While Big Cartel can be a great platform to get your ecommerce business started, you may find that you run into issues such as:
- Lack of features & integrations
- Limited design customization
- Limited payment options
Which can all have an impact on your businesses growth, which is why you are considering a different platform and that is why we created this list of what we feel are the best Big Cartel alternatives out there.
Shopify is our Number 1 Big Cartel Alternative because:
• It has a complete website builder
• It offers a lot of features & integrations
• It is a much more scalable platform
Squarespace is our Number 2 Big Cartel Alternative because:
• It is very easy to learn and use
• It has a great website builder
• It offers a good selection of features
Ecwid is our Number 3 Big Cartel Alternative because:
• It offers a free plan and is easy to use
• It has a better website builder
• It offers a good selection of features
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1: Shopify
In our opinion, the best alternative to Big Cartel is Shopify, especially for businesses looking for an ecommerce platform that will enable their business to grow as Shopify offers:
- A much better website builder
- A far larger selection of apps and integrations
- A much larger online community
Shopify also comes with a far better selection of standard features and is overall a much more complete platform than Big Cartel as it allows users to pretty easily build complete and scalable online stores and it also offers a lot more in terms of marketing tools to allow your business to grow.
If you are moving from Big Cartel to Shopify, there will be a bit of a learning curve just because of how many more things Shopify offers but it is still easy to use and due to the large online community, there are plenty of Shopify tutorials out there to help you get up and running with Shopify.
Pricing
| Basic | Standard | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $39 | $105 | $399 |
| Number of Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
The monthly cost of Shopify is considerably more than Big Cartel and this may be concerning but you do get more for your money, the transaction fees are also something that needs to be noted.
But this fee only applies if you are using third-party payment gateways such as PayPal or Amazon Pay, if you are using Shopify Payments, this fee doesn’t apply.
This can make figuring out which is the best package to be on a bit more difficult but you can use our free Shopify fee calculator to figure out which is the best one to choose.
Pros and Cons
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Who Is Shopify Best For?
Shopify is a great option for businesses looking for an all-in-one ecommerce platform that is easy to use as Shopify offers a good selection of features, a large app store and a very good website builder.
If you to learn more about Shopify, we have done a:
2. Squarespace
If Shopify is a little bit too expensive for your business, then our second-placed option is definitely worth checking out as Squarespace as it offers:
- A range of similarly priced plans
- It comes with a really good selection of features and integrations
- A very good website builder
These all make Squarespace a very appealing alternative and one additional that will make Squarespace appealing to Big Cartel users is that it is very easy to use and doesn’t take long to get up and running with.
You can also sell a far larger selection of products, including physical and digital as standard, which makes it a great option for creative businesses.
The only area where Squarespace isn’t great is payment gateways but they are the same as what is available on Big Cartel.
Squarespace Pricing
| Business | Basic Commerce | Advanced Commerce | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $33 | $36 | $65 |
| Number of Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | 3% | None | None |
The prices listed above are if you pay for your Squarespace subscription monthly but if you choose to pay annually, they do offer a significant discount that makes the monthly cost a lot lower.
The transaction fee that is included with the Business plan combined with fewer features means that for most, the Basic Commerce plan is going to be the one to go for if you are just getting started.
Squarespace Pros and Cons
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Who Is Squarespace Best For?
Squarespace is a great option for small businesses looking for an easy-to-use but feature-rich ecommerce platform that includes a great website that won’t break the bank.
If you want to learn more, then check out our
3: Ecwid
Another great Big Cartel alternative for building a simple online store is Ecwid and it has some advantages over Big Cartel including:
- A better selection of standard features
- A larger choice of payment gateways
- Can be used for physical and digital products
And for Big Cartel users looking to switch, Ecwid is also very easy to use even though it offers a lot more in terms of features and even though the website builder is a bit on the basic side, it still offers enough customization options to build a good-looking storefront.
Ecwid Pricing
| Free | Venture | Business | Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $0 | $25 | $45 | $105 |
| Number of Products | 5 | 100 | 2500 | Unlimited |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | None | None | None | None |
Ecwid is very similar to the pricing of Big Cartel on its smaller plans, which makes it appealing to smaller businesses.
Ecwid Pros and Cons
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Who Is Ecwid Best For?
Ecwid is a good option for businesses looking for a features rich platform that is reasonably priced and very easy to use that will allow them to build a nice online store.
If you to learn more about Ecwid, we have done a:
4: Square Online
Square is a very good option for smaller ecommerce businesses, especially ones that also have a physical store or sell face-to-face as they can combine Square’s Online Store with the Point of Sale (POS) to manage all of their inventory and orders in one place.
But even if you only sell online, Squares Online Store is still a great Ecwid alternative as it offers:
- An easy-to-learn and use dashboard
- A website builder (that offers some features that Ecwid’s doesn’t)
- The ability to sell different product types (physical, digital, subscription etc)
- A good selection of ecommerce features
The only real downside to Square is the limited number of payment gateways, which may be an issue for some businesses.
Square Online Pricing
Square’s pricing is lower than Ecwid’s, which may be appealing to budget-conscious businesses and like Ecwid, Square also offer a free package along with 3 paid options:
| Business | Basic Commerce | Advanced Commerce | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $16 | $29 | $79 |
| Number of Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | None | None | None |
When using Square for your online store, you also get very attractive rates that are lower than some of the other payment options.
Square Online Pros and Cons
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Who Is Square Best For?
Square is a very good option for businesses who sell both online and face-to-face as they offer an easy-to-use package that makes managing both a very easy process.
If you to learn more about Square, we have done a:
5: Wix
Another very popular alternative to Big Cartel is Wix as it offers a number of things that Big Cartel doesn’t, including:
- A better website builder
- A larger selection of features
- A more scalable platform for your store
Wix also offers a larger selection of payment gateways and can used to sell a wider variety of products, which might be very appealing to creative businesses.
There are a couple of drawbacks with Wix, the first one is that it isn’t the easiest to use and this might take some adjusting to coming from Big Cartel and Wix websites also have pretty poor performance in terms of load time, which isn’t ideal.
Wix Pricing
In order to be able to sell online with Wix, you will need to be on one of the Business plans and they offer three:
| Core | Business | Elite | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $27 | $33 | $159 |
| Number of Products | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | None | None | None |
Wix Pros and Cons
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Who Is Wix Best For?
Square is a very good option for businesses who sell both online and face-to-face as they offer an easy-to-use package that makes managing both a very easy process.
If you to learn more about Wix, we have done a:
6: Shoprocket
If you are looking for a quick, easy-to-use alternative to Big Cartel for a simple online store then Shoprocket could be ideal for you.
This is because Shoprocket is very similar to Big Cartel in many ways as it:
- Has a very easy-to-use dashboard
- Enough features for a simple store (it has better options for digital products)
- A simple website builder
Shoprocket actually offers more features than Big Cartel as standard and would be an upgrade in many areas but one letdown with Shoprocket is the lack of customer accounts, which isn’t ideal for getting repeat customers.
Shoprocket Pricing
Shoprocket offers 3 paid plans, which are more expensive than Big Cartel but also offer a lot more features:
| Starter | Business | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $29 | $79 | $199 |
| Number of Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Turnover Limit | None | None | None |
| Transaction Fee | None | None | None |
Shoprocket Pros and Cons
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Who Is Shoprocket Best For?
Shoprocket is a great option for businesses looking for a simple, easy-to-use ecommerce platform that offers a good range of features.
If you to learn more about Shoprocket, we have done a:
7: Payhip
If you are looking for an Ecwid alternative primarily for digital products, then Payhip could be the ideal solution as the platform was designed for digital products first but also allows users to sell:
- Online courses
- Subscriptions/memberships
- Physical products
This offers a lot of flexibility for digital products and Payhip has a built-in website builder that is very easy to use but can also be embedded in other websites.
It can also match Ecwid on its ease of use as Payhip’s dashboard is one of the most user-friendly that we have tested and it also includes some nice features such as a built-in affiliate program.
Payhip Pricing
Payhip is very simple and straightforward in its pricing and offers the following:
- Free Forever: $0/m (5% transaction fee)
- Plus: $29/m (2% transaction fee)
- Pro: $99/m (no transaction fee)
And while Payhip does charge a transaction fee, it does not have annual turnover limits, which offers more flexibility on plan choice.
Payhip Pros and Cons
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Who Is Payhip Best For?
Payhip is a great option for businesses that primarily sell digital products but also want the ability to sell physical products along with wanting an easy-to-use platform that can potentially be embedded into other sites.
If you to learn more about Payhip, we have done a:
Conclusion
There are some really good alternatives to Big Cartel out there for businesses of all sizes, from independent artists and creators to growing businesses that need a scalable ecommerce platform that can grow with them.
It all depends on what you need from a Big Cartel alternative as to which is going to be the best option but as they all offer a free plan or trial, it is worth trying them all out for yourself in order to find which one is going to be the best option for your business.
Hi, I'm Paul, the Owner and Founder of EcommerceGold.
I ran my own Ecommerce Business for over 7 years and now help others start their own online retail empires!