Big Cartel review
by Big Cartel, LLCE-commerce platforms
A simple online store for artists and makers, free for up to 5 products and $12 to $24 a month billed yearly, with no transaction fees.
- Free plan
- No card needed
- Self-serve
- Flat rate
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Worth the price (main value)
- Easy to adopt
A 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.
Big Cartel keeps a store small and inexpensive: Gold is free for up to 5 products, Platinum is $12 a month billed yearly for 50, and Diamond is $24 for 500. Big Cartel takes no transaction fee on any plan; you connect Stripe or PayPal and pay their rates. On every plan, including Gold, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits US sales tax on orders in US dollars. Paid plans add a custom domain, Meta and Google Shopping, discounted shipping labels, in-person selling and theme code editing.
- Free for 5 products, $24 for 500Gold is free with no card; Platinum is $12 and Diamond $24 a month billed yearly ($15 and $30 month to month), and the only promotion is a 7-day trial.Evidence: Pricing page and plan help articles (2026-10-16)
- No transaction feesThe help center says Big Cartel charges no transaction fees; processing fees go to the connected processor, such as Stripe at 2.9% + 30¢ in the US.Evidence: Processing fees help article and product FAQ (2026-10-16)
- US sales tax on autopilotFor orders in US dollars, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits applicable US sales tax on every plan, the free plan included.Evidence: US sales tax help article (2026-10-16)
- Labels, Meta and Google on paid plansPlatinum and Diamond include unlimited discounted shipping labels through Shippo, Meta Shopping and Google Shopping at no extra cost.Evidence: Shipping labels, Meta and Google Shopping help articles (2026-10-16)
- Best for
- Artists, makers and small brands who run the shop themselves and sell up to a few hundred products.
- Good to know
- A shop has one owner login and no staff accounts, no two-factor login is documented, and the largest plan allows 500 products.
How Big Cartel compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in E-commerce platforms: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Big Cartel | Square Online | Shopify | Ecwid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Worth the priceAn online store that shares one catalog, customer list and payments account with Square POS, free to start and taking real orders. | Built-in reachA store, its payments, in-person selling and the main sales channels in one admin, with card rates that fall as you move up a plan. | Worth the priceA store you can add to the website you already have, with no Ecwid transaction fee and abandoned cart emails and subscriptions from $49 a month. |
| Overall score | 4.3 | 7.7Best | 7.5 | 6.1 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | 3-day free trial | Paid only |
| Card to start | No card needed | –Not measured | No card needed | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $12/mo | $49/location/mo | $29/mo | $5/mo |
| Pricing model | Flat rate | Flat rate | Flat rate | Flat rate |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Flat monthly plan per shop; card processing paid to Stripe or PayPal | Monthly plan per location, plus card processing | Flat monthly plan per store, plus card processing | Flat monthly plan per store, plus card processing |
| Free option | Gold free for up to 5 products; 7-day Platinum trial, card required | Square Free with real orders (unlimited products, square.site address); 30-day trial of Plus or Premium | No free store plan; 3-day trial, no card, then $1/mo for 3 months on most plans | No free plan for new sign-ups; no trial listed; Starter $5/mo |
| Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual) | Not met: one owner login, no staff accounts; Diamond would be $374/mo, computed | $399/mo on Square Plus ($49 + $290 + $60), computed; monthly billing only | $409/mo on Grow ($79 + $270 + $60), computed | $399/mo on Business ($49 + $290 + $60), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $0 / $15 / $30 for Gold, Platinum and Diamond | $0 / $49 / $149 per location for Free, Plus and Premium | $39 / $105 / $399 for Basic, Grow and Advanced | $5 / $35 / $65 / $149 for Starter, Venture, Business and Unlimited |
| US online card rate | No own payments; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, PayPal 3.49% + 49¢ | 3.3% + 30¢ (Free), 2.9% + 30¢ (Plus and Premium) | 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic), 2.7% + 30¢ (Grow), 2.5% + 30¢ (Advanced) | 2.9% + 30¢ on Lightspeed Payments, every plan |
| Fee with another payment provider | None: 0% transaction fees; Stripe and PayPal only | Checkout lists only Square payments | 2% / 1% / 0.6% (Plus 0.2%) | $0 on Ecwid pages; Lightspeed agreement sets a monthly fee for eligible customers |
| Products and staff | 5 / 50 / 500 products; owner login only | Unlimited items; team members on every plan, no limit stated | Unlimited products; staff 0 / 5 / 15 / unlimited | 10 / 100 / 2,500 / unlimited products; staff 0 / 0 / 2 / unlimited |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Diamond | Square Plus and up | Every plan | Business and up |
| Selling channels | Meta and Google Shopping, in-person through the app on paid plans | Square POS, Facebook, Instagram and Google listings on every plan | POS, Google, Meta, TikTok on every plan; Amazon, eBay, Walmart via Marketplace Connect | Facebook, Instagram, Google listings; marketplaces through third-party apps; mobile POS |
| PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated; card data handled by Stripe and PayPal | PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 not stated on a public page; ISO 27001 | PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001 not stated | PCI DSS Level 1; SOC 2 Type II (Lightspeed E-Series); ISO 27001 not stated |
| Data export | Orders to CSV; read API; webhooks for partner apps only | Items and customers to CSV; order export not stated; Square APIs and webhooks | CSV of products, orders and customers; Admin API on every plan | CSV of products, orders and customers from Venture; REST API on paid plans |
| Data after closing | Deleted permanently; kept when downgrading to Gold | No fixed retention period stated | Kept 2 years after deactivation | Erased when the account is deleted; $12.50/mo Suspension plan |
| 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, Square Online offers the most complete free start here: a store with unlimited items that takes real orders and shares Square’s POS and payments, with Plus at $49 for a custom domain and cart emails. Live shipping rates need Premium, and payments are in one currency. | From its public pages, Shopify has the broadest set of selling features here on the plan our scenario needs, with PCI Level 1, SOC 2 Type II and a 2-year data window. Staff accounts start on Grow, and a store that uses another payment provider pays Shopify a fee on top. | From its public pages, Ecwid is a low-cost way to add a store to an existing site, with cart emails, subscriptions and full CSV export from $49 a month. There is no free plan or trial, and whether Lightspeed’s monthly fee for other payment providers applies to Ecwid stores is worth asking. |
Evidence: Big Cartel: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Square Online: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Shopify: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Ecwid: 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.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 7.0 / 10, Good
- scenario plan priced; card rates published; month-to-month price published; fee on other payment providers stated; product limits (5, 50 and 500) appear in help articles, not on the pricing page; the terms say all fees are non-refundable with no exceptions, while the help center refunds annual plans cancelled within 14 days; a help article’s plan table ticks digital products on the free Gold plan, while the digital products and trial articles say paid plans only
- Free plan and trial
- 6.0 / 10, Good
- free plan, 5 products, no custom domain, branding not stated as removed, 7-day trial
- Monthly cost, $10K in sales
- 0.0 / 10, Fair
- no plan meets the scenario: a shop has one owner login and no staff accounts; Diamond, which covers 300 products, a custom domain and abandoned cart emails, would come to $374/mo ($24 + Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢), computed
- Selling features
- 7.0 / 10, Good
- real-time carrier rates on the scenario plan; gift cards not listed; subscriptions on the scenario plan; multi-currency pricing not listed; in-person selling on the scenario plan; two or more channels on the scenario plan; features read on Diamond, the closest plan; live rates from USPS only, for US sellers; gift cards through the Gift Up! app (3.49% per card); Meta Shopping and Google Shopping on paid plans
- Compliance and security
- 1.5 / 10, Fair
- no PCI DSS Level 1 statement, no SOC 2 Type II stated, DPA in the terms, no staff 2FA stated, activity log not listed, staff SSO not listed
- Data access and exit
- 4.0 / 10, Fair
- CSV export of orders; no API with webhooks for your own store; data kept 30+ days; domain transfer-out or annual refund stated
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Big Cartel's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read Big Cartel's pricing page, the Gold plan page and product FAQ, the Merchant User Agreement, DPA, privacy policy and API license, the developer API docs, and help center articles on plans, the trial, product limits, processing fees, Stripe and PayPal, sales tax, shipping rates and labels, abandoned carts, digital products, subscriptions, gift cards, reviews, in-person selling, Meta and Google Shopping, account ownership, exports, plan changes and refunds, and closing an account on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up for this review. All pages loaded in US dollars.
The pricing page is short and clear on price: Gold free, Platinum $12 and Diamond $24 a month billed yearly, or $15 and $30 month to month. The product limits, 5, 50 and 500, are in help articles rather than on the pricing page.
A few points need a question. The terms say all fees are non-refundable with no exceptions, while the help center refunds annual plans cancelled within 14 days. One help article ticks digital products on Gold, while others say they need a paid plan. Big Cartel publishes no PCI, SOC 2 or ISO statement; card data is handled by Stripe and PayPal.
Strengths
- The lowest price for a small catalog
Diamond allows 500 products with abandoned cart emails for $24 a month billed yearly; Platinum allows 50 for $12.
vs Shopify: Ecwid’s cart emails start on Business at $49 and Shopify’s Basic is $29, both billed yearly.
- Free plan with real orders
Gold takes real orders through Stripe and PayPal for up to 5 products, with no card required to sign up.
vs Shopify: Shopify, BigCommerce and Ecwid have no free plan for new stores.
- US sales tax collected and remitted
On orders in US dollars, Big Cartel calculates, collects and remits US sales tax on every plan.
vs Shopify: Shopify Tax calculates tax and, for new stores, charges a 0.35% fee after $100,000 of lifetime sales.
- No platform fee and no held funds
Big Cartel charges 0% transaction fees and says it does not hold your funds; payouts and reserves are managed by Stripe or PayPal.
Things to know
- One login, no staff accounts
A shop is built for one owner, the only address that can have admin access, and the help center documents no two-factor login or activity log.
Workaround: An Active devices list lets the owner see sessions and log them out.
- Catalog and image limits
Plans allow 5, 50 or 500 products and show 1, 5 or 25 images per product; a store downgraded to Gold with more than 5 products goes into maintenance mode.
- Gift cards and reviews through apps
Gift cards come through Gift Up! at 3.49% per card, and product reviews through Fera, free for 10 a month and paid from $7 a month.
- Limited export and API
Orders export to CSV with customer details, but there is no product or customer CSV export; the API cannot create products, and webhooks are for approved partner apps.
Workaround: The help center suggests downloading product images before closing, and theme code can be backed up.
Pricing reality
Big Cartel bills a flat plan per shop and takes no transaction fee; card processing is paid to Stripe (2.9% + 30¢ in the US) or PayPal (3.49% + 49¢). Our scenario needs 2 staff accounts, which no plan offers, so it cannot be priced. Without staff, Diamond covers 300 products, a custom domain and abandoned cart emails at $24 billed yearly plus $290 and $60 in Stripe fees, $374 a month (computed), though without the staff accounts the scenario asks for. The 7-day trial converts to monthly Platinum ($15) unless changed. Annual plans can be refunded within 14 days; after that the year is committed.
Exit path
Orders, with customer names, emails and addresses, export to CSV on every plan; products and customers have no separate export, and the API reads products and pages but cannot create products. Closing an account deletes its data permanently, while a downgrade to Gold keeps order history and shop data. A domain bought through Big Cartel is held at IONOS.
Compared with
- Pick Big Cartel when
- You run the shop alone and want a free plan or a $24 plan with abandoned cart emails.
- Pick Ecwid when
- You need staff accounts, more than 500 products or CSV export of products and customers.
- Pick Big Cartel when
- You want US sales tax collected and remitted for you, and cart emails at $24 a month.
- Pick Square Online when
- You want unlimited items on a free plan, staff with two-step login and Square POS.
- Pick Big Cartel when
- You sell a small catalog alone and want to pay $12 to $24 a month with no platform fee.
- Pick Shopify when
- You need staff, marketplaces, multi-currency prices or a full export.
Choose it if
- You are an artist or maker running the shop yourself with up to 500 products.
- You want a free start and no platform fee on sales.
- You want US sales tax collected and remitted for you.
Look elsewhere if
- Other people need their own logins to the store.
- Your security review asks for PCI, SOC 2 or two-factor login from the platform.
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.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Flat monthly plan per shop; card processing paid to Stripe or PayPal |
| Free option | Gold free for up to 5 products; 7-day Platinum trial, card required |
| Reference scenario ($10K/mo, 2 staff, annual) | Not met: one owner login, no staff accounts; Diamond would be $374/mo, computed |
| Month-to-month price | $0 / $15 / $30 for Gold, Platinum and Diamond |
| US online card rate | No own payments; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, PayPal 3.49% + 49¢ |
| Fee with another payment provider | None: 0% transaction fees; Stripe and PayPal only |
| Products and staff | 5 / 50 / 500 products; owner login only |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Diamond |
| Selling channels | Meta and Google Shopping, in-person through the app on paid plans |
| PCI / SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated; card data handled by Stripe and PayPal |
| Data export | Orders to CSV; read API; webhooks for partner apps only |
| Data after closing | Deleted permanently; kept when downgrading to Gold |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Big Cartel yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Big Cartel yet.
Big Cartel lists 3 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Platinum (billed yearly), costs $12/mo.
- Big CartelFreeGold$0/moFree; no card required
- Up to 5 products, 1 image each
- Accept cards and PayPal through Stripe and PayPal
- US sales tax calculated, collected and remitted
- One theme; no custom domain, discounts or in-person selling
- 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)
- Big CartelDiamond$24/moBilled yearly ($288); $30 month to month
- Up to 500 products, 25 images each
- Abandoned cart emails (up to 2)
- Automatic discounts and advanced discount logic
- Digital products with 250 GB
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: bigcartel.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.