The eCommerce platform you choose for your business is critical to its success. With so many options on the market, it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. Two of the most popular platforms are WooCommerce and BigCommerce. So, how do you decide which one to choose? In this article, we will compare WooCommerce and BigCommerce, and help you decide which platform is right for your business.
So, without further ado, let’s move into the battle of WooCommerce vs BigCommerce.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress that enables you to turn your WordPress website into an online store. WooCommerce is a free and open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress. It is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms in the world, used by millions of businesses of all sizes. According to BuiltWith, WooCommerce powers 22% of all online stores.
Sincerely speaking, it is a flexible platform that can be customized to suit the needs of any business. Again, WooCommerce has a wide range of features, including product management, order management, payment gateway integration, shipping integrations, and more.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is a cloud-based eCommerce platform that enables businesses of all sizes to create an online store. The platform offers a customizable, scalable solution for merchants who want to sell products online. BigCommerce provides a complete set of features and tools that businesses need to launch and grow their online store.
What’s more, BigCommerce is an easy-to-use platform that enables businesses to create a professional online store in minutes. The platform offers a wide range of features and tools, including a drag-and-drop builder, product catalog management, order management, shipping and tax calculation, coupon and discount management, and much more.
BigCommerce powers some of the world’s leading brands such as Petco, Skullcandy, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Gibson Guitars, and others.
Positive Sides of WooCommerce
There are plenty of reasons to love WooCommerce. Here are just a few of the positive sides of this popular eCommerce platform.
WooCommerce is extremely user-friendly, both for store owners and shoppers. It’s easy to set up and manage a WooCommerce store, and customers find the checkout process straightforward and simple.
Another great thing about WooCommerce is that it’s highly customizable. You can find countless plugins and themes to change the look and feel of your store or add extra features like social media integration or live chat support. And if you need help with anything, there’s a large community of WooCommerce users who are always happy to lend a hand.
Finally, WooCommerce is one of the most cost-effective eCommerce platforms around.
Negative Sides of WooCommerce
There are a few Negative Sides of WooCommerce. Though it is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms, there are a few things that can be seen as drawbacks.
For one, WooCommerce can be quite resource-heavy. This can slow down your website, and make it difficult to handle large amounts of traffic. Additionally, WooCommerce can be tricky to set up and customize. If you’re not comfortable with the code, you may have difficulty making changes to your store.
Finally, because WooCommerce is so popular, it’s a target for hackers. Be sure to take steps to secure your site, and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
Advantages of BigCommerce
There are many advantages of BigCommerce which make it a great choice for businesses. One advantage is that it is very user-friendly and easy to set up. This is important because it means that you can get your store up and running quickly without having to spend a lot of time learning how to use the platform.
Another advantage of BigCommerce is that it is very scalable. This means that it can grow with your business. As your business expands, you can add more products and features to your store without having to worry about the platform being able to handle the increase in traffic and data.
Finally, BigCommerce offers excellent customer support. If you ever have any questions or need help with anything, you can reach out to their team and they will be happy to help you.
Disadvantages of BigCommerce
While BigCommerce may be one of the most popular eCommerce platforms available, it’s not without its disadvantages.
- One potential disadvantage of using BigCommerce is that it can be more expensive than other eCommerce platforms. While the initial setup cost may be lower than some alternatives, the monthly fees can add up, especially for businesses that are just starting out.
- Another downside to BigCommerce is that it can be less flexible than other eCommerce platforms when it comes to design and customization. If you’re looking for a platform that will allow you to really make your store stand out from the rest, BigCommerce might not be the best option.
- Finally, BigCommerce can sometimes have slower loading times than other eCommerce platforms. This can be frustrating for customers and lead to lost sales.
Differences Between WooCommerce and BigCommerce- The Deciders
We know that choosing the right eCommerce platform for your business can be a tough decision. So we have wanted to make things a little easier for you by highlighting the key differences between WooCommerce and BigCommerce. Here we go.
BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Ease of use
BigCommerce is a bit more user-friendly than WooCommerce, thanks to its drag-and-drop interface and built-in features. However, WooCommerce gives users more control over the look and feel of their store, making it a better choice for those who want a highly customized experience.
Both BigCommerce and WooCommerce are easy to set up and use, but BigCommerce may be the better option for those who want a more streamlined experience. WooCommerce is better suited for those who want more control over the look and feel of their store.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Pricing
WooCommerce is a free open-source platform, while BigCommerce is a paid platform. With WooCommerce, you can choose from a variety of plugins and themes to customize your store. You’ll also need to pay for hosting, which can range from $5 to $100 per month.
BigCommerce offers a few different pricing plans, starting at $29.95 per month. This includes unlimited products, storage, and bandwidth as well as some other advanced features. If you need more customization options, you can upgrade to the $299.95 per month plan.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Design
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, which means it gives you access to a vast array of themes and plugins. This means that you can really customize your store’s design to match your brand. However, because there are so many options, it can be overwhelming for beginners.
BigCommerce is a hosted platform, so you don’t have as much control over the design of your store. However, this can be an advantage for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time tinkering with their website. BigCommerce also has some great built-in features, such as product filtering and abandoned cart recovery.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Set up time
WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress, so if you already have a WordPress site, adding WooCommerce can be quick and easy. If you’re starting from scratch, however, setting up both WordPress and WooCommerce can take a bit more time. BigCommerce, on the other hand, is a standalone platform that doesn’t require any additional software. This means it can be faster to set up initially, although there may be a learning curve if you’re not familiar with its interface.
BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Payment gateways
BigCommerce offers 60+ built-in payment gateways including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay. These gateways are simple to set up and use and are available in almost all developed and technologically-enriched countries. However, it doesn’t support recurring payments, so if you plan on selling products or services that require recurring payments, you’ll need to use a different gateway.
While WooCommerce has more payment gateway options than BigCommerce, including PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon Payments. You can enjoy more than 100 payment gateways with the WooCommerce platform. And, this can make a big difference for businesses that process a lot of sales, as the fees can add up quickly.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: SEO benefits
As we know both platforms offer a variety of features and benefits to businesses, but how do they compare when it comes to SEO?
When it comes to SEO, WooCommerce has a few advantages over BigCommerce. For starters, WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress, which is the most SEO-friendly content management system available. Additionally, WooCommerce gives you more control over your website’s title tags and meta descriptions, which are two important ranking factors.
BigCommerce also offers some great SEO features, such as built-in blog functionality and automatic sitemaps. However, because BigCommerce is a closed platform, you don’t have as much control over your website’s code, which can limit your ability to optimize your site for search engines.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Integrations & addons
WooCommerce offers a wide range of integrations with popular software such as WordPress, Google Analytics, and Facebook. There are also many third-party plugins available for WooCommerce that can add additional functionality to your store.
BigCommerce also offers a wide range of integrations, but they tend to be more focused on enterprise-level businesses. However, there are still many useful integrations available for smaller businesses.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Scalability
As your business grows, it’s important to choose a platform that can scale with you. When it comes to scalability, both WooCommerce and BigCommerce have a lot to offer.
WooCommerce is a great choice for businesses that are looking to grow their online presence. With WooCommerce, you can add an unlimited number of products and categories, as well as scale your website to accommodate more traffic. Additionally, WooCommerce is designed to work with WordPress, which means you can easily add plugins and extensions to scale your website even further.
BigCommerce is another excellent option for businesses that are looking to grow their online presence. With BigCommerce, you can also add an unlimited number of products and categories, as well as scale your website to accommodate more traffic.
Again, BigCommerce doesn’t give you the headache of managing resources, updates, backups, and security of your online business store. While WooCommerce gives you the complete pain of managing all these things. Finally, if you think to scale up your online business, then choosing BigCommerce will be the better option.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Plugins
WooCommerce offers a wide variety of plugins that can be used to add functionality to your online store. There are plugins for everything from payments and shipping to accounting and marketing. And, because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, it integrates seamlessly with the WordPress platform. This makes it easy to add WooCommerce functionality to an existing WordPress site.
BigCommerce also offers a wide range of plugins for adding functionality to your online store. However, because BigCommerce is not a WordPress plugin, it doesn’t integrate as seamlessly with WordPress.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Themes
When it comes to WordPress eCommerce themes, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are two of the most popular platforms. But which one is better?
WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform for WordPress because it’s free and open source. That means there are literally thousands of themes available for WooCommerce stores. However, because there are so many themes available, it can be tough to find a good one. And because WooCommerce is open source, not all themes are created equal. Some are well-coded and easy to use, while others are buggy and difficult to customize. However, the great quality themes will give you wonderful customizability and extendability. Meaning, you can design your online store exactly the way you want.
BigCommerce, on the other hand, is a closed platform with a limited selection of 12 free, and more than 100 paid themes. But what BigCommerce lacks in theme options, it makes up for in quality. All BigCommerce themes are hand-picked by the BigCommerce team and must meet strict quality standards. However, the theme options that BigCommerce renders don’t offer that much customizability and extendability.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Security
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, so it benefits from all the security features that WordPress offers. In addition, there are plenty of security plugins available for WooCommerce that can further increase its security. BigCommerce is a hosted platform, so it takes care of all the technical aspects of running an online store for you. It also has built-in security features and offers enterprise-level plans with even more robust security measures.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Support
WooCommerce is an open-source platform, which means that there is no central company providing support. Instead, support is provided by a community of developers and users. This can be a pro or a con, depending on your perspective. On the one hand, it means that you can usually find an answer to your question pretty easily. On the other hand, it also means that you might not always get the most accurate or up-to-date information.
BigCommerce, on the other hand, does have a central company providing support. This means that you can always contact someone if you have a question or issue.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): WooCommerce vs BigCommerce
Q.1. Does WooCommerce take a percentage of sales?
Yes, WooCommerce does take a percentage of sales. The company charges a transaction fee for every sale made through its platform. The fees are variable and depend on the total amount of the sale. For example, if you make a sale for $100, the transaction fee would be $0.30 when you use US-issued debit or credit cards.
Q.2. Is WooCommerce difficult?
If you’re thinking about using WooCommerce to build an online store, you may be wondering if it’s difficult to use. While WooCommerce is a powerful eCommerce platform, it’s actually quite easy to use once you get the hang of it. So if you’re looking for a user-friendly eCommerce solution, WooCommerce may be the right choice for you.
Q.3. Is BigCommerce built on WordPress?
Yes, BigCommerce is built on WordPress. You can easily tell by looking at the codebase and structure of the two platforms. They both share a common set of files and folders, and they have a similar overall architecture.
This means that if you’re familiar with WordPress, you’ll feel right at home with BigCommerce. And if you’re not familiar with WordPress, don’t worry – it’s still easy to use BigCommerce. Even though it’s built on WordPress, BigCommerce has its own unique features and tools that make it a powerful eCommerce platform.
Final Notes
In conclusion, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are both great eCommerce platforms. They each have their own pros and cons, so it really depends on what you are looking for in an eCommerce platform. If you need a platform that is more customizable, then WooCommerce would be the better choice. However, if you need a platform that is easier to set up, then BigCommerce would be the better choice. While, if you look for a cost-friendly option for setting up your online store, then WooCommerce is the better option than BigCommerce.
Finally, if you want to know more about the topic, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line regarding your query. We would love to cooperate with you in the best way possible!
