Stencil, Catalyst, checkout and integrations
BigCommerce Development Services
The first BigCommerce decision is whether a Stencil theme is enough or whether you need Catalyst, its headless Next.js storefront. They differ in cost, in who hosts the storefront and in which marketplace apps still work. We help you choose, then build it.
Stencil or Catalyst
BigCommerce's own documentation compares them plainly, and the trade-offs are real on both sides.
Stencil themes
Handlebars templates, developed and previewed locally with the Stencil CLI. BigCommerce hosts the storefront, and it handles checkout, cart and product rendering without API calls of your own. BigCommerce itself rates its customisation as limited, and the limit is the theme architecture.
Catalyst
An open-source, MIT-licensed storefront built with Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS and the GraphQL Storefront API, covering home, listing, product, search, cart and accounts, with a redirected checkout. It is unstyled, so you bring the design.
What Catalyst gives up
BigCommerce warns that the GraphQL Storefront API does not support every platform feature, that not all marketplace apps are supported, and that there is no theme marketplace. We check your features and apps against this list before recommending it.
Who hosts Catalyst
Vercel is supported with route caching handled for you. Other hosts need the required Next.js features and an external key-value store for shared caching. BigCommerce's own Storefront Hosting is still in closed beta, so we do not plan around it.
BigCommerce development work
Beyond the storefront, the work is mostly checkout changes and connecting the store to other systems.
Custom checkout
Open Checkout is the open-source version of Optimized One-Page Checkout, a React application you fork, build and host, then point to from Checkout Settings. The Checkout JS SDK wraps the Storefront Checkout API if you want to write your own interface.
Multi-Storefront
Several branded sites running from one catalogue in one store, each tied to a channel. Some settings can differ per storefront and some are storewide, and some features depend on your plan, so we check those before promising a per-brand setup.
API integrations
API calls draw on a store-wide quota shared by every app, with limits set by plan. We build sync jobs to back off when told, because a noisy integration can starve the others. Webhooks must use port 443, and go inactive after 90 days without activity.
B2B Edition
B2B Edition has its own limit of 150 API requests a minute across all integrations, and no custom webhook events for things like company creation or quote conversion. Integrations have to be designed around that, often with standard events or polling.
When BigCommerce is the right choice, and when it is not
BigCommerce sits between a fully managed SaaS store and an open-source platform you run yourself.
A good fit when
- You want a hosted platform, and a Stencil theme covers your design.
- You want one catalogue feeding several branded storefronts.
- You want an open-source checkout your developers can fork, with BigCommerce still running the platform.
- Your team is comfortable with Next.js, and you want a headless starting point from the vendor.
A poor fit when
- You expect full freedom on a Stencil theme, which BigCommerce says is limited.
- You depend on marketplace apps that are not supported on Catalyst.
- Your sales are small or uneven, since plans are placed on trailing 12-month sales, so compare costs carefully.
- You need the code and data on your own servers.
How BigCommerce projects run
The feature-and-app check comes first, because it decides between the two storefront routes.
Check features and apps
We list the apps and platform features you rely on, and test each against Catalyst's supported features if headless is on the table.
Choose the storefront and checkout
Stencil or Catalyst, and standard, styled or custom checkout. You get a written scope and price, including who hosts what.
Build against a sandbox store
Theme work is previewed through the Stencil CLI, and integrations run against a non-production store so that rate limits and retries can be tested safely.
Launch and document
We go live with redirects and tags checked, and record any forked checkout version, because a forked Open Checkout needs updating when BigCommerce changes it.
Named projects and how we engage
No BigCommerce projects are named on this page. Most of our work is delivered under NDA, so many projects cannot be named.
We quote BigCommerce work once we have seen your plan, apps and catalogue, and it runs as a fixed scope where the requirements can be pinned down. Hosting and app fees stay between you and the vendors. We are an engineering team in India with 3–5 hours of overlap with the UK and Europe; US calls by appointment.
BigCommerce questions
Stencil or Catalyst: which do we need?
Start with Stencil unless you can name what it cannot do. It is fully hosted and quicker to launch. Catalyst makes sense when you need a storefront a theme cannot express and have people to look after a Next.js application, and when your features and apps are supported on it.
Can you change BigCommerce's checkout?
Yes, within the options BigCommerce provides. Styling comes through the theme and Page Builder. For more, we fork Open Checkout or write an interface with the Checkout SDK, which BigCommerce notes does not let you introduce new behaviour by itself. Custom checkouts also lose pre-rendering, which only uncustomised checkouts get.
Can you connect BigCommerce to our ERP?
Usually, through the REST and GraphQL APIs and webhooks. We check the rate limit on your plan first, since all apps share it, then design the sync with queues and retries, with a log your staff can read.
Are BigCommerce's plans affected by our sales?
Yes. BigCommerce places self-serve plans by trailing 12-month sales, on its Core, Growth, Scale and Performance tiers, and fees differ between them. Check the current figures on its pricing page, because they changed in 2026.
Related services
Tell us about your BigCommerce store
Send your store's address, the apps it depends on and what you cannot currently do. We will tell you whether that means Stencil work, Catalyst or a custom checkout.
We reply within one business day (IST).