BigCommerce vs Shopify: The Comparison BigCommerce Just Rewrote

Key Insights

• BigCommerce changed more than its pricing. New GMV limits, payment provider fees, and discontinued native integrations have reshaped the platform’s value for many merchants.
• Shopify now offers more predictable long-term costs. Merchants upgrade based on the features they need, not because they’ve crossed a revenue threshold.
• BigCommerce still has strengths, but they’re more specialized. It remains a solid option for enterprise B2B businesses, while Shopify has narrowed the gap for most other use cases.
• Platform choice should reflect your growth plans, not just today’s pricing. Businesses focused on scaling, multi-channel selling, and predictable costs are increasingly moving toward Shopify.

BigCommerce vs Shopify is the choice between two hosted SaaS commerce platforms that used to be much closer to each other than they are today. Both offer built-in commerce infrastructure. Both target scaling brands. What changed in mid-2026 is that BigCommerce restructured its pricing, cut its GMV thresholds, and introduced new fees that meaningfully reshape the comparison most operators think they’re making.

The Comparison That Changed in June 2026

Most comparisons of BigCommerce vs Shopify still describe the platforms the way they existed in 2024. That’s a problem because BigCommerce is not the same platform it was even 12 months ago. On June 1, 2026, BigCommerce launched a full pricing restructure that changed plan names, dropped GMV thresholds sharply, and added an Open Payment Provider Fee that hits merchants using non-embedded payment processors. The parent company also rebranded to Commerce.com, Inc. in August 2025, and BigCommerce discontinued its native Google Ads, Google Listings, and Meta Integrations in March 2026.

The base sticker prices on most tiers didn’t move. Almost everything else did.

That matters because a merchant currently on BigCommerce who chose the platform based on its historic advantages (no transaction fees, generous GMV thresholds, native multi-channel integrations) is now running on a platform that has quietly walked back all three of those advantages. Meanwhile, Shopify’s pricing structure has stayed largely stable through the same period.

This piece is written for two readers. First, current BigCommerce merchants are asking whether the platform still fits after the changes. Second, operators shopping between the two platforms who are looking at outdated comparison content that hasn’t been updated for what BigCommerce actually is now.

BigCommerce vs Shopify at a Glance

Factor	BigCommerce (post-June 2026)	Shopify
Platform type	Hosted SaaS commerce	Hosted SaaS commerce
Entry plan	Core, $39/month (GMV cap $30K)	Basic, $39/month (no GMV cap)
Mid tier	Growth, $105/month (GMV cap $100K)	Grow, $105/month (no GMV cap)
Higher tier	Scale, $399/month (0.9% GMV fee above $33.3K/month)	Advanced, $399/month (no GMV cap)
Enterprise tier	Performance, from ~$1,499/month custom	Shopify Plus, from ~$2,300/month
Transaction fees	Open Payment Provider Fee 2.0% / 1.0% / 0.6% by tier	None with Shopify Payments; 0.5% to 2% otherwise
App ecosystem	~1,000 apps in BigCommerce App Marketplace	17,000+ apps in Shopify App Store
Native multi-channel	Google Ads/Meta discontinued March 2026	in Native Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, TikTok
B2B features	Native, but strongest on Enterprise/Performance	Available on all Plus plans; growing rapidly
Best fit	Mid-market catalogs, B2B with dedicated Enterprise tier	Scaling DTC, mid-market B2B, multi-channel commerce

The rows that used to favor BigCommerce (no transaction fees, higher GMV thresholds, native ad integrations) either flipped or narrowed significantly in 2026. The rows that always favored Shopify (app ecosystem depth, multi-channel breadth) widened. The comparison has moved.

What BigCommerce Actually Costs After the June 2026 Changes

According to BigCommerce’s pricing page, the current tiers are Core at $39/month ($29/month annual), Growth at $105/month ($79/month annual), Scale at $399/month ($299/month annual), and Performance starting around $1,499/month with custom pricing. The base prices look identical to what they were pre-June 2026. Two things changed that matter.

The first is the GMV thresholds. Core’s cap dropped from $50,000 to $30,000 in trailing 12-month sales. Growth’s cap dropped from $180,000 to $100,000.

Cross those thresholds and BigCommerce auto-upgrades the account to the next tier. Merchants who were comfortably on Standard at $45,000 in annual sales now find themselves auto-moved to Growth at $105/month, whether or not they need Growth’s features.

The second is the Open Payment Provider Fee. According to BigCommerce’s official documentation, orders processed through payment gateways not on BigCommerce’s Embedded Payment Provider list now carry a monthly fee: 2.0 percent of GMV on Core, 1.0 percent on Growth, 0.6 percent on Scale, and 0 percent on Performance.

This is the first time BigCommerce has charged a fee tied to payment provider choice, and it directly erodes the platform’s historic “no transaction fees” advantage. A merchant on Growth doing $200,000 in annual sales through Stripe or Braintree now pays an additional $2,000 per year that didn’t exist 12 months ago.

Add in the app stack, and a typical BigCommerce merchant we work with on the Growth tier now runs $1,300 to $3,000 per month in total platform-related costs, up from a comparable pre-June 2026 spend of around $1,000 to $2,500 monthly for the same store profile.

The base plan pricing didn’t move. The math around the base plan did.

What Shopify Actually Costs in 2026

According to Shopify’s published pricing, the platform starts at $39/month for Basic, $105 for Grow (renamed from “Shopify” in 2024), and $399 for Advanced. Shopify Plus starts around $2,300 per month. Transaction fees apply on top if you don’t use Shopify Payments, with rates decreasing at each tier.

Two structural differences from BigCommerce matter here.

Shopify has no GMV thresholds forcing auto-upgrades. A store doing $200,000 in annual sales can stay on Basic if the merchant chooses, paying $39 per month regardless of revenue level. Merchants upgrade when they need features, not when they cross a revenue line.

Shopify’s transaction fee structure is inverted relative to BigCommerce’s new model. On Shopify, using Shopify Payments means zero platform transaction fees at any tier.

Using a third-party gateway means paying 0.5 percent to 2 percent, depending on the plan. On BigCommerce post-June 2026, using an Embedded Payment Provider means zero fees; using an Open Payment Provider now means paying 0.6 percent to 2 percent.

The two platforms now have very similar structures. The specific fee amounts favor Shopify at most volumes.

A typical scaling Shopify store carries $200 to $800 per month in third-party app subscriptions on top of the platform fee. The app stack has more depth than BigCommerce’s, with 17,000+ apps versus BigCommerce’s roughly 1,000 apps.

The catch is that Shopify’s app ecosystem is where meaningful monthly spend accumulates. BigCommerce merchants historically got more built-in features and needed fewer apps. That advantage still exists, but it narrowed as BigCommerce discontinued native features like Google Ads and Meta Integrations in March 2026, forcing merchants to use Feedonomics for Google Shopping connectivity as a paid add-on.

Shopify costs more at scale on apps. BigCommerce costs more at scale on the fee structure. The gap between them is smaller than it used to be.

The Traditional BigCommerce Advantage, Then and Now

Here’s the part every honest comparison should include. BigCommerce genuinely had structural advantages over Shopify for years. Some of them still exist. Several of them just got walked back.

No transaction fees, then and now. Before June 2026, BigCommerce charged no platform transaction fees on any plan, at any payment processor. After June 2026, orders through non-embedded providers carry 0.6 to 2.0 percent monthly fees on self-serve plans.

Shopify’s Payments-locked model was historically a criticism. aCommerce’s post-June 2026 model applies a similar structure with different specifics.

Native multi-channel selling, then and now. BigCommerce historically offered stronger built-in integrations with Google Shopping, Meta, and other channels. As of March 2026, the native Google Ads and Meta Integrations were discontinued, with Feedonomics recommended as the replacement.

Shopify’s native multi-channel selling (Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, TikTok) is now more comprehensive than BigCommerce’s out of the box.

Enterprise B2B features, then and now. BigCommerce’s B2B Edition is still a real strength, particularly on the Enterprise tier, now called Performance. Native customer groups, wholesale pricing, and quote-to-cash workflows exist without requiring third-party apps.

Shopify’s B2B features on Plus have improved significantly, and many operators using B2B features that Shopify ships natively, which most merchants still aren’t using, find that the gap is smaller than the marketing suggests. For pure B2B operations at genuine enterprise scale, BigCommerce Performance still has legitimate advantages. For hybrid B2C/B2B or mid-market B2B, Shopify’s tooling now covers the same ground.

GMV thresholds and forced upgrades, then and now. BigCommerce’s revenue-tied auto-upgrade model has always been a friction point, but the June 2026 threshold cuts made it sharper. Shopify has never had GMV-tied forced upgrades.

A store doing seven figures on Shopify Advanced pays $399 per month if the merchant is comfortable with the feature set. BigCommerce structurally can’t offer that.

The pattern is clear. BigCommerce’s traditional advantages are narrower than they were 18 months ago. The advantages Shopify has structurally held (no GMV thresholds, deeper app ecosystem, broader multi-channel) have expanded relative to BigCommerce over the same period.

Current BigCommerce merchants weighing the shift usually benefit from a structured BigCommerce-to-Shopify migration audit that models the specific cost difference for their store rather than the platform-average comparison this piece can give.

Which Platform Should You Choose in 2026?

The choice between BigCommerce and Shopify in 2026 depends on where your business sits relative to BigCommerce’s new pricing model and what kind of commerce you’re running. The June 2026 changes don’t eliminate BigCommerce as a serious option, but they narrow the range of merchants for whom it’s the clear right choice.

BigCommerce still makes sense when:

• The business is a pure B2B operation at enterprise scale that will operate on the Performance tier, where the Open Payment Provider Fee doesn’t apply
• The store uses one of BigCommerce’s Embedded Payment Providers as its primary gateway, avoiding the new fee entirely
• The catalog benefits from BigCommerce’s strong built-in product management for complex configurations
• The operator has established BigCommerce development relationships and internal expertise worth preserving
• The multi-channel strategy doesn’t rely on Google Shopping or Meta at scale, since those integrations are now paid add-ons

Shopify makes sense when:

• The business is scaling and would rather not deal with GMV-tied forced upgrades
• The store uses third-party payment gateways, where BigCommerce’s new fee structure now applies
• Multi-channel selling across Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, or TikTok is core to the strategy
• The store benefits from an app ecosystem 17 times larger than BigCommerce’s
• The business is a hybrid B2C/B2B operation where Shopify Plus’s B2B features cover the needed workflows
• The operator prefers pricing that stays predictable across revenue growth

Most of the migrations we see in 2026 run from BigCommerce to Shopify, and the pattern accelerated after the June 2026 pricing changes.

The direction reflects the same calculation many enterprise brands make when evaluating Magento vs Shopify at a similar scale: the platform that stays predictable as the business grows is worth more than the platform that reintroduces friction at higher tiers.

For merchants currently on BigCommerce, the honest question isn’t whether the platform still works. It does. The question is whether the platform you’re paying for today is the platform you would choose from scratch if you were starting over. If the answer is no, that’s usually a sign that an immigration audit makes sense.

Brands weighing the move don’t need another comparison post. They need an honest audit of what a Shopify migration would cost, what would carry over cleanly, and what would need to be rebuilt. Book a Shopify strategy call to get that audit before committing to another year on either platform.

Pro Tip💡

Don’t compare platforms using today’s monthly bill alone. Calculate what you’ll be paying after a year of growth, including plan upgrades, transaction fees, integrations, and app costs. The cheaper platform today isn’t always the cheaper platform tomorrow.

FAQ

Is BigCommerce better than Shopify for ecommerce?

For most merchants in 2026, Shopify is the more scalable and predictable choice. BigCommerce still holds legitimate advantages in specific scenarios, particularly pure B2B at the Performance tier, where the new Open Payment Provider Fee doesn’t apply. For hybrid B2C/B2B, scaling DTC, and multi-channel commerce, Shopify’s app ecosystem, native integrations, and pricing predictability all now compare favorably. The June 2026 BigCommerce pricing restructure narrowed the range of merchants for whom BigCommerce is the clear right answer.

Is BigCommerce cheaper than Shopify in 2026?

Sometimes at entry, rarely at scale. The base plan prices are identical or nearly identical: BigCommerce Core at $39/month matches Shopify Basic at $39/month, and BigCommerce Growth at $105 matches Shopify Grow at $105. The differences show up in three places. BigCommerce’s tighter GMV thresholds force earlier upgrades. The new Open Payment Provider Fee adds meaningful cost for merchants not using embedded gateways. Shopify’s larger app ecosystem adds meaningful cost for merchants stacking apps. Net cost depends on the specific store profile.

Should I migrate from BigCommerce to Shopify?

For most current BigCommerce merchants, the June 2026 pricing changes made this question worth asking. If your store now pays the Open Payment Provider Fee, if you crossed a GMV threshold that forced a plan upgrade, or if you relied on the discontinued Google Ads or Meta Integrations, the platform you’re on is not the platform you signed up for. A migration audit gives you specific numbers on what a move would cost, what would carry over cleanly, and what the ongoing spend comparison actually looks like for your specific store.

Is BigCommerce good for B2B compared to Shopify?

BigCommerce still has legitimate B2B strengths, particularly on the Performance tier with native customer groups, wholesale pricing, and quote-to-cash workflows. Shopify’s B2B features on Plus have closed most of the gap over the past 24 months and now cover the majority of B2B use cases without requiring the enterprise-only tier that BigCommerce gates its best B2B features behind. For pure B2B at enterprise scale, BigCommerce Performance is still competitive. For mid-market B2B or hybrid B2C/B2B, Shopify Plus increasingly wins on total capability per dollar.