How much does it cost for BigCommerce site development?

Building an eCommerce site from the ground up on a new platform is a daunting task.

And let’s face it comes with a heavy price tag.

To contain costs and to prevent surprise bills it is essential to work out a cost of ownership.

There are hidden costs and workarounds.

The costs below the waterline are complex and can add up in no time. Ouch! That can hurt. Now let’s have a clear and objective look at the total cost of developing a fully functional eCommerce site on BigCommerce.

This blog will explain:

Cost of ownership
BigCommerce Pricing Plans
Basic site development costs

Let’s dive right in.

What is the cost of ownership?

The cost of ownership of a website goes beyond the pricing plans of your platform or site development costs. It is the entire cost of an eCommerce site right from your hosting charges to ongoing security and maintenance fixes.

The cost of a basic hosting plan + domain name = $20-$50 a month.

“The cost of a website goes beyond keeping things ticking over. It is an investment.”

Here’s a quick overview of 3 major cost categories that come under TCO:

Skip this and take me to BigCommerce site development costs

Value-based costs: This is a major cost driver. It is the number of dollars you invest in adding value to your website. It could be enhanced functionality, CX changes, or usability changes to your eCommerce engine.

Ongoing costs: These are the costs that will help you run your spanking new BigCommerce site effortlessly. These include administrative costs, site monitoring costs, maintenance costs, hosting costs, CMS upgrade costs, and security expenses.

Emergency costs: What happens if there’s a sudden 403? How do you handle site instability when faced with a sudden and huge volume of traffic? These are the

unforeseen costs but are the bane of every site owner.

BigCommerce Pricing Structure
BigCommerce is a major player in the eCommerce space and offers great features that go beyond run-of-the-mill ones. It powers over 40,000 websites and has unparalleled response times, customer support, and security options.

Note: This is not a plug for BigCommerce!

Most of our clients who are eCommerce merchants seem to love this platform.

BigCommerce Basic Fee Structure

When it comes to pricing BigCommerce doesn’t offer any free plans. But it does have a 15 – day trial to experience the service.

Other than that, BigCommerce offers 4 different plans – monthly and annual – to fit every eCommerce store’s budget.

BigCommerce License Fees (Monthly Plan):

Standard Plan – $29.95/mo
Plus Plan – $79.95/mo
Pro Plan – $299.95/mo
Enterprise Plan – custom pricing

BigCommerce License Fees (Annual Plan):

Standard Plan – $29.95/mo
Plus Plan – $71.95/mo
Pro Plan – $269.96/mo
Enterprise Plan – custom pricing

Depending on the plan you choose your monthly costs towards your eCommerce platform should be anywhere between $30 to $300.

BigCommerce Free Trials:

BigCommerce offers a 15-day free trial to operate your store. You can access all features available in BigCommerce in this trial period including the ones specific for certain plans.

You can access this free trial from the BigCommerce homepage and start by simply logging into the account. After 15 days you can take up the paid version if you’re interested.

BigCommerce Payment Processing Fees:

As mentioned earlier, the BigCommerce pricing plan includes 4 plans: The standard plan ($29.95/month), Plus plan ($79.95/month), Pro plan ($299.95/month), and the Enterprise plan with pricing based on customer requirements.

Based on your plan, you’ll be eligible for the particular plan’s processing rate.

BigCommerce Transaction Fees:

BigCommerce charges a 0% transaction fee for almost all its plans. However, there is a processing fee for credit and debit cards. It starts at 2.59% + $0.49 / transaction for all BigCommerce plans.

BigCommerce Billing Cycles and Cancellation Policy

BigCommerce Billing Cycles:

The billing cycle of BigCommerce begins on the billing date of your store and is due on the same day each subsequent month. The billing date is the day on which you purchased the BigCommerce service subscription or the day you converted your trial to a paid subscription.

All invoices and payment notifications are made available on your BigCommerce account control panel for easy access.

BigCommerce Cancellation Policy:

Canceling during the free trial:

Nothing needs to be done to cancel your free trial. It automatically expires after 15 days of the trial period. The system stores your data for a short period in case you change your mind and decide to choose a subscription plan.

After the specific period, your data will be automatically deleted.

Canceling during subscription period:

You can cancel your subscription and close your BigCommerce store permanently at any time.

However, you need to know the following information before doing so.

No Refunds: As per BigCommerce’s terms of service, BigCommerce doesn’t issue refunds.
Cancel Payment Gateway: You need to cancel your payment gateway separately if you have any. Canceling your subscription won’t automatically delete your account.
Domain Auto-renewal Cancellation: If you had purchased your domain name from BigCommerce and if it’s set to auto-renew, then canceling your service alone won’t disable it.

To cancel your domain auto-renewal you have several options:

Disable auto-renewal in settings
Terminate domain
Point domain to another host
Transfer domain to another register

It’s always advisable to contact your host for assistance before making any changes.

Backup store data: Once you cancel your account, all the data of your store will be deleted. Thus, make sure to create a data backup to access the product details, orders, customer data, and more.

Agency cost to build your eCommerce site on your dream platform

This is where the rubber meets the road. The cost of designing and developing your BigCommerce site. Well, there are hundreds of variables and it is easy to get lost in a sea of quotations.

If you hire an experienced eCommerce development agency the cost would range anywhere from $25,000 to 1,000,000. That is a huge difference, isn’t it?

Here is a quick breakdown to get a clearer idea:

Basic BigCommerce site development costs

Basic cost: The basic site design and dev cost usually starts from $25,000

Here’s what you can expect from your agency: Be wary of development companies that offer vague price estimates and slyly add up costs for the most basic of requests.

For basic eCommerce site development you can expect:

Design and development of homepage, product, category pages, sub-category, and checkout pages.
Social media and email authorization
Basic cart management
Integration with payment platforms
Extensions support
CMS management
Order history management
Analytics support

Timeline: 3-6 months

Advanced BigCommerce site development costs:

Need more from your store? To go beyond basic functionality and gain higher ROI it is important to develop an eCommerce site that offers state-of-the-art customer experiences and technical chops.

Cost Estimate: Upwards of $50,000

Here’s what to expect from your vendor:

Custom CX and UI design that is optimized for all screens
Advanced and ongoing CRO support
Quality Assurance
Business and project analysis
Growth strategy and ROI forecasts
Implementation of coupons and promo codes
Marketing and promotions setup
Onsite client meets
Advanced backend development

Timeline- 6-12 months

Conclusion:

The development cost of a site varies depending on your business objective, growth plans, budget, and myriad considerations.

Developing a BigCommerce site from scratch will cost you upwards of $20,000.

However, if you have a site and are planning to migrate it to BigCommerce and require just basic site changes, your development costs are considerably lower.

It all boils down to where you are in your eCommerce journey and where you see yourself 5 years from now.

Need a friend to talk to? We can help you work out a smart budget and timeline according to your business plans, not ours.

If you have questions or need the assistance of any kind please touch base with us.