BigCommerce vs OroCommerce: Which B2B Platform Powers Long-Term Growth with Ease

Key highlights:

• BigCommerce simplifies infrastructure with SaaS, while OroCommerce requires developer-led maintenance.

• B2B features like quoting, buyer roles, and custom pricing are built into BigCommerce and ready to use.

• Scaling across brands, regions, and buyer hierarchies is easier with BigCommerce’s native multi-storefront and company tools.

• BigCommerce delivers 391% ROI and a 7-month payback according to The Business Value of B2B Edition study by IDC.

• Digitally mature and new-to-online brands alike benefit from faster launches, lower costs, and greater agility with BigCommerce.

Whether you're just beginning your B2B ecommerce journey or you're looking to replace a legacy platform, choosing the right technology is critical.

You need a solution that does more than check feature boxes. It should support complex business rules, streamline operations for your teams, and deliver a modern experience for every buyer — regardless of channel, region, or buying process.

BigCommerce and OroCommerce both offer B2B functionality. But how they help you get online, grow, and scale long term is fundamentally different.

In this blog, we’ll explore those differences. From architecture and feature depth to cost of ownership and flexibility, this comparison will help you evaluate which platform is better aligned to your goals, today and into the future.

SaaS simplicity vs open-source complexity

One of the biggest differences between BigCommerce and OroCommerce comes down to how the platforms are built and maintained.

OroCommerce is open-source. That means businesses must manage hosting, infrastructure, updates, and take full ownership of security. While this model gives technical teams deep control, it often comes with slower implementation, much higher long-term costs, and more reliance on developers for everyday changes.

BigCommerce takes a SaaS-first approach. There is no hosting to manage. No manual upgrades. No versioning to worry about. With automatic updates and built-in security, your team always has access to the latest features without disruption.

This makes a big impact in three key areas:

• Speed to launch: Go live faster without heavy dev work.

• Lower maintenance: Free your team from routine technical upkeep.

• Faster adoption: Get new capabilities into the hands of your users quickly.

• Lower TCO: BigCommerce helps reduce operational complexity and cost. According to the 2025 IDC Business Value of B2B Edition study, B2B brands using BigCommerce saw 391% ROI and a 7-month payback driven by faster implementation and fewer development resources.

For digitally mature brands, this translates to agility at scale. For those new to online, it removes the barriers that often delay ecommerce initiatives. And for both, it means you can focus more on customers and growth, and less on infrastructure.

Built-in B2B features vs developer-heavy tooling

For B2B brands, functionality matters. But so does how you access and manage it.

OroCommerce offers B2B features, but many require developer setup or ongoing technical support. That includes quoting tools, pricing configuration, and custom buyer workflows. Over time, this creates dependency on IT teams for changes that sales or operations should be able to handle directly.

BigCommerce B2B Edition is designed for business users. Features like quoting, shared requisition lists, customer-specific catalogs, and buyer roles are built into the platform and ready to use. No plugins. No custom code. No waiting on developers for updates.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Native quoting tools with CPQ functionality: Sales reps can configure, send, and manage complex quotes with advanced pricing rules and approval workflows — all from within the admin.

• Advanced buyer roles: Give customers full control over user permissions and workflows.

• Customer-specific catalogs and pricing: Tailor the experience by company, segment, or region.

• Shared lists and quick order tools: Make reordering fast and flexible for large buying teams.

All of this is accessible through an intuitive interface. Business teams can manage accounts, update catalogs, and create approval workflows without technical support.

For brands with complex sales cycles or high-touch buyer relationships, this flexibility matters. It reduces friction and gives your team more control over the customer experience.

Enterprise scale without custom rebuilds

As B2B companies grow, complexity grows with them. New regions. New business units. New customer segments. Scaling should not require starting over.

OroCommerce can support enterprise requirements, but often through custom development. Managing multiple storefronts, buyer groups, or subsidiaries typically means building new instances, writing custom code, or reworking core components of the platform.

BigCommerce B2B Edition is built to scale. Multi-Storefront, multi-brand, and multi-region support are all native to the platform. You can manage everything in one place without duplicating infrastructure or hiring new development teams to keep up.

This includes:

• Company Account Hierarchy: Support subsidiaries, dealer networks, or layered buying organizations with native role and permission controls.

• Multi-Storefront: Launch new sites for different brands, regions, or customer segments from a single dashboard.

• Open APIs: Easily connect to ERPs, PIMs, CRMs, punchout systems, and more without heavy customization.

• Composable architecture: Extend or tailor the experience without rebuilding your foundation.

The result is a platform that grows with your business, not against it. Whether you're consolidating systems or expanding globally, you can adapt without creating operational silos or long-term technical debt.

Lower cost, higher ROI, faster growth

Total cost of ownership is more than a budget line item. It is a reflection of how much time and energy your team spends just to keep your ecommerce experience running.

OroCommerce’s open-source model may look affordable at first, but the hidden costs add up. Hosting. Patching. Custom builds. Developer support. Over time, the effort required to maintain the platform can slow down innovation and inflate your operating costs.

BigCommerce B2B Edition delivers a different kind of value. As a SaaS platform with built-in features, automatic updates, and no infrastructure to manage, it reduces both hard costs and the internal effort required to grow online.

The results are measurable.

According to the 2025 Business Value of BigCommerce B2B Edition study, B2B companies using BigCommerce achieved:

• 391% ROI

• 7-month payback period

• 30% increase in conversion rates

• 75% faster product updates

• 11,000 hours saved per year through automation

This is not theoretical. It has a proven impact across businesses managing complex catalogs, layered customer hierarchies, and multichannel sales.

With BigCommerce, your teams spend less time maintaining and more time optimizing. You get faster time to market, lower technical overhead, and better outcomes for every part of the business.

The best B2B platform is not just one you can afford. It is the one that pays you back.

The final word

Both BigCommerce and OroCommerce offer B2B ecommerce capabilities. But when it comes to long-term agility, usability, and ROI, the differences are clear.

OroCommerce offers flexibility through custom development. That may work for businesses with large IT teams and time to spare.

BigCommerce is built for brands that want to move faster. 

With powerful B2B features available out of the box, lower total cost of ownership, and a SaaS foundation designed to scale, BigCommerce helps you launch, grow, and adapt without rebuilding your platform.

Whether you are starting fresh or evolving an existing digital strategy, BigCommerce gives you the tools to focus on what matters most.

Your customers. Your revenue. Your growth.

Learn how BigCommerce B2B Edition helps businesses reduce cost and accelerate growth. Download The Business Value of B2B Edition study today.

FAQs about BigCommerce vs OroCommerce

Is BigCommerce or OroCommerce better for teams without a large IT department?

BigCommerce is the better fit. It is a fully hosted SaaS platform that eliminates the need for custom hosting, manual updates, and infrastructure management. Most features are ready to use out of the box, which reduces reliance on IT or third-party developers. OroCommerce requires more technical resources to set up, configure, and maintain.

Does BigCommerce support advanced B2B features like CPQ and buyer roles?

Yes. BigCommerce B2B Edition includes native quoting tools with CPQ functionality, advanced buyer roles and permissions, company account hierarchies, shared shopping lists, quick order tools, and more — all accessible through an intuitive interface. OroCommerce supports these features but typically requires developer involvement or custom builds to configure them.

Which platform is better for B2B brands focused on growth and speed to market?

BigCommerce is a strong fit for brands that want to launch quickly, adapt without complexity, and scale across regions or buyer segments. As a SaaS platform, BigCommerce includes essential B2B features out of the box and does not require heavy customization or developer maintenance, which enables faster time to value.

What types of businesses might benefit from OroCommerce?

OroCommerce may be a good fit for organizations with highly specialized workflows, custom backend requirements, or dedicated in-house development teams. If your business prefers to fully control and build out every layer of your commerce infrastructure, an open-source platform like Oro can offer that flexibility — though it often comes with longer implementation timelines and higher maintenance needs.

How does BigCommerce support the needs of both digitally mature and new-to-online B2B companies?

BigCommerce B2B Edition is built to meet the needs of a wide range of businesses. For companies already managing complex ecommerce ecosystems, it provides composability, robust APIs, and enterprise scalability. For those just getting started, it delivers powerful B2B features in a more accessible and intuitive way, helping teams go live and grow without adding technical overhead.