You’ve decided to open or expand an online store. Congratulations on taking this big step to grow your business! Now you need to choose an ecommerce platform to build and host your website.
BigCommerce is one of the most popular choices, powering over 60,000 online stores. The advantage of BigCommerce is that it’s an all-in-one hosted platform with lots of built-in features, allowing you to avoid the cost and headache of managing servers and software.
But with four pricing plans available, how do you determine the right BigCommerce option for your specific business needs and budget? This guide examines the key differences between plans so you can make an informed decision.
Overview of BigCommerce Plans
BigCommerce offers four main pricing plans: Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. Here’s a high-level comparison:
BigCommerce Pricing Plans:
| Standard | Plus | Pro | Enterprise | |
| Starting Price Per Month | $29.95 | $79.95 | $249.95 | Custom Quote |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Products Allowed | Up to 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Order Volume Per Year | Up to $50K | Up to $180K | Over $180K | Highest volume |
| Advanced Features | Limited | Expanded | Full Access | Full Access + Custom Options |
- Bandwidth refers to data transfer each month
- Order volume determines which plan is recommended
- Advanced features include discounts, promotions, etc.
Below we dig deeper into what distinguishes each pricing tier.
BigCommerce Standard Plan
The Standard plan provides an affordable starting point for small businesses.
Key Standard Plan Features:
- Simple store management: Intuitive control panel to update products, categories, content pages, etc.
- Responsive storefront templates: Professional designs built to display on all devices.
- Basic shipping options: Add rates for flat-rate, weight-based, and pick-up/local delivery.
- Core sales channels: Sell through your website, Facebook, and eBay.
- Abandoned cart saver: Send emails to recover lost sales when shoppers don’t complete a purchase.
- Essential customer accounts: Allow shoppers to create an account to save payment details, view order history, and manage subscriptions (if selling digital products or subscriptions).
The Standard plan works best if you have a smaller catalog and only expect up to around $50K in annual sales. It meets the needs of most handmade goods sellers, personal bloggers selling a few products, and niche boutique stores.
If you outgrow the limits, BigCommerce makes it easy to upgrade to a higher plan.
BigCommerce Plus Plan
The Plus plan adds more advanced functionality like gift cards, advanced promotions, and Calculated shipping rates.
Key Plus Plan Features:
Everything in Standard, plus:
- Abandoned cart recovery: Create automated emails or pop-up messages to win back abandoned checkouts.
- Calculated shipping: Use live carrier rates, weight-based shipping, and table rates.
- Location targeting: Display country-specific content, pricing, shipping rates, etc.
- Reviews app: Collect and display customer product reviews to boost trust and SEO.
- B2B features: Create bulk purchase discounts and business buyer accounts.
- Facebook & Instagram sales channel: Sync products to sell directly via Facebook shops and Instagram product tags.
Plus supports higher sales volume (around $150K/year), adds business-to-business commerce features, and more advanced website conversion tools. It’s ideal for small retailers looking to scale up.
BigCommerce Pro Plan
Pro takes maximizing revenue and conversions up another level by expanding both your sales channels and email marketing capabilities.
Key Pro Plan Features:
Everything in Standard and Plus, plus:
- Google customer reviews: Display stars and reviews from Google alongside your own reviews.
- Abandoned browse recovery: Renew interest from people who left your site without adding items to their cart.
- Advanced segmentation: Send targeted emails and offers based on detailed buyer attributes and behaviors.
- Progressive profiling: Gather more visitor information over time to support personalized marketing.
- Predictive search: Produce auto-complete suggestions and correct typos to improve on-site search conversion.
- Amazon and eBay integrations: Centrally manage product listings and inventory across channels.
The Pro plan removes order volume limits and adds robust features to maximize sales across platforms. It’s designed for established medium-large retailers generating over $180K per year.
BigCommerce Enterprise Plan
BigCommerce Enterprise caters to mega-retailers, with dedicated support, peak traffic volume allowances, and highly customized features.
Pricing is quoted on request, and minimum qualifications apply based on your projected sales and traffic volume.
Key Enterprise Plan Features:
Everything in Standard, Plus and Pro, plus:
- Dedicated account manager: Get VIP support from an assigned BigCommerce expert.
- API access: Integrate cutting-edge tools for a truly custom commerce experience.
- High annual sales: Minimum $1M in annual revenue recommended.
- Custom functionality: Get proprietary features tailored to your brand’s needs.
- Unlimited hosting capacity: Scale to extremely high traffic and order volumes.
In addition to multi-million dollar retailers, large multi-channel brands, manufacturers, and wholesalers benefit most from the Enterprise plan.
If you think BigCommerce Enterprise fits your expanding business needs, contact their sales team for qualification details.
Choose the Right Plan Based on Your Needs
Choosing your ideal BigCommerce plan involves estimating your expected sales volume, traffic, number of products, desired features, and level of support needed.
Here are key questions to help decide:
- What do you sell? Physical/digital products, subscriptions, services, etc.? Standard plans allow up to 100 products.
- What sales volume do you expect annually? Standard handles up to $50K, Plus up to ~$150K, Pro above $180K+.
- Will you sell internationally or just domestically? Plus plan adds location targeting.
- How many products do you plan to list? Plus and Pro are unlimited.
- What types of shipping rates will you need? Plus unlocks calculated rates.
- What sales channels do you use? Plus syncs with Facebook and Instagram shops. Pro adds Amazon and eBay integrations.
- What level of support do you expect? Enterprise provides dedicated 1-on-1 expertise.
Be realistic about your growth plans over the next few years so you can scale up when needed.
Why Choose Anchor Group for BigCommerce Implementation?
While BigCommerce makes launching an online store easier, you’ll still need to customize your branding, design, features, and setup for smooth operation.
Rather than tackling this alone, leverage ecommerce specialists like Anchor Group. Some key reasons Anchor Group stands out for BigCommerce development:
Experienced With Complex Sites
Anchor Group has implemented numerous BigCommerce stores across diverse industries. Past clients range from large manufacturers to small handmade goods sellers.
Their team can handle integrating advanced functionality that matches your unique workflow – including custom APIs, EDI, and ERP.
Focus on High Performance
Anchor Group optimizes stores for rapid page loading and scalability. This means shoppers won’t jump ship due to slow response times during high traffic spikes.
Their technical experts can also implement CDNs, caching, and optimizations to significantly improve site speed.
Design That Converts
Beyond technical aspects, Anchor Group prioritizes lead generation through compelling branding and UX design. Rather than just setting up a theme, they customize layouts, content, imagery, and calls-to-action tailored to your niche audience.
This drives more conversions and ROI from the start.
Managed Support Options
Anchor Group also provides managed support and hosting packages. Rather than managing servers and software yourself, their team handles updates, monitoring, backups, and troubleshooting.
For enterprise clients, Anchor Group can provide managed cloud infrastructure through AWS with auto-scaling capabilities.
SEO Services
To attract organic search traffic, Anchor Group performs comprehensive SEO audits. They identify optimization opportunities on- and off-page to improve rankings.
This includes competitor research, technical fixes, content optimization, earning backlinks, and detailed reporting on KPIs.
Launch Your BigCommerce Store With Confidence
We walked through the key distinctions across BigCommerce’s pricing plans. Choosing the right tier involves balancing your budget against business requirements – including sales volume, number of products, desired features, traffic capacity, and required support.
As your online store grows, seamlessly upgrade plans to unlock more advanced capabilities. BigCommerce makes this easy, so don’t start on a higher tier than you need.
Then partner with an experienced implementation agency like Anchor Group to fully customize and optimize your store’s design, features, and performance. Done right, you’ll drive more traffic, leads, and sales over the long-term.
So take the first step toward BigCommerce success and request a quote today! Anchor Group will help you launch and grow your online store to its full potential faster than going it alone.
