Unlimited products, free
List 5, 50 or 5,000 — all on the free Community plan. Big Cartel caps free at 5 products, Diamond ($24/mo) at 500.
Big Cartel alternative · no product limits
The 6th product
The 6th product
shouldn’t cost you.
Big Cartel’s free plan caps you at 5 products. Grow to 6 and it’s $12/month. To 51 and it’s $24. Freewebstore is free forever with unlimited products, unlimited traffic and unlimited variants. Since 2007.
A million stores built since 2007. The highest-rated free ecommerce platform on Trustpilot.
Big Cartel vs Freewebstore.
Big Cartel is designed for artists with small ranges. Freewebstore is designed for anyone selling anything.
Multiple images per product
Add as many photos as you like on every product, every plan. Big Cartel’s free plan restricts you to 1 image per product.
More payment options
Stripe (which powers Apple Pay and Google Pay), PayPal (Wallet and Advanced Card Payments), Ryft for UK/EU, PayUmoney for India, plus offline options. Big Cartel is Stripe + PayPal only.
AI product copy
Snap a photo, our AI writes the product description and SEO metadata. Free on every plan. Big Cartel doesn’t ship AI.
Multi-channel selling
Instagram Shop, Facebook Shop, TikTok Shop, Google Shopping, Pinterest — native integrations, all free.
Since 2007
Same platform, refined for 17+ years. Serving stores from first sale to hundreds of thousands.
Big Cartel is designed for small. You’re not staying small.
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The 5-product ceiling is a growth tax
Add a sixth listing and Big Cartel bumps you to $144/year. Add colour variants and you’re out of products fast. Freewebstore Community has zero product cap — ever.
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One photo per product isn’t enough
Buyers want to see the back, the side, the details. Freewebstore has no image limit on any plan. Big Cartel’s free plan gives you one.
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Two payment options isn’t enough
Big Cartel supports Stripe and PayPal. Freewebstore supports those plus Ryft (UK/EU), PayUmoney (India), and offline payments — better for international buyers, better for lower processing rates as you scale.
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Even paid tiers have caps
Big Cartel Diamond ($24/mo) caps you at 500 products. Freewebstore paid plans have no product cap, cheaper per-sale fees (0.5%), and ship features Big Cartel doesn’t offer at any price.
The 500-product wall — and what’s missing before you hit it.
Big Cartel keeps things simple by leaving things out. That works until it doesn’t.
Big Cartel is genuinely cheap and genuinely simple. That’s its whole pitch. The catch is that both its subscription tiers and its feature set stop where the platform stops — and that ceiling arrives sooner than most sellers plan for.
| Big Cartel plan | Annual cost | Product limit | Cart recovery | Multi-channel | AI product copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold (free) | $0 | 5 | No | No | No |
| Platinum ($9.99/mo) | $120 | 50 | No | No | No |
| Diamond ($19.99/mo) | $240 | 500 | No | No | No |
| Titanium ($29.99/mo) | $360 | 500 | No | No | No |
Pricing from bigcartel.com/pricing, published mid-2026. USD.
Even on the top plan, there’s no cart abandonment recovery, no product reviews, no Instagram or Facebook shop integration, no AI product copy. You cap at 500 products. Ever. And the paid tiers cost more than a Freewebstore StartUp plan that has all of the above — plus no product limit.
What you get for the same money.
Compared at a $30k/year store — where a growing seller starts to feel every missing feature.
| Cost or feature | Big Cartel Diamond | Freewebstore Community | Freewebstore StartUp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform subscription | $240/yr | $0 | $180/yr |
| Product limit | 500 (hard cap) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Cart recovery, reviews, multi-channel | Not available at any price | Included | Included |
| AI product copy & SEO | Not available at any price | Included | Included |
| Platform sales fee on $30k | $0 | $750 (2.5%) | $150 (0.5%) |
| Year-one total | $240 — missing features | $750 — full features | $330 — full features |
Bottom line. Big Cartel is genuinely cheaper if you have fewer than 500 products AND you don’t need marketing tools. Freewebstore is cheaper if you have more than 500 products, or you want cart recovery, reviews and social selling — or you plan to grow into either. We’re not going to pretend Big Cartel is bad. It isn’t — for the store it’s designed for. It just isn’t designed to grow.
Import your artist store in an hour.
Same customers, same URL, no product cap.
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Sign up (no card)
Create a free Freewebstore account. Pick from 100+ mobile-responsive themes designed for makers, artists and craft brands.
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Run Smart Import
Export from Big Cartel, drop the file into Freewebstore and Smart Import maps the columns for you. Free up to 1,000 products, unlimited on Pro and Ridge. Now add all the extra photos and variants you were skipping.
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Point your domain, cancel Big Cartel
Update DNS to Freewebstore, free SSL applied. Then cancel Big Cartel — and grow past 5 products without a monthly bill.
Leaving Big Cartel — the questions you actually have.
Is Freewebstore really free with unlimited products?
Yes. Community plan is free forever with unlimited products, unlimited traffic and unlimited storage. We take 2.5% per sale to keep the platform free; paid plans drop to 0.5%. No product caps ever.
Can I import my Big Cartel products?
Yes. Export from Big Cartel, drop the file into Freewebstore, and Smart Import maps the columns for you — product variants, images and stock all come across. Free up to 1,000 products, unlimited on Pro and Ridge.
Big Cartel is designed for artists. Is Freewebstore too complex?
No. Sign-up to first sale takes about ten minutes. Themes are click-to-customise. If you want more, full HTML/CSS access is available. Simple by default, powerful when you need it.
Do you support digital downloads and print-on-demand?
Yes to digital downloads on every plan. Print-on-demand via integrations with Printful, Printify and others. Physical goods, services, subscriptions — all supported.
What about custom domains?
Use your own custom domain from the free Community plan. Free SSL applied automatically. Or take a free freewebstore.com subdomain.
Does Freewebstore have theme customisation like Big Cartel?
Yes — 100+ themes, click-and-edit customiser and full HTML/CSS access if you want to go deeper. More design flexibility than Big Cartel’s paid tiers.
Leave Big Cartel.
No product caps.
Free forever. Grow past 5, 50 or 5,000 without the bill.
Start my free storeNo credit card. No trial. Free forever.