Big Cartel built its reputation on being the simple, cheap option for artists and makers who want a store without the overhead of a “real” ecommerce platform. Shopify built its reputation on being the platform brands scale on. Both of those reputations are broadly accurate, which is exactly why this comparison matters: pick based on where you are today without thinking about where you’re headed, and you can end up doing a stressful, avoidable migration twelve months later.
This post lays out where Big Cartel genuinely wins for very small, low-SKU handmade sellers, where Shopify pulls ahead even for small stores, and how to tell early which path you’re actually on.
The Core Difference in One Sentence
Big Cartel is a deliberately minimal platform capped around a small number of product listings, priced to suit hobbyists and side-hustle makers. Shopify is a full ecommerce platform with no product cap, a large app ecosystem, and pricing tiers that scale from a single-person handmade shop through to enterprise retail. The comparison isn’t really “which is better”, it’s “which matches your actual growth trajectory.”
Where Big Cartel Genuinely Wins
It’s worth being honest about this rather than just building a case for Shopify, because for a specific kind of seller, Big Cartel is the right call.
- Very low product counts. If you sell a handful of one-off or made-to-order pieces, think a solo ceramicist with 15 SKUs, Big Cartel’s low-cost tiers are built exactly for that, and Shopify’s broader feature set is genuinely unnecessary overhead.
- Minimal ongoing cost tolerance. Big Cartel’s free and low tiers suit someone testing whether selling online is even worth pursuing, before committing to recurring platform costs, apps, and a proper domain and email setup.
- Simplicity as a feature, not a limitation. Some makers specifically don’t want a large admin full of settings, apps and options, they want to list a product, take a payment, and get back to making. Big Cartel’s stripped-back admin genuinely serves that preference well.
If that’s an accurate description of your business today, and you’re not expecting to significantly scale product count, sales channels or marketing complexity in the near term, Big Cartel is a reasonable, low-risk choice.
Where Shopify Pulls Ahead, Even for Small Stores
Product and inventory scale
Big Cartel’s plans are structured around product count caps that suit a small, curated catalogue but become a real constraint the moment you want to expand, a new colourway, a seasonal range, or wholesale-adjacent product variants. Shopify has no comparable product cap on any plan, so growth in catalogue size is a non-event rather than a forced plan upgrade or platform rethink.
Sales channels
Handmade brands increasingly sell in more than one place, their own site, Instagram/Facebook shopping, a market stall with a card reader, sometimes a wholesale portal. Shopify’s ecosystem is built to sync inventory and orders across these channels natively (Shopify POS for in-person sales, native social commerce integrations). Big Cartel’s channel support is far more limited, which becomes a genuine operational headache once you’re managing stock across more than just your own website.
Apps and functionality
This is the single biggest practical gap. Shopify’s app ecosystem covers everything from email marketing (Klaviyo) and reviews (Yotpo, Okendo) to shipping automation, subscriptions, and advanced SEO tooling. Big Cartel’s much smaller ecosystem means that as soon as you want functionality beyond “list and sell a product”, a proper email flow, back-in-stock notifications, bundle discounts, you’re often either out of luck or working around the platform rather than with it.
SEO and content control
Shopify gives you far more control over URL structure, blog functionality, page-level SEO fields, and structured data than Big Cartel’s simpler content tools allow. For a handmade brand relying on organic search and content to build an audience over time (which is most of them, given paid ad costs), this compounds, a platform limitation early on becomes a harder-to-fix content debt later.
Payment options and checkout trust
Shopify supports a wide range of payment methods out of the box, including BNPL providers like Afterpay and Zip that Australian shoppers increasingly expect, plus a checkout experience that’s been continuously refined at enormous scale. Big Cartel’s checkout is functional but noticeably more limited in payment method flexibility, which can quietly cost conversions once your customer base broadens beyond your most loyal, patient buyers.
The Real Question: Where Are You Headed, Not Where Are You Now
The mistake we see most often isn’t picking Big Cartel, it’s picking it while already planning the things it isn’t built for: multiple sales channels, wholesale, a growing SKU count, paid advertising at scale. If any of the following is true for your next 12 to 18 months, start on Shopify rather than planning a migration later:
- You expect to grow past a small, fixed product catalogue.
- You want to sell through more than just your own website (marketplaces, social commerce, in-person via POS).
- You’re planning to invest seriously in SEO or content marketing as a growth channel.
- You expect to need apps for email marketing, reviews, subscriptions or loyalty at some point.
- You want BNPL and a broader range of payment options at checkout.
If none of that applies and you’re testing an idea on a tight budget with a handful of products, Big Cartel remains a legitimate starting point, just go in with eyes open about its ceiling.
A Quick Decision Checklist
- Roughly how many products do you expect to list in 12 months, under 20-ish, or growing steadily?
- Do you plan to sell anywhere besides your own website?
- Is organic search/content a planned growth channel, or purely social and word of mouth?
- Will you need apps beyond basic product listing and payments (email, reviews, subscriptions)?
- Does checkout flexibility (BNPL, multiple payment methods) matter to your customer base?
Two or more “yes, this will matter” answers is a reasonable signal to start on Shopify rather than migrate later.
Already Outgrowing Big Cartel?
If you’re a handmade or small brand that’s hit Big Cartel’s ceiling, product limits, missing apps, or a checkout that’s not converting the way it should, moving to Shopify is a well-trodden path, and it doesn’t need to be disruptive if it’s planned properly. Our platform comparisons hub covers how Shopify stacks up against the other platforms merchants commonly move from, if you want to see the fuller picture before deciding.
FAQ
Is Shopify more expensive than Big Cartel for a very small store?
Generally yes at the entry level, Big Cartel’s lower tiers are priced specifically for hobbyist and low-SKU sellers, while Shopify’s plans reflect a broader feature set. Whether that gap matters depends on whether you actually need Shopify’s extra functionality yet; if you don’t, you may be paying for headroom you’re not using.
Can I migrate from Big Cartel to Shopify later without losing my products and content?
Yes, product listings, images and descriptions can be migrated to Shopify, the amount of manual rebuilding required depends mainly on how much custom page content and blog content you’ve built on Big Cartel, since content structures don’t map over one-to-one between platforms.
Does Big Cartel support wholesale or B2B selling?
Big Cartel is built around direct-to-consumer retail selling and doesn’t offer dedicated wholesale/B2B functionality. If wholesale is part of your plan, Shopify (including dedicated B2B functionality on higher plans) is the more appropriate platform from the start.
Which platform is easier to learn for a first-time seller with no technical background?
Both are designed to be approachable without coding knowledge. Big Cartel’s smaller admin surface can feel less overwhelming initially, but Shopify’s documentation, support resources and sheer size of user community make it easier to find help when you inevitably hit a question a smaller platform’s support team can’t answer as quickly.
Can I use my own domain name with either platform?
Yes, both platforms support connecting a custom domain rather than using their default subdomain, which is worth doing from day one for brand credibility regardless of which platform you choose.
Weighing Up Your Options?
If you’re deciding between Big Cartel, Shopify or another platform for a growing handmade or small brand, book a call and we’ll give you a straight answer on what actually fits your stage, not just a sales pitch for the platform we specialise in.
