Big Cartel alternatives for makers who want a fuller website around their shop
Big Cartel is a shop builder for independent artists, musicians and makers: pick a template, add products, connect Stripe or PayPal. Its pages keep the focus on the shop. People look at Big Cartel alternatives when they want more around the shop, such as a portfolio, tour dates, commissions or a story. Often the answer is a second site beside the shop rather than a move.
What Big Cartel offers, plan by plan
Big Cartel's product page describes a tool built for independent creators, artists and brands, with templates, Stripe and PayPal for payments and 0% transaction fees advertised. Its pricing page, as of 24 October 2026, shows monthly prices with a dollar sign and no currency named:
| Plan | Price | Adds |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Free | A limited-feature plan |
| Platinum | 7 days free, then $15 a month | Custom domains, physical and digital products, shipping labels and tracking, shop design customisation, apps |
| Diamond | $30 a month | Abandoned cart recovery, scheduled product drops, password-protected products, Zapier, priority support |
The comparison list also covers selling in person from your phone, sales tax handling, inventory tracking and importing products from Etsy, Squarespace and Shopify. What the pages focus on is the shop. If you want a site where the shop is one section among several, that's where people start comparing.
What to export first
- Orders. Big Cartel's order data guide explains exporting from the Orders page: choose Unshipped, Partially Shipped, Shipped or All Orders, or tick individual orders, then Export orders for a CSV file.
- Products and photos. The guide doesn't cover exporting products, so save product names, descriptions, prices, options and images yourself before you close anything.
- Customer emails. Make sure any mailing list sits in your own email tool and that customers agreed to hear from you.
- The domain. Note where the domain is registered and its DNS records. If you keep the shop, check with Big Cartel whether it can sit on a subdomain, so the main domain can point to the new site.
Four options to compare
| Option | Suits | From its own pages |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | A larger shop with apps, more products and its own POS | Its pricing page lists Basic at $39 USD a month, or $29 a month paid yearly |
| Squarespace | A portfolio and shop on one hosted site | Its pricing page lists Basic at $25 a month with a 2% store transaction fee, and 0% from Core |
| Carrd | A single page linking to the shop | Pro Standard is $19 a year for ten sites with custom domains and forms |
| Anticode | A designed site around the shop, with work, about, news and contact pages | No cart: link to Big Cartel or sell single items by payment link |
Squarespace and Carrd show a dollar sign without naming the currency; Shopify labels its prices USD. Shopify and Squarespace replace Big Cartel. Carrd and Anticode work beside it, so your shop keeps running while the site around it changes.
Where Anticode fits
Anticode builds the site a maker usually wants around the shop. Describe the work and the audience; the Architect asks up to three questions and shows a plan with pages such as Work, Shop, About, FAQ and Contact. The Shop page can link straight to your Big Cartel store, or, for a single print or pre-order, a buy button can open a checkout link from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop.
For a band or an artist, tour dates, releases or exhibitions can sit in a CMS collection with a page each. A contact form collects commission enquiries and can email them to you; see what a merch website needs for the selling side, and running a product drop for the timing.
What Anticode won't do for a shop
- No cart or store engine. No basket, inventory, shipping labels, tax or order management.
- One payment link per account. Every buy button opens the same checkout, so for several products link to a product list at your provider or keep Big Cartel.
- No import. Products can't be brought in from Big Cartel.
- No embeds or video. Music players, videos and shop widgets can't be embedded; link to them.
- English only. The builder and the sites are in English.
When Big Cartel is enough
Stay if the shop is the site: a small catalogue of prints, zines or merch, sold to people who already know your work. Big Cartel's templates, shipping labels and inventory tracking cover that job for one monthly fee, and moving would mean rebuilding things you don't need to. If what's missing is a home for everything else, keep the shop and add a site in front of it rather than replacing a tool that works.
Questions people ask
How do I export orders from Big Cartel?
From the Orders page, choose a view such as All Orders or tick individual orders, then use Export orders to download a CSV file.
What's the difference between Platinum and Diamond?
Big Cartel's pricing page lists Diamond at $30 a month with abandoned cart recovery, scheduled product drops, password-protected products and Zapier, on top of Platinum's features at $15.
Can Anticode replace my Big Cartel shop?
Not for a shop with several products. It has no cart. It can build the site around your shop and link to it.
Which big cartel alternatives replace the whole shop?
Of the options above, Shopify and Squarespace both include a store with a cart. Check their pages for current fees.
Sources
- Big Cartel: product, checked
- Big Cartel pricing, checked
- Big Cartel Help: Download order data, checked
- Shopify pricing, checked
- Squarespace pricing, checked
- Carrd Pro plans, checked