Find Your Best Ecommerce Fit: BigCommerce Alternatives

As you're shopping around to decide where your ecommerce store should be hosted, you'll probably notice BigCommerce. BigCommerce is a popular ecommerce platform that's been around since 2009; it does offer quite a robust suite of features, but some might find it lacking in certain areas - and it may not be the best fit for you. But never fear - from Fourthwall and Shopify to Prestashop, Volusion, Wix, and WooCommerce, we've got other ecommerce solutions!

Why Consider BigCommerce Alternatives?

Pricing Concerns 

BigCommerce starts with a free plan (you can try it for 15 days before upgrading to a paid plan; paid plans start at $29 per month), and BigCommerce's pricing plans may not fit within the budget of new content creators, smaller businesses or startups. Since BigCommerce uses revenue tiers for how much in online sales you can generate per year on each plan, you may find yourself needing a more expensive BigCommerce plan sooner than you anticipate. Alternative ecommerce platforms may offer more cost-effective solutions.

Feature Limitations

While comprehensive, BigCommerce may not have all the specific features or integrations a business needs to operate efficiently. Their ecommerce platform does offer a drag and drop visual website builder and mobile optimization; but BigCommerce offers no dedicated mobile shopping app, unlike what you might find on a site like Fourthwall, which includes a customized mobile app for free with all of their websites. BigCommerce is also said to not be particularly user-intuitive, and some features are paywalled.

Scalability Issues

As businesses grow, their needs can change. Some might find BigCommerce less adaptable to their evolving requirements; their basic shipping features can be lacking, requiring you to have to find and use a plug-in. Customer service/tech support for shop owners can also reportedly be quite slow.

Customization Needs

Businesses looking for extensive store customization options might find BigCommerce's offerings restrictive; the initial store setup is said to be confusing, especially if you're new to ecommerce.  Editing your themes has been called "tricky," and the store templates/customization options seem to be fairly limited unless you're willing to shell out quite a bit of extra money.

6 BigCommerce Alternatives

Here are six well-known ecommerce platforms that content creators and businesses can consider as alternatives to BigCommerce, each with their own unique features, pricing structures, integrations, and customization options:

Fourthwall

Fourthwall is an ecommerce platform designed for content creators and small businesses. It offers an easy-to-use host of tools, including its own website builder, for creating customizable websites and membership offerings, plus seamless integration with social media and livestreaming platforms. Fourthwall also has special features enabling direct live sales from platforms like Twitch, and integrates with TikTok Shop and YouTube, making it even more ideal for influencers and content creators.

Pros:

• Fourthwall's user-friendly interface is ideal for content creators and small businesses, with full control of your own brand. You can even bring in your own domain name.
  
• Fourthwall offers a large catalog of premium products you can customize and sell to create your own unique merch line. You can additionally sell your own products, sell digital products, and offer services.
• Robust ecommerce tools on Fourthwall including endlessly customizable websites, memberships, a free mobile app included with each website, and a long list of payment options. Oh, and did we mention that Fourthwall sites and shops are free? There are no monthly fees, paid plans, or up front costs.
  
• Seamless integration with social media and livestreaming platforms for direct sales. Fourthwall also handles the customer service for your fans/customers.
  
  

Wix

Wix provides a drag and drop website builder with plenty of customization options, making it easy enough for small businesses to put together visually appealing online stores. Wix features a wide range of templates and an app market for additional functionalities. Founded in 2006, Wix is also known for its affordable pricing plans, although the smallest Wix plans can be limited in features.

Pros:

• Drag-and-drop customizable store/Wix website builder.
  
• Wix does have affordable pricing plans suitable for small businesses to get started for as low as $17 per month; but if you're already hitting 100 Wix store transactions a month, you'll need to bump your plan up to the $36 paid plan.
  
• Wide range of Wix templates and design flexibility.
  

Cons:

• Wix has limited ecommerce functionality compared to other platforms, as you can only use one provider for debit/credit card payments.
  
• Additional costs for premium Wix website features.
  

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open source ecommerce plugin for WordPress, offering high customization with a large selection of plugins and themes. It's a flexible platform that allows businesses to create tailored ecommerce solutions for selling online. While WooCommerce requires some technical knowledge to manage, WooCommerce benefits from strong community support and extensive documentation.

Pros:

• WooCommerce is free to use with WordPress as the website builder, plus customization through plugins and themes; no contracts are required.  WooCommerce sites are also fairly easy to make mobile-friendly.
  
• A vast array of integrations for selling physical products, digital products, and services.
  

Cons:

• WooCommerce sites require some technical knowledge to set up and maintain, and it can be a tough learning curve to do so. Also requires frequent updating.
  
• Additional costs for separate hosting services (paid plans for these can vary) and for premium themes (which typically cost from $35 to over $100); also, WooCommerce only works with WordPress, so if you don't want to learn WordPress, you're out of luck.
  

Shopify

Shopify is an ecommerce platform known for supporting a wide range of businesses of varying sizes and types, including dropshipping. Shopify also offers powerful inventory management and analytics tools. Shopify also offers a big variety of free and premium Shopify store themes in its website builder so you can design your store to mostly suit your needs, although some Shopify store pages are unable to be customized at all without using other programs.

Pros:

• Shopify offers comprehensive ecommerce features with easy setup and management via its ecommerce software.
  
• Large app store for additional website builder functionalities and integrations via Shopify's selection of store apps and plugins.
  
• Good Shopify customer support available 24/7, plus tutorials and other resources for shop owners.
  

Cons:

• Monthly fees can add up; Shopify works on a subscription model, which can cut into your profits; you can try the free plan for 3 days, then the basic paid plan starts at $39. Some of the more desirable premium themes can also cost hundreds of dollars.
  
• Transaction fees are charged in addition to your Shopify subscription plan, unless you opt to use Shopify Payments.

Volusion

Volusion caters to small to mid-sized businesses who are selling online. Its cloud-based ecommerce platform offers built-in SEO tools, marketing features, and a website builder for your store. Volusion provides a selection of design templates and customization options. It can be good for newer businesses looking for easy store expansions, and for those who have some web design knowledge and don't need a lot of assistance.

Pros:

• Fairly simple setup with a user-friendly interface that works with third-party apps; you'll learn most of the features on your own.
  
• Built-in SEO tools and marketing features.
  
• Low transaction fees that are more than competitive with other names in ecommerce.
  

Cons:

• Somewhat limited customization options compared to other platforms.
  
• There's no setup fee, but there's also no long-term free version (you can try it first for 14 days); the most basic paid plan is $29 and only allows a maximum of 100 products.
  
• Volusion's customer service, while it claims to be extensive, gets fairly low marks, especially if you've purchased a lower-level paid plan.

Prestashop

Prestashop is an open source ecommerce platform that stands out because of the simplicity of its daily operations in the running of your ecommerce store. Creating product listings and managing your store are relatively easy, once you get it rolling; the catch is that you'll need some skills in CSS or HTML to customize your store. Prestashop also has some unusual methods of payment and delivery, including the usual credit card/PayPal options, plus PDF invoicing and a choice of shipping or pickup/local delivery.

Pros:

• You can list unlimited products to sell online on Prestashop.
  
• Prestashop offers a selection of strong SEO tools, and also tools for inventory management and marketing, including email and coupon codes.
  

Cons:

• There are no drag and drop interfaces here; customizing your store requires downloading a separate program/app and learning to edit CSS and template files - or hiring a website developer.
  
• You can start on Prestashop for free, but you'll probably need to rapidly shift to a hosted plan (around $26 per month) for actual customer support and ease of use.
  

FAQ

What are the disadvantages of BigCommerce?

Some of the potential disadvantages of BigCommerce include higher pricing plans, limited customization for advanced users, and scalability issues for rapidly growing businesses.

Is Fourthwall better than BigCommerce?

It depends on your needs. Fourthwall is excellent for content creators and small businesses looking for a user-friendly platform with robust ecommerce tools and creative features. BigCommerce might be more suitable for very large, more traditional businesses needing advanced business features.

What is the best alternative to BigCommerce?

There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. The best alternative to BigCommerce depends on your specific requirements, such as budget, free plan benefits vs. paid plan, desired features, and scalability. Shopify and WooCommerce are popular alternatives for more classic business models; Wix and Volusion for those who have time to embark upon a steeper learning curve; and Fourthwall is a top drawer choice for more creative, diverse creators who want lots of options for their store to reflect their brand, without a lot of financial investment.

Fourthwall: Your Ecommerce Solution

Exploring alternative ecommerce platforms can open up new opportunities for businesses to find ecommerce solutions that better fit their needs. Among all of them, Fourthwall stands out as an impressively comprehensive platform, especially for content creators and businesses looking for a creatively customizable way to professionally and effectively monetize their online presence.

With its user-friendly interface, fully branded websites, robust ecommerce tools, dedicated support, and a long list of bonus features, Fourthwall offers a compelling alternative to BigCommerce - make the change and get started on Fourthwall today!