Which platform should you use for your online store: WooCommerce vs BigCommerce? They’re both extremely flexible and powerful eCommerce website builders for store owners.
Despite the fact that WooCommerce and BigCommerce are extremely comparable in terms of general functionality and cost, there are some minor but major variations between them. And in this post, we’ll go over these distinctions in depth to help you pick the best platform for your company.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce, which began as a hosted solution for creating online stores in 2009, has now evolved into a competitive rival in the eCommerce space. With many of its built-in features, data tools, and other tools, it is recognized to have successfully hosted numerous fast-growing organizations.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of BigCommerce?
Pros
- It’s simple to set up and maintain your store. Because BigCommerce is a fully hosted platform, you won’t have to worry about hosting or managing updates.
- BigCommerce comes with a lot of built-in capabilities that go above and beyond conventional features to help you develop and thrive rapidly without additional cost. You’ll gain more sophisticated features if you pick a higher plan.>
- It will provide you with passionate assistance as part of your monthly subscription. Contacting assistance through phone, email, or live chat are all options.
Cons
- Annual sales limit: BigCommerce places a limit on your total annual sales. To go beyond that limit, you’ll need to switch to a higher monthly plan.
- Lack of design flexibility: BigCommerce offers a variety of free and paid themes to choose from. BigCommerce themes, on the other hand, are undeniably too identical in many situations. It also can’t use HTML or CSS editors to alter themes.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress that was created by WooThemes developers in 2011. It may assist you in swiftly converting a WordPress website into a fully working online store. The platform is seen to be an ideal option for organizations of all sizes, from tiny merchants to major corporations.
So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of WooCommerce?
Advantages
- High level of design flexibility: WooCommerce themes may be customized to a significant extent. However, you’ll need certain technical abilities, such as the ability to utilize HTML/CSS editors, to get the most out of them. Even if you aren’t tech-savvy, WordPress page builders can help you create outstanding WooCommerce businesses.
- A massive library of third-party plugins: WooCommerce is based on WordPress, the most robust content management system available. As a result, customers may make use of large plugin collections from both WordPress and WooCommerce stores, as well as other plugin websites.
Disadvantages
- Limited support: WooCommerce has a strong user and development community. But it doesn’t imply you’ll get aid right away if you have a problem. You must independently search documentation sites or community sites for related topics.
- Technical expertise is required=: WooCommerce has a higher learning curve since it requires technical skills to effectively utilize the platform.
Key differences between BigCommerce vs WooCommerce
1. Ease of use
BigCommerce
It’s simple to set up your eCommerce business and run with BigCommerce. You don’t need to set up hosting or install any software to get started because it’s a fully hosted platform. The same thing happens when it comes to security and software upgrades. The interface of BigCommerce is simple, with a vertical menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
BigCommerce’s terminologies may cause some confusion for newcomers. When completing basic actions like adding a product, you may need a lot of help from Google to comprehend all the terms.
If you want to have a deeper understanding of BigCommerce, you can access our BigCommerce tutorial here
WooCommerce
On the other hand, getting started with WooCommerce might be a little more difficult. Users that have a certain amount of technical knowledge will benefit from the platform.
You’ll be responsible for tasks such as domain registration, web hosting, and security certificates on your own. As a result, having some strong IT abilities will go a long way toward getting your online business up and operating.
2. Design
BigCommerce
A well-designed and attractive storefront would create a lasting impression on visitors. BigCommerce now has 12 free themes and over 100 premium themes accessible in their theme store
The cost of premium themes ranges from $145 to $235, which is rather pricey when compared to alternative hosted options. Furthermore, BigCommerce themes are very identical to one another.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce, on the other hand, is a WordPress plugin that benefits from the CMS, therefore developers have worked hard to make WooCommerce compatible with WordPress themes. Themeforestand WooCommerce themes store have thousands of free and premium WooCommerce themes.
It’s true to say that WooCommerce is the most configurable eCommerce platform with themes. Not only are WooCommerce themes less expensive than BigCommerce themes, but they’re also more customizable. You can customize your themes with the WooCommerce HTML/CSS editor.
3. eCommerce features
BigCommerce
Here are a handful of BigCommerce’s most important sales features:
- Multi-channel Integration: You may sell your items straight from your website on other platforms such as Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.
- Cart abandonment alerts: When consumers leave products in their cart without checking out, email reminders are delivered to them automatically.
- Analytical Tracking and Reporting Tools: Sessions, sales, and email campaigns may all be used to track and report on the success of your site.Setting shipping rates: You have complete control over the costs of transporting things from one location to another.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce offers a lot fewer options than BigCommerce. Nonetheless, WooCommerce has the following cutting-edge features:
- Blogging features: From the WordPress Admin dashboard, you can establish a blog for WooCommerce by adding a post.
- WooCommerce Analytics lets you keep track of your sales, orders, goods, categories, discounts, taxes, downloads, and stock.
- Customers may obtain money back for returns in a few seconds using one-click refunds/li>
4. Payment gateways
Online shops that use numerous payment channels and are adaptable may sell to a wide range of clients in a variety of nations. Both BigCommerce and WooCommerce can handle all of your payment gateway needs.
BigCommerce
You may pick from over 65 pre-integrated payment gatewayswith BigCommerce. PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay are among the big names on the list. It’s even better to know that when you use third-party payment solutions, BigCommerce doesn’t charge you a transaction fee.
You may pick appropriate payment gateways for your shop on purpose. If you neglect to put one up, BigCommerce will use the payment gateways that are accessible to you based on the country and currency of your store.
WooCommerce payment gateways
If you pick WooCommerce, you will have access to the WooCommerce store’s 100+ payment gateways. It’s fantastic to know that WooCommerce works with major payment processors like PayPal and Stripe by default.
WooCommerce also has its own payment gateway that is only available to WooCommerce stores. This payment plugin is available for download for free, and there are no setup or ongoing costs. You’ll be able to securely accept major credit and debit cards using WooCommerce Payments. It can even help you enhance conversions by allowing clients to check out without having to leave your site.
5. Apps & plugins
Adding applications and plugins to an eCommerce platform helps fill in the gaps left by a restricted range of functionality. Both BigCommerce and WooCommerce can now completely satisfy their consumers with vast libraries of applications and plugins.
BigCommerce
There are 800+ BigCommerce apps to help you add powerful features to your store. It categorizes apps intomultiple essential categories. Some of which include Analytics, Marketing, and Payment as the most popular for purchases.>
WooCommerce
WooCommerce, in comparison to BigCommerce, offers a greater number and variety of plugin options for expanding functionality. WordPress is a terrific open-source platform since it allows you access to over 55.000 free plugins and hundreds of commercial plugins. These plugins are available on the WordPress.org plugin repository, the WooCommerce official website, and other plugin websites. WooCommerce plugins provide a wide range of functions, including store management, shipping, and WooCommerce payment, among others.
6. SEO
If you want to thrive in your internet business, you must invest in SEO and marketing. What would happen if you had the finest items in the world but didn’t know how to promote them on SERPs? Fortunately, whether you select BigCommerce or WooCommerce, you’ll have access to sophisticated SEO and marketing tools to help you grow your business
BigCommerce SEO
You’ll be able to do things like update the meta title and description, customize URL slugs, add alt text, and obtain keyword support with BigCommerce. It’s helpful to know that BigCommerce comes with an SSL certificate that helps search engines check your website’s security.
BigCommerce also offers the Microdata tool, which allows you to display more information about your website in search results, thereby increasing click-through rates.
BigCommerce SEO tools that can help you boost your SEO performance include FavSEO, ReloadSEO, and ProSEOTracker.
WooCommerce SEO
WooCommerce, like BigCommerce, allows you to tweak URL slugs, edit meta titles/descriptions, and add picture alt text. Because search engines place a high value on the amount and quality of links leading to your site, blogging may be an excellent strategy to supplement your SEO efforts.
It’s fantastic to learn that WooCommerce inherits WordPress’s excellent blogging capability. From the WordPress Admin dashboard, you can quickly create a blog by adding a post.
Unlike BigCommerce, you will have to get an SSL certificate for your store. WooCommerce, on the other hand, unquestionably wins the competition when it comes to SEO plugins. Yoast SEO has to be the most popular SEO plugin for WooCommerce, with a premium edition costing $89 per year.
7. Support
BigCommerce
BigCommerce offers exceptional support as a fully hosted platform. You may contact customer service by phone, email, or live chat straight from the dashboard. They also provide a user community where you can talk about any issue or intriguing topic.
Remember that BigCommerce provides 24/7 support so you can ask your queries whenever you want. What’s more, BigCommerce built the Help Center, which has documentation for users of all levels, from beginners to experts, non-techies to developers.
WooCommerce Support
WooCommerce, on the other hand, offers little to no human service and relies heavily on the WooCommerce Docs. Tickets can be used to obtain assistance from their creators. WooCommerce, in particular, has a large user and developer community, as a result, you may get assistance from them at any moment.
8. Security
BigCommerce Security
BigCommerce is preferred by the general public for security. As a fully hosted platform, BigCommerce will take care of security as part of your monthly fee. The SSL certificate, on the other hand, not only provides SEO benefits but also offers the greatest degree of website security. As I previously stated, BigCommerce has the upper hand when it comes to providing SSL certificates as part of every plan.
BigCommerce servers are PCI DSS 3.2 certified at level 1, which protects against credit card data breaches, in order to safeguard payment card transactions. This will save you a lot of money and time by allowing you to handle compliance on your own. BigCommerce also provides tools to help you avoid fraudulent purchases and improve your security.
WooCommerce Security
On the other side, you are responsible for the majority of WooCommerce’s security. First and foremost, before beginning your WooCommerce business, you need carefully select your hosting provider. Not to mention, WooCommerce hosting is the primary security mechanism in the event of an attack.
You should continuously update WooCommerce to the latest versions to acquire security fixes and address bugs. It’s important to remember that backing up your WooCommerce store is required before updating. If something goes wrong, you can easily revert to the previous WooCommerce version.
WooCommerce has some good news in that it allows you to set up two-factor authentication. This function helps to enforce access to your website and is especially useful when your password gets into the wrong hands. Unlike BigCommerce, WooCommerce users usually have to pay for SSL certificate providers.
You will be responsible for PCI compliance if you use WooCommerce, although you can get help with that. Follow the WooCommerce Docs to learn about the PCI compliance requirements for your website. WooCommerce also has security plugins to help you secure every aspect of your online business.
Conclusion
Finally, we’ve covered all you need to know about the WooCommerce vs BigCommerce competition. BigCommerce can help you develop rapidly, but it will inevitably cost you too much money to extend your business at some time in the future. That’s when you can count on WooCommerce to help you grow your business while keeping your costs in check. If you want to set up your online business on BigCommerce platform, our BigCommerce development services are the best choice for you. With over 15 years of experience, Magesolution has helped thousands of companies establish their online stores on numerous eCommerce platforms. Don’t hesitate to CONTACT US for a free quotation!
