What does BigCommerce really cost a store each month?
A $20,000/month store pays $1,093 a month on BigCommerce, on the Scale plan, with card processing, fees and tools counted. On Waise Growth the same store pays $759, $334 less. The full breakdown at three sales levels follows, with a source and date for every figure.
US list prices in dollars, the same for every platform.
| Part | Starter ($2,000) | Growing ($20,000) | Established ($100,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Core | Scale forced by the sales cap: about $216,000 over 12 months | Scale forced by the sales cap: about $1,080,000 over 12 months |
| Plan cost | $39 | $399 | $399 |
| Card processing | $69.40 | $694 | $3,470 |
| Platform fee | $0 | $0 | $510 the 0.9% overage above the monthly cap |
| Photo reviews | $0 BigCommerce (built in) | $0 BigCommerce (built in) | $0 BigCommerce (built in) |
| Quantity discounts | $0 BigCommerce bulk pricing | $0 BigCommerce bulk pricing | $0 BigCommerce bulk pricing |
| Abandoned-cart email | $20 Klaviyo Email (500 profiles) | $0 BigCommerce Abandoned Cart Saver | $0 BigCommerce Abandoned Cart Saver |
| Email automations | $0 Klaviyo Email (same plan) | $0 Klaviyo Email | $0 Klaviyo Email |
| Total a month | $128.40 | $1,093 | $4,379 |
| Waise | $99 Basic | $759 Growth | $3,629 Pro |
| Difference vs Waise | +$29.40 | +$334 | +$750 |
A plus means this platform costs more than Waise; a minus means it costs less.
What is not counted here
A price we could not verify on an official page stays out of the total, so a platform’s total can be too low here, never too high.
- Growing ($20,000): Email automations beyond the abandoned cart need an outside tool. At about 4,800 profiles we could not verify Klaviyo’s price on its official page, so it is not counted: BigCommerce’s total here is understated.
- Established ($100,000): Email automations beyond the abandoned cart need an outside tool. At about 24,000 profiles we could not verify Klaviyo’s price on its official page, so it is not counted: BigCommerce’s total here is understated.
How BigCommerce charges
- Plans, billed monthly: Core $39 up to $30,000 over 12 months, Growth $105 up to $100,000, Scale $399. Pass a cap and the plan auto-upgrades.
- Caps are measured in GMV, order value after a 10% reduction. Scale has a $33,333 monthly cap and 0.9% on what is above it. The page says “revenue above the cap” and doesn’t reconcile that with GMV, so we assume GMV.
- Open payment provider fee: 2%, 1%, 0.6% by plan. Embedded providers carry none, and the index counts an embedded provider.
- Card processing: begins at 2.89% + 29¢ on every plan.
- Abandoned Cart Saver comes with Growth and up, not Core. For a store on Core we count Klaviyo, which costs less than moving to Growth and covers automations too.
The prices we used
| Tool | For | Price | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo Email, 500 | profiles. Abandoned cart and automations for the Starter store | $20 a month | Source | 2026-11-08 |
| Klaviyo Free, 250 | profiles. Too small for the list we assume | $0 | Source | 2026-11-08 |
| Bulk pricing | Quantity discounts, built in | No add-on | Source | 2026-11-08 |
| Product ratings and reviews | Reviews, on every plan. Photos were not checked. | No add-on | Source | 2026-11-08 |
Where BigCommerce beats Waise
At the three levels we tested, the total here is not below Waise.
- Reviews and quantity discounts built in, with no add-on, from Core.
- Tools for B2B and complex catalogs.
Who this suits, and who it doesn’t
A good fit
- You’re growing and don’t want sales to move your plan up.
- You want email automations without another tool.
Pick something else
- You’re a B2B organisation with a complex catalog and price lists.
- You need a specific BigCommerce embedded provider.
Questions
Does BigCommerce force a plan upgrade?
Yes. When trailing 12-month GMV passes the cap, the plan auto-upgrades. That is why a $20,000-a-month store sits on Scale and not Core.
What does the Scale overage cost?
For a $100,000-a-month store, about $510 a month, on the GMV above the cap.
Does BigCommerce have a transaction fee?
Only on an open payment provider. Embedded providers carry none.
The online store that runs itself, with brakes
- AI that acts, with brakes. Pulse changes orders, prices, discounts and content from one conversation. A sensitive change first shows a before-and-after card and waits for your approval, and almost any change can be undone.
- Your money is protected on the server, not by a promise. Anything touching money needs a confirmation tied to the exact values you saw, and the margin guard blocks a price below your minimum, even when an outside AI asks for it.
- Profit, not just sales. An order counts only once your payment provider confirms the money, and profit is worked out after fees, shipping, cost of goods and refunds.
- Open to your own AI. Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini connect to your store over MCP and pass through exactly the same brakes.
- Five ways to build, one system behind them. A ready theme, designing by chat with Pulse, your own code, outside builders like Lovable or Webflow, or your own AI. Checkout, orders, customers and money stay in one place.
- 0% of your sales. One flat monthly plan. When your store grows, our cut doesn’t, because there isn’t one.
- Built by someone who sold. Or Avrahami, a practical electronics and computer engineer, ran an online store on Shopify and built what that store needed. That became Waise.
Sources
Every competitor figure on this page was checked on its official page, on the date beside the source.
- www.bigcommerce.com/essentials/pricing/ BigCommerce pricing: plans, caps and features Checked 2026-11-08
- www.bigcommerce.com/essentials/pricing/faq/ BigCommerce pricing FAQ: GMV and the overage Checked 2026-11-08
- support.bigcommerce.com/s/article/Product-Prices?language=en_US BigCommerce bulk pricing rules Checked 2026-11-08
- www.klaviyo.com/pricing Klaviyo pricing Checked 2026-11-08
Updated · Method
Written and checked by Or Avrahami, Founder of Waise ·
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