Let's Be Be Clear About One Thing: BigCommerce and WooCommerce are both Fantastic Solutions for eCommerce
We are experts on both BigCommerce and WooCommerce and we love them both - they are both fantastic solutions, but they are different in many ways. The purpose of this page is to allow you to take a deeper than usual look at both. We know that one of the first things that every customer wants to know is 'How Much?' and we will provide a comparison later in this document, but first we need to inform you of the benefits and weaknesses of each.
WOOCOMMERCE vs BigCommerce
WooCommerce is the primary plugin used to power ecommerce stores on WordPress created by Automattic (the same creators as WordPress). As the trusted and go-to option in the WordPress community, WooCommerce controls roughly 28% of the global ecommerce market. However, since the frontend and backend share resources, WooCommerce can eventually run out of scalability. WooCommerce stores also rely heavily on apps for some core functionality along with the developer costs of an open source platform whereas most eCommerce core functions are already built-in to BigCommerce.
WooCommerce Strengths
●Widely accepted by the WordPress Community
●WooCommerce plugin is technically “free”
●Easy to add to an existing WordPress site
●Stores can use the native WordPress Blog
●Owned by Automattic (creators of WordPress)
●Can be heavily customized
●Large number of plugins to extend native features
●Large number of paid theme options (ThemeForest)
●Native upsell and cross-sell functionality
●Native grouped product functionality
●Native ability to sell external/affiliate products
WooCommerce Weaknesses
●Heavy dependence on developer/designer (You need a good one!)
●Total cost of ownership is worked out for each site - be careful your quote covers everything you need.
●Most stores require a number of both paid and free apps
●Limited admin tools to manage store compared to BigCommerce
●No complex catalog support out of the box
●Limited support (all forum/community based)
●Abandoned cart saver needs a plugin
●Payment Option s require plugins
●Somewhat limited native coupon functionality
●Merchant is responsible for their own PCI compliance
Pricing Comparison WooCommerce vs BigCommerce
WooCommerce Pricing
No Licensing fee but merchant is responsible for the costs for hosting, security/PCI, plugins. Your design company should set all of this up. Additionally, merchants will have developer costs for set up, regular maintenance & security patches. Always make your provider specify everything to avoid later add-on costs. We're Good at this!
BigCommerce Pricing
Subject to site evaluation but always competitive.
BigCommerce Packages
Standard | MOST POPULAR - Plus | Pro | Enterprise | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Save up to 10% when you pay annually. Offer available for Plus and Pro plans. | Subject to site evaluation but always competitive. | Subject to site evaluation but always competitive. | Subject to site evaluation but always competitive. | Call Sydney Business Web on 0427 847 653 to further your enquiry. We are a qualified BigCommerce Partner and |
Sell online with your own beautiful online store | Grow your online business with marketing tools proven to increase conversion | Scale your growing business with a comprehensive set of features | Power your team’s success with the best full-service open platform | |
Included in all plans | ||||
No additional transaction fees | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Products, file storage and bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Staff accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
WooCommerce Pricing
This is just an overview and each site is subject to individual quotations. We do have a cost estimator for you to use, and that's to be found by clicking here. The calculator is pretty thorough and the following numbers are derived from it:
Website | Inclusions | Recommended Options | Add-On Costs | Note | Approx Cost |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beautiful 6 page fully functional website | 6 pages + confidentiality + Contact + terms of use pages, + SSl and security | Logo Design if needed | Hosting costs annual. First year free. Additional pages at $85 subject to 'reasonable' content amount. Domain if needed | A first class site for small consultancies etc. See here for all options and costs. | A$1499 |
Fully Functional eCommerce website - Small traders | The 6 page site + a shop with first 10 products, + SSL and security + shipping and payment channels | Abandoned cart metrics, | Hosting costs annual. First year free. Additional products may be calculated here | Many shipping facilities require modest annual payment, typically !$100. | A$2800 |
Add-On Costs and Cost of Ownership
It's really, really important to check the total cost of ownership of your WooCommerce website, starting with the calculator we have provided and looking at every aspect with us. We do not ever want unexpected costs arising. With BigCommerce you see everything up-front so it's easier to manage, but of course each option serves slightly differing needs. Just call us to talk - we're always happy to advise.
General Aspects of Comparison of BigCommerce and WooCommerce
Expanding Markets for Your Products and Services
This is one of the key differences between the two systems. BigCommerce has a large team that can help to drive your products into multiple sales channels such as Amazon, Facebook and a host of others. You can do these things with WooCommerce plugins and advertising campaigns, but BigCommerce has the built-in cohesion and support that larger companies must have to push aggressively across multiple channels.
Skills and Support
Whichever system you work with, YOUR SUPPLIER MUST BE TECHNICALLY COMPETENT. With BigCommerce that's basically guaranteed because all BigCommerce partners have to take courses and pass tests to gain that registration. With WooCommerce though there is no such requirement and the system can be technically demanding, especially when eCommerce and customization are concerned.
Sadly, many suppliers have no technical competence at all, and rely completely on the 'plug and pray' approach as I call it, having little or no knowledge on how to proceed when things go wrong or custom features are required. So be careful!
Running WooCommerce and BigCommerce TOGETHER
BigCommerce has something called a HEADLESS facility, which means that if you wanted all of the back-end scalability and features of BigCommerce but to keep the WooCommerce front-end you have invested in - you can! So if you are already on a WooCommerce site, we have some great options for you.