E-commerce platforms · Comparison
Big Cartel vs BigCommerce
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Big Cartel | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceA simple store for one maker with a small catalog: no transaction fees, US sales tax remitted for you, free for 5 products and $24 a month for 500. | Built-in reachA hosted store with unlimited staff and products on every plan, marketplace channels built in and ISO 27001 behind it. |
| Overall score | 4.3 | 6.0Best |
| Free option | Free plan | 15-day free trial |
| Card to start | No card needed | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $12/mo | $29/mo |
| Pricing model | Flat rate | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Flat monthly plan per shop; card processing paid to Stripe or PayPal | Flat monthly plan per store, tied to annual sales (GMV caps), plus card processing |
| Free option | Gold free for up to 5 products; 7-day Platinum trial, card required | No free plan; 15-day trial, no card |
| Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual) | Not met: one owner login, no staff accounts; Diamond would be $374/mo, computed | $598/mo on Scale ($299 + $239 + $60), computed; Growth’s $100K sales cap is exceeded |
| Month-to-month price | $0 / $15 / $30 for Gold, Platinum and Diamond | $39 / $105 / $399 for Core, Growth and Scale |
| US online card rate | No own payments; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, PayPal 3.49% + 49¢ | 2.89% + 30¢ (Core), 2.59% + 30¢ (Growth), 2.39% + 30¢ (Scale) |
| Fee with another payment provider | None: 0% transaction fees; Stripe and PayPal only | 2.0% / 1.0% / 0.6% on Open Payment Providers; 0% on 21 embedded providers |
| Products and staff | 5 / 50 / 500 products; owner login only | Unlimited products and staff accounts on every plan |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Diamond | Growth and up |
| Selling channels | Meta and Google Shopping, in-person through the app on paid plans | Amazon, eBay, Walmart built in; Google and Meta through Feedonomics; POS through apps |
| PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated; card data handled by Stripe and PayPal | PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 (type not stated); ISO/IEC 27001:2022 |
| Data export | Orders to CSV; read API; webhooks for partner apps only | CSV or XML of products, orders and customers; API and webhooks on every plan |
| Data after closing | Deleted permanently; kept when downgrading to Gold | Deleted 30 days after cancellation |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Big Cartel is the lowest-cost store here for one person with a small catalog, with no transaction fees and US sales tax handled. It has no staff accounts, so our scenario cannot be priced, and it publishes no PCI, SOC 2 or ISO statement of its own. | From its public pages, BigCommerce puts unlimited staff, reviews and marketplace channels on every plan and lets you keep your own processor. Plans are tied to sales, so our $10,000-a-month store lands on Scale, and several pages disagree on trial and billing details. |
Evidence: Big Cartel: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; BigCommerce: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Big CartelPlatinum$12/moBilled yearly ($144); $15 month to month; 7-day trial with a card
- Up to 50 products, custom domain
- Discount codes, inventory tracking, shipping labels
- Meta and Google Shopping, in-person selling
- Theme code editing, digital products (25 GB)
- BigCommerceCore$29/moBilled yearly; $39 month to month; up to $30K trailing 12-month GMV
- Unlimited products and staff accounts
- Real-time carrier rates, gift cards, product reviews
- Online card rate 2.89% + 30¢; 2.0% fee on Open Payment Providers
- No abandoned cart emails
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Big Cartel 2026-10-16, BigCommerce 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- BigCommerceSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.0/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Big CartelFree plan, no card needed; scored 4.3/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Big Cartel$12/mo for the Platinum (billed yearly) plan.
- Highest overall score
- BigCommerce6.0/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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