Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce for B2B eCommerce

THE SHORT ANSWER

Is BigCommerce better than Shopify for B2B?

BigCommerce is not the better B2B platform for most mid-market manufacturers and distributors, but it is not the weak platform some comparison pages describe, and Human After All says that having built one. Shopify Plus leads because B2B is native rather than layered (one admin, one data model, one customer record for wholesale and retail), because its app store, Patchworks iPaaS middleware, and agency bench are the largest in commerce, and because Winter '26 alone shipped ten B2B features including ACH payments, store credit for companies, and dynamic payment terms. BigCommerce leads where a team wants open, code-level control of checkout and storefront through the Catalyst (Next.js) stack and Makeswift editor, where B2B Edition's built-in sales quotes and invoicing matter, where a Performance contract negotiates the payment-gateway fee to 0% against Shopify's 0.20%, and where several storefronts must run on one contract. Here is where each side leads.

Where BigCommerce wins

• Open platform, open code — direct access to checkout and storefront logic, a Next.js headless stack (Catalyst) with a visual editor, and APIs with fewer guardrails. Teams with in-house developers get more control and own more.
• Quotes and invoicing in the product — B2B Edition ships sales quotes, invoice management on net terms and rep-on-behalf ordering. Shopify covers quotes and multi-level approvals through apps.
• Payments on your terms — on a Performance contract the platform fee on a third-party gateway negotiates to 0%; Shopify Plus charges 0.20% per transaction unless you use Shopify Payments. If a B2B-specific processor is non-negotiable, that is real money.
• Multi-storefront on one contract — several branded storefronts from one backend without stepping up a tier.

Where Shopify Plus wins

• B2B is native, not layered — one admin, one data model, one customer record for wholesale and retail. No separate B2B interface for the fundamentals.
• Ecosystem and talent — the largest commerce app store, established ERP middleware such as Patchworks iPaaS, and a deep pool of B2B-capable agencies and developers. Fewer problems require custom code, and the people who can maintain it are easier to hire.
• Upgrade-safe checkout — Checkout Extensibility and Shopify Functions let you customize without owning a fork of checkout you must maintain.
• Release cadence — two Editions a year plus a continuous changelog. Winter '26 alone added ten B2B features, including ACH payments, store credit for companies, dynamic payment terms and order review rules.
• Vendor stability — Shopify's B2B investment is compounding; Commerce.com spent 2026 fending off takeover proposals with roughly flat revenue. That matters when you sign for three years.

PRICING

How much do Shopify Plus and BigCommerce cost for B2B in 2026?

Shopify Plus costs a flat platform fee of US$2,300 per month on a three-year term or US$2,500 on a one-year term (CA$3,400 and CA$3,650 on Shopify's Canadian price page, September 2026), with native B2B included: companies, catalogs, price lists, payment terms, and B2B checkout carry no separate line. Higher-volume merchants move to a variable platform fee; Shopify does not publish the threshold, so treat any figure you read elsewhere as an estimate. On a third-party payment gateway you pay 0.20% per transaction to Shopify on top of processor fees; on Shopify Payments that fee is waived. BigCommerce Performance lists lower, but B2B Edition is a separate, unpublished line that third-party estimates start around US$6,000 per year. Full breakdown in our Shopify Plus pricing for B2B FAQ.

BigCommerce Performance starts lower at list — "as low as $1,499/mo" billed annually — but the number you will actually pay is negotiated on GMV, storefronts, locations and features, and B2B Edition is a separate line the vendor does not publish. Since 1 June 2026 the self-serve tiers carry an Open Payment Provider Fee (2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth, 0.6% on Scale) on orders through non-embedded gateways, and Scale caps at US$33,333 per month of inclusive GMV with a 0.9% overage. In practice, a wholesale merchant of any size lands on Performance, where the fee is negotiated to 0% under contract.

What actually decides it. At mid-market volume the two platform fees sit in the same band once B2B Edition is added. In the wholesale stacks we audit, the difference comes from the four to eight paid apps that carry B2B on BigCommerce and are native on Shopify, from extra storefronts, and above all from the ERP integration, which you build and own on BigCommerce and can buy pre-built on Shopify. Model it over three years with your own volumes.

SCENARIOS · NATIVE B2B

When is Shopify Plus the right choice?

Shopify Plus is the right choice when you want B2B native rather than layered, when you run wholesale, DTC, and retail from one admin, and when four to eight paid apps are doing the job Shopify ships in the core. Companies, locations, catalogs, price lists, quantity rules, and payment terms live in the same admin as the retail store, with Plus removing the three-catalog limit and adding direct company assignment. Hybrid merchants gain the most: our B2B pricing at POS work exists because Husky Boutique sells to consumers, schools, enterprise employees, and corporate buyers from one Plus store and one Shopify POS, connected to ServiceCentre ERP, with 19 companies on native B2B. Quotes, multi-level approvals, and spend control, the 20% native B2B does not cover, come from B2B Protocol and the B2B Quote Engine rather than from a separate B2B interface.

• You want B2B native, not layered — companies, locations, catalogs, price lists, quantity rules and payment terms in the core admin, with Plus removing the three-catalog limit and adding direct company assignment. No separate B2B interface, no app dependency for the fundamentals.
• Hybrid B2B, DTC and retail from one admin — wholesale, web and POS from one storefront, one inventory, one team. This is where native architecture pays off daily; our B2B pricing at POS work exists because merchants run all three.
• Your app stack is doing B2B's job — if four to eight paid apps deliver what Shopify ships natively, the three-year TCO usually favours Plus.
• Quotes and approvals are an add-on, not the business — 80% of your B2B fits native and the rest is quotes, approvals and spend control, which our B2B Protocol modules and B2B Quote Engine cover.
• Ecosystem depth and hiring matter — more B2B-capable agencies, more apps, and pre-built ERP connectors mean fewer problems that need custom code and more people who can maintain what you have.
• You would rather inherit capability than build it — Shopify's B2B cadence compounds; every Edition ships features you would otherwise fund yourself.

For most mid-market manufacturers and distributors we work with, native B2B plus ecosystem depth is the deciding factor. "Most" is not "all" — which is exactly why we scope before we recommend.

FAQ

Shopify vs BigCommerce for B2B: frequently asked questions

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