The 21st Century has marked the age of rapid technological developments and advances. More and more people from all over the world are joining the virtual world of the internet.
We do so many activities there. From sharing photos ordering food, and even purchasing medicines, the internet has become a haven and a window through which one can access the entire world without moving a muscle.
Hence, it is no surprise that all our marketplaces are coming online too.
With the huge successes of companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, etc., more and more companies are trying to bring their market presence online to compete better and keep up with the current trends.
But many people are under the assumption that building your marketplace online, getting logistics to deliver them, etc., are very complicated processes, and one needs the help of highly specialized expertise to get things done.
But this is not the case at all! Plenty of online platforms help take a person or a company their business to the next level. WooCommerce and BigCommerce are two such examples.
Key Takeaways
- WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress that allows users to create and manage online stores.
- BigCommerce is a cloud-based e-commerce platform offering various features for building and managing online stores.
- WooCommerce is more flexible and customizable but requires more technical knowledge, while BigCommerce is more user-friendly and offers more built-in features.
WooCommerce vs BigCommerce
The difference between WooCommerce and BigCommerce is that WooCommerce has a bit of a learning curve and requires a few technical skills, while BigCommerce does not require any technical skills and is easy to set up.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | WooCommerce | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Usability | WooCommerce has a learning curve, and one needs to get familiar with the system. | BigCommerce is an easy-to-use platform which even novices can understand. |
| Cost | WooCommerce is a free and open-source platform. | BigCommerce is a subscription-based service. |
| Payment Gateways | WooCommerce supports a limited number of payment options by default. However, all major options can be added later. | BigCommerce supports a wide array of payment gateways by default. |
| Addons | Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, one can access over 55,000 addons present in WordPress. | BigCommerce has a comparatively lesser number of third-party add-ons. |
| Scalability | Limited scalability. | Highly scalable. |
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an online platform that is used to create e-commerce websites. WooCommerce is WordPress-centric, as it is a plugin for the content management system.
WooCommerce aims to make it easier for people to shift to or start new online businesses and provide huge customizability options so that users can modify the site to their liking.
As of 2020, WooCommerce has gathered a more than 3.9 million user base. It was developed by the WordPress plugin developer WooThemes.
WooThemes is a market leader in the bootstrap business, with teams in more than 7 countries.
The ability of WooCommerce to handle high amounts of traffic and still provide a good response time has led it to be used by high-traffic websites such as the Small Press Expo.
It was seen in 2015 that about 30% of all e-commerce sites were running WooCommerce. Also, even though about three million websites are actively using it, it has been downloaded many times, at about 39 million.
It is interesting to note that the developers of WooCommerce have kept their program open source, due to which many extensions and add-ons are present for the base product.
Up until 2018, about 330 extensions and more than 1000 plugins were dedicated to WooCommerce.
Some of the most significant WooCommerce plugins are WooCommerce Bookings, which, as the name suggests, is used for booking time slots, and WooCommerce Memberships, which is used to sell parts of websites that have restricted access.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is also an online platform that makes it easy for businesses to create their e-commerce websites and operate through them.
BigCommerce is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with over 600 employees. It was created by two Australians, Eddie Machalaani and Mitchell Harper.
Although significantly less popular than its gigantic counterpart WooCommerce, BigCommerce has its advantages, which suit the needs of certain users who do not want to get into the technological complication WooCommerce brings.
About 3% of all the e-commerce sites currently are built using BigCommerce; despite that, there has been a significant rise in interest in BigCommerce over time.
BigCommerce provides a whole package of features needed when making an online marketplace.
BigCommerce provides everything from design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Payment Gateway options, design options, etc., in its services.
This is why BigCommerce comes under the software category under a solution (SaaS) because it provides all the features in one platform.
The payment method used for the services purchased from BigCommerce is subscription-based.
The biggest selling point of BigCommerce would be its ease of use, which would appeal to users who do not have much technical familiarity.
Main Differences Between WooCommerce and BigCommerce
- WooCommerce is more detailed and technically complicated than BigCommerce.
- WooCommerce services are free; one must buy a subscription to use BigCommerce.
- WooCommerce, by default, has limited payment gateway options, while BigCommerce provides a wide array of options.
- WooCommerce has a humungous amount of add-ons, while the number of add-ons for BigCommerce is relatively less.
- WooCommerce has limited scalability, while BigCommerce is highly scalable.
I’ve put so much effort writing this blog post to provide value to you. It’ll be very helpful for me, if you consider sharing it on social media or with your friends/family. SHARING IS ♥️