BigCommerce vs Magento: Finding Your Ideal Platform Match

What’s the Difference Between BigCommerce and Magento?

Selecting the ideal eCommerce platform for your business can be challenging, particularly when your choices boil down to giants like BigCommerce and Magento. These platforms dominate a significant portion of the market and are favorites of many merchants.

BigCommerce provides all the benefits of SaaS while still being feature-rich and decently flexible. With lots of add-ons and connections to other tools, BigCommerce lets businesses scale and grow without the development costs of maintaining open-source software.

And there’s Magento – a powerhouse for customization and growth. From changing how things look to making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, Magento gives sellers the freedom to make their store exactly how they want it.

But choosing between BigCommerce and Magento isn’t easy. Factors like technical proficiency, customization preferences, and scalability needs play pivotal roles. InteractOne’s team of dedicated eCommerce specialists can provide personalized unbiased assistance and product demos to help you navigate the complexities of choosing the ideal platform for you. We’re just a phone call away, contact us.

In this comparison, we’ll dig into the nuances of Magento vs. BigCommerce to discover which is the best eCommerce platform for your ambitions.

Quick Links:

• BigCommerce vs. Magento Pros and Cons
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Hosting and Deployment
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Flexibility and Customization
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Scalability
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Ease of Use
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Extensions and Integrations
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Marketing and SEO Tools
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Support
• Ideal eCommerce Size
• BigCommerce vs. Magento Price
• BigCommerce vs. Magento: Which Platform Wins?

BigCommerce vs. Magento: Pros and Cons

BigCommerce
Pros	Cons
Solid SaaS architecture	Third-party apps and integration marketplace not as robust as Magento
Low development maintenance costs	Smaller ecosystem than Magento
Supporting SMBs to Enterprise	Not as feature-rich as Magento
Great support for Headless	Not as flexible as Magento
Good flexibility – for a SaaS	Not as good as Magento for international selling – lacks multi-site, multi-language, multi-warehouse tools compared to Magento
No transaction fees	B2B features are not as robust and flexible as Magento
Social media and marketplace integrations	Performance and scalability can be an issue if not going headless
Drag-and-drop online store builder	Headless solutions are expensive to build and maintain
Multi-currency support
Robust reporting tools
B2B edition available
Very Secure – never have to worry about security
More features out of the box that other SaaS platforms (ie. Shopify)

Magento
Pros	Cons
Customizability	High development cost of maintaining and upgrading
Scalability	Steep learning curve
Global expansion support	Expensive time-consuming projects
Advanced features: B2B Content management Multi-store, multi-site Customer segmentation, marketing and discount management	Security can be an issue if you don’t keep up with the latest patches and upgrades
Robust support for international selling	Performance can suffer if third-party apps and customizations are not implemented correctly
Multi-warehouse inventory	Bad builds that incorrectly override core code can lead to major technical debt and very poorly performing sites – sometimes, sites must be rebuilt entirely
Robust technical resources
Enterprise scalability: Capable of managing large catalogs of over 1 million SKUs Can handle very high traffic loads
Community support – large community of developers and agencies with Magento experience

Hosting and Deployment

Hosting and development are vital for eCommerce success, ensuring websites perform optimally, scale efficiently, and meet security standards.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce streamlines the process with a hassle-free, fully cloud-based hosting solution. This means merchants don’t need to worry about managing servers or dealing with hosting-related technicalities. Your BigCommercestore resides securely in the cloud, ensuring reliability and scalability without the headaches of server maintenance. This hands-off approach lets businesses focus on what matters most: growing their online presence and serving customers.

Magento

Magento provides an array of hosting options, catering to businesses with varying needs and preferences. Magento and Adobe Commerce offer self-hosted solutions for those who prefer complete control over their hosting environment. This option grants businesses the freedom to choose their own hosting provider and infrastructure, allowing for auto scaling and enterprise performance from providers like Webscale and Jetrails.

Alternatively, Adobe Commerce (the paid license version of Magento) also has a hosted solution called Commerce Cloud, where Adobe manages the hosting environment. This option can be a good value as it bundles many services together (i.e., CDN, firewall and performance monitoring) and still provides basic scalability to accommodate growing eCommerce ventures. It’s important to note that the Commerce Cloud still requires merchants to manage the installation of software security patches and upgrades.

Flexibility and Customization

Flexibility and customization are key for tailoring the online shopping experience to match a brand’s identity.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce caters to merchants with varying levels of technical expertise by providing pre-built themes and customization options out of the box. These themes offer a starting point for beginners to create visually appealing storefronts without diving into complex coding. However, there are some downsides: customization options are limited, and adding extra features requires using APIs, custom apps and theme code. Also, you can’t directly override the core code or customize the admin interfaces.

Magento

Magento offers unparalleled flexibility, granting merchants access to its source code and robust customization tools. This level of control is ideal for businesses with specific requirements, enabling them to fully customize their store’s design, functionality, and scalability to suit their unique needs. However, Magento has a steep learning curve, especially for users with limited technical expertise. Customizing and managing a Magento store requires familiarity with coding languages like PHP, HTML, CSS, and XML. This complexity can make it challenging for businesses to build robust solutions that don’t suffer from code bloat and technical debt.

Scalability

Scalability is paramount for businesses aiming to accommodate growth and handle increasing volumes of traffic and transactions.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a hosted eCommerce solution that handles merchants’ scalability concerns. It’s designed to scale seamlessly as the business grows, with built-in features to handle high traffic volumes, large product catalogs, and increased demand. BigCommerce takes care of server infrastructure, performance optimization, and security updates, allowing merchants to focus on growing their business without worrying about technical issues. However, merchants with high traffic volumes may require headless solutions to scale effectively while providing a fast-loading user experience—and headless solutions are expensive to build and maintain.

Magento

Magento provides extensive options for scaling up. Several enterprise hosting companies, like Webscale and Jetrails, are experts in providing seamless auto-scaling for Magento. Adobe Commerce Cloud also provides scaling options, but they are not as robust and automated as the solutions provided by some of the enterprise hosting companies. Merchants using on-prem or smaller budget hosting solutions must manage the scale-up themselves, which can be challenging without the necessary resources or technical capabilities.

Ease of Use

For merchants looking to launch their eCommerce store quickly (i.e., a pop-up brand site), ease of use can be a big difference maker.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce boasts an easy-to-use interface and simple setup, which is ideal for newcomers and those wanting a smooth experience. With its user-friendly tools and design, sellers can easily move around the platform. Setting up is quick, so merchants can start without needing a lot of technical know-how. This ease of use, coupled with great features, makes BigCommerce a hit with small- to medium-sized businesses looking for simplicity or larger brands needing to build quick pop-up sites.

Magento

Magento provides many features and customization options for businesses with advanced needs. It offers unmatched flexibility and control over the online store but has a higher learning curve. Magento requires a higher level of technical expertise for setting up and managing a site, making it less user-friendly for beginners or brands looking to swiftly launch a new site compared to BigCommerce.

Extensions and Integrations

Extending functionality and integrating with third-party tools is essential for businesses looking to enhance their online stores.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a variety of extensions and integrations to help merchants add extra features to their eCommerce stores. While its ecosystem might be smaller than Magento’s, BigCommerce still provides a large array of options for businesses at different stages of growth. Whether linking with payment gateways, marketing tools, or shipping solutions, BigCommerce makes expanding your online store’s capabilities very doable and cost-effective.

Magento

Magento has a bigger and more developed ecosystem, offering thousands of extensions for merchants. This wide range of extensions gives businesses lots of customization choices, letting them tailor their online stores to their exact needs. From advanced marketing tools to special shipping and inventory management solutions, Magento’s ecosystem has a wide range of options to fit almost any requirement.

Marketing and SEO Tools

Effective marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) tools are essential for driving traffic and increasing sales.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce includes easy-to-use marketing tools well-suited for businesses wanting to build and expand their online presence. With features like email marketing integration, social media integration, and abandoned cart recovery, BigCommerce provides built-in tools to help merchants connect with their audience and boost sales. BigCommerce also provides the necessary tools for building out and maintaining effective SEO. Compared to Magento, however, BigCommerce doesn’t provide as many sophisticated SEO features like auto-population of brand landing pages and SEO friendly URLs for filtered content results – for example URL /mens-red-nike-shoes resulting from filtering the men’s shoe category by color and brand.

Magento

Magento provides sophisticated SEO features and a wide range of marketing extensions, which are optimal for businesses with complex marketing strategies or enterprise-level requirements. With Magento, sellers can access strong SEO tools like customizable URLs, meta tags, and sitemaps, letting them completely optimize their online stores for search engines. Moreover, the Magento marketplace offers numerous marketing extensions, from email automation and affiliate marketing to advanced analytics and personalization tools. This variety of options enables businesses to infinitely customize their marketing to meet their specific goals and target audience.

Support

Reliable support can be a lifeline for businesses encountering technical issues or seeking guidance.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce distinguishes itself by offering 24/7 customer assistance to all users. Whether you’re new to online selling or a seasoned merchant facing a technical problem, BigCommerce’s support team is available anytime. Plus, the platform offers extensive resources and documentation, helping users learn to use the platform well and solve common problems on their own.

Magento

Magento provides several support options, which can vary depending on the edition and hosting chosen. Users of Magento Open Source typically turn to digital agencies and the active Magento community for assistance. Adobe Commerce users also typically engage digital agencies for help but also benefit from Adobe’s assistance. It’s important to note that there are two kinds of digital agencies that provide support for Magento and Adobe Commerce: Adobe partners and non-partners. In general, it’s a safer bet to solicit assistance from Adobe partners as these agencies undergo a vetting and certification process to become accredited Adobe partners.

Ideal eCommerce Size

Determining the ideal eCommerce platform size is crucial for businesses looking to maximize their online potential while staying within their operational capacity.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a great fit for small to medium-sized businesses, providing an easy-to-use platform with strong features and scalability. It offers a simple experience for beginners while also providing enough power to sustain growing businesses. Additionally, BigCommerce can meet some enterprise-level needs, especially for businesses with more straightforward requirements.

Magento

Magento suits medium to large enterprises well because of its scalability and wide customization options. With access to the source code and a vast ecosystem of extensions, Magento gives businesses the flexibility and control to customize their online stores extensively. Although Magento may have a learning curve and need more technical expertise, it offers unmatched depth and sophistication, making it the top choice for enterprises with complex eCommerce website needs.

Cost

Understanding the cost implications of adopting an eCommerce platform is essential for businesses to make informed decisions that align with their budget and long-term goals.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce offers a straightforward pricing structure with lower costs than Magento. Its subscription-based model lets businesses pick from different pricing tiers based on their needs and budget, with transparent pricing and no hidden fees. Subscription costs for BigCommerce can range from $350 to over $150,000 annually. BigCommerce covers hosting, upgrades and technical support in the subscription, so merchants don’t need to worry about additional infrastructure or maintenance costs. This affordability and simplicity make BigCommerce an excellent choice for businesses wanting to reduce the total cost of ownership for their eCommerce platform.

Keep in mind that using BigCommerce will still require some maintenance support from an agency, freelancer or internal developer. Mid-to larger businesses will require a lot more maintenance costs from things like, theme upgrades, API updates and keeping customizations up to date. Headless solutions especially require a lot of maintenance and make the total cost of ownership for BigCommerce similar to Magento.

Magento

Since there are different versions of Magento, pricing the costs can vary:

Magento Open Source: This version is free to download and use, with costs primarily associated with hosting, development, maintenance and support. Hosting fees can range from $20/month for a DIY server to over $2,000/month for a managed, enterprise-grade server. Additional expenses are required for development, maintenance and assistancesupport from digital agencies or in-house Magento developers.

Magento Commerce: Pricing ranges from $35,000 to over $200,000 annually, depending on the expected annual gross revenue of the business. This version offers advanced features and support from Adobe. Additional expenses are also required for development, maintenance and guidancesupport from digital agencies or in-house developers.

Magento Commerce Cloud: The pricing typically starts at $50,000 and can go up to $200,000 annually, also based on the annual gross revenue of the business. This version includes cloud web hosting, scalability benefits and support from Adobe. Additional expenses are also required for development, maintenance and helpsupport from digital agencies or in-house developers.

Depending on the edition chosen, Magento may require a more considerable investment, but it may offer superior long-term value and flexibility, especially for large enterprises. While this might mean higher development and maintenance costs, Magento provides a lot of control and scalability. Its extensive ecosystem of extensions and integrations allows businesses to tailor their eCommerce solution precisely, potentially yielding higher returns on investment over time.

BigCommerce vs. Magento: Which Platform Wins?

As we’ve delved into the differences between BigCommerce and Magento, it’s evident that both platforms offer distinct advantages for businesses venturing into or expanding their online presence. Here’s a quick recap:

BigCommerce delivers a user-friendly, hassle-free experience, prioritizing simplicity and accessibility. Perfect for small to mid-sized eCommerce ventures, it offers a robust SaaS platform with excellent performance and a wealth of features right out of the box. BigCommerce suits merchants aiming to sell across channels like social media and marketplaces while valuing top-notch customer caresupport and detailed documentation.

Magento targets medium- to enterprise-level businesses with its rich, flexible, and scalable platform. It’s the go-to solution for companies ready to tackle intricate user experiences and needing extensive customization options to power and expand their operations. Magento excels in handling large inventories, complex B2B setups, multi-warehouse logistics, and international selling requirements.

When comparing Magento vs. BigCommerce, merchants must evaluate their specific needs and priorities. To make an informed decision, consider factors such as business size, technical expertise, customization requirements, scalability needs, and long-term objectives.

You should use BigCommerce if…

• You’re a small to mid-sized eCommerce business looking for a low-hassle, top-notch SaaS eCommerce platform with good performance and lots of great features out of the box.
• You want to sell on various platforms, like social media and marketplaces.
• You value excellent customer support and documentation.
  

You should use Magento if…

• You’re a medium to enterprise business that needs a feature-rich, flexible, enterprise-level eCommerce platform to power and scale your business.
• You’re ready to tackle complex user experiences.
• You have a substantial inventory, extensive catalog, complex B2B, multi-warehouse, or international selling requirements.

As you navigate the decision-making process, remember that expert guidance can be invaluable. If you need help determining which platform best suits your specific needs, contact InteractOne. Our expertise in both Magento and BigCommerce support, and as a trusted Magento and BigCommerce agency, can assist you in selecting the optimal solution for your business needs.