If you are looking to start an online store you have to really look at the pros and cons of going with a dedicated hosted platform like Bigcommerce or a self managed WordPress Woocommerce CMS. Our team has worked extensively on both platforms and they both can be very robust. It all depends on how much time and how tech savvy your business is to handle your online store.
WordPress WooCommerce Pros
- Cheaper Hosting Solution – You can get hosting for $3.96 Per Month – Host Gator – Discount Code: Type: “PSDCenterSpecial” – 25% off Hosting
- Flexible Platform – You can integrate numerous amounts of plugins and applications into your WooCommerce Website.
- Customization – This is opensource so you are again very flexible in customizing the functionality of the website
- SEO Friendly – WordPress is a very SEO friendly CMS. You will have full flexibility to customize your title, meta, and content to optimize it for search engine rankings.
- Community Forum – WordPress has a lot of forums where you can ask for advice and people will be glad to help!
- Templates – WordPress has millions of responsive mobile ready templates. The only issue we have seen, is that the really nice ones, you will need a developer to configure the settings. It can be confusing.
WordPress WooCommerce Cons
- Maintenance Costs – If you ever have issues with your WordPress store you have to hire a developer. Find a cheap developer and you might have more issues. This can be a snowball affect.
- Managing Plugins – Yes, so all the plugins are great on WordPress. Sometimes those plugins conflict with each other. Activating a plugin might break something on your WordPress store. It is hard to troubleshoot to find out the conflicting plugin and you might have to pay a developer to troubleshoot.
- Adding Features – You will need to know how to find and add plugins and features to your WP store. Sometimes we have seen where someone adds a plugin and the feature does not show up. Once again, you will have to reach out to your friendly developer that will love to invoice you a bill!
Bigcommerce Pros
- Dedicated Hosting – So you pay a bit more for hosting but you will experience uptime. You will not have to worry about your store going down because Bigcommerce has the staff and power to make sure everything is running smoothly. Considering dedicated hosting can be a valuable option, providing dedicated resources and enhanced performance for a reliable online store operation.
- Apps – Bigcommerce like WordPress has a growing community of applications that you can add to your store. The great thing is, applications listed on the Bigcommerce Apps page have been thoroughly tested.
- Dedicated Support – If you ever have an issue with your Bigcommerce store just pick up the phone and call your account manager. They will help you to make sure everything is running smoothly. Oh yea… That phone call is free.
- Community Forum – Yes just like WordPress they have a forum that is very helpful.
- SEO Friendly – Bigcommerce has taken the time to make sure that their websites are SEO friendly. All there internal pages are already optimized so you do not have to worry that.
- Templates – Bigcommerce has free and premium templates. They are responsive mobile friendly as well.
- Easy Product Management – Easily add all your products to Bigcommerce. If you have a problem, the Bigcommerce staff will help you for free.
Bigcommerce Cons
- Customization – I am looking for things to put here but there can be some issues you might find customizing your Bigcommerce store. If you are looking for a nice elegant store without super customization this is not an issue.
- Cost – Plans start at $29.95. So it is a bit more expensive than WordPress Woocommerce but it is not if you think about the robust platform and support you get with the product.
Who Wins?
We hate to say Bigcommerce is the winner because we are a premium partner. We have just experienced a lot of clients using the WordPress platform and when bugs or problems come up, it takes some serious troubleshooting to figure out the issue. This is time consuming and you will see it on your bill. In the end we want you to be happy with your decision and our team can help you build your website on WooCommerce or Bigcommerce.
Send Us An Email If you want to talk about Woocommerce!
Sign Up For A Free Trial if you want to try out Bigcommerce!
