Shopify vs. BigCommerce vs. WordPress for Startups in 2026

I’ve spent years building on all three of these platforms: Shopify Plus and BigCommerce storefronts at an agency, and WordPress sites for media companies and nonprofits. The question I hear most from founders is some version of “Which one should I start on?” Here’s my honest take for 2026, focused on two things a startup actually cares about: what it costs to get going, and how much the built-in AI can do for you when you don’t have a team yet.

Prices and features below are current as of October 2026. All three platforms change their plans often, so check their pricing pages before you commit.

The Short Answer

Best overall deal for most new online stores: Shopify. The Basic plan is $29/month billed yearly ($39 month to month), new stores pay just $1/month for their first three months, and its AI assistant, Sidekick, is included free on every plan.
Best if you’re content-first: WordPress.com. If your business runs on blog posts, guides, or a portfolio and the store is secondary, the Commerce plan gives you WooCommerce with 0% WooCommerce transaction fees and an AI site builder and assistant.
Best for growing catalogs and B2B: BigCommerce. It’s priced the same as Shopify to start, charges no extra fee when you use its built-in payment providers, and offers more built-in features for wholesale and complex catalogs. But its plans are tied to how much you sell.

Price Comparison

	Shopify	BigCommerce	WordPress.com
Starter plan	Basic: $29/mo yearly, $39 monthly	Core: $29/mo yearly, $39 monthly	Commerce: $45/mo yearly, $70 monthly
Next tier	Grow: $79/mo yearly, $105 monthly	Growth: $79/mo yearly, $105 monthly	Business: $25/mo yearly (store via plugins)
Trial	3 days free, then $1/mo for 3 months	15 days free, no card required	Free plan available (no plugins)
Card processing	2.9% + 30¢ on Basic	From 2.89% + 29¢	Standard payment processor rates
Sales caps	None	Core up to $30K/yr, then auto-upgrade	None

Shopify

Shopify’s Basic plan at $29/month (yearly) is where most new stores should start. Online card payments are 2.9% + 30¢, and the rate drops as you move up to Grow ($79/month yearly) and Advanced ($299/month yearly). There’s also a $5/month Starter plan if you only want to sell through social media and links, without a full online store. The biggest win for a startup is the intro offer: a short free trial, then $1/month for the first three months, so you can build and launch before paying full price.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce’s Core plan matches Shopify Basic at $29/month (yearly), and Growth is $79/month (yearly). A big plus: if you use one of its built-in payment providers (BigCommerce Payments, PayPal, Stripe, Adyen, or Klarna), BigCommerce doesn’t add its own transaction fee. The catch is that plans are tied to sales. Core covers up to $30K in online sales over 12 months and Growth up to $100K. Once you pass the limit, you’re moved up to the next plan automatically. That’s a nice problem to have, but it means your costs rise as you grow whether you need more features or not.

WordPress

WordPress comes in two flavors:

WordPress.com (hosted): The Commerce plan ($45/month yearly, $31.50/month on a 3-year term, $70 month to month) bundles WooCommerce, premium store themes, unlimited products, and 0% WooCommerce transaction fees. Plugins are available on every paid plan, so the cheaper Business plan can run a store too, but you assemble more of it yourself.
Self-hosted WordPress + WooCommerce: The software itself is free. You pay for hosting, a domain, and any premium plugins or themes you need. This can be the cheapest option of all, but you’re responsible for updates, security, and backups. It’s a great choice if you’re comfortable with that or have a developer.

Which Has the Best Turnkey AI Assistant?

Shopify Sidekick: the clear leader

Shopify is furthest ahead, and it isn’t close. Sidekick is built into the Shopify admin, it’s free on every plan, and it doesn’t just answer questions. It does work for you:

Answers business questions by pulling live reports (“What were my top products by city last month?”)
Builds customer segments and creates discount codes
Sets up automations in Shopify Flow from a plain-English description
Drafts product descriptions, blog outlines, email subject lines, and image alt text
Generates images and simple theme sections, and shows you changes for approval before applying them

Shopify also has an AI store builder that generates a starter storefront from a short description of your brand, plus Shopify Magic buttons throughout the admin for quick content generation.

Keep in mind: Sidekick’s writing still needs editing to sound like your brand, it isn’t a replacement for a designer on complex theme work, and you should never rely on it for tax or legal answers. Some advanced features, like custom app generation, require the Grow plan or higher.

WordPress.com: best for building and designing your site

WordPress.com has invested heavily in AI for building and editing websites:

An AI website builder that sets up a site through a guided chat, available on all plans
A built-in AI assistant (added in early 2026) that can change layouts and styles, add pages and sections, rewrite or translate content, and generate or edit images

AI usage is limited on lower plans and enhanced on Business and Commerce. The assistant only works with block themes. Where it falls short of Shopify is store operations. It’s great at your site’s design and content, but it won’t build sales reports or discount campaigns for you. On self-hosted WooCommerce, AI mostly comes from plugins or custom developer work.

BigCommerce: promising, but still early

BigCommerce (now under its parent company, Commerce) announced Companion, an AI chat assistant inside the admin to help merchants analyze data and get tasks done, along with AI catalog enrichment, conversational storefront search, and agentic checkout features. It’s moving in the right direction, but there’s less public detail on what Companion can actually do day to day, and much of the announced AI work seems aimed at larger merchants.

My Recommendation

If you’re launching your first online store and want the most done for you, start on Shopify Basic. It’s the cheapest way to get a full-featured store live, and Sidekick is the closest thing to having a free operations assistant on day one.

Choose WordPress if content is the heart of your business, such as a blog, a media brand, or a service business with a small shop, or if you want full ownership of your site.

Choose BigCommerce if you’re selling a large or complex catalog, plan to sell wholesale (B2B), or want to avoid platform transaction fees and are fine with plans that scale with your sales.

Whichever you pick, a good developer can help you get the most out of it. If you’re weighing these options for your own business, reach out. I’m happy to help you choose.

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