Choosing an E-Commerce platform has never been simple for store owners, especially for newcomers to the online business. Once you get down to business and start searching about E-commerce platforms, you may be perplex as to how to select the best CMS for your company. WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Shopware, and BigCommerce are some of the major E-commerce platforms in this industry that consistently ranks at the top.
A proper E-commerce platform enables store owners to make the most of available tools and capabilities to develop a fully functional online store. BigCommerce vs. Magento is a battle between two vastly popular E-commerce gladiators. Online merchants have never had an easy time deciding between Magento and BigCommerce. Both platforms have a lot of functionality, but they do not have the same target audience. Both can assist you in setting up an online business and generating revenue through it, yet, how can you determine which one is best for you? The decision of choosing any one of the platforms lies upon understanding the platform and your requirements.
What is Magento?
Magento is a PHP-based open-source E-commerce platform. Other PHP frameworks, such as Laminas and Symfony, are also used in it. Magento is used by over 198,000 online websites. It has some powerful features, remarkable scalability and widespread community support, the platform is trusted by many world-class firms such as Coca-Cola, Ford, Range Rover, Nike etc.
What is BigCommerce?
BigCommerce is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based E-Commerce platform designed for rapidly expanding businesses. BigCommerce, like Shopify, is a hosted platform that is simple to use, with powerful built-in features, several support options and great security. It provides cloud-based website, product management, Omni-channel selling and B2B capability to small, medium and enterprise firms. BigCommerce now has 42,453 online shops. BigCommerce is used by major brands like Toyota, Kodak, and Ben & Jerry’s, among others.
Comparison between Magento and BigCommerce:
Let us compare both platforms based on their features. You can choose any one of them based upon these things:
1. Cost:-
You would be running your business on a fixed budget, hence costing is an important factor to look upon while picking up any E-commerce platform.
- Magento: Although Magento Open Source is free, it does not include costs for hosting, design, or development. You can go for the ‘Magento Commerce solution’ if you are seeking more advanced options. And the price range may vary from developer to developer and it also depends upon your customization requirements.
- BigCommerce: In BigCommerce too, the price range is decided by what you want to achieve with your E-commerce business. Your real cost will be determined by the intricacy of your store and the extent of services you require. You will need to acquire a custom estimated quote for an enterprise-level solution.
2. Security:-
Your clients will have to share some sensitive information with your E-commerce site, hence security is an important consideration when choosing an E-commerce platform.
- Magento: Magento is constantly at the top of its game when it comes to security, with several security fixes released regularly. Magento allows you to manually tighten security; you just need to keep store’s patches up-to-date. The Magento update procedure, on the other hand, must be done manually, which might be difficult for non-technical individuals.
- BigCommerce: As a fully hosted platform, BigCommerce will take care of your website’s security as part of your subscription package. The platform provides enterprise-level protection, as well as hosting and domain name registration. Multiple security layers protect the E-commerce websites built on BigCommerce, thus preventing unauthorised access.
3. User Friendliness:-
An easy to operate website attracts more customers and converts them into buyers. And for a website to be user friendly, it should be built on a user-friendly platform.
- Magento: Magento has the greatest functionality and customising choices of any platform, making it a complex platform. To modify your site, you will need to hire a dedicated Magento developer or agency with extensive expertise in HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript programming languages. Managing the site through a user-friendly backend interface would be quite straightforward after the technical part has been handled by the developers.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce, on the other hand, is considerably easier to use for novices than Magento because it does not require any coding skills. BigCommerce is also customizable, but it comes with a lot of limitations, so customising it might be expensive. The setup procedure in BigCommerce is easy and simple, with clear instructions.
4. Functionalities:-
Both Magento and BigCommerce have a wide range of features that make them an all-in-one E-Commerce management platform:
- Magento: Magento is an open-source system that leads the industry in terms of flexibility and adaptability, offering a feature-rich solution. Thousands of extensions for SEO, marketing, and other E-commerce needs are available on the Magento Marketplace. You can create any feature for your Magento E-Commerce store with the right Magento development talent.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce’s features and functionalities are best suited to small and medium-sized businesses looking for built-in integration with Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, and other marketplaces. You may incur constraints if your product list exceeds a hundred SKUs. BigCommerce also has a restriction on yearly online sales, so if you start generating extra profits on the BigCommerce website, you will have to pay a charge.
These 4 were the most important factors to compare Magento and BigCommerce or to decide upon any of the E-commerce platforms. Other factors which you should consider are:
- Hosting
- Scalability
- SEO and marketing
- Payment methods
- Performance and speed
- Maintenance and support
- Extensions and Add-ons
- Themes, designs and templates
- E-commerce tools and features
- API Integration
Which Platform should you choose: Magento or BigCommerce?
Both the platforms come with their functionalities, usability, features, advantages and disadvantages. The choice of the right platform will purely depend on your business needs.
If you require extra customization in design and functionality, and if you are looking for an enterprise-level, fast-growing and global selling platform, then Magento is the right choice for you.
And if you own a small or medium scale business, BigCommerce can be a perfect platform for you as it is easy to use so you would not have to spend extra money on its customization and other site-building features.
Summing up:
After comparing the two powerful platforms, we can say that both Magento and BigCommerce can be used for creating fabulous websites for your online business. However, if you want an advanced features platform for high business requirements, you can choose the global leader Magento.
iCreative Technologies is a prominent leader in providing expert Magento development services. Our dedicated Magento developers are ready to help you if you want to develop, maintain or optimize your Magento E-commerce website or even if you want any type of technical support. All our developers are certified and have delivered high-quality work to our huge number of clients till now. Contact us right away!
Jainesh Shah
Jainesh Shah is a CEO and Co-Founder of iCreative Technologies Inc. iCreative Technologies is a digital eCommerce agency mainly serving B2B clients across the globe. With over 15 years of experience in technology and business, he is helping his client thrive in this competitive era. He is specialized in eCommerce consulting, creative thinking, generating new business ideas, and delivering end products to market in the digital space. He is working with the vision to help his partner agencies and Clients to grow in their respective businesses.