BigCommerce Pricing, Plans & Fees Explained

If you’re looking into building an online store, you’re likely spending a lot of time bargain hunting, comparing prices, and contemplating features of a few different software. One software app to include in your comparisons is BigCommerce. BigCommerce is easy to use, fully hosted software that you can use to build a brand new online store.

BigCommerce is a great option because the software is accessible to users of all skill levels, comes with plenty of features built-in, and includes 24/7 customer support. BigCommerce is certainly competitive software in terms of features and support, but is it competitive in price?

Let’s take a look.

How Much Does BigCommerce Cost?

BigCommerce pricing is based on your annual sales as well as available features. BigCommerce offers four pricing plans, with more advanced features available on more expensive plans. BigCommerce pricing plans range from $29.95/mo to $299.95/mo, with custom pricing available for enterprise-level businesses.

BigCommerce Pricing

BigCommerce makes its software available on four different pricing plans. Each plan includes its own feature set with more advanced features becoming available on higher-level plans.

BigCommerce is different from other software programs because the pricing also includes an annual sales cap. Each plan lists a total amount of sales that you can earn on that plan. When your sales over the past twelve months total more than your annual sales cap, you are automatically bumped up to the next pricing plan.

All of these plans are billed monthly by default, although if you choose to purchase the software on an annual basis (and you subscribe to the Plus or Pro plans), you can save 10%.

BigCommerce offers a few basic features on all pricing plans. Every plan gives you access to unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts. BigCommerce also does not charge any transaction fees (although, you will still pay payment processing fees to your processor of choice).

Standard Plan

BigCommerce’s Standard Plan costs $29.95/month and includes:

• Up to $50K in sales
• Branded online store
• Multiple sales channels: eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping
• Point of sale
• Responsive website
• Mobile app
• Single-page checkout
• Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay
• Coupons, discounts, gift cards
• Real-time shipping quotes
• Professional reporting tools
• Blog
• Product ratings and review
• Sitewide HTTPS and dedicated SSL
• 20,000 API calls per hour
• 24/7 live agent support

Plus Plan

BigCommerce’s Plus Plan costs $79.95/month and includes everything in the Standard Plan, plus:

• Up to $180K in sales
• Customer groups and segmentation
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Persistent shopping cart
• Stored credit cards
• 20,000 API calls per hour
• 24/7 live agent support

Pro Plan

BigCommerce’s Pro Plan costs $299.95/month for up $400K in sales. However, you are not limited to $400K in sales on this plan. If you earn more than $400K, you may stay on the Pro plan, and add $150 to the monthly rate for each additional $200K in online sales.

The Pro Plan includes everything in the Plus Plan, plus:

• Google customer reviews
• Faceted (filtered) search
• Custom SSL
• 60,00 API calls per hour
• 24/7 live agent support

BigCommerce Enterprise

BigCommerce Enterprise is available at custom pricing. Pricing for these plans is based on your business’s needs and annual online sales. BigCommerce Enterprise includes everything in the Pro Plan, plus:

• Custom facets (in product filtering tool)
• Price lists
• Unlimited API calls
• 24/7 live agent support
• Priority customer support
• Strategic account management available
• API support

BigCommerce Pricing Plans Compared

Take a look below for a visual representation of the features available on each pricing plan:

Additional BigCommerce Fees

Although BigCommerce does not charge any hidden fees, there are a few additional expenses that you should budget for as you plan your online store. Here are a few of the additional costs associated with running a site on BigCommerce.

Payment Processing Options

In order to accept online payments via credit or debit cards, you must integrate a payment processor with your online store. This is true no matter what eCommerce software you use to build your online store.

Typically, payment processing for card-not-present transactions (which is every transaction for an online store) costs around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. These rates are true for big-name payment processors such as Square and Stripe.

For BigCommerce users, however, there is another option. BigCommerce has negotiated a deal with PayPal powered by Braintree to offer lower payment processing rates for credit and debit transactions. These reduced rates are available only to US-based merchants. Rates are lower for merchants on higher-level BigCommerce pricing plans. Here’s a breakdown:

Source: BigCommerce

Domain Name

All BigCommerce users are automatically given a free BigCommerce subdomain upon signup. This subdomain (for example: www.your-store.mybigcommerce.com) is a great temporary option, but once you launch your online store, you should transfer over to a custom domain (www.your-store.com) in order to cement your brand identity.

You can choose to purchase a domain directly from BigCommerce, or you can purchase one elsewhere and direct it to your BigCommerce site. Domain names typically cost $10-$20 per year.

Premium SSL Certificate

BigCommerce includes a free, basic SSL certificate in every plan. This SSL certificate works on all stores with a custom domain. Users on the BigCommerce subdomain are protected through a free shared SSL certificate.

However, if you’d like a premium SSL certificate, you’ll have to purchase one. This premium SSL certificate comes with additional security features like site seals, increased protection, and Extended Validation.

BigCommerce offers three premium SSL certificates ranging from $59/year to $299/year. If you choose to purchase two years upfront, you gain access to discounted pricing.

Source: BigCommerce

Users on the Pro and Enterprise plans can also choose to purchase a third-party SSL certificate and install it on their BigCommerce site.

BigCommerce Integrations & Add-Ons

While BigCommerce offers plenty of features built-in, many sellers find that they need to add a few integrations to the software in order to customize it to their needs. BigCommerce has a large App Marketplace with 750+ integrations and applications for managing marketing, accounting, order processing, customer service, and more.

Many of these applications and integrations are free, although others come at a monthly price. Pricing for apps and integrations ranges from $0/month to $300/month, with many options available for $49/month.

A few options you might consider adding to your BigCommerce store are ShipperHQ, Mailchimp, and QuickBooks. Take a look at the BigCommerce App Marketplace for more options.

Source: BigCommerce

How To Save On BigCommerce

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the various expenses related to running an online store. Fortunately, BigCommerce offers a few ways to save, and there are some strategies you can use to avoid overpaying for your eCommerce software. Here’s how to save on BigCommerce.

Monthly VS Yearly Billing

BigCommerce offers both monthly and yearly billing options. The yearly billing comes with a 10% discount on the Plus and Pro plans, which may tempt you to jump immediately into the annual plan. However, this choice may end up costing you more in the long run! If you decide later on that BigCommerce isn’t right for your business, you are not able to get a refund on your annual purchase.

For this reason, we advise that you stick with the monthly billing option for your first year with the software. Once you have some experience with BigCommerce, and you are sure it works for your store, then you can switch to the annual billing plan and save 10% on the Plus and Pro plans.

Choose The Right Plan

One of the best ways to save on your BigCommerce store is to simply choose the right pricing plan. BigCommerce’s annual sales caps can actually help you with this process, since larger stores are automatically signed up for plans with more advanced features.

Perhaps counterintuitively, going with a cheaper plan can actually be more expensive in the long-run if it doesn’t offer the features you need. Business owners who attempt this route often end up paying more in the form of integrations, add-ons, software customizations, and wasted time.

In the same vein, some Pro Plan users (especially users with over $400K in annual sales) may find that BigCommerce Enterprise can offer them more features at a lower price. If you make over $400K in sales annually, I suggest reaching out to BigCommerce to find out how much Enterprise would cost for your business.

Start With A Great Design Theme

Users who don’t have experience with web design can save money by choosing a design template that works well for their online store.

Although BigCommerce provides a few tools for editing your site design, in order to make major changes, you have to alter the code. Many users find that they need to hire a site designer in order to make these changes, which can get expensive very quickly. Choosing a theme that doesn’t require extensive customization is a great way to save money.

Get Cheaper Payment Processing With PayPal

As we mentioned previously, BigCommerce has negotiated with PayPal (powered by Braintree) to offer sellers discounted rates on credit and debit card processing. These rates are only available to US-based sellers on the Plus, Pro, and Enterprise level plans.

Which Version Of BigCommerce Is Right For Me?

Choosing the right pricing plan is a great way to save time and money when you set up your online store. As you consider which pricing plan to use for your business, we recommend using BigCommerce’s annual sales caps as a guide. BigCommerce’s pricing plans are designed to scale up as you scale your business.

However, if you find that BigCommerce offers a certain feature that you need and it’s only available on a higher-level plan, you can purchase that plan for your store (even if your annual sales are lower than the recommended range). Here are a few factors you should consider as you select a plan for your business:

Choose The Standard Plan If…

• Your sales total less than $50,000 a year
• You need a basic online store

Choose The Plus Plan If…

• Your sales total less than $180,000 a year
• You want an abandoned cart saver tool
• You want to store customer credit card information for future purchases

Choose The Pro Plan If…

• You sales total between $180,000 and $1 million a year
• You need a filtered search tool

Choose BigCommerce Enterprise If…

• Your sales total around $1 million a year
• You need priority support
• You need API support and unlimited API calls

Calculating The Cost Of BigCommerce

With all this in mind, it’s time to estimate the cost of using BigCommerce for your business! Here are the expenses you should include in your calculations:

• Monthly Subscription: $29.95/month – $299.95/month
• Custom Domain Name: $10 – $20/year
• SSL Certificate: $0 – $299/year
• Payment Processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction
• Integrations: $0 – $300/month per integration
• Design Expenses: Pricing depends on your customization needs.

Clearly, BigCommerce is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and the exact pricing for your business depends on a number of factors. We can say, however, that BigCommerce is competitively priced when compared to other popular software like Shopify and 3dcart. So if you are still weighing your options for building an online store, don’t count BigCommerce out!

BigCommerce is a great solution for many sellers, offering secure hosting, plenty of built-in features, and reliable customer support at an attainable price. Sign up for a free trial to try it out for yourself.

To learn more about using BigCommerce for your online store, check out our article What Is BigCommerce? as well as our complete BigCommerce review.