BigCommerce vs. Shopify: The Best eCommerce Platform for You

BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Which is the better eCommerce platform? We compare their strengths, weaknesses and enterprise limitations — and reveal why commercetools is the best alternative for scalable, flexible digital commerce.

In the battle for eCommerce dominance, BigCommerce vs. Shopify is a classic debate. Both platforms offer solid solutions for businesses looking to sell online. But when it comes to enterprise eCommerce, neither of them truly measures up.

At first glance, Shopify and BigCommerce seem like great options. They promise ease of use, out-of-the-box functionality and scalability. But scratch beneath the surface and their limitations quickly become apparent — particularly for complex, high-growth enterprises.

Enter commercetools — a composable, API-first commerce platform built for enterprise-level flexibility, scalability and innovation. Before we explain why commercetools is the superior choice, let’s break down the BigCommerce vs. Shopify battle.

1. Flexibility and enterprise readiness: Can you truly customize and scale?

Customization and scalability are crucial for enterprises aiming to deliver unique customer experiences while ensuring their commerce platform evolves with business growth.

• BigCommerce: More flexible than Shopify, thanks to its API-driven approach, but still tied to a monolithic structure. Customizations often require third-party plugins, increasing complexity and cost. Some enterprise capabilities exist (B2B features, multi-brand support), but they lack deep customization options, making true scalability difficult.

• Shopify: Highly restrictive. Shopify Scripts and Liquid make deep customization difficult, and most changes require additional apps or workarounds. Originally designed for SMBs, Shopify Plus still struggles to support complex enterprise requirements, particularly with multi-region and multi-channel commerce.

Winner: BigCommerce (but still limited)

commercetools advantage: A truly composable, API-first platform that allows enterprises to build, customize and scale exactly as needed — without restrictions or monolithic constraints.

2. Scalability: Can it handle growth?

Enterprises need a platform that scales with them, handling high traffic volumes, global expansion and growing product catalogs.

• BigCommerce: No sales limits and better performance under heavy traffic than Shopify. However, it’s not fully cloud-native, meaning potential infrastructure limitations and scalability bottlenecks.

• Shopify: Scalability issues due to not being cloud-native, plus versioned APIs create technical debt. Shopify Plus users often experience performance bottlenecks due to its reliance on multiple instances rather than a unified architecture.

Winner: BigCommerce

commercetools advantage: Cloud-native, multi-cloud infrastructure that scales effortlessly with demand, ensuring reliability and resilience at an enterprise level.

3. Extensibility: Can you add features without headaches?

• BigCommerce: Requires third-party plugins for many essential features, leading to integration issues, hidden costs and vendor reliance.

• Shopify: Highly dependent on apps. Many core features (advanced search, subscriptions, B2B tools) require additional paid plugins, making extensibility cumbersome and costly.

Winner: BigCommerce

commercetools advantage: Built for extensibility with a flexible data model, rich APIs, event-driven architecture and no reliance on external app stores.

4. Vendor lock-in: Who owns your future?

• BigCommerce: More open than Shopify but still tied to its ecosystem.

• Shopify: High lock-in risk. Its proprietary scripting language (Liquid) makes migration painful, and businesses are forced to use Shopify Payments.

Winner: BigCommerce

commercetools advantage: No vendor lock-in. Businesses retain full control over their commerce stack, choosing the best-of-breed solutions they need.

While BigCommerce is better than Shopify for enterprises, it still has major weaknesses:

• Limited flexibility: API-based but still has a one-size-fits-all approach, relying on a suite of built-in features with APIs layered on top. The older API structure can limit custom integrations.

• Lacks key enterprise features: No native support for subscription management, multi-tier marketplaces and other advanced functionalities needed for complex digital commerce.

• Limited scalability: Inventory challenges, monolithic architecture constraints and not fully cloud-agnostic, creating friction for global expansion.

Meanwhile, Shopify falls even shorter for enterprises:

• Not composable: Shopify’s rigid architecture makes customization even more difficult than BigCommerce, limiting adaptability for large enterprises. Even their Commerce Components offering — intended for large businesses — lacks true microservices, reducing agility for complex integrations. Commerce Components also require significant in-house tech capabilities, further narrowing their appeal. 

• Higher TCO and pricing challenges: Shopify is even worse than BigCommerce in terms of total cost of ownership. Its reliance on third-party apps, revenue-based pricing model and restrictions, such as forced Shopify Payments, create an expensive and inflexible ecosystem that becomes costlier as businesses scale.

For enterprises with complex needs, neither BigCommerce nor Shopify is the right choice.

commercetools isn’t just an alternative — it’s a fundamentally different approach to digital commerce. Here’s what makes it superior:

1. Composable commerce architecture

Unlike BigCommerce and Shopify, commercetools delivers true composability by allowing enterprises to build, customize and scale their commerce stack with the vendors that best suit their needs.

Key benefits include:

• Best-of-breed components: Enterprises can select only the commerce capabilities they need, integrating seamlessly with existing infrastructure. This eliminates unnecessary complexity and vendor dependencies.

• API-first design: commercetools is built with APIs at its core, ensuring smooth integration with third-party services, custom applications and backend systems. This means businesses can evolve their commerce experiences without being tied to a rigid platform.

• Cloud-native scalability: commercetools dynamically scales to meet changing traffic demands, ensuring fast and reliable performance even during peak shopping seasons. Unlike BigCommerce and Shopify, which have infrastructure limitations, commercetools offers true multi-cloud flexibility across AWS and Google Cloud. 

• Headless commerce flexibility: The frontend is entirely decoupled from the backend, giving enterprises complete control over their customer experience across web, mobile and emerging digital touchpoints.

2. True composability and agility

With commercetools, enterprises gain true agility, avoiding the bloat and rigidity of monolithic platforms. Businesses can rapidly adapt to market shifts, launch new sales channels and innovate without constraints. This is a stark contrast to the limitations found in BigCommerce vs. Shopify Plus, where businesses often struggle with outdated structures and dependency on app marketplaces.

3. Superior scalability and performance

commercetools operates on a multi-cloud infrastructure, ensuring:

• No single point of failure, ensuring reliability and disaster recovery.

• Elastic scalability, adapting dynamically to sudden spikes in demand.

• Unmatched uptime and performance, so enterprises never worry about traffic surges impacting sales.

4. Unified commerce for B2B, B2C and more

Unlike Shopify and BigCommerce, commercetools offers a unified commerce platform that supports:

• B2B and B2C on the same system.

• Multi-brand, multi-region, multi-currency capabilities.

• Seamless omnichannel experiences.

5. Lower TCO

commercetools is designed to deliver enterprise-grade capabilities while maintaining a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). 

Key benefits include:

• No reliance on third-party apps: Unlike Shopify and BigCommerce, which require costly app add-ons for core functionality, commercetools provides native enterprise features, reducing ongoing costs.

• Reduced operational costs: commercetools enables automation, efficient workflows and cloud-native scalability, cutting down on maintenance costs.

• Faster time to value: By removing development bottlenecks and enabling rapid deployment, commercetools allows enterprises to launch new experiences faster, driving revenue growth.

6. Recognized industry leadership

commercetools was named a Leader for the fifth year in a row in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce, outpacing BigCommerce and Shopify in vision and execution.

For enterprises seeking a future-proof commerce solution, commercetools is the clear winner.

Final thought: If you’re serious about commerce at an enterprise level, BigCommerce and Shopify will hold you back. commercetools will set you free.

To dive deeper into how commercetools stacks up against BigCommerce and Shopify, download our white papers: commercetools vs. BigCommerce for Enterprise-Level Businesses and commercetools vs. Shopify for Enterprise-Level Businesses.