ChatGPT What Is BigCommerce? 2026 Guide
Summary
Key takeaways
- BigCommerce is a hosted multi-tenant SaaS ecommerce platform that provides storefront, catalog, checkout, payments, orders, hosting, security, and platform upgrades in one subscription.
- BigCommerce positions itself as “Open SaaS”: merchants get SaaS operations while retaining comparatively strong API access, headless options, and payment-provider choice.
- The platform is best suited to mid-market B2C brands, B2B and hybrid sellers, and multi-brand or multi-region businesses that want less infrastructure responsibility than self-hosted platforms require.
- B2B Edition adds company accounts, multi-company hierarchy, price lists, quotes, invoices, payment terms, quick order, shared lists, and sales-representative functionality.
- Multi-Storefront allows several storefronts to be managed from one control panel while supporting separate domains, prices, currencies, and storefront experiences.
- BigCommerce supports both traditional themed storefronts through Stencil and headless implementations through Catalyst, its Next.js and React storefront framework.
- The platform has expanded its AI and agentic commerce capabilities with BigCommerce MCP and support for the Universal Commerce Protocol.
- BigCommerce generally offers more backend openness than Shopify while remaining operationally simpler than Adobe Commerce or a fully composable architecture.
- Its main trade-off is the standard SaaS constraint: merchants gain managed infrastructure and upgrade safety but cannot control the underlying platform as deeply as with self-hosted or fully composable systems.
- Platform fit should be evaluated around B2B depth, integration complexity, storefront architecture, payment requirements, multi-store needs, and total cost rather than treating BigCommerce as a universal Shopify or Adobe Commerce alternative.
When this applies
This applies when a mid-market B2C, B2B, or hybrid merchant wants a managed SaaS commerce platform but needs more architectural openness than a highly opinionated hosted platform provides. It is particularly relevant for manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and multi-brand businesses that need native B2B functionality, strong APIs, ERP or PIM integrations, multiple storefronts, or a gradual path toward headless commerce. BigCommerce is also a strong candidate when the business wants to reduce hosting, patching, and platform-upgrade responsibilities without moving to a fully closed ecosystem.
When this does not apply
This does not apply when the business requires unrestricted backend control, deeply customized platform internals, or very complex B2B workflows that exceed what BigCommerce B2B Edition and its extension model can comfortably support. It may also be excessive for a very small merchant that only needs a simple storefront and minimal integrations. At the opposite extreme, enterprises pursuing full composable architecture with independently replaceable commerce services may find a platform such as commercetools more appropriate. BigCommerce should therefore be selected for its balance of SaaS simplicity and openness, not merely because it sits between Shopify and Adobe Commerce in perceived complexity.
Checklist
- Define whether the business is primarily B2C, B2B, or hybrid.
- Confirm that a managed SaaS operating model fits your technical and governance requirements.
- Document catalog size, variants, custom attributes, and merchandising requirements.
- Identify whether B2B Edition features are required.
- Map company accounts, price lists, quotes, payment terms, and buyer roles.
- Define ERP, PIM, CRM, OMS, WMS, and other integration dependencies.
- Determine whether the hosted Stencil storefront is sufficient or a Catalyst headless build is justified.
- Review Multi-Storefront requirements for brands, countries, currencies, and domains.
- Verify API coverage and rate requirements for your integrations and custom applications.
- Evaluate payment-provider requirements and any related platform fees.
- Define search, filtering, product-feed, and channel-syndication requirements.
- Review how inventory, pricing, and order data will synchronize with backend systems.
- Calculate platform, B2B Edition, app, implementation, integration, and support costs together.
- Compare BigCommerce directly with Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and composable options against the same requirements.
- Choose BigCommerce only if its combination of SaaS operations, API openness, B2B capabilities, and implementation complexity matches the organization’s operating model.
Common pitfalls
- Assuming BigCommerce and Shopify offer the same architectural flexibility because both are SaaS platforms.
- Choosing BigCommerce for B2B without validating whether B2B Edition covers the actual account, pricing, quote, and procurement workflows.
- Moving to headless Catalyst without a business reason strong enough to justify added frontend complexity.
- Treating API availability as proof that every required integration will be simple.
- Underestimating ERP, PIM, and inventory synchronization work.
- Assuming Multi-Storefront removes the need to design regional pricing, catalog, tax, and governance rules.
- Comparing only base subscription prices while ignoring B2B Edition, apps, implementation, and ongoing support.
- Expecting the same degree of backend customization available in Adobe Commerce.
- Adding custom applications where native platform capabilities would be easier to maintain.
- Selecting BigCommerce because it appears to be a middle ground between other platforms instead of validating it against concrete business and architecture requirements.
Definition. BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform sold by subscription. It runs the storefront, catalog, checkout, payments and orders for B2C and B2B stores. It manages hosting, security and upgrades for the merchant. Its owner is Commerce.com, Inc., listed on Nasdaq as CMRC, which also owns Feedonomics and Makeswift.
Key facts, verified September 2026
- Owner: Commerce.com, Inc., Austin, Texas. The company was BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. until July 31, 2025. CEO: Travis Hess.
- Model: multi-tenant SaaS on Google Cloud. BigCommerce commits to 99.99 percent uptime and reports 100 percent uptime every Cyber Week since 2016.
- Plans since June 1, 2026: Core, Growth, Scale and Performance. Core starts at 29 US dollars per month billed annually. Performance starts at 1,499 US dollars per month.
- Live stores: 36,740 (StoreLeads, Q2 2026) and about 39,000 to 40,000 (BuiltWith, 2026).
- Company scale: 342.3 million US dollars revenue in 2025, 359.8 million US dollars ARR at March 31, 2026, close to 32 billion US dollars of GMV in 2025 (Commerce.com filings).
- Best fit: mid-market B2C and B2B merchants that want SaaS operations, open APIs and native B2B without building it.
- 2026 events: new plan model and Open Payment Provider Fee (June 1), rejected takeover proposal from Rezolve AI (April 8), full-year revenue guidance cut to 336.5 to 344.5 million US dollars (August 6).
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is the software and the hosting that run an online store, sold as one monthly or annual subscription. The merchant gets a storefront, a product catalog, a checkout, payment connections, order management and a control panel. BigCommerce runs the servers, applies the updates and holds the security certifications. The merchant never installs or patches the platform.
BigCommerce calls this model “Open SaaS”. The platform is hosted and multi-tenant, like Shopify. It also exposes open APIs, a headless storefront framework and a large set of payment providers, which is where it differs from most hosted platforms. Merchants can keep the hosted storefront or replace it with their own frontend while BigCommerce runs the commerce backend.
The company started in Sydney, Australia in 2009 and is now based in Austin, Texas. On July 31, 2025 the parent company changed its name from BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. to Commerce.com, Inc. The platform itself is still named BigCommerce. This guide uses “BigCommerce” for the platform and “Commerce.com” for the company.
Who uses BigCommerce?
BigCommerce serves three types of merchants well:
- Mid-market B2C brands. Retailers and direct-to-consumer brands that want a hosted platform with more catalog, SEO and checkout control than a starter platform gives.
- B2B and hybrid sellers. Manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers that need company accounts, price lists, quotes and invoices without building them. B2B Edition supplies these.
- Multi-brand and multi-region operators. Businesses that run several storefronts from one control panel with shared products and separate pricing, currencies and domains.
Enterprise accounts produce about 80 percent of Commerce.com’s annual revenue run-rate (287.2 of 359.1 million US dollars at December 31, 2025). Elogic Commerce, a Certified BigCommerce Partner with certified engineers on staff, builds and migrates stores on BigCommerce for mid-market B2C and B2B merchants and assesses it against Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and commercetools in platform selection projects.
BigCommerce, Commerce.com and fourteen other names explained
The platform, the company and the product family changed names between 2021 and 2026. The table decodes every name you will meet in vendor pages, job posts and developer documentation.
| Name | What it is | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| BigCommerce | The hosted ecommerce platform: control panel, storefront, catalog, checkout, APIs and app marketplace. | Current. The product name did not change in the 2025 rename. |
| Commerce.com, Inc. | The legal parent company, listed on Nasdaq as CMRC. Formerly BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIGC). | Current since July 31, 2025. Ticker changed on August 1, 2025. |
| Commerce | The parent brand over BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift. | Current. Used in press releases, earnings and the annual conference “Commerce Live”. |
| Feedonomics | Product data and feed platform. Structures and syndicates catalogs to marketplaces, ad channels and AI surfaces. Acquired in 2021. | Current. Enterprise managed service. |
| Surface | Self-serve version of Feedonomics inside the BigCommerce control panel. Channels include Meta, Google Ads, Pinterest Ads, TikTok Ads and Microsoft Ads. | Current. Launched in 2025. |
| Makeswift | Visual page and storefront builder. Acquired in 2022. Works with Catalyst; Makeswift on Stencil is in beta. | Current. |
| Catalyst | Open-source storefront framework on Next.js and React. Uses the GraphQL Storefront API. Native Hosting for Catalyst is in open beta in 2026. | Current. The recommended path for new headless builds. |
| Stencil | The theme framework for hosted storefronts: Handlebars templates, Stencil CLI, theme marketplace. Most existing stores run on it. | Current. Still supported and sold. |
| B2B Edition | The B2B feature set: company accounts, multi-company hierarchy, price lists, quotes, invoices, payment terms, quick order, shared lists, sales representative view. | Current. Quoted separately from the plan. |
| Buyer Portal | The open-source buyer interface inside B2B Edition. | Current. |
| Multi-Storefront (MSF) | Several storefronts from one control panel with shared products and separate domains, prices and currencies. Launched in 2022. | Current. Additional storefronts: up to 3 on Core, 5 on Growth, 8 on Scale, contracted on Performance. |
| BigCommerce Payments | Native payment processing built with PayPal. Counts as an Embedded Payment Provider. | Current. Introduced at Commerce Live 2026. |
| BigCommerce MCP | A Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read and act on a store securely. | Current. Released to all stores in April 2026. |
| Channel Manager | Control panel module that connects marketplaces, ad platforms and social channels. | Current. |
| Powered By (Commerce-as-a-Service) | Program to embed or resell BigCommerce commerce capabilities inside another product or platform. | Current. |
| Core, Growth, Scale, Performance | The four plans since June 1, 2026. Formerly Standard, Plus, Pro and Enterprise. | Current. See the plan table below. |
Who owns BigCommerce? A dated history
Commerce.com, Inc. owns BigCommerce. It is a public company, so no single owner controls it. The timeline below lists the events that shaped the platform and the company through September 2026.
- 2009. Eddie Machalaani and Mitch Harper found BigCommerce in Sydney, Australia. The headquarters later move to Austin, Texas.
- August 5, 2020. BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. lists on Nasdaq as BIGC.
- July 2021. The company acquires Feedonomics, a product feed platform, for about 145 million US dollars.
- 2021. The company acquires Bundle B2B and B2B Ninja. They become B2B Edition.
- 2022. Multi-Storefront launches. The company acquires Makeswift, a visual storefront builder.
- 2024. Catalyst, the Next.js storefront framework, becomes available to merchants.
- November 2024. Travis Hess becomes CEO.
- 2025. Feedonomics launches Surface, the self-serve data engine inside the control panel.
- July 31, 2025. BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. becomes Commerce.com, Inc. and introduces the Commerce parent brand. The ticker changes to CMRC on August 1, 2025.
- January 2026. BigCommerce announces support for the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for buying inside Google AI experiences.
- April 8, 2026. The board rejects an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Rezolve AI. Rezolve takes a share-exchange offer directly to shareholders.
- April 30, 2026. Commerce Live 2026: BigCommerce MCP, BigCommerce Payments with PayPal, Makeswift on Stencil (beta) and Native Hosting for Catalyst (open beta).
- June 1, 2026. New plans (Core, Growth, Scale, Performance), new GMV thresholds and the Open Payment Provider Fee take effect.
- August 6, 2026. Second-quarter results: revenue of 84.5 million US dollars, up 0.1 percent. Full-year 2026 revenue guidance is cut to 336.5 to 344.5 million US dollars.
Two facts follow from this history. First, “BigCommerce is now Commerce.com” is correct for the company only. The platform, the login and the app marketplace keep the BigCommerce name. Second, the company remained independent as of its August 6, 2026 results, but an unsolicited bid is open. Merchants should include vendor ownership risk in a 2026 platform assessment.
What does BigCommerce do?
BigCommerce runs every step of an online sale: it shows products, prices them, takes the order, takes the payment and passes the order to fulfilment. The list below groups the functions that ship with the platform. Functions that need B2B Edition or a higher plan are marked.
Catalog
- Unlimited products on all plans. Variants and modifiers per product, with a limit of 600 variants per product.
- Categories, brands, custom fields, bulk pricing rules and product filtering (faceted search on Scale and Performance).
- Import and export by CSV, or by the Management API and Surface for channel feeds.
Pricing and promotions
- Customer groups with group prices and access rules (Growth and above).
- Price lists for customer-specific pricing (Scale and above, and B2B Edition).
- Promotions engine with coupons, automatic discounts, buy-one-get-one and shipping promotions.
- Multi-currency pricing with automatic or manual rates.
Checkout, payments and shipping
- Optimized One-Page Checkout, persistent cart (Growth and above), stored payment methods and abandoned cart recovery (Growth and above).
- More than 65 payment providers. Embedded providers include PayPal, Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, Klarna, Afterpay, Amazon Pay, Worldpay and BigCommerce Payments.
- Real-time carrier rates, flat and free shipping rules, multiple inventory locations and buy online, pick up in store.
- Tax through Avalara, Vertex, TaxJar and built-in rules.
B2B (B2B Edition)
- Company accounts with roles, multi-company hierarchy and sales representative assignment.
- Customer-specific price lists, quotes, invoices, payment terms and credit.
- Quick order, shared lists, reorder and the Buyer Portal.
Content and experience
- Page Builder for hosted themes. Makeswift for visual editing on Catalyst and, in beta, on Stencil.
- Built-in SEO controls: URL structure, redirects, metadata, structured data, sitemap.
- Multi-Storefront for several brands or regions from one control panel.
Operations and integration
- REST Management API, GraphQL Storefront API, webhooks and the App Marketplace with more than 1,200 apps.
- ERP, PIM, OMS and CRM integration through apps or custom middleware. Common pairings: NetSuite, Acumatica, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP, Akeneo.
- Channel Manager and Feedonomics or Surface for Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Google, Meta, TikTok and AI shopping surfaces.
- Staff accounts with roles, order and inventory reports, Google Analytics 4 integration.
How BigCommerce works: architecture and stack
BigCommerce is a multi-tenant SaaS application. All merchants run on the same platform code, which BigCommerce updates centrally. Merchants customize through themes, apps, APIs and external services, not through server-side code inside the platform. The table shows the layers and the choices at each layer.
| Layer | What BigCommerce provides | Merchant choices |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and infrastructure | Multi-tenant SaaS on Google Cloud with regions in the United States, Europe and Australia. CDN, DDoS protection, backups. | None. Included in the subscription. |
| Uptime and compliance | 99.99 percent uptime commitment. PCI DSS Level 1. ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and ISO 22301. | None. Merchant handles its own PCI questionnaire for custom checkout and apps. |
| Storefront | Stencil themes (Handlebars, Stencil CLI). Catalyst (Next.js and React). Makeswift visual editor. | Hosted theme, Catalyst on BigCommerce Native Hosting or a third-party host, or a fully custom frontend. |
| Checkout | Optimized One-Page Checkout. Checkout SDK for custom checkouts. Embedded checkout for headless storefronts. | Default checkout, styled checkout, or custom checkout on the SDK. |
| APIs and extensibility | REST Management API. GraphQL Storefront API. GraphQL Admin API. Webhooks. API rate limits rise by plan. | Public and private apps, middleware, serverless functions. No custom code runs inside the platform. |
| Apps | App Marketplace with more than 1,200 apps for search, reviews, subscriptions, loyalty, tax, shipping and marketing. | Install apps or build private apps. |
| Data and channels | Feedonomics (managed) and Surface (self-serve). Channel Manager. UCP profile. BigCommerce MCP. | Which channels and AI surfaces to feed. |
| Payments | More than 65 providers. Embedded Payment Providers carry no BigCommerce order fee. Open providers carry the fee on self-serve plans. | Provider choice affects the monthly fee. See the plan table. |
Three practical points follow from this architecture. First, BigCommerce removes the hosting, patching and upgrade work that self-managed platforms need. Second, deep customization happens outside the platform, so integration and middleware skills matter more than platform code skills. Third, a headless build on Catalyst gives frontend freedom, but the checkout, the catalog model and the API limits still come from BigCommerce.
BigCommerce plans since June 2026
BigCommerce renamed its plans and changed its pricing rules on June 1, 2026. Standard became Core, Plus became Growth, Pro became Scale and Enterprise became Performance. The base prices stayed the same. The GMV thresholds fell, the Scale overage became a percentage, and a new Open Payment Provider Fee applies to self-serve plans. The table gives the model that applies today.
| Plan | Price | Inclusive GMV rule | Open Payment Provider Fee | Additional storefronts | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core (formerly Standard) | 39 US dollars per month, or 29 billed annually | Up to 30,000 US dollars trailing-12-month Inclusive GMV. Auto-upgrade to Growth above it. | 2.0 percent of eligible order GMV | Up to 3, at 30 US dollars per month each | Chat and email. Phone support is an add-on. |
| Growth (formerly Plus) | 105 per month, or 79 billed annually | Up to 100,000 US dollars trailing-12-month Inclusive GMV. Auto-upgrade to Scale above it. | 1.0 percent | Up to 5, at 50 US dollars per month each | Phone, chat and email. |
| Scale (formerly Pro) | 399 per month, or 299 billed annually | 33,333 US dollars monthly Inclusive GMV included. 0.9 percent overage above it. Auto-upgrade to Performance at 2 million US dollars trailing-12-month GMV. | 0.6 percent | Up to 8, at 100 US dollars per month each | Phone, chat and email. |
| Performance (formerly Enterprise) | Custom, from 1,499 US dollars per month billed annually | Contracted. Public update describes 250,000 US dollars monthly Inclusive GMV with 0.6 percent overage. | None under contracted terms | Contracted | Phone, chat, email, customer success options. |
Two definitions matter. Inclusive GMV is gross order value after a 10 percent reduction, evaluated on the first of each month. The Open Payment Provider Fee applies at order level to orders processed by a provider outside the Embedded Payment Provider list, including offline and purchase-order payments. Orders processed by an embedded provider carry no BigCommerce order fee. Payment processors always charge their own fees.
Total cost includes apps, themes, B2B Edition, integrations, migration and support. The full budget model, three-year TCO scenarios and the Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce comparisons are in BigCommerce pricing in 2026.
How many stores use BigCommerce in 2026?
Between 36,000 and 40,000 stores run BigCommerce in 2026, depending on the tracker. The count has fallen since 2019 while revenue per account has risen. The table lists the main sources with their dates.
| Source | Live stores | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| StoreLeads | 36,740 | Q2 2026 | Down 0.5 percent quarter over quarter and 11 percent year over year. Peak was 48,231 in Q4 2019. |
| StoreLeads, United States | 26,426 | February 2026 | About 70 percent of live stores are in the United States. The United Kingdom, Australia and Canada follow. |
| BuiltWith | About 39,200 to 40,200 | 2026 snapshots | Plus 94,000 to 97,000 sites that used BigCommerce historically. About 29,000 to 30,000 live sites in the United States. |
| BootLeads | 29,966 | September 2026 | Active public storefronts only. Median store lists 249 products. |
| Commerce.com | 130,000 or more merchants | Cumulative | All-time count of merchants served across more than 150 countries, not a live count. |
Two trends explain the numbers. Small stores leave for Shopify, Wix and WooCommerce; BuiltWith records a net loss of about 13,500 sites to Shopify in its recent migration data. Larger accounts stay and grow: enterprise ARR rose 10 percent in 2025 while total ARR rose 3 percent (Commerce.com, February 12, 2026). Commerce.com processed close to 32 billion US dollars of GMV in 2025 across its live base.
The company behind BigCommerce: a vendor stability check
A hosted platform is only as durable as its vendor. Commerce.com is a public company, so its numbers are available. The table gives the figures a merchant should read before signing a multi-year Performance contract.
| Metric | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | 342.3 million US dollars, up 2.8 percent | Fiscal 2025 | Proxy statement, 2026 |
| Annual revenue run-rate (ARR) | 359.8 million US dollars, up 3 percent | March 31, 2026 | Q1 2026 results |
| Enterprise ARR | 287.2 million US dollars, up 10 percent; about 80 percent of total ARR | December 31, 2025 | Q4 2025 results |
| GMV processed | Close to 32 billion US dollars | Fiscal 2025 | Annual report, 2025 |
| Net revenue retention | 95.2 percent | Q4 2025 | Annual report, 2025 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | 31.7 million US dollars, up from 23.5 million | Fiscal 2025 | Proxy statement, 2026 |
| GAAP net income | 3.7 million US dollars, first profitable quarter | Q1 2026 | Q1 2026 results |
| Quarterly revenue | 84.5 million US dollars, up 0.1 percent; subscription revenue down 1 percent | Q2 2026 | Q2 2026 results, August 6, 2026 |
| Full-year 2026 revenue guidance | 336.5 to 344.5 million US dollars, cut from 347.5 to 369.5 million | Updated August 6, 2026 | Form 8-K, August 2026 |
| Ownership event | Board rejected a share-exchange acquisition proposal from Rezolve AI on April 8, 2026. Rezolve took its offer to shareholders. | April to August 2026 | Rezolve AI and Commerce.com filings |
Reading: the company is profitable at the operating level and its enterprise base grows, but total growth is near zero and net revenue retention is below 100 percent. The June 2026 pricing change and the BigCommerce Payments launch are the levers management named to lift revenue per merchant. A merchant on a Performance contract should ask for change-of-control, price-adjustment and data-export terms in writing.
BigCommerce and agentic commerce
Commerce.com organized its 2025 rename around agentic commerce: shoppers who search, compare and buy through AI assistants instead of a storefront. The company positions Feedonomics as the data layer that makes products readable to those assistants, and BigCommerce as the transaction layer that completes the order. Four capabilities are live or announced as of September 2026:
- Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Announced in January 2026. BigCommerce and Feedonomics connect to UCP so that shoppers can discover and buy inside Google AI experiences, with the merchant kept as merchant of record (Q1 2026 earnings remarks).
- BigCommerce MCP. A Model Context Protocol server released to all stores in April 2026. AI agents use it to read catalog, order and customer data and to act on a store with the merchant’s permissions.
- Feedonomics Agentic Catalog Exports. An enterprise service that formats an enriched catalog for ChatGPT, Google AI surfaces, Copilot, Perplexity and Amazon.
- Surface channels for AI. Additional agentic channels for the self-serve Surface product were announced at Commerce Live 2026 for release during the year.
For the definitions and the wider market, read what is agentic commerce. For how prepared merchants are across platforms, see the Agentic Commerce Readiness Index.
BigCommerce vs Shopify, Adobe Commerce, WooCommerce, Shopware and commercetools
BigCommerce is not the same as Shopify. Both are hosted SaaS platforms, but they are separate companies with different plan rules, B2B depth and app ecosystems. The table places BigCommerce against the platforms merchants compare it with most often.
| Platform | Model | Best fit | Main difference from BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify and Shopify Plus | Hosted SaaS | B2C from small to enterprise, fast launch | Larger app store and merchant base. Shopify Plus base fee starts at 2,300 US dollars per month. Payment fee logic favors Shopify Payments. |
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | Self-managed open source or Adobe cloud | Complex B2B, custom workflows, large integration programs | Full code control and deeper B2B customization. Merchant or agency runs hosting, patches and upgrades. |
| WooCommerce | Open-source WordPress plugin | Small catalogs, content-led stores | Self-hosted on WordPress. No native B2B, multi-storefront or enterprise support. |
| Shopware | Open-source PHP (Symfony), self-hosted or cloud | European mid-market B2C and B2B | Code access and strong European ecosystem. Smaller footprint outside Europe. |
| commercetools | Headless, API-first, MACH | Enterprise composable builds | No storefront or admin out of the box. Everything is built. BigCommerce ships a complete store. |
For a detailed head-to-head, read Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs BigCommerce and what is Magento (Adobe Commerce). For the Shopify Plus budget model, read Shopify Plus pricing.
When BigCommerce is the right choice
BigCommerce pays off when the merchant wants a hosted platform and needs more catalog, B2B and API depth than a starter platform gives. The checklist gives the thresholds Elogic Commerce uses in platform assessments. Three or more “yes” answers in the first list point to BigCommerce.
Choose BigCommerce when
- You want no server, patch or upgrade work and a predictable platform cost.
- You need native B2B: company accounts, price lists, quotes and invoices, without building them.
- You run several brands, regions or currencies and want one control panel.
- You want a headless storefront on Next.js with a hosted commerce backend.
- You sell through marketplaces, ad channels and AI surfaces and want one product data pipeline.
- Your trailing-12-month GMV is under 2 million US dollars and you want a self-serve plan, or above it and you can sign a Performance contract.
Do not choose BigCommerce when
- You need custom server-side logic inside the commerce platform itself.
- Your products need more than 600 variants each, or your catalog model does not fit products, variants and modifiers.
- Your B2B workflows go beyond B2B Edition: multi-level approvals, complex configurators, contract pricing with many exceptions.
- You must own the code and the data on your own infrastructure for compliance or strategy reasons.
- Most of your orders will run through an Open Payment Provider on a self-serve plan, which adds 0.6 to 2.0 percent to every order.
In the first three cases, Adobe Commerce is usually the fit. In the last two, Adobe Commerce or a Performance contract is. Elogic Commerce runs both directions: Magento to BigCommerce migration and BigCommerce to Adobe Commerce replatforming. The ecommerce platform selector gives a first answer in ten minutes.
What a BigCommerce project needs
A BigCommerce build or migration needs five roles. Small stores combine roles. Enterprise programs staff each role separately.
- Solution architect. Owns the data model, the storefront choice (Stencil or Catalyst), the integration map and the plan and payment-provider decision.
- BigCommerce developers. Stencil theme work, Catalyst and Next.js, Checkout SDK, app development. BigCommerce University certifications are the standard.
- Integration engineer. ERP, PIM, OMS and CRM connections through the Management API, webhooks and middleware.
- Data and channels specialist. Feedonomics or Surface setup, marketplace and AI surface feeds, UCP profile.
- QA and project management. Functional, regression and performance tests before each release. Scope, schedule and vendor coordination.
Elogic Commerce is a Certified BigCommerce Partner with certified engineers on staff. The company has built commerce systems since 2009 and employs more than 200 specialists across Tallinn, Prague, Dresden, Stockholm, London and New York. It delivers BigCommerce development services for B2C and B2B Edition builds, Catalyst storefronts, ERP and PIM integration and migrations. Merchants that need a team quickly can hire BigCommerce developers on a staff augmentation model with pre-vetted squads in under seven days.
Frequently asked questions
What is BigCommerce used for?
BigCommerce is used to build and run online stores. It hosts the storefront, the catalog, the checkout, payments, orders and promotions as a subscription service. Merchants use it for B2C stores, B2B stores with company accounts and quotes, and multi-brand or multi-region storefronts from one admin.
Who owns BigCommerce?
Commerce.com, Inc., a public company listed on Nasdaq as CMRC. The company was named BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. until July 31, 2025. It also owns Feedonomics and Makeswift.
Is BigCommerce now Commerce.com?
The parent company is now Commerce.com, Inc. The platform, the control panel and the app marketplace keep the BigCommerce name. Commerce is the parent brand over BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift.
Is BigCommerce free?
No. BigCommerce has a free trial and four paid plans. Since June 1, 2026 the plans are Core from 29 US dollars per month billed annually, Growth from 79, Scale from 299 plus a 0.9 percent overage above 33,333 US dollars in monthly Inclusive GMV, and Performance from 1,499 US dollars per month.
Is BigCommerce the same as Shopify?
No. Both are hosted SaaS platforms, but they are separate companies and products. BigCommerce includes more B2B and catalog functions in the plan and charges no platform order fee when an Embedded Payment Provider processes the order. Shopify has a larger app store and more small-business users.
Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees?
Since June 1, 2026, self-serve plans pay an Open Payment Provider Fee of 2.0, 1.0 or 0.6 percent of eligible order GMV on orders processed by a provider outside the Embedded Payment Provider list. Orders processed by embedded providers such as PayPal, Stripe, Adyen or BigCommerce Payments carry no BigCommerce order fee. Payment processors still charge their own fees.
Is BigCommerce good for B2B?
Yes. B2B Edition adds company accounts, multi-company hierarchy, shared and customer-specific price lists, quotes, invoices, payment terms, quick order, shared lists and a sales representative view through the Buyer Portal. It is quoted separately from the plan.
Is BigCommerce headless?
It can be. BigCommerce runs storefronts on Stencil themes, on Catalyst, its Next.js storefront framework, or on any frontend through the GraphQL Storefront API and the Management API. Makeswift adds a visual editor for Catalyst and, in beta, for Stencil.
How many stores use BigCommerce?
StoreLeads counts 36,740 live BigCommerce stores in Q2 2026, down 11 percent year over year. BuiltWith detects about 39,000 to 40,000 live sites in 2026. The peak was 48,231 in Q4 2019.
What happened to BigCommerce Standard, Plus, Pro and Enterprise?
BigCommerce renamed them on June 1, 2026. Standard became Core, Plus became Growth, Pro became Scale and Enterprise became Performance. GMV thresholds changed and an Open Payment Provider Fee was added for self-serve plans.
Is BigCommerce a stable company?
Commerce.com reported 342.3 million US dollars of revenue in 2025, a first GAAP-profitable quarter in Q1 2026 and net revenue retention of 95.2 percent. Growth is near zero and the company cut its 2026 guidance in August 2026. A rejected takeover proposal from Rezolve AI remains open to shareholders. Merchants should include change-of-control terms in Performance contracts.
What language is BigCommerce built on?
Merchants do not see or run the platform code. They work with Handlebars templates on Stencil, JavaScript and React on Catalyst, and REST and GraphQL APIs for integration. Apps can be written in any language that calls the APIs.
What are the downsides of BigCommerce?
Four downsides come up in assessments. Costs rise with GMV above the allowance in each plan, and self-serve plans pay the Open Payment Provider Fee when they use a gateway other than BigCommerce Payments. The app and theme ecosystem is smaller than Shopify’s. The partner base is smaller than Adobe Commerce’s. Checkout and backend logic are less customizable than on an open-source platform, because the application is SaaS.
How this page is maintained
Elogic Commerce updates this page after each BigCommerce plan or fee change, after each Commerce.com quarterly report, and each quarter for store counts. The “Last verified” date under the title shows the most recent review. Link to this page for the names decoder, the plan table and the company metrics. Send corrections to office@elogic.co.
Sources
- BigCommerce. BigCommerce plan and pricing updates 2026.
- BigCommerce. Pricing and plan comparison.
- Commerce.com, Inc. Press release: Introducing Commerce, the new parent brand of BigCommerce, Feedonomics and Makeswift. July 31, 2025 (Form 8-K exhibit).
- Commerce.com, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025.
- Commerce.com, Inc. Annual report to shareholders 2025 and proxy statement 2026.
- Commerce.com, Inc. Fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 financial results. February 12, 2026.
- Commerce.com, Inc. First quarter 2026 financial results. May 7, 2026.
- Commerce.com, Inc. Second quarter 2026 results and updated outlook (Form 8-K exhibit). August 2026.
- Commerce.com, Inc. Commerce Live 2026 product announcements. April 30, 2026.
- Commerce.com, Inc. First quarter 2026 earnings call prepared remarks. May 2026.
- Rezolve AI plc. Statement on Commerce.com second quarter results (Form 6-K exhibit). August 6, 2026.
- Bloomberg. Rezolve AI launches hostile bid for Commerce.com as talks fail. April 8, 2026.
- StoreLeads. The state of BigCommerce in 2026. Accessed September 13, 2026.
- StoreLeads. BigCommerce stores in the United States. Updated February 13, 2026.
- BuiltWith. BigCommerce usage statistics. Accessed September 13, 2026.
- BootLeads. BigCommerce store statistics and database. September 2026.
- BigCommerce. B2B ecommerce websites in 2026.
- Digital Commerce 360. BigCommerce rebrands and shifts focus to AI-driven digital commerce. July 31, 2025.
Need a BigCommerce assessment, build or migration?
Elogic Commerce, Certified BigCommerce Partner, delivers BigCommerce builds, B2B Edition implementations, Catalyst storefronts, ERP and PIM integrations and migrations in both directions. Platform-neutral assessments cover BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and commercetools. Talk to the BigCommerce team.
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