If you’re considering creating an online store?
BigCommerce and WooCommerce are frequently mentioned as viable choices when small and large organizations choose a platform for their online store. And because the appearances of these two platforms could be identical, consumers might need help to decide which is superior.
To save you from going into analysis paralysis, I’ll break down and contrast the two platforms. The aspects of the well-known e-commerce platform will be carefully compared in this article.
The Reason Behind My Comparison Between BigCommerce and WooCommerce?
It’s difficult to disregard BigCommerce because it has several outstanding capabilities, despite the stark differences in the amount of active platform users.
BigCommerce is a hosted platform that facilitates the establishment of online stores. It also relieves the stress of managing technological issues, but doing so might have limitations and affect performance.
However, some people enjoy playing around with technological intricacies and want their businesses to include cutting-edge features. They prefer to start from scratch when setting up their store, customizing everything for optimal functionality. Consequently, it will be obvious that going with a self-hosted alternative is preferable for them.
These arguments make the comparison between BigCommerce and WooCommerce worthwhile. Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of each now.
A Comprehensive Analysis of BigCommerce vs. WooCommerce
Now let’s go into a thorough side-by-side analysis of BigCommerce vs WooCommerce.
Disputes About Ownership
You would want everything to go your way when opening a store, wouldn’t you? That is true for WooCommerce, however, you rely heavily on the platform while using BigCommerce.
It could harm your store as well if BigCommerce fails at some point. However, WooCommerce eliminates relying on a single platform.
The main point is that you are the store owner while using WooCommerce. However, you only have partial ownership with BigCommerce.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is an application for hosted e-commerce, which means it cannot be hosted somewhere else.
- It should be noted that the hosted space is shared by other BigCommerce businesses and is not owned by you alone.
WooCommerce:
- A WordPress CMS plugin is called WooCommerce. Consequently, to power the WooCommerce platform, you must first install WordPress. To host it, you’ll require reputable e-commerce hosting companies.
- Simply install WordPress and WooCommerce, and your very “own” e-commerce site will be up and running. You will be the owner of all client data, including private information about orders.
- Through the migration system, you can quickly transfer to any hosting solution provider of your choice.
- It releases you from any regulations or restrictions imposed by third parties.
Solving Security flaws
You would want everything to go your way when opening a store, wouldn’t you? That is true for WooCommerce, however, you rely heavily on the platform while using BigCommerce.
It could harm your store as well if BigCommerce fails at some point. However, WooCommerce eliminates relying on a single platform.
The main point is that you are the store owner while using WooCommerce. However, you only have partial ownership with BigCommerce.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is an application for hosted e-commerce, which means it cannot be hosted somewhere else.
- It should be noted that the hosted space is shared by other BigCommerce businesses and is not owned by you alone.
WooCommerce:
- A WordPress CMS plugin is called WooCommerce. Consequently, to power the WooCommerce platform, you must first install WordPress. To host it, you’ll require reputable e-commerce hosting companies.
- Simply install WordPress and WooCommerce, and your very “own” e-commerce site will be up and running. You will be the owner of all client data, including private information about orders.
- Through the migration system, you can quickly transfer to any hosting solution provider of your choice.
- It releases you from any regulations or restrictions imposed by third parties.
Solving Security flaws
When it comes to conducting online purchases, security is frequently a top priority for organizations. In terms of security, these two e-commerce systems perform admirably. The balancing needle does, however, lean somewhat in favor of WooCommerce.
This is because you may utilize premium plugins and safe hosting with WooCommerce to increase the security of your business. However, you are limited by what the platform offers while using BigCommerce.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is a PCI-certified platform that guarantees the security of your critical client information. For an extra fee, there is a dedicated SSL certificate option available.
WooCommerce:
- “Most of the vulnerability to hacking comes from third-party plugins; the WordPress core is rarely the source of hacking.”
- Your hosting company plays a major role in your WooCommerce store’s security, and the majority of hosting companies adhere to PCI standards. Most of them also provide free CDNs and SSL certificates for your store.
Easy to use and Attractive UI
A key component of effective store management is user interface (UI). BigCommerce’s simplicity of use gives it a minor advantage over WooCommerce in this arena. Nevertheless, business owners rapidly become familiar with WooCommerce’s backend and find it to be rather easy to use.
BigCommerce:
- Undoubtedly, BigCommerce is the most user-friendly option at first. The BigCommerce support team takes care of all the technical aspects of your business, so you don’t need to worry about them.
WooCommerce:
- In contrast to Magento, WooCommerce can be easily configured with a simple point-and-click installation method.
- Anyone familiar with WordPress’ interface may easily manage a WooCommerce store.
- You won’t have any trouble learning, even if you’re a beginner, and your learning curve will undoubtedly be flatter.
Talking About Scalability Issues
Many entrepreneurs launch their first online store without considering a platform’s scalability. They believe that scalability is a problem for the future. But it is incorrect. A lot more retailers expand more quickly, which causes problems for systems that are hard to scale.
When it comes to scalability, WooCommerce is the obvious winner. Because it’s an open-source platform with a large developer community, improvement won’t ever be dependent on one organization. Additionally, you may add more features to your business without spending a lot of money thanks to the abundance of excellent free and paid plugins.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is an excellent option for small and startup companies. The main downside is that open-source software like Magento or WooCommerce is a far better option if you’re hoping to grow your online store.
- Please be aware that there is an annual sales threshold associated with each BigCommerce plan. If your annual sales limit is exceeded, you will be automatically promoted to a higher price plan.
WooCommerce:
- WooCommerce is an incredibly scalable open-source e-commerce platform.
- Although it is designed for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses, you may use it for larger ones as well, as it can manage thousands of transactions per minute and Products as well.
- Since it is self-hosted, scaling it up just requires adding more server storage space from your hosting company. In this scenario, cloud hosting is recommended as it offers the highest level of scalability and unbreakable security.
Pricing Point Comparison
The fascinating part of the WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce discussion is pricing. Technically, establishing a WooCommerce store is free. To get started with your e-commerce website, all you need to pay for is the hosting and custom domain fees. It’s true that if you use expensive plugins and themes, your expenditures will go up.
Conversely, BigCommerce’s base package begins at $39 per month and goes up to $399 per month. Additionally, you’ll need to talk to their representatives about your demands for business plans—which can grow extremely expensive—if you desire an even larger store.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce’s entry-level package is $39. Debit and credit card processing fees start at 2.59% and cost $0.49 per transaction [for all plans].
- Both premium and free themes are included. Additional extensions for the BigCommerce website are also available; they are billed monthly.
WooCommerce:
- It has no cost. WordPress, the CMS that powers WooCommerce, is free of cost. They take only a few minutes to download and install.
- On the other hand, there are no extra fees or levies. All you have to do is host it with a reputable and safe WooCommerce hosting company.
- When it comes to cloud hosting, the typical fee from a provider is between $5 and $10.
Analyzing Customization Choices
Your store must constantly provide the opportunity to customize it. You’ll need to make adjustments to the business to make it as user-friendly as possible because Google is always releasing improvements on SEO.
This is why you need a fully adaptable platform. In this arena, WooCommerce has a strong advantage.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce gives you more customization options, but it also limits what you can do.
- Despite having a large selection of both free and commercial themes and plugins, it cannot match WooCommerce.
- Once more, an intense dependency on the platform
WooCommerce:
- The most configurable e-commerce software is WooCommerce. To customize the store’s design, you may either learn to code or work with a developer.
- To customize your website the way you want, you can either start from scratch or buy a theme.
- More customization is possible with its hundreds of commercial and free extensions, themes, and plugins.
- Several online tutorials for WooCommerce make modification simple.
Stock Management
Online business entrepreneurs always face difficulties with Stock management. Thankfully, Stock management is a function that both BigCommerce and WooCommerce provide.
BigCommerce:
- Additionally, BigCommerce includes a decent built-in Stock management system that is enough for the majority of enterprises.
- For Stock management, no third-party interfaces are required.
WooCommerce:
- There are several WooCommerce plugins available to help you manage your stock.
- WP Inventory Manager, PlainInventory, Smart Manager – WooCommerce Advanced Bulk Edit, and Inventory Management are a few of the WooCommerce inventory plugins.
- You may experiment with WooCommerce and select the plugins that best meet the unique Stock management requirements of your company.
Gateways for payments
All e-commerce enterprises require payment gateways to process consumer payments to their online storefronts. Fortunately, there are several ways for clients to pay using credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, and other payment methods with BigCommerce and WooCommerce.
For most business owners, BigCommerce’s 65 payment choices are more than enough. In many instances, WooCommerce overcomes this constraint by providing over 100 alternatives for payment gateways.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce gives owners of online stores freedom by offering over 65 different payment channels.
- PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, Klarna, Square, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Authorize.net, and Amazon Pay are a few noteworthy choices.
- The list includes a range of payment options to accommodate different consumer preferences and international transactions.
WooCommerce:
- WooCommerce offers a multitude of alternatives since it is compatible with more than one hundred payment gateways.
- AliPay, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Authorize.net, Braintree, PayPal Pro, Skrill, Stripe, and more are among the top nine WooCommerce payment gateways.
- Stripe is an integrated payment gateway that WooCommerce supports and is well-known for taking credit card payments.
- With a WooCommerce website, you may utilize several payment channels, such as Stripe and PayPal.
SEO-Friendly
Your store will have trouble making sales if it isn’t optimized for search engines.
An excellent e-commerce platform provides the essential SEO support to raise your store’s search engine ranking.
Fortunately, there is parity between WooCommerce and BigCommerce in terms of SEO friendliness. To assist you in expanding your online store on social media channels, both also provide excellent marketing and reporting features.
BigCommerce:
- Additionally, BigCommerce has excellent SEO tools that make optimization simple.
- ProSEOTracker, SEO Rich Snippets, and ReloadSEO are a few BigCommerce SEO alternatives.
- Because you can only utilize BigCommerce’s hosting, your store’s rating may be impacted.
WooCommerce:
- WooCommerce comes with many plugins that you may combine to suit your SEO requirements.
- Some of the most important SEO plugins that you can use to improve your SEO performance include Yoast SEO, All in One SEO, MonsterInsights, and Rank Math.
- Certain premium themes are designed specifically to improve WooCommerce store rankings.
Evaluate Support & Community
Both systems have their strengths; BigCommerce offers extensive support services, while WooCommerce depends more on its community. Depending on whether you want committed support or community involvement, choose whichever you prefer.
BigCommerce:
- There is an active community forum on BigCommerce where you may get answers to your questions.
- For all plans, it also offers round-the-clock phone, email, and chat support.
- If something goes wrong, you may also get in touch with their customer support representatives.
WooCommerce:
- The vibrant WooCommerce community produces a wealth of material through podcasts, vlogs, blogs, and WordCamps.
- There are hundreds of WooCommerce-focused forums and communities on sites like Quora, Reddit, Slack, and Telegram where people talk about problems and solutions.
- You may even join specific Facebook groups to ask for assistance when needed.
Summary
Selecting a platform for your online store is just as crucial as deciding on a specialty. And before choosing one, you have to do a lot of research and consider the advantages and disadvantages of all the top e-commerce platforms.
WooCommerce prevails against BigCommerce in this matchup because of its ownership, scalability, customization, and security, among other advantages. Additionally, WooCommerce is an open-source platform, which opens up numerous options that BigCommerce does not. This sets it apart from BigCommerce.
BigCommerce is undoubtedly a straightforward and safe option for small enterprises, however, WooCommerce performs better in terms of scalability and customization.