In the modern era, Online e-commerce stores are pretty popular. Are you wondering about venturing into an online eCommerce store? Are you confused about whether to choose self-hosted WooCommerce or cloud-powered BigCommerce? Well, you are not alone who have been stuck in such situations. Most of the users want to know which platform is better for their online store.
In this blog, we will discuss which platform is best to use: WooCommerce or Big Commerce.
Overview: WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce
WooCommerce:
WooCommerce is a popular plugin that converts any WordPress website into a fully-featured online store. According to the report, Woocommerce has a broad market, around 27.88%.
Woocommerce is a robust plugin that does require a domain, hosting, and a WordPress installation but is simple to use. It is free and does come with many tools out of the box. You can also extend the platform by using free or paid extensions that are available on the WooCommerce marketplace.
The marketplace has extensions covering almost every possible use, from payment gateways to reporting.
WooCommerce has its own as well as third-party themes. Many WordPress themes are also designed to work with WooCommerce.
BigCommerce:
BigCommerce is a cloud-based SaaS platform and a growing headless commerce provider. According to the report, BigCommerce has a much smaller market share, around 1.27%. It comes with numerous design templates that can be personalized and are generally the best option for people with less or no knowledge of HTML or CSS. Moreover, BigCommerce headless allows you to separate your frontend & backend, thus enabling complete storefront customization and enhanced speed. It doesn’t require hosting, has no need for installation or setup, and doesn’t depend on other platforms like WooCommerce.
It has a large no. of free or paid extensions covering most of what you could need. There are also few themes available but nowhere close to WooCommerce offerings.
WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce: A Step-by-Step Guide
Pricing
Woocommerce:
- WooCommerce and its CMS, WordPress, are entirely free. You can download and install it quickly in a few minutes.
- The cost of WooCommerce themes can range between $20 to $200, depending on your preference and tastes and preference. Some Astra themes that operate with WooCommerce are entirely free.
- The extensions of Woocommerce are a blend of free and premium-priced that range between $29 and $249 per year.
- Whereas there are no hidden costs or charges. You need to host it on a reliable and secure WooCommerce hosting provider.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce offers three main pricing plans, aiming to meet the needs of small-sized businesses and individuals. BigCommerce Standard – $ 29.95 per month, BigCommerce Plus– $ 79.95 per month, BigCommerce Pro- $ 299.95 per month. The platform offers BigCommerce Enterprise plan options for large businesses with high bandwidths and advanced selling needs,
- It includes both free and paid themes. You can also get other extensions for the BigCommerce website, which are charged every month.
- BigCommerce themes are a combination of free and premium, range between $139 and $300.
- BigCommerce extensions are also a mix of free and premium, costing up to $285 per month.
Reviewing Community & Support
WooCommerce:
- It has an active community that offers extensive content in the form of blogs, vlogs, podcasts, and Wordcamps.
- It provides hundreds of forums entirely dedicated to discussing WooCommerce and its issues.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce includes a highly active community forum that always there to solve all your queries.
- BigCommerce has 24/7 Phone, Email, and Chat Support for all plans.
Simple and Transparent UI
WooCommerce:
- Unlike Magento, WooCommerce is easy to use and set up through a point-and-click installation process.
- If you have ever run a WordPress site or are familiar with its interface, managing the WooCommerce store would be pretty straightforward.
- Even if you’re new in the field of WooCommerce, you won’t face any difficulties to learn, and your learning curve would be more straightforward.
BigCommerce:
- BigCommerce is indeed relatively easy to use and start.
- With BigCommerce, You don’t need to worry about the technical aspects of your BigCommerce store, as all these are managed by the BigCommerce support.
Design Flexibility
When it comes to human perceptions, first impressions count. From appearance and functionality to easy-to-use navigation, it’s essential to greet customers with all these when customers visit your online storefront.
BigCommerce offers 12 captivating themes for free. There are over 50 themes in its store, coming at one-off pricing between $150 and $300. The price is quite high compared to WooCommerce.
On the other hand, WooCommerce offers 20 themes in total, with 14 storefront themes. There are three free themes, while the other themes will cost you between $39 to $129 each.
As you can see, WooCommerce storefronts are cheaper than BigCommerce premium themes. Furthermore, you can even customize WooCommerce themes according to your needs.
You don’t need to be a technical expert to customize WooCommerce themes, but as with WordPress itself, the more you understand, the better you can edit.
BigCommerce’s themes are more rigid. The platform also offers an editing interface that lets you adjust things like page layouts, text size and fonts, and much more.
WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce: Pros & Cons
Pros of WooCommerce
- Easy setup and simple store management.
- Instantly familiar if you know WordPress.
- Out-of-the-box setup wizard.
- Countless WooCommerce themes.
- A large number of free and paid extensions.
- Popular & widely used throughout the world.
- Excellent network of third-party resources & forums.
- Money-back guarantee.
Cons of WooCommerce
- Requires WordPress.com account to work.
- Performance is hampered with plug-ins and plugins.
- Need to pay for extensions.
Pros of BigCommerce
- Fully hosted SaaS solution with zero maintenance.
- The setup wizard is very good.
- Creating a product page is simple.
- Works with multiple channels out the box (Facebook, Amazon, and so on).
- Provides multiple layers of security.
- 24/7 support via call, email, & chat.
Cons of BigCommerce
- Expensive themes.
- No lite version is available.
- The platform needs to improve its theme editor.
Final Thoughts
Both platforms have easy setup wizards and require no technical expertise to venture into online eCommerce.
But, there are also key differences between these two platforms, such as, its features, cost, and freedom to customize.
WooCommerce is ideal for people familiar with WordPress and who is slightly more technically competent.
BigCommerce is ideal for those who want to build & grow their online store. It’s perfect for beginners with little or no coding expertise.
We recommend you choose WooCommerce with Dreamhost to get the most out of this compelling & useful plugin. Have any queries related to this blog? Ask your queries in the comment box.
