WooCommerce vs BigCommerce UK: 2026 Fees and Limits

Quick answer

WooCommerce is free, open-source software you run on your own hosting, with UK card fees through WooPayments of 1.5% + £0.25. BigCommerce is a hosted platform billed monthly in US dollars, with plans tied to your yearly sales. For most UK small shops, WooCommerce gives more ownership; BigCommerce gives less maintenance. Our WooCommerce build is £499.

Figures here come from each company’s own pricing pages, checked at the time of writing, October 2026. Both change their pricing from time to time, so check before you commit. If you are also weighing Shopify, our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison covers that pairing; this guide sticks to BigCommerce.

The basic difference

These two are built on opposite ideas.

• WooCommerce is a plugin that turns a WordPress website into a shop. The WooCommerce listing on WordPress.org describes the core platform as free and open source, says you keep full ownership of your store’s content and data, and says you can export your content and move to another platform. You pay for hosting, any paid extensions and payment fees.
• BigCommerce is a hosted service. You pay a monthly plan, and BigCommerce runs the servers, security and updates. You build your shop inside its system.

So the choice is less about features and more about whether you want to own and look after the shop, or rent a managed one. Both can run a small UK shop well; the difference shows up in the running costs and in what happens when you want to leave.

Side by side

BigCommerce plans and the sales thresholds

The BigCommerce pricing page lists its plans in US dollars, excluding tax. At the time of writing:

• Core: $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually, for up to $30,000 of online sales over the trailing 12 months.
• Growth: $105 a month, or $79 billed annually, for up to $100,000.
• Scale: $399 a month, or $299 billed annually, with a 0.9% overage above about $33,333 of sales a month.
• Performance: from $1,499 a month for shops above $1 million a year.

The thresholds are the part UK owners often miss. As your sales grow, you move up a plan, so the platform cost rises with your success. They are also measured in dollars, so a busy year can push you over a limit sooner than you expect once your sterling sales are converted.

Payment fees, line by line

For a UK shop on WooCommerce, the WooPayments fee schedule lists 1.5% + £0.25 per card transaction, plus 2% for international cards and another 2% where currency conversion is needed, with no monthly fee for online payments. A dispute costs £15, refunded if you win. You can also use Stripe or PayPal instead.

BigCommerce lists card processing starting at 2.89% + $0.29 per transaction on its own payments. If you use an outside payment provider that is not one of its embedded providers, it adds a platform fee: 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale, at the time of writing.

Worked example: a month of £1,000 in card sales

Say a small UK shop takes 25 orders of £40 in a month, all on UK cards. On WooPayments, the fees are 1.5% of £1,000 (£15) plus 25 lots of 25p (£6.25): £21.25 for the month, before hosting. On BigCommerce, the card fees start at 2.89% + $0.29 per order, and the monthly plan sits on top, both in dollars. At this size, the fixed platform fee is a noticeable share of the total, which is why small shops should price both options with their own figures.

Running costs over a year

Our full cost breakdown for different shop sizes is in the e-commerce website cost guide.

Where BigCommerce wins

• No servers to think about. Security patches, uptime and updates are handled for you.
• Built-in features. A lot comes in the box, so fewer add-ons to choose and keep updated.
• Predictable for growing brands that are happy to pay more as sales rise and want a single supplier.

Where WooCommerce wins

• Ownership. Your shop, your data, your code. If you fall out with your web company or host, you take the whole thing with you.
• No sales ceiling. Selling more does not move you onto a bigger plan.
• Sterling costs. Your hosting and UK card fees are in pounds.
• One site for everything. Your shop sits on the same WordPress site as your services, blog and contact pages.

The trade-off is upkeep. A WooCommerce shop needs updates, backups and security monitoring, by you or by your host. Our guide to WordPress security for small businesses covers what that involves.

UK points that tip the decision

A few details matter more for a UK business than the headline comparisons suggest.

• Tax on the plan. BigCommerce states that its prices exclude all forms of tax, including VAT. Check with your accountant how that applies to you, and budget for it rather than comparing the bare dollar figure with a sterling price.
• Exchange rates. A dollar-billed plan costs a different amount in pounds each month. That is a small thing on Core and a bigger one on Scale.
• Foreign customers. On WooPayments, international cards add 2% and currency conversion adds another 2%. If most of your buyers are in the UK paying in pounds, those rarely apply.
• American Express. BigCommerce lists a standard online rate of 3.5% for Amex. If your trade customers pay by Amex company cards, check the rate on whichever provider you use.
• Your other pages. Many UK trades and makers sell a few products alongside services. A WooCommerce shop sits on the same site as your service pages, reviews and contact form, so there is one website to manage, not two.

None of these decides it alone, but together they explain why UK small shops that mainly sell at home in pounds tend to find the WooCommerce maths simpler.

Which suits your shop

• Choose WooCommerce if you want to own the shop, already have or want a WordPress site, sell mainly in the UK, and have someone to keep it updated.
• Choose BigCommerce if you want no technical upkeep at all, expect to sell internationally at volume, and accept a monthly dollar bill that rises with sales.
• Price it both ways if you are unsure: estimate a year of sales, then add up plan, hosting and fees on each.

Five questions before you choose

1. What will your sales be in year one and year three, and which BigCommerce plan does that put you on?
2. Which payment providers do you want, and do they add a platform fee?
3. Who will apply updates and take backups if you choose WooCommerce?
4. Do you need your shop on the same site as your service pages?
5. If you had to leave the platform in three years, what would that involve?

What we build

We build shops on WooCommerce or Shopify rather than BigCommerce. Our E-commerce Website is £499 one-off for up to 20 products, with Stripe and PayPal set up, hand-coded with no page builders, and you own the code. Bigger catalogues are quoted in writing before any work starts. See the e-commerce website page.

For the upkeep side, our Website Management and Hosting plan is £20 a month with UK hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring and automatic updates. All prices are on our pricing page, and our website cost calculator gives a quick estimate for your shop.