Big Cartel vs Gumroad Comparison 2026
Big Cartel is a small shop with a monthly bill: free to start on Gold, $15 a month on Platinum, and no transaction fee stacked on top, built for a maker who holds and ships their own stock. Gumroad charges nothing until a sale happens, then keeps a flat 10 percent of every one, payment processing included, with no store to build first. The trade is the same shape as a subscription against a percentage. Gumroad costs nothing at zero sales and more per sale as volume grows; Big Cartel costs the same $15 whether one item sells or a thousand.
A small shop for people who make things
Sell digital products with almost no setup
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Big Cartel | Gumroad | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $15 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Monthly or annual | Usage-based |
| Free trial | 7 days | Not stated |
| API | Not stated |
Big Cartel
A small shop for people who make things
Big Cartel has sold for artists and bands since before most of this category existed, and the product still reflects that: a handful of themes, a product limit rather than a transaction limit, and no upsell machinery. Setting up a shop takes an evening. The free plan is genuinely usable for a first release, and the paid ones are cheaper than any general storefront. Anybody who wants apps, subscriptions or a hundred variants should look elsewhere.
Our note
Count your products before choosing, because that single limit is the whole pricing model and it is easy to outgrow in a month if you sell variants as separate listings. For a catalogue that stays small this is cheaper than any general storefront in this directory and stays that way as sales grow.
Only on this side
- Covers merch & print on demand
Gumroad
Sell digital products with almost no setup
Gumroad is the fastest way to put a file behind a payment link. No store to build, no plan to choose, and a flat 10 percent on every sale. That rate is high once you are doing real volume, which is when people usually leave.
Why people weigh these two
- Gumroad instead of Big Cartel
- Selling with almost no setup and no monthly fee at all; even lighter than Big Cartel's evening-long setup, free where the paid tier is $15.
- Big Cartel instead of Gumroad
- Big Cartel gives makers a small shop with a free tier and paid plans from $15 a month, a fit for physical goods sold alongside downloads rather than a payment link alone.
Which one should you pick
Choose Big Cartel for physical goods sold repeatedly: a small run of records, prints or apparel that a maker holds and ships themselves, with discounted labels on the paid plans. The free Gold plan is a real shop, not a trial, and Platinum at $15 a month costs the same no matter how many units move. Selling more never raises the bill. Only listing more products does.
Choose Gumroad for a digital file with no shop to build: upload it, set a price or a pay-what-you-want minimum, and a product page exists immediately. It costs nothing until the first sale, then keeps a flat 10 percent, payment processing included, forever. That rate is easy to justify early and expensive at real volume, which is when the arithmetic against a flat monthly fee starts to favour Big Cartel instead.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper, Big Cartel or Gumroad?
- It depends on sales volume. Gumroad costs nothing until something sells, then takes a flat 10 percent of every sale, forever. Big Cartel charges $15 a month on Platinum regardless of how much sells, after a free Gold plan with no transaction fee. A shop selling steadily will usually cross over to Big Cartel being cheaper; an occasional seller is better off on Gumroad's zero fixed cost.
- Does Big Cartel take a cut of each sale like Gumroad does?
- No. Big Cartel states there is no transaction fee layered on its subscription, so the $15 or $30 a month is the whole platform cost. Gumroad works the opposite way: no subscription at all, but a flat 10 percent of every sale, which includes payment processing.
- Is Gumroad or Big Cartel better for selling physical merchandise?
- Big Cartel. It is built for a maker who holds and ships their own stock, with discounted shipping labels included on the paid plans and themes meant for a small product catalogue. Gumroad is built around digital files sold through a payment link, with no shipping or label features mentioned at all.
- Can I try Big Cartel or Gumroad without paying anything?
- Both, in different ways. Big Cartel's Gold plan is free with no time limit, just a lower product cap than the paid tiers. Gumroad has no plan to pay for at all; it only takes its 10 percent once an actual sale happens, so listing a product and testing the page costs nothing on either platform.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.