Should You Use a Free or Premium BigCommerce Theme?

When launching a BigCommerce store, one of the first decisions you’ll face is whether to stick with a free theme or invest in a premium one. On the surface, free themes seem like an easy way to save money, but depending on your store’s needs, that savings might cost you in lost conversions or extra development work down the road.

Here’s my take after working with hundreds of BigCommerce merchants.

Free Themes: Budget-Friendly but Limited

BigCommerce offers a handful of free themes, and while they have no up-front cost, they’re pretty bare bones — especially the popular default theme, Cornerstone.

Cornerstone is really meant to be a starting point for a custom design. I generally don’t recommend using it out of the box unless you’re working with a BigCommerce designer or are comfortable editing theme files yourself. It simply doesn’t offer enough settings to configure a polished, professional look without diving into the code.

Here’s a quick rundown of the other free options:

• Vault – Clean design, but category links are tucked away in a Shop dropdown many shoppers miss. The main menu can get messy fast if you have a lot of pages.
• Lifestyle – Works best for stores with only a few navigation links. I do like the vertical thumbnails on product pages; it keeps your description closer to the top, which can help with conversions.
• Fortune – Honestly not a fan. The main menu is oddly placed in the upper right and hard to customize. The product page layout breaks a lot of standard best practices. I generally steer clients away from this one.
• Roots – A good fit for stores with a large catalog. It has a full-width menu and a prominent search box, which is helpful for search-heavy shopping. That said, the product page is very plain, and I’m not wild about the font choices or how the Add to Cart button overlaps product info on the category page.

Paid Themes: A More Professional Look (Without Hiring a Developer)

Premium themes typically cost a few hundred dollars, but in most cases, they’re worth it. You’ll get a more polished design out of the box, plus more built-in features that don’t require custom coding.

Compared to customizing a free theme, buying a premium one is often the faster, more affordable way to get your site looking and performing like a real online store.

Some features you’ll typically find in paid themes include:

• Homepage widgets for highlighting value props like free shipping or easy returns
• Hover image effects so customers can see a product’s alternate view in category pages
• Color variant swatches that display directly on category pages — great for apparel
• Custom homepage content blocks for storytelling and merchandising
• Enhanced search features and promo messaging to drive urgency
• More Page Builder regions across key pages (homepage, category, product, footer)
• Flexible layouts for product pages, menus, and even the Contact and Brands pages

Even if you don’t plan to touch the code, a paid theme gives you more tools to tailor your store’s look and layout on your own — no developer required.

Things to Know Before You Buy

Paid themes don’t come with a free trial and are non-refundable, so it’s smart to do your homework. Start by browsing the demo sites — those usually show the theme’s full capabilities (more than you’ll see if you preview the theme directly in your store).

If you have questions about a specific theme, you can:

• Reach out to the theme developer
• Ask a BigCommerce partner (like me!) who’s worked with that theme before

One more tip: aim for a theme that’s relatively new, but not too new. Themes in their first version (1.0) tend to have bugs, and you don’t want to be the one finding them. On the flip side, older themes may have been abandoned and lack modern features. The sweet spot is a theme that’s stable and actively updated.

Bottom Line

If your budget is tight and your store is simple, a free theme can work. Just know that you’ll likely need to live with some compromises or invest time customizing it.

If you’re looking for a more professional, conversion-friendly storefront (and want to avoid a big development bill), a paid theme is often the smarter investment.

Need help choosing the right one? I’ve worked with nearly every BigCommerce theme out there. I’m happy to steer you in the right direction. Contact Me >