If you are starting an online business and are looking for an eCommerce platform that suits your needs, there is no doubt you have come across some very well-known names. With each powerful name comes its own set of clauses. All eCommerce sites are not tailored for all the new businesses.

It is definitely a confusing task, trying to figure out which eCommerce platform will fit best with your business plan. Here, we will be discussing the four big names in the eCommerce platforms: WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify, and BigCommerce.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source plugin, which is available for WordPress. Launched in 2011, Woocommerce development is applauded for its simplicity and customization. What is important to note, however, is that it does not have dedicated hosting, which you will have to take care of yourself.

Features

WooCommerce is diverse, for it allows the sale of physical products, digital products, software, and even affiliated products.

This plugin does not shy away from different payment methods, having different payment getaways such as PayPal and Strips in their back pocket.

WooCommerce has very flexible shipping settings, making it easy for physical products.

You can actually add multiple products and product categories, managing different kinds of sales all at once.

You will eventually have full control over the data, and the code is secure still. This ensures that work transactions are protected.

The tax handling would also be an easy task, with WooCommecr looking into it with automatic tax calculations.

Pros

WooCommerce is freely available, making it one of the most popular WordPress plugins. It is continuously tweaked and revised to give the best results possible.

It offers attractive themes and mobile responsive images, making sure that all of it is easy to use.

WooCommerce also comes with a number of selective extensions, all of which are available for access.

Woocommerce development is user-friendly, having just a one-page checkout. This makes it better for users.

Users can easily leave their feedback, making it better for future users to check.

Cons

While WooCommerce is free, the extensions and hostings it offers are not. Some are one-time purchases and others monthly subscriptions.

It is a great eCommerce platform for small businesses, but multi-level enterprises may find it a little hard to navigate due to its lack of comprehensiveness.

Pricing

The winning part of WooCommerce is that it is free to download and has no transaction fee. It is, after all, a WordPress plugin. The cost comes when you have to install more and different types of extensions. Therefore, there is some hidden cost attached to it.

For example, managed hosting can cost up to $215/year. A Premium Theme would be $55, which is a once-off. The renewals come with a discount for that. There are other extensions that come up to $750, though their renewals to are mostly discounted.

Magento

Magento is an open-source platform for eCommerce users. It was first released in 2008 and has been owned by Adobe since 2018. It has over 250 hundred merchants and is considered one of the most popular platforms.

Features

Magento is not recommended for beginners of small businesses. Instead, it is catered to big enterprises.

Magento comes with many payment gateway options. They handle shipping charges and have private sales features.

They have their own inventory management.

With over 5000 extensions, Magento has an extensive base for an eCommerce platform.

It has a built-in SEO feature. Marketing is very easy, using Newsletters management and other tools to make the whole process easier.

The platform has about over 700 themes, with customizable designs and templates.

Pros

Magento is user-friendly without technical expertise.

• It is a scalable system, making it easy for Enterprises.
• It is a feature-intentive eCommerce platform, meaning Magento has everything that you could possibly need as a seller and a business.
• Magento is highly customizable, making it every bit of a store you want.

Cons

To begin with, Magento is very expensive.

• The platform can run slow at times, making it harder for customers.
• While Magento has many features, it is not as user-friendly as other sites. Thus, someone who is well versed in the language can only settle for it.
• It is catered for big businesses, not small businesses.

Pricing

Magento, being catered to big industries, has heavy pricing plans.

The Commerce Started plan starts at $1,999.

The Magento Commerce pro plan starts at $3,399.

There is also an enterprise Edition pricing which begins at $22,000 for fast-growing businesses.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms currently. Without over 500 thousand online stores, Shopify has an amazing range across the globe.

Features

Shopify has over 100 professional themes to choose from.

It has mobile-friendly shops, making it easy to navigate through different devices.

Shopify’s open nature allows it to be dissected and easily edited via HTML and CSS.

Business owners actually create their own domain name in Shopify.

The tools are made to be accessible and the website builders are very easy to use.

Shopify even has its own blogging platform, which makes marketing easy. Even the SEO is always at the top of this website.

Shopify supports over 70 different payment options including the Buy Now Pay Later Options.

It has built-in cart features for online shopping.

Pros

• Shopify is very easy to use and set up for beginners, making it user-friendly.
• The site is protected and ultra-safe for sensitive data and processing payments.
• There are many add-ons available on Shopify which allow you to customize your business.
• It can easily integrate with different platforms such as Google Sheets.
• Shopify offers free hosting. Your work is just to make an account.

Cons

• Shopify has a monthly and individual transaction fee for the other payment plans offered with it.
• There is limited parameters into which you will have to define your products for sale.
• The monthly cost may only increase if you want to have more apps integrated into your Shopify.

Pricing

Shopify has many different plans made for its customers. It has a 14-day free trial, followed by three options:

• A Basic play for $29/month, which is considered to be best for a new eCommerce business that has occasional in-personal sales.
• A Shopify plan at $79/month, which is made for growing businesses.
• An Advances plan, which works for already established plans at $299/month.
• Other than these, there is a Shopify Lite at $9/month for starters.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce was launched in 2009 and has over 55,000 online stores. It is one of the leading eCommerce platforms. In fact, BigCommerce is considered to be the best for those who do not have a lot of technical knowledge.

Features

BigCommerce has a lot of built-in features, such as check-out customization, WordPress Integration, etc.

It does not charge any transaction fee.

BigCommerce is mobile-friendly too, with free as well as paid themes.

There is no third-party software for inventory, making it secure and in the hands of the users.

The customer support of BigCommerce is phenomenal.

Those who do know to code can customize their sites using CSS and HTML.

The payment gateways are built within BigCommerce, making it easier.

Pros

BigCommerce has helpful and practical tools which is a part of every monthly package,

• The sales are easily increased without a lot of worries.
• It offers free hosting and an HTML/CSS editor.
• They have 24/7 customer support.
• BigCommerce allows the use of multiple currencies at once.

Cons

• The themes in BigCommerce get more expensive if you want to get a premium.
• BigCommerce has only about 7 free templates.
• They are still somewhat lacking in the Mobile department.

Pricing

BigCommerce offers a free 15-day trial before offering the different plans.

• The Standard plan starts at $29.95/month, which has no transaction fees and unlimited staff accounts. It helps integrate with different marketplace accounts.
• The Plus plan starts at $79.95/month, with allows for growth in the business plans.
• The Pro plan starts at $299.95/month which has many more additional features.
• The final, Enterprise plan has custom pricing based on your needs.

In the end, Magento is the platform for well-established enterprises, WooCommerce for those who use WordPress and Shopify, and BigCommerce for beginner shops. Depending on what you are selling and how you want to sell, you have to choose the platform you need.