WooCommerce and BigCommerce are both serious eCommerce platforms, but they approach selling online differently. WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that gives you complete control over your store. BigCommerce is a hosted SaaS platform that handles more of the technical side for you. The right choice depends on what you are already using, how you want to manage your store, and how much technical flexibility matters to you.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce: Side by Side
| Factor | WooCommerce | BigCommerce |
| Platform type | Self-hosted WordPress plugin | Hosted SaaS |
| Base cost | Free (hosting required) | $39/month and up |
| Transaction fees | None (gateway fees only) | None on standard plans |
| Design flexibility | Full control via WordPress | Template-based, more limited |
| Plugin / app ecosystem | 50,000+ WordPress plugins | ~1,000 apps |
| Hosting responsibility | You choose and manage | Included, managed by BigCommerce |
| Scales to large catalogues | Yes, with right hosting | Yes, built-in |
| Best for | WordPress users, flexibility seekers | Non-technical merchants |
WooCommerce: What It Is and How It Works
WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It is free to install, and because it runs on WordPress, you own your store data, your design, and your infrastructure. There are no monthly platform fees, though you will need WordPress hosting and potentially paid extensions depending on your requirements.
The plugin ecosystem is enormous. Over 50,000 WordPress plugins work alongside WooCommerce, covering subscriptions, memberships, bookings, bundles, advanced shipping, tax automation, and hundreds of payment gateways. If you need it, a plugin almost certainly exists.
The trade-off is responsibility. You choose and manage your hosting, handle performance optimisation, manage updates, and deal with plugin conflicts. On shared hosting, a busy WooCommerce store can outgrow the server quickly. The performance case for WooCommerce on managed hosting is strong once order volume grows.
BigCommerce: What It Is and How It Works
BigCommerce is a fully hosted eCommerce platform. Your store lives on BigCommerce’s infrastructure, which means you do not manage servers, handle WordPress updates, or worry about plugin conflicts. The platform includes hosting, security, and built-in CDN as part of the subscription.
BigCommerce has strong built-in features: multi-currency support, native multi-channel selling (Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping), advanced SEO controls, and no transaction fees on any plan. The Stencil theme framework gives developers a solid foundation, though design customisation is less freeform than building on WordPress.
The limitation is the ecosystem. BigCommerce’s app store has around 1,000 integrations compared to WordPress’s 50,000+ plugins. For standard eCommerce functionality it covers most needs, but niche requirements may not have a ready-made solution.
Costs: What You Actually Pay
WooCommerce itself is free. Your real costs are hosting, premium plugins, and a theme. Hosting on WP Engine’s eCommerce plans starts at $20/month and scales based on traffic and sites. Premium WooCommerce extensions typically cost $50 to $300 per year each. A well-configured WooCommerce store can run for well under $100/month total.
BigCommerce pricing starts at $39/month for the Standard plan (up to $50,000 in annual sales). The Plus plan at $105/month unlocks abandoned cart recovery and customer groups. The Pro plan at $399/month is required for stores doing over $180,000 per year in revenue. There are no transaction fees on any plan, which is a genuine advantage over Shopify.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose WooCommerce if you already use WordPress, value design flexibility, want access to the widest possible plugin ecosystem, or need to keep control of your data and infrastructure. It is also the right choice when your requirements are unusual and you need a plugin for a specific use case that BigCommerce’s app store does not cover.
Choose BigCommerce if you want a fully managed platform without server responsibility, plan to sell across multiple channels from day one, or are building a straightforward store where BigCommerce’s built-in feature set covers your needs. It is particularly strong for merchants who do not want to think about hosting at all.
For most WordPress users, WooCommerce is the natural choice. The challenge is getting the hosting right. A WooCommerce store on the wrong host produces the performance and reliability problems that make people look at alternatives. On managed hosting like WP Engine, those problems largely disappear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I migrate from BigCommerce to WooCommerce?
Yes. Several migration tools and services handle BigCommerce to WooCommerce transfers, including Cart2Cart and LitExtension. They migrate products, customers, orders, and categories. You will need a WordPress install and WooCommerce set up before migrating.
Is WooCommerce better for SEO than BigCommerce?
Both platforms offer solid SEO capabilities. WooCommerce on WordPress gives you access to Yoast SEO and RankMath, which offer detailed per-page optimisation. BigCommerce has strong built-in SEO features but less granular control over meta and schema. For content-driven SEO strategies, WooCommerce on WordPress has the edge.
Does BigCommerce work with WordPress?
Yes. BigCommerce has a WordPress plugin called BigCommerce for WordPress that lets you use BigCommerce as the commerce back-end while running your front-end content on WordPress. It is a headless setup used by larger stores that want WordPress’s content capabilities alongside BigCommerce’s commerce features.
Which platform handles more products, WooCommerce or BigCommerce?
Both handle large catalogues. WooCommerce’s performance at scale depends heavily on hosting quality and database optimisation. BigCommerce handles large catalogues well out of the box since the infrastructure is managed. For catalogues above 10,000 products on WooCommerce, managed WordPress hosting is strongly recommended.
