Shopify versus BigCommerce

Both are dedicated, fully hosted ecommerce platforms rather than general website builders with a shop bolted on, and both are genuinely capable of running a serious online store. The practical difference is where each one draws the line between what is included in the core subscription and what you pay for separately through an app.

Disclosure, before the opinions start

This site carries no affiliate links, no sponsored placements and no referral arrangement with either platform named on this page — the full position is at commercial relationships. Nobody bought a position in this comparison, which is a stronger position than most agency content on this pairing, since ecommerce agencies commonly specialise in and are paid to build on one platform specifically. There is no neutral scoring process behind this page, and what follows is one practitioner’s opinion, exposed so you can reject it.

Measured demand: 20 searches a month in Australia at a keyword difficulty of 9, competition index 40 (medium), recorded 3 August 2026 in research/comparison-candidates.json.

What the actual difference between Shopify and BigCommerce is

BigCommerce generally builds more advanced ecommerce capability into its core subscription tiers — features like more sophisticated product filtering, multi-channel selling and certain B2B functionality that Shopify frequently requires a separate app (and a separate ongoing fee) to achieve. Shopify’s larger app market and larger merchant base mean more available integrations and a bigger pool of developers and agencies familiar with it, at the cost of accumulating app fees for capability BigCommerce includes by default.

Who Shopify is genuinely for, and who BigCommerce is genuinely for

Shopify suits a business that values the largest available ecosystem of apps, themes and experienced developers, and is comfortable managing a growing stack of app subscriptions as the store’s needs grow, in exchange for the flexibility and support pool that scale provides.

BigCommerce suits a business with more advanced requirements from the outset — complex product catalogues, multi-channel selling, B2B-specific functionality — that wants more of that capability included in the core plan rather than assembled from separate apps, and is willing to accept a smaller (though still substantial) developer and app ecosystem in exchange.

Cost shape: subscriptions, payment fees and apps

Both charge tiered subscriptions plus payment processing, and both add a platform fee if you use a payment provider other than their own preferred option, on broadly comparable terms. Check current tier pricing directly, since both adjust it periodically.

Shopify’s core subscription is often positioned as competitive, with the total cost frequently rising well above the base tier once the apps needed to match BigCommerce’s included features are added — themes, advanced filtering, multi-channel tools, B2B functionality if needed. BigCommerce’s core tiers often price higher at the base level but require fewer paid apps to reach comparable functionality, which can make the total cost comparison close or even favour BigCommerce for a store that would otherwise need several Shopify apps to match it. Model twelve months of actual usage on both, including every app you would realistically add, before comparing headline subscription prices.

Payments, shipping and the enterprise tiers

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own built-in payment processor, and using it avoids the extra platform fee that applies if a store uses a third-party payment gateway instead — BigCommerce charges no equivalent platform fee regardless of which payment provider you use, which changes the comparison for a retailer planning to use a specific existing payment provider rather than the platform’s own option. Both platforms include core shipping functionality — rate calculation, label printing, carrier integration — in their standard tiers, with more advanced shipping rules typically requiring an app on either platform.

For larger retailers, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise are the respective top tiers aimed at higher-volume merchants, with custom pricing, higher API rate limits and dedicated support — the core platform trade-offs described above still apply at this level, they are simply negotiated rather than published.

Ownership and exit

This is the section nobody else writes.

Both platforms export product, customer and order data as CSV files, which is a genuinely useful baseline neither platform withholds. Neither exports the storefront theme in a form that runs unmodified on another platform, and app-specific data — loyalty programs, subscription plans, review content — generally needs its own export path per app, with some apps offering none at all.

Both enforce their own checkout, which never leaves the platform, and both structure product and category URLs in their own pattern, so a move between them means building a redirect map or accepting broken links across everything you have printed, linked or emailed. Neither platform exports stored customer card tokens, so any migration between them, or away from either, ends in a password-reset and re-entry event for your entire customer base — plan that communication rather than letting it arrive as a surprise.

Register your own .com.au domain through an auDA-accredited Australian registrar, in your own account, under the eligibility rules on Australian domain eligibility, so a platform change is a DNS update rather than a negotiation.

Australian specifics

Both handle Australian GST once correctly configured, and consumer prices must display inclusive of GST, with GST-free lines needing correct product-by-product treatment if you sell any exempt goods — the shape of it is on GST on web design, applied to retail pricing rather than a web design quote. Confirm current local payment method and Australian carrier integration support directly with both before assuming either has settled advantage, since both actively expand these over time.

Who should choose which

Choose Shopify if the largest available app and developer ecosystem matters more to you than included core functionality, and you are comfortable managing an accumulating app stack.

Choose BigCommerce if your requirements are already more advanced than a basic catalogue — multi-channel, B2B, complex product filtering — and you would rather that be included than assembled from separate paid apps.

What would change this answer

A confirmed need for multi-channel selling or B2B-specific functionality from day one pulls toward BigCommerce. A strong preference for the largest possible app marketplace and developer pool, even at the cost of accumulating app fees, pulls toward Shopify. Model the actual twelve-month app cost on both before trusting either platform’s advertised base price.

What a commissioned ecommerce build costs as a purchase, on either platform, is set out on ecommerce website design in Australia.