Ecommerce platform
BigCommerce
Choose it when you want hosted convenience but need more B2B in the box than Shopify gives you, without taking on Adobe Commerce.
BigCommerce occupies the middle: hosted like Shopify, with more B2B capability included and no transaction fees on top of your gateway.
The middle is a real place to stand. It is also the position that gets squeezed from both sides, so the question is whether your requirements genuinely land there.
Reviewed August 22, 2026.
What it is good at
- More B2B in the box
- Customer groups, price lists and B2B Edition features are native rather than assembled from apps, which means fewer moving parts and fewer subscriptions doing the same job.
- Open APIs and no transaction fees
- The API surface is genuinely good for integration work, and BigCommerce does not take a cut on top of your payment gateway.
- Lower licence cost than Adobe Commerce
- For a mid-market B2B catalog the annual platform cost lands meaningfully below Adobe Commerce while still covering the B2B basics.
Where it falls short
The ecosystem is smaller
Fewer apps, fewer themes and fewer agencies than Shopify or Magento. When you need something niche, the odds that somebody has already built it are lower.
- Wrong for:
- Teams who expect to solve most requirements by installing something.
- What helps:
- The API is good enough that building the gap is usually viable. Budget for it rather than assuming an app exists.
You are still a tenant
Hosted means the same constraints Shopify has: no self-hosting, no owning the source, platform policy is not yours to set.
- Wrong for:
- Businesses that need to own the code or run infrastructure their own way.
- What helps:
- If ownership matters, Magento Open Source is the honest alternative and the comparison should be made on that basis.
Hiring is harder
The talent pool is smaller than Shopify or Magento. Finding someone who already knows the platform takes longer and costs more.
- Wrong for:
- Teams planning to hire in-house platform expertise quickly.
- What helps:
- The platform is approachable enough that a good developer gets productive quickly. It is a hiring-time problem, not a capability one.
Who should choose it
Right for
- Mid-market B2B catalogs that need native price lists and customer groups
- Teams that want hosted convenience without assembling B2B from apps
- Businesses sensitive to transaction fees on top of gateway costs
Wrong for
- Very complex catalog or pricing logic, where Adobe Commerce fits better
- Teams relying on a large app ecosystem to fill gaps
- Anyone who needs to own and self-host the platform
What it costs
- Build
- $40k–130k
- Platform / year
- $20k–60k
- Per integration
- $6k–20k
- Maintenance / year
- $12k–32k
These are planning estimates, not quotes. Real costs depend on your data, custom features, integrations, and team. Use the ranges to budget and compare, then talk to us for a scoped number.
Model your own numbers against your revenue and catalog size.
Questions about BigCommerce
How does BigCommerce compare to Shopify for B2B?
BigCommerce includes more B2B capability natively, so you assemble less from apps. Shopify has a larger ecosystem, a stronger checkout and an easier hiring market. Which matters more depends on how unusual your requirements are.
Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees?
No. It does not take a percentage on top of your payment gateway, which changes the maths at higher volumes compared with platforms that do.
When would you recommend Adobe Commerce over BigCommerce?
When pricing rules, catalog structure or ERP integration are genuinely complex, or when owning the source matters. Below that threshold the extra cost of Adobe Commerce is hard to justify.
Keep comparing
- Adobe Commerce — Choose it when your pricing rules, catalog structure or ERP data are the actual product. Skip it when they are not, because you will pay for depth you never use.
- Shopify — Choose it when you want to sell quickly and let somebody else own uptime, payments and PCI. Reconsider when your pricing is different for every customer.
- Essential B2B features for any ecommerce platform
- How we work on BigCommerce
Ask AI about BigCommerce
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Tell us what you're building.
Answer a few quick questions about your store and what's holding you back, and we'll come to the call already knowing your setup and where we'd start. We build ecommerce and custom web apps for B2B manufacturers, distributors, and marketplaces, with deep Adobe Commerce and Magento expertise.
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