E-Commerce · alternatives
Alternatives to Big Cartel
24 e-commerce tools sit alongside Big Cartel in this directory. Below is what separates each from Big Cartel on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 15
- Cheaper to start
- 2
- Big Cartel starts at
- Free, then $15/month
Why people look past Big Cartel
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Big Cartel has a free tier, and starts at $15/month against a category median of $44/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Hosted e-commerce platform that charges no transaction fee and no surcharge for third party gateways
- No free tier, where Big Cartel has one.
- Starts $14.95 a month dearer, at $29.95/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Big Cartel's 3.
Open core commerce platform, free as Magento Open Source and licensed by revenue as Adobe Commerce
- Starts $15 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Big Cartel's 3.
Cloud-based POS for small businesses
- No free tier, where Big Cartel has one.
- Starts $74 a month dearer, at $89/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Automate and scale your product data with an AI-powered open-source PIM.
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Big Cartel's 3.
Social resale marketplace with a flat fee on low-value sales and a percentage cut above that
- Sold on a Free to list; tiered seller commission by sale price model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Big Cartel's 3.
Every Big Cartel alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Cartel (this page) | Free, then $15/month | Freemium | 3 | |
| BigCommerceEnterprise ecommerce platform for ambitious merchants | $29.95/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| SquarePowering the economy | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| MagentoOpen-source ecommerce platform for enterprise retail | Free | Open-source | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| ShopkeepCloud-based POS for small businesses | $89/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Big Cartel |
| UnoPIM | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Poshmark | Free | Free to list; tiered seller commission by sale price | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Instacart | Free | Free to download; item markups plus delivery and service fees per order, optional subscription | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| Mercari | Free | Free to list; 10 percent seller commission on sale price plus payment processing fee | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Depop | Free | Free to list; percentage plus per-order seller fee, separate payment processing fee | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Temu | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order, heavy promotional discounting | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Shein | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order, optional paid loyalty tier | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| Wish | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Amazon Shopping | Free | Free to use; optional Prime subscription for fast shipping and bundled media | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| Vinted | Free | Free for sellers, no commission; buyer pays a variable Buyer Protection fee at checkout | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| Zendrop | Free, then $49/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Big Cartel |
| Saleor | Free | Open-source | 4 | vs Big Cartel |
| CJ Dropshipping | Free | Freemium | - | vs Big Cartel |
| BackToMe | €25/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| Mollie | £0.3/transaction | Per transaction by payment method | 3 | vs Big Cartel |
| Klarna | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| Drip | $39/month | Per month by contact count | 3 | vs Big Cartel |
| Memberful | $49/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
| FastSpring | On request | Transaction | 1 | vs Big Cartel |
| SamCart | $79/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Big Cartel |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Big Cartel badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
What you would be giving up
Big Cartel is most often brought in for e-commerce store creation, physical and digital product sales. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Big Cartel is broadly right and the question is cost, the Big Cartel pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the E-Commerce category lists everything the directory holds, and best e-commerce tools ranks them.
Big Cartel runs on not recorded. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Big Cartel alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Big Cartel?
- 24 other e-commerce tools are listed in this directory, led by BigCommerce, Square, Magento, Shopkeep. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Big Cartel?
- 15 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Square, Magento, UnoPIM, Poshmark, Instacart.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Big Cartel?
- Yes. 2 of the alternatives below start under Big Cartel's $15/month: Magento at Free, Mollie at £0.3/transaction.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Big Cartel?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Big Cartel has a free tier, and starts at $15/month against a category median of $44/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Big Cartel?
- Big Cartel is most often brought in for e-commerce store creation, physical and digital product sales. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Big Cartel?
- Magento, UnoPIM, Saleor are recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these Big Cartel alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, E-Commerce, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Big Cartel against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Big Cartel covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every e-commerce tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the E-Commerce category, 24 tools beside Big Cartel. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.