# Big Cartel vs Squarespace: Which Is Better in 2026?
Big Cartel vs Squarespace compared on pricing, fees, product limits, design and growth. See which fits your shop and when to look elsewhere.
*Published 2026-09-29*
**Big Cartel vs Squarespace comes down to one question: are you a maker with a small catalog, or a brand that wants a full website with a store attached?** Big Cartel is cheaper, simpler and built around selling a limited number of products. Squarespace is a general website builder with commerce features, better design tools and no product cap. Here is how they compare on price, fees, design, features and growth, so you can pick without a free trial for each.
## TL;DR: Big Cartel vs Squarespace
| | Big Cartel | Squarespace |
|---|-----------|-------------|
| **Best for** | Artists, musicians, small-batch makers | Brands that want a polished site, blog and store together |
| **Paid plans** | $15/mo (Platinum), $30/mo (Diamond) | $19 to $99/mo billed annually (Basic to Advanced) |
| **Platform transaction fee** | 0% | 2% on Basic, 0% on Core and above |
| **Product limits** | Capped per plan | Unlimited products |
| **Design flexibility** | Limited themes, code for the rest | Strong templates and drag-and-drop editor |
| **Blog and content** | Minimal | Built in, well suited to content marketing |
| **Free trial** | 7 days on Platinum | 14 days |
**Short answer:** choose Big Cartel if you sell a few dozen products and want the simplest storefront at the lowest price. Choose Squarespace if your website matters as much as your store, or if you expect your catalog to grow.
Prices and limits change often. Everything below reflects the vendors' own pricing pages when we checked in September 2026; confirm before you buy.
## What Each Platform Is Built For
**[Big Cartel](https://www.bigcartel.com/)** has focused on independent artists and makers since 2005. The product is a hosted shop: you add products, pick a theme, connect a payment method and ship. It deliberately does less than larger platforms.
**[Squarespace](https://www.squarespace.com/)** started as a website builder and added commerce on top. Its strength is design: templates that look finished on day one, a visual editor, built-in blogging, scheduling and memberships. The store is one feature among many.
That difference in origin explains most of the comparison. Big Cartel is a store that is also a website. Squarespace is a website that is also a store.
## Big Cartel vs Squarespace Pricing
### Big Cartel pricing
[Big Cartel's pricing page](https://www.bigcartel.com/pricing) currently lists two paid plans:
- **Platinum: $15/month** after a 7-day free trial. Includes custom domain support, physical and digital products, shipping labels, order tracking, design customization and print-on-demand app support.
- **Diamond: $30/month.** Everything in Platinum plus abandoned cart recovery, product drop scheduling, password-protected products, Zapier integration and priority human support.
Big Cartel has historically limited how many products you can list per plan (around 50 on Platinum and 500 on Diamond according to third-party reviews, so check the current limits before you commit). Annual billing typically discounts the monthly rate. Big Cartel does not take a cut of your sales, but your payment processor does.
### Squarespace pricing
[Squarespace's pricing page](https://www.squarespace.com/pricing) shows four website plans. Billed annually they are **Basic $19, Core $29, Plus $49 and Advanced $99 per month**; paid monthly they are $25, $39, $65 and $139.
The commerce fee is where the plans really differ:
| Plan | Online store transaction fee | Digital content and memberships |
|------|------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| Basic | 2% | 7% |
| Core | 0% | 5% |
| Plus | 0% | 1% |
| Advanced | 0% | 0% |
Core also unlocks discounts, shipping labels, carrier-calculated shipping and the commerce APIs. If you want to run a serious store, Core at $29/month annually is the realistic starting point, not Basic.
### The real cost comparison
Both platforms pass payment processing fees to you. With Stripe, [US card payments cost 2.9% + 30¢](https://stripe.com/pricing) per successful transaction, and PayPal and other methods have their own rates. That cost is the same on either platform, so compare the rest:
| Monthly sales (example) | Big Cartel Platinum | Squarespace Basic | Squarespace Core |
|-------------------------|---------------------|-------------------|------------------|
| Plan cost | $15 | $19 (annual) | $29 (annual) |
| Platform fee on $2,000 in sales | $0 | $40 (2%) | $0 |
| Total before processing fees | **$15** | **$59** | **$29** |
At small volumes Big Cartel is cheaper. Once you sell a few thousand dollars per month, Squarespace Core's flat price and 0% fee are competitive, and you get far more site for the money.
## Features: Where Each Platform Wins
### Design and customization
Squarespace wins clearly. Its templates are among the most polished of any website builder, and the editor lets non-coders adjust layouts, sections and typography. Big Cartel offers a smaller theme library with basic color and font controls. Going further means editing HTML and CSS, which is fine if you enjoy that and a wall if you do not.
### Product management
Big Cartel keeps product management straightforward: options, stock counts, images, and quick sale toggles. Its product caps are the trade-off. Squarespace offers unlimited products and more organization (categories, tags, variants) but a heavier admin.
### Marketing and selling tools
- **Abandoned cart recovery:** on Big Cartel this is a Diamond feature. On Squarespace the pricing page lists it on Basic and up.
- **Discounts:** Big Cartel supports them; on Squarespace, discounts start on Core.
- **Blog and SEO:** Squarespace has a real blog and solid SEO controls. Big Cartel is thinner on content. If organic traffic matters, read our [ecommerce SEO guide](/blog/ecommerce-seo).
- **Email marketing:** Squarespace has native email campaigns (paid add-on). Big Cartel relies on integrations.
- **Selling digital products:** both handle them. Watch Squarespace's higher fee on digital content and memberships at lower tiers.
### Print-on-demand and dropshipping
Big Cartel is friendly to print-on-demand apps and is popular with creators who sell merch. Squarespace integrates with several fulfillment partners. For a broader look at the model, see our [dropshipping guide](/blog/how-to-start-dropshipping).
### Payments
Big Cartel supports cards, PayPal and other methods depending on your region. Squarespace supports Stripe, PayPal and Square in supported countries. Availability depends on where you sell, so check both vendors' supported-country lists if you are outside the US. In the EU and UK, verify that VAT handling and the payment methods your customers expect (such as bank redirects) are supported before you commit.
## Ease of Use
Big Cartel is quicker to launch: fewer choices means fewer decisions. A maker with ten products can be live in an afternoon. Squarespace takes longer because there is more to configure, but that same depth lets you build landing pages, a portfolio, a blog and a booking page in one place.
If you have never built a site before, Big Cartel is friendlier. If you have opinions about how your brand should look, Squarespace is friendlier.
## Performance and SEO
Both are hosted platforms, so you do not manage servers, but you also cannot control the page code deeply. Speed depends on your theme, image sizes and apps or scripts.
In our own [Big Cartel alternatives](/blog/big-cartel-alternatives) benchmark (mobile Lighthouse, single run in May 2026, so treat it as a snapshot), Big Cartel shops scored noticeably lower on performance than a modern framework-based store. Squarespace generally offers more SEO features out of the box: custom URLs, meta fields, structured data on products and a proper blog. Big Cartel covers the basics only.
If speed and search traffic drive your business, test your own theme with PageSpeed Insights before choosing, and read our [ecommerce website speed optimization](/blog/ecommerce-website-speed-optimization) checklist.
## Who Should Choose Big Cartel
Pick Big Cartel if:
- You sell a small, focused catalog (art prints, music merch, jewelry, zines)
- Cost is the priority and you want a predictable low monthly fee
- You do not need a blog or a multi-page marketing site
- You prefer simplicity over configurability
## Who Should Choose Squarespace
Pick Squarespace if:
- Your brand and website design are part of the product
- You want a blog, portfolio, bookings or memberships alongside the store
- You expect more than a few hundred products over time
- You are willing to pay a bit more for better templates and content tools
## When Neither Is the Right Choice
Both platforms have ceilings. You may outgrow them if you need:
- **Multi-currency and multi-language selling at scale**, with local pricing and translated storefronts
- **Custom checkout or storefront code**, beyond what a template allows
- **An API to connect inventory, ERP or custom apps**
- **Very fast mobile pages** as a competitive edge
That is where a developer-friendly platform helps. [Your Next Store](https://yournextstore.com/) is a commerce platform with an AI store builder, a managed backend with a REST API, and an open-source Next.js storefront. You describe your store and AI builds it, then a developer can customize the same codebase later. Plans start at $30/month with 0% platform transaction fees; only Stripe's processing fees apply.
To be honest about the trade-offs: there is no free plan, and the third-party app ecosystem is smaller than Shopify's or Squarespace's extension options. If you just want a simple maker shop or a beautiful brochure site with a store, the two platforms above are more than enough. Browse our [best AI store builders](/blog/best-ai-store-builders) and [Big Cartel alternatives](/blog/big-cartel-alternatives) for more options.
## How to Decide in Five Minutes
1. **Count your products.** More than 50 (or 500)? Squarespace has no product cap.
2. **Decide whether you need a real website.** Blog, about page, portfolio? Squarespace.
3. **Do the fee math.** Under roughly $1,000/month in sales, Big Cartel wins on cost; above that, Squarespace Core's 0% fee closes the gap.
4. **Use the trials.** Big Cartel gives 7 days; Squarespace gives 14 days. Build your first three products on both.
5. **Plan the exit.** Export your product CSV and keep your images organized so a later move is easy.
**Keep your own domain.** Buy your domain at a registrar you control, then point it at whichever platform you use. Switching later is far easier when your web address is not tied to a platform account.
## FAQ
### Is Big Cartel cheaper than Squarespace?
Yes at low volume. Big Cartel's Platinum plan is $15/month with no platform transaction fee, while Squarespace's cheapest store-ready tier that removes its fee (Core) is $29/month billed annually. Squarespace Basic is $19/month but charges a 2% fee on store sales.
### Which is better for selling art or merch, Big Cartel or Squarespace?
Big Cartel is built for it and is the simpler option for a small catalog. Squarespace is better if you want a portfolio, blog or press page around the shop and care about design polish.
### Can I switch from Big Cartel to Squarespace later?
Yes. Export your products as CSV from Big Cartel, import them into Squarespace, then set up redirects from old product URLs so you keep search rankings. Expect to recreate design and some settings by hand.
### Do Big Cartel and Squarespace charge transaction fees?
Big Cartel does not take a percentage of your sales. Squarespace charges 2% on its Basic plan and 0% on Core and above. Payment processors charge their own fees on both.
## Final Word
**Big Cartel is a good shop; Squarespace is a good website with a shop.** Pick the one that matches the business you have today, and keep your product data portable for the one you will have in two years.
## Related Blog Posts
- [Best Big Cartel Alternatives in 2026](/blog/big-cartel-alternatives)
- [Squarespace Commerce Alternatives](/blog/squarespace-commerce-alternatives)
- [Best AI Store Builders](/blog/best-ai-store-builders)
- [How to Start an Online Store](/blog/how-to-start-an-online-store)
- [How Much Does an Ecommerce Website Cost?](/blog/how-much-does-an-ecommerce-website-cost)