IONOS vs BigCommerce: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

IONOS and BigCommerce both offer robust platforms, but they cater to different needs and user bases.

• 
  IONOS (Overall Grade: 6.9/10)
  
  is a versatile website builder and hosting platform that excels in ease of use and affordability. It is ideal for users looking to create professional websites without extensive coding knowledge. IONOS offers a wide range of customizable templates and reliable hosting services, making it a solid choice for small businesses and individuals seeking a straightforward website building experience. However, it falls short in advanced ecommerce functionalities compared to BigCommerce.
• 
  BigCommerce (Overall Grade: 7.9/10)
  
  stands out as a comprehensive ecommerce platform with a strong focus on scalability and advanced features. It offers a wide array of design options, robust SEO tools, and extensive integrations, making it perfect for businesses looking to grow their online presence. BigCommerce’s user-friendly interface and extensive support resources make it a popular choice for merchants of all sizes. When comparing IONOS vs BigCommerce, BigCommerce is the preferred option for those prioritizing ecommerce capabilities and advanced marketing tools.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: When comparing IONOS vs BigCommerce, BigCommerce emerges as the superior choice for ecommerce due to its extensive features and higher ecommerce score. IONOS, while capable, is better suited for simpler ecommerce needs.

• 
  IONOS
  
  : IONOS is a versatile website builder that includes ecommerce functionalities, making it suitable for users who need a straightforward solution to set up and manage an online store. It offers essential ecommerce features like store management, marketing tools, and payment and shipping options. However, it lacks the advanced capabilities and scalability that more robust platforms offer. With a best for ecommerce score of 7.1, IONOS is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use platform.
• 
  BigCommerce
  
  : BigCommerce is a comprehensive ecommerce platform designed for businesses aiming to scale. It provides a wide range of built-in features, including unlimited products, streamlined single-page checkout, and advanced marketing and sales tools. BigCommerce supports over 65 pre-integrated online payment solutions and offers extensive customization options for product pages. With a best for ecommerce score of 9.0, BigCommerce is well-suited for businesses of all sizes looking to expand their online presence and leverage advanced ecommerce functionalities.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: When it comes to creating informational and business websites, both IONOS and BigCommerce offer robust solutions, but they cater to slightly different needs. IONOS is ideal for users seeking an easy-to-use platform with a variety of templates and reliable hosting, while BigCommerce excels in providing advanced design functionalities and integrations, making it a better choice for businesses looking to scale.

• 
  IONOS
  
  : IONOS scores 7.4 for informational business websites, making it a solid choice for users who prioritize ease of use and a wide range of customizable templates. Its drag-and-drop functionality and AI assistance make it easy to create professional-looking websites without any coding knowledge. Additionally, IONOS offers reliable hosting services and ensures that websites are optimized for search engines, providing maximum visibility online.
• 
  BigCommerce
  
  : BigCommerce scores slightly higher at 7.5, offering a comprehensive platform with advanced design features and a wide array of integrations. While primarily known for its ecommerce capabilities, BigCommerce also provides robust tools for creating and managing professional-looking informational websites. Its extensive support resources and user-friendly interface make it a popular choice for businesses looking to scale their online presence. When comparing IONOS vs BigCommerce, BigCommerce stands out for its advanced functionalities and scalability.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: BigCommerce.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more creative control and a wide array of design features, BigCommerce is the preferred choice.

IONOS offers a wide variety of templates and designs for their website builder. With over 200 templates to choose from, users can find a design that suits their needs and preferences. The templates are categorized into different industries and styles, making it easy for users to find the perfect design for their website. Additionally, IONOS regularly updates their template library, ensuring that users have access to the latest design trends.

IONOS Themes

Compared to IONOS, BigCommerce offers a variety of design templates for creating ecommerce websites, with a total of 240 themes available. Most of these themes come with up to four styling options, providing users with flexibility in design choices to match their brand’s aesthetic. There are 12 free themes, while the rest range in price from $150 to $300 each.

BigCommerce Themes

🏆 Winner: IONOS

. Scoring a 7.8, IONOS is known for its straightforward and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to create professional websites. BigCommerce, with a score of 7.3, offers a robust platform but can be overwhelming for beginners or small businesses on a tight budget. If ease of use is a priority, IONOS is the clear winner in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: BigCommerce

. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, BigCommerce goes a step further with its wide array of detailed tutorials, webinars, podcasts, and specific training through BigCommerce University, making it easier for users to learn and adapt.

BigCommerce, with a higher ecommerce score, is a comprehensive ecommerce platform that offers a wide array of features, including extensive POS integrations, a variety of shipping options, and a selection of over 100 mobile-responsive themes for design customization. On the other hand, IONOS, with a lower ecommerce score, is a website builder that includes ecommerce features, specifically designed to help users build and manage an online store.

IONOS ecommerce features:

• Store Management
• Marketing Tools
• Payment and Shipping options
• Products and Inventory management

BigCommerce ecommerce features:

• Unlimited Products
• Streamlined Single-Page Checkout
• Order Management
• Abandoned Cart Recovery
• Marketing and Sales Tools

Ecommerce themes & templates

IONOS offers a variety of eCommerce themes and templates designed to help businesses set up their online stores efficiently and effectively. Their online store builder is tailored to support a range of ecommerce needs, from selling on social media platforms to managing a scalable ecommerce website without any coding or design skills required. On the other hand, BigCommerce provides a wide variety of eCommerce templates designed to enhance online shopping experiences and cater to different industries. These templates feature advanced functionalities like quick view, product suggestions, and complex search filters but may require performance optimization for maintaining speed.

Product page customization

Both IONOS and BigCommerce provide users with the ability to extensively customize product pages. This includes the flexibility to adjust the design and layout, ensuring that product images, descriptions, and specifications are displayed according to individual preferences. Additionally, both platforms allow for the setup and management of product options and variations, such as size and color, enabling customers to select their preferred version of a product.

Payment processing

When it comes to payment processing, IONOS supports a wide variety of third-party payment processors for its website builder, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square, without charging direct fees for payment processing. On the other hand, BigCommerce supports over 65 pre-integrated online payment solutions, serving customers across 230 countries with more than 140 currencies, without charging additional transaction fees for using third-party payment gateways. This approach provides merchants with the flexibility to choose the best payment solution for their business needs, including the option for custom integration to cater to specific regional payment preferences.

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Winner: BigCommerce

. BigCommerce, with a score of 7.9, offers an extensive set of tools designed for creating professional and engaging online stores without requiring coding knowledge. It provides a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, robust eCommerce capabilities including product management and secure payment processing, and customizable templates to match brand aesthetics. The platform also features powerful SEO and marketing tools, app integrations for extended functionality, and comprehensive analytics to track website performance.

IONOS’s editor, scoring 7.8, provides an intuitive website builder equipped with AI assistance, designed for users to quickly create professional-looking websites without needing coding skills. This platform offers customizable templates, AI-generated content, and is optimized for mobile use, ensuring a responsive design across all devices. With features that cater to both basic and advanced website needs, including eCommerce capabilities, IONOS aims to simplify the web creation process.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: BigCommerce

. Both IONOS and BigCommerce do not offer a dedicated mobile editor app, but they provide limited mobile functionality. IONOS does not have a dedicated mobile app, but users can perform limited editing tasks on a mobile browser. On the other hand, BigCommerce has a mobile app that allows users to access the dashboard, analytics, orders, and add or edit products, but it does not allow website editing. Considering these factors, BigCommerce scores higher due to its mobile app that provides more functionality compared to IONOS.

Overall Result

:

BigCommerce Wins

. BigCommerce scores 7.3, slightly higher than IONOS’s 6.5, in product testing options. BigCommerce offers a 14-day free trial, during which users can test all premium features. IONOS, on the other hand, does not offer a free or trial version. However, it does provide a 30-day money-back guarantee, during which users can test premium features.

IONOS offers more affordable plans, but BigCommerce provides more advanced features, especially for larger-scale ecommerce operations.

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Winner: IONOS

IONOS offers a diverse range of hosting services including shared, VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting, with features like daily backups, and unlimited traffic. It also boasts a 99.99% uptime guarantee and has 7 data centers in the EU and USA. BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers scalable cloud hosting with unlimited storage and bandwidth, but limited backup possibilities. It also has a slightly lower uptime of 99.9% and does not disclose the locations of its data centers.

🏆 Winner: BigCommerce

Both IONOS and BigCommerce prioritize website performance and page speed, with BigCommerce slightly outperforming IONOS in terms of website speed optimization.

IONOS focuses on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Optimization, Image and Multimedia Optimization, Caching, WordPress Optimization, and CDN for speed optimization. The load times and PageSpeed scores vary widely, depending on the optimization and user’s location. IONOS places emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements for Core Web Vital improvements.

On the other hand, BigCommerce uses Image Optimization, Code minification, Optimized templates, Using AMP, and Caching as their key strategies for speed optimization. The load times and PageSpeed scores vary depending on optimization and website complexity. BigCommerce provides users with many tools for CVW improvements of their websites.

🏆 Winner: BigCommerce.

With a score of 7.7, BigCommerce offers a wider array of apps and integrations, including ERP and CRM systems, 3PL services, POS systems, and various marketing tools, to enhance eCommerce functionalities. These integrations facilitate operations like sales analytics, inventory management, customer relationship management, and marketing automation. On the other hand, IONOS, with a score of 6.5, offers over 100 plugins to enhance the functionality of your website, including features such as contact forms, social media integration, and ecommerce capabilities. However, the depth and breadth of BigCommerce’s integrations give it the edge in this category.

BigCommerce Applications

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Overall Winner: BigCommerce

. BigCommerce edges out IONOS with a slightly higher marketing features score. Both platforms offer a comprehensive set of marketing tools, but BigCommerce’s robust SEO features and extensive social media integrations make it a more powerful platform for ecommerce businesses.

🏆 Winner: BigCommerce

. In the comparison of IONOS vs BigCommerce, BigCommerce takes the lead with its comprehensive 24/7 customer support available through phone, email, and live chat. BigCommerce also offers dedicated phone lines for various regions and requires a support pin for personalized assistance, ensuring a high level of service. The extensive knowledge base and active community forums further enhance the support experience, making it easier for users to find solutions and share insights.

IONOS also provides 24/7 customer support, with multiple contact numbers for immediate assistance. However, it lacks the extensive support resources and enterprise-level support features that BigCommerce offers. While IONOS ensures users can reach out for help at any time, BigCommerce’s multi-faceted support system and additional resources for enterprise customers make it the superior choice for customer support.

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Winner: BigCommerce

. BigCommerce takes the lead in security with a score of 8.9, compared to IONOS’s 7.5. BigCommerce’s commitment to data privacy and security is evident in its adherence to international regulations like GDPR and CCPA, data encryption, secure data centers, and regular security audits. It also provides resources for merchants to follow best practices in security management.

IONOS, on the other hand, also provides robust data storage and protection measures, including secure file storage, two-factor authentication, and end-to-end encryption. It also offers guidance on security patches, backups, secure logins, and implementing HTTPS and SSL certificates. However, it falls slightly short compared to BigCommerce in terms of overall security score.

🏆 Winner: IONOS

. IONOS, with a score of 7.2, uses AI to streamline the website creation process and enhance website design and content creation. It offers personalized design recommendations, automatic content generation, and SEO optimization.

BigCommerce, with a score of 7.3, does not have an AI website builder but integrates AI technology to enhance ecommerce operations and content generation. It offers personalized product recommendations, AI on-site search, and AI powered chatbots. However, its AI capabilities are more focused on ecommerce operations rather than website creation and design.

🏆 Winner: BigCommerce

. Both IONOS and BigCommerce allow multiple users to edit websites, but BigCommerce provides a more comprehensive user management system.

• IONOS permits multiple users for website editing. However, there is no mention of user roles and permissions, nor is there information about limitations on the number of users allowed to edit a website.
• BigCommerce allows an unlimited number of staff accounts with various roles and permissions.

BigCommerce User Roles and Access Levels:

Additional Features

User Feedback

As IONOS is primarily a hosting provider with a website builder as an additional product, most reviews focus on its hosting services rather than the website builder itself. Users have mixed experiences with IONOS 1&1 Websites & Shops. While praised for its great packages, personalized support, and streamlined interface for IT professionals, some encounter issues with backend functionality and find customer service representatives too pushy. Despite occasional short outages, the overall reliability and responsiveness of the service are appreciated by users.

User feedback on BigCommerce highlights a mix of experiences, with positive remarks on its ease of use, SEO configuration, and strong support team. However, significant criticisms include its lack of suitability for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations, due to issues with POS integration and sales tracking, as well as its inflexibility with customization and additional costs for necessary features. Additionally, concerns were raised about the platform’s steep learning curve for beginners, limitations in product variation and design options, and difficulties with order management. Despite these challenges, some users appreciate the platform’s ability to quickly launch and reliably host stores, alongside its potential for scalability and e-commerce growth.

FAQ