Not familiar with e-commerce? The success of your business will be greatly impacted by the e-commerce platform you choose, so you need to be aware of the distinctions between the major ones.
In light of this, I’ve thoroughly analyzed WooCommerce and Big Cartel, two well-known e-commerce systems, to assist you in selecting the best fit for your business’s needs.
With the help of the free WordPress plugin WooCommerce, you can quickly and easily create an online store. But Big Cartel is a hosted e-commerce platform that is comparatively easy to use.
Table of Contents:
- WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Which e-commerce platform has more popularity?
- WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Compare Head to Head
- Hosting & Authority
- Security
- Designing
- Ease of Use
- Scalability
- Customization
- Support & Community
- WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Costs & Plans
- WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Advantages and Drawbacks
- Last Words
What is WooCommerce?
The most popular e-commerce plugin that can be applied to any WordPress website is called WooCommerce. It was created for websites of all sizes by WooThemes in 2011 and then bought by Automattic in 2015.
Due to WooCommerce’s open-source nature, users may construct and modify their stores with a wide range of customization options. WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform available right now for a variety of reasons, such as its SEO friendliness, customization choices, and availability for free.
What is a Big Cartel?
Big Cartel is an eCommerce platform created by Matt Wigham in 2005 specifically for artistic internet enterprises. Big Cartel is a wonderful fit for small enterprises with a strong design sensibility and restricted product offerings.
You may make your store, add goods, take care of orders, keep an eye on current statistics, and even run promotions with it. You may modify the HTML, JavaScript, and CSS of the pre-existing theme or utilize one of their built-in themes.
WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Which e-commerce platform has more popularity?
Well, this is beyond any reasonable dispute.
With a 39% market share, WooCommerce is now leading the sector, whereas Big Cartel’s share is barely 0.5%. More than 6,322,323 websites employ the well-known and potent e-commerce plugin WooCommerce. Big Cartel, on the other hand, only has 55,000 websites.
The stark differences between the two e-commerce programs are displayed in the graph below.
Paste here a Google trend graph consisting of the comparison of Woo & big cartel
Naturally, WooCommerce isn’t necessarily the best option for the store just because it’s more widely used! Continue reading to determine whether you’re looking for Big Cartel or WooCommerce.
WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Compare Head to Head
The features of BigCartel and WooCommerce are contrasted in the table below.
| WooCommerce | Big Cartel | |
| Hosting & Authority | Run on any e-commerce web server; Open-source | a completely hosted platform that is not owned by one person |
| Security | Security Plugins | Free SSL |
| Designing | Multiple Themes | Customization Theme |
| Ease of Use | intuitive user interface, suitable for beginners | Simple UI, Simple Dashboard |
| Scalability | Unlimited products and simple scalability | Limited products supported |
| Customization | Customization Extensions | HTML, CSS, & JavaScript |
| Support & Community | 24/7 Community, Facebook group, live shows | Email Support only |
Hosting & Authority
Users who utilize e-commerce choose platforms with reliable and easy-to-use dashboards.
WooCommerce:
As was already mentioned, WooCommerce is an open-source, free-to-use platform that may be customized. It provides you with total control without interference from other parties and lets you host your business on any e-commerce hosting provider.
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel is a web-based, fully hosted platform that can help you get rid of serious hosting issues, but it is the only place you can host your store. In contrast to WooCommerce, Big Cartel receives access to all of the data about your customers, thus you do not own the whole store’s data.
Security
WooCommerce:
The core of WordPress is well-secured. WooCommerce is based on WordPress, the content management system that powers 43% of websites, and is routinely examined by Sucuri, a pioneer in the security sector. However, a WooCommerce-hosted store may become vulnerable to malicious attacks and hacking due to third-party plugins.
To further strengthen the security of your online business, WooCommerce provides an abundance of security plugins. Always choose a secure WooCommerce hosting provider because your store’s security is heavily dependent on the hosting company. Additionally, users can add a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate (available at Cloudways for free).
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel checkouts are all SSL-encrypted, utilizing the strongest security currently in place. All of your client’s personal information, including their payment data, is protected by free SSL encryption. The admin section of Big Cartel is password-protected as well.
Designing
WooCommerce:
WooCommerce comes with a variety of themes, so you may pick the one that best represents your company. The themes and design components are also editable to suit your preferences. To further customize your store, you can either make a new child theme or use any existing ones to improve your website.
Big Cartel:
With the numerous design possibilities that Big Cartel provides, you may personalize your store any way you’d like. You may pick a theme and make changes to it, such as changing the fonts, and colors, and adding a header picture and slideshows.
Under the pages tab, you can add personalized information about the store and yourself. The code tab allows programmers to further customize the design aspects. You may also alter your store’s display to check how it appears on a tablet, phone, or desktop.
Ease of Use
WooCommerce:
WooCommerce is an easy method to host your online e-commerce website, even if you’re a total beginner. You can quickly utilize its amazing customization choices to personalize your stores because of its user-friendly interface.
Big Cartel:
A single click can solve hosted store problems with Big Cartel. Inventory management is quite simple, including adding items, making discounts, and overseeing orders. To personalize your store any way you’d like, experiment with the settings and design elements.
Scalability
WooCommerce:
Users of WooCommerce are free to add as many products as they like. If you are utilizing premium WooCommerce hosting, it can process thousands of transactions every minute. Unlike other e-commerce systems, you can scale infinitely with WooCommerce.
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel is a good choice for new and aspiring business owners, but it’s not the best choice if you want to grow your company. At its top tier, Big Cartel only supports limited products.
Customization
WooCommerce:
Because of its customization features, WooCommerce is regarded as one of the most customizable e-commerce platforms. It offers hundreds of WooCommerce extensions, both free and premium, which are sufficient to meet all of your e-commerce store’s demands.
Additionally, you may alter your store simply by experimenting with the themes.
Big Cartel:
Similar to WooCommerce, Big Cartel is an easy-to-use and simple platform that lets you customize your themes by changing the layout, colors, and fonts. Live modifications are previewable.
Support & Community
WooCommerce:
There is a vibrant WooCommerce community where you can ask questions, get answers, and give feedback. Thousands of web developers are available in the community to assist you and answer your questions.
Additionally, WooCommerce encourages local get-togethers and holds a weekly 30-minute live broadcast where store owners talk about the most recent events, cover various subjects, and respond to audience queries. Another option is to become a member of the WooCommerce Facebook group, which is frequented by developers, business owners, and WooCommerce supporters.
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel is available for assistance from 8:00 to 18:00, Monday through Friday. Moreover, there is a community there that answers your questions.
WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Costs & Plans
WooCommerce:
WooCommerce is free to use and doesn’t have any additional or surprising costs. Paying for the hosting is all that’s required. Choose managed WooCommerce hosting if you want security and scalability.
With monthly prices as low as $8.4, Cloudways is one of the best-managed WooCommerce hosting companies. Along with many other advantages, it offers Cloudflare, an optimized stack, and free Object Cache Pro. All of this is free to try out for three days without needing to enter your credit card information.
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel provides its clients with three plans:
- Gold plan, free of charge, no credit card needed, and up to five items
- Platinum plan, which covers 50 items and is available for $9.99/month with no listing costs
- Diamond plan, which covers 500 items and is available for $19.99/month with no listing costs
WooCommerce vs Big Cartel: Advantages and Drawbacks
WooCommerce Advantages:
- Both configurable and open-source
- Infinite products
- simple to use
- Several themes, integrations, and extensions
- Free of charge, no additional fees
WooCommerce Drawbacks:
- doesn’t provide hosting of its own
- Multi-currency implementation is challenging
- There are some paid extensions.
Big Cartel Advantages:
- Fantastic for small companies
- Themes of art and aesthetics
- Simple dashboard
- Current statistics
- Simple to put up
Big Cartel Drawbacks:
- Maximum of 300 goods
- restricted features
- difficult to customize
Last Words
Between WooCommerce and Big Cartel, you ought to be able to decide which e-commerce platform is best for your online business at this point. Big Cartel is a secure choice if you own a modest, charming business with few items. However, WooCommerce is a clear choice if you’re looking for an online business that’s simple to scale and can accommodate an infinite number of products.
Which do you think is better? Please tell us in the comments section: