Big Cartel vs Mercantis: Which Is Better in 2026?

Big Cartel is an ecommerce platform built specifically for artists, makers and independent creators who want to sell online without the cost or complexity of a big commerce suite. Home to roughly 3 million shops that together list around 6 million products and have sold more than $2.5 billion, it has spent years focused on one audience: people who make things and want a simple, affordable way to sell them.

What is Big Cartel?

Big Cartel lets you launch a clean, customizable online store in four straightforward steps: choose a template, add your products, configure your store settings and start promoting. There's no coding required, and the templates are designed to put the work — the art, the product, the craft — front and center rather than burying it in clutter.

Who it's for

The platform is made for jewelry makers, printmakers, painters, designers, ceramicists, illustrators, photographers, publishers and every other kind of independent creator. If you're a solo maker or a small creative business that finds mainstream ecommerce platforms overwhelming or overpriced, Big Cartel is built with you in mind.

Key features

• Customizable store templates that need no coding
• Selling of physical goods, digital products and print-on-demand merchandise
• Product import from Shopify, Etsy and Squarespace
• Social selling across Instagram, Facebook and Google Shopping
• In-person sales through the mobile app
• Dashboard analytics and order management
• An app marketplace to extend your store

Sell everywhere

Big Cartel doesn't confine you to a single storefront. You can sell physical and digital products, offer print-on-demand items, push products to Instagram, Facebook and Google Shopping, and even take payments in person at markets or pop-ups through the mobile app. For makers who sell both online and at events, that flexibility keeps everything in one place.

Pricing

Pricing is deliberately simple and creator-friendly. There's a free tier to get started (with a 7-day premium trial), then Platinum at around $15/month and Diamond at around $30/month for shops that are scaling up. Crucially, Big Cartel is known for straightforward pricing with no hidden fees, so makers keep more of what they earn.

Support and philosophy

Big Cartel prides itself on "real humans, not chatbots" for support, reflecting a long-standing, creator-first philosophy. Rather than chasing enterprise clients, the company has stayed focused on independent artists, which shows in both the product's simplicity and the way it treats its customers.

Getting started and growing

Opening a Big Cartel shop is quick even if you've never built a website. You pick one of the customizable themes, add your products with photos and descriptions, set up shipping and payments, and share your store — no developer, no monthly minimum to begin. If you're moving from another platform, product import from Shopify, Etsy and Squarespace saves you from re-entering your catalog by hand.

As your shop grows, the dashboard gives you the numbers that matter — orders, views and sales trends — while the app marketplace lets you bolt on extra capabilities only when you need them. That "start simple, add later" approach keeps the platform approachable for first-timers while still supporting makers who are turning a hobby into a real business.

Why choose Big Cartel

If you're a maker who wants to sell without wrestling a complicated platform or paying steep fees, Big Cartel is one of the best-fitting options available. Its simple setup, transparent pricing, multi-channel selling and genuinely human support make it a home for creative businesses rather than a one-size-fits-all store builder.

Mercantis is an ecommerce and business management platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses, physical retailers, social sellers, entrepreneurs and growing brands across Latin America.

The platform helps businesses centralize their sales operations in one place. Merchants can create and manage an online store, organize their product catalog, categories and variants, control inventory and stock, process customer orders, configure payment methods, define shipping and delivery options, manage discounts and keep their day-to-day commercial activity organized.

Mercantis is particularly useful for businesses that already sell through channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram or a physical store but want a more structured system to manage products, customers, orders and inventory. Instead of relying on spreadsheets, manual messages and multiple disconnected tools, businesses can use Mercantis as a central platform for their commerce operations.

Artificial intelligence is integrated into the platform to reduce repetitive work and make catalog management faster. Businesses can use AI to help create products, generate and improve product names and descriptions, organize products into categories, optimize catalog information and accelerate catalog imports. This makes it easier for merchants with large inventories to digitize their business without manually entering every piece of information.

Mercantis also supports products with variants such as size, color or other attributes, stock management, pricing and promotional pricing, order management and multiple delivery configurations. Businesses can offer options such as store pickup, fixed-price shipping, free shipping, shipping based on purchase conditions or delivery arrangements coordinated directly with the customer.

The platform is built for businesses that operate both online and offline. Physical retailers can use Mercantis to keep their catalog, inventory and sales operations connected while also offering customers an online storefront where they can browse products and place orders.

Mercantis currently supports businesses across 16 Latin American markets, with support for different currencies and commerce requirements depending on the country. The product is focused specifically on the needs of Latin American merchants rather than being a generic global ecommerce solution.

Unlike ecommerce platforms that charge commissions on every sale, Mercantis does not charge transaction commissions. Businesses pay for the platform while keeping control of their own sales revenue.

Mercantis is designed to make ecommerce and business management accessible to companies that do not want to implement complicated enterprise software. A business can quickly create its store, upload or import its catalog, configure payments and shipping and start selling.

The goal of Mercantis is to give small and medium-sized businesses a simple but powerful commerce infrastructure that helps them organize their operations, reduce manual work, improve inventory control, sell through more channels and grow without adding unnecessary operational complexity.

What problem it solves

Mercantis helps small and medium-sized businesses manage online and in-person sales without relying on spreadsheets, disconnected tools or manual WhatsApp conversations. It centralizes product catalogs, inventory, variants, orders, payments, shipping and day-to-day business operations in one platform. It is especially useful for merchants selling through WhatsApp, Instagram or physical stores who need a simple way to organize their business, launch an online store and keep stock and orders under control. Built-in AI also reduces the time required to create products, write descriptions, categorize items and import existing catalogs.

Alternatives & competitors

Mercantis is an alternative to platforms such as Shopify, Tiendanube (Nuvemshop), Empretienda, WooCommerce and Wix. Unlike general-purpose ecommerce platforms, Mercantis is focused on Latin American small and medium-sized businesses and combines online store creation with inventory, order management, payments, shipping, point-of-sale operations and AI-assisted catalog management. It is designed to be simpler to set up and operate for businesses that already sell through WhatsApp, Instagram or physical stores.