Big Cartel vs Teachable: 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.

Teachable is a popular platform that makes it easy for creators, educators, and experts to create and sell online courses, coaching, and digital products. It removes the technical barriers that stop many knowledgeable people from sharing and monetizing what they know, providing an approachable, all-in-one way to build a course, host it professionally, and sell it to students around the world. With Teachable, anyone with expertise can become an online educator and build a business around teaching, without needing to be technical.

The platform handles everything involved in selling online education: building and organizing course content with videos, text, quizzes, and downloads; hosting it on a professional course site; managing student enrollment and progress; and processing payments, including one-time purchases, subscriptions, and payment plans. It also provides tools for marketing and growing a course business, such as sales pages, coupons, and integrations with email and other services, plus analytics to understand sales and student engagement. Teachable's emphasis on ease of use means creators can go from idea to a published, sellable course quickly, focusing on their content rather than the technology behind it.

Teachable is used by course creators, coaches, entrepreneurs, and experts across countless fields who want to teach online and earn from their knowledge. The value is accessibility and simplicity: it lets anyone create a professional online course and sell it without technical skills or assembling multiple tools, lowering the barrier to building an education business. As online learning and the creator economy have boomed, having an easy, complete platform to package and sell knowledge has empowered a huge number of people to turn their expertise into income. For anyone who wants to create and sell online courses or coaching with minimal friction, Teachable offers a trusted, widely used, and approachable solution.