Shopify vs BigCommerce
If you're looking for a Shopify vs BigCommerce comparison, you've already moved past the basic comparisons. You already know that both are serious SaaS platforms, that both have enterprise plans, that both offer managed hosting, and that both can handle large catalogs. The question you're left with isn't which one exists, but which one works best for your specific operation in Latin America. And that question deserves an honest answer, not a generic blog post.
I'll be direct: Shopify and BigCommerce are the two most robust SaaS platforms on the market for medium and large-scale e-commerce. The difference between them is not as drastic as the difference between Shopify and WooCommerce or between Shopify and Magento. But in the specific context of Latin America, there are factors that clearly tip the scale towards Shopify, especially when it comes to ecosystem, local payments, innovation speed, and the availability of certified experts in the region.
Are you evaluating Shopify vs BigCommerce for your operation in LATAM and need a technical opinion without agency bias? I can help you analyze your specific case.
Request a technical consultation →Shopify vs BigCommerce: each platform's model. Both are SaaS platforms with managed hosting, automatic updates, and no need to manage your own infrastructure. That is their fundamental similarity and what differentiates them from WooCommerce, Magento, or PrestaShop. Where they diverge is in the ecosystem, the speed of innovation, their presence in LATAM, and some technical details that matter a lot in practice. BigCommerce has an interesting proposition in native SEO and the absence of transaction fees on all its plans. Shopify has a significantly larger app ecosystem, a broader global community, and a speed of innovation that BigCommerce has not been able to match in recent years.
This table evaluates the most relevant criteria for sophisticated businesses in Latin America when deciding between Shopify or BigCommerce:
| Criterion | Shopify ADVANTAGE | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| App ecosystem | ✅ Over 8,000 apps in the App Store. The broadest SaaS ecosystem for e-commerce on the market. | ⚠️ Significantly smaller app marketplace. Key integrations may not be available or may require custom development. |
| Expert presence in LATAM | ✅ Extensive network of certified Shopify Partners in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and throughout the region. | ⚠️ Very little presence of certified partners and experts in Latin America. Finding specialized local support is difficult. |
| Speed of innovation | ✅ Shopify constantly releases new features: Checkout Extensibility, Shopify Markets, Hydrogen, Functions. Very high pace of innovation. | ⚠️ Slower innovation cycles. BigCommerce has lost ground in recent years against Shopify in terms of new features. |
| Local payments in LATAM | ✅ Native and stable integrations with Mercado Pago, Conekta, Kushki, Culqi, and more throughout the region. | ⚠️ Limited payment integrations for LATAM. Many local gateways are not natively available or require additional development. |
| Custom checkout | ✅ Checkout Extensibility in Shopify Plus: deep customization without modifying the base code. Secure and compatible with updates. | ⚠️ Greater access to checkout code but without Shopify's extension structure. Customizations are more fragile to updates. |
| Transaction fees | ⚠️ Shopify charges additional fees if Shopify Payments is not used. In LATAM, where Shopify Payments is not always available, this can be relevant. | ✅ No transaction fees on any plan, regardless of payment provider. A real advantage for high-volume operations in LATAM. |
| Native SEO | ✅ Solid SEO foundation with clean URLs, automatic sitemaps, and optimized speed. Continuous improvements in structured data. | ✅ Very solid native SEO: fully customizable URLs, faceted navigation with granular indexing control. Technical advantage in advanced SEO. |
| Multi-country in LATAM | ✅ Shopify Markets: differentiated prices, currencies, and languages by country from a single store. Native and well integrated. | ⚠️ Multi-currency capabilities available but with less depth than Shopify Markets for managing multiple markets in LATAM simultaneously. |
| Community and resources | ✅ Massive global community: millions of merchants, thousands of partners, extensive documentation, and case studies across all verticals. | ⚠️ Significantly smaller community. Fewer resources, case studies, and community support available. |
| SKU and variant limits | ⚠️ Limit of 100 variants per product on standard plans. For catalogs with many attribute combinations, this can be a limitation. | ✅ No limit on variants per product. Advantage for businesses with complex catalogs in fashion, footwear, or configurable products. |
| Native automation | ✅ Shopify Flow included in Plus: no-code business automations for inventory, orders, customers, and marketing. | ⚠️ No native automation tool equivalent to Shopify Flow. Requires external integrations for complex automatic flows. |
| Headless commerce | ✅ Hydrogen and Oxygen: framework and dedicated hosting for headless implementations. Growing ecosystem of specialized partners. | ⚠️ Headless capabilities available but with a smaller ecosystem of tools and specialized partners than Shopify. |
Shopify vs BigCommerce verdict for LATAM: Shopify wins in 9 out of 12 criteria. BigCommerce has real advantages in the absence of transaction fees, advanced native SEO, and variant limits. However, the decisive difference for businesses in Latin America is the local partner ecosystem: finding a BigCommerce expert in LATAM who knows the platform in depth and the regional market is practically impossible. This has a real operational cost that most comparisons don't mention.
The factor no Shopify vs BigCommerce comparison mentions: local experts. This is the point that most impacts businesses in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile when choosing between these two platforms. Shopify has a global network of certified partners with a solid presence throughout Latin America. BigCommerce has a much smaller partner network, concentrated in the United States and Australia. When you need to implement something complex, solve an urgent technical problem, or scale your operation, the availability of local experts who know both the platform and the regional market is not a minor detail: it's the difference between solving the problem in hours or in weeks.
If you've already decided that Shopify is the right platform and you need the right expert to implement it in Latin America, I'm here.
Talk to a Shopify expert in LATAMTransaction fees: the most cited argument in favor of BigCommerce. It's true: BigCommerce does not charge additional transaction fees on any plan, while Shopify does charge them when Shopify Payments is not used. In Latin America, where Shopify Payments is not available in all countries, this can be relevant for high-volume operations. However, that cost needs to be put into perspective. Shopify's fee on the Basic plan is 2%, on the Shopify plan 1%, and on Advanced 0.5%. For a store with $50,000 USD in monthly sales on the Shopify plan, that's $500 USD per month. If Shopify's ecosystem, its speed of innovation, and the availability of local experts generate even 1% more conversion, the calculation is reversed. Shopify Plus completely eliminates transaction fees.
SEO: the point where BigCommerce has a real technical advantage. In the Shopify versus BigCommerce comparison, SEO is the area where BigCommerce has a genuine technical advantage: fully customizable URLs without restrictions, granular control over the indexing of faceted navigation, and an architecture that gives more freedom to advanced SEOs. For businesses with sophisticated technical SEO teams that want total control over every indexing element, BigCommerce can be the best option. For the vast majority of businesses in LATAM, Shopify's SEO foundation is more than sufficient, and the practical difference in ranking is marginal.
Variant limit: when it really matters. Shopify has a limit of 100 variants per product on its standard plans. For fashion businesses with many combinations of size, color, and material, or for configurable products with multiple attributes, this can be a real limitation. BigCommerce has no such limit. If your catalog has products with more than 100 variant combinations, this is a factor you should seriously evaluate before choosing a platform. There are solutions in Shopify for this problem, such as product configuration apps, but they add complexity and cost.
Do you have a complex catalog with many variants or need advanced technical SEO? I can help you evaluate whether Shopify or BigCommerce is the best option for your specific case.
Request a technical evaluation →Speed of innovation: the difference that accumulates over time. This is the factor that has most changed the Shopify or BigCommerce comparison in recent years. Shopify has launched Checkout Extensibility, Shopify Markets, Shopify Functions, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and a series of continuous improvements that have significantly expanded what the platform can do. BigCommerce has had a slower pace of innovation and has lost ground in several key areas. For a business that will be on the platform for five or ten years, the provider's speed of innovation matters as much as current functionalities.
Conclusion: Shopify vs BigCommerce for sophisticated businesses in LATAM. If you've made it this far, you know that this is not a simple comparison. Both platforms are solid. The right choice depends on your specific case: the size of your catalog, your sales volume, your technical SEO needs, and, above all, the availability of local experts who can support you. For the vast majority of businesses in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, Shopify wins the comparison due to its ecosystem, innovation, and availability of experts in the region. But if you have a specific case where BigCommerce's advantages are relevant, that conversation deserves to be had with real criteria.
If you've already done your research and are ready to make a decision with the right expert, I'm here for that conversation.
Talk to a Shopify expert in LATAMCheck our hour packages, consult our page about Shopify Plus for Latin America or write to us directly. The right decision, made with real information and a trusted expert, is the basis of a successful implementation.
