BigCommerce's pricing page leads with a plan grid and a GMV cap next to every plan. Core is $39 a month or $29 billed annually for new businesses up to $30K in trailing-twelve-month sales, after which the plan auto-upgrades to Growth. Growth is $105 or $79 a month up to $100K TTM and then auto-upgrades to Scale. Scale is $399 or $299 a month against a $33,333 monthly cap with a 0.9% charge on GMV above it, and Performance is custom pricing starting at $1,499 a month billed annually. Orders through BigCommerce's embedded payment providers carry no additional fee, while orders through other providers carry an open payment provider fee of 2.0% of eligible GMV on Core, 1.0% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale. Extra storefronts cost $30, $50 and $100 a month on the three published plans, and support moves from 24/7 chat and email on Core to live phone and chat from Growth upward.
TL;DR
BigCommerce is a hosted platform with a plan ladder: Core $39 monthly or $29 billed annually up to $30K in trailing-twelve-month sales, Growth $105 or $79 up to $100K, Scale $399 or $299 against a $33,333 monthly cap, and Performance from $1,499 monthly. WooCommerce is free software: no platform fee, no revenue share, hosting at $25 to $350 a month, extensions at $29 to $299 a year each, and card processing around 2.9% plus 30 cents through WooPayments. The choice is between paying a ceiling or paying for the upkeep.
WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress, and its pricing page is built around the opposite claim: no monthly subscription, no platform fee and no revenue share. What you do pay for is infrastructure and parts. Hosting runs $25 to $350 a month for most stores and scales with traffic, extensions run $29 to $299 a year each, and payment processing through WooPayments is 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction. WooCommerce's own comparison table lists BigCommerce Core at $29 a month against its own $0 platform fee, and it states that costs are tied to infrastructure rather than sales volume, with unlimited products, orders and APIs in the free core.
The honest framing is what each model does to you in year three. BigCommerce gives you a store on day one with hosting, security, updates and support included, and then attaches a growth ceiling: hit the GMV band and the plan moves up whether or not you used the extra features. WooCommerce gives you the software for nothing and hands you the operating burden: choosing a host, applying updates, patching security, buying the extensions a real store needs, and hiring someone when the checkout needs a change. Small catalogs with a fixed budget usually find WooCommerce cheaper; catalogs already crossing $30K a month tend to find BigCommerce's caps and fees worth re-adding up.
| Feature | BigCommerce | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | Core $39 a month, or $29 billed annually | None: free plugin, no monthly subscription |
| Revenue cap | $30K TTM on Core, $100K TTM on Growth, $33,333 a month on Scale with 0.9% above | None: no revenue share and no sales ceiling |
| Second tier | Growth, $105 a month or $79 billed annually | Not tiered: capabilities are added with paid extensions |
| Third tier | Scale, $399 a month or $299 billed annually | Not tiered: costs follow hosting and extensions |
| Top tier | Performance, custom pricing from $1,499 a month billed annually | Not tiered: enterprise needs are met with development and hosting |
| Payment fees | $0 through embedded payment providers; 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.6% of eligible GMV on other providers by plan | 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction through WooPayments, no extra fee for third-party gateways |
| Other running costs | Extra storefronts at $30, $50 or $100 a month by plan | Hosting $25 to $350 a month, extensions $29 to $299 a year each |
| Support | 24/7 chat and email on Core, live phone and chat from Growth upward | Community, documentation and paid developers you engage directly |
| Growth behaviour | Plan auto-upgrades when the GMV band is crossed | No upgrade step; the vendor states costs are tied to infrastructure, not sales volume |
Pick BigCommerce if
BigCommerce is the better fit when someone technical is not on the team and a deadline matters. For $29 a month billed annually you get a working store, hosting, security, updates, free SSL and round-the-clock chat and email support, with phone support once you reach Growth. What you accept is the ceiling: two published GMV bands that auto-upgrade your plan, a 0.9% charge above the Scale cap, and 1% to 2% of eligible GMV if you process payments outside its embedded providers.
Pick WooCommerce if
WooCommerce is the better fit when you have, or can hire, someone who maintains a WordPress site and when sales volume should not trigger a bill. The platform costs nothing and takes no cut, gateway fees stay at the processor's rate, and nothing auto-upgrades when a good month arrives. The cost you take on instead is real: hosting from $25 to $350 a month, extensions at $29 to $299 a year, and the maintenance work that a hosted platform would otherwise do for you.
No independent reviews, ratings or user quotes were collected for this pair. Both cards are vendor-published claims from each company's own pricing page, and the WooCommerce quote is a merchant testimonial featured by the vendor.
WooCommerce usually, if you count only the platform: $0 against BigCommerce Core at $29 a month billed annually, $348 a year. Add realistic hosting at $25 to $350 a month and the gap narrows or closes, and paid extensions at $29 to $299 a year each can push a WooCommerce store past BigCommerce. Run both with your actual hosting and extension list rather than the headline.
Not on orders through its embedded payment providers, which the pricing page lists as $0 fee on every plan. Orders through other providers carry an open payment provider fee of 2.0% of eligible GMV on Core, 1.0% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale. Scale also charges 0.9% on GMV above its $33,333 monthly cap.
The plan moves up. Core covers up to $30K in trailing-twelve-month sales and auto-upgrades to Growth, Growth covers $100K TTM and auto-upgrades to Scale, and Scale's cap is $33,333 a month with a 0.9% overage charge. WooCommerce has no equivalent step: its page says costs are tied to infrastructure, not sales volume.
On BigCommerce the platform is hosted, so hosting, security and updates sit with the vendor, and support runs 24/7 by chat and email on Core with live phone and chat from Growth. On WooCommerce you choose the host and keep the site, its extensions and its WordPress core up to date yourself, or pay a developer to do it.
WooCommerce quotes 2.9% plus 30 cents a transaction through WooPayments and no extra fee for using a third-party gateway. BigCommerce charges nothing extra through embedded payment providers and 1% to 2% of eligible GMV on orders through other providers, depending on plan. If you already have a preferred gateway, price its rate against BigCommerce's open provider fee before switching.
Spot an outdated price or feature? Let us know and we'll verify it.