years now, if you insist let’s say I’m working since 2007.
Some of the fields of experience include book review, online games review all the way to cloud services and SaaS reviews.
My passion is helping eCommerce businesses and entrepreneurs to make the right decisions regarding which SaaS or cloud services to use in order to be on the right track for success.
All our reviews are based on true experience, either from me or from my colleagues. we won’t review any product without experiencing it ourselves.
Our goal is to give insight and honest opinion to help those who make decisions make them the right way.
I currently live in Saudi Arabia, but I’m originally from Jordan. both countries are in the middle East.
