Weebly vs BigCommerce: Pricing, Features, Pros, and Cons

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Weebly vs BigCommerce: Quick Overview
  3. Pricing and Fees
  4. Core Features: Weebly vs BigCommerce
  5. Ease of Use and Customer Support
  6. Final Verdict
  7. FAQs

Introduction

Navigating the world of ecommerce platforms can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to choosing between top contenders like Weebly and BigCommerce. As you aim to grow your online business, the decision you make will significantly impact your operational efficiency, user experience, and overall success. This blog post comprehensively compares Weebly and BigCommerce, focusing on their pricing, features, pros, and cons to help you make an informed decision.

Whether you're a small business owner looking for an easy-to-use platform or a larger enterprise needing advanced features and scalability, this comparison will cover everything you need to know. By the end, you'll have a clearer understanding of which platform best suits your business requirements.

Weebly vs BigCommerce: Quick Overview

Weebly

Weebly is highly praised for its user-friendly website-building interface and affordable pricing. It's ideal for small businesses or solo entrepreneurs who don't need complex ecommerce functionalities but still want a professional online presence. With decent design options, essential ecommerce tools, and excellent blogging capabilities, it serves as a robust solution for startups and smaller online shops.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce, on the other hand, is tailored for larger businesses aiming to scale their operations. It offers sophisticated inventory management, AI-driven tools, and omnichannel selling options. While it's more complex than Weebly, its expansive feature set makes it suitable for businesses anticipating rapid growth and needing a platform that can handle high volumes of transactions.

Pricing and Fees

Weebly Pricing

Weebly offers a "free forever" plan, which is an excellent entry point for small businesses. This plan includes basic ecommerce functionalities like a shopping cart and unlimited items.

Paid plans range from $10 to $26 per month:

  • Personal Plan ($10/month): Supports custom domains and offers unlimited storage.
  • Professional Plan ($12/month): Adds more advanced features like site stats and password protection.
  • Performance Plan ($26/month): Includes abandoned cart emails and premium ecommerce insights.

BigCommerce Pricing

BigCommerce doesn't offer a free plan but provides a 15-day free trial. Its paid plans are pricier, ranging from $39 to $399 per month:

  • Standard Plan ($39/month): Includes essential ecommerce features but limits annual sales to $50k.
  • Plus Plan ($79/month): Increases sales limits and adds functionality like abandoned cart saver.
  • Pro Plan ($399/month): Designed for high-volume stores with features like Google customer reviews and custom faceted search.
  • Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing based on specific business needs.

While BigCommerce plans are more expensive, they do not charge transaction fees and offer more value in terms of advanced features, like omnichannel and international selling tools.

Core Features: Weebly vs BigCommerce

Website Building and Design

Weebly features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for users without coding skills to design their websites. With a range of templates suited for various needs, including portfolios and blogs, Weebly allows for quick and straightforward customization.

BigCommerce also offers numerous templates but focuses on ecommerce store needs. The platform permits deeper customization through CSS and HTML, which, although it has a steeper learning curve, offers greater design flexibility.

Ecommerce and Selling Features

Weebly

Weebly's ecommerce features, considering its affordable price point, are robust. Key features include:

  • Support for unlimited products
  • Inventory management tools
  • Automatic tax calculation
  • Delivery options like in-store pickup

Advanced features (e.g., abandoned cart emails) require higher-tier plans, and PayPal payments are only available on the Performance plan.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce excels in ecommerce functionalities with:

  • Extensive payment gateways, including discounted PayPal transaction rates
  • Advanced inventory management
  • Real-time shipping quotes
  • Product ratings and reviews
  • Multi-currency selling

BigCommerce supports omnichannel selling and offers integrations with point-of-sale systems like Square and Clover, making it ideal for comprehensive ecommerce management.

Marketing Tools and Analytics

Weebly has strong blogging tools, pop-up notifications, customizable Instagram feeds, and lead capture forms. However, its SEO capabilities are limited compared to BigCommerce, which allows more extensive editing for higher search rankings.

BigCommerce provides superior marketing and analytics tools, including:

  • Advanced SEO features
  • Customizable dashboards for tracking metrics like sales and customer preferences
  • AI-driven tools for personalized recommendations, predictive analytics, and a tailored search experience

BigCommerce also supports advanced abandoned cart recovery and email marketing campaigns, though it may require additional integrations for more sophisticated tasks.

AI Capabilities

Weebly

Currently, Weebly does not offer native AI features. However, you can integrate third-party AI tools via Weebly’s marketplace to add functionalities like product recommendations and customer support automation.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce shines with its "BigAI" toolkit, which includes:

  • AI content generation
  • Predictive analytics
  • Personalized product recommendations
  • AI-powered search capabilities

These advanced AI features help streamline operations and enhance customer experience, making BigCommerce a cutting-edge player in AI-driven ecommerce functionalities.

Integrations and Apps

Weebly offers approximately 100 apps in its App Center, supporting various functionalities like marketing, dropshipping, and logistics. However, BigCommerce surpasses Weebly with over 850 integrations, organized into easy-to-navigate collections. It also provides open API options for creating custom workflows, thereby giving businesses more flexibility in managing their operations.

Ease of Use and Customer Support

Ease of Use

Weebly is extremely user-friendly with its straightforward drag-and-drop editor, requiring no prior technical knowledge. It's perfect for quick setups and simple store management.

BigCommerce, although more complex due to its advanced features, has become more intuitive thanks to integrated AI tools. However, the initial learning curve remains steeper compared to Weebly.

Customer Support

BigCommerce offers comprehensive support through email, phone, and chat on all plans, including extensive learning resources and an active online community for added assistance.

Weebly's support, while solid, is more limited on its free and Personal plans, offering primarily forum, email, and chat support.

Final Verdict

Choosing between Weebly and BigCommerce hinges on your business needs and growth aspirations.

  • Weebly is ideal for small businesses or individuals seeking an affordable, user-friendly platform with essential ecommerce features and great design flexibility.
  • BigCommerce is better suited for larger businesses or those aiming for significant growth, offering advanced tools, scalability, superior AI capabilities, and comprehensive customer support.

FAQs

Which platform is more affordable, Weebly or BigCommerce?

Weebly is generally more affordable, with plans ranging from free to $26 per month. BigCommerce plans start at $39 per month but offer more advanced features.

Can I use both Weebly and BigCommerce for content marketing?

Yes, though Weebly has slightly better blogging features, BigCommerce supports more extensive SEO customization, which can be advantageous for content marketing.

Which platform offers better customer support?

BigCommerce offers more robust customer support, including 24/7 phone support on all plans, whereas Weebly's support is somewhat limited, especially on lower-tier plans.

Is BigCommerce more suitable for scaling a business?

Yes, BigCommerce provides advanced features like AI capabilities, multi-currency selling, and omnichannel options, making it more suitable for businesses looking to scale.

In conclusion, both Weebly and BigCommerce offer unique benefits tailored to different business needs. Assess your priorities and growth plans to decide which platform will best serve your ecommerce goals.