BigCommerce Software Reviews

“polished storefront”

Pros

Even for non-technical users on our team who have little or no e-commerce experience, getting started is quick and manageable. It includes all the core features expected from an online store platform and both product pages and the checkout flow are well designed and professional in appearance.

Cons

Customization options are somewhat limited particularly when we are trying to adjust specific layout or design attributes beyond the standard settings of this tool.

“boosts ecommerce with capable features”

Pros

When we were looking at hosted platforms for online stores, it ended up being exactly the right fit. It scales really well as the business grows and since it's fully hosted, there's no need to deal with server upkeep or extra technical overhead. Most plans include several payment methods without charging transaction fees which is a big plus. There are also plenty of free templates available and the built-in CMS and SEO tools make it easier to manage content and visibility in one place. On top of that, it comes with discounts, other marketing tools, support for unlimited digital and physical products and a drag-and-drop builder that adds a lot of flexibility.

Cons

Room for improvement still exists. The newer themes are quite pricey and the lowest-tier plan does include transaction fees. The design tools aren't the most beginner-friendly either and some of the terminology can be confusing at first so I would say it might take you some time to understand the tool completely if you're just getting started.

“user-friendly store management”

Pros

Keeping the store up and running is very manageable. The interface is beginner-friendly and the API documentation is detailed and helpful for developers to work with.

Cons

Customer support could definitely be better. There should also be a proper option to track complaint status because right now you have to follow a full process just to check an update.

“overpriced app integration rabbit hole”

Pros

I didn't have to put a lot of efforts into it's setup. Even on day one, I was able to move through the backend quickly without much of a difficulty

Cons

The pricing feels far too high for what it actually provides. A lot of the value seems to come from integrations with other apps and those come with extra high costs too so the whole platform ends up feeling like an expensive rabbit hole.

“scalable platform with evolving apps”

Pros

This software is a simple platform that has helped small and mid-sized businesses grow efficiently at scale. We've been able to keep learning and adjust our strategy as their team keeps rolling out new developer capabilities and expanding the app marketplace. Fast, dependable apps are going to be essential for building and sustaining the next phase of ecommerce and having that kind of infrastructure in place will matter a lot in the years ahead.

Cons

Back when we partnered with this platform, they were still a newer player in the space. A few competing platforms had features available that we needed early on which held back some of our initial ecommerce growth. Since we've been a brick-and-mortar business since 1978, we rely on a wide range of functions to stay aligned with our physical stores. Even though those features weren't there from day one, their team moved quickly to implement them and worked closely with us to solve the problems.

“missing basics behind apps”

Pros

Only two things that I find just better in this one compared to other shopping cart tools, are the clean interface and tech support. Otherwise, there are options in the market that beat this one.

Cons

Many features that other shopping carts already include are still absent here. The biggest one for me is back-in-stock notifications which should be built in but instead you have to pay extra for an app and because they already profit from apps, it feels like they'll never make it native. The store search is also among the weakest I've used, unless you pay again for another app to improve it. On top of that even when you do find an app that helps, support for those apps is very inconsistent and can be completely hit or miss.

“feature-packed platform we love”

Pros

Coming from an agency background where WooCommerce and Shopify were the usual go-to platforms, it was new territory for us at first. Once we decided to level things up for one of our clients, it turned out to be a really pleasant surprise. It feels like one of the most complete ecommerce platforms available very user-friendly while still being powerful and full of features. It covers just about every type of setup you could need, from wholesale B2B stores to a simple one-page shop. The template options are excellent and Cornerstone is especially useful as a blank starting point when you want full flexibility. We also went through the partner program as an agency and are now officially part of this marketplace which has been exciting for us.

Cons

Development side works differently from what our team is used to and it doesn't feel as simple as WordPress. With WordPress, we can usually build the backend in a way that makes it very simple for clients to update sections on their own without constantly needing developer support. With this tool though some page setups require at least an intermediate understanding of HTML if someone wants to adjust text or images. That makes handoff harder since our clients are typically the ones managing content after the site is delivered and not all of them have that level of technical knowledge.

“hosted setup with flexible design”

Pros

I really appreciate that there's no need to pay for separate web hosting or install any software on my computer since everything is hosted already. It also comes with a variety of templates to browse through. Even though it's mainly built for people who aren't deeply into web design, it still gives more technical users and developers room to customize things with HTML and CSS.

Cons

Taking time to choose the plan that actually fits your business growth strategy matters a lot otherwise it can start to feel restrictive later on. It's also worth checking the transaction fees and sales limits carefully before committing.

“helpful support and strong stores”

Pros

Whenever an issue comes up, the customer support team is usually able to sort it out. Their stores also work really well right out of the box although in my case, selling products over $10,000 turned into a bit of a headache.

Cons

Like most people, I still wish there were more flexibility overall. The biggest frustration for me is their confirmation, invoice and other transactional emails which are really poor.

“excellent storefront with handy plugins”

Pros

After I got comfortable using plug-in tools like ShoGun for building landing pages, it felt pretty easy to work with.

Cons

My biggest frustration is the limited customization. I wanted to attach size options to one base product but instead I had to create separate size variants for the same color item.

“efficient platform”

Pros

I love how efficient it is and the interface feels very easy to use.

Cons

Poor compatibility with many other platforms is a notable downside which is ultimately why we decided to move over to Shopify.

“strong storefront setup, weak order tools”

Pros

We switched to this tool to power our website's redesign and the setup on the catalog side has been really amazing. Adding products, handling product customization and getting the store configured was pretty basic. Another big advantage is the large number of experienced agencies and developers who know how to build storefronts. Overall launching our store was fairly smooth and we had the new site up and running in about six months.

Cons

Where it really falls short is order management. The system in place just isn't very good. Orders can't really be edited the way customers expect. If someone wants to add an item, you can add it but you can't charge them for that extra item. The same problem happens when removing items from an order you don't get an option to refund the difference within the platform so that has to be handled outside the software. Our site has only been live on this platform for about four weeks and we already had our first outage after more than five years without one so that definitely makes me question the uptime. Searching for orders is also frustrating. Even when you already have the order number, it sends you to an advanced search page instead of just pulling up the order. You enter the number once, wait for the page to load and then type it again. Product search works in a similarly annoying way. I can paste in a product name directly from our storefront, search for it and then still get redirected to another advanced search screen where I have to enter the exact same search again before seeing results. For an enterprise plan, it's disappointing that in some areas it offers fewer features than a basic Shopify store we run at less than a third of the price. Inventory tracking also leaves a lot to be desired.

“secure and user-friendly platform”

Pros

The platform feels secure and is simple to work with. Since it isn't open source, there's no room for random changes from the admin side which helps keep things controlled and consistent.

Cons

The biggest downside is the app development documentation for this tool because it lacks clarity and useful detail. The pricing is also on the expensive side and customer support hasn't been very helpful.

“fast support”

Pros

Building product pages gives you a lot of flexibility which I really appreciated. I could also set pricing to update automatically based on different product options and the import/export tools were a huge help for managing larger inventories through Excel files instead of changing everything manually in the web app.

Cons

Getting everything set up at the beginning can feel a bit confusing especially if you're new to e-commerce and aren't sure how to configure things like tax and shipping calculations. That said their customer service is excellent so whenever a setting wasn't clear, I could call and reach someone pretty quickly. I almost never waited more than five minutes to speak with a rep.

“customizable features”

Pros

There's a lot to customize here, it covers most of the features you'd expect from an e-commerce platform and the API documentation is put together well.

Cons

The frustrating part is that even obvious fixes for known problems seem to get trapped in their support process and never really go anywhere. On top of that, the logging is too limited for developers or customer service teams to see detailed error information so customers end up having to send client-side stack traces just to help identify backend issues, like API requests returning HTTP 500 errors.

“good support for E-commerce”

Pros

Running day-to-day ecommerce operations and reviewing data is very manageable on this platform because it comes with a lot of useful features. The standout part for me though, is the customer support. Whenever something goes wrong with the website or we need answers, we can quickly connect with a their representative through chat. Their support team has been dependable and well-informed every time. There's no long phone wait and no frustrating transfers from one rep to another. Technical help is available right when you need it.

Cons

I'd still like to see is a bigger selection of apps that integrate more easily. When you compare it with Shopify, it just doesn't have the same wide range of options.

“clear dashboard visuals”

Pros

Everything important like stats, purchases and other key info is visible at a glance and updating product details is fairly simple too.

Cons

Editing the website content can be frustrating because certain sections are hard to track down. Things like the header and footer aren't always easy to locate when I want to make changes.

“flexible setup for our store”

Pros

Starting out with this tool was a big advantage for our business. The platform was simple to navigate and we were able to configure it to match our specific business needs without much trouble.

Cons

A limitation we ran into was with adding different clothing options. That feature wasn't available which made it harder for customers to pick their sizes from the dropdown menus.

“time saving integrations”

Pros

Choosing it came down largely to how easy it is to use. With so many platforms available for online stores, this one stood out because customizing the storefront felt simple and it already includes a range of built-in features. The integrations with online marketplaces and social media also save a noticeable amount of time.

Cons

I do keep in mind the annual sales limit although if I reach it, I'd just move up to a higher plan that fits my needs. Another downside is the limited number of free store templates. If you want custom styling, the cost climbs quickly and there are also a few features that really seem like they should be included as standard but just aren't there.

“reliable website control”

Pros

Running a web-based business means my site has to stay functional and as a small business owner I also need something I can handle on my own. It works well on both fronts. I was able to set everything up myself and continue managing it without outside help. Some parts are simpler than others but overall the platform has been really great for my business.

Cons

The app marketplace still doesn't offer as many choices as some competing platforms even though new integrations are being added regularly. That said they do keep expanding and updating the available options.