# BigCommerce vs Shopify: which do AI models recommend for ecommerce, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Ecommerce platforms. Three of twelve models named BigCommerce first on the direct prompt; one named Shopify. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/revops/ecommerce-platforms/bigcommerce-vs-shopify/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BigCommerce | 18% | #2 of 11 | 3% | 38 | 12 of 12 |
| Shopify | 16% | #4 of 11 | 7% | 60 | 12 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- MiniMax M2.5: both first (first choices: BigCommerce, Shopify) (alternatives: Adobe Commerce)
- GPT-5.4 mini: bigcommerce first (first choices: BigCommerce) (alternatives: Adobe Commerce, SAP Commerce Cloud, Salesforce B2B Commerce)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: bigcommerce first (first choices: BigCommerce) (alternatives: Elastic Path, Shopify, VTEX)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition) (alternatives: OroCommerce, Sana Commerce, Shopify)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition) (alternatives: Adobe Commerce, OroCommerce, SAP Commerce Cloud, Shopify)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition) (alternatives: Shopify)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition) (alternatives: Adobe Commerce, Shopify)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: OroCommerce) (alternatives: BigCommerce, Oracle NetSuite Commerce, SAP Commerce Cloud, Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud, Shopify)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition) (alternatives: Adobe Commerce, OroCommerce, Shopify)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Shopify Plus B2B) (alternatives: BigCommerce B2B Edition)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: BigCommerce B2B Edition)

## What the models said about BigCommerce

- "Trustpilot rating of only 1.4/5 ("Bad")" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Best overall budget pick for a full store: BigCommerce Standard at $29/month is a strong low-cost option" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt, first choice)
- "If you can stretch to ~$29/month, BigCommerce offers the best long-term value with zero transaction fees." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Start with Shopify Plus or BigCommerce Enterprise unless you have specific complexity" (Kimi K2, scale prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Shopify

- "Any standalone website (often run via Shopify or WooCommerce) that sells trending products at steep discounts without clear branding" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Transaction fees (1.6-2% without Shopify Payments), app subscription costs can exceed license fees, potential lock-in" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "1. Shopify 🥇 ... Pick Shopify if: You want an all-in-one solution with minimal technical hassle and strong multi-channel capabilities." (Mistral Small, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "I'd recommend starting with BigCommerce or Shopify Plus—they balance strong B2B features with manageable complexity and cost" (MiniMax M2.5, direct prompt, first choice)
- "fast launch, strong for D2C/B2C and growing B2B, best developer experience and app ecosystem, best agentic/AI readiness" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.