Running an online store on a custom .NET or legacy platform can drain your budget with hidden expenses. Every new feature requires extensive development, and every security update or server issue demands your IT team’s attention. If you’re concerned about your eCommerce platform’s total cost of ownership (TCO), it may be time to consider a different approach.
BigCommerce, a leading SaaS eCommerce solution, offers a predictable and lower-cost model that can dramatically reduce your TCO while delivering enterprise-grade features. In this article, we explore how switching to BigCommerce can cut costs and boost efficiency for businesses currently on custom or .NET-based ecommerce platforms.
Why Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Matters in Ecommerce
TCO represents the true cost of your ecommerce platform over time – not just licensing or hosting fees, but also development, maintenance, infrastructure, and opportunity costs. For a custom or on-premise solution, these add up quickly. You might pay for servers or cloud hosting, developers to build and maintain features, security compliance, and downtime risks. In fact, industry analysis shows that on-premise ecommerce solutions can carry up to 6× the annual cost of ownership compared to SaaS platforms.
That huge gap means money that could be fueling your growth is tied up in keeping the lights on. TCO isn’t just an IT metric; it’s a key business consideration. Lowering TCO allows you to reinvest in marketing, product development, and customer experience instead of sinking funds into basic platform upkeep.
The SaaS Advantage: Lower Costs and Faster Launches
BigCommerce’s Software-as-a-Service model flips the script on high upkeep costs. With SaaS, you pay a straightforward subscription for an all-in-one service – the hosting, security patches, and platform updates are all handled by BigCommerce. This immediately frees you from many expenses of a self-hosted .NET platform, like managing servers or paying to patch software vulnerabilities.
It also frees up your time: BigCommerce regularly updates and improves the platform automatically, saving your team hours each week on applying updates and fixing bugs. All that time and budget can be redirected toward activities that actually grow your business (think marketing campaigns and product improvements) instead of maintaining tech infrastructure.
SaaS solutions also get you to market faster. Rather than a lengthy development cycle to build or customize an online store from scratch, BigCommerce lets you launch quickly using its pre-built themes and native features. In fact, merchants can often launch a SaaS-based store in a matter of weeks – BigCommerce reports that most sites go live in around 55 days on their platform. We can attest to this – LimeLight has turned around self-hosted solutions to SaaS based ecommerce storefronts in a matter of just a few months.
Faster launch means you start selling and earning sooner. For mid-market companies, this agility is crucial; it lets you respond to market opportunities without the long lead times of custom development.
Reduced Development and Maintenance Expenses
One of the biggest BigCommerce cost benefits comes from drastically lower development and maintenance needs. On a custom platform, even standard eCommerce capabilities (like coupons, customer logins, or product reviews) might require building from the ground up. By contrast, BigCommerce comes loaded with features out-of-the-box, which means you don’t have to spend time or money coding them. Experts note that BigCommerce often requires less initial development investment thanks to its rich native feature set. In practice, this could save you tens of thousands of dollars in upfront build costs when replatforming from a custom .NET solution.
Ongoing maintenance is also far easier (and cheaper). BigCommerce’s team handles all platform updates, security patches, and performance monitoring on their end. You’re not paying developers to constantly troubleshoot platform issues – those routine tasks are essentially outsourced to BigCommerce and included in your subscription. This not only reduces your maintenance bills, but also lowers the risk of something breaking on your site. With a custom solution, a single update can unintentionally introduce bugs that require emergency fixes.
On BigCommerce, updates are seamless and tested across all stores. The result: you enjoy enterprise-level reliability and security without dedicating internal resources to it. As BigCommerce themselves highlight, SaaS frees merchants from the endless cycle of patching and troubleshooting, allowing you to save hours per week on IT maintenance. Instead of worrying about your technology, you can focus on strategic projects that improve your store and customers’ experience.
Lower Payment Processing Costs (No Transaction Fees)
Payment processing is a significant cost area for any online store. Many platforms charge extra transaction fees on top of normal credit card processing rates – for example, 1-2% per transaction if you’re not using their proprietary payment solution. Over time, those fees eat into your profit margin.
BigCommerce does not charge any platform transaction fees, on any plan. This is a major cost saver, especially for high-volume businesses. You only pay the direct credit card processing fees to your chosen payment gateway (e.g. PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net), with no additional cut going to BigCommerce. If your store currently does $1 million in annual sales, avoiding a 1% platform fee is a $10,000 savings per year straight to your bottom line.
BigCommerce also gives you the freedom to work with over 65 payment gateways to get the best processing rates for your business. You’re not locked into one payment provider. In fact, BigCommerce even offers preferential credit card processing rates through partnerships – for example, using PayPal Powered by Braintree on BigCommerce Standard can get rates around 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction (and even lower on higher plans).
The key point is that BigCommerce’s SaaS model doesn’t tack on any hidden payment fees, whereas some competitors’ pricing relies on those extra fees. By switching to BigCommerce, you keep more of each sale you make, which directly reduces your cost of doing business online.
Built-In Features That Save Money (and Boost Revenue)
Another reason BigCommerce lowers the total cost of ownership is the wealth of built-in features included with the platform. These features replace what would otherwise require separate plugins, apps, or custom development on other systems. By having them natively, you avoid extra subscription fees and development costs. Here are just a few standout BigCommerce features that help you save money and increase sales:
- Abandoned Cart Recovery: BigCommerce’s mid-tier and higher plans include an Abandoned Cart Saver system that automatically emails customers who left items in their cart, enticing them to complete the purchase. Recovering even a small percentage of abandoned carts can significantly boost your revenue. On a custom platform, building such a system (or licensing a third-party tool) would be costly. With BigCommerce Plus (approximately $79/month) and above, it’s baked in – no extra cost, yet potentially 15% more sales recovered just by turning it on. That’s a direct ROI win for your BigCommerce subscription.
- Real-Time Shipping Quotes: Providing accurate shipping costs at checkout is essential for conversion and customer satisfaction. BigCommerce has real-time shipping rate quote functionality with major carriers built into every plan. This means your customers can see live shipping options (e.g. UPS, FedEx, USPS rates) during checkout, preventing overcharges or surprises. For you, it means not having to custom-develop a shipping calculator or pay for a shipping-rate API integration – BigCommerce handles it out-of-the-box. You’ll save development time and ensure shoppers get the lowest shipping price possible, which can increase checkout completion rates.
- Google Customer Reviews Integration: Collecting and displaying customer feedback is crucial for building trust. On the BigCommerce Pro plan, you get a built-in Google Customer Reviews tool that makes it easy to invite shoppers to review their purchase and show those ratings on your site. This kind of integration can be complex to set up on a custom site (involving Google’s APIs and scripts), but BigCommerce provides a simple toggle to activate it. The result is valuable social proof on your storefront – boosting credibility and conversion – without spending a dime on a third-party reviews app or custom development. It’s a feature especially useful for mid-market and enterprise stores that thrive on customer trust signals.
- Unlimited Staff Accounts: Growing businesses often need multiple team members – from marketers to customer support – logging into the ecommerce backend. BigCommerce allows unlimited staff/admin accounts even on the entry-level plan. By contrast, some platforms impose limits (for example, Shopify Basic only allows 2 staff users). With BigCommerce, you won’t be forced into a higher tier or extra fees just because you’re adding staff. You can grant access to all your team members at no additional cost, which improves your operational efficiency without raising expenses.
- Free SSL Security: Security is non-negotiable for ecommerce. BigCommerce includes a free SSL certificate for your storefront, ensuring every transaction is encrypted. This not only saves you the yearly cost of purchasing an SSL certificate for a custom site, but also spares you the setup hassle. Your BigCommerce store will display the trusted padlock and HTTPS, giving customers confidence. On the Pro plan and above, you even have the option to use a custom SSL (if you have a specific EV or multi-domain certificate), but every BigCommerce store is covered by default. You get world-class security compliance (PCI Level 1 certified hosting, DDOS protection, etc.) bundled in – a huge relief compared to managing security on your own servers.
- Multi-Channel Selling: Want to expand to marketplaces like Amazon or social platforms like Facebook? With a custom platform, you’d need to integrate each channel separately. BigCommerce saves you that cost by providing built-in channel integrations for Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and more. From day one, you can sync your products to these popular channels and manage orders centrally. There’s no need to pay for third-party connector apps or custom integrations. This not only saves money, but also accelerates your growth – you can tap into new sales channels in a matter of clicks, not months of development.
Each of these features illustrates a larger point: BigCommerce plans include a rich feature set by default, which reduces your reliance on costly plugins or custom code. By switching from a custom .NET solution to BigCommerce, you’re essentially gaining a suite of advanced eCommerce capabilities overnight. The value of those built-ins – from abandoned cart recovery to real-time shipping – would be substantial if you had to buy or build them yourself. With BigCommerce, they’re part of your monthly package, driving down your total cost of ownership and even helping you earn more through improved conversions and customer retention.
Transparent Pricing and Scalable Plans
BigCommerce’s pricing is refreshingly transparent compared to many enterprise software models. There are no surprise fees – just straightforward plans that scale with the size of your business. The BigCommerce Standard plan starts at about $29 per month (when billed annually) and provides a full ecommerce store for smaller operations.
Despite being the entry tier, Standard includes unlimited product listings, unlimited file storage, bandwidth, and unlimited staff accounts – the core fundamentals you need to run an online store without worrying about caps. Even at this level, you won’t pay any transaction fees, and you get features like coupons, gift cards, real-time shipping quotes, and a responsive one-page checkout out-of-the-box. It’s everything a new or small online store needs to operate at a relatively low cost.
As your business grows, BigCommerce makes it easy to scale up. The Plus plan (roughly $79 per month on annual billing) includes everything in Standard, plus some crucial growth tools. For instance, customer groups and segmentation (to personalize marketing) and the abandoned cart recovery feature become available at this tier.
Plus also enables features like stored credit cards (for faster repeat checkouts) and persistent carts that follow logged-in customers across devices. These capabilities are designed to lift your conversion rates and customer lifetime value – easily paying for the modest step up in price. Many mid-market retailers find that the Plus plan hits a sweet spot, because it provides revenue-boosting features without a big jump in costs.
For larger or fast-scaling online stores, the BigCommerce Pro plan (around $299 per month) offers more advanced functionality and higher resource limits. Pro raises the annual online sales limit (typically up to $400k/year on standard rates) and adds features like Google Customer Reviews integration and custom SSL support for your store.
You also get faceted search (product filtering) to enhance shopping on large catalogs. The Pro plan is designed for mid-market businesses that are nearing enterprise scale – it ensures you have the tools and capacity to keep growing without re-platforming. Notably, even at this level, BigCommerce still does not charge transaction fees, and you don’t incur extra charges unless you exceed certain very high sales thresholds. The cost remains predictable, which is ideal for budgeting as you grow.
At the top end, BigCommerce Enterprise plans offer custom pricing for high-volume and complex businesses. Enterprise plans include all Pro features and then some: you can unlock advanced B2B features (like price lists and bulk pricing), get priority support and onboarding, and benefit from a dedicated account management team. The pricing for Enterprise is tailored to your business’s specific needs and sales volume – you’ll work with BigCommerce to get a quote based on the exact capabilities you require.
Even so, many companies find that BigCommerce Enterprise comes out significantly more cost-effective than maintaining a large custom enterprise platform or a licensed on-premise solution. You get world-class scalability and support without an equally world-class price tag. And importantly, BigCommerce enterprise plans do not charge transaction fees either – 0% across the board – so your costs won’t unexpectedly spike as your sales grow.
No matter which BigCommerce pricing plan you choose, you can count on certain things: all plans include the essential features (secure hosting, SSL, unlimited products, multi-channel integrations, etc.), and the pricing is flat and predictable month to month. This transparency means you can accurately calculate your platform costs year over year. When you compare that to a custom solution – where expenses can fluctuate wildly with development sprints or emergency fixes – the BigCommerce model clearly offers peace of mind and financial control. In the long run, this predictability and rich feature inclusion make a compelling case when analyzing the total cost of ownership.
Ready to Lower Your Ecommerce Costs?
Switching to BigCommerce from a custom .NET platform isn’t just a tech upgrade – it’s a smart business move to slash overhead and accelerate growth. The BigCommerce cost advantages add up quickly: lower development bills, no surprise fees siphoning your revenue, and more sales-driving tools included for free. Instead of pouring resources into maintaining an outdated or high-maintenance system, you can redirect that budget to marketing, inventory, and innovations that actually grow your business.
If you’re ready to reduce your platform costs and unlock new capabilities fast, it may be time to make the move to BigCommerce. Replatforming might sound daunting, but with the right partner it can be smooth and low-risk. LimeLight Marketing specializes in seamless eCommerce migrations – we’ve helped many businesses transition from custom platforms to BigCommerce and start reaping the cost benefits immediately. Contact our team today to start the process of a robust personalized TCO analysis. We’ll show you exactly how BigCommerce’s SaaS model can improve your bottom line. It’s time to stop overpaying for infrastructure and start investing in growth and innovation.
BigCommerce Cost FAQ
Q: How much does BigCommerce cost per month?
A: BigCommerce offers three main plans plus a custom Enterprise option. The Standard plan starts at about $29/month (annual billing), Plus is around $79/month, and Pro is about $299/month. Enterprise pricing is custom-tailored. All plans include a 15-day free trial.
Q: Does BigCommerce charge transaction fees on sales?
A: No – BigCommerce never adds extra transaction fees. You only pay standard credit card processing fees (typically 2.2%–2.9% + 30¢ per transaction), saving you money compared to platforms that add fees.
Q: What features do BigCommerce plans include?
A: Every plan comes with unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts, plus essentials like secure checkout, built-in SEO, discount coupons, gift cards, and social channel integrations. Higher tiers add features like abandoned cart recovery, customer segmentation, Google Customer Reviews, and custom SSL options. All plans include mobile-responsive themes, a drag-and-drop builder, and 24/7 support.
Q: How does BigCommerce compare to other ecommerce platforms?
A: While base prices are similar (e.g., BigCommerce Standard at ~$29/mo vs. Shopify Basic), BigCommerce saves you money overall with no extra transaction fees and more built-in features. This reduces the need for costly third-party apps, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership compared to competitors.
Q: What if my business outgrows the standard plans?
A: Standard plans support up to around $400K in annual sales on the Pro tier. For larger or more complex businesses, BigCommerce Enterprise offers custom pricing, unlimited API calls, dedicated account management, priority support, and advanced features, all without adding transaction fees. This ensures your ecommerce platform scales with your growth while keeping costs predictable.
By switching to BigCommerce’s SaaS platform, businesses on .NET or custom solutions can significantly reduce costs, speed up deployment, and gain cutting-edge features – all while delivering a great experience to customers. The result is a lower total cost of ownership and a platform that powers your growth instead of hindering it. BigCommerce’s cost advantages make it a compelling choice for any business looking to maximize eCommerce ROI and operational efficiency.
