Ordering.co vs BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a general-purpose, API-first commerce platform for any product category, priced on revenue tier. Ordering.co is built for restaurants and local, on-demand commerce: delivery zones and fees, pickup, ASAP and scheduled orders, store hours and prep times, kiosk, call center, and AI ordering on one catalog and order flow.
| Capability | Ordering.co | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Self-ordering kiosk | Included | Not listed |
| AI ordering by WhatsApp and voice | Included | Add-on |
| ASAP and scheduled orders with store hours and prep times | Included | Add-on |
| Drivers, dispatch, and delivery partners | Included | Add-on |
| Kitchen and pickup displays | Included | Not listed |
Add-on: only through third-party apps or paid extensions.
Ordering.co at a glance
- years building ordering technology
- 12+
- of orders a month, on auto-scaling infrastructure
- Millions
- products across ordering channels, operations, and delivery
- 20+
- features, from catalog to dispatch
- 1,500+
Enterprise brands running on Ordering.co technology
Why restaurants and local stores choose Ordering.co over BigCommerce
The same five reasons come up when a restaurant or local-commerce team compares the two.
Built for restaurants
An ordering platform built for restaurants and local commerce
BigCommerce is a general-purpose commerce platform for any product category, with plans priced on revenue tier. Ordering.co is built specifically for restaurants and local, on-demand commerce: delivery zones with fees, pickup, ASAP and scheduled orders, store hours, and prep times are native settings on one order flow, not a stack of paid apps.
20+ products, 1,500+ features
Kiosk, call center, and AI ordering on the same catalog
Self-ordering kiosks, a call center console, AI ordering agents by voice, WhatsApp, and chat, and kitchen and pickup displays run on the same catalog and order flow as your website and apps. BigCommerce's own product pages and app marketplace list no kiosk, call center console, kitchen display, or AI ordering agent built for restaurant service.
Native dispatch, own drivers, delivery partners
Delivery zones, your own drivers, and delivery partners on one order flow
Ordering Delivery brings delivery zones, dispatch, and driver assignment into the same workflow as the order, and connected delivery partners sit alongside your own fleet with per-store selection and fallback rules. BigCommerce has no native driver app or dispatch of its own; delivery zones and scheduling run through a marketplace app such as eLocal, and route or fleet dispatch needs courier services such as Rendr, connected through the BigCommerce App Marketplace.
Enterprise-proven
Technology proven with enterprise restaurant brands
Ordering.co runs ordering for enterprise groups such as Alsea, which operates Domino's, Starbucks, Burger King, and seven more brands on one platform across more than 4,000 locations, on auto-scaling infrastructure that can process millions of orders a month. A launch, a campaign, or a new city adds capacity automatically instead of forcing a replatform.
API, MCP, source code
An open platform built for restaurant order operations
Ordering.co's API, webhooks, and MCP connect your systems and AI tools to your catalog and orders, and, on eligible plans, include source code for the customer apps, Merchant App, and Driver App.
Side by side
Every row is something a restaurant or local-commerce team can run on Ordering.co.
| Capability | Ordering.co | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering channels for restaurants | ||
| Menu with modifiers, options, and add-on pricing | Modifier groups, required or optional, single or multiple choice, with per-item add-on pricing, native to the catalog and built around restaurant menus. | Native modifiers support dropdown, checkbox, swatch, and text option types with fixed or percentage price adjustments per choice. |
| Self-ordering kiosk | Ordering Kiosk: customers order and pay from tablets or large screens in the store, managed from the dashboard. | Not listed |
| Call center console | Agents find customers by phone number, take orders from the full menu, and route to the nearest store. | No phone-order console. Staff can create a manual or draft order in the BigCommerce control panel, without customer lookup by phone number or store routing. |
| AI ordering by WhatsApp and voice | AI Ordering Agents take orders through voice, WhatsApp, chat, and web conversations on your catalog. | Add-onVoice and chat assistants come through marketplace apps such as AssistFlow AI Call Center, which answers calls and common questions; none lists taking orders by WhatsApp or voice. |
| Restaurant loyalty | Loyalty levels, points, wallets, and gift cards, native to the platform. | Gift certificates are a native, built-in feature. A points or tiered loyalty program needs a marketplace app, such as LoyaltyLion, Smile.io, or Yotpo. |
| Delivery, pickup, and store operations | ||
| Delivery zones with per-zone fees, pickup, and curbside pickup | Delivery zones with fees, pickup, and curbside pickup, tied to store hours and order type on the same order flow. | In-store and curbside pickup are native, tied to inventory locations. Local delivery zones with cutoff times and scheduled windows come through apps such as eLocal Pro. |
| ASAP and scheduled orders with store hours and prep times | Customers choose ASAP or a scheduled time, based on the store hours and prep times your team sets. | Add-onScheduled delivery and pickup windows, cutoff times, and preparation time come through marketplace apps such as eLocal Pro or Delivery Date & Time Picker by Lantera. |
| Drivers, dispatch, and delivery partners | Driver App and Ordering Delivery for your own fleet, plus connected partners such as Uber Direct, DoorDash Drive, and Lalamove, with per-store selection and fallback rules. | Add-onNo native driver app or dispatch. Courier services such as Rendr connect through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. |
| Multi-store ordering with its own catalog per store | Every location gets its own menu, hours, and fulfillment context inside one ordering journey. | Multi-Storefront lets each additional storefront present its own catalog and design from one backend, capped by plan: 3 storefronts on Core, 5 on Growth, 8 on Scale, each storefront billed separately from $30 to $100 a month. |
| Kitchen and pickup displays | Send accepted orders to a kitchen display and show customers which orders are ready for pickup. | Not listed |
| Build and extend | ||
| API and webhooks | The Ordering.co API and webhooks, included in every plan. | REST Management API, GraphQL Storefront API, and webhooks. |
| MCP for AI tools | Connect compatible AI tools to your Ordering.co account, catalog, orders, and operations, through MCP. | A beta MCP server lets AI shopping agents search products, manage a cart, and hand off to checkout on the storefront. It does not manage orders, kitchen operations, or delivery. |
| Frontend source code license | On eligible plans, source code for the web storefront, customer apps, Merchant App, and Driver App. | Catalyst, an open-source Next.js storefront framework, is available to self-host and customize. The commerce backend, admin, and order data stay on BigCommerce's managed SaaS; there is no source-code license for those. |
| Custom features | Build them yourself on the API and source code, or with a dedicated Ordering.co team. | Build with the REST Management API, GraphQL Storefront API, and Catalyst, or install an app from the BigCommerce App Marketplace. |
“Not listed” means the capability does not appear in BigCommerce's product lineup. Confirm scope and terms with each provider.
Where BigCommerce stops for a restaurant or local-commerce operation
What restaurant and local-commerce teams run into on BigCommerce.
A processing fee that scales with your plan
Using a payment provider outside BigCommerce's embedded list adds an Open Payment Provider fee of 2.0% of GMV on Core, 1.0% on Growth, and 0.6% on Scale, on top of the processor's own rate; only the Performance plan removes it, by contract.
Revenue caps push you to the next plan
Core is capped at $30,000 in trailing-twelve-month GMV and Growth at $100,000; Scale allows $33,333 a month before a 0.9% overage fee applies, so growth forces a plan change rather than a configuration change.
Restaurant operations are a stack of separate apps
Delivery zones and scheduling, loyalty, and driver dispatch are not in the base platform. Each needs its own app from the 1,000-plus BigCommerce App Marketplace, on top of the BigCommerce plan.
Extra storefronts cost extra and cap by plan
Multi-Storefront adds a fee per additional storefront: $30 a month on Core (up to 3), $50 on Growth (up to 5), and $100 on Scale (up to 8). Performance negotiates storefront count by contract.
No native driver app, dispatch, kiosk, or call center
BigCommerce's product pages and app marketplace list no counter kiosk where customers order and pay, no call center console, and no kitchen display.
Proven with enterprise brands.
The platform you would run on already runs ordering for Alsea, a multi-brand restaurant group with more than 4,000 locations.
Alsea runs WOW+ and ten restaurant brands on one ordering platform.Domino's, Starbucks, Burger King, Vips, and six more brands share one app, one website, call centers, and a delivery operation that assigns drivers automatically.10 brands on WOW+4,262 locationsMexico and ColombiaRead the Alsea storyHow to move from BigCommerce to Ordering.co
A BigCommerce move for a restaurant or local-commerce operation is a catalog and operations migration, not a storefront swap. Build and test the new ordering flow while BigCommerce stays live, then switch the domain and apps once the checks pass.
What moves
Catalog and menus
Products, categories, prices, and images from your BigCommerce export, plus the modifier groups and add-on pricing currently configured natively or through a product-options app, checked on one representative menu before the full import.
Customers and order history
Customer records and order history that your BigCommerce export contains and that your data rights allow.
Delivery, pickup, and store operations
Delivery zones, cutoff times, and curbside settings run today through apps such as eLocal, rebuilt as Ordering Delivery zones, ASAP and scheduled windows, and store hours and prep times, replacing any delivery-scheduling, kiosk, or kitchen-display apps you run.
Domain and apps
Your ordering domain points to the new storefront. With the same developer accounts and app listing, the new build can ship as an update under the existing app icon.
Payments and delivery partners
Payment gateway, POS, and courier connections such as Rendr, reconfigured against your existing provider accounts where the provider supports it.
How the move runs
Export your BigCommerce data
Download products, customers, and orders from the BigCommerce control panel as CSV, and keep that file as your own backup. Record the settings your export may not include, such as delivery-app zone rules, loyalty-app balances, and multi-storefront configuration.
Map apps to native Ordering.co products
Match your delivery-scheduling app to Ordering Delivery and connected partners, your delivery-management service to the Driver App, and your loyalty app to Ordering.co's loyalty levels. Add kiosk, call center, or AI agents only if the operation needs them.
Import and configure
Import the catalog and menus, style the storefront, and configure delivery zones, store hours, prep times, and payment connections. Test one store or location before you run the full batch.
Test with real orders
Run real orders end to end at one to three locations you trust: menu selection with modifiers, checkout, dispatch or courier handoff, and payment settlement. Train your team on the new tools before customers see them.
Cut over and tell people
In a low-volume window, point your domain to the new storefront and release any app update. Tell customers and staff what changes, then cancel the BigCommerce apps you no longer need once the new setup is running.
Duration depends on catalog complexity, the number of apps currently in use, payments, delivery, and app-store access, so the scope, responsibilities, and timing are set in your project plan. Apple and Google decide app review and approval.
Questions from BigCommerce merchants
Why choose Ordering.co over BigCommerce for a restaurant or local-commerce business?
BigCommerce is a general-purpose, API-first commerce platform; Ordering.co is built for restaurants and local, on-demand commerce. Delivery zones and fees, ASAP and scheduled orders, store hours, prep times, kiosk, call center, and AI ordering are native, on the same catalog and order flow, instead of a stack of separate apps.
Does BigCommerce support restaurant-style menus with modifiers?
BigCommerce's native modifiers cover dropdown, checkbox, swatch, and text option types with per-choice price adjustments, which is a general product-options system. It has no ASAP ordering built around prep times, kiosk, or call center built around a restaurant menu the way Ordering.co is.
How does delivery compare between the two platforms?
BigCommerce has no native delivery-zone, scheduling, or dispatch feature; the eLocal app adds delivery, pickup, and curbside widgets with zone and cutoff-time rules, and courier services such as Rendr connect through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. Ordering.co runs your own drivers and connected delivery partners, with fallback rules, on the same order flow as the rest of your operation.
How does pricing compare?
BigCommerce's Core plan starts at $39 a month (or $29 billed annually) with a revenue cap and a processing fee up to 2.0% of GMV on providers outside its embedded list, before adding the apps a restaurant typically needs for delivery scheduling, loyalty, or kitchen displays. Ordering.co's restaurant plan starts from $99 a month per active location, including delivery, loyalty, and AI ordering access, with usage-based delivery charges. Compare the two at your own menu and order volume.
Can I keep a kiosk or kitchen display if I switch?
Ordering Kiosk and the kitchen display are native to Ordering.co, so a third-party kiosk or kitchen-display tool is replaced by a built-in product instead of a separate subscription.
Will my customers need to download a new app?
Not if you keep the same developer accounts and app listing. The Ordering.co build can then ship as an app-store update under the existing icon. That path needs your Apple and Google access, a reviewed build, and store approval, which Ordering.co does not control.
What happens to my BigCommerce data?
BigCommerce's control panel exports products, customers, and orders as CSV. Keep that export as your backup. Ordering.co can import the records those files contain and that your rights allow; the fit for modifier and app-specific settings is confirmed during the project, not assumed.
How long does a move from BigCommerce take?
It depends on catalog complexity, how many apps are currently stitched together, payments, delivery, and app-store access. There is no standard timeline; the plan for your operation sets the sequence, responsibilities, and dates.
BigCommerce and every other product name on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. Ordering.co is not affiliated with BigCommerce.
Run your restaurant or local store on a platform built for it.
Bring your BigCommerce catalog, the apps you currently stitch together, and your delivery model. We'll show you the native Ordering.co setup and the move in a live demo.