Big Cartel versus Shopify: Which Is Superior?

 In recent decades, online shopping has exploded around the globe, and eCommerce continues to grow. Every year, the previous year's revenue records are broken. Every day, millions of online businesses are launched because eCommerce provides business owners with advantages they might not otherwise have. Individual entrepreneurs who produce items at home, such as artwork or handicrafts, previously had very limited marketing options.

But today, an online store is by far the simplest and most profitable way to approach and sell to consumers all over the world, and it provides business owners with significantly more visibility options for growing their businesses. Due to the prevalence of eCommerce, there are numerous options for creating an online store.

In this article, I'll explain how Shopify and Big Cartel differ from one another, and you'll be able to choose the one that best meets your needs. Let's immediately dive into the specifics.

Big Cartel vs. Shopify: Pricing


Big Cartel’s Pricing

Big Cartel offers three paid packages at seriously reasonable price points:

Gold Plan- Free

  • Up to 5 products
  • Seamless checkout
  • Real-time stats
  • Sell in-person
  • Sell on Facebook
  • Digital products
  • Quick setup
  • Order management

Platinum Plan- $9.99 per month

  • Gold plan features
  • Shipment tracking
  • Up to 25 products
  • Bulk editing
  • Inventory tracking
  • Promos and discounts
  • Google Analytics
  • Custom domain
  • Theme code editing
  • Free customizable themes
  • Five images per product

Diamond Plan- $19.99 per month

  • Up to 100 products
  • Platinum plan features

Titanium Plan- $29.99 per month

  • Up to 300 products
  • Platinum plan features
All of these plans include a variety of simple features, such as free customizable themes and code editing, online and in-person sales capabilities, five photos per product page, and inventory management tools. Alternately, you can opt for the free Gold Plan, which has significantly fewer features and allows you to sell up to five items.


One of the primary differences between Big Cartel and Shopify is that Shopify's advanced plans are significantly more expensive. Shopify, unlike Big Cartel, does not provide a free service plan.
Big Cartel is a small but independent eCommerce platform, while Shopify provides three plans that all emphasize innovative approaches. Having been created by the artists themselves, he understands what each of them desires. Big Cartel claims to provide a user-friendly eCommerce platform that allows you to sell your works.

Shopify charges a flat monthly fee plus the standard credit card rate for each Shopify Payments-processed transaction (or your payment gateway of choice). Plans increase the number of available features, Shopify Delivery discounts, and Shopify Payments credit card transaction fees.

Shopify Lite- $9 per month

  • Accept credit card payments
  • Sell on Facebook
  • Add products to any blog or site

Basic Shopify- $29 per month

  • Shopify POS
  • 7% + 0¢ fees for in-person credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • 2% transaction fees for transactions processed by third-party payment gateways
  • 9% + 30¢ fees for online credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • Discount codes
  • Fraud assessment
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Manual order setup
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Sell on social media
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Sell on online marketplaces
  • Two user accounts
  • Online store
  • Unlimited products

Shopify Standard - $79 per month

  • All Basic Shopify plan features
  • 5% + 0¢ fees for in-person credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • 1% transaction fees for transactions processed by third-party payment gateways
  • 6% + 30¢ fees for online credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • Professional reports
  • 5 user accounts
  • Gift cards

Advanced Shopify- 299 per month

  • All Shopify plan features
  • 4% + 0¢ fees for in-person credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • 5% transaction fees for transactions processed by third-party payment gateways
  • 4% + 30¢ fees for online credit card transactions via Shopify Payments
  • 15 user accounts
  • Advanced report builder

Shopify Plus - Negotiable

  • Custom solutions for large enterprises

No matter which plan you select, you will be able to list unlimited items with no extra listing fees. Shopify also provides a 14-day free trial period before you need to sign up for a paid plan.

Big Cartel vs. Shopify: Customer Focus

One of the primary differences between Big Cartel and Shopify is that Shopify's advanced plans are significantly more expensive. Shopify, unlike Big Cartel, does not provide a free service plan.

Big Cartel is a small but independent eCommerce platform, while Shopify provides three plans that all emphasize innovative approaches. Having been created by the artists themselves, he understands what each of them desires. Big Cartel claims to provide a user-friendly eCommerce platform that allows you to sell your works.

Shopify charges a flat monthly fee plus the standard credit card rate for each Shopify Payments-processed transaction (or your payment gateway of choice). Plans increase the number of available features, Shopify Delivery discounts, and Shopify Payments credit card transaction fees.

Big Cartel vs. Shopify: User Interface

Although Shopify and Big Cartel share many of the same core eCommerce features, their user interfaces are significantly different.

Shopify's interface is typical for an eCommerce or content management system, with navigation on the left divided into usable sections. If you've used other platforms such as WordPress or BigCommerce, you should be familiar with this.



Shopify's branding and overall user experience are very clean. We provide clear instructions on how to use each feature, and our documentation corresponds well with theirs. We make it extremely convenient to get started without ever having to interact with another person.

Big Cartel, though capable of managing the fundamentals, has a poor interface. It employs a non-standard style for its top tabs, which is concealed by a slightly perplexing iconography. The code is not laid out in a way that takes advantage of a larger display area (see below screenshot). It is simply not as streamlined and clean as Shopify's.


Nevertheless, Big Cartel's user interface is responsive and it accomplishes its intended purpose. It's not terrible, but it's not as attractive as Shopify. Moreover, some users may argue that simplicity is preferable.

Big Cartel vs. Shopify: Features


Both Shopify and Big Cartel provide fundamental eCommerce features, including product catalogues, inventory and shipment management, discounts, and reports.

The Shopify feature not only enables you to accept online payments, but also gives you access to more than 100 payment gateways. Also included is a convenient app store with over 3,000 extensions.

The Global Cartel's characteristics are more suited to small businesses selling individual products. Few payment gateways exist on the platform. You have access to the most popular payment methods (PayPal, Stripe, and Square), but payment processing is less efficient than in Shopify. Big Cartel's limited catalog size, which cannot exceed 300 products even with the most advanced Titanium design, is another disadvantage.

Obviously, there are more significant characteristics to compare. For additional reading, consult the Big Cartel Examples page and the Shopify Features section. Shopify has a superior feature set due to its default tools, plugins, and scalability.

Key Shopify’s Features include:

  • Hundreds of free themes
  • Unlimited products
  • 60 professional themes
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Point of Sale (POS) to assist any small business with selling from a mobile device
  • Complete HTML and CSS access
  • Integration with all reputed shipping carriers
  • Incentivizing features such as coupon code generation
  • Built-in SEO features that include analytics tools and the option to integrate with Google Analytics
  • Inventory management
  • Customer profiles
  • Import/export products using CSV files
  • Gift cards
  • Built-in campaign support
  • Integration with a huge and diverse number of third-party apps to extend the capacity and features of your store
  • Integration of all major shopping carts
Big Cartel provides minimal out-of-the-box integration. They have Facebook integration, but that is it. There are also a handful of integrations (such as WordPress), but none of them belong to an App Store-like community. However, Big Cartel does provide an API that enables integration development.

For someone who never intends to grow beyond a hobbyist or artist-sized business, the lack of Big Cartel ecosystem integration may be entirely appropriate. But if you intend to ascend, you should carefully consider it.

Key Big Cartel’s Features:

  • Only 13 basic themes
  • WYSIWYG editor
  • HTML and CSS customization (available only for paid versions)
  • Only up to 300 products permissible
  • Integrated Google Analytics
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Inventory tracking is provided for paid versions
  • Labeling products as “sold-out” or “coming soon”
  • One can create discount codes
  • Integration of Facebook app for linking to a Facebook business page
  • Allowing export order history to CSV
  • Built-in order management tools
  • Mobile admin app for iPhone

Shopify vs. Big Cartel: Customer support

When selecting an eCommerce website designer, customer service is not your top priority. Take your time. Nonetheless, this argument remains crucial.

The only support channel on Big Cartel is email, which is available Monday through Friday. It appears to be an approach to customer service that is very hands-off. You may also search the Big Cartel Help Center for solutions to similar issues.

Shopify support is significantly more advanced. In addition to newsletters, you have access to social media support, telephone and live chat support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, professional video tutorials, and forum posts. With so many options available, you can select the one that best meets your needs. Additionally, the Support Center is open.

Shopify vs. Big Cartel: Theme Design

Good looks will open new doors. Design is especially important when selling high-end and premium products.

Shopify makes every effort to distinguish your online store. There are ten free and over sixty paid themes available on the official Shopify theme marketplace. They are all highly customizable and appear professional. In addition, they are fully mobile-optimized, so you can customize the desktop and browser versions of the website.



The theme store for BigCartel is small, has limited customization options, but is attractive and simple to use. There are 16 mobile-ready themes that are not editable. Big Cartel's design models reflect the company's emphasis on artists and photographers, whereas the average merchant will find several themes that are not tailored to their needs. Unfortunately, the Big Cartel theme is difficult to customize, as you'll need to use code to add and edit your photos.

To sum up:

  • Shopify offers a greater variety of styles than Main Cartel.
  • Shopify has more features and is significantly easier to configure, giving merchants a great deal of flexibility.
  • To add and edit images in Big Cartel necessitates coding, let alone more complex interface adjustments.
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