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| Short answer: Should you choose WooCommerce or BigCommerce for your business?
● Stay on BigCommerce if: your store fits its themes and apps, you use its built-in payments, and you’d rather not manage hosting or updates. ● Look at WooCommerce if: sales-based fees keep growing, you need B2B pricing or checkout flows BigCommerce can’t fit, you sell courses alongside products, or your integrations sync often. ● Choosing for the first time: start from what you’re outgrowing. BigCommerce is the simpler start if your needs fit its themes and apps and nobody will manage hosting. WooCommerce fits better if you plan B2B pricing, a custom checkout or courses, or already work with a WordPress team. ● What changed in 2026: BigCommerce’s Scale plan charges 0.9% on sales above a monthly cap, and stores move to custom Performance pricing once yearly sales reach $2 million. |
If you are on BigCommerce, the renewal notice will look different this year.
The plan you’re on now takes a percentage of every sale above a monthly cap. Use your own payment processor, and a second fee appears on the invoice.
Keep growing, and the platform moves you to its enterprise plan automatically, with pricing you negotiate after the move.
None of that was in the numbers when you picked BigCommerce as a smaller store. Now your finance person is asking why platform costs rise every time sales do.
We’ve seen this change push many store owners to ask whether it’s time to move. Some should. Others are better off staying and fixing what’s slowing them down.
If you don’t have a store platform yet and you’re choosing between the two, the same comparison applies. You’re picking the costs and limits you’ll live with as you grow, instead of the ones you’d leave behind.
This comparison covers what each platform means for a $200K to $1M+ store, where each one stops fitting, and what a move would take. It draws on the migrations our WooCommerce migration team runs.
First, a quick look at how the two platforms differ.
How WooCommerce and BigCommerce are built differently
| In short:
BigCommerce is a hosted platform you rent, while WooCommerce is an open-source plugin that runs on your own WordPress site. ● BigCommerce: hosting, security and updates are handled for you, within its plans and limits. ● WooCommerce: you control the code, data and checkout, and you’re responsible for hosting and upkeep. ● The choice: convenience and predictable setup on one side, control and flexibility on the other. |
Here’s how the two compare side by side.
| BigCommerce | WooCommerce | |
| What it is | A hosted ecommerce platform you rent each month | A free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress site into a store |
| Hosting, security and updates | Handled by BigCommerce | Handled by you or your provider, on hosting you choose |
| How you pay | A monthly plan tied to your online sales, with higher plans adding features and limits | Hosting, extensions (many paid yearly) and upkeep, with no sales-based platform fee |
| Code and data | You customize through themes, apps and BigCommerce’s APIs | You own the code and the database |
| B2B | Built-in tools such as account pricing, quotes and approvals | Extensions or custom development |
| Courses and content | Usually through third-party apps or a separate platform | Runs alongside WordPress course plugins, membership tools and content |
If you’re choosing for the first time
If you don’t have a store yet, or you’re moving off a marketplace like Etsy or Amazon, a site builder or a course platform, start from what you’re outgrowing:
● Outgrowing a marketplace: you want your own customer list and lower fees. BigCommerce gets you live fastest if nobody will manage hosting. WooCommerce suits you if you plan wholesale pricing or a custom checkout from the start.
● Outgrowing a site builder: you need real ecommerce features. BigCommerce covers the standard ones out of the box. WooCommerce makes more sense if your site already runs on WordPress.
● Outgrowing a course platform: you want to sell products and courses together. WooCommerce with a course plugin such as LearnDash runs both on one site and checkout. On BigCommerce, courses stay on a separate platform.
Either way, test the cost section below against the sales you plan for the next two years, not just today’s.
| Section recap
● BigCommerce trades control for convenience, with pricing tied to sales. ● WooCommerce trades convenience for control, with hosting and upkeep on your side. ● Choosing for the first time: decide based on what you’re outgrowing and where you’ll be in two years. Next steps ● Note which of the two trade-offs matters more to your team today. ● List what you currently pay BigCommerce, its apps and any agency each month. |
Whether you’re choosing or switching, cost is the next thing to compare, and BigCommerce changed how it charges this year.
What BigCommerce or WooCommerce will cost as your store grows
| In short:
BigCommerce’s 2026 plans charge more as your sales grow, while WooCommerce costs come from hosting, extensions and upkeep. ● BigCommerce: a plan fee, 0.9% on sales above the Scale plan’s monthly cap, and a fee if you use your own payment processor. ● WooCommerce: a free core plugin, paid extensions, hosting and someone to look after the store. ● Your next step: compare your own invoices line by line, including agency and app costs on both sides. |
Start with BigCommerce, since its pricing changed the most this year.
What BigCommerce charges in 2026
According to BigCommerce’s pricing page, plans are tied to GMV (gross merchandise value, the total value of everything your store sells). BigCommerce counts it as gross order value minus 10% over the last 12 months:
| Plan | Price on annual billing | Sales limit | Above the limit |
| Core | $29 a month | Up to $30K yearly GMV | Moves up to Growth |
| Growth | $79 a month | Up to $100K yearly GMV | Moves up to Scale |
| Scale | $299 a month | Up to $33,333 GMV a month | 0.9% on GMV above the cap |
| Performance | Custom, from $1,499 a month | Custom cap | Stores move here once yearly GMV reaches $2 million |
There’s a second fee to check.
BigCommerce’s embedded payment providers carry no extra fee.
Using your own processor adds an “Open Payment Provider Fee”: 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth, 0.6% on Scale, and 0% on Performance with a contract.
At your size: most stores in this band sit on Scale. That means three things:
● The 0.9% overage applies once monthly sales pass the cap.
● The payment fee applies if you kept your own processor.
● The move to Performance arrives as you approach $2 million.
WooCommerce costs work differently, because nothing is tied to your sales.
What WooCommerce costs
WooCommerce itself is free. The costs come from what you add around it:
● Hosting: priced by your host, based on traffic and support level.
● Extensions: priced per extension, usually yearly. On woocommerce.com, for example, WooCommerce Subscriptions is $279 a year and AutomateWoo is $159 a year, while WooCommerce Shipping is free for US stores.
● Upkeep: someone to update, monitor and fix the store. Our website management plans run from $999 a month for 15 hours, to $1,499 for 30 hours and $3,499 for 80 hours.
● Payments: your processor’s own rates, with no platform fee on top.
At your size: a growing store on either platform usually pays someone to look after it, whether that’s a BigCommerce agency or a WordPress team. Leave that cost out of one side and the comparison is off.
Neither list means much on its own, so the next step is putting your own numbers side by side.
How to compare your own costs
Use your own invoices for this comparison:
1. BigCommerce side: your plan fee, any overage line, any Open Payment Provider Fee, every app subscription, and your agency or developer costs.
2. WooCommerce side: a hosting quote, the extensions you’d need, a monthly upkeep plan, and a one-time migration quote.
3. Look ahead: check how close your yearly GMV is to $2 million, since the move to Performance changes the BigCommerce side.
An outdoor gear store reading its new invoices ran into this.
| Example: the $850K outdoor gear store that couldn’t forecast its platform costs
The situation: You sell camping and outdoor gear on BigCommerce Scale at about $850K a year, with Stripe as your processor. You also pay a BigCommerce agency each month for theme changes and app fixes. The problem: ● Your platform bill now grows with every sale. The overage and Open Payment Provider Fee lines are biggest in your busiest months, when margins are already tight. ● Your finance lead can’t build next year’s budget, because platform costs move with sales instead of staying fixed. ● You’re paying twice to stand still: fees that rise with growth, plus agency hours just to keep themes and apps working. ● Sales are heading toward $2 million, and the move to Performance means a price you’ll only negotiate once you get there. The fix: Compare both platforms on real numbers before the next renewal. ● BigCommerce side: every fee line from the last 12 months, plus agency and app costs. ● WooCommerce side: a hosting quote, an extension list, a monthly upkeep plan and a migration quote. ● Timing: any move planned for the quiet months after peak season, ahead of the Performance threshold. The outcome: Your finance lead gets a cost forecast that doesn’t move with every sale, and the decision rests on your own invoices. |
| Section recap
● BigCommerce now charges on sales volume, with an extra fee for your own processor and an automatic move to Performance at $2 million in yearly GMV. ● WooCommerce costs come from hosting, extensions and upkeep, so compare both sides with agency and app costs included. Next steps ● Pull 12 months of BigCommerce invoices and highlight every fee tied to sales. ● Ask for a hosting quote, an extension list and an upkeep plan for the WooCommerce side. |
Cost is only half the decision. The other half is what each platform lets you build.
Comparing BigCommerce Vs WooCommerce: Customization, B2B, checkout and courses
| In short:
BigCommerce covers a lot out of the box, while WooCommerce lets you change almost anything, with more upkeep. ● Customization and checkout: BigCommerce works within its framework, while WooCommerce gives full code and checkout access. ● B2B: BigCommerce has built-in B2B tools, while WooCommerce uses extensions or custom builds. ● Integrations and courses: WooCommerce has no platform API cap and runs alongside WordPress course and membership plugins. |
Here’s how the two platforms compare on what you can build.
| Area | BigCommerce | WooCommerce |
| Hosting and updates | Handled by BigCommerce | Handled by you or your provider |
| Theme and code | Themes and apps within BigCommerce’s framework | Full access to code, database and server |
| Checkout | Standard checkout, or a custom one built on BigCommerce’s Checkout SDK | Fully editable checkout |
| B2B | Account pricing, buyer portals, quotes and approvals built in | Extensions such as customer-specific pricing, or custom builds |
| API limits | 450 requests per 30 seconds on Scale, 150 on Core and Growth | Set by your hosting, with no platform cap |
| Online courses | Through third-party apps or a separate course platform | WordPress course plugins on the same site and checkout |
The table gives the headline. Here’s what each row means for a store your size, starting with checkout.
Customization and checkout
At your size: most stores hit the limits through new offers. A bundle with custom pricing rules, a subscription with a gift option, or a delivery date picker at checkout often needs code a hosted platform only allows through apps.
BigCommerce lets developers build a custom checkout with its Checkout SDK, which still runs within BigCommerce. On WooCommerce, checkout is part of your own site, so any change is possible with development time, and every change needs someone to keep it working through updates.
B2B features
At your size: wholesale usually starts with a few accounts on a discount code, then grows into price lists, net terms and quote requests.
BigCommerce’s B2B platform page lists account pricing, buyer portals, quote workflows and approval controls as built in. Check which plan includes them for your store.
WooCommerce gets there through extensions, such as our own customer-specific pricing extension, or through custom work for quotes and approvals.
Integrations
At your size: an ERP, a 3PL, an email platform and a review tool can all be syncing with the store at once, and peak season multiplies the traffic between them.
BigCommerce’s API rate limits are 450 requests every 30 seconds on Scale and 150 on Core and Growth. On WooCommerce, limits depend on your hosting, so heavy syncs can be scheduled and sized to your server.
Selling courses alongside products
At your size: many brands add online courses, workshops or memberships to their product range. On BigCommerce, that usually means a separate course platform with its own checkout and customer list.
WooCommerce runs on WordPress, so course plugins such as LearnDash can share the same site, accounts and checkout. A customer can buy a kit and its matching course in one order.
For a brand selling to both cafes and consumers, the B2B and integration limits came first.
| Example: the $900K coffee roaster selling to cafes and consumers
The situation: You roast and sell coffee at about $900K a year. Most sales go to consumers, but about 120 cafe accounts now buy wholesale, and that side is growing. The problem: ● Each cafe’s price list and net-30 terms live in a spreadsheet, so every wholesale order is priced by hand and mistakes reach invoices. ● Your operations manager loses Monday mornings fixing orders entered at the wrong price, instead of running the roastery. ● Consumers can subscribe, but cafes can’t set up standing weekly orders, so your team re-keys them every week. ● During holiday peaks, the inventory sync with your ERP falls behind, stock goes out of date for hours, and best-selling roasts get oversold. The fix: Map each need to both platforms before choosing. ● B2B: check which BigCommerce plan includes its B2B tools, against WooCommerce with customer-specific pricing and a custom net-terms flow. ● Ordering: standing cafe orders set up as subscriptions with account pricing. ● Integrations: the ERP sync scheduled and queued on your own hosting. The outcome: Cafe pricing moves out of the spreadsheet, Monday mornings go back to running the roastery, and both channels run from one store. |
A craft brand that added courses ran into a different limit.
| Example: the $500K craft supplies brand selling kits and video courses
The situation: You sell embroidery and knitting kits on BigCommerce at about $500K a year, and you recently started selling video courses on a separate course platform. The problem: ● Customers buy a kit on one site and its course on another, with two logins and two checkouts, and some give up halfway. ● You can’t sell a kit-plus-course bundle at one price, though it’s the offer customers ask for most. ● Your email list is split between the two platforms, so each launch reaches only half your customers. ● Course students who want supplies have to start over on the store, so repeat kit sales leak away. The fix: Move the store and the courses to one WooCommerce site. ● Courses: a WordPress course plugin such as LearnDash, connected to WooCommerce checkout. ● Bundles: kit-plus-course products sold in one order. ● Accounts: one customer account for orders, course progress and email preferences. The outcome: Customers buy kits and courses together, launches reach your whole list, and course students come back to buy supplies without starting over. |
| Section recap
● BigCommerce suits stores that fit its framework, including B2B stores on plans that include its B2B tools. ● WooCommerce suits stores that need custom checkout, custom B2B flows, heavy integrations or courses alongside products. Next steps ● List the three features you’ve asked for and couldn’t get on your current platform. ● Count how many systems sync with your store, and whether you sell, or plan to sell, courses. |
With cost and features side by side, you can score your own store.
See what moving your store would involve
We map your catalog, customers, orders, subscriptions and URLs, and test everything on staging before your store switches over.
Score your store: stay on BigCommerce or move?
| In short:
Score six questions, add up your points, then follow the next actions for your band. ● 0 to 4 points: stay on BigCommerce and score again next year. ● 5 to 8 points: compare both platforms on your own invoices and quotes. ● 9 to 12 points: plan the move, timed around your peak season. |
Answer each question for your store today. If you’re choosing for the first time, answer for the store you plan to run in the next two years.
| Question | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points |
| Yearly online sales | Under $300K | $300K to $1M | Over $1M, or close to $2M in GMV |
| Payment processing | Happy with BigCommerce’s embedded payments | Considering your own processor | Using, or need, your own processor |
| B2B needs | None | Some wholesale pricing | Company accounts, quotes or net terms |
| Checkout changes you need | None | Small additions | Custom flows for different buyers |
| Systems that sync with your store, or courses you sell | 0 to 2 systems, no courses | 3 or 4 systems | 5 or more systems, or courses on a separate platform |
| Who looks after the store | Nobody, and no plans to hire help | A part-time freelancer or agency | A developer team or monthly retainer |
Two rules before you score:
● Already on BigCommerce: if you run subscriptions with saved cards, plan extra time for any migration, since saved payment methods need your processor’s help to move.
● Choosing for the first time: read “stay on BigCommerce” as “start on BigCommerce,” and “plan the move” as “start on WooCommerce.” Your next actions are setup quotes, without migration quotes.
| Your score | What it means | Next actions |
| 0 to 4 | BigCommerce still fits your store | Stay. Check whether BigCommerce’s embedded payments would remove the processor fee, and score again in a year. |
| 5 to 8 | The answer depends on numbers you don’t have yet | Pull 12 months of BigCommerce invoices, get WooCommerce hosting, extension, upkeep and migration quotes, and compare them side by side. |
| 9 to 12 | You’re paying for limits you keep working around | Plan the migration for your quietest months, and start with a data and URL audit. |
If you’re unsure whether any replatform is worth it, our vendor-neutral replatforming framework covers the triggers that do and don’t justify one.
| Section recap
● Six questions on sales, payments, B2B, checkout, integrations and support point to stay, compare or move. ● Subscriptions with saved cards add time to any migration plan. Next steps ● Score your store and note your band. ● Take the next actions for your band before your next BigCommerce renewal. |
If your score points to a move, the next question is how much work it would be.
Migration effort: what moving from BigCommerce to WooCommerce takes
| In short:
Effort depends on catalog size, customer and order history, subscriptions, B2B setup, integrations and URLs. ● Simple stores: a few weeks. ● Stores with accounts, order history and several integrations: longer, with more testing. ● Stores with subscriptions, B2B pricing or an ERP: the longest, because each needs careful mapping and testing. |
These ranges come from the migrations we run, from first audit to go-live.
| Store complexity | Typical setup | Timeline |
| Simple | Under 1,000 products, no subscriptions, 1 or 2 integrations | About 3 to 5 weeks |
| Moderate | Thousands of products and variants, customer accounts, order history, 3 to 5 integrations | About 6 to 10 weeks |
| Complex | Subscriptions with saved cards, B2B price lists, ERP sync, courses or several currencies | About 10 to 16 weeks or more |
Those ranges are wide because a few factors decide where your store lands.
What decides the effort
● Products and options: BigCommerce options and modifiers need mapping to WooCommerce attributes and variations.
● Customers and passwords: accounts and order history move, but customers usually reset their passwords on first login.
● Subscriptions and saved cards: these need your payment processor to move card tokens, which takes planning.
● URLs and SEO: every product, category and page URL needs a redirect, so search traffic follows the move.
● Integrations: each connected system needs reconnecting and testing before launch.
Our post on why more brands are considering a BigCommerce to WooCommerce migration covers what a strong migration includes. Our data migration plan for a $200K to $1M+ store walks through mapping, cleaning, testing and cutover. With good preparation, a move can be fast. Imatest, for example, moved 1,516 products and 22,520 users off Magento in under a week, as our migration page describes.
Subscription stores sit at the complex end, as one supplement brand found.
| Example: the $650K supplement store with 1,100 subscribers
The situation: You sell supplements on BigCommerce at about $650K a year. 1,100 active subscribers pay on saved cards and bring in most of your monthly revenue. Your email platform and 3PL both connect to the store. The problem: ● BigCommerce’s sales-based fees take a bigger cut every month your subscriptions grow, so you want to move. ● But a failed billing day after the move would hit cash flow straight away, and asking 1,100 subscribers to re-enter cards would lose some of them. ● Product and blog pages have ranked for years, and search brings in a large share of new customers. Lose those rankings in the move, and new-customer growth stalls. ● If the 3PL connection breaks on cutover day, orders stop shipping. The fix: A plan built around renewals and search traffic. ● Payments: card tokens moved with your processor’s help, tested on a handful of subscribers first. ● SEO: every old URL mapped to its new address, with redirects tested before launch. ● Cutover: the switch scheduled right after a billing cycle, with renewals checked daily for two weeks. The outcome: Subscribers renew without re-entering cards, search traffic holds through the move, and the 3PL keeps shipping from day one. |
| Section recap
● Effort depends on catalog, subscriptions, B2B, integrations and URLs. ● Saved cards, redirects and integrations decide most of the timeline. Next steps ● Count your products, variants, customers, subscribers and URLs. ● List every system connected to your store, and who owns each one. |
Once the store is on WooCommerce, the work shifts to building what BigCommerce held back.
Build the features your current platform held back
We build custom checkout flows, B2B pricing, course bundles and integrations on WooCommerce, around how your store sells today.
Conclusion
BigCommerce’s 2026 pricing ties platform costs to sales. For a $200K to $1M+ store, that means a 0.9% coverage on Scale, a possible processor fee, and an automatic move to Performance pricing as you approach $2 million.
WooCommerce removes the sales-based fees and the platform limits on checkout, B2B, integrations and courses. In return, you take on hosting and upkeep.
Score your store, compare 12 months of invoices against real WooCommerce quotes, and decide before your next renewal. If you’d like a second opinion, our WooCommerce migration team can map your store and give you a timeline.
FAQs
Is WooCommerce cheaper than BigCommerce?
It depends on your store. WooCommerce has no platform or sales-based fee, but you pay for hosting, extensions and upkeep. BigCommerce’s 2026 plans add a 0.9% overage on Scale above the monthly cap, a fee for using your own processor, and custom Performance pricing past $2 million in yearly GMV. Compare your own invoices against real WooCommerce quotes.
How does BigCommerce’s 2026 pricing work for a growing store?
Plans are tied to GMV, counted as gross order value minus 10% over 12 months. Scale costs $299 a month on annual billing and charges 0.9% on GMV above $33,333 a month. Stores move to Performance, from $1,499 a month, once yearly GMV reaches $2 million. Using your own payment processor adds a fee of up to 2% depending on plan.
Which is better for B2B, WooCommerce or BigCommerce?
BigCommerce lists B2B tools such as account pricing, quotes and approvals as built in, so check which plan includes them. WooCommerce adds B2B through extensions or custom work, which suits stores with unusual pricing, terms or ordering flows.
Can I sell online courses on WooCommerce and BigCommerce?
On BigCommerce, courses usually run through a third-party app or a separate platform. On WooCommerce, WordPress course plugins such as LearnDash share the same site, accounts and checkout, so products and courses can sell together.
Which should I choose if I’m starting a new store?
Start from where you’re coming from. If nobody will look after hosting and your needs fit its themes and apps, BigCommerce is the simpler start, as long as its sales-based pricing fits your growth plan. If you need custom checkout, B2B flows or courses, or you already work with a WordPress team, WooCommerce usually fits better.
Will I lose SEO when moving from BigCommerce to WooCommerce?
Not if every old URL redirects to its new address and the redirects are tested before launch. Keep titles, descriptions and content the same at first, and watch search traffic weekly for two months after the move.
| Key Reads from the Article
● Why More Brands Are Considering BigCommerce to WooCommerce Migration in 2026: the reasons brands move, and what a strong migration includes. ● When to Replatform (and When Not To): a vendor-neutral framework for deciding whether any replatform is worth it. ● Data Migration Plan for a $200K to $1M+ Store or Course Platform: mapping, cleaning, testing and cutover, step by step. |
