BigCommerce built its reputation on zero platform transaction fees but now ties every plan to a revenue ceiling, while Volusion has always tied its plans to a revenue ceiling and never charged a transaction fee at all.
Table of Contents
- Why This Comparison Matters
- BigCommerce Overview
- Volusion Overview
- Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
- Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
- Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
- Where StableCommerce Fits
- Who Should Choose BigCommerce?
- Who Should Choose Volusion?
- Migration Guide: Switching from BigCommerce to Volusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
- Related Articles
- About This Research
Why This Comparison Matters
Sellers comparing BigCommerce and Volusion are usually stuck on the same question: which platform will actually cost less once the store starts making real money. Both companies advertise clean, simple monthly pricing, but both also attach the fine print that determines your real bill as revenue grows. BigCommerce updated its plan structure in mid-2026 to tie tiers to trailing revenue and added a new fee tied to payment processing. Volusion has capped plan revenue by design since long before that. This guide compares both platforms on pricing mechanics, features, ease of use, and migration, so you can decide with real numbers instead of marketing copy.
BigCommerce Overview
BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform built for sellers who want a feature-rich store without hand-coding a checkout. It’s aimed at growing D2C brands and mid-market retailers, including many that need B2B or wholesale functionality alongside a standard storefront.
Strengths:
- Deep native feature set: real-time shipping rates, faceted search, and built-in B2B/wholesale tools without needing third-party apps for basics.
- No product limits and unlimited staff accounts on every plan, which matters for teams that outgrow other platforms’ seat limits.
- Multi-storefront support on its higher tiers, useful for brands running more than one region or sub-brand from one back end.
Weaknesses:
- Plans are tied to trailing 12-month gross merchandise value (GMV), so a strong sales month can push you into a higher tier whether you’re ready for the cost or not.
- A mid-2026 pricing update introduced a payment-provider-linked fee for stores that don’t use BigCommerce’s preferred embedded payment option, which complicates the platform’s long-standing “zero transaction fee” pitch.
- The feature depth that makes BigCommerce powerful also makes it more complex to configure than simpler platforms, often requiring a developer or agency for full setup.
Pricing summary: BigCommerce’s published entry tiers run $29/month (Standard) to $299/month (Pro) when billed annually, with custom Enterprise pricing above that. As of BigCommerce’s mid-2026 update, each tier carries a specific trailing-revenue threshold and a new payment-provider fee applies outside its embedded checkout option. Exact current thresholds and fee percentages should be confirmed directly, since BigCommerce changed this structure recently and may adjust it again. See BigCommerce’s official pricing page and its 2026 pricing update explainer for current numbers.
Volusion Overview
Volusion is one of the oldest hosted ecommerce platforms still operating, launched in 1999. It survived a 2020 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and continues to run under new ownership, serving small and mid-sized stores that want a straightforward, no-transaction-fee platform.
Strengths:
- No platform transaction fee on any plan. You pay your monthly subscription and your payment processor’s rate, and that’s the full platform cost.
- Strong built-in subscription and recurring-order functionality without needing a separate app, which is genuinely useful for consumables and membership-style products.
- Simpler admin interface than BigCommerce’s, which can mean a shorter setup time for a small catalog with straightforward needs.
Weaknesses:
- Every plan carries a hard annual revenue cap, and crossing it forces an upgrade on Volusion’s schedule rather than yours.
- The app and integration marketplace is small, roughly 50 listed integrations, compared to the thousands available on larger platforms, which limits how far you can extend the platform without custom development.
- The admin interface and overall platform investment reflect the company’s age; feature releases have been slower than newer, better-funded competitors.
Pricing summary: Volusion runs $35/month (Personal, capped at $50,000/year in sales) through $299/month (Business, capped at $400,000/year), with custom Prime pricing above that for unlimited revenue. There is no free tier. Confirm current plan limits and pricing at Volusion’s official pricing page.
Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
| BigCommerce | Volusion | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $29/mo (Standard, billed annually) | $35/mo (Personal) |
| Mid plan | $79/mo (Plus) | $79/mo (Professional) |
| Top published plan | $299/mo (Pro) | $299/mo (Business) |
| Custom/enterprise tier | Yes (Enterprise) | Yes (Prime) |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Platform transaction fee | $0 platform fee historically; a payment-provider-linked fee now applies outside BigCommerce’s embedded payment option (added 2026, verify current rate) | $0 on every plan |
| Revenue cap | Yes, GMV-based thresholds per tier; exceeding your threshold triggers an auto-upgrade | Yes, hard annual sales caps per tier ($50K / $100K / $400K on the three published plans) |
| Listing fee | None | None |
| Hidden costs to watch | Payment-provider fee if you skip BigCommerce’s embedded checkout; apps for features outside the native set | Third-party app costs where Volusion’s ~50-app marketplace doesn’t cover a need |
Both platforms charge no separate listing fee, and both avoid a per-transaction cut of the kind marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon take. The real cost driver on both platforms is revenue growth: BigCommerce auto-upgrades you based on trailing GMV, and Volusion auto-upgrades you when you cross a hard annual cap. Neither structure is inherently cheaper; it depends on your growth curve and which fees apply to your specific payment setup.
Fees change. Always verify current rates on official pages.
Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
| Feature | BigCommerce | Volusion |
|---|---|---|
| Product limit | Unlimited, all plans | Tiered (100 on Personal, higher on upper plans) |
| Variants per product | Up to 600 | Lower limits on entry plans |
| Staff accounts | Unlimited, all plans | Limited by plan tier |
| B2B/wholesale tools | Native B2B Edition | Not natively built in |
| Multi-storefront | Yes, Plus tier and above | No |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Yes, all plans | Yes |
| Subscription/recurring orders | Via third-party apps | Native, built in |
| App/integration marketplace | Thousands of listed apps | Roughly 50 integrations |
| Native SEO tools | Strong, including faceted navigation controls | Solid, historically good on product-page SEO |
| Native AI/automation | Limited, mostly through partner apps | None built in |
BigCommerce wins clearly on raw feature depth and B2B capability. Volusion’s genuine edge is native subscription/recurring billing, a feature many platforms (including BigCommerce) push you toward a paid app for. If recurring revenue is central to your business model, that single native feature is worth weighing against BigCommerce’s broader catalog of tools.
Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
BigCommerce’s setup wizard is straightforward for a basic store, but the platform’s depth means real configuration work: shipping rules, tax settings, and B2B customer groups all take time to set up correctly. Sellers running anything beyond a simple catalog often bring in a developer or an agency, especially to customize a theme past its default state.
Volusion’s admin panel is comparatively lighter, and a small catalog can be live faster because there are fewer settings to configure. The tradeoff is that the interface shows its age; workflows that newer platforms have streamlined can take more clicks on Volusion, and the smaller app marketplace means some functionality you’d expect out of the box on BigCommerce (or on a native app) may need custom development on Volusion.
Neither platform requires coding knowledge to launch a basic store. BigCommerce is faster for a seller who needs its native B2B or multi-storefront tools working correctly from day one; Volusion is faster for a seller who wants a lean single-storefront setup and doesn’t need enterprise-grade configuration options.
Where StableCommerce Fits
BigCommerce and Volusion both require you (or a hired team) to run the store day to day: process orders, manage inventory, respond to customers, and adjust pricing. StableCommerce takes a different approach. Its AI agent handles those daily operations directly rather than just assisting a human operator, which changes the calculation for sellers weighing BigCommerce’s feature depth against Volusion’s simplicity.
For a solo seller or small team evaluating this pairing because they’re worried about the time cost of running either platform, StableCommerce is worth a look specifically because it removes most of that operational time rather than just organizing it better. It’s a particularly relevant option for marketplace sellers (Etsy, Amazon, eBay) considering a move to an owned store, since native marketplace import shortcuts the setup BigCommerce and Volusion both require manually.
StableCommerce has real downsides in this comparison too. It’s a newer platform than either BigCommerce or Volusion, its app and integration ecosystem is smaller than BigCommerce’s by a wide margin, and it is not the right fit for sellers who specifically want full manual control over every operational decision rather than delegating that work to an AI agent. Sellers with heavy B2B or wholesale requirements will still find BigCommerce’s native tools more mature.
For a direct comparison, see StableCommerce vs BigCommerce and StableCommerce vs Volusion.
Who Should Choose BigCommerce?
- You need native B2B or wholesale functionality (customer groups, price lists, quote workflows) without stitching together apps.
- Your business runs more than one storefront or brand and you want them managed from one back end.
- You expect to sell more than $50,000 a year and want a platform with an active roadmap and a large app marketplace to grow into.
- You have (or plan to hire) technical resources to configure the platform’s deeper feature set properly.
- You want the option to compare against other feature-rich platforms; see BigCommerce vs Shopify if you’re weighing more than these two.
Who Should Choose Volusion?
- You run a subscription or recurring-order business and want that functionality native rather than bolted on through an app.
- Your annual revenue is comfortably under Volusion’s plan caps and you don’t expect to outgrow them soon.
- You want the simplest admin interface of the two platforms and don’t need B2B or multi-storefront tools.
- You value having zero platform transaction fee with no new fee structure to track, unlike BigCommerce’s 2026 payment-provider fee.
- You’re already running on Volusion, have workflows built around it, and the disruption of migrating outweighs the benefits right now.
Migration Guide: Switching from BigCommerce to Volusion
Moving from BigCommerce to Volusion is not a common path (most migration traffic runs the other direction), but it happens when a seller wants to simplify, cut costs, or move to a platform without BigCommerce’s new payment-provider fee. Here’s how it works in practice.
Step 1: Export your BigCommerce catalog. Use BigCommerce’s built-in CSV export tool to pull product names, descriptions, SKUs, pricing, images, and variant data.
Step 2: Export customer and order data. Pull your customer list and order history separately; Volusion’s import tools accept CSV for both.
Step 3: Audit your BigCommerce-specific features. List every B2B tool, multi-storefront setup, or app-based feature you currently use. Volusion doesn’t have native B2B tools or multi-storefront support, so confirm before migrating whether you can live without them or need a workaround.
Step 4: Check your app dependencies. With roughly 50 integrations available, Volusion won’t have equivalents for every BigCommerce app. Cross-reference your current app list against Volusion’s marketplace before committing.
Step 5: Import into Volusion and rebuild your theme. BigCommerce themes don’t transfer. Budget real time for rebuilding your storefront design in Volusion’s theme editor.
Step 6: Set up payment and shipping. Reconnect your payment processor and shipping rules; Volusion has no platform transaction fee, so this step also resets your fee structure for the better if payment-provider fees were a factor in your decision to leave BigCommerce.
Step 7: Test thoroughly, then switch DNS. Place test orders through every product type before pointing your domain at Volusion, and set up 301 redirects from old BigCommerce URLs to preserve SEO value.
Common pitfalls: underestimating how much B2B or multi-storefront functionality you actually rely on, missing app equivalents in Volusion’s smaller marketplace, and forgetting that your revenue will now be capped by Volusion’s tier limits going forward. Most catalog-only migrations of this type take 2-4 weeks for a small-to-medium store; stores with heavy B2B configuration or large catalogs should budget longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper overall, BigCommerce or Volusion?
It depends on your revenue and payment setup. At published entry tiers the platforms are close ($29 vs $35 a month), and both now tie plans to revenue thresholds. BigCommerce’s new payment-provider fee (added in its 2026 update) can make it more expensive than Volusion for stores that don’t use its embedded payment option, so check both structures against your actual sales volume.
Which platform is better for beginners?
Volusion’s admin interface is simpler and has fewer settings to configure, which can make initial setup faster for a small catalog. BigCommerce’s setup wizard is also beginner-friendly for a basic store, but its deeper feature set takes longer to fully configure correctly.
How long does migration between the two platforms take?
A BigCommerce-to-Volusion migration typically takes 2-4 weeks for a small-to-medium catalog, mainly because BigCommerce-specific features like B2B tools and multi-storefront setups need to be rebuilt or replaced. A Volusion-to-BigCommerce migration in the other direction is more common and follows a similar timeline.
What hidden fees should I watch for on each platform?
On BigCommerce, watch for the payment-provider-linked fee introduced in the 2026 pricing update if you don’t use its embedded payment option, plus app costs for anything outside the native feature set. On Volusion, the main hidden cost is app spend where its roughly 50-integration marketplace doesn’t cover a need natively.
Can I run BigCommerce and Volusion at the same time?
Technically yes, since nothing stops you from operating two separate stores, but there’s rarely a business reason to. Most sellers running both simultaneously are mid-migration and testing the new platform before fully switching over, typically for a few weeks at most.
Which platform has better SEO tools?
Both have solid native SEO tools. BigCommerce includes stronger faceted navigation and technical SEO controls suited to larger catalogs. Volusion has historically had good product-page SEO capabilities but fewer enhancement options and a smaller ecosystem of SEO apps to extend it.
What kind of customer support does each platform offer?
BigCommerce offers support through chat, email, and phone depending on plan tier, backed by extensive documentation and a large partner network. Volusion offers phone support on its higher-tier plans, a genuine advantage for sellers who want real-time human help, though its overall support community and documentation are smaller than BigCommerce’s.
What happens to my data if I cancel my BigCommerce or Volusion account?
Both platforms let you export your product catalog, customer list, and order history before canceling. Once you cancel, you lose access to the live storefront and admin panel, so export everything you need first. Neither platform holds your data hostage, but neither keeps it accessible indefinitely after cancellation either.
How does StableCommerce compare to BigCommerce and Volusion?
StableCommerce is an AI-operated platform where an agent runs daily operations (orders, inventory, customer service, pricing) rather than a human operator using built-in tools, which is a structurally different model from both BigCommerce and Volusion. It’s a strong fit for sellers who want to minimize operational time, particularly marketplace sellers moving to their own store, but it’s newer and has a smaller app ecosystem than BigCommerce. See StableCommerce vs BigCommerce and StableCommerce vs Volusion for the full breakdown.
Does either platform charge a listing fee like a marketplace does?
No. Neither BigCommerce nor Volusion charges a per-listing fee. Both charge a monthly subscription tied to your plan tier, and BigCommerce now also has the payment-provider fee noted above depending on your checkout setup.
Is Volusion’s bankruptcy history a reason to avoid it?
Volusion filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 and has continued operating under new ownership since. It’s a legitimate factor to weigh for a multi-year platform commitment, but the platform remains functional and actively serves existing customers; it’s not a reason to rule it out on its own, just one input into your overall risk assessment.
The Bottom Line
BigCommerce and Volusion both charge no per-listing fee and both now tie pricing to how much revenue you’re doing, just through different mechanisms: BigCommerce’s trailing-GMV plan thresholds plus a new payment-provider fee, and Volusion’s hard annual revenue caps with no transaction fee at all. If you need native B2B tools, multi-storefront support, or a large app ecosystem to grow into, choose BigCommerce. If you need native subscription billing, a simpler admin interface, and a platform with no transaction fee structure to track, choose Volusion. Whichever you pick, both require someone on your team to run daily operations manually; if that operational time is your real bottleneck rather than either platform’s feature list, it’s worth comparing an AI-operated alternative before committing.
Compare pricing on BigCommerce’s official site or see current plans on Volusion’s official site before making a final call.
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About This Research
This article is desk research compiled from BigCommerce’s and Volusion’s official pricing and documentation pages, cross-referenced with StableCommerce’s internal comparison research, rather than hands-on operation of either platform. Pricing and fee structures, especially BigCommerce’s 2026 update, change regularly. Verify current numbers on each vendor’s official page before making a purchasing decision.
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-07-17
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