Big Cartel vs Ecwid: Free Plans, Fees & Limits Compared

Big Cartel and Ecwid both offer a free plan limited to five products, and neither charges a platform commission on sales; you only pay payment-processor fees. Big Cartel is the better pick for a standalone shop for artists and makers. Ecwid is the better pick if you want to add a store to a website or social profile you already have.

If you're weighing Big Cartel vs Ecwid, you're probably trying to launch a store without spending a dime up front. Both platforms offer a free plan, both promise you can start selling fast, and both cap what you can do until you upgrade. The catch is that they solve different problems. Big Cartel is built for artists and makers selling a handful of products. Ecwid is built to bolt a storefront onto a site you already have. Pick the wrong one and you'll outgrow it in a month, or worse, re-platform when sales finally pick up.

This guide breaks down the free plans, the limits, the fees, the payment and SEO tools, and the moment each one starts costing you money. By the end you'll know which free store builder is best for your situation, and when neither is the right call. Note that we compiled this from the vendors' published pricing and documentation rather than running a long hands-on test, so verify any figure that matters on the vendor's page before you commit.

Big Cartel vs Ecwid: the quick verdict

Choose Big Cartel for a simple standalone shop with a tiny creative catalog; choose Ecwid to embed a catalog into a site or social channel you already run. Big Cartel is a standalone store builder aimed at independent artists, musicians, and small makers. You get a hosted shop with its own simple website, and the free tier lets you list up to five products. Ecwid is a store widget: you create a catalog and embed it into an existing website, social profile, or marketplace. Its free tier is also listed at five products, but lets you plug that catalog into more places.

The core difference in the ecwid vs big cartel debate comes down to this: Big Cartel gives you a complete (if basic) store on its own address, while Ecwid gives you a sellable catalog you plug in elsewhere. Neither adds a transaction fee on top of payment processing, a real advantage over many competitors, but both cap features hard until you pay.

Factor	Big Cartel	Ecwid
Best for	Artists, makers, small catalogs	Adding a store to an existing site
Free plan products	5 products	5 products
Standalone storefront	Yes, hosted shop	Free Instant Site, plus embed
Platform commission on sales	None (pay processor only)	None (pay processor only)
First paid tier (approx.)	Gold, about $9.99/month, 50 products	Venture, roughly $19-25/month, 100 products
Higher tiers (approx.)	Platinum about $19.99 (250 products); Diamond about $29.99 (500 products)	Business roughly $39-49/month (2,500 products); Unlimited roughly $99-109/month (unlimited products)
Custom domain	Paid tiers	Paid tiers
Built-in marketing	Minimal	Moderate (paid tiers)

Prices above are approximate list prices from our last check; both vendors adjust tiers and discount annual billing, so the ranges reflect monthly versus annual billing. Big Cartel's pricing and Ecwid's pricing are the authoritative sources, so confirm before you commit.

Is Big Cartel free? Does Big Cartel take a cut?

Yes, Big Cartel has a free plan with no monthly fee and no platform commission on your sales. According to Big Cartel's pricing page, the free plan is capped at five products. Your only per-sale cost is what your payment processor charges.

Is Big Cartel free?

Big Cartel is free to start, and the free plan is a real, hosted shop rather than a short trial. You can publish up to five products, take orders, and keep selling for as long as you stay within the limit. You don't pay a monthly subscription, and the shop lives on a Big Cartel address. The moment you need more than five products or the tools that sit on paid tiers, you upgrade.

Does Big Cartel take a cut of your sales?

No. Big Cartel does not take a percentage of your sales. What you still pay is the processor fee when a buyer pays by card or PayPal. Stripe's standard US card rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, according to Stripe's pricing page, and PayPal publishes its own rates on its site. Those fees are charged by the processor, not by Big Cartel.

To make that concrete: a $30 order costs about $1.17 in Stripe fees (2.9% is 87 cents, plus 30 cents). That is an effective rate of 3.9%, because the flat 30 cents weighs more on small orders. Twenty such orders in a month is $600 in sales and roughly $23.40 in processing, with nothing taken by the platform. On a $10 order the same formula costs 59 cents, or 5.9%, which is why low-priced items hurt more than the headline percentage suggests.

Big Cartel fees: what you actually pay

Think of Big Cartel fees in three layers:

1. Subscription: $0 on the free plan; about $9.99 to $29.99 a month on paid plans at the last list prices we saw.
2. Payment processing: paid to Stripe or PayPal on every order.
3. Extras: a custom domain if you register one, plus any shipping labels or outside tools you add.

Check the official Big Cartel pricing page for the current monthly cost of each tier.

Big Cartel free plan: 5 products, official limits

The headline limit is five products on the free plan, per Big Cartel's own pricing page. The details of each tier (images per product, inventory tracking, discount codes, and so on) are listed there too, so use it to confirm anything that matters to your launch.

Free plan showdown: Big Cartel vs Ecwid free plan limits

The free plan is the reason most people start this comparison, so let's get specific about what you get and where the walls are.

Big Cartel free plan limits

Big Cartel's free tier is refreshingly honest about being small. You can list up to 5 products and run a basic hosted shop, with no monthly fee and no commission beyond what Stripe or PayPal charge.

The big cartel free plan limits bite quickly, though. Inventory tracking, bulk editing, shipment tracking, and discount codes sit on paid tiers, image counts per product are lower, and theme customization is limited. For a painter selling original pieces or a band moving a few shirts, the free plan is enough. For anyone with a growing catalog, five products is a ceiling you'll hit fast. The first step up, Gold at about $9.99 a month, raises the cap to 50 products, which is roughly $120 a year.

Ecwid free tier limits

Ecwid's free plan works differently. You build a catalog and embed it (or use Ecwid's free Instant Site), and the ecwid free tier limits restrict you to up to 5 products according to Ecwid's pricing page at our last check. Ecwid has changed its free tier before, so confirm the cap before you build around it. Abandoned cart recovery and wider marketplace selling sit on paid tiers, and a custom domain is a paid feature too. The first paid step, Venture at roughly $19 to $25 a month, raises the cap to about 100 products.

What Ecwid does well on free is portability: the same catalog can sit on a WordPress site, a Wix page, or a Facebook shop. But the free tier leaves out most of what makes a store convert, including automated emails. Some payment methods and integrations are also reserved for paid plans, so check the gateway list for your country before you start.

Put side by side, neither free tier is a real business engine. They're proof-of-concept tools: you can validate that people will buy, then you'll be upgrading, and that's where the math starts to matter.

Paid tiers compared: what the upgrade buys

Upgrade step	Big Cartel	Ecwid
Entry paid tier	Gold: ~$9.99/month, 50 products	Venture: ~$19-25/month, ~100 products
Mid tier	Platinum: ~$19.99/month, 250 products	Business: ~$39-49/month, ~2,500 products
Top tier	Diamond: ~$29.99/month, 500 products	Unlimited: ~$99-109/month
What you mostly gain	More products, inventory tracking, discount codes, custom domain, more images per product	More products, custom domain, abandoned cart recovery, more sales channels, marketing tools

The pattern: Big Cartel's tiers are about catalog size and basic store admin, while Ecwid's are about channels and marketing. Ecwid's top tiers cost several times more than Big Cartel's.

A worked scenario: a 4-item ceramics seller

Here is a hypothetical walk-through (not a customer case study) of a ceramics artist with four products: two mug styles, a bowl set, and a small planter. Here's how each free tier would play out:

• On Big Cartel free: You publish all four in your own hosted shop, pick a theme, add photos, and take Stripe or PayPal checkout. Because inventory tracking is a paid feature, you have to unpublish the planter yourself when it sells out. Discount codes for a launch promotion also require a paid tier. Add a fifth glaze color as its own product and you're at the cap.
• On Ecwid free: You build the same four-product catalog and embed it on the site you already run, plus a Facebook shop. Great if you live on social. The walls: a custom domain needs a paid plan, and abandoned-cart email isn't part of the free tier.

Same four products, two very different setups. Big Cartel gives a standalone shop the moment you launch; Ecwid meets your existing audience where they already are.

Side-by-side: what the free plan lets you do

Free plan question	Big Cartel	Ecwid
How many products?	5	5
Monthly fee?	$0	$0
Commission on sales?	No	No
Where does the store live?	Its own hosted shop	Instant Site or embedded in your site
Sell on social channels?	Limited	Wider reach, more on paid tiers
Abandoned cart recovery?	No	Paid tiers
Ideal user	Maker launching a small shop	Site owner adding a cart

Payments and checkout: what each platform supports

Big Cartel supports Stripe and PayPal; Ecwid supports a much longer list of gateways, so Ecwid wins on payment flexibility.

Big Cartel keeps it simple: it processes payments through Stripe and PayPal. Because Stripe is in the mix, mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay can surface on supported devices. Checkout is hosted and clean, but you won't find a long menu of regional gateways.

Ecwid casts a wider net, supporting dozens of payment providers globally, including Stripe, PayPal, Square, and many regional processors, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay on the right plans. If you sell internationally or need a gateway that's big in your country, that flexibility is a genuine advantage. The catch is that some payment integrations may be reserved for paid tiers.

Pick Big Cartel if Stripe-plus-PayPal covers you; pick Ecwid if you need gateway choice or sell across borders. Neither adds a platform commission on top of the processor's standard rate (Stripe lists 2.9% + 30¢ for standard US cards), which is the genuine win in the free store plan transaction fees conversation. For a wider look at getting paid, see our guide on how to accept payments on your website.

Themes, shipping and migration: the practical side

Big Cartel offers a modest set of themes you can tweak with its customizer, and deeper edits on paid tiers. Because the shop is the whole site, your design is only as flexible as the theme. Ecwid inherits the look of the site it sits on, so your theme is whatever WordPress, Wix or Squarespace gives you, which can be a strength if you already have a polished brand.

On shipping, both let you set flat or location-based rates, and paid tiers add more options such as live carrier rates (on Ecwid) and shipment tracking (on Big Cartel). If shipping is complicated for you, check the tier details before building.

Migration is where free tiers get expensive in time. Both platforms let you export products as a CSV file, but you'll rebuild design, redirect old URLs and re-collect customer accounts on a new platform. The earlier you pick the right home, the less that costs. If you sell handmade goods, our guide to a free online store for handmade sellers covers more options.

SEO and custom domains: can buyers find you?

Both platforms give you the SEO basics, but neither gives deep control on a free tier.

Big Cartel covers the basics: editable page titles, clean URLs, and a tidy bigcartel.com address. A custom domain requires a paid tier. What you don't get is deep control: limited meta description editing, no granular schema markup, and themes that vary in how SEO-friendly they are. It's enough to rank for your brand name and a few product terms, not to compete hard for category keywords.

Ecwid's SEO story is more nuanced because your catalog often lives inside someone else's site. Embed Ecwid on a well-optimized WordPress site and you inherit that site's SEO strength. Rely on the standalone Instant Site and you get auto-generated meta tags, sitemaps, and clean product URLs, but a custom domain requires a paid plan, and an ecwid.com subdomain rarely inspires buyer trust or strong rankings.

If organic traffic is part of your plan, factor in an upgrade, or a platform with full SEO control from the start. If you're not sure you even need a standalone site, read do I need a website to sell products online first.

Big Cartel vs Ecwid pricing and the real cost

Neither Big Cartel nor Ecwid takes a cut of your sales, so your cost is the subscription plus processor fees. You only pay your payment processor, typically 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction through Stripe, with PayPal publishing its own rates. That's a meaningful edge over platforms that layer their own commission on top.

Where cost creeps in is the upgrade path. Here's a rough first-year view at the approximate list prices above, before processor fees:

• Big Cartel Gold (50 products): about $9.99 x 12 = roughly $120 a year.
• Big Cartel Platinum (250 products): about $19.99 x 12 = roughly $240 a year.
• Ecwid Venture (100 products): roughly $228 to $300 a year depending on annual or monthly billing.
• Ecwid Business (2,500 products): roughly $468 to $588 a year on the same basis.

So Big Cartel is cheaper at the entry level, while Ecwid's higher cost buys more channels and marketing features, with serious automation only on higher tiers. Confirm figures on each vendor's page.

To run a store that converts (abandoned cart recovery, wishlists, reviews, loyalty, real email automation) you'll either pay for a higher tier or stitch in third-party tools. For a full budget view, see how much an online store costs per month.

So which platform delivers the best free ecommerce plan? "Best" depends on shape, not just price: Big Cartel wins on a standalone shop, while Ecwid wins on reach and payment flexibility. If you want to see other options, our free online store builder comparison covers seven of them.

Features that actually move revenue

The features that lift revenue, such as abandoned cart recovery, reviews, and loyalty, are mostly missing or paywalled on both free plans.

• Abandoned cart recovery: recovers orders that would otherwise vanish. Absent on both free tiers.
• Wishlists and saved items: bring shoppers back. Not a free-tier feature on either.
• Product reviews and Q&A: social proof that converts browsers. Add-on only.
• Loyalty and discount automation: repeat-purchase fuel. Paywalled.
• Email and marketing automation: the backbone of retention. Basic at best on free.

This is the structural pattern across any free online store comparison: the free plan gets you a window display, while the revenue machinery costs extra or requires outside apps that add monthly bills.

Once you have real customers, "which free store builder is best" is the wrong question. The better one is "what gets me the most selling power for the lowest total cost". Our best ecommerce platform for beginners guide walks through that trade-off.

Frequently asked questions

Is Big Cartel good for beginners?

Yes. Big Cartel is one of the most beginner-friendly store builders out there. The free plan lets you publish up to five products in minutes, the admin is deliberately stripped down, and you don't need design or coding skills. The trade-off is that the same simplicity becomes a ceiling once you need inventory tracking, discount codes, or more than a handful of products.

Does Ecwid work with Shopify, WordPress, and Wix?

Ecwid plugs into WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and other site builders, plus social channels like Facebook and Instagram. Ecwid is owned by Lightspeed, and Shopify is a direct competitor with its own checkout, so the two aren't designed to combine. If you already have a non-Shopify site and just want to add a cart, Ecwid is purpose-built for that.

Can you actually make money with Big Cartel's free plan?

You can. There's no platform commission, so every sale (minus your payment processor's fee) is yours to keep. The free plan is fine for low-volume creators selling a few high-value items. The limit isn't taking money; it's growth.

Which free store builder is best overall?

There's no single winner. Choose Big Cartel for a standalone shop and a small creative catalog. Choose Ecwid to add a catalog to an existing website or social presence with broad payment support. Choose neither, and start on a platform that includes conversion features, if you're planning to scale.

When to skip both and build a real store

Skip both when you expect more than a handful of products or real growth, because moving later means a re-platforming project: exporting products, rebuilding your site, migrating customers, and relearning a new admin.

There's a third option: describe your store in plain language and have it built for you, complete and ready to sell. That's the approach behind the Rovela AI store builder. Instead of choosing between a five-product free tier and a stitched-together app stack, you get a full storefront, Stripe checkout, admin dashboard, customer accounts, shipping tools, and analytics from day one. If you're curious how that compares with other approaches, see how to choose an AI ecommerce builder.

Features that sit behind paywalls elsewhere, including abandoned cart, wishlist, loyalty, reviews, customer Q&A, and marketing automation, come included, so you pay one plan instead of a base subscription plus per-app fees. And because stores run on standard Next.js code you can download and own, you're never locked in.

The team behind it has scaled storefronts (the CEO grew stores to $15M+ in GMV) and the co-founder ran PrestaShop, the platform behind 400,000+ merchants. You can see what an all-included plan looks like on the Rovela pricing breakdown, or browse more ecommerce store-building guides if you're still in research mode.

A simple decision framework

1. Testing one idea, zero budget? A free tier (Big Cartel for a standalone shop, Ecwid for an embed) is fine to validate demand.
2. Selling under 50 products, low volume, creative niche? Big Cartel's Gold tier at about $10 a month is a reasonable home.
3. Already have a website and just need checkout? Ecwid's embed model fits.
4. Planning to actually grow? Start on a platform with conversion features included so you never re-platform.

The verdict: Big Cartel vs Ecwid, which free store builder is best?

Choose Big Cartel if you want a simple, standalone shop for a small creative catalog and you value no sales commission and a low-cost upgrade path. Choose Ecwid if you already have a site or social presence and want to add a sellable catalog with broad payment support without rebuilding anything.

In the ecwid vs big cartel comparison, both are starter tools with starter ceilings: the free plans validate ideas, and the revenue features cost extra on both.

If you'd rather skip the re-platforming tax, start with a store that's complete from day one: every revenue feature included, no per-app billing, and code you own outright. Describe your business in a sentence and let the Rovela store builder generate a full store, with the conversion tools Big Cartel and Ecwid make you pay extra for already built in.