BigCommerce has no direct Shopify importer, but both support CSV export/import for products and customers. Themes and apps are rebuilt by hand.
Quick verdict: Move to BigCommerce if you want zero transaction fees on any payment gateway and built-in multi-channel selling, and are comfortable with plan tiers that auto-upgrade based on sales volume.
Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.
Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.
Unlike Shopify’s non-Shopify-Payments fee.
Less dependence on paid apps for this.
Fewer apps required to reach feature parity.
BigCommerce’s Core plan auto-upgrades once trailing 12-month sales exceed $30,000, a cost trigger Shopify’s flat pricing does not have.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1Export your catalog and customers | Download products, variants, customers and order history as CSV from the old platform. |
| 2Create your BigCommerce store | Sign up for the Core plan and start its 15-day trial. |
| 3Import your catalog | Use the new platform’s CSV import tool to bring in products, variants and customer records. |
| 4Rebuild your theme and storefront | Recreate your storefront design; themes are not compatible between platforms. |
| 5Reinstall apps or extensions | Find and configure equivalents for any apps or extensions your old store relied on. |
| 6Test checkout and switch your domain | Place a real test order end to end, then point your domain at the new store and take the old one offline. |
What this path doesn’t do for you:
Shopify’s much larger app and theme ecosystem has no equivalent depth on BigCommerce.
| Plan | Shopify | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Per store, flat | Per store, GMV-gated tiers |
| Entry price | Basic $29/mo (annual) | Core $29/mo (annual) |
| Hosting | Included | Included |
| Transaction fees | On 3rd-party gateways unless Shopify Payments | None, any tier |
| Free plan | No, 3-day trial | No, 15-day trial |
Prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 23, 2026.
| Capability | Shopify | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Flat | GMV-gated tiers |
| Transaction fees | On 3rd-party gateways | None, any tier |
| App ecosystem | Largest in category | Smaller |
| Price | $29/mo | $29/mo |
Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?
Read the BigCommerce vs Shopify comparison Switching from BigCommerce to Shopify instead?Not automatically. Export products and customers as CSV and import them into BigCommerce.
The published entry price is identical; it can rise later on BigCommerce if your trailing sales exceed $30,000, auto-upgrading you to Growth.
Yes, find BigCommerce equivalents in its own app marketplace, which is smaller than Shopify’s.
Not fully automatically. Export products and customers as CSV from the old platform and import them into the new one; themes, custom code and installed apps/extensions are rebuilt by hand since they don’t carry over between platforms.
Every pricing fact, rating, AI billing model and switching guide we hold on each tool, on one page, with the date each figure was last verified.
Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.
Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.
Plain-language guides: the steps, what to check before you buy, common mistakes, and every tool it takes with verified prices.
Verified prices costed for your team size, a check against your must-have requirements, the questions to settle before you sign, and a source for every figure. Print it, or paste it into an email to whoever approves the spend.
Built for the leader who owns the selection, answers for the spend, drives the rollout, and lives with the results. HelpCompare covers the whole decision, not just the first step.