There are so many e-commerce platforms and solutions in the market and this makes it somewhat difficult to choose one for your business. BigCommerce and Magneto 2 are the latest versions of the leading e-commerce platforms in the market and it is estimated that these two platforms alone power over 450,000 online stores worldwide. If you must pick any of the e-commerce solutions out there, you are best served to pick one of these two.

So what are the differences between BigCommerce and Magneto?

1- Popularity

Magneto is much more popular than BigCommerce in the e-commerce industry. According to data from surveys carried out, out of the top 1 million e-commerce sites, 14% make use of Magneto while only 4% make use of BigCommerce. When the sample size is reduced to the top 10,000 e-commerce sites, it is found that only 1% make use of BigCommerce while Magneto takes about 20% of the users. As far as popularity and mainstream adoption, Magneto ranks above BigComerce

2- Hosting

One of the main differences between the two e-commerce platforms is their hosting. With Magneto, you have a self-hosted platform. This means you will have to hire a third-party hosting platform for hosting services. This can set you back around $3.95 a month if you go with companies like Site Ground or HostGator.

BigCommerce on the other hand comes with hosting and is thus referred to as a hosted solution. With this platform, you don’t have to worry about sourcing and paying for hosting from any third party vendors. Everything has been built in by BigCommerce. This simplification has made BigCommerce a very ideal solution for beginners.

Hosting costs also factor into the overall cost of creating and managing a Magneto website so on this ground, BigCommerce is a preferred solution.

3- Ease of Use

It is also very important to choose a platform based on how easy and intuitive it is to use. This is especially so for beginners in the industry. BigCommerce is a much more user-oriented platform and you can quickly get the hang of it whereas Magneto is better suited for advanced developers who already have experience and technical expertise to work with.

BigCommerce has a clean and easy to use dashboard that allows users to set up their site and have it running in no time. With this dashboard, users have access to a step by step guide on how to build and manage the store without any external support. On this ground also, BigCommerce is a preferred option.

4- Features

Both platforms come with exciting features that are built into them. With BigComemrce, you also can integrate new features via an ad on. With BigCommerce, you get marketing tools, payment gateways, socials, and more built-in as additional features you can make the best out of. Magneto is also very robust in terms of features and they have some really exciting ones including catalog management, product browsing, and customer accounts. 

BigCommerce also comes with over 10 add ons at different price points. This makes it possible to add any feature you can think of.

5- Functionality

When you are setting up a new e-commerce store, it is crucial to decide the kind of market place you want to build. Are you building a marketplace where different vendors can sell their products? This can be a very effective strategy to increase sales and grow your business and you can achieve this with Magneto.

If you are also looking to integrate already existing and popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and others, BigCommerce gives you the ability to do so. However, you cannot create a market place within the BigCommerce store.

In conclusion, the decision on which platform to go with is not a direct one to make. You have to consider the kind of business you want to run and how the features, cost, and design of these platforms align with your goals. If you want something or a small to a medium solution, BigCommerce will work perfectly for you.
BigCommerce is also offering 10% off migration services and four months free for merchants that want to switch from Magento to BigCommerce platform.