# Is Shopify genuinely cheaper in total cost of ownership than BigCommerce Enterprise or Adobe Commerce at the same $50M/year GMV, once all fees are counted?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 9, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-tco-vs-bigcommerce-adobe-commerce-50m-gmv

## Short answer

Shopify Plus cannot be shown cheaper in total cost of ownership at $50M a year, because no vendor publishes the price at that size. Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). BigCommerce Performance, formerly Enterprise, starts at $1,499 a month billed annually ([bigcommerce.com/pricing](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026). Adobe publishes no Adobe Commerce price ([business.adobe.com](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), October 2026).

- **Shopify Plus entry price:** $2,300 a month on a 3-year term. $2,500 on a 1-year term. Shopify adds that more complex, higher volume businesses switch to a variable platform fee, and publishes no threshold ([Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing))
- **BigCommerce Performance entry price:** From $1,499 a month, billed annually. Performance is the plan BigCommerce called Enterprise until 1 June 2026. Scale-plan stores move onto it automatically once trailing 12-month GMV reaches $2 million ([BigCommerce, Pricing and Plan Information](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/); [BigCommerce, 2026 Pricing Update (Fees Explained)](https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/plan-pricing-updates-2026/))
- **Adobe Commerce price:** Not published. All three editions (Cloud Service, Cloud and Optimizer) show “Get pricing” and no figure ([Adobe, Adobe Commerce Product Pricing](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html))
- **Published US card rates:** Plus from 2.25% + 30¢; BigCommerce Performance 2.39% + $0.30. Shopify Payments standard cards on Plus, and BigCommerce Payments cards on the Scale and Performance plans, both for US merchants. Shopify says Plus card rates vary by country ([Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing); [BigCommerce, BigCommerce Payments](https://www.bigcommerce.com/payments/bigcommerce-payments/))

## Deploi's call

Shopify Plus cannot be shown cheaper in total cost of ownership than BigCommerce Performance or Adobe Commerce at $50M a year until all three vendors quote in writing. Ask each for the same ten cost lines on the same term, from platform fee and card rates to hosting and exit. A vendor that will not commit its payment-processing rates in writing has told you more than a spreadsheet would.

**WAIT: Skip the three-platform comparison while**

- The driver is a capability, such as business-to-business (B2B) depth, rather than cost.
- Your current platform contract has more than a year to run.
- You hold fewer than three written quotes, because one quote against two published entry prices is not a comparison.

**DEPENDS: Get all three quotes in writing when**

- Your current contract renews within the year, so early termination stops being the largest line.
- A hard requirement sits outside software as a service (SaaS), such as self-managed hosting, or your organization already runs Adobe’s wider stack ([Deploi decision record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation), October 2026).
- Every vendor will quote the same ten lines on the same term, with licence, implementation and exit terms in one number.

## What does each platform publish about its price at $50M a year?

At $50M a year, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Performance publish only an entry plan price, and Adobe shows no price for Adobe Commerce ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), [BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), [Adobe](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), October 2026). [The Advanced versus Plus arithmetic at $500K a month](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-total-cost-500k-per-month) can run on Shopify's printed prices. At $50M a year, sales sets most inputs on all three platforms, so the table holds only what each vendor prints.

**Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Performance print entry prices, Adobe Commerce prints none, and sales sets the rest**

| Platform | Published plan price (USD) | Published payment terms | Left to sales |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shopify Plus | From $2,300 a month on a 3-year term, $2,500 on a 1-year term | Standard cards from 2.25% + 30¢, premium cards 2.95% + 30¢; 0.2% on third-party processors | A variable platform fee “for more complex business structures”; card rates outside the US |
| BigCommerce Performance | From $1,499 a month, billed annually | Cards 2.39% + $0.30 through BigCommerce Payments for eligible US merchants; no Open Payment Provider fee under contract | Pricing “tailored to each merchant’s needs” and “Custom payment terms that fit your volume” |
| Adobe Commerce | Not published; “Get pricing” on all three editions | Not published | Every line |

Sources: [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing); [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [BigCommerce, Pricing and Plan Information](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/); [BigCommerce, Enterprise Pricing FAQs](https://www.bigcommerce.com/enterprise-pricing/); [Adobe, Adobe Commerce Product Pricing](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html); [BigCommerce, BigCommerce Payments](https://www.bigcommerce.com/payments/bigcommerce-payments/). Verified October 8, 2026.

## Can anyone build an honest total cost of ownership figure at $50M a year?

No one outside the three sales teams can build an honest total cost of ownership figure at $50M a year, because each vendor sets that price in a contract. Shopify says “More complex, higher volume businesses switch to a variable platform fee based on their revenue and business model” and publishes no threshold for the switch ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). BigCommerce moves a Scale-plan store onto Performance automatically once its trailing 12-month gross merchandise volume (GMV) reaches $2 million ([BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026). Asked for the base cost of Performance, BigCommerce offers “pricing tailored to each merchant’s needs” ([BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/enterprise-pricing/), October 2026). Adobe shows “Get pricing” on every Adobe Commerce edition and no figure ([Adobe](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), October 2026).

So any published Shopify, BigCommerce or Adobe Commerce total at $50M a year rests on quotes its author could not verify. We do not model one, because a modelled total at this scale is a guess with a decimal point.

## Which fee lines should each vendor quote in writing?

Each vendor should quote five fee lines in writing on the same term: the platform fee, any revenue formula, payment processing, overage fees and third-party processor fees. Pricing pages show these lines only in part, so the quote has to fill them.

1. **Platform fee**, with the term length and the renewal uplift cap.
1. **The revenue formula, if any.** Ask at what gross merchandise volume (GMV) your fee stops being fixed. Shopify says higher-volume businesses switch to a variable fee, but not when ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026).
1. **Payment processing**, as a committed rate and fixed fee per card type and region. Shopify prints US Plus rates ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026) and sends other countries to sales ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). The card rate is also [the first lever in a Plus negotiation](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/custom-pricing-tier-between-advanced-and-plus).
1. **Overage and above-cap fees.** BigCommerce’s Scale plan charges “0.9% on GMV above cap”, which is the kind of fee to ask every vendor about ([BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026).
1. **Third-party processor fees.** Shopify charges 0.2% on Plus ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). BigCommerce’s Open Payment Provider fee is 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.6% on Core, Growth and Scale, and none on Performance under contract ([BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026).

## Which cost lines does a total cost of ownership need beyond fees?

A total cost of ownership needs five cost lines beyond fees: hosting, version upgrades, apps, implementation and exit. The first two decide who carries the platform’s risk, and you can judge them before any quote arrives.

- **Hosting, infrastructure and Payment Card Industry (PCI) scope.** Shopify includes hosting with every plan and says “stores powered by Shopify are PCI compliant by default” ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). BigCommerce calls itself “Open SaaS”, software as a service running on Google Cloud Platform ([BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.com/enterprise-pricing/), October 2026).
- **Version upgrades.** Shopify releases a new application programming interface (API) version every three months and supports each for at least 12 months ([Shopify developer docs](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/versioning), October 2026).
- **Apps, extensions and marketplace fees** at your volumes, because [app prices at mid-market volumes](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-plus-tco-minimal-vs-15-app-stack) are not entry-tier prices.
- **Implementation and integration**, priced apart from the licence.
- **Exit**: the data export format, the notice period and what happens to your storefront code.

Adobe Commerce splits the first two lines by edition. Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service has “the latest security patches automatically applied for you” ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/overview), October 2026). On Adobe Commerce on Cloud and on-premises, each version gets a three-year standard support window, so upgrades become projects on your calendar ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy), October 2026). [What self-hosted Adobe Commerce adds in hosting, patching and PCI work](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/adobe-commerce-self-hosted-vs-shopify-plus-tco) has its own answer.

## When should you skip the three-platform comparison?

Skip the three-platform comparison of Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Performance and Adobe Commerce when cost is not the real driver, when you hold fewer than three written quotes, or when your current contract has more than a year to run.

> **When not to do this**
> - **When the driver is a capability, not a cost.** A migration justified on total cost but made for business-to-business (B2B) depth or catalog complexity gets measured against the wrong number in year two. [Whether Adobe Commerce’s B2B depth justifies staying off Shopify Plus at $40M to $100M](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/adobe-commerce-b2b-depth-at-40m-100m-gmv) is that capability question.
> - **When you have fewer than three written quotes.** One quote plus two published entry prices is not a comparison, so the gap it shows is noise.
> - **When the incumbent contract has more than a year to run.** Early termination is a line item too, and in year one it is usually the largest.

## Deploi's point of view

**What we've seen.** TCO decks in this space compare a published Shopify floor against a modelled Adobe figure and call the gap a finding. The Adobe figure is always the one with no source, because there is no source to have.

**Where we disagree.** The standard move is to model the unpublished numbers so the comparison can be completed. We think completing the comparison is the failure. Leaving the cell empty and naming which vendor left it empty is the more useful output, and it is the one that changes how the negotiation goes.

**What this page adds.** That at $50M a year the published arithmetic the parent runs for Advanced and Plus stops working: BigCommerce Performance publishes only an entry price, Adobe Commerce publishes none and Shopify moves higher-volume businesses to an unpriced variable fee, so ten cost lines quoted in writing replace the spreadsheet.

## When this answer changes

- Adobe publishes a price for any Adobe Commerce edition.
- BigCommerce changes the Performance entry price of $1,499 a month, its $2 million automatic upgrade threshold, its Open Payment Provider fees or its BigCommerce Payments card rates.
- Shopify publishes a threshold or rate for the Plus variable platform fee, or changes the $2,300 and $2,500 term prices.
- Your current platform contract enters its final year, which makes the three-quote comparison worth running.
- A requirement appears that software as a service cannot meet, such as self-managed hosting or data residency your integrator must control.

## Sources

1. [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), checked October 8, 2026
2. [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), checked October 8, 2026
3. [BigCommerce, Pricing and Plan Information](https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/), checked October 8, 2026
4. [BigCommerce, 2026 Pricing Update (Fees Explained)](https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/plan-pricing-updates-2026/), checked October 8, 2026
5. [BigCommerce, Enterprise Pricing FAQs](https://www.bigcommerce.com/enterprise-pricing/), checked October 8, 2026
6. [Adobe, Adobe Commerce Product Pricing](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), checked October 8, 2026
7. [Shopify developer docs, About Shopify API versioning](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/versioning), checked October 8, 2026
8. [Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy), checked October 8, 2026
9. [Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service overview](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/overview), checked October 8, 2026
10. [BigCommerce, BigCommerce Payments](https://www.bigcommerce.com/payments/bigcommerce-payments/), checked October 9, 2026
11. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Adobe Commerce vs. Shopify Plus: Do You Need an Enterprise Platform?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation), checked October 8, 2026, Deploi research