WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce

Setting up an ecommerce aspect to your web presence is a great way to improve profits. Good customer service functions will be appreciated by shoppers who want to browse your products from home. There are many ecommerce platforms on the market, and narrowing down your options can be tricky. Both WooCommerce and BigCommerce are popular ecommerce platforms. Here, we compare and contrast the two so you can learn more about the drawbacks and benefits of each.

Ease of Installation

WooCommerce: WooCommerce is a Wordpress plugin, powered by the platform that many people already use. Its interface is easy to understand. A wizard can guide users through the process of setting up a store, although its worth remembering that professional design tends to lead to professional results. BigCommerce: Building a store with BigCommerce can be done with one-click options and pre-made templates that take the guesswork out of installation and setup. Again, professional development tends to yield the best results, but getting started with the platform is not beyond the reach of many users.

Ease of Use

WooCommerce: WooCommerce is an intuitive plugin that will be particularly easy for people already familiar with Wordpress. There are a lot of automatic features that can be enabled, including default currency settings, geo-location support, automatic tax calculations, and coupon and discount functionality built-in, making it very simple to operate your storefront without problems. Beginner users will benefit from the automation, and more advanced users will appreciate the ability to customize. BigCommerce: BigCommerce is also easy to use for beginners and those inexperienced with websites, but may be too simplistic for advanced users. While its features, designs, and add-ons are quick to find and simple to install, it cannot be customized very deeply, so users who wish to have a more individualized experience may feel frustrated with its simplicity.

Search Engine Friendly

WooCommerce: WooCommerce has its SEO optimization features in the form of plugins and extensions that add to the basic functionality of the platform. For users already familiar with Wordpress and its SEO options, these plugins will be familiar! Customizing product names, URLs, meta tags, and descriptions with SEO keywords is easily done through effective plugins like Yoast. BigCommerce: BigCommerce has most of the basic SEO features — a sitemap, a robots.txt file, and the ability to customize image descriptions, alt tags, header and title tags, and URLs to be SEO optimized. This is all built right into the platform.

Integration Ecosystem

WooCommerce: WooCommerce works with web-based devices, and iPhone/iPad. If you can think of a service provider, this ecommerce platform will integrate with it, most likely, owing to the flexibility of the Wordpress system. Popular integrations include FreshBooks, Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Payments, FedEx, USPS, and UPS. BigCommerce: BigCommerce works with Windows, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac, and web-based devices. Through its app marketplace, this platform is designed to work with many third-party apps, like Hubspot, Brightpearl, Salesforce, Facebook, MailChimp, and Google.

Cost to Maintain

WooCommerce: The WooCommerce plugin for Wordpress is itself free. Most users will need a variety of commercial plugins and extensions to give it full functionality. For instance, billing customers each month will require the Subscriptions extension. Additional costs could include a paid design or theme, though there are free options, and fees for payment processing through platforms like PayPal. Maintenance costs, therefore, are normally associated with business growth, which is to be expected. Users of WooCommerce will also pay for hosting as an ongoing cost, which provides great flexibility for any site designed. BigCommerce: The pricing for BigCommerce ranges from $24.95 to $299.95 a month, depending on which plan you use. The least expensive plan offers features like unlimited sales, storage, and bandwidth, but note that it is hosted through the BigCommerce module which limits users flexibility. More expensive plans allow for self-hosting and additional features like security and analytics, filtering, and fraud monitoring.

Customizability

WooCommerce: If there’s a plugin or extension you need, it likely exists for WooCommerce. This platform is highly customizable, from function to appearance, limited only by what users wish to install. BigCommerce: Features like social media integration, filtering, wish-lists, and chat are customizable. Compared to WooCommerce, however, BigCommerce has far fewer built-in customization options, which can limit a business’s ability to shape its presence on the web.

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted

WooCommerce: WooCommerce must be self-hosted, which offers a higher degree of choice and customization for users. BigCommerce: With this e-commerce platform, the hosting is built in, including solid security and PCI compliance. You do not need to worry about finding or maintaining hosting, but you do give up some of the customization that comes with choosing your own host.

Target Market

WooCommerce: This ecommerce platform is ideal for small to medium sized businesses, and can target essentially any customer base thanks to its customizability. BigCommerce: BigCommerce works for small businesses up to enterprises. Its social media integration helps somewhat with targeting customers. Overall, both platforms are easy to use and, with a little help where necessary, businesses can launch e-commerce websites very quickly. If you want your business branding to look and feel just right on the web, you would lean towards WooCommerce, as its customization allows your business to be more individual; your web presence can change and grow with ease as your business grows. If you are already using Wordpress, you’ll find WooCommerce very simple to work with once your site is up and running.

	WooCommerce	BigCommerce
Easy of Installation	Practically installs itself, with a setup wizard handling most of the work. 5/5	If Drupal is already installed it can be simple; otherwise it requires a more complex installation or a one-click install with a host. 4/5
Ease of Use	Very easy to use for beginners, without holding advanced users back. 5/5	Great for beginners, with incredible ease of use, but may be lacking for advanced users who want more control. 4/5
Search Engine Friendly	Extremely SEO-friendly! 5/5	Extremely SEO-friendly! 5/5
Integration Ecosystem	Easy integration with a vast variety of service providers, including several mailing systems. 4/5	Integrates with many options but the app store is curated by BigCommerce so may not have all the apps you’d like. 4/5
Cost to Maintain	Cost varies depending on what users want to spend; initial plugin is free. 3/5	Various price points depending on the plan you choose, no host fees. 5/5
Customizability	Highly customizable, limited only by a users’ skills and budget. 5/5	Fairly customizable but within the constraints of the platform itself, versus complete control. 3/5
Hosted vs. Self-Hosted	Self-hosted — more work, but more freedom.	Hosted through BigCommerce; less work but less freedom.
Target Market	Subscription services, social media targeting, and other custom plugins work to target customers.	Social features make it simple to target people on social media, an easy place to find avid shoppers.

Tags: Ecommerce • WooCommerce