Are you ready to start an online store, not sure which e-commerce platform to use?
There are a lot of good e-commerce platforms out there. Three top contenders are BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify — and they’re constantly duking it out for new customers.In this article, we’ll compare these three platforms head to head to see their strengths and weaknesses. By the end of it, you’ll have a good idea of which platform can best help you on your quest for e-commerce riches.
Rates last updated February 17th, 2017
Details
Features
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a true all-in-one ecommerce platform with the power to grow your business & help you sell more.
Create a fully customized, responsive online store that speaks to your customers.
Go to site
More info
3dcart
Easily build an online store with the best hosted eCommerce shopping cart software & website builder.
Hundreds of built-in features to help you succeed online.
Go to site
More info
Shopify: E-commerce platform
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform that has everything you need to sell online, on social media, or in person.
Fast, reliable commerce in the cloud
Go to site
More info
Have we missed anything in the comparison table? Tell us
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How much do they cost?
Let’s lay out the pricing for each platform’s main paid plans.
Provider
Plan
Pricing
BigCommerce
Standard
$29.95 a month
Plus
$79.95 a month
Pro
$249.95 a month
3dcart
Mini
$19.99 a month
Professional
$65.99 a month
Professional Plus
$99.99 a month
Power Plan
$129.99 a month
High Traffic Plan
$199.99 a month
High Traffic Plan Plus
$499.99 a month
Shopify
Basic Shopify
$29 a month
Shopify
$79 a month
Advanced Shopify
$299 a month
Comparing the features
To compare the three services, we’ll compare each of the entry-level plans: BigCommerce’s Standard plan, 3dcart’s Mini plan and Shopify’s Basic Shopify plan.
BigCommerce (Standard)
3dcart (Mini)
Shopify (Basic Shopify)
Monthly price
$29.95
$19.99
$29
Product limit
Unlimited
100
Unlimited
Sales limit
$50,000
None
None
Website
Yes
Yes
Yes
Blog
Yes
Yes
Yes
Transaction fees
None
None
None with Shopify Payments; 2% with external payment gateways
Bandwidth limit
Unlimited
2GB
Unlimited
Staff accounts
Unlimited
2
2
Discount codes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Abandoned cart recovery
No
No
No
File storage
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Bing Ads and Google AdWords credits
No
Yes
No
Discount codes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Real-time shipping calculation
Yes
Yes
No
Google Trusted Stores designation
No
Yes
No
For full feature lists, check out our reviews for BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify.
Price
Judged solely on monthly price, 3dcart comes out on top. It’s about $10 cheaper than BigCommerce and Shopify.
You’ll want to look at other features to compare, of course. But if you plan on running a smaller store, 3dcart could win this battle.
Winner: 3dcart
Product limit
3dcart may have the lowest price point, but it comes with a disadvantage: It caps the number of products you can list in your store. Meanwhile, BigCommerce and Shopify both let you stock unlimited products.
Winner: It’s a tie — BigCommerce and Shopify
Sales limit
One big weakness to BigCommerce is its sales limits — $50,000 on the Standard plan, $150,000 on the Plus plan and $1 million on the Pro plan. Neither 3dcart nor Shopify have sales limits.
Winner: It’s a tie — 3dcart and Shopify
Bandwidth limit
You might find 3dcart’s bandwidth limit to be a hassle as you’re growing (it’s 2GB on the Mini plan). Neither BigCommerce nor Shopify set limits on bandwidth.
Winner: It’s a tie — BigCommerce and Shopify
Transaction fees
You’ll pay credit card transaction fees of between 2% and 3%, regardless of which payment gateway you use. However, some e-commerce platforms charge additional transaction fees.
Shopify, for example, charges a transaction fee if you accept credit card payments outside of Shopify Payments — 2% on the basic plan, with a smaller percentage on the upper-tier plans. Meanwhile, neither BigCommerce nor 3dcart charge additional fees for any payment gateway.
Winner: It’s a tie — BigCommerce and 3dcart
Micro and enterprise plans
Some e-commerce platforms offer a “micro” plan that comes with very few features at a very low price. Most platforms also offer enterprise plans for very large brands.
Let’s compare these plans among BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce doesn’t offer a micro plan. Its lowest-level plan is the Standard plan.
However, BigCommerce does offer the Enterprise plan that comes with such features as:
Unlimited yearly sales volume
Priority customer support
Special credit card rates (2.2% + $0.30 or lower)
Abandoned cart saver
Google Trusted Stores designation
Fraud monitoring and analytics
Product filtering
Dedicated SSL
Unlimited API calls
Learn more about BigCommerce Enterprise on our review page
3dcart
3dcart’s micro plan is the Nano, which is $9.99 a month. On this plan, you get:
Up to 10 products stocked in your store
1 staff user
1GB of bandwidth
Monthly visitor quota of 2,000
3dcart’s Enterprise plan comes with:
Dedicated support team
Unlimited sales volume
Unlimited monthly visitors
Unlimited staff users
Unlimited email hosting
Unlimited disk space
DDOS protection
Learn more about 3dcart Enterprise on our review page
Shopify
Shopify’s micro plan is Shopify Lite, which is just $9 a month. This plan doesn’t come with an online store — instead, Shopify Lite lets you sell on your own website or on Facebook, Pinterest or other social media.
If you’re an established brand or running a store that sells at heavy volume, take a look at Shopify Plus. With this enterprise plan, you get:
Unlimited bandwidth
Unlimited sales transactions
Dedicated support manager
Multichannel sales
Infrastructure to handle product launches, flash sales and special events
Fraud detection
Learn more about Shopify Plus on our review page
The big winner
BigCommerce doesn’t offer a micro plan, while 3dcart and Shopify do. Yet 3dcart allows you create a standalone store on its Nano plan, while Shopify doesn’t. But Shopify arguably offers better options to sell on social media (such as Pinterest Buyable Pins), which 3dcart can’t match.
All this to say that each enterprise plan is highly capable, making it tough to anoint a winner here. Consider contacting BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify support teams for platform demos.
Point-of-sale hardware
In addition to selling online, you might also want to sell in person. All three e-commerce platforms offer this capability.
BigCommerce integrates with Square’s point-of-sale (POS) platform, but it doesn’t offer its own POS hardware.
However, 3dcart and Shopify do offer POS hardware, including:
Cash drawers
Receipt printers
Barcode scanners
iPad stands
Rates last updated February 17th, 2017
Details
Features
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a true all-in-one ecommerce platform with the power to grow your business & help you sell more.
Create a fully customized, responsive online store that speaks to your customers.
Go to site
More info
3dcart
Easily build an online store with the best hosted eCommerce shopping cart software & website builder.
Hundreds of built-in features to help you succeed online.
Go to site
More info
Shopify: E-commerce platform
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform that has everything you need to sell online, on social media, or in person.
Fast, reliable commerce in the cloud
Go to site
More info
Have we missed anything in the comparison table? Tell us
We value your feedback
If the provider quotes a different rate to the one above please
let us know
Themes
Let’s see how BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify stack up for free and paid themes.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce offers seven free themes that include:
If you’re willing to pay for a theme, you’ll find many more options — around 80 of them. Prices for the paid themes are typically between $145 and $200.
3dcart
3dcart offers over 60 free themes, including:
You can choose from more than 40 paid themes, which generally range from $99 to $199. You’ll also find third-party themes from sources like Envato.
Shopify
Shopify offers nine free themes:
You can choose from over 40 paid themes, typically ranging from $140 to $180.
The winner
Since picking a winner depends on your own tastes, it’s a good idea to check out the platforms’ theme pages for yourself.
Looking only at the number of free themes offered, 3dcart comes out on top. It offers more than 40 themes, compared with BigCommerce’s seven and Shopify’s nine. Meanwhile, BigCommerce offers more paid themes than 3dcart and Shopify.
Which platform should you pick?
BigCommerce, 3dcart and Shopify are all highly capable e-commerce platforms.
We can pick winners in a few categories.
Category
Winner
Lowest monthly price for a standard plan:
3dcart
Lowest monthly price for a micro plan:
Shopify
Best for unlimited products:
BigCommerce and Shopify
Best for unlimited sales volume:
3dcart and Shopify
Best for unlimited bandwidth:
BigCommerce and Shopify
Best for POS hardware:
3dcart and Shopify
That said, the overall winner will be the one that works best for your own needs.
Rates last updated February 17th, 2017
Details
Features
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a true all-in-one ecommerce platform with the power to grow your business & help you sell more.
Create a fully customized, responsive online store that speaks to your customers.
Go to site
More info
3dcart
Easily build an online store with the best hosted eCommerce shopping cart software & website builder.
Hundreds of built-in features to help you succeed online.
Go to site
More info
Shopify: E-commerce platform
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform that has everything you need to sell online, on social media, or in person.
Fast, reliable commerce in the cloud
Go to site
More info
Have we missed anything in the comparison table? Tell us
We value your feedback
If the provider quotes a different rate to the one above please
let us know
Frequently asked questions
Do any of these three e-commerce platforms come with contracts?
Standard plans don’t come with contracts. However, you may be asked to sign a contract if you sign up for an enterprise plan.
Do I need my own web hosting when I sign up for one of the e-commerce platforms?
No, each platform provides web hosting. You’ll need your own website only if you want to add buy buttons or if you’re on the Shopify Lite plan (which doesn’t offer a standalone e-commerce store).
What if I exceed my bandwidth limit on the 3dcart plan?
You can buy more bandwidth at a rate of $5 per GB. Neither BigCommerce nor Shopify have bandwidth limits.