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By Jason Feng, Founder & Researcher. See how this review was researched.
Quick answer
BigCommerce and Shopify publish the same subscription numbers for their first three tiers: $39, $105, and $399 a month, or $29, $79, and $299 billed yearly. The plans are governed differently. BigCommerce caps each tier by trailing twelve-month GMV and moves you up automatically when you cross $30,000 or $100,000. Shopify publishes no revenue ceiling at all. BigCommerce also charges no platform cut on orders handled by its embedded payment providers, while Shopify charges 2% down to 0.2% when you use an outside processor. At $150,000 in annual sales, Shopify comes out roughly $2,900 a year cheaper.
Table of contents
- What each platform publishes for the software
- The GMV ladder, and why it decides your plan
- GMV is not your gross sales
- The fee that replaces a platform cut
- The same revenue on both platforms
- The limits neither pricing page will price for you
- Our verdict
- How we researched this
- Sources
What each platform publishes for the software
Read one plan name and you’d think the two vendors copied each other’s homework. Read the caps and the payment clause underneath, and they stop looking alike.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Published GMV ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| BigCommerce Core | $39/mo | $29/mo | $30K trailing-12-month GMV |
| BigCommerce Growth | $105/mo | $79/mo | $100K trailing-12-month GMV |
| BigCommerce Scale | $399/mo | $299/mo | $33,333/month GMV, then a 0.9% overage rate |
| BigCommerce Performance | Not published | Starts at $1,499/mo, annual | Contract-based |
| Shopify Basic | $39/mo | $29/mo | None published |
| Shopify Grow | $105/mo | $79/mo | None published |
| Shopify Advanced | $399/mo | $299/mo | None published |
| Shopify Plus | From $2,300/mo | Not published | None published |
Both pages were read on 2026-09-24 from a US exit IP with an en-US locale, because vendor pricing varies by region. BigCommerce’s own site is explicit that the prices are in US dollars and exclude tax, including US sales tax. So the sticker price you see in a search result is not necessarily the invoice you get.
Here’s the part that matters. BigCommerce’s Core column says "New businesses with up to $30K in annual sales," and Growth says "scaling toward $100K." Those are not descriptions. They are the terms, and the plan changes itself when you pass them. Shopify’s page carries no equivalent sentence on any tier, and I searched the full page text for any revenue threshold language and found none.
If you want the three-way view including WooCommerce, our Shopify vs WooCommerce vs BigCommerce pricing comparison models the same cost lines side by side.
The GMV ladder, and why it decides your plan
This is the single biggest structural difference in this comparison, so it’s worth walking through slowly.
| Your position | BigCommerce | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Under $30K trailing-12-month GMV | Core, $29/mo billed yearly | Basic, $29/mo billed yearly |
| Above $30K, under $100K | Auto-upgrades to Growth, $79/mo billed yearly | Basic, unchanged, $29/mo billed yearly |
| Above $100K | Auto-upgrades to Scale, $299/mo billed yearly | Basic or Grow, by choice, from $29/mo |
| Monthly GMV above $33,333 on Scale | 0.9% overage on the amount above the cap | No monthly cap published |
| Trailing-12-month GMV above $2M | Auto-upgrade to Performance, contract pricing | No published trigger |
Two mechanisms are stacked here. Below Scale, the cap is a wall: cross $30K or $100K on a trailing-twelve-month basis and your plan moves to the next tier whether or not you wanted its features. BigCommerce’s FAQ describes the mechanics plainly. Growth "gives you room to scale up to $100K in GMV." Past that, Scale starts, and it has a monthly cap instead of a wall, with a 0.9% overage rate on GMV above $33,333 a month. On the pricing page the same clause is described as "no tier jumps, no block charges."
So a store doing $150,000 a year in gross sales is measured on roughly $135,000 of GMV, which is over Growth’s ceiling and lands it on Scale at $299 a month billed yearly. The same store on Shopify can sit on Grow at $79 a month billed yearly all year. That $220 a month gap is not a feature difference. It’s a threshold difference, and it’s the reason the identical headline prices don’t stay identical.
The Scale overage is gentler than it sounds, and the arithmetic is easy. At $500,000 a year in gross sales, monthly GMV runs about $37,500 against the $33,333 cap. The excess is roughly $4,167 a month, and 0.9% of that is about $37.50 a month, or $450 a year, on top of the subscription. The trap is the trailing-twelve-month window. A strong fourth quarter can pull the annual figure over $2M, at which point the account is moved to Performance, where pricing is quoted from $1,499 a month billed annually and the plan is contract-based.
One detail that surprised me: BigCommerce says a store can request a higher plan without meeting the volume threshold, but the reverse is not automatic. The FAQ tells merchants whose sales have dropped sharply to call the billing team. Growth is enforced by a threshold, and shrinking back down is a conversation.
GMV is not your gross sales
BigCommerce defines GMV as gross order value minus 10%, and the pricing page states the gap openly: "This number may differ from what you track in your own records. That difference is expected, not an error."
That 10% haircut works in your favor at the threshold and gets eaten back on the overage. The other half of the definition works against you. Eligible sales include the product price net of discounts, plus taxes and shipping, and orders from Pinterest, Facebook, eBay, and Amazon count toward the trailing-twelve-month total. Exchange rates are applied at the time of each order for non-USD sales.
Practical result: if you sell heavy items with real shipping costs, your measured GMV includes money you collected on behalf of a carrier. The 10% reduction absorbs some of it. Whether it absorbs all of it depends on your margins, and I’m not going to pretend a single percentage answers that for every catalog.
The mechanism that catches people is the notification timing, not the definition. Upgrades happen at the start of the next service period, and the FAQ says you’re notified in advance. On a monthly plan that’s weeks. On an annual plan the move happens at the start of your next annual term, which means a single quarter of unusual volume can set your platform cost for the following twelve months.
Shopify avoids this class of problem entirely by not metering revenue. That is a real advantage, and it’s also why Shopify can raise plan prices at will without renegotiating a threshold with you. Shopify did exactly that in recent years. Its published entry promotion on 2026-09-24 is three days free, then $1 a month for three months.
The fee that replaces a platform cut
The BigCommerce selling point you’ll read most often is that it takes no cut of your sales. That’s true, with one qualification that the pricing page spells out but the marketing copy tends not to.
BigCommerce charges an Open Payment Provider Fee on its self-service plans: 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth, and 0.6% on Scale. It applies to order GMV routed through a processor that isn’t on BigCommerce’s embedded list. Orders through an embedded provider pay nothing extra. Shopify runs the mirror-image arrangement, charging a third-party transaction fee when you don’t use Shopify Payments.
| Payment route | BigCommerce | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| In-house or embedded provider | $0 fee. Embedded list includes BigCommerce Payments, Stripe, PayPal Braintree, Adyen, Checkout.com, Klarna, Affirm, and others | $0 fee only when using Shopify Payments |
| Outside processor, entry tier | 2.0% (Core) | 2% (Basic) |
| Outside processor, mid tier | 1.0% (Growth) | 1% (Grow) |
| Outside processor, high tier | 0.6% (Scale) | 0.6% (Advanced) |
| Outside processor, top tier | 0.0% with a contract (Performance) | 0.2% (Plus) |
| Published card rate | Starts at 2.89% + $0.29 per transaction, US businesses only | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow, 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced, 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus |
| Amex | 3.50% standard online rate, no fixed fee | Not published separately |
The embedded provider list is the detail that decides this. Both Stripe and PayPal Braintree are on it. A BigCommerce merchant who runs Stripe pays no Open Payment Provider Fee at all, at any level, because no fee applies to embedded providers. On Shopify, using Stripe means Shopify Payments is switched off, and the third-party transaction fee applies instead, starting at 2% on Basic. That is the honest version of the "no platform cut" claim, and it holds up.
Two caveats, both published. The BigCommerce card rate requires the business to be US-based, and the negotiated PayPal Braintree rate runs through an application that "does not guarantee approval." Shopify states that Shopify Payments "is available only in certain countries," so if your business is based somewhere it doesn’t operate, the third-party fee isn’t optional.
Another quiet line on the Shopify page: 50 synced marketplace orders a month are free, and orders above that carry 1% up to $99 a month, on every tier including Plus. BigCommerce doesn’t meter marketplace order syncing this way on its pricing page.
The same revenue on both platforms
Here’s the part most comparisons skip. Same store, same revenue, both platforms, annual billing, using each platform’s own payment path, and 4,000 orders a year at a $100 average order value.
| Annual gross sales | BigCommerce total | Shopify total | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 (600 orders) | Growth: $948 plan + $1,908 processing = $2,856 | Basic: $348 plan + $1,920 processing = $2,268 | Shopify lower by ~$588 |
| $150,000 (1,500 orders) | Scale: $3,588 plan + $4,770 processing = $8,358 | Grow: $948 plan + $4,500 processing = $5,448 | Shopify lower by ~$2,910 |
| $400,000 (4,000 orders) | Scale: $3,588 plan + $12,720 processing = $16,308 | Grow: $948 plan + $12,000 processing = $12,948 | Shopify lower by ~$3,360 |
The plan line is where the whole gap comes from. At $150,000 and $400,000, BigCommerce moves the store to Scale while Shopify keeps it on Grow, and Scale costs $3,588 a year against Grow’s $948. BigCommerce’s processing rate of 2.89% plus 29¢ is also slightly worse than Grow’s 2.7% plus 30¢ at this order size, so the percentage side doesn’t recover the difference. At $400,000, the monthly GMV of roughly $30,000 stays just under Scale’s $33,333 cap, so no overage applies. Push past it and the 0.9% starts adding to the Scale number.
Now flip one variable. Keep $400,000 in sales but use an outside processor on both, with Shopify’s Advanced plan at $299 a month billed yearly:
| Cost line at $400,000 with an outside processor | BigCommerce Scale | Shopify Advanced |
|---|---|---|
| Plan, billed yearly | $3,588 | $3,588 |
| Platform fee on outside processing | $0 if the provider is embedded, $2,400 at 0.6% if not | $2,400 at 0.6% |
If you run Stripe or PayPal Braintree, BigCommerce takes nothing and the fee is $2,400 cheaper. If your processor isn’t on BigCommerce’s embedded list, the two platforms charge the same 0.6% and the advantage disappears. This is the whole argument in one row, and it depends entirely on which processor you already use.
The limits neither pricing page will price for you
BigCommerce’s comparison table has a row labeled "Products, file storage, and bandwidth." Every plan column in that row renders as a checkmark, with no numeric ceiling attached.
[DATA NOT VERIFIED: BigCommerce does not publish per-plan product, file storage, or bandwidth limits as numbers on its pricing page, and the row renders as availability marks only. Treat any specific SKU or storage figure you see quoted elsewhere as unattributed until BigCommerce states it.]
Shopify is no better on this point. Its pricing page mentions unlimited web hosting, but it doesn’t publish product, file storage, or bandwidth ceilings either. The one storage-adjacent number on either page is a marketing-integration limit: Feedonomics Surface is free for up to 100,000 SKUs, which is a feed tool, not a store limit.
The FAQ adds a hint without a number. It says that on "higher tiers like Scale and Performance, there are no abrupt jumps or block charges," and that a continuous overage rate applies to orders above your plan’s limit, described as "GMV or orders."
[DATA NOT VERIFIED: that FAQ sentence implies order-count limits exist on at least some plans, but no order ceiling is published on either the pricing page or the FAQ.]
Two numbers that are published, and both are easy to miss. Multi-storefront add-ons cost $30 a month on Core (max 3), $50 on Growth (max 5), and $100 on Scale (max 8). API call limits are 20,000 an hour on Core and Growth and 60,000 an hour on Scale, which matters if you run integrations or a headless front end. Neither platform charges a setup fee, and Core, Growth, and Scale carry no contract.
If product count is your deciding factor, read the Shopify alternatives comparison before you commit, since catalog ceilings are where mid-size platforms differ most. And if you’re comparing a different pair entirely, our Squarespace vs Shopify pricing breakdown covers how annual billing discounts hide a higher entry cost.
Our verdict
BigCommerce is not more expensive than Shopify because of what it charges. It’s more expensive because of when it moves you. The GMV ladder makes the plan change for you at $30,000 and $100,000 of trailing-twelve-month GMV, and Scale costs $3,588 a year against Grow’s $948. At $150,000 in sales that’s a $2,910 annual gap, and the identical $29/$79/$299 headline prices don’t tell you anything about it.
Pick BigCommerce if you run Stripe or PayPal Braintree and expect to sell well past $400,000 a year, because the $0 fee on embedded providers beats Shopify’s third-party transaction fee at the same revenue. Pick Shopify if your sales are growing faster than your tolerance for plan changes, because it publishes no revenue ceiling and won’t upgrade you twice on the way from $20,000 to $150,000.
If you’re somewhere between $30,000 and $100,000 in annual sales and already using an embedded provider, BigCommerce Growth and Shopify Grow cost the same $79 a month billed yearly, and the decision is features rather than money. Above $100,000, model your own numbers, but model them on GMV after the 10% reduction rather than on your revenue report.
How we researched this
- This is a research-based review. Every figure comes from the vendors’ own published pricing pages and FAQ pages, which we link and date below.
- We captured the BigCommerce and Shopify pricing pages on 2026-09-24 through a US exit IP with an
en-USlocale. Both vendors serve region-specific pricing, so every figure here is the US version. - Plan prices, GMV thresholds, overage rates, provider fees, and card rates come from the vendors’ own feature tables, plan cards, and FAQ text, not from marketing summaries.
- Where a vendor doesn’t publish a number, we mark it as unverified instead of estimating. Where two sources from the same vendor disagree, we say so.
- Our full methodology, including how we handle vendor-reported figures, is on the how we research page.
Sources
- https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/ (accessed 2026-09-24)
- https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/faq/ (accessed 2026-09-24)
- https://www.shopify.com/pricing (accessed 2026-09-24)