Magento vs BigCommerce

Magento vs BigCommerce: Which Takes the Gold?

1 in 4 online retailers uses Magento, an o**pen-source,**PHP-based eCommerce software, classified also as PaaS (Platform as a Service). Both platforms cater to various ecommerce company models, enabling businesses to sell products and services online. BigCommerce is a SaaS platform (Software as a Service) and powers over 150,000 websites that sell items online and process payments. Both Magento and BigCommerce are popular choices for starting a business online, offering comprehensive solutions for establishing and managing an online presence. It’s estimated that Magento 2.0 is the latest version of the popular eCommerce platform.

BigCommerce vs Magento main differences

Magento is an open-source platform providing more control over eCommerce, huge possibilities of customizations fulfilling perfectly dynamic business needs. That also means higher pricing because of the third-party solutions and tailored features often required by Magento users.

While BigCommerce is a closed environment with built-in features and rigid frameworks designed in the same way for all users. BigCommerce store is ready to use right away and requires lower pricing at the beginning in comparison with Magento. When considering operating costs, ecommerce businesses may find BigCommerce more cost-effective initially due to its lower startup costs compared to Magento.

Both platforms support various ecommerce business models, which cater to different business needs and transaction types.

Online sales are more and more demanding. Magento apart from the Community version (free of charge) offers also an Enterprise edition called Adobe Commerce. It has options of Saas solution e.g. customer service and cloud server which are additionally charged resembling BigCommerce.

Is Magento owned by Adobe?

Magento was acquired by Adobe Inc. for approximately $168 billion, and it was rebranded as Adobe Commerce, now a part of the Adobe Experience Cloud. This acquisition has infused Magento with significant resources and expertise, enhancing its capabilities and offering superior services to users.

Conversely, BigCommerce went public with an IPO in 2020, raising about $215 million. Since then, the company has been steadily growing, using the additional funding to continuously enhance its platform and introduce new features that benefit users.

In terms of scalability, both platforms exhibit distinct strengths. Magento is renowned for its flexibility and customization options, making it ideal for larger businesses with complex requirements. However, this often necessitates a technical team or developer for platform management and maintenance.

Is BigCommerce the same as Shopify?

Shopify is a leading eCommerce solution, while BigCommerce offers diverse features. Both platforms equip merchants with tools to create online stores, but they have notable differences.

One primary distinction is that Shopify is a fully hosted platform, handling all technical aspects and maintenance, making it more user-friendly for beginners or non-technical users. In contrast, BigCommerce is a semi-hosted platform, managing server-side operations while allowing users control over front-end development and customization.

Pricing and transaction fees also set them apart. BigCommerce provides lower monthly plans but imposes higher transaction fees for external payment gateways. Shopify, with slightly higher monthly plans, offers lower transaction fees through its integrated payment system.

Can I use BigCommerce for free?

SaaS platfors usually allow free trials. BigCommerce offer free trials for users to test out their platforms before committing to a paid plan. However, there are limitations to these trials, such as the number of products you can list or the features available. Moreover, unlike Shopify, which offers a Lite plan enabling sales on existing websites or social media without a full online store, BigCommerce does not provide a completely free plan.

Magento vs BigCommerce - Hosting

Magento is self-hosted, meaning customers will have to pay a third-party company. BigCommerce is a hosted solution, so there is no need to worry about hosting costs. Unlike Magento, BigCommerce does not permit self-hosting.

While sharing content with their provider is fine for small businesses, for larger or established businesses, you will almost certainly want the freedom to host your own site, giving you the security of content and peace of mind. Hosting choices significantly impact the overall management of an ecommerce business, influencing factors such as site performance, security, and scalability. Additionally, the ability to handle online purchases is crucial, as integrating payment processing services ensures smooth transactions and supports various payment methods like credit cards and digital wallets.

Magento as an on-premise online store platform

On-premise solutions like Magento and WooCommerce are integral parts of the broader electronic commerce landscape, requiring servers that host and maintain a platform. The merchants also care about security, database space, and software. On-premise Magento commerce requires systematic expenses on development, security patches, software upgrades.

In addition to physical goods, Magento supports the delivery of various services online, making it a versatile platform for e-commerce businesses.

As all is up to the store owners Magento eCommerce platform is extremely flexible and scalable which is a great opportunity and advantage over the SaaS platform.

BigCommerce vs Magento - Design

Both platforms come with free design templates. Magento allows for customization of pretty much all aspects of design. BigCommerce only allows for certain design options, so the site you make will have a lot less customization.

Design customization significantly impacts the user experience in online shopping, especially in the context of ecommerce where mobile commerce is becoming increasingly important. Optimizing the user experience on mobile devices is crucial given the historical growth of online shopping and its impact on retail sales.

Online marketplaces play a crucial role in ecommerce by enabling businesses to sell products and services to a broad audience. These platforms offer built-in discovery that can drive traffic with minimal marketing efforts, but they also present challenges such as difficulties in brand building and limited control over customer relationships.

With Magento however, free versions can be downloaded allowing you to try it out before taking a final decision. By contrast, BigCommerce is a closed proprietary system, and therefore harder to access and tweak with the open-source version of Magento. It is much harder to get a sense of how the platform works.

Hyvä Themes - a revolutionary solution for Magento frontend

In 2021 a new frontend solution for Magento appeared which is Hyvä Themes. It allows simplifying the development process and the code structure, which shortens the time to start and lowers Magento costs. You should certainly consider this option when planning Magento store development. If you are interested read more in:

• a blog article: Hyvä Themes a new Magento e-commerce frontend software - Magento aviable for SME

Magento vs BigCommerce - Ease of use

BigCommerce is much more beginner-friendly than Magento. For ecommerce businesses, ease of use is a critical factor when choosing a platform. BigCommerce comes with a website builder that allows users to create and manage the store without web coding knowledge. The editing interface is split between the storefront (what your customers see) and inventory (the back-end).

Starting an e-commerce business involves several steps, including choosing a niche, setting up a website, and selecting a revenue model such as retail, drop shipping, or subscriptions. The diversity and scalability of online sales channels make it accessible for various entities, from freelancers to large corporations.

On the other hand, updating and maintaining Magento 2 can be a challenge if you are not a developer. Starting up and overall maintenance require development support, which translates to additional costs.

It’s all up to you as a merchant. This is why Magento 2 is a better option for more advanced and conscious store owners. If you know what feature or functionality you need, it will take a certain amount of time and money to make it happen but the effect will be outstanding and will meet your business needs for sure.

BigCommerce vs Magento - Security you can count on

BigCommerce automatically applies all security patches for you. With Magento, you are responsible for all security updates and patches. Nevertheless, both platforms are PCI compliant, ensuring secure online transactions by protecting payment gateways and customer data.

PCI compliant means Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, followed by all trustful eCommerce platforms to secure payment gateways. With BigCommerce hosting security is delivered out of the box. Magento online stores should treat them as one of their business needs.

Magento vs BigCommerce - Plugins, and extensions

Both Magento and BigCommerce have marketplaces with features and extensions you may apply to your store. Magento's marketplace has a wider offer with over 5 000 plugins delivered by the Magento Community that counts 260 000 developers. BigCommerce marketplace is not so rich, but all basic extensions can be easily found.

The main difference is in the way of plugin implementations. While BigCommerce allows instant installation while downloaded, they are also updated automatically, Magento requires resources such as time and money to arrange the development and customization process.

BigCommerce has a more user-friendly process while Magento engages additional forces to get high flexibility and tailored solutions.

Magento vs BigCommerce - Help, and support

BigCommerce as all SaaS solutions offers solid customer support 24/7 with phone and chat connections. The help desk will support all problematic situations, the store owner is led step by step in all necessary issues.

This option exists also in Magento Enterprise (Adobe Commerce) a paid version while the Magento Community edition a free one is supported by Community. You should realize it consists of programmers who solve problems at the expert level.

BigCommerce vs Magento - Multi-Store Capabilities

Online stores often operate in different areas and markets simultaneously. This situation forces all eCommerce platforms to satisfy international online retailers. Magento 2 doesn’t require handling multiple instances allowing it to run multi-store from the same admin panel.

Multi-store capabilities are particularly beneficial for business-to-business transactions, as B2B ecommerce often involves larger quantities and more complex specifications compared to consumer-facing sales.

With multi-store and multi-country functionality, brands can host stores on different domains, use different languages, offer different payment methods, and more from one location. This centralization reduces headaches for entrepreneurs that manage multiple stores across the world.

Multi-store benefits delivered by BigCommerce and Magento

Magento lets users customize the experience to local customs and shopper expectations. Users can integrate most local business and custom systems, with no trouble. Multi-currency, multi-language, multi-store, and multi-brand solutions also offer international options for shipping and taxes through their platform.

Staying updated on ecommerce trends can help businesses leverage multi-store capabilities effectively, ensuring they adapt to changing consumer preferences and maintain competitiveness in the online marketplace.

Magento offers multi-store functionality in the same installation - allowing users to create and access multiple stores on different URLs. BigCommerce doesn’t let complexity slow them down either - offering multi-currency, multi-payment, and multi-language options.

BigCommerce and Magento blogging (dis)advantages

CMS (Content Management System) is one of the crucial functionalities on the website. Blogging can significantly support an ecommerce business by enhancing SEO, increasing organic traffic, and playing a significant role in the sales funnel. Magento 2 has an extension supporting blogging activity without a need to integrate an external platform for that issue.

Many BigCommerce users integrate WordPress or HubSpot to manage content on the blog. It’s worth following their experiences and recommendations.

Magento has the SEO support features in the market among all other platforms. There is no other powerful solution to boost CTR and sales.

What ecommerce business models platform for high-volume SKUs?

If you have a product volume of over 10 000 items in the catalog or you plan to scale, Magento 2 will be suitable for you and easy to use for years. Magento 2 allows scaling the e-commerce without much additional care and hosting support. High-volume SKUs significantly contribute to the growth of retail ecommerce sales, which are projected to account for an increasing percentage of overall global retail sales.

With BigCommerce scaling means different price plans, higher plans give you more and more features and bring higher expenses. What is important is that BigCommerce has no transaction fees like other SaaS solutions on the market.

Magento vs BigCommerce - Pricing

BigCommerce is an out-of-the-box platform that doesn’t require as much professional help as Magento. BigCommerce offers several pricing plans depending on your store size. Magento is free to use, and users only need to pay for hosting and development support.

Different ecommerce business models impact pricing strategies significantly. For instance, models like dropshipping often have lower startup costs, while direct-to-consumer brands may focus on unique customer experiences that justify higher prices.

The Magento pricing depends on the customization and complexity of the store. SaaS platforms differ from PaaS platforms when considering pricing, and also business needs.

It’s a choice between a rigid structure with a closed ecosystem and total freedom of scalability, customization, and unique customer experience.

Conclusion 

Magento is considered to be one of the most powerful and robust eCommerce platforms giving you full control over the store. The flexibility and agility can not be underestimated in the changing online circumstances.

The success depending on differentiation and unique customer experience requires huge technical support, reliable and trust with prospects for the future.