BigCommerce vs. Magento: which one is right for you in 2025?

Picking an ecommerce platform feels like a huge decision, because, well, it is. It’s the foundation of your online store, influencing everything from how you manage inventory to how you scale your business down the road. Two names that always pop up are BigCommerce and Magento (which is now part of Adobe Commerce).

Both platforms will get you selling online, but they go about it in completely different ways. And choosing the one that doesn’t fit your business can lead to some serious headaches, blown budgets, and a business that can’t grow.

This guide is a straight-up, head-to-head comparison of BigCommerce vs. Magento. We’ll break down everything from features and pricing to the nitty-gritty of maintenance and security, so you can make a smart choice for your business.

What are BigCommerce and Magento? A tale of two different approaches

Before we get into the details, you need to understand the basic difference between them: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vs. open-source. This is the core of the whole debate.

Think of **

BigCommerce** like leasing a beautiful, move-in-ready shop in a popular shopping center. Your monthly rent covers everything: the building itself, security, maintenance, and all the utilities. You just have to show up, arrange your products, and start selling. It’s built for businesses that want to get online quickly and focus on selling, not on becoming part-time IT managers. BigCommerce handles all the hosting, security updates, and performance tweaks for you.

Magento, on the other hand, is like buying a piece of prime real estate. You own it outright and can build whatever you want on it, no questions asked. A three-story architectural marvel with a custom-built rocket ship on the roof? Go for it. But you’re also responsible for everything. You have to hire the architects and builders (developers), install a security system, handle all the upkeep, and make sure the foundation is solid. This approach is a dream for big companies with really specific, complex needs and the budget for a technical team to make it all happen.

A feature deep dive: BigCommerce vs. Magento side-by-side

So, they both help you sell stuff. But how they do it, and what tools they give you, couldn’t be more different.

Core ecommerce features and sales tools

BigCommerce comes packed with a ton of useful features right from the start. Out of the box, you get things like a streamlined single-page checkout, great product management tools, and built-in integrations to sell on marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. This all-in-one setup means you can launch a pretty sophisticated store without immediately having to shop for a dozen third-party apps.

Magento’s strength is its pure, unadulterated flexibility. It’s designed to handle mind-boggling complexity. You can create complex product types (bundled, grouped, configurable), custom pricing rules, advanced tax setups, and layered navigation. The catch is that most of these powerful functions require you to install extensions from the Magento Marketplace, which can add cost and complexity to your setup.

And let’s be real, no matter which platform you pick, customer support gets tricky as you grow. A common headache is keeping up with endless questions about product specs, stock levels, or order details. This is where tools like eesel AI come in handy. It connects to your help desk, not your ecommerce platform, and learns from all your product info (whether it’s from BigCommerce or a custom Magento build) to give customers instant, accurate answers. This frees up your human agents to tackle the truly tough questions.

Design, themes, and customization

If you want a great-looking store without needing a computer science degree, BigCommerce is a solid choice. Its theme store has plenty of modern, mobile-friendly designs, and the drag-and-drop Page Builder makes it pretty simple for anyone to tweak layouts. The trade-off for this convenience is that you are working within the BigCommerce framework. If you have a super unique design vision, you might feel a bit boxed in.

When it comes to customization, Magento is the undisputed champion. Since you have total access to the source code, you can build a completely original store from scratch. The design possibilities are literally endless. But let’s be clear: this isn’t a weekend project. Pulling this off requires a serious investment in talented developers.

Apps, integrations, and the ecosystem

Both platforms have app stores to add more functionality, and they each reflect their core philosophy. The BigCommerce App Marketplace is carefully curated. This means the apps you find there are generally easy to install and have a good chance of working smoothly with your store right away.

The Magento Marketplace is more like a wild, sprawling bazaar with thousands of extensions for almost anything you can think of. It’s amazing to have so many options, but it also means more potential for trouble. Extensions can be tricky to install, sometimes conflict with each other, and almost always require their own maintenance. Both platforms have powerful APIs, but Magento’s open-source DNA gives developers deeper access to build truly custom integrations.

The operational reality: Cost, maintenance, and support

The features are fun to talk about, but the day-to-day reality of running your store is what really matters. This is where the true costs and workload of each platform become crystal clear.

Total cost of ownership: A BigCommerce vs. Magento pricing breakdown

It’s easy to look at the sticker price, but the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is the number you should actually care about. This includes your subscription or license fee plus all the other costs that pop up over time.

BigCommerce has a straightforward, predictable subscription. You pay a monthly fee, and that’s pretty much it. Hosting, security, and support are all baked in, and they don’t charge extra transaction fees (you’ll still pay your payment processor, of course).

Plan	Price (Billed Monthly)	Key Features	Annual Sales Limit
Standard	$39/mo	Unlimited products & staff accounts, multi-channel selling	Up to $50k
Plus	$105/mo	Adds abandoned cart saver, customer groups	Up to $180k
Pro	$399/mo	Adds Google customer reviews, advanced product filtering	Up to $400k

Magento Open Source is technically "free" to download, but this is where the TCO can be deceptive. Running a Magento store comes with a bunch of other very real costs that add up fast. Adobe Commerce, the paid enterprise version, has a hefty annual license fee that usually starts around $22,000 and goes up from there.

Cost Component	Estimated Cost Range for Magento Open Source
Web Hosting	$20 – $1,000+/mo (depends on traffic and scale)
Development	$65 – $150+/hr (for setup, customization, and maintenance)
Extensions	$50 – $500+ per extension (one-time or subscription)
Security & SSL	$200 – $2,000+/year (for SSL, firewalls, security scans)
Maintenance	Ongoing developer costs for patches and updates

Maintenance, security, and performance

This is probably the biggest difference between the two.

With BigCommerce, you just don’t have to worry about the technical stuff. As a SaaS platform, it takes care of all security updates, PCI compliance, server maintenance, and performance. This lets your team focus on marketing and sales instead of stressing about whether your site is secure or if it will go down during a flash sale.

With Magento, you are 100% responsible for all of it. You (or your dev team) have to stay on top of security patches, manage your own PCI compliance, deal with hosting, and constantly tweak things for better performance. It’s a significant, ongoing technical job that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Platform support vs. customer support

When your store breaks, you need help, fast. BigCommerce includes 24/7 support through phone, email, and live chat with all its plans. If something goes wrong, you have a direct line to their team.

Magento Open Source is supported by its community through forums and online guides. It’s a "do it yourself" or "hire someone to do it" situation. For the paid Adobe Commerce plans, you do get dedicated support from Adobe.

But here’s the key thing: platform support helps you fix your store. You’re still on the hook for supporting your customers. As your business grows, this can become a huge operational cost. This is where an AI Agent from eesel AI can make a massive difference. It integrates with help desks like Zendesk or Freshdesk and can automate answers to 70-80% of common questions about orders, shipping, and products, regardless of whether you’re using BigCommerce or Magento.

So, who wins the BigCommerce vs. Magento debate?

Alright, after digging into all the details, let’s bring it all together. There isn’t a single "winner" here, just the right choice for your specific business.

A summary of the key differences

Feature	BigCommerce	Magento (Adobe Commerce)
Ease of Use	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Beginner-friendly)	⭐⭐ (Requires developers)
Total Cost	Predictable monthly fees	High & variable (dev/hosting)
Customization	Good, but within a framework	Limitless
Maintenance	Fully managed by BigCommerce	Self-managed
Best For	SMBs, mid-market, low-code teams	Enterprise, complex B2B, dev teams

Our final recommendation

Choose BigCommerce if: You want a platform that’s easy to use, has predictable costs, and requires minimal technical work. You want a powerful set of tools right out of the gate so you can focus on growth, not on managing servers. It’s a great fit for small to mid-sized brands that want to scale without hiring a big technical team.

Choose Magento if: You need incredibly deep, specific customization and have complex B2B or multi-store needs. You already have a skilled development team or a healthy budget for an agency partner. It’s the top choice for enterprise-level businesses that need total control over every nut and bolt of their ecommerce operation.

What’s next for your ecommerce support?

Once you launch your store, the game shifts to getting and keeping customers. The next big challenge is offering top-notch customer service without your payroll ballooning. This is where a modern AI support tool comes in, and the best part is, it doesn’t care which ecommerce platform you chose.

eesel AI works just as well with BigCommerce as it does with Magento. It connects with your knowledge sources (like product catalogs, help articles, and old support tickets) and your help desk (whether that’s Intercom or Gorgias). This layered approach gives you a powerful AI for your support team without a painful setup process.

Here are a few ways eesel AI helps ecommerce stores grow:

• AI Chatbot: Put it on your storefront to offer 24/7 help to shoppers. It can pull answers directly from your product catalog, helping turn curious visitors into confident buyers.

• AI Agent & AI Copilot: After a customer buys, these tools work inside your help desk to automate post-sale support. They can handle the flood of tickets about order status and return policies, while the Copilot helps your human agents write perfect replies in a fraction of the time.

The coolest part? You can simulate how eesel AI would work on your past support tickets before you even turn it on. This lets you see the potential ROI and test its accuracy, all completely risk-free.

Making the right choice for your business

The BigCommerce vs. Magento discussion really comes down to a trade-off: do you want convenience and predictability, or ultimate control and flexibility? BigCommerce lets you grow fast with less technical stress, while Magento gives you the power to build anything you can dream up, as long as you have the resources.

The best platform is the one that fits your goals, budget, and team. And once you’ve made that choice, don’t forget that the next big win is scaling your support without scaling your costs. You can try eesel AI for free and see how you can automate excellent customer service, no matter which platform you’re on.