Is Big Cartel or Saleor better?

Neither clearly leads. Big Cartel starts at On request and Saleor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Big Cartel or Saleor?

Saleor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Big Cartel and Free for Saleor.

Does Big Cartel or Saleor run on more platforms?

Big Cartel runs on Web. Saleor runs on web, api.

Can I use Saleor for free?

Yes. Saleor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Big Cartel starts at On request.

What can Big Cartel do that Saleor cannot?

Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

E-commerce & Retail · head to head

Big Cartel vs Saleor

Big Cartel

E-commerce & Retail

Straightforward pricing, no surprises

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Saleor

E-commerce

Open-source, headless e-commerce platform with a GraphQL API

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Saleor has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Big Cartel custom domain support is not included on the free Gold plan; it is listed as a Platinum-tier feature; Saleor saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Big Cartel and Saleor actually diverge.

Attributes where Big Cartel and Saleor differ
Attribute	Big Cartel	Saleor
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	subscription	open-source
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	web, api
Category	E-commerce & Retail	E-commerce
Founded	Unknown	2019

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Big Cartel

Nothing recorded that Saleor does not also cover.

Only in Saleor

GraphQL API
Admin dashboard
Webhooks and apps
Omnichannel order processing
Configurator CLI
OpenTelemetry tracing
OpenID Connect support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Big Cartel

No use cases recorded yet. See the Big Cartel review.

Saleor

Custom headless storefrontsnot Big Cartel
Composable commerce architecturesnot Big Cartel
Omnichannel retail and B2B commercenot Big Cartel
Developer-built e-commerce requiring deep API accessnot Big Cartel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Big Cartel

Custom domain support is not included on the free Gold plan; it is listed as a Platinum-tier feature
Abandoned cart recovery, product drop scheduling and Zapier integration are restricted to the top Diamond tier at $30/month
Platinum's paid billing starts automatically after a 7-day free trial rather than requiring an active opt-in to convert

Saleor

Saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.
Self-hosting requires managing infrastructure, scaling, and updates, which adds operational overhead compared to fully managed platforms.
Saleor Cloud's paid tiers start at $1,599/month, making the managed offering costly for small merchants compared to typical SaaS store builders.
The GraphQL-first, code-driven approach has a steeper learning curve for non-technical users than drag-and-drop e-commerce builders.

Pricing, plan by plan

Big Cartel

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Big Cartel review.

Saleor

Free

Sandboxes (Cloud)Free
- Free forever tier for prototyping and development
Select (Cloud)$1599/month
- Up to $200,000 GMV monthly
- 0.8% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
- Dedicated Slack channel
Volume (Cloud)$3999/month
- Up to $1,000,000 GMV monthly
- 0.4% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
- Dedicated Slack channel
Enterprise (Cloud)$undefined/mo
- Custom GMV limits
- Fees negotiable as low as 0.2%
- Project delivery lead

Which should you pick?

Choose Big Cartel if

Nothing in the data separates Big Cartel from Saleor on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Big Cartel review

Choose Saleor if

You need graphql api.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api.
You also want admin dashboard.

Saleor review

Questions people ask

Is Big Cartel or Saleor better?: Neither clearly leads. Big Cartel starts at On request and Saleor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Big Cartel or Saleor?: Saleor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Big Cartel and Free for Saleor.
Does Big Cartel or Saleor run on more platforms?: Big Cartel runs on Web. Saleor runs on web, api.
Can I use Saleor for free?: Yes. Saleor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Big Cartel starts at On request.
What can Big Cartel do that Saleor cannot?: Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Saleor: Is Saleor free to use?

Yes. Saleor is open source under the BSD-3-Clause license and can be self-hosted for free. Saleor Cloud also offers a free Sandboxes tier for prototyping and development.

Source

Saleor: How much does Saleor Cloud cost?

Saleor Cloud paid plans start at $1,599/month for the Select plan (up to $200,000 monthly GMV), with Volume at $3,999/month and custom Enterprise pricing for larger merchants.

Source

Saleor: Does Saleor provide a storefront out of the box?

No. Saleor is an API-only, headless commerce backend built on GraphQL; storefronts must be built separately using the API and are not bundled with the platform.

Source

Big Cartel vs Saleor

Big Cartel

Saleor

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Big Cartel

Only in Saleor

What people use each for

Big Cartel

Saleor

Where each one falls short

Big Cartel

Saleor

Pricing, plan by plan

Big Cartel

Saleor

Which should you pick?

Choose Big Cartel if

Choose Saleor if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Big Cartel

More on Saleor

Keep looking

Other head to heads