Shopify vs Big Cartel

Two e-commerce tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	ShopifyShopify	Big CartelBig Cartel
In one line	The default online store platform	Simple store for artists and makers, free up to 5 products
Starting price	From $39/mo	Free
Six-person team	$39/mo	$0/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	$369/mo	Your own card processor
Plans	Basic $39/mo (2.9% + 30¢ online with Shopify Payments); Grow $105/mo (2.7% + 30¢); Advanced $399/mo (2.5% + 30¢); 2%/1%/0.6% extra with other payment providers	Gold free (5 products); Platinum $15/mo (50 products, custom domain); Diamond $30/mo (500 products, abandoned-cart emails); 20% off yearly ($12/$24); no Big Cartel selling fees, card processing about 2.9% + 30¢
Pricing model	Free trial	Free tier
Free trial	3 days	7 days
Users	1 staff on Basic	Not listed
Both connect to	Mailchimp, Omnisend
Also connects to	QuickBooks Online, Xero, Klaviyo, Campaign Monitor, Hello Bar, Freshmarketer, Akaunting, MailerLite +6 more	No others on record
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · UK · CA · AU
Phone support	Plus only	None listed
Live chat	Every paid plan	Plans not stated
Support hours	Live chat: 24/7 · Phone: 24/7	Live chat: 24/7 · Email: 24/7
Incidents posted	0 incidents posted on Shopify's status page, which covers all Shopify products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026. Status page	Big Cartel has a public status page. Status page
Capterra score	4.5 / 5 from 6,722 reviews	4.2 / 5 from 16 reviews (few reviews)
Trustpilot score	Not listed	4.7 / 5 from 441 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	80	70
Fit: Restaurant or café	30	15
Fit: Service business	30	20
Fit: Agency or studio	25	15
Fit: Trades or contractor	15	10
Fit: Online store	97	85
Why people pick it	Everything for selling online in one place Largest app store	Free plan and no selling fees Quick to set up
Where it falls short	App costs add up Extra fee without Shopify Payments	Product caps of 5, 50, and 500 Abandoned-cart emails only on the $30 plan
	Visit Shopify ↗	Visit Big Cartel ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. Card sales costs include the plan price and card fees at US rates, at a $75 average sale. How we calculate prices

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