Magento vs Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce for supplements, given how subscription-heavy the model is?

Honest cut from someone who’s shipped on all three for supplement brands:

Shopify Plus wins for supplements if: you’re under $5M GMV, fine paying ReCharge $499/mo + per-tx fees, don’t need custom COA workflows, single-country, and OK with the Shopify Tax framework. ReCharge on Shopify is the most mature sub stack on the planet, Athletic Greens / AG1 runs on it. App stack is best-in-class for supplements (ReCharge, Octane AI, Klaviyo, Yotpo, Loop). Real cost ~$2k/mo platform + apps.

Magento wins for supplements if: you’re above $5M GMV, multi-brand, multi-country, need custom COA + lot-traceability, want full data ownership, hate the Shopify per-tx fee bleed ($120k/yr at $5M GMV), or need a deep B2B / practitioner-channel layer (Thorne, Pure Encapsulations pattern). Subscription engine can be Bold, Skio, Smartrr, or custom-built. Real cost ~$400, $1,500/mo hosting + dev retainer.

BigCommerce sits awkwardly between, cheaper than Shopify for high-volume (no per-tx fees), but subscription tooling is weaker (Recharge for BC, Rebillia) and the supplements-specific app ecosystem is thinner. I rarely recommend it for supplements unless the brand is already there and migration cost outweighs ongoing fees.

The decision usually comes down to: (1) GMV scale + per-tx fee math, (2) whether you need custom COA / lot workflows that Shopify apps can’t deliver, (3) multi-brand vs single-brand. Most supplement brands under $3M GMV are correct to stay on Shopify Plus + ReCharge. Above $5M with COA or multi-brand needs, Magento usually wins.