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BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: a hosted $29 plan against a free plugin you host yourself
Updated Oct 15, 2026
BigCommerce Core costs $29 a month billed annually or $39 monthly and includes hosting, SSL and your own domain, but caps 12-month sales at $30K. WooCommerce's plugin is free, but you pay a host, which Woo puts at $25 to $350 a month for most stores. Woo charges nothing for using another payment provider; BigCommerce charges nothing with its embedded providers.
At a glance, by our score
- Top scoreLowest price
#1 WooCommerce
Stores that already pay for web hosting and want no platform fee
8.3/10Very goodOur scoreVisit WooCommerceOn woocommerce.com #5 BigCommerce
Stores that want to use Stripe, Braintree or Adyen with no extra fee
6.8/10FairOur scoreVisit BigCommerceOn bigcommerce.com
WooCommerce's lowest monthly price is lower than BigCommerce's, checked Sep 25, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.
Side by side
| Criterion | BigCommerce | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 6.8/10FairOur score #5 of 10 | 8.3/10Very goodOur score #1 of 10 |
| Fees per sale (30%) | 6.9 / 10 | 6.8 / 10 |
| Plan price (25%) | 8.4 / 10 | 8.8 / 10 |
| Included (20%) | 8.0 / 10 | 8.0 / 10 |
| Using another payment provider (15%) | 0.0 / 10 | 10.0 / 10 |
| Free trial (10%) | 10.0 / 10 | 10.0 / 10 |
| Price from | $29 / month | $0 / month |
| Best for | Stores that want to use Stripe, Braintree or Adyen with no extra fee | Stores that already pay for web hosting and want no platform fee |
| Visit | Visit BigCommerceOn bigcommerce.com | Visit WooCommerceOn woocommerce.com |
Who should pick which
- BigCommerce: Stores that want to use Stripe, Braintree or Adyen with no extra fee
- WooCommerce: Stores that already pay for web hosting and want no platform fee
BigCommerce is a hosted platform: one plan covers the store software, hosting and security. WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress, so you choose and pay the host, and add paid extensions as you need them.
At a glance
| BigCommerce | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan and price | Core: $29 a month billed annually, $39 monthly | Free plugin, plus hosting at $25 to $350 a month from your host |
| Fees on a $50 online card sale | 2.89% + $0.30 with BigCommerce Payments: about $1.75 | 2.90% + $0.30 with WooPayments: about $1.75 |
| Using another payment provider | $0 with embedded providers such as Stripe, PayPal Braintree and Adyen; 2.0% with others | None |
| Included on the entry plan | Unlimited products, discounts, inventory (up to 4 locations), SSL on your own domain; no abandoned-cart emails | Unlimited products, coupons, stock management, one experimental cart-recovery email; no domain or SSL (your host's job) |
| Free plan or trial | 15-day free trial | The plugin is free; hosting is paid |
Prices from BigCommerce's pricing page, read Oct 9, 2026, and WooCommerce's pricing page, read Sep 25, 2026.
Price
BigCommerce Core is $29 a month billed annually, $348 a year, or $39 month to month. It covers up to $30K in trailing-12-month sales; past that, BigCommerce moves you to Growth at $79 billed annually or $105 monthly.
WooCommerce's core is "WooCommerce Free, with no monthly subscription". Hosting is separate, at $25 to $350 a month for most stores by Woo's own range: about $300 a year at the low end. Our flags treat that $25 as a floor, not a quote for a real store. Paid extensions run $29 to $299 a year each.
Card fees start in the same place. WooPayments charges 2.90% + $0.30 per US card sale, with no monthly fee, and BigCommerce Payments 2.89% + $0.30. Both are about $1.75 on a $50 sale. Each company's pages conflict on the rate: Woo's pricing page says "~2.50-2.90% + 30¢", and BigCommerce's pricing footnote says + $0.29. We use the higher figure in both cases, as our flags record.
Where they differ
- Who runs the hosting. BigCommerce includes free HTTPS and SSL on your custom domain. WooCommerce includes no hosting, domain or SSL; those come from your host.
- Payment providers. WooCommerce lets you "choose and change your payments solution without fees". BigCommerce charges $0 with embedded providers such as Stripe, PayPal Braintree and Adyen, and 2.0% of each order on Core with a provider outside that list.
- Caps. BigCommerce Core has the $30K yearly sales cap. WooCommerce's free core includes "Unlimited products, orders, and APIs"; limits come from your hosting.
- Abandoned carts. WooCommerce 11.0 has an experimental recovery email that is off by default and sends one reminder. BigCommerce's abandoned cart saver starts on Growth.
- Wholesale. BigCommerce sells B2B Edition on Performance, from $1,499 a month billed annually. We found no B2B features in WooCommerce's core or its own extensions; marketplace extensions from other developers offer them.
Who should pick which
Pick BigCommerce if you want one bill that covers hosting, SSL and the store, and a 15-day free trial to build it. Budget for Growth once yearly sales near $30K.
Pick WooCommerce if you already run WordPress hosting, want no sales cap from the platform, and want to switch payment providers freely. See hosting for WooCommerce for hosts.
Compare the rest in our ecommerce platform ranking and platform fees compared.