8 Best BigCartel Alternatives: What Else is Out There?
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This article will show you eight BigCartel alternatives, and help you find your perfect online store builder.
BigCartel is one of the few ecommerce website builders that let you sell for free. In that sense, it’s a great product. However, it scored really poorly in our research and user testing – so poorly, in fact, that it finished last overall.
Out of all the platforms we tested, it’s the hardest to use, and requires some coding knowledge. The website features lack quality, too, so you can already see why BigCartel might not be for you.
That being said, BigCartel is best suited to small businesses looking to stay small, and it’s good for selling individual products like art pieces.
How does it compare to other ecommerce platforms? Well, to make things easier for you, we’ve done our research and asked some everyday folk to try each platform. So, we’ve really got under the skin of every website builder, and found eight of the best BigCartel alternatives out there. These are:
- Shopify – best overall ecommerce platform
- Wix – great value for money
- BigCommerce – best built-in features
- Squarespace – best designed templates
- Weebly – the one to watch
- Volusion – great analytics features
- GoDaddy – fastest to build an online store
- Ship4Shop – good, but there’s better out there
We’ll take you on a whistle-stop tour of each platform, giving you quick insights into each one and ultimately helping you choose the best alternative.
Excited to learn? Excellent. Let’s start the tour…
For more information, Compare Each Ecommerce Platform.
Or, check out our Best Ecommerce Website Builders page.
And why not read our review of the Best Ecommerce Platforms?
Best BigCartel Alternatives
Our independent research found the best ecommerce platforms on the market. Here’s a list of the top BigCartel alternatives.
The best BigCartel alternatives are:
- Shopify – best overall ecommerce platform
- Wix – great value for money
- BigCommerce – best built-in features
- Squarespace – best designed templates
- Weebly – the one to watch
- Volusion – great analytics features
- GoDaddy – fastest to build an online store
- Shift4Shop – good, but there’s better out there
We should clarify that while some of these platforms are specifically for ecommerce, others are website builders with ecommerce functionality. The latter is best if you want to build a cool website first, then sell a few products, but for bigger online stores, the ecommerce-specific platforms are what you need.
Shopify
Best all-around ecommerce platform
Shopify is our top rated ecommerce website builder. It grabbed the number one spot for Sales Features and Customer Score, and rated highly in other areas like Ease of Use and Help and Support. In short, Shopify is the best solution for your online store.
Pricing: $29/month – $299/month
Wix
Great value for money
The best ‘generic’ website builder on the market, Wix is definitely not a quick fix when it comes to building an online store. Thanks to its drag-and-drop design, you have the most creative control of any platform, too.
Pricing: $27.00/month – $59/month
BigCommerce
Best built-in features
BigCommerce has everything you need for building an ecommerce empire, all in one place. It’s the best platform for fast-growing businesses, offering the most scalable tools. If you have grand ecommerce ambitions, BigCommerce may be just what you need.
Pricing: $29.95/month – $299.95/month
Squarespace
Best designed templates
Squarespace creates sleek, sumptuous-looking online stores, providing the finest templates on the market. Naturally, it’s the best choice for photographers and business owners selling visually impressive products. It also has some brilliant ecommerce tools, so it’s not just a pretty face.
Pricing: $23.00/month – $49.00/month
Weebly
The one to watch
Money on your mind? Not only is Weebly easy to use, it’s great value for money. Create your awesome online store quickly, without breaking the bank. Weebly isn’t quite up to the mark when compared to its ecommerce competitors, but it’s a good all-around choice.
Pricing: $0/month – $26.00/month
Volusion
Great analytics features
Love crunching numbers? Volusion has all the analytics features to keep you entertained. While creating your Volusion website may not be the smoothest ride, you can really sink your teeth into some tasty inventory tools, payment gateways, and data reports.
Pricing: $29.00/month – $299.00/month
GoDaddy
Fastest to build an online store
Don’t have time to click, drag, and build? GoDaddy is the easiest way to kick start your ecommerce career. Using GoCentral, an ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) tool, you can have a GoDaddy online store ready to go live within a few minutes.
Pricing: $24.99/month
Shift4Shop
Good, but there’s better out there
Shift4Shop may rank quite poorly in our research, but it does have a really impressive backend. The inventory gives you lots of control, and you benefit from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) prompts when adding products. Sure, it’s hard to use, but if you love data, you could do a lot worse.
Pricing: $0/month – $229.00/month
We’ll now go into more detail on each BigCartel alternative…
For a quick overview, you can Compare Online Store Builders.
#1 Shopify
Best All-Around Ecommerce Platform
Shopify is the best platform for building your online store. Not only does it have the most comprehensive range of sales tools, but it’s really easy to use.
In fact, Shopify ticks all the boxes. It provides 24/7 customer support, and lets you sell across multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. The platform loses points for enforcing transaction fees if you don’t use its own payment gateway, but overall, you can’t really do much better than Shopify.
| Shopify Pros | Shopify Cons |
|---|---|
| Multichannel selling | No free domain for the first year |
| Brilliant inventory system | Enforces transaction fees when using alternative payment methods |
Why Choose Shopify Instead of BigCartel?
- Best overall ecommerce platform
- More comprehensive set of sales tools
- Easier to use
Like the sound of Shopify? Check out our full Shopify Review.
Or, for a comparison piece, read our BigCommerce vs Shopify article to help you make the right choice.
#2 Wix
Great Value For Money
Wix is a website builder first and foremost – the best one out there, in fact – but it’s now one of the better options for ecommerce websites. Its intuitive drag-and-drop design makes building your online store a breeze, and can help develop your brand image as well.
It may lack some more advanced sales features but overall, the Wix ecommerce experience is an enjoyable one.
Wix also came first in our testing for Customer Support and Value for Money, so you can see why it’s so popular.
| Wix Pros | Wix Cons |
|---|---|
| Really easy to use | No stock management alerts |
| Add product videos | Too much creative freedom can be overwhelming |
Why Choose Wix Instead of BigCartel?
- Much easier to use
- Most creative control of any platform
- Better customer support
Read our in-depth Wix Ecommerce Review.
Or see how Wix compares to Shopify.
#3 BigCommerce
Best Built-In Features
Sign up for BigCommerce’s 15-day free trial today to get one month free when you choose your paid plan. This is a limited time offer, so don’t miss out!
As the name suggests, BigCommerce is for large online stores. It’s the most scalable platform of the bunch, offering all the features you need for quickly growing your business, all in one place.
BigCommerce is harder to use than Shopify or Wix. Its interface is covered with jargon, but that’s to be expected from such a powerful platform.
However, once you climb over the initial BigCommerce learning curve, you can dive into its depth of features: these include multi-channel selling, 40+ payment gateways, and the ability to sell digital, physical, and service-based products.
| BigCommerce Pros | BigCommerce Cons |
|---|---|
| Best and most built-in features | Editing interface is hard to navigate |
| Fantastic SEO features | An increase in sales can cause your monthly plan to increase automatically |
Why Choose BigCommerce Instead of BigCartel?
- Best built-in tools on the market
- Best for businesses looking to scale
- Only platform letting you sell physical, digital, and service-based products
For more detail on BigCommerce, read our in-depth BigCommerce Review.
#4 Squarespace
Best Designed Templates
With Squarespace stores, your products take center stage. The builder has the best designed templates of any platform, so you’ll have a beautiful website to match your products.
All Squarespace’s templates are mobile responsive, too, so your products will look good on every device. That’s important now that over haf of web traffic comes from mobile!
Squarespace is tricky to use compared to other non-ecommerce specific builders. It has a much smaller app store than its competitors, but overall it has real strength and depth in its features. Some of our favourites include the social media integration and in-depth analytics reports.
It’s not the cheapest option out there, with price plans starting at $23 per month, but the builder does provide a 14-day free trial.
| Squarespace Pros | Squarespace Cons |
|---|---|
| Best designed templates | Lacks numerous payment options |
| Great inventory system | Small app store |
Why Choose Squarespace Instead of BigCartel?
- Best designed templates
- Better quality of features
- Social media integration
Read our full Squarespace ecommerce review.
Or, check out our Shopify vs Squarespace article.
#5 Weebly
The One to Watch
Cost conscious? Weebly could be the one for you. You can sell for free with Weebly, making it an extremely budget-friendly choice!
With monthly price plans starting from just $6 per month, you might be worrying that Weebly lacks real strength – but fear not. Having recently been bought by payment processors Square, it’s becoming a better player in the ecommerce field, and offers some of the best blogging features on the market.
That said, Weebly doesn’t provide any big data tools, so you can’t manage your store inventory or update stock levels. You can’t sell across social media, either.
On the plus side, Weebly is a really easy builder to use. And thanks to this classic combination of ease of use and great value for money, Weebly presents itself as a good choice for most small businesses.
| Weebly Pros | Weebly Cons |
|---|---|
| Really easy to use | Cannot customize checkout page |
| Best value for money | Cannot sell across multiple channels |
Why Choose Weebly Instead of BigCartel?
- Much easier to use
- Better for blogging
- Users aren’t required to code app integrations
Like the sound of Weebly? Read our in-depth Weebly Ecommerce Review.
But how does Weebly fare against Shopify? Click here to find out.
#6 Volusion
Great Analytics Features
Volusion sits somewhere in the middle of the ecommerce platform park. It has some really good data features and analytics tools, and provides plenty of payment gateways, but it has no real niche. It’s also hard to use.
There’s no blogging feature and you can’t sell digital products, meaning Volusion can’t match the likes of Shopify or BigCommerce in terms of features.
However, it offers plenty of analytical insight to help you grow your business more easily, and it has a mobile app so you can sell on the go. Overall, Volusion is an average product with some redeeming features.
| Volusion Pros | Volusion Cons |
|---|---|
| Lots of payment gateways | Cannot sell digital products |
| Great data analytics | No blogging tools |
Why Choose Volusion Instead of BigCartel?
- More payment gateways
- Better data tools
- Clearer inventory system
You can read our full Volusion Review here.
#7 GoDaddy
Fastest to Build an Online Store
Got a need for speed? GoDaddy is the quickest way to build an ecommerce store. Using ADI to create a website with cheetah-like speed, it may indeed feel like cheating, but it’s the best option for time conscious users.
GoDaddy sacrifices creative freedom for speed, so if you have a keen eye for design, you should look to Wix or Squarespace. The platform also lacks quality in its features, but for overall ease of use, GoDaddy makes building a website child’s play.
There’s no confusion when it comes to payments, either. With a flat price of $24.99, it’s easy to manage your invoices and checks at the end of each month. It also offers a one month free trial.
| GoDaddy Pros | GoDaddy Cons |
|---|---|
| Easiest to use | Some features lack quality |
| Supports most industries of any platform | Cannot sell digital products |
Why Choose GoDaddy Instead of BigCartel?
- Easiest platform to use
- Fastest way to build an ecommerce store
- Supports wider range of industries
For more information, check out our GoDaddy Ecommerce Review.
#8 Shift4Shop
Good, But There’s Better Out There
Shift4Shop is the iceberg of our list. It’s tricky to navigate around and doesn’t look like much on the surface, but dive a little deeper and there’s much more to it. In short, Shift4Shop has a really impressive backend, but it’s really hard to use.
However, despite its poor rankings in our testing, Shift4Shop actually has a fantastic inventory system. You can change themes anytime, which gives you lots of flexibility, and it comes with an excellent third party app installation tool named Zapier.
| Shift4Shop Pros | Shift4Shop Cons |
|---|---|
| SEO prompts when adding products | Hard to use |
| Lots of inventory management control | No mobile app |
Why Choose Shift4Shop Instead of BigCartel?
- Better for SEO
- Easier to integrate apps
- More extensive backend
Check out our Ship4Shop Ecommerce Review for more information on this platform.
What About Open-Source Ecommerce Platforms?
Website builders aren’t the only option for creating an online store. There are open-source platforms to consider, too.
Also known as self-hosted softwares, these platforms give you much more freedom than website builders, but they’re harder to use. Why so difficult? There’s just more to do, and they require a solid grasp of tech – for starters, you need to code the website and organise web hosting yourself.
Two of the most popular open-source platforms are Magento and WooCommerce. Both offer you unlimited customization because you can code your store to your heart’s content, making them ideal for tech savvy perfectionists.
While you can build any type of ecommerce store with Magento, WooCommerce is slightly different. It’s a WordPress plugin, so, unsurprisingly, you’ll need a WordPress site to use it.
How to Choose a BigCartel Alternative
When looking for a BigCartel alternative, there are some things to consider:
- Is it easier to use?
- Does it have more built-in features?
- Am I required to code anything?
- How expensive is it?
- Do the templates look good?
We understand it’s a difficult choice, particularly with so many options out there. So it’s worth knowing that each platform in our list of eight has a free plan or free trial, so you can try before you buy.
Is BigCartel Right For You?
Still undecided? No big deal – BigCartel might even be the best option for you! After all, it does have over 250,000 trusted users around the globe.
BigCartel has a brilliant niche: it’s the only platform on the market that lets you sell for free. In contrast, while a builder like Wix lets you build a store at no cost, to actually sell products, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.
However, there are reasons why BigCartel came last in our independent research. Some of these include:
- Hardest platform to use
- Coding knowledge is required
- Poor theme designs
- Features lack quality
Despite these flaws, BigCartel is a good option for small businesses looking to stay small. Better still, if you have some coding knowledge, you can watch your BigCartel store blossom into something more beautiful.
Best BigCartel Alternatives: Summary
You’re looking for a BigCartel alternative, and we’ve introduced eight candidates. You should now have a better understanding of what else is out there, and what other platforms are best at.
Hopefully it’s still fresh, but let’s quickly recap the best BigCartel alternatives:
- Shopify – best overall ecommerce platform
- Wix – great value for money
- BigCommerce – best built-in features
- Squarespace – best designed templates
- Weebly – the one to watch
- Volusion – great analytics features
- GoDaddy – fastest to build an online store
- Ship4Shop – good, but there’s better out there
When choosing a BigCartel alternative, you must consider the pricing, ease of use, design, and quality of features available. Each online store is different, and so are the platforms.
Remember, each platform on our list either has a free plan or free trial, which means you can test each one before spending a single dollar.
Sure, BigCartel does let you sell free of charge, but its quality could ultimately cost you in the long run.
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