Let us guess: you want to know which Big Cartel pricing plan to choose and the real total cost of ownership (TCO) when launching a Big Cartel store? Kudos, you’ve come to the right place!
In this blog post, LitExtension – #1 eCommerce Migration Service will help you have a clear picture of all the costs required to set up and manage an online store using Big Cartel. Here’s a glance at what we’ll cover in this guide:
- Big Cartel pricing plan review
- How to choose the right Big Cartel plan?
- What are other costs to watch out for?
📝 Editor’s note: LitExtension team recently updated this blog’s content to ensure you have the latest & accurate Big Cartel pricing information.
BigCartel Pricing Plans Review: All The Latest Info
🔎 TL;DR
- Big Cartel has a free forever plan for small stores with less than 5 products
- The platform has 2 paid plans: Platinum & Diamond, $15 – $30/month
- Besides licensing fees, you need to factor in other necessary costs like:
- Domain name: $10 – $20/year
- Design (optional): $3,000 – $10,000/on-time payment
- App and tool: $0-$40/month
- Payment processing fee: 2.9% + 30¢
- Marketing fees: $100 – $10,000+ depending on your budget & channels.
Currently, you can access one of the 3 following Big Cartel pricing tiers: Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Each plan offers various features tailored to your business's needs.
#1. Gold – Free
Price: Free forever
Best for: The Gold plan is BigCartel free plan, which is ideal for sellers who want to run an online store with a tight budget.
Note: Big Cartel is one of the few platforms that allows users to sell in the free plan.
Big Cartel Gold plan lets you list up to 5 products and add one illustration image for each product. You can also create product options and variants to structure your store. More importantly, this plan offers core selling features, like shipment tracking, real-time stats, or sales tax autopilot, to start a simple online store.
However, you cannot access a custom domain available on the Gold plan. You’ll have to pay for a unique domain for your site. In this situation, we recommend getting BigCartel's support to connect one for only $1 for the first year and $6-20/year thereafter.
#2. Platinum
Price: $15/month ($12/month if billed annually)
Best for: If you want to grow your business and strictly track your inventory, it’s time to upgrade to the Platinum package.
With this Big Cartel pricing tier, you can use all the features of the Gold plan but access more products and eCommerce functions. Your site can store up to 50 product listings, track inventory, and edit them in bulk.
Platinum plan allows you to use a custom domain and enables advanced template customization. With these features, you can effectively optimize your site's design. This package also includes ad support for Facebook or Google, which is great for making your site more visible.
#3. Diamond
Price: $30/month ($24/month if billed annually)
Best for: The Diamond plan is an optimal solution for sellers who want to scale up their businesses or get excellent customer service.
Diamond plan includes all the features of the Platinum plan, with the addition of up to 500 product listings and 25 images per product. This helps you build an impressive store of various items and visual descriptions. And, of course, you'll have access to both basic and advanced eCommerce features.
Another outstanding point in this Big Cartel pricing tier is that it allows you to target ads to specific audiences to increase your sales effectively. Additionally, you will always get prioritized support from the Big Cartel team for unexpected issues.
#4. Titanium Plan (sunset)
Titanium plan used to be the fourth plan in Big Cartel’s pricing options. However, Big Cartel has sunset Titanium in Jun 2021, so you can’t subscribe to this option any more.
How To Choose The Right Plan?
Now that you better understand Big Cartel pricing plans, the million-dollar question is: “Which plan should I choose?” Well, it’s simpler than you thought.
- Business size: Evaluate your current inventory and your business size. Are you a new solo entrepreneur or an existing retailer expanding your business to the online channel.
- Budget: How much are you willing to pay initially and monthly/annually? Make sure you choose the plan that leaves you for a wide-enough profit margin.
- Feature requirements: What kind of features you must have to function properly? Also, what kind of features that you think would be nice to have?
A few examples to help you have a better visualization:
- An emerging artist with a small collection of prints might find the free plan sufficient. It provides enough product listings to showcase their work without unnecessary extras.
- A growing craft business with a diverse product range could benefit from a mid-tier plan– Platinum. This option typically includes more product slots and additional features like inventory tracking, which can be valuable as the business expands.
- An established boutique with hundreds of products would likely need Diamond– the most comprehensive plan. This provides ample space for their extensive catalog and offers advanced tools to manage a thriving business effectively.
Other Necessary Costs of Big Cartel
Once you pick a proper Big Cartel pricing plan, it's time to address other considerations to enhance the power of your site. This may involve additional BigCartel prices, such as:
- Domain name cost
- Templates & design cost
- Apps & integration cost
- Payment & transaction fees
- Marketing cost.
Now, let’s keep scrolling for in-depth estimations
#1. Domain name cost
💰 Estimated: $10 – $20/year
Your domain is your site's address, which provides detailed information to direct customers directly to your site instead of a full IP address. Therefore, it’s important to consider a custom option. A unique domain name can help boost your brand awareness and make your products more visible.
As mentioned above, Big Cartel can help you get a custom domain for only $1 for the first year. After this time, the domain mainly costs $10 to $20 per year, depending on the top-level domain (TLD) extension you select.
On Big Cartel, you can also register for a subdomain to further organize your online content, as well as integrate your shop into the existing website to save efforts. This qualifies all Big Cartel pricing tiers, even on the Gold plan.
Besides, you can directly purchase your domain through reliable websites, like Squarespace domains (previously Google domains) and Domain.com. Normally, you need to pay starting at $10 annually to maintain these domains.
#2. Templates & design cost
💰 Estimated: Free template | Storefront development costs $3,000 to $10,000/design
Big Cartel offers all 15 free templates to customize your store’s style. All of these templates are highly responsive, which ensures the site functions flawlessly on all devices, from desktops to mobile devices. Several outstanding options you should consider are Lunch Break, Luna, Sunscreen, and Roadie.
From our experience, Big Cartel templates are easy to modify, allowing anyone to create an impressive design without coding expertise.
However, consider getting support from the development team if you want to save time and personalize your storefront with unique features. Normally, an eCommerce store development service may charge between $3,000 to $10,000 per design.
#3. Apps & integration cost
💰 Estimated: $0 – $40/month
To empower your online store, you should have several add-ons and integrations with powerful third-party apps. Currently, all Big Cartel pricing plans allow access to a wide range of apps, which are categorized into the following 6 categories:
- Marketing & promotion apps;
- Store management apps;
- Manufacturing, shipping, & fulfillment apps;
- Apps by Big Cartel;
- Payment processors;
- Connecting a custom domain to your Big Cartel shop.
These apps cost between $0 and $40 per month. However, when it comes to Big Cartel-tailored apps, you can experience them for free.
#4. Payment & transaction fees
💰 Estimated: From 2.9% + $0.30 USD/order
Does Big Cartel charge transaction fees? No, Big Cartel does not charge any transaction fees with all pricing packages.
However, the third-party payment gateways that support your transactions will charge you for this service.Big Cartel currently works with two leading payment processors: Stripe and PayPal.
You may wonder, ”How much is the Big Cartel application fee Stripe?”. Stripe charges a fee of 2.9% + $0.30 USD/order. This fee is much lower than PayPal's, which requires around 2.99% + $0.49 USD for most transactions.
However, we recommend using the Stripe gateway as it offers lower transaction fees and supports online and in-person sales.
#5. Marketing cost
💰 Estimated: $100 – $10,000+ depending on your budget and target channels
No matter how visually stunning and functional your Big Cartel store is, you’ll need effective and continuous marketing initiatives in order to drive traffic and sales.
Therefore, besides Big Cartel fees, it’s important to consider marketing costs as well.
From our experience, here are three channels you may want to plan your budget if you are just getting started:
- Paid ad campaigns: $100 – $1000/month depending on the platform and campaign scope
- Influencer marketing: $20 – $10,000/video or post depending on the influencer’s followers and platform (largely Instagram, TikTok, Youtube)
- Search engine optimization: From $500 – $5000/month for agency or $80/hour for expert outsourcing on Fiver and Upwork
Big Cartel Alternatives Pricing: What Are Other Options?
Here are a few great alternatives to Big Cartel with competitive pricing to help you set up a robust eCommerce store.
| Big Cartel Alternatives | Estimated Cost |
| Squarespace | $23 – $65/month;
Save 25% – 30% when paying annually. |
| BigCommerce | $25 – $399/month
Save 25% when paying annually. |
| Shopify | Shopify standard plans: $39 – $399/month;
Save 25% when paying annually. |
| PrestaShop | $35 – $7,000/year |
| Magento | $20,000 – $45,000/year
Require a higher budget for Magento Commerce & Magento Cloud. |
#1. Squarespace
Squarespace offers a range of pricing plans suitable for different business needs:
- Personal Plan (no selling): $25/month
- Business Plan: $36/month
- Basic Commerce Plan: $40/month
- Advanced Commerce Plan: $72/month
✅ Best for: Businesses needing a comprehensive website builder with integrated eCommerce features.
Read more: Squarespace pricing | Squarespace review
#2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce provides scalable solutions with the following pricing options:
- Standard Plan: $39/month
- Plus Plan: $105/month
- Pro Plan: $399/month
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
✅ Best for: Growing stores that require advanced eCommerce features and scalability.
>> Read more: BigCommerce pricing | BigCommerce review
#3. Shopify
Shopify offers a robust eCommerce platform with these pricing plans:
- Basic Shopify: $25/month
- Shopify: $65/month
- Advanced Shopify: $399/month
✅ Best for: Those looking for a powerful eCommerce platform with extensive app integrations and support.
>> Read more: Shopify pricing | Shopify review
#4. PrestaShop
PrestaShop is an open-source platform, which means it is free to download and use. However, you will need to consider additional costs for hosting, themes, and modules:
- Hosting: $3 – $15/month (varies by provider)
- Themes: $60 – $200 (one-time payment)
- Modules: $50 – $150/module (one-time payment)
✅ Best for: Brands with technical expertise that want a customizable and cost-effective solution.
>> Read more: PrestaShop pricing|
#5. Magento
Magento offers extensive customization and scalability with the following options:
- Open-source version: Free to download and use
- Adobe Commerce (Enterprise Version): Custom pricing, typically starting at several thousand dollars per year
✅ Best for: Enterprises that need a highly customizable and scalable eCommerce solution.
>> Read more: Magento pricing |Magento 2 review
Big Cartel Pricing: FAQs
Big Cartel charges between $0 and $30 per month. However, to maintain your site, you need to consider additional costs like domain name, apps, marketing, and development. Depending on your requirements, these Big Cartel fees will vary flexibly.
Yes. With the Big Cartel Gold plan, you can run a store with 5 product listings and fundamental eCommerce features.
No, Big Cartel doesn’t take a cut of sales. Instead, you need to pay transaction fees when completing your payments through third-party processors like Stripe or PayPal. Normally, PayPal will charge you more than Stripe.
With a forever-free pricing plan, you can sell 5 products on your eCommerce store. You can also attach one image for each product to make product descriptions clearer. To enable more items, we recommend upgrading to paid plans like Platinum or Diamond plans.
No, there are no hidden BigCartel fees. However, you should consider additional costs like domain names, apps, and marketing.
Yes, you can switch plans easily at any time to better suit your business needs.
Big Cartel offers support during working hours (Monday – Friday from 8am-6pm EST). However, Big Cartel users on the Diamond plan get prioritized support.
Final Words
Our blog provides a comprehensive analysis of Big Cartel pricing. In addition to the monthly subscription fee, you need to consider additional costs to keep your site outstanding. From our perspective, Big Cartel is one of the cheapest eCommerce solutions, which is beneficial for launching a well-structured store with a friendly budget.
Check out LitExtension’s blogs on Big Cartel if you’re interested in launching and scaling a Big Cartel store. By the way, join our Facebook Community Group for valuable insights from over 18,000 global entrepreneurs.
