SitesPlaced vs Big Cartel — which is better in 2026?
Big Cartel: A long-standing shop for artists and makers, free for up to five products — but it has stayed deliberately small. Here is a plain, row-by-row comparison with SitesPlaced — price, free plan, commission, payments, shipping and the integrations that matter to an Instagram or WhatsApp seller — and how to switch in one paste.
By Manan Agrawal, Founder · Updated August 28, 2026
Short answer: SitesPlaced is the better value for most sellers. Big Cartel has quietly served makers for years and there is nothing wrong with it. It has also barely grown, and the five-product free tier is the clearest expression of that. Our free plan has no product cap, sells downloads properly, buys shipping labels from the order, and includes a blog. For a store that intends to grow, SitesPlaced is the better value: no product cap on any plan, proper digital downloads, shipping labels bought from the order, and 0% commission.
At a glance
| SitesPlaced | Big Cartel | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest way to publish a store | $0 — free plan, unlimited products | Free — up to 5 products |
| Cheapest paid plan | $14.99/month — no cut of your sales | Free for up to 5 products; paid tiers above that |
| Cut of each sale | 0% | 0% |
| Category | Website + store builder for creators | Maker storefront |
Prices and limits are as listed on their own pricing pages in late August 2026. Creator platforms change plans often — confirm before you buy.
SitesPlaced vs Big Cartel: feature by feature
The table lists what each platform includes and on which plan. SitesPlaced facts mirror the pricing page; Big Cartel facts are taken from the comparisons already published on this site, with “not listed” where we could not find a clear answer.
| Feature | SitesPlaced | Big Cartel |
|---|---|---|
| Cut of each sale | 0% — we never take a cut of a sale | 0% |
| Annual sales limit | None. Sell as much as you like on any plan | None, but the free plan caps you at 5 products |
| Sell downloads | Yes — files, with per-buyer download limits and expiring links | Limited |
| How files are protected | Private storage, no public URL; emailed link that expires and can be revoked | Basic digital delivery |
| Sell physical products | Yes — variants, stock, categories, discounts | Yes — it is built for makers |
| Stripe | Your own Stripe account — cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay | Your own Stripe account |
| PayPal | Your own PayPal account | Your own PayPal account |
| Shipping labels | Shippo — USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail from ~5¢ a label | Rates only; no label buying built in |
| Real website + blog | Yes — a full multi-page site with a blog, not just a checkout page | A simple shop with a few pages; no real blog |
| Custom domain | $14.99/month plan (one-click DNS) | Supported |
| AI writes your store | $14.99/month plan — writes and designs the store from a description | No |
| Themes | 17 store themes, all free and fully editable | A small set of themes, some code editing |
Prices and limits are as listed on their own pricing pages in late August 2026. Creator platforms change plans often — confirm before you buy.
What Big Cartel does well — and where it stops
Big Cartel is a real product and these are the things it genuinely does. None of them, on their own, outweighs paying commission on every sale or losing a free plan that publishes a real store:
- ✓Loved by artists and small makers, and around long enough to trust.
- ✓No cut of your sales, and a free plan that is genuinely usable for a tiny catalogue.
- ✓Simple enough that nothing gets in your way.
Which one should you choose?
For almost every seller reading this, the answer is SitesPlaced: a free plan that publishes a real store, 0% commission on every sale on every plan, and 21 integrations included rather than sold as add-ons. The right-hand column is the short list of exceptions, and it is short on purpose.
Choose SitesPlaced if you…
- • Five products is not enough — our free plan has no product limit at all.
- • You want to sell downloads properly, with per-buyer limits and expiring links.
- • You want to buy shipping labels from the order rather than going to a courier site.
- • You want a blog and a real website around the shop.
The only cases for Big Cartel
- • You have a tiny catalogue, love the simplicity, and never want more.
How to move from Big Cartel to SitesPlaced
Moving is mostly a paste. The importer is free, there is no product cap on the free plan, and nothing goes live until you hit publish — so you can build the new store alongside the old one and switch your Instagram bio link when it looks right.
Import your catalogue
Paste your Instagram handle, your current store's website URL or a PDF catalogue at /import. Products, prices, images and categories are rebuilt as a SitesPlaced store. Variants come across from Shopify, dm2buy and Shopexer stores; add them in the Products tab for other sources.
Pick one of 17 store themes
Every theme is free, and every heading, hero image, footer column and menu is editable. You can also edit the store by chatting with ChatGPT or Claude through the SitesPlaced MCP server.
Connect payments and shipping
Connect your own Razorpay account (UPI, cards, net banking, wallets), switch on cash on delivery and WhatsApp checkout, and connect Shiprocket or Shipmozo. All free, 0% commission.
Publish free, upgrade when you want a domain
Your store goes live on a sitesplaced.com URL with a small badge. The Starter plan (₹199/month) adds your custom domain, branding removal, AI copy, analytics and Meta Pixel + Conversions API; the Growth plan — ₹499/month early-bird (₹999 after the first 50 stores) — adds WhatsApp Business API alerts, the sales boosters and 1-click checkout on top.
What the paid plans add
Everything needed to sell is free. The Starter plan (₹199/month) is for the things that make the store look and track like a brand — the first five below; the Growth plan — ₹499/month early-bird (₹999 after the first 50 stores) — adds the sixth, plus the sales boosters, product reviews and 1-click checkout:
- ✓Your own custom domain with one-click DNS for most Indian registrars
- ✓SitesPlaced branding removed
- ✓AI copy for product descriptions and sections
- ✓Store analytics and custom head code (GA4, Clarity, any tag)
- ✓Meta Pixel + Conversions API — server-side Purchase events from the order record, deduplicated, your own credentials
- ✓WhatsApp Business API order alerts — owner alert + customer confirmation from your own number via Meta Cloud API, your own credentials
Razorpay, Shiprocket, Shipmozo and Meta are integrated; their own fees apply where they charge them. Full detail on the pricing page.
Razorpay, Shiprocket, Shipmozo, WhatsApp API, Meta CAPI: all built in.
Razorpay, cash on delivery, WhatsApp checkout, Shiprocket and Shipmozo are on the free plan. From ₹199/month (Starter): Meta Pixel + Conversions API, your own domain, branding removal, AI and analytics. The ₹499/month Growth plan adds WhatsApp Business API alerts and the 1-click checkouts, bring your own credentials. No app store, no per-integration fees.
Payments
- Free
UPI, cards, net banking and wallets at checkout. SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; Razorpay's standard gateway fee applies.
razorpay.com - Free
StripeNew
Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay from customers worldwide. Connect your own Stripe account with a restricted key — payments land in your Stripe balance and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission.
stripe.com - Free
PayPalNew
Customers pay with their PayPal balance or a card. Connect your own PayPal app — the money lands in your PayPal balance and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission.
paypal.com - Free
PhonePeNew
UPI, cards, net banking and wallets at checkout on your own PhonePe Business account. Money settles straight to you and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; PhonePe's standard gateway fee applies.
phonepe.com - Free
CashfreeNew
UPI, cards, net banking, wallets and pay-later at checkout on your own Cashfree account. Money settles straight to you and SitesPlaced takes 0% commission; Cashfree's standard gateway fee applies.
cashfree.com - Free
COD at checkout with an optional COD charge you set.
- Free
- ₹499
Sell with ShiprocketNew
1-click checkout by Shiprocket — saved addresses, UPI/cards/COD and RTO scoring, without your own payment gateway. Shiprocket collects and settles to you; SitesPlaced takes 0%, Shiprocket charges 2% per order.
shiprocket.in - ₹499
Razorpay Magic CheckoutNew
1-click checkout on your own Razorpay account — saved addresses, UPI/cards/COD in one step, with COD intelligence and RTO protection. Money settles straight to your Razorpay. Can run alongside Shiprocket checkout.
razorpay.com
Shipping
- Free
Push orders to Shiprocket, get AWB numbers back, and show live tracking on your Track Order page.
shiprocket.in - Free
ShippoNew
USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL and Royal Mail labels for US, UK and international orders — around 5¢ a label with no monthly fee, billed to your own Shippo account.
goshippo.com - Free
ShipmozoNew
Courier selection, pickup scheduling and tracking status synced back to each order.
shipmozo.com - Free
Rehbar PostNew
Compare courier rates, book the shipment, print the label and track it back — on your own Rehbar Post account.
rehbarpost.com
Fulfilment
- Free
Qikink
Print-on-demand for India — t-shirts, hoodies and mugs printed and shipped domestically from your own Qikink account.
qikink.com - Free
PrintifyNew
Print-on-demand t-shirts, hoodies, mugs and posters. Link a product to your own Printify catalogue and paid orders are sent for printing automatically — Printify bills your account, we take nothing.
printify.com
Messaging
- ₹499
Every new order sends you an alert and the customer a confirmation, from your own WhatsApp Business number via Meta's Cloud API. Bring your own credentials.
business.whatsapp.com
Marketing
- ₹199+
Meta Pixel + Conversions APINew
Your own Pixel on the storefront plus server-side Purchase events from the order record, deduplicated, so Instagram and Facebook ads report real sales. Bring your own credentials.
facebook.com - ₹499
Import the product reviews you already collected in Judge.me on Shopify or WooCommerce onto your product pages, matched by product name. Bring your own API token; SitesPlaced also collects and moderates its own product reviews on every plan.
judge.me - ₹199+
Custom head code
Paste Google Analytics, Clarity or any tag into your live site.
Growth
- ₹199+
yourbrand.com with one-click DNS setup for most Indian registrars.
- Free
Create and edit your store by chatting with your AI assistant.
modelcontextprotocol.io - Free
Bring a catalogue in from Instagram, your existing website, a PDF, dm2buy or Shopexer.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better — Big Cartel or SitesPlaced?
SitesPlaced, for most sellers. SitesPlaced publishes a real store on a free plan, takes 0% commission on every sale on every plan, and includes 21 integrations — five payment gateways, four shipping and courier services, print-on-demand, WhatsApp and Meta — rather than selling them as add-ons or taking a cut of your revenue. Big Cartel is worth choosing only if you will never list more than five products — and outside that case SitesPlaced costs less to run and leaves more of each sale with you.
Is SitesPlaced's free plan really unlimited on products?
Yes — no product cap on any plan. The free plan shows a small SitesPlaced badge and allows one live digital download; paying removes the badge, adds a custom domain and lifts the download limit.
Can I sell downloads on Big Cartel?
Only in a limited way. Selling files with download limits, expiring links and the ability to revoke a link is a core feature for us.
Will my shop look different?
Yes — 17 editable themes plus AI that designs the store from a description of what you make.
Leave Big Cartel behind in one paste
Build and publish a real store for free — unlimited products, 0% commission, Razorpay, COD, WhatsApp checkout, Shiprocket and invoices included. Pay from ₹199/month (Starter) when you want your own domain, AI copy and Meta CAPI, or ₹499/month (Growth) for WhatsApp API alerts and the sales boosters.
Import my store free →Prefer to talk first? Message us on WhatsApp. Android merchant app on Google Play.