If you're trying to figure out which is better between BigCartel and Squarespace, then you're in luck. Both platforms cater to different types of users such as artists, creatives, and small business owners. As someone with over 20 years of experience in digital marketing and web development, I know how important it is to choose a platform that offers user-friendly features, flexible design options, and great e-commerce tools. Stick around to find out more!
Many users face challenges in selecting the right platform due to differences in customization options, scalability, and costs. This guide aims to alleviate these pain points by providing an in-depth analysis of Big Cartel and Squarespace. Whether you're looking for a minimalist store setup or a sophisticated, fully customizable website, this comparison will help you make an informed decision.
TL;DR 📌 For most small businesses and creatives, Squarespace is the better choice due to its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and robust e-commerce features. However, if you're an independent artist or maker looking for a simple, cost-effective platform specifically tailored for selling a small number of products, BigCartel might be the ideal option.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | BigCartel | 🥇 Squarespace (My Top Pick!) |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Very easy to set up, limited customization options. | Intuitive with a slight learning curve for customization. |
| Key Features & Flexibility | Basic features for selling products, not as feature-rich as other platforms. | Wide range of features, including eCommerce, blogging, and marketing tools. |
| SEO & Marketing | Basic SEO features. | Comprehensive SEO features and integrations with marketing tools. |
| Ecommerce | Focused on small stores with basic features. | Advanced eCommerce features for stores of all sizes. |
| Customer Support and Resources | Email support and a small range of articles. | 24/7 customer support, extensive knowledge base, and community forum. |
| Pricing | Plans start at $9.99/month. Check Pricing | Plans start at $12/month. Check Pricing |
| My View | BigCartel is simple and budget-friendly but limited in features. | Squarespace offers robust features and is more suitable for growing or larger online stores. |
Overview of BigCartel vs Squarespace:
Big Cartel:
- Key Features:
- Artist-Focused Platform: Designed specifically for artists, makers, and small businesses to sell their products online.
- Simple Store Setup: Designed for small shops, Big Cartel offers an easy and quick setup process.
- Product Listings: Allows for listing a limited number of products based on the chosen plan.
- Customizable Templates: Provides simple templates that are easy to customize.
- Payment Processing: Integrates with Stripe and PayPal for secure transactions.
- No Transaction Fees: Big Cartel does not charge transaction fees on sales, apart from payment gateway fees.
- Pricing:
- Free Plan: Up to 5 products.
- Paid Plans: Start at $9.99/month for up to 50 products, with more options for larger inventories.
- Strengths:
- User-Friendly: Extremely easy to use, especially for beginners.
- Affordable: Offers budget-friendly pricing, particularly for small inventories.
- Focus on Creatives: Ideal for artists and small creators looking for a straightforward way to sell their work.
- Weaknesses:
- Limited Features: Basic e-commerce functionalities with minimal customization options.
- Scalability: Not ideal for large stores or businesses with extensive product lines.
- Template Variety: Limited selection of templates and design flexibility.
Squarespace:
- Key Features:
- Versatile Website Builder: An all-in-one platform suitable for creating a wide range of websites, including e-commerce stores.
- Design Flexibility: Known for its beautiful, professionally designed templates that are fully customizable.
- All-in-One Platform: Combines website building, blogging, and e-commerce functionalities.
- E-commerce Tools: Comprehensive e-commerce features, including product management, shipping, and taxes.
- SEO and Marketing: Built-in SEO tools and marketing integrations, including email campaigns.
- 24/7 Customer Support: Access to support via email and live chat, along with extensive documentation.
- Pricing:
- Personal Plan: Starts at $16/month (no e-commerce).
- Business Plan: $23/month (includes e-commerce with transaction fees).
- Basic Commerce: $27/month (no transaction fees).
- Advanced Commerce: $49/month (advanced e-commerce features).
- Strengths:
- Professional Design: Offers a wide range of high-quality, customizable templates.
- Feature-Rich: Includes a wide array of tools for e-commerce, blogging, and marketing.
- Comprehensive Support: Reliable customer support and extensive resources.
- Weaknesses:
- Higher Cost: Can be more expensive compared to Big Cartel, especially for advanced e-commerce features.
- Complexity: More features mean a steeper learning curve for complete beginners.
- Transaction Fees: Business plan includes transaction fees unless on a higher tier.
Ease of Use:
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel offers one of the easiest onboarding processes we’ve seen on any creative platform. You can easily sign up for an account and immediately get started with a working five-item store.
Also, it allows users to create their own unique online storefronts. Users have at least eighteen different website templates at their fingertips, all of which are customisable in terms of colours, fonts, and widgets. Once that’s set up, you can add your products, then select either Stripe or PayPal as modes of payment, and start doing business.
Squarespace:
The thing about Squarespace is that learning how to use it takes a while. Unlike other site builders, it isn’t laid out as systematically and some tools are buried deep within the UI. You’ll need to sit down with it for an hour or so to orient yourself with the platform, but once you get the hang of it, it’s intuitive enough to adapt to your work style.
Winner – BigCartel! Big Cartel wins in this BigCartel vs Squarespace ease of use comparison. It can help you get started much faster and it’s a whole lot easier to learn.
Features & Flexibility:
Out of the box:
Big Cartel:
Developed for small and medium scale businesses, as well as startups, Big Cartel’s site building platform enables users to create their first five-item store online. We see this as the ultimate in ease: you don’t need to know any form of coding or even a background in site creation to use Big Cartel’s storefront builder. Much like the most basic and user-friendly site-building platforms, you just point, drag, and click elements to suit your purposes.
Squarespace:
Squarespace offers a stellar ecommerce building and hosting package right out of the gate. It has an appealing WYSIWYG editor, standard subscription inclusions offer unlimited bandwidth, more than ample storage, and an incredibly extensive range of ecommerce tools for both products and services.
Themes & Template Design:
Big Cartel:
Despite the fact that you can't really work on your design options from the primary dashboard (you'll find customisation under the Account Settings dash), you have to admit that Big Cartel's eighteen pre-installed customisable themes takes a great deal of stress and guesswork out of the equation in terms of your storefront's aesthetic. While there isn't much in terms of variety, you have to admit that all the templates at your fingertips are all clean, modern, and professional-looking – perfect for creating a striking-looking storefront.
Squarespace:
Depending on your industry, you’re bound to find a Squarespace template to suit your website or online store. The platform offers over 100 distinctive templates which are organised by industry rather than by aesthetic.
3rd party apps market:
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel's ability to enhance its users' capabilities through a choice selection of third-party applications is an ace in a winning hand for this platform. From maximising one's marketing initiatives, to social media integration in order to expand one's market, and the ability to work with leading payment platforms certainly makes things easier for online store owners. But one particular app, Pulley, gives Big Cartel an edge against Etsy as it enables creatives – composers, musicians, authors, and even filmmakers – to to sell digital downloads through their sites.
Squarespace:
Squarespace’s in-platform marketplace Squarespace Extensions offers more than 3,000 unique applications ranging from productivity management solutions to ecommerce tools. Rather than depend on community-made plugins, many of Squarespace’s integrations come from notable – and trustworthy – names in the IT industry like Google, Stripe, PayPal, and Mailchimp.
Hosting:
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel is a web-based and fully-hosted platform which means that it is also the server which houses user sites. While this takes the stress of having to look for a host, it unfortunately means you can’t host a Big Cartel-built site anywhere else.
Squarespace:
Squarespace offers its users fully-managed hosting to ensure constant uptime.
Backups:
Big Cartel:
Automated backups are made possible on Big Cartel through its integration with Amazon AWS’ backup facility which can be programmed to backup site data within a set schedule.
Squarespace:
Squarespace doesn’t have an automated backup process in its UI, but it offers a tutorial in its knowledge base for backing up and redeploying saved site data in the event of a crash or hacking incident.
Migration:
Big Cartel:
While migration from a different platform to Big Cartel is not built in, applications like LitExtension make things easier for those who want to transfer their sites or online stores. It just takes a few steps, and soon one will be working exclusively on Big Cartel.
Squarespace:
Moving non-ecommerce sites or standard blogs is easy, as there is a feature already built into the UI. Store data, on the other hand, needs to be uploaded to one’s Squarespace account manually in the form of *.csv files.
Security:
Big Cartel:
SSL is built into Big Cartel sites, so encryption isn’t an issue. In recent years, with user data privacy becoming a serious concern, it has also revised its user policy on privacy to protect its customers’ information.
Squarespace:
The platform offers SSL certificates for all users, along with two-factor authentication, advanced password protection, as well as measures against Denial of Service attacks.
Winner – Squarespace! Both platforms have so much to offer, but we have to declare in favour of Squarespace in this BigCartel vs Squarespace features comparison.
eCommerce Tools:
POS:
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel’s POS feature is powered by payment gateway developer Stripe. The Payment by Stripe system allows users to collect payment in person with the same Stripe account they use to collect payments online. Likewise, this mobile POS tool also helps users manage their stores aside from handling transactions.
Squarespace:
Squarespace teamed up with payment solutions developer Square for its own POS system which enables users to accept payments in person. The system also allows them to manage their inventory through one’s mobile device. Unfortunately, the system is currently available only for iOS.
Abandoned cart saver:
Big Cartel:
Having an abandoned cart recovery feature is a great way to help boost sales on one’s site. However, this feature is not automatically available on Big Cartel. Instead, you’ll need to use a secondary email marketing solution like Mailchimp which could send messages to users who have items left in their carts from previous login sessions.
Squarespace:
Where Squarespace is concerned, abandoned cart recovery is only offered as a premium service and works by sending customers an email reminder and a link back to the site.
Payment Gateways:
Big Cartel:
In terms of payment processors, Big Cartel works with ApplePay, PayPal, and Stripe.
Squarespace:
Squarespace Commerce enables users to accept credit/debit card payments via its own facility, or through third parties like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal.
Winner – DRAW! Both platforms have so much to offer, so we are calling this a tie in this BigCartel vs Squarespace ecommerce features comparison.
SEO & Marketing:
SEO:
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel offers the following SEO capabilities to its users:
- Unique titles and meta descriptions based on their products and pages;
- Valid HTML markup;
- Neat and already search-engine-ready URLs, as well as canonical URLs for custom domains;
- Quick navigation;
- Appropriate headers, anchors, and alt tags; and
- A robots.txt file pointing to a sitemap pre-generated by the system.
Squarespace:
Squarespace’s UI is already equipped with its own impressive set of SEO tools.
Mobile First:
Big Cartel:
Store management on the run is a crucial thing for ecommerce, so Big Cartel's mobile app is a perfect way to help people work on the go whether they're using iOS or Android devices. While these don’t exactly have the same level of functionality as the desktop / website version of the platform, they will nevertheless help users track orders and make necessary adjustments to orders whenever necessary regardless of their location and the time of day.
Squarespace:
Squarespace is available to download on both iOS and Android devices. There is a caveat, however: do not expect the same level of flexibility and functionality as the standard desktop edition.
Marketing:
Big Cartel:
Real-time monitoring of your site's metrics and analytics gives users the real picture as to how well (or not) their online stores are performing – and that's where Big Cartel's site monitoring dash comes in handy. Not only will it tell users how many people browsed through the store. It also points out which items were bought, which items got the most views, how many were left in people's virtual shopping carts, and at which specific times did one's store see the most purchases. It's a great way to determine which products are the most saleable and which ones are moving too slowly to be profitable.
Squarespace:
Along with a number of third-party options, Squarespace offers users its own digital marketing tools and analytics, with options ranging from email-centric solutions, social media integrations, and metrics monitoring solutions to give you a clearer idea on how well your site is performing.
Pagespeed:
Big Cartel:
Based on our January 2023 speed test, the average pagespeed / loading speed for Big Cartel is pegged at around 205 milliseconds with an overall performance grade of 91 out of 100.
Squarespace:
Squarespace’s pagespeed has improved slightly since our last review of the platform, clocking in at 1.18 seconds, with a performance grade of 68 out of 100.
Winner – DRAW! Both BigCartel and Squarespace are neck and neck in this SEO and marketing features comparison.
Support and Resources:
Big Cartel:
As with most creative platforms, Big Cartel’s primary online support measure is its Help Centre which is divided into different sections ranging from the basics of setting up, to online security, to customisation, to billing – practically everything you need to know about working with the platform and more.
Some platforms rely on knowledge bases available on their websites. Big Cartel on the other hand allows its users to interact with it through its social media channels. Online technical support thru live chat is only offered through its website during business hours (EST) and only from Monday through Friday.
For more pressing concerns regarding your Big Cartel account and transactions, you will need to send the platform an email requesting support. Turnaround is a little slow, though: around two days tops.
But what we like about Big Cartel is that even customers are given priority regarding support. There is a separate email address where they can air their grievances regarding certain vendors on the platform.
Squarespace:
Squarespace’s customer support is efficient and knowledgeable about common technical issues plaguing site users. Issue escalation to more knowledgeable team members also goes off without a hitch, and their knowledge base is extensive and frequently updated.
Winner – DRAW! Between BigCartel vs Squarespace, both platforms are levelled in terms of customer service.
BigCartel vs Squarespace Pricing:
Pricing Comparison Table
| Platform | Plan Name | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Key Features | Free Trial | My View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BigCartel | Free | $0 | N/A | 5 product limit, 1 image per product, free themes, basic tracking | Yes (Free Forever Plan) | Best for small stores or beginners wanting to test selling online without any upfront cost. |
| Gold | $9.99 | N/A | 50 product limit, 5 images per product, discount codes, shipment tracking | Yes | Ideal for small businesses that need more product listings with added features like shipment tracking. | |
| Platinum | $19.99 | N/A | 500 product limit, customizable themes, inventory tracking, sales tax autopilot | Yes | Suitable for more established sellers needing greater product capacity and customisation options. | |
| Squarespace | Personal | $16/month | $12/month billed annually ($144/year) | Free custom domain, SSL security, unlimited bandwidth and storage, SEO features | 14-day free trial | Best for personal websites with simple designs and blogging capabilities. |
| Business | $26/month | $18/month billed annually ($216/year) | All Personal plan features + marketing tools, advanced analytics, professional email, premium integrations | 14-day free trial | Best for growing businesses that need additional marketing features and professional email integration. | |
| Basic Commerce | $35/month | $27/month billed annually ($324/year) | All Business plan features + no transaction fees, advanced commerce analytics, customer accounts, POS support | 14-day free trial | Ideal for eCommerce-focused businesses needing advanced analytics and additional selling capabilities. | |
| Advanced Commerce | $54/month | $49/month billed annually ($588/year) | All Basic Commerce features + advanced shipping, subscriptions, and automated discounts | 14-day free trial | Best for established online stores needing complete eCommerce solutions and advanced shipping options. |
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel is free to use under its Gold plan, but users may only sell five products at any given time.
The Platinum plan will set you back by $9.99 monthly and the Diamond plan by $19.99 a month. Both allow users to sell more products and also gain access to numerous premium features that will enhance their store management experience.
Click for the latest BigCartel pricing
Squarespace:
Squarespace’s four plans range from $12 to $40 monthly, and features are dependent on your plan of choice. For ecommerce users, we recommend the two highest subscription tiers as these options offer the best possible range of tools and solutions.
Click for the latest Squarespace pricing
Free trial, refund policy, and money-back guarantee:
Big Cartel:
As stated in their service terms, Big Cartel offers a free plan but keep in mind that features will be limited.
Squarespace:
Winner – DRAW! Between Squarespace and Big Cartel, both offer great value for money, so they are tied in this pricing comparison.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Choosing between BigCartel and Squarespace depends on your specific needs, technical skills, and business goals. BigCartel is an excellent choice if you're an independent artist or small maker looking for a simple, affordable platform to sell a limited number of products without the need for advanced features or extensive customization. It's ideal for those who prefer a minimalist approach and want to get their products online quickly.
On the other hand, Squarespace is perfect for small to medium-sized businesses and creatives who require more design flexibility, advanced e-commerce functionalities, and scalability. If you want to create a fully customized website with robust features to grow your online store, Squarespace provides the tools and flexibility to make it happen.
Who Is It Best For?
- BigCartel: Best for independent artists, crafters, and small makers looking for a simple, cost-effective platform to sell a limited number of products.
- Squarespace: Best for small to medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives who need a versatile website builder with advanced design and e-commerce features.
Who Is It Not Best For?
- Squarespace: May not suit users who prefer a minimalist platform or those looking for the lowest-cost option for selling a small number of products.
- BigCartel: Not ideal for businesses needing advanced e-commerce features, extensive customization, or those planning to scale significantly.
BigCartel vs Squarespace eCommerce Alternatives:
Among the best alternatives to these two platforms are;
Compare leading eCommerce website builders by pricing, best use case, core selling features, and review status. Use this table to quickly shortlist platforms for building an online store, selling products, managing payments, and scaling a commerce-focused website.
| Platform | Price / Basic Plan + CTA | Best For | Key Features | Transaction Fees | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 Shopify | Free trial / Paid from $29/mo annually or $39/mo monthly | Check Pricing | Best overall ecommerce website builder | Full online store, unlimited products, app store, multichannel selling, POS, strong checkout | Shopify Payments card fees vary by market; extra third-party payment provider fees may apply | Shopify Review |
| 2. Wix eCommerce | Free site builder / Ecommerce from Core plan around $29/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for beginners and small stores | Drag-and-drop editor, AI builder, templates, product pages, bookings, payments, marketing tools | Processor fees apply; no separate Wix platform transaction fee on standard ecommerce sales | Wix eCommerce Review |
| 3. BigCommerce | Free trial / Paid from $39/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for scaling stores with built-in features | Unlimited products, strong SEO, multi-channel selling, B2B options, no-code storefront tools | Processor fees apply; verify 2026 payment provider changes before publishing | BigCommerce Review |
| 4. Squarespace Commerce | Free trial / Paid commerce plans from around $23/mo+ annually | Check Pricing | Best for design-led ecommerce sites | Beautiful templates, product pages, subscriptions, scheduling, email campaigns, member areas | No commerce transaction fee on current plans; Squarespace Payments or processor fees apply | Squarespace eCommerce Review |
| 5. WooCommerce | Free plugin / Hosting required | Check Hosting | Best for WordPress control | Open-source ecommerce, flexible plugins, full ownership, SEO control, huge extension ecosystem | No WooCommerce platform fee; gateway, hosting, plugin, and development costs apply | WooCommerce Review |
| 6. Square Online | Free / Paid plans available | Check Pricing | Best for local stores and POS users | Online store, POS sync, pickup, delivery, inventory tools, simple product setup | Square payment processing fees apply | Square Online Store Review |
| 7. Ecwid by Lightspeed | Starter from $5/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for adding a store to an existing site | Embeddable store, social selling, marketplace selling, product sync, multi-site use | No Ecwid platform transaction fee; gateway fees apply | Ecwid Review |
| 8. Hostinger Website Builder | Paid from $2.99/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best budget ecommerce builder | AI website builder, hosting, SSL, basic ecommerce, product tools, no-code setup | No platform transaction fee; payment processor fees apply | Hostinger Review |
| 9. Webflow Ecommerce | Ecommerce plans from around $29/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for designers and custom storefronts | Visual design control, CMS, animations, custom layouts, responsive product pages | 2% Webflow fee on Standard ecommerce plan; higher ecommerce plans remove Webflow transaction fee | Webflow Review |
| 10. GoDaddy Online Store | Paid ecommerce plans from around $29.99/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for quick store launches | Simple builder, appointment tools, marketing suite, product listings, payments | Processor fees apply | Review Coming Soon |
| 11. Duda eCommerce | Website plan plus ecommerce add-on from around $8/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for agencies building client stores | Client management, white-label tools, team workflows, ecommerce add-ons, fast pages | No Duda platform transaction fee; gateway fees apply | Duda Review |
| 12. Big Cartel | Free / Paid from $15/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for artists and small catalogs | Simple store builder, product listings, discount codes, digital products on paid plans | No Big Cartel transaction fee; processor fees apply | Big Cartel Review |
| 13. Sellfy | Paid from $22/mo annually or $29/mo monthly | Check Pricing | Best for digital products and creators | Digital products, physical products, subscriptions, print-on-demand, simple storefront | No Sellfy transaction fee on current paid plans; processor fees apply | Review Coming Soon |
| 14. Payhip | Free / Paid from $29/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best free-start digital store builder | Digital downloads, courses, memberships, affiliate tools, simple storefront | 5% Payhip fee on Free, 2% on Plus, 0% on Pro; processor fees also apply | Review Coming Soon |
| 15. Shift4Shop | Free with Shift4 Payments / Paid or custom options | Check Pricing | Best for US merchants using Shift4 | Store builder, product management, checkout, marketing tools, built-in ecommerce features | Shift4 processing terms apply; availability and terms vary by merchant/location | Shift4Shop / 3dcart Review |
| 16. ShopWired | Paid from around £34.95/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best UK-focused ecommerce builder | UK ecommerce features, VAT-friendly setup, themes, product management, support | No ShopWired platform transaction fee; processor fees apply | ShopWired Review |
| 17. Adobe Commerce / Magento | Magento Open Source free / Adobe Commerce custom pricing | Check Pricing | Best for enterprise and complex catalogs | Advanced catalog control, B2B, multi-store, custom workflows, enterprise scalability | No standard platform transaction fee; hosting, development, gateway, and enterprise costs apply | Magento Review |
| 18. PrestaShop | Free open-source platform / Hosting required | Check Hosting | Best open-source Shopify alternative | Customizable store, modules marketplace, product management, international selling features | No PrestaShop platform transaction fee; hosting, modules, and gateway fees apply | PrestaShop Review |
| 19. IONOS Online Store | Paid plans with changing introductory pricing | Check Pricing | Best budget EU-friendly store builder | AI website setup, domain and hosting bundle, SSL, ecommerce tools, multilingual options | Processor fees apply; renewal pricing should be checked carefully | IONOS Website Builder Review |
| 20. Lightspeed Retail + eCom | Paid from around $89/mo+ | Check Pricing | Best for retail businesses needing POS + ecommerce | POS, inventory, online store, retail reporting, loyalty, multi-location tools | Lightspeed Payments or processor fees apply | Review Coming Soon |
Final word:
To wrap up our BigCartel vs Squarespace comparison; For most small businesses and creatives, Squarespace is the recommended choice due to its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and robust e-commerce features. However, if you're an independent artist seeking a simple, affordable platform for a small product line, BigCartel is a strong contender.
Ready to build your online store?
Click for the latest Squarespace pricing
That's all for now:
If you've read all the way through this BigCartel vs Squarespace comparison, we are thankful. We hope you can now answer the question of what are the pros and cons of these website builders! We have a large collection of articles, guides, and comparison reviews of eCommerce solutions, web hosting providers, website builders, and more! Feel free to check them out;
Hi, I’m Stuart Kerr Spindlow; the publisher behind StuartKerrs.com.
I review and evaluate digital marketing software used by businesses, marketers, and website owners; including hosting platforms, website builders, email marketing tools, SEO software, analytics, and automation systems.
I hold a degree in Computer Science from The Open University and began my career working in financial technology, developing and supporting production software systems, banking intranets, and web platforms. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve tested, implemented, and analysed a wide range of digital tools across real-world business environments.
Today, this site focuses on independent, experience-led software reviews. Tools are assessed based on usability, performance, pricing transparency, long-term value, and suitability for real businesses; not vendor claims or sponsorships.
I don’t run an agency and I don’t sell services through this site. The goal is simple: publish honest, practical software reviews that help people choose the right tools with confidence.
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