Shopify vs BigCommerce vs WooCommerce 2027: fees, GMV caps and UK rates

Summary. For most US and UK stores, card processing, not the plan fee, decides which platform costs least. Shopify's US plans cost $29, $79 and $299 a month billed yearly, with online card rates of 2.9%, 2.7% and 2.5% plus 30¢; its UK plans cost £19, £49 and £259 with standard card rates of 2%, 1.7% and 1.5% plus 25p. Using another gateway on Shopify adds 2%, 1% or 0.6%. Since 1 June 2026, BigCommerce caps Core at $30,000 and Growth at $100,000 of trailing 12-month GMV, charges Scale 0.9% on GMV above $33,333 a month, and adds a 2.0%, 1.0% or 0.6% fee on orders processed outside its 21 embedded providers, which include Stripe, PayPal and Adyen. WooCommerce itself is free, and WooPayments charges 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards and 1.5% + £0.25 for UK cards with no monthly fee. In our worked examples, a $600,000 US store pays about $20,600 a year on Shopify Grow, $21,400 on WooCommerce and $25,600 on BigCommerce Scale. A £450,000 UK store pays about £9,900 on WooCommerce, £11,000 on Shopify Grow and £12,800 on BigCommerce. Choose on fit first, then price your own card mix.

About this article. For US and UK founders, ecommerce managers and finance leads choosing or replatforming a store. We checked every price, card rate, GMV cap and fee against the vendors' own pricing pages, fee documentation and plan update FAQ, plus WordPress.com and Stripe, on 13 November 2026. All figures are list prices; vendors change them often and negotiated rates differ. Not financial advice; no vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.

What changed for 2027: BigCommerce caps and fees, Shopify card tiers

BigCommerce's plan and pricing update took effect on 1 June 2026. It renamed every plan, tightened the sales thresholds and added a fee on orders processed outside its embedded provider list:

Three details matter more than the headline prices. First, BigCommerce counts product price net of discounts plus tax and shipping, including orders from eBay, Amazon and social channels, then deducts 10% (up from 3% before June) to get what it calls Inclusive GMV. The result will not match your own books. Second, the Scale overage is measured monthly, so a strong December can trigger overage even when your annual average sits under the cap. Third, Scale moves automatically to Performance, which starts at $1,499 a month billed annually, once trailing GMV reaches $2 million. Annual-plan stores can be upgraded mid-term, because GMV is checked on the first of each month.

Comparison tables lag: WooCommerce's own pricing page still listed BigCommerce Core with a $50,000 revenue cap on 13 November 2026, the pre-June figure.

Shopify's structure is stable. Its US page shows a premium card rate of 3.5%, 3.3% or 3.1% plus 30¢, separate from the standard 2.9%, 2.7% or 2.5%. The UK page charges Amex and international cards 3.1%, 2.7% or 2.5% plus 25p. Stores with many rewards or Amex cards pay noticeably more than the headline rate. Prices can move without notice: the tracker PricingSaaS reported yearly prices of $89 for Grow and $359 for Advanced on Shopify's US page on 15 October 2026, reverting to $79 and $299 the next day.

On WooPayments, from 23 November 2026, merchants in Europe pay the international payment fee on UK-issued cards; WooCommerce announced that fee for March 2024, but a fault in its fee code meant it was never charged, and it will not charge it retroactively. Rates for US and UK merchants do not change.

Shopify in 2027: plans, card rates and third-party gateway fees

Shopify is hosted SaaS: hosting, SSL, checkout and security patches are included, and you extend it with apps. Plan prices from the US and UK pages:

Both pages offer a 3-day free trial, then $1 or £1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans. The UK page does not say whether VAT is added to the subscription. Shopify Payments rates from the same pages:

Other costs to budget: POS Pro at $89 or £69 a month per location, and a 1% fee (capped at $99 a month) on synced marketplace orders above 50 a month. Basic has no additional staff accounts; Grow allows 5 and Advanced 15. Third-party calculated shipping rates are not available on Basic, are an add-on on Grow and are included on Advanced.

Strengths. The fastest route to a working store, card rates that fall as you move up plans and a large app market. Limits. The third-party gateway fee makes your own processor expensive, checkout customisation is limited below Plus, and app subscriptions add up.

BigCommerce in 2027: GMV caps, overage and the Open Payment Provider Fee

BigCommerce is also hosted SaaS, with more than 70 built-in discount options and multi-storefront as a paid add-on. Its UK site shows the same US dollar prices and states that they exclude all taxes, including VAT. Core costs $39 a month or $29 billed yearly, Growth $105 or $79, and Scale $399 or $299; Performance starts at $1,499 a month billed annually. Price lists for B2B customer pricing appear only on Performance.

The embedded list on the pricing page has 21 names: BigCommerce Payments, Adyen, Affirm, Afterpay, Amazon Pay, Bank of New Zealand, Checkout.com, Clearpay, Fortis, Global Payments, Klarna, PayPal Braintree, PayPal Complete Payments, PayPal Wallet, Bluesnap, Bankful, Sezzle, Stripe, TD Online Mart, Worldpay and Zip Money. Orders processed by any other provider, including offline and purchase-order payments, attract the fee, billed monthly on the previous month's orders. The fee follows the processor of each order, so showing an embedded wallet does not help if the customer pays through an open provider.

BigCommerce does not set card rates unless you use BigCommerce Payments, whose rates are not on the pricing page. It does say PayPal Braintree card processing starts at 2.89% + $0.29 for US-based businesses, with Amex at 3.50% and no fixed fee, and new merchants need Growth or higher to apply for that rate. For how Stripe, Adyen and Checkout.com price cards directly, see our Stripe, Adyen and Checkout.com fee comparison. Other costs: phone support is a $29-a-month add-on on Core, extra storefronts cost $30, $50 or $100 a month on Core, Growth and Scale (up to 3, 5 and 8), and there is a 15-day free trial.

Strengths. No platform fee on 21 processors, so you can negotiate rates directly, plus native promotions and multi-storefront. Limits. Caps arrive early, B2B price lists need Performance, and UK merchants are billed in US dollars.

WooCommerce in 2027: free core, WooPayments rates, hosting and extensions

WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress. There is no platform fee and no revenue share, but you choose and pay for hosting, extensions and maintenance. WooCommerce's pricing page puts hosting at $25 to $350 a month for most stores and extensions at $29 to $299 a year each. Our WooCommerce development guide covers what a store costs to run beyond the fees.

WooPayments has no setup or monthly fees. Its fees for the two markets:

Apple Pay and Google Pay cost the same as cards, and transaction fees are not returned when you refund an order. You can also use Stripe, PayPal or any other gateway at no platform penalty, the main structural difference from Shopify.

Hosting example: the WordPress.com Commerce plan, built for WooCommerce, is US$45 a month billed yearly or US$70 billed monthly, excluding taxes. Woo's own extensions are priced per year: WooCommerce Subscriptions is $279 and Shipment Tracking $59.

Strengths. No platform fee, full code control, a low UK WooPayments rate and any gateway. Limits. You own updates, security, performance and plugin conflicts, so budget developer time every month.

Head-to-head comparison

Side by side, from the vendor pages cited above:

Decision table: which platform fits

Shopify break-evens are plan price gaps divided by card rate gaps. In the US, Grow costs $600 a year more than Basic ($50 × 12) and saves 0.2% on standard cards, so it pays off above $300,000 of card sales. Advanced costs $2,640 more than Grow for another 0.2%, so above $1.32 million. In the UK, Grow costs £360 more than Basic and saves 0.3%, so it pays off above £120,000; Advanced costs £2,520 more than Grow for 0.2%, so it pays off above £1.26 million. The per-order fee is the same on every plan. BigCommerce figures convert caps back to gross sales: $100,000 ÷ 0.9 is about $111,000, and $33,333 × 12 ÷ 0.9 about $444,000.

Worked example 1: a US store with $600,000 a year in sales

Assumptions: $600,000 gross online sales a year (including tax and shipping), 7,500 orders at an $80 average, all domestic standard cards, even monthly sales, yearly billing, and a $1,200-a-year allowance for paid apps or extensions on every platform. The allowance is our assumption, not a vendor price.

Shopify Grow. Plan: $79 × 12 = $948. Cards: 2.7% × $600,000 = $16,200, plus 30¢ × 7,500 = $2,250, so $18,450.

BigCommerce Scale. Inclusive GMV is $600,000 × 90% = $540,000, or $45,000 a month. That is above Growth's $100K limit, so the store lands on Scale. Plan: $299 × 12 = $3,588. Overage: ($45,000 − $33,333) × 0.9% = $105 a month, or $1,260 a year. Cards through PayPal Braintree, an embedded provider, at its starting rate: 2.89% × $600,000 = $17,340, plus 29¢ × 7,500 = $2,175, so $19,515.

WooCommerce with WooPayments. Hosting on WordPress.com Commerce: $45 × 12 = $540. Cards: 2.9% × $600,000 = $17,400, plus $0.30 × 7,500 = $2,250, so $19,650.

Three sensitivities matter. Using its own processor on Shopify Grow, the store would pay a 1% third-party fee of $6,000 before the processor's charges. On BigCommerce, an open provider would add 0.6% of $540,000, or $3,240. And if December's Inclusive GMV were three times the monthly average, BigCommerce overage that month alone would be ($135,000 − $33,333) × 0.9%, about $915. WooCommerce maintenance labour is excluded; budget for it.

Worked example 2: a UK store with £450,000 a year in sales

Assumptions: £450,000 gross online sales a year, 7,500 orders at a £60 average, all UK standard cards, even monthly sales, yearly billing and a £900 apps allowance (our assumption). US dollar prices are converted at $1.3256 to £1, the cross rate from the ECB reference rates of 12 November 2026 (₹94.05 per dollar and ₹124.66 per pound).

Shopify Grow. Plan: £49 × 12 = £588. Cards: 1.7% × £450,000 = £7,650, plus 25p × 7,500 = £1,875, so £9,525.

BigCommerce Scale with Stripe. Gross sales convert to about $596,500, so Inclusive GMV is about $536,850, or $44,738 a month. Plan: $3,588, about £2,707. Overage: ($44,738 − $33,333) × 0.9% × 12 is about $1,232, or £929. Stripe, an embedded provider, charges 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards: £6,750 plus £1,500, so £8,250.

WooCommerce with WooPayments. Hosting: US$540, about £407. Cards: 1.5% × £450,000 = £6,750, plus £0.25 × 7,500 = £1,875, so £8,625. A VAT-registered business that gives WooPayments a valid VAT ID pays no VAT on these fees; otherwise 20% VAT applies.

The UK result flips the US one: WooPayments' UK base rate of 1.5% + £0.25 matches Shopify's Advanced-plan rate, so WooCommerce leads if you can run WordPress well. Shopify Advanced would cost £3,108 + £8,625 + £900 = £12,633 here, more than Grow, because this store is below the £1.26 million break-even. BigCommerce has the cheapest card line through Stripe, but its plan and overage cost more than the saving. Card mix matters: Shopify UK charges 2.7% + 25p on Grow for Amex and international cards, WooPayments adds 2% for international cards (3.5% + £0.25), and Stripe charges 2.8% + 20p for premium UK cards and 3.15% + 20p for cards from outside the EEA.

US and UK notes: sales tax, VAT and billing currency

United States. Shopify lists automated sales tax calculation on every plan. BigCommerce prices exclude US sales tax. On WooCommerce, sales tax depends on the extension or service you add.

United Kingdom. Shopify lists VAT validation, exemptions and invoicing on every plan and prices in pounds. BigCommerce bills in dollars excluding VAT, which adds currency risk to a fixed cost. WooPayments adds 20% VAT to fees unless you provide a valid VAT ID, when the reverse charge applies. If you sell to EU customers, WooPayments charges UK merchants the international fee on European cards, and from 23 November 2026 EU merchants pay it on UK cards too.

Agentic checkout. Shopify lists selling in AI chats such as ChatGPT and Gemini on every plan. On any platform, feed quality and checkout APIs will matter more than theme choice; our guide to Google's Universal Commerce Protocol and AI Mode checkout explains why.

Migration and implementation checklist

1. Pull 12 months of orders by card type and country. Premium, Amex and international cards change every comparison.

1. Recalculate BigCommerce GMV your way and theirs. Product value net of discounts plus tax and shipping, minus 10%, monthly and over a trailing 12 months.

1. Confirm your processor's status. On BigCommerce, check the embedded list; on Shopify, price the third-party fee; on WooCommerce, compare WooPayments with Stripe or PayPal.

1. List every app or extension with its annual price. Drop those the new platform does natively.

1. Plan the URL and redirect map. Rankings and paid-ad landing pages break first in a replatform.

1. Rebuild tracking before launch. GA4 events, server-side tags and ad-platform conversions must match the new checkout.

1. Test payments end to end. Refunds, disputes, 3D Secure and subscription renewals, in both currencies if you sell in dollars and pounds; see our note on flash sales, inventory and payment failures.

1. Set a 90-day post-launch review. Compare real fees with the model and renegotiate rates with volume data.

How eCorpIT can help

eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. We model platform and payment costs from your own order data, then build, migrate or extend the store through our ecommerce app development practice. Talk to us at /contact-us/.

Last updated: 13 November 2026.

References

1. Shopify pricing (US), checked 13 November 2026 — Shopify

1. Shopify pricing (UK), checked 13 November 2026 — Shopify

1. BigCommerce plan and pricing updates (effective 1 June 2026) — BigCommerce

1. WooPayments fees — WooCommerce

1. BigCommerce pricing and plans (US) — BigCommerce

1. BigCommerce pricing and plans (UK), checked 13 November 2026 — BigCommerce

1. WooCommerce pricing — WooCommerce

1. Shopify pricing change log, October to November 2026 — PricingSaaS

1. WooPayments product page — WooCommerce

1. WordPress.com pricing — WordPress.com

1. WooCommerce Subscriptions — WooCommerce

1. Shipment Tracking — WooCommerce

1. Euro foreign exchange reference rates, 12 November 2026 — European Central Bank

1. Stripe pricing (UK) — Stripe