Big Cartel vs Shopify: Cost and Fees Calculator
Enter your volumes to compare estimated monthly costs and fees for Big Cartel and Shopify across the selling types both offer, using published US pricing.
Selling online (eCommerce)
Estimates combine processing fees and monthly subscriptions on the plans noted above. One-time hardware, setup, and add-ons are excluded. Rates are published or typical US pricing as of mid-2026 and may have changed.
How the Big Cartel vs Shopify calculator works, and how the two compare
Big Cartel is a minimalist store builder for artists and makers with flat, cheap plans and no platform transaction fees. Big Cartel has a free plan for up to 5 products and paid plans from $9.99 to $19.99 per month, with no platform transaction fee; processing runs through Stripe or PayPal at 2.9% + $0.30. Shopify is the leading dedicated eCommerce platform in the US, which also sells in person through Shopify POS. Shopify Basic is $39 per month at 2.9% + $0.30 online with Shopify Payments (Grow $105 at 2.7% + $0.30); in-person processing is 2.6% + $0.10 with POS Lite included in every plan, and POS Pro adds $89 per month per location.
How they are similar: Where they overlap: both Big Cartel and Shopify cover selling online, which is what this calculator compares. They also share the same commercial model: both operate as a subscription platform where you pay a monthly plan plus payment processing. In both cases the bill is driven by a percentage of each sale plus any fixed per-transaction fee, which is why your average transaction size changes the effective rate as much as the headline percentage does.
How they differ: Only Shopify offers in-person card readers and a full POS system, so that side of the business is not part of this comparison. Big Cartel is deliberately tiny and cheap: perfect for artists with small catalogs, but it lacks the apps, checkout depth, and scalability of full platforms. Shopify's strength is depth and ecosystem: the largest app store in commerce and true omnichannel selling, but third-party gateways trigger an extra 0.6% to 2% fee and app costs creep up at scale.
Assumptions used in this calculator
- Big Cartel is modeled on: Free up to 5 products; paid from $9.99 per month, Stripe or PayPal processing 2.9% + $0.30.
- Shopify is modeled on: Basic $39 per month, 2.9% + $0.30 online with Shopify Payments.
- Rates are published or typical US pricing as of mid-2026 and change often; quote-based providers are modeled at representative rates. Always confirm current pricing with the provider.
- One-time hardware, setup, add-on apps, keyed-in transactions, international cards, and chargeback fees are excluded from the monthly figures.