BigCommerce maintenance is different from maintaining a self-hosted store. BigCommerce hosts the platform, applies its own security patches and keeps the hosted checkout PCI compliant, so there are no core updates or server patches for you to run. What still needs care is everything added on top: the Stencil theme and its customizations, installed apps and their scripts, integrations with your ERP or warehouse, redirects, product feeds and the steady stream of small changes every store needs. That is the work our plans cover, as part of our BigCommerce development services.
You get a named team that knows your store, monitoring that catches a broken checkout before customers report it, and a block of development hours each month for changes and fixes. Each month ends with a short report showing what we checked, what we changed and what we recommend next.
What BigCommerce Website Maintenance Covers Each Month
| Task | What we do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Theme update checks | Review new releases of BigCommerce's default Stencil theme or your theme vendor, merge them into a copy of your customized theme and test before applying. | Keeps your theme current without losing custom work. |
| App and script review | Check installed apps and Script Manager entries, remove leftovers from apps you uninstalled, and confirm each script loads only where needed. | Old scripts slow pages and can break checkout after platform changes. |
| Checkout monitoring | Automated test that adds a product to cart and reaches the payment step on a schedule, with alerts when it fails. | A broken checkout is the most expensive problem a store can have. |
| Uptime monitoring | External checks on your home page, key categories and checkout every few minutes. | You hear about downtime from us, not from customers. |
| Integration health | Review sync logs for your ERP, 3PL or CRM connections and failed webhooks. | Silent sync failures mean wrong stock levels and lost orders. |
| Catalog hygiene | Find products without images, categories or descriptions, broken options and out-of-stock items still promoted. | Clean catalog data helps shoppers and search engines. |
| Redirects and 404 errors | Check Search Console for new 404s and add 301 redirects for deleted or renamed pages. | Protects search traffic and links customers saved. |
| Feed diagnostics | Review Google Merchant Center errors for your BigCommerce product feed. | Disapproved products cannot appear in Shopping ads or free listings. |
| Speed review | Track Core Web Vitals and page weight; fix image, script and theme issues on higher plans. | Slow pages lose shoppers on mobile. |
| Development hours | Content changes, new landing pages, theme tweaks and small features from your request list. | One team handles both upkeep and improvements. |
How Our BigCommerce Support and Maintenance Works
- Onboarding audit (first 1 to 2 weeks). We review the theme, apps, scripts, integrations, redirects, feed and speed, and give you a prioritized list of issues. Urgent problems are fixed first, within your plan hours.
- Monitoring setup (first week). Uptime checks and the scheduled checkout test go live, with alerts routed to our team and, if you like, to yours.
- Monthly cycle. Update checks, log reviews and catalog checks run each month. Changes are built on an unpublished copy of your theme and previewed before going live.
- Requests by email or shared board. You send requests as they come up. A broken checkout or a store-wide error is handled ahead of everything else; routine changes are scheduled and confirmed with you.
- Monthly report. What we checked, what we fixed, hours used, open issues and recommended next steps.
BigCommerce Maintenance Mode: How to Take Your Store Down Safely
BigCommerce maintenance mode hides the storefront from shoppers and shows a message instead, while your team keeps working in the control panel. Most people looking for it want to know how to switch it on, what customers will see and whether they need it at all.
How to put a BigCommerce store into maintenance mode
- In the control panel, open Channel Manager and select the storefront you want to take down. On stores that do not use multiple storefronts, the same setting appears as the store status in your store settings.
- Change the storefront status from live to down for maintenance.
- Enter your down for maintenance message in the message field and save.
- Open the storefront in a private browser window, where you are not logged in, to confirm shoppers see the message.
Control panel labels change from time to time, so if a menu name differs, BigCommerce's support documentation for storefront status is the reference.
What shoppers and your team see during maintenance
Shoppers see the maintenance message instead of your pages. Staff logged into the control panel can still browse the storefront and test changes, which is what makes maintenance mode useful during a cutover. Multiple staff accounts can keep working in the control panel at the same time.
Can you take payments while the store is in maintenance mode?
Shoppers cannot place orders while the storefront is down, because they cannot reach the cart or checkout. Your team can still create manual orders in the control panel, for example for phone orders. Whether you can charge a card on a manual order depends on your payment gateway, so test it before you rely on it.
When you do not need maintenance mode
Most store work does not require taking the storefront down. Theme changes can be made on an unpublished theme and previewed, Page Builder changes are previewed before publishing, and product edits apply one at a time. We use maintenance mode only for short windows where the store would be broken mid-change: the final cutover of a migration, a full catalog re-import, a payment gateway switch or a major integration launch. Every hour in maintenance mode is an hour of lost sales.
Writing a good maintenance message
A maintenance message should say what is happening, when the store will be back and how to reach you in the meantime. Keep it short and specific, for example: "We are updating our store and will be back by 6 a.m. Eastern. Need help with an order? Email our team and we will reply as soon as we are back." Avoid vague text such as "down for maintenance" with no return time. If you want the page styled to match your brand, the maintenance template in your Stencil theme can be edited like any other template.
Turning maintenance mode off
Set the storefront status back to live, then place a test order, check that redirects and integrations are working, and delete any test orders before your team processes the day's orders.
Is BigCommerce Down, or Is It Your Store?
When your store stops loading, first check BigCommerce's public status page for platform incidents. If BigCommerce reports no issues, the cause is usually closer to home: a DNS change at your domain registrar, an expired SSL certificate on a custom setup, a third-party script blocking the page, or an outside service your theme depends on. Our uptime monitoring checks your store from outside your network, so we can tell which of these it is and fix what is in our control.
BigCommerce Maintenance Before Peak Season and Platform Changes
Two moments put the most strain on a BigCommerce store: your busiest selling weeks and changes BigCommerce makes to the platform itself. A maintenance plan should prepare for both rather than react to them.
Preparing a BigCommerce store for peak trading
- Change freeze. We agree a date, usually a few weeks before your peak, after which only urgent fixes reach the live theme.
- Promotion testing. Coupon codes, automatic promotions and free shipping thresholds are tested together, because overlapping rules are a common source of checkout surprises.
- Integration capacity. ERP, 3PL and email integrations are checked for how they handle a surge in orders, including queue backlogs and API limits.
- Script review. Temporary campaign scripts, countdown timers and pop-ups are reviewed so they do not slow product and checkout pages.
- Rollback plan. A downloaded copy of the live theme is ready so any change can be reversed quickly.
Keeping up with BigCommerce platform updates
BigCommerce ships platform changes continuously, including checkout updates, new control panel features and the retirement of older API endpoints. You do not install these, but your theme customizations, scripts and integrations can be affected. We follow BigCommerce's developer changelog and release notes, flag anything that touches your store, and schedule the fix inside your plan hours before the change becomes mandatory.
BigCommerce Maintenance Package Pricing
Our BigCommerce maintenance plans are monthly retainers. Each plan includes a set number of development hours alongside monitoring and update checks, and the higher plans add speed reports and conversion suggestions. What drives the right plan is how often you change the store, how many apps and integrations it runs, and whether you need regular new pages or features.
BC Care
$350 /month
Billed monthly
- Up to 6 hours of development
- Stencil theme and app update checks
- Uptime and checkout monitoring
- Script Manager and app cleanup review
- Monthly work report
- Response within 1 business day
- Minimum term
- Month to month
BC Care Plus
$650 /month
Billed monthly
- Up to 12 hours of development
- Everything in BC Care
- Monthly speed report and fixes
- Review of BigCommerce platform changes that affect your store
- Response within 8 business hours
- Minimum term
- Month to month
BC Care Pro
$1,200 /month
Billed monthly
- Up to 25 hours of development
- Everything in BC Care Plus
- Monthly CRO suggestions
- Pre-peak season checkout and load checks
- Monthly call
- Same-day response on business days
- Minimum term
- Month to month
- Add-on
- Extra hours: $45/hour. Speed optimization project: $750 one-time
All prices in USD. Need something different? Ask for a custom quote.
If your store needs a different mix of hours or a larger project alongside maintenance, contact us for a custom plan.
Deliverables From a BigCommerce Site Maintenance Plan
- An onboarding audit with a prioritized issue list.
- Uptime and checkout monitoring with alert history.
- A monthly report: checks run, fixes made, hours used, open issues and recommendations.
- A change log showing every theme, script and setting change, with the date and reason.
- A backup copy of your theme before every theme change, so any change can be rolled back.
- Speed reports with Core Web Vitals trends on higher plans.
Good maintenance shows up as things that do not happen: checkout failures caught within minutes, no app leftovers loading on every page, no growing list of 404 errors and no Merchant Center disapprovals left unresolved for weeks.
In-House, Freelancer or Agency for BigCommerce Maintenance
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| In-house staff | Content and catalog changes made daily by your team | Theme code, scripts and integrations often need a developer anyway |
| Freelance developer | Occasional one-off fixes | No monitoring between jobs, and availability when checkout breaks |
| Agency maintenance plan | Ongoing monitoring, update checks and a regular block of development hours | Make sure hours, response priorities and reporting are written down |
Many stores combine the first and third: your team handles daily product and content updates, and we handle code, integrations and monitoring. We set up staff accounts with the permissions each person needs, so content editors cannot accidentally change theme files, payment settings or apps, and every change in the control panel can be traced to a named user.
BigCommerce Maintenance Mistakes We Find in Store Audits
- Editing the live theme with no backup. Changes made directly to the active theme with no downloadable copy to roll back to.
- Apps uninstalled but scripts left behind. Script Manager entries and theme snippets that keep loading after the app is gone.
- A heavily customized theme never updated. Years of edits on an old version of the default theme, which makes every later update harder.
- Deleted products without redirects. Old product URLs returning 404 errors instead of pointing shoppers to a replacement or category.
- Silent integration failures. An ERP or 3PL sync that stopped weeks ago, discovered only when stock or tracking numbers are wrong.
- Maintenance mode left on. A storefront taken down for a change and forgotten overnight.
Who Our BigCommerce Support Services Suit
A good fit if you:
- Run a BigCommerce store where checkout downtime costs real revenue.
- Have a customized Stencil theme, several apps or integrations with other systems.
- Need regular development time without hiring a full-time developer.
- Want written reports rather than finding out about problems from customers.
Probably not a fit if you:
- Run an unmodified theme with no integrations and rarely change the store; BigCommerce's own platform support may be enough.
- Need a full redesign or migration; that is a project, which we quote separately before maintenance starts.
- Want staff on call around the clock; our hours overlap the US and UK business day.
Related BigCommerce and Store Care Services
If your store needs new functionality rather than upkeep, our BigCommerce app development team builds custom apps and integrations. For stores on other platforms, see our ecommerce website maintenance and Shopify maintenance services.