battles / Platforms
Big Cartel vs Solidus
Big Cartel ($25/mo/mo, vibe code 9/10) vs Solidus (usage-based/mo, vibe code 6/10). Big Cartel is the easier one to rebuild yourself — here is what you lose either way.
Platforms
$25/mo/mo
- MVP
- 4-7 days
- Full replacement
- 2-4 months
easier to rebuild
get the build prompt →Platforms
usage-based/mo
- MVP
- 2 weeks
- Full replacement
- 8-14 months
price gap / year
$300/mo
running both / year
$300/mo
our call
Start with Big Cartel — highest vibe code, weakest moat.
Big Cartel
A few dozen products, one checkout, a theme. AI plus Stripe Checkout gets you there in a weekend, and you stop paying per month forever.
you can rebuild
- Small product catalog with variants and images
- Cart and hosted checkout
- Theme customisation and custom domain
- Basic order list and shipping notifications
- Discount codes
what you lose
- Zero-maintenance hosting and automatic updates
- Ready-made themes designed for artists
- Someone else worrying about PCI scope and downtime
real moats
- Brand affinity within the maker and artist community
Solidus
There is no licence to escape. Rebuilding makes sense only if you want to leave Ruby; otherwise you are trading a maintained core for a bespoke one.
you can rebuild
- Catalog, variants and option types
- Cart, checkout and order state machine
- Promotions with basic rules and actions
- Admin interface for orders and products
what you lose
- A maintained upgrade path with a security-conscious core team
- Rails extensions for payments, taxes and reporting
- Free bug fixes from other people's production incidents
real moats
- An active maintainer community absorbing edge cases you have not hit yet
open source escape hatches
- spree/spree BSD-3
- medusajs/medusa MIT
- saleor/saleor BSD-3
Questions people ask
Which is easier to rebuild with AI, Big Cartel or Solidus?
Big Cartel. It scores 9/10 on vibe code with a moat of 2/10, so an AI-assisted MVP takes about 4-7 days and a full replacement about 2-4 months.
Which one costs less, Big Cartel or Solidus?
Solidus at usage-based/mo for a typical mid-market store. The gap between the two is about $300/mo a year.
What do I lose if I replace Big Cartel?
Zero-maintenance hosting and automatic updates Ready-made themes designed for artists Someone else worrying about PCI scope and downtime
What do I lose if I replace Solidus?
A maintained upgrade path with a security-conscious core team Rails extensions for payments, taxes and reporting Free bug fixes from other people's production incidents
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