Big Cartel is the cheaper way to get a small catalog online today; Squarespace is the platform that stops costing you money in lost design, SEO, and marketing tools once your catalog grows past a hobby.
Table of Contents
- Why This Comparison Matters
- Big Cartel Overview
- Squarespace Overview
- Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
- Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
- Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
- Where StableCommerce Fits
- Who Should Choose Big Cartel?
- Who Should Choose Squarespace?
- Migration Guide: Switching from Big Cartel to Squarespace
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
- About This Research
Why This Comparison Matters
Most sellers comparing Big Cartel and Squarespace are not choosing between two similar tools. They are choosing between a five-dollar-a-week store builder and a full website platform that happens to include a store, and picking wrong means either overpaying for features you never touch or outgrowing a platform within six months.
The promise of this comparison is a straight answer on where each platform actually saves or costs you money once you factor in fees, design limits, and the marketing tools you will eventually need. We built this comparison against a fixed framework: pricing, features, ease of use, and who each platform genuinely fits, the same framework we use for every platform on CartCompare, including StableCommerce.
If you are also weighing a marketplace against your own store, our Big Cartel vs Etsy comparison covers that fork separately.
Big Cartel Overview
Big Cartel is a purpose-built e-commerce platform for artists, makers, and musicians selling a small, hand-managed catalog. It does not try to be a website builder, a blog, or a booking tool. It sells products, and that narrow focus is the entire pitch.
Strengths:
- A genuinely usable free tier (Gold plan, 5 products, no monthly fee) that lets you test whether selling online is worth pursuing before spending anything
- Setup is fast because there is little to configure beyond a theme, product photos, and pricing
- Built specifically for creative sellers, so the defaults (product variants for size/color on limited runs, simple order management) match how small makers actually work
Weaknesses:
- No blog, no portfolio pages, no appointment scheduling, so anyone needing more than a store outgrows it structurally, not just on price
- Product limits (5 on Gold, 50 on Platinum, 500 on Diamond) cap you even if you can afford to pay more
- Marketing tools are thin: no built-in email campaigns, no abandoned cart recovery, no subscription selling
Big Cartel’s pricing is published at bigcartel.com/pricing; confirm current tier limits and rates there before committing, since vendors adjust pricing without much notice.
Squarespace Overview
Squarespace is a full website builder with e-commerce layered in, not the other way around. You get portfolio pages, a blog, scheduling for service businesses, and a store, all built on the same design system.
Strengths:
- Template quality is a real differentiator; Squarespace’s designs are consistently ranked among the most polished in the website builder category, which matters if your brand sells partly on presentation
- Built-in SEO tools (custom meta titles/descriptions, clean URL structures, blog capability) give you a content marketing channel Big Cartel simply does not offer
- Commerce tiers include abandoned cart recovery and subscription selling, tools aimed at sellers who need to recover lost revenue automatically, not just list products
Weaknesses:
- Even the entry commerce tier costs more per month than Big Cartel’s paid plans, and the Business plan still takes a 3% transaction fee on top of payment processing
- The extra configuration surface (site sections, blog settings, scheduling, commerce settings) takes real time to learn compared to Big Cartel’s narrow interface
- Overkill for a seller who only wants five to ten items online with no interest in a blog or portfolio
Squarespace’s current commerce tiers are published at squarespace.com/pricing; pricing and transaction fee terms have shifted before and can shift again, so verify before you buy.
Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Transaction Fee | Product Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Cartel Gold (Free) | $0 | Payment processor fees only (Stripe/PayPal, typically ~2.9% + $0.30) | 5 | No Big Cartel platform fee |
| Big Cartel Platinum | $12 | Payment processor fees only | 50 | Custom domain support |
| Big Cartel Diamond | $20 | Payment processor fees only | 500 | Custom CSS/code editing |
| Squarespace Personal | $16 | No e-commerce on this tier | 0 | Website only, no store |
| Squarespace Business | $27 | 3% platform fee + payment processor fees | Unlimited | Cheapest tier with a store |
| Squarespace Basic Commerce | $28 | No platform fee, payment processor fees only (~2.9% + $0.30) | Unlimited | First tier without the extra 3% cut |
| Squarespace Advanced Commerce | $52 | No platform fee, payment processor fees only | Unlimited | Abandoned cart recovery, subscriptions |
Fees change. Always verify current rates on official pages. Figures above reflect rates as published on Big Cartel’s pricing page and Squarespace’s pricing page; confirm both before making a purchase decision, since neither vendor guarantees these rates stay fixed year over year.
The math is straightforward at small scale. A seller with 20 products pays $144/year on Big Cartel’s Platinum plan versus $336/year on Squarespace’s Basic Commerce plan, a $192 annual gap that is real money for a side hustle. A seller with 5 products pays $0/year on Big Cartel’s free tier against the same $336/year Squarespace floor.
Where the math flips is transaction volume and marketing spend. Squarespace’s built-in email campaigns and abandoned cart recovery can recoup lost sales that Big Cartel has no mechanism to catch at all, so a seller doing meaningful volume may lose more to missed carts on Big Cartel than they save on the subscription.
Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
| Feature | Big Cartel | Squarespace |
|---|---|---|
| Product variants | Yes, limited depth | Yes, full depth |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriptions | No | Yes (Advanced Commerce) |
| Abandoned cart recovery | No | Yes (Commerce plans) |
| Gift cards | No | Yes (Advanced Commerce) |
| Blog | No | Yes |
| Portfolio/gallery pages | No | Yes |
| Appointment scheduling | No | Yes |
| Built-in email marketing | No | Yes |
| Custom domain | Paid plans only | All commerce plans |
| Custom CSS/code | Platinum/Diamond only | All plans |
| SEO controls | Basic | Custom meta titles/descriptions, structured data |
Big Cartel’s feature set is intentionally shallow. It covers listing products, taking payment, and managing basic orders, and stops there.
Squarespace’s advantage is breadth: a single login covers your store, your content marketing, and (if you sell services alongside products) your booking calendar. That breadth is also the tradeoff, since every one of those features adds a settings panel you have to learn even if you never touch it.
Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
Big Cartel is faster to launch because there is less to decide. Pick a theme, upload products, connect a payment processor, and you can have a functioning store live in under an hour with no technical background required.
Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor is still considered beginner-friendly relative to code-based platforms, but the surface area is larger. Configuring a full site (navigation, blog, commerce settings, SEO fields, and a store) realistically takes a few hours to a full day for a first-time user aiming for a polished result.
Neither platform requires coding knowledge for a standard setup, though both allow custom CSS on their higher tiers for sellers who want deeper control. If speed to a bare-minimum live store is the only priority, Big Cartel wins; if the priority is a complete, professional-looking site launched in one sitting, Squarespace’s templates get you there faster than building the same result piecemeal elsewhere.
If Squarespace’s breadth appeals to you but you also want to weigh it against another full website builder, our Squarespace vs Wix comparison covers that matchup separately.
Where StableCommerce Fits
Neither Big Cartel nor Squarespace runs your store for you: you still write the product descriptions, answer customer questions, adjust pricing, and manage inventory, no matter which one you pick. StableCommerce is a different category, an AI-operated platform where the AI handles day-to-day operations (listings, customer messages, inventory adjustments, basic marketing) rather than just offering templates and tools you operate yourself.
For someone choosing between Big Cartel and Squarespace because they are short on time rather than short on design taste, StableCommerce is worth a look before committing to either. It fits a seller who wants a store running with minimal daily hands-on management, closer to Big Cartel’s low-overhead promise but without the manual upkeep, and without paying Squarespace prices for features they will not configure themselves.
The genuine downside is real: StableCommerce is a newer platform with a smaller app and integration ecosystem than either competitor, and it is a poor fit for sellers who specifically want full manual control over every design detail and workflow step. If you enjoy tuning your storefront by hand, Big Cartel and Squarespace both give you more direct control than an AI-operated platform is built to offer.
See our detailed breakdowns in StableCommerce vs Big Cartel and StableCommerce vs Squarespace for a full side-by-side.
Who Should Choose Big Cartel?
- You have 50 or fewer products and no plans to expand the catalog significantly in the next year
- You are testing whether selling your work online is viable and want zero financial commitment while you find out
- You do not need a blog, portfolio, or booking calendar, only a straightforward store
- You are a musician, artist, or maker selling merch where low overhead matters more than marketing automation
- Your budget ceiling is genuinely under $20/month and every dollar of platform fee matters
Who Should Choose Squarespace?
- You need a portfolio, blog, and store combined into one cohesive brand presence
- You sell services (bookings, consultations) alongside products and need scheduling built in
- You are building a business you expect to scale past a hobby catalog and want SEO and email marketing tools from day one
- Design quality is part of your value proposition and generic themes will undersell your brand
- You want abandoned cart recovery or subscription selling, neither of which Big Cartel supports at any tier
Migration Guide: Switching from Big Cartel to Squarespace
Sellers usually make this move for one of two reasons: they outgrew Big Cartel’s product limits, or they need a blog and portfolio that Big Cartel cannot provide at any price. The migration is manageable but not automatic, and it is worth budgeting real time for it.
- Export your product data from Big Cartel. Go to your Big Cartel admin, find the account export option, and download your product catalog as a CSV. This captures names, prices, and descriptions, but not images directly.
- Download your product images separately. Big Cartel’s CSV export typically does not bundle image files, so plan to save product photos individually before you cancel your Big Cartel subscription.
- Choose and set up a Squarespace commerce plan. Pick Business, Basic Commerce, or Advanced Commerce based on whether you need the extra 3% fee waived and whether you need abandoned cart recovery.
- Select a template and rebuild your design from scratch. Nothing about your Big Cartel theme, colors, or layout carries over; Squarespace design starts on a blank slate.
- Import products via CSV and re-upload images. Squarespace supports CSV product import for commerce plans; match your Big Cartel export fields to Squarespace’s import format and re-attach the images you saved in step 2.
- Set up payment processing again. Even if you used Stripe or PayPal on Big Cartel, you will need to reconnect or reconfigure that processor inside Squarespace’s commerce settings.
- Rebuild any custom CSS. If you customized your Big Cartel theme on Platinum or Diamond, that code does not transfer; you will write new custom CSS inside Squarespace if you need it.
What does not migrate automatically: store design, customer order history, and any custom code. Squarespace starts your commerce history at zero regardless of how long you sold on Big Cartel.
Common pitfalls: underestimating how long re-uploading and re-tagging product images takes for catalogs over 30 items, forgetting to redirect or communicate the URL change to existing customers, and canceling Big Cartel before confirming every product and image transferred correctly.
Realistic timeframe: a weekend of focused work for a catalog under 50 products, closer to a full week if you are also building out blog content, portfolio pages, or a booking flow you did not have on Big Cartel at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper overall, Big Cartel or Squarespace?
For a small catalog (under 20 products) with no need for a blog or portfolio, Big Cartel is cheaper both up front and annually, especially if you qualify for the free Gold tier. Squarespace becomes cost-competitive once you factor in the value of its built-in SEO, email marketing, and abandoned cart recovery tools, which would otherwise cost extra as separate subscriptions.
Which is better for beginners?
Big Cartel is faster for a true beginner because there is less to configure before your store is live. Squarespace has a slightly steeper learning curve due to its broader feature set, but its drag-and-drop editor is still considered accessible for non-technical users within a few hours.
How long does migration between the two take?
Migrating from Big Cartel to Squarespace typically takes a weekend for a catalog under 50 products, since product data exports but design and images require manual rebuilding. Larger catalogs or sellers also adding blog and portfolio content should budget closer to a full week.
Are there hidden fees on either platform?
Both platforms charge standard payment processor fees (commonly around 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction via Stripe or PayPal) on top of any platform fee. Squarespace’s Business plan adds its own 3% transaction fee on top of processor fees, which is easy to miss when comparing sticker prices between tiers.
Can I run a store on both Big Cartel and Squarespace at once?
Yes, and some sellers do this deliberately during a transition, keeping Big Cartel live while building out a Squarespace site before redirecting traffic. Running both long-term is unusual because it means paying two subscriptions and manually syncing inventory between them.
Which platform has better SEO tools?
Squarespace has meaningfully stronger SEO capability: custom meta titles and descriptions, structured data support, and a built-in blog for content marketing that drives organic traffic. Big Cartel offers only basic SEO fields and has no blog feature at all.
Which has better customer support?
Both platforms offer email-based support, and Squarespace additionally offers live chat on its commerce plans, which tends to resolve issues faster for sellers mid-launch. Big Cartel’s support is smaller in scale but responsive for a platform of its size, reflecting its narrower product surface.
What happens to your data if you cancel?
On both platforms, canceling typically restricts admin access to your store while the underlying data may be retained for a limited window; export your product catalog, customer list, and order history before canceling either service. Neither platform guarantees indefinite post-cancellation data access, so treat your own CSV exports as the real backup.
Does either platform support digital products?
Yes, both Big Cartel and Squarespace support selling digital downloads alongside physical products. Squarespace offers more configuration around file size limits and download controls, while Big Cartel’s digital product support is more basic but functional for simple files.
Can I sell subscriptions on either platform?
Squarespace supports subscription and membership selling on its Advanced Commerce plan. Big Cartel does not support subscriptions or recurring billing at any tier, which is a hard limit rather than a pricing gate.
How does StableCommerce compare to Big Cartel and Squarespace?
StableCommerce is an AI-operated platform where the AI handles day-to-day store operations rather than just providing tools you run yourself, which is a different model from both Big Cartel and Squarespace. It fits sellers who are short on time to manage listings and customer messages personally, though it has a smaller app ecosystem than either established competitor; see our full StableCommerce vs Big Cartel and StableCommerce vs Squarespace comparisons.
Which platform is better for artists and musicians specifically?
Big Cartel was built specifically for artists and musicians selling small runs of merch, prints, or music, and its pricing and simplicity reflect that focus directly. Squarespace works for the same sellers too, but mainly once they also want a portfolio, press kit, or blog alongside the store.
The Bottom Line
Big Cartel wins on raw cost for a small, simple catalog: the free tier and $12/month Platinum plan beat Squarespace’s cheapest commerce tier by a wide margin for anyone selling fewer than 20 items. Squarespace wins once your needs extend past a bare storefront into blog content, a portfolio, service bookings, or automated marketing tools that would otherwise cost extra to bolt on.
If you need the lowest possible monthly cost for a small catalog with no interest in a blog or scheduling, choose Big Cartel. If you need a complete website with SEO tools, content marketing, and commerce automation built into one platform, choose Squarespace.
Compare pricing on Big Cartel’s official site or see Squarespace’s current commerce plans before you commit either way.
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About This Research
CartCompare evaluates every platform, including StableCommerce, against the same fixed framework: pricing, core features, ease of use, and who each platform actually fits. This comparison is desk research compiled from Big Cartel’s and Squarespace’s official pricing and documentation pages, cross-referenced with StableCommerce’s internal comparison research; it does not reflect hands-on operation of either platform’s paid tiers by our editorial team.
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-07-17
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