--- title: "What Is BigCommerce? Plans, B2B Edition and Hosting Explained" url: https://www.uncap.com/post/what-is-bigcommerce author: "Denis Dyli" published: 2026-10-22 updated: 2026-10-22 summary: "BigCommerce is a hosted, software as a service ecommerce platform from BigCommerce, a Nasdaq-listed company (CMRC) based in Austin, Texas. It lists four plans tied to trailing 12-month sales: Core at $39 a month, Growth at $105, Scale at $399 and Performance from $1,499 a month billed annually. B2B runs through B2B Edition, which adds company accounts, sales quotes, invoices on net terms, user roles and a Buyer Portal, and headless builds use Catalyst, built on Next.js and React. The guide also explains how a BigCommerce to Shopify migration works, which at Uncap typically takes 10 to 16 weeks." --- # What Is BigCommerce? Plans, B2B Edition and Hosting Explained > BigCommerce is a hosted, software as a service ecommerce platform from BigCommerce, a Nasdaq-listed company (CMRC) based in Austin, Texas. It lists four plans tied to trailing 12-month sales: Core at $39 a month, Growth at $105, Scale at $399 and Performance from $1,499 a month billed annually. B2B runs through B2B Edition, which adds company accounts, sales quotes, invoices on net terms, user roles and a Buyer Portal, and headless builds use Catalyst, built on Next.js and React. The guide also explains how a BigCommerce to Shopify migration works, which at Uncap typically takes 10 to 16 weeks. BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform from BigCommerce, a Nasdaq-listed company based in Austin, Texas. In its own words, it is "an open ecommerce platform that helps businesses build, manage, and scale online stores," providing "a hosted storefront, secure checkout, payment integrations, and multichannel selling tools without requiring businesses to maintain their own infrastructure." This guide explains what BigCommerce is in 2026 from BigCommerce's own pages: the company, how the platform is hosted, its four plans and what they cost, how B2B Edition works, its headless and multi-storefront options, and how a move to Shopify works if you are weighing one. **Key takeaways** - Hosted platform: BigCommerce runs the storefront, checkout and infrastructure, so you do not host or patch servers. - Four plans: Core ($39 a month), Growth ($105 a month), Scale ($399 a month) and Performance (from $1,499 a month, billed annually), tied to your trailing 12-month sales. - B2B Edition: company accounts, sales quotes, invoices on net terms, user roles and a Buyer Portal, added to a store through an app and BigCommerce's support team. - Headless option: Catalyst, BigCommerce's storefront framework built on Next.js and React. - Moving to Shopify: at Uncap, a migration from another platform typically takes 10 to 16 weeks, with a median cutover around 14 weeks. ## What is BigCommerce? BigCommerce is a software as a service (SaaS) commerce platform: you sign up for a plan, build your store in BigCommerce's control panel, and BigCommerce runs the platform underneath it. Its company page lists 2009 as the year it was founded, a 2020 IPO, the ticker NASDAQ: CMRC, more than 150 countries served, and a headquarters in Austin, Texas. BigCommerce now sits inside a wider group. The commerce.com site presents three brands side by side: BigCommerce, which it calls "the flexible ecommerce platform that grows with you"; Feedonomics, which optimizes product data "across hundreds of global channels"; and Makeswift, "the intuitive visual editor." If you are evaluating BigCommerce, expect product feeds and visual editing to come up as part of the same family. On features, BigCommerce's product FAQ says the platform "includes unlimited products, multi-storefront management, native B2B capabilities, omnichannel integrations, SEO tools, and support for headless and composable commerce through Catalyst." It adds that businesses "can also extend functionality through 1,200+ apps and integrations." BigCommerce positions itself for "businesses at every stage," from "small businesses under $5M in online revenue to enterprises earning hundreds of millions." Its B2B pages speak directly to wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors, and say you can "Run B2B and B2C from the same place." ## How BigCommerce is hosted BigCommerce runs as a hosted service, so the decision you make is which plan to buy rather than where to host the software. BigCommerce's own product FAQ describes the hosting model: the platform provides "a hosted storefront, secure checkout, payment integrations, and multichannel selling tools without requiring businesses to maintain their own infrastructure." Its product page lists what comes with that: - Performance and reliability: "enterprise-grade infrastructure and 99.98% uptime," in BigCommerce's words. - Security and compliance: "enterprise-grade security, compliance standards, and two-factor authentication." - Staging environments: "Test, preview, and deploy updates without disrupting live storefronts." - HTTPS: BigCommerce's plan features include "Free sitewide HTTPS and dedicated SSL." In practice, hosted means the work your team does is configuration, design, apps and integrations, not server upkeep. Developers extend the store through APIs, and BigCommerce's developer documentation offers free sandbox stores for building and testing. ## BigCommerce plans and pricing BigCommerce publishes its prices. As of October 2026, its pricing page lists four plans: "Core ($39/month), Growth ($105/month), Scale ($399/month), and Performance (starting at $1,499 per month, billed annually)." Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax. The plans are tied to sales, not just features. BigCommerce says its "plans are based on your trailing twelve-month (TTM) GMV," and that when sales pass a threshold, "for example, $30K on Core or $100K on Growth," you are "automatically upgraded to the next plan." BigCommerce calculates GMV as "gross order value minus 10%." - Core: for "New businesses with up to $30K in annual sales." - Growth: for "Established businesses scaling toward $100K in annual sales." - Scale: "Starting at $399/month (or $299/month billed annually) for up to $33,333/month in GMV," with a "0.9% overage rate" above that and an automatic move to Performance once trailing sales reach $2 million. - Performance: for "High-volume businesses with $1M+ in annual sales," with "Custom payment terms" and "Dedicated Customer Success." Two more pricing details are worth knowing. First, payment fees: BigCommerce "charges a monthly fee on self-service plans (Core, Growth, and Scale) for orders processed through Open Payment Providers," while "Orders processed through Embedded Payment Providers are not subject to this fee." Second, contracts: Core, Growth and Scale "don't require a contract," and "Contracts are available for BigCommerce's Performance plan." BigCommerce also offers "a fully functional 15-day free trial" with no credit card required. ## What BigCommerce includes Beyond the plan tiers, BigCommerce's pricing page lists the store features that come with the platform. These are the ones B2B and B2C operators tend to ask about. - Promotions: "more than 70 discount options available out-of-the-box," plus coupons, discounts and gift cards. - Currencies: "Accept payments in over 100+ currencies," with local payment methods through the provider you choose. - Shipping: "real-time rates" from carriers including UPS, USPS and FedEx, and a shipping rules engine for more complex rates. - Customer groups: "Segment your customers for pricing, product access, and promotions." - Group pricing: "custom pricing at the SKU level for customer groups," which BigCommerce frames as giving "B2B customers a B2C-level experience." - Product search: faceted search that lets shoppers "dynamically filter products," where "custom product fields can be used as product filters." - Cart recovery: an abandoned cart tool that "automatically sends shoppers a customizable series of emails." - Retail locations: "Sell and fulfill orders in multiple retail locations, including in store pick up and curbside." The group pricing and customer groups above work on their own. B2B Edition, covered next, adds company accounts, quotes, invoices and the Buyer Portal on top. ## How B2B works on BigCommerce B2B on BigCommerce runs through B2B Edition. BigCommerce's developer documentation describes it as "BigCommerce's all-in-one solution that offers enterprise-level B2B functionality to businesses of all types and sizes," which "integrates directly into your control panel." According to that documentation, B2B Edition adds: - Company accounts: "for managing client business relationships and configuring unique features." - Sales quotes: "to offer personalized deals with customized products and negotiated pricing." - Invoice management: "to facilitate purchase orders paid on net terms." - User roles: "to tailor access control for Company buyers and backend staff." - Sales agents: staff assigned as Super Admins and Sales Staff "to assist clients from the storefront and backend respectively." - Buyer Portal: "a unique storefront account area for Company users to efficiently handle their B2B purchasing workflows, such as requesting sales quotes or paying outstanding invoices." BigCommerce's product page adds customer-specific pricing "based on customers, contracts, tiers, and account structures," customer-specific catalogs, sales rep ordering on behalf of buyers, invoicing with "net terms, credit limits," and requisition lists with "bulk ordering, CSV uploads, and quick reordering." Getting B2B Edition switched on is a step of its own. BigCommerce's documentation says: "To request B2B Edition provisioning on your store, install the B2B Edition app from the marketplace and then contact our support team to start the process." New B2B Edition stores use the Buyer Portal experience by default, and the Buyer Portal can be used as is or customized for Stencil and headless storefronts. ## Headless storefronts and multiple stores BigCommerce supports both its own themes and headless builds. Catalyst is the headless route: BigCommerce describes it as its "composable storefront framework built on Next.js and React," which "includes Makeswift visual editing, pre-built components, and deep integration with BigCommerce APIs." The GraphQL Storefront API powers custom storefronts and "custom buying experiences." Multi-storefront lets one BigCommerce account run several stores. BigCommerce describes it as managing "multiple brands, regions, and customer segments from a single backend," and its pricing page sells extra storefronts as paid add-ons. For selling beyond your own site, BigCommerce connects to marketplaces and ad channels, including Feedonomics Surface, which "connects your store to ad channels and keeps product listings accurate as your catalog changes." ## Is BigCommerce the same as Shopify? No. BigCommerce and Shopify are separate platforms from separate companies. Here is where they overlap and where they differ. - Hosting: both are hosted. BigCommerce describes "a hosted storefront" with no infrastructure to maintain, and Shopify describes itself as "a cloud-based and hosted platform." - Plan names: both have a plan with a similar name. BigCommerce has a Growth plan; Shopify has a Grow plan. They are different plans on different platforms. - B2B: on BigCommerce, B2B comes through B2B Edition, provisioned with an app and the support team. On Shopify, B2B features are part of the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans, including companies, catalogs and net payment terms. Shopify says B2B "isn't available on the Starter or Retail plans," and below Plus you can assign "up to 3 active catalogs across all your B2B markets." For a feature-by-feature view, see our [BigCommerce B2B Edition vs Shopify B2B comparison](https://www.uncap.com/comparison/bigcommerce-vs-shopify). For how Shopify B2B works plan by plan, see our [Shopify B2B guide](https://www.uncap.com/post/is-shopify-good-for-b2b). ## How a move from BigCommerce to Shopify works A BigCommerce to Shopify move follows the same order as any replatform. Shopify's migration guide says to import products first, then customers, then historical orders, "so that products and customers can be properly connected to the orders." Customer passwords do not move in a CSV import: Shopify explains that "because passwords are encrypted outside of Shopify, you can't migrate customer passwords from another online store using a CSV," so you invite customers to create new passwords. At Uncap, a Shopify Platinum Partner, a migration from another platform typically takes 10 to 16 weeks, and our median cutover is around 14 weeks. The work runs in six phases: plan the move, build and migrate in parallel, map redirects and protect search, test against real workflows, cut over, and watch it hold. Our guide to [how long a Shopify B2B migration takes](https://www.uncap.com/post/how-long-shopify-b2b-migration-takes) covers what moves that timeline. The BigCommerce-specific work is the B2B Edition layer. Company accounts and user roles map to Shopify B2B companies, company locations and location-level permissions, and customer-specific pricing is rebuilt with Shopify B2B catalogs, which Shopify says "determine the products and pricing your B2B customers can access." If your team quotes, [Uncap Quotes](https://www.uncap.com/products/quotes) runs the configure, price and quote process inside the Shopify admin, and an approved quote becomes a Shopify order in one click. Our [BigCommerce to Shopify migration](https://www.uncap.com/migration/bigcommerce) page covers the move step by step. Most migrations start with Uncap Blueprint, a $7,500 fixed-price plan delivered in four weeks and credited toward implementation. If your ERP has to stay in sync after the move, Uncap Connect starts at $8,000 to set up and runs $390 a month. [Talk to Our Experts](https://www.uncap.com/quote), and bring your BigCommerce plan, your B2B Edition setup and your ERP. We will tell you what moves cleanly and what needs a plan. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is BigCommerce the same as Shopify? No. BigCommerce and Shopify are separate hosted ecommerce platforms from separate companies. On BigCommerce, B2B comes through B2B Edition, which is provisioned with an app and the support team. On Shopify, B2B is part of the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans. ### How much does BigCommerce cost per month? BigCommerce lists four plans: Core at $39 a month, Growth at $105 a month, Scale at $399 a month or $299 a month billed annually, and Performance from $1,499 a month, billed annually. Plans are tied to trailing 12-month sales, and stores upgrade automatically when they pass a plan's threshold. ### Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees? It depends on the payment provider. BigCommerce charges a monthly fee on its Core, Growth and Scale plans for orders processed through Open Payment Providers. Orders processed through its Embedded Payment Providers are not subject to that fee. Your payment provider's own processing fees still apply. ### Is BigCommerce legit? Yes. BigCommerce is a public company, listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CMRC, with its headquarters in Austin, Texas. Its company page lists 2009 as its founding year and 2020 as the year of its IPO. ### Is BigCommerce good for B2B? BigCommerce supports B2B through B2B Edition, which adds company accounts, sales quotes, invoices on net terms, user roles and a Buyer Portal. Whether it fits depends on your catalog, pricing rules and systems, so compare it against your own requirements and the platforms you are considering. ### What is BigCommerce B2B Edition? B2B Edition is BigCommerce's B2B add-on that integrates into the BigCommerce control panel. It adds company accounts, sales quotes, invoice management for purchase orders on net terms, user roles and a Buyer Portal. Stores request it by installing the B2B Edition app and contacting BigCommerce support. ### What is BigCommerce Catalyst? Catalyst is BigCommerce's composable storefront framework, built on Next.js and React. It includes Makeswift visual editing, pre-built components and integration with BigCommerce APIs, for teams that want a headless storefront on top of BigCommerce. ### How long does a BigCommerce to Shopify migration take? At Uncap, a migration from another platform typically takes 10 to 16 weeks, with a median cutover around 14 weeks. Catalog depth, B2B account structure and how many systems, such as an ERP or PIM, have to stay in sync set the length.