Ask a room of artists which website builder they use and you will hear six or seven different answers. Some want a portfolio that looks like a gallery wall. Others need a shop that takes orders while they are packing for the next art fair. The right builder depends on what your website has to do for your business.

This guide compares six platforms artists use most: Brakebee, Shopify, Art Storefronts, Squarespace, Wix and Big Cartel. Every fact comes from what each company publishes on its own website, checked on October 14 and 15, 2026.¹–⁶

Brakebee is the one built around how working artists sell. A single catalog feeds your own website, a curated art marketplace, print-on-demand from a lab in Phoenix, and your sales at art fairs. Brakebee adds marketing tools on that same catalog, with Social Central for social media, email blasts and drips, an included CRM, and a done-for-you program called Managed Lines. Brakebee Custom Sites designs a private website for you, live in about a week.¹,²,³

What to look for in an artist website builder

Brakebee is designed for people who make their work by hand and sell it in more than one place. Everything runs on one catalog, so a piece you add once can appear on your website, in the Brakebee marketplace, at your art fair booth, at the print lab and in your marketing.²

Every free account includes a shop at yourname.brakebee.com with a catalog, product pages, an about page, collections, a blog, cart, checkout and a contact form, along with search titles, meta descriptions and share cards for each page.²,³ A website plan adds your own web address and more room to design the site.³

For artists who want a site designed for them, Brakebee Custom Sites builds a private design around your studio and sets it up on Brakebee with your shop, cart, checkout and catalog. A first draft usually arrives in four to seven days, launch takes about a week, and you approve the site before it goes live.¹ Custom sites add image protection, with right-click disabled and most screenshots showing a blank box, and Brakebee maps your old URLs so you keep the search authority you have already earned.¹ Custom Design is $500/year, and the one-time design fee is quoted per project, so you see the build cost before work begins.⁷

Accepted artists are listed together in the Brakebee marketplace, where buyers browse by category and style and can buy from several artists in one checkout. Acceptance turns on marketplace selling and the Verified Artist badge. The account is free, there is no monthly marketplace fee, and a marketplace sale carries a 15% commission with card processing included.²,³,⁸

Brakebee's lab in Phoenix prints your files. When a collector pays for a print, the lab prints, packs and ships it. When you need a stack for your booth, you can order a print run of the same file and have it shipped to you.³

You can browse events on Brakebee, apply with a reusable jury packet and artist personas, and take payment at the booth with Make a Sale, which accepts card, cash and other payments such as Venmo, Zelle or check.³

The same catalog can reach other places you sell. Square connects free, and add-on connectors cover Etsy, Shopify, Faire, Walmart, Wayfair, eBay and TikTok Shop. If you already run a Shopify store, the Shopify connector sends products from your Brakebee catalog to it, and Shopify orders come back into Brakebee with tracking sent back out.² The Wholesale Market add-on lets stores and galleries buy work you already have in stock, with your own wholesale prices, volume tiers and minimums.³

You can build your own setup from a free account and add only what you need, or choose an artist package that bundles a website, email, Leo AI credits and sales channels. Packages and their prices are listed on the <a href="https://brakebee.com/makers">Brakebee Makers page</a>, and catalog and CRM are included free in every option.⁸

Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform for running an online store, taking payments and selling on social channels and in person from one dashboard. You can start from a template or generate a store from a prompt, and every store includes hosting and a myshopify.com address, or you can connect your own domain.⁴ Plans include selling on social channels, marketplaces and AI chats, point-of-sale tools for pop-ups and events, and thousands of apps, which is how most stores add print-on-demand.⁴ Shopify publishes its plan prices on its pricing page.

Shopify suits artists who want to set up and manage a store themselves. Brakebee's Shopify connector lets you keep a Shopify store and run it from the same catalog as everything else. Our <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/art-storefronts-vs-shopify">Art Storefronts vs Shopify comparison</a> goes deeper on Shopify for artists. If you'd rather have your Shopify store run for you, see <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/shopify-to-managed-lines">why artists are moving from Shopify to Brakebee Managed Lines</a>.

Art Storefronts is a website and marketing service for artists, photographers and print studios, and it says more than 12,000 of them use it.⁵ The first step is a short introductory call, and pricing is shared after that call. Its sites offer editable art-focused designs, one-click design switching and image security with watermarks. Art Storefronts runs its own fine art print fulfillment and adds a 365-day marketing plan, weekly workshops, a member community and an in-house marketing agency.⁵

Art Storefronts suits artists who want coaching and a team guiding their marketing. Brakebee covers the same ground on print fulfillment and done-for-you help through Managed Lines, and adds a curated marketplace and art fair tools on one catalog. See our <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/art-storefronts-vs-shopify">Art Storefronts vs Shopify comparison</a> for more detail.

Squarespace offers designer templates with a drag-and-drop editor, and every paid plan includes ecommerce with unlimited products, gift cards and checkout on your own domain.⁶ It connects to Printful for print-on-demand on any plan, syncs your product catalog to Facebook and Instagram, and supports in-person sales through its mobile app and Square in the US.⁶ Every site starts with a 14-day free trial, there is no free plan, and plan prices are published on its pricing page.⁶ For a full guide, see <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/squarespace-for-artists">Squarespace for artists</a>.

Pick a template with large image layouts, and use the gallery and product blocks to separate your portfolio from your shop. Add a newsletter block so visitors can join your list, and connect Printful if you want prints made on demand. Turn on abandoned cart recovery so buyers who leave checkout get a reminder.⁶

Squarespace suits artists who want a polished portfolio first and a shop alongside it. Brakebee offers the shop, the portfolio pages and a blog as well, and adds marketplace reach, its own print lab and art fair tools on the same catalog.

Wix lets you create a site for free with no credit card, using thousands of templates, a drag-and-drop editor or an AI builder that creates a site from a single prompt.⁹ Free sites use a wixsite.com address, and premium plans add your own domain and remove Wix branding. Ecommerce and payments start on the Core plan and above, each plan includes a marketing suite that grows with the tier, and premium plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer care.⁹ Plan prices are published on its site.

Wix suits artists who enjoy designing pages themselves and want a wide choice of templates. Brakebee also starts free, and its free shop includes cart and checkout from day one, along with marketplace, print and art fair tools.

Big Cartel is a shop builder for independent makers. It offers a free plan with limited features and a free trial on its paid plan, with custom domains, physical and digital products, shipping labels, shop design customization and apps for print-on-demand.¹⁰ Its top plan adds abandoned cart recovery, scheduled product drops and password-protected products.¹⁰ Plan prices are published on its pricing page.

Big Cartel suits artists starting with a small catalog who want a simple shop. Brakebee's free shop covers the same starting point and grows into marketplace sales, print-on-demand, art fairs and marketing without moving platforms.

A website sells when people find it and come back. Here is what each platform publishes about its marketing tools.

Social Central. Connect your own social accounts and publish from the Brakebee dashboard. A free amount of posting is included, and the add-on covers more. Leo and Luca, Brakebee's AI helpers, work out when to post and create original content, and you choose what gets published.⁸

Email blasts and drips. A blast sends one email to your own list, written in the dashboard and sent when you choose. A drip sends a series on a schedule you set, which works well for welcoming a new collector or following up after a show.⁸ Your list lives in the CRM, which is included free with every account.⁸

Managed Lines. For artists who would rather hand off the online side completely, Managed Lines is Brakebee's done-for-you program. Brakebee builds your catalog, runs a hosted website, schedules posts through Social Central, lists your work across the Brakebee marketplace, Etsy, Faire, Wayfair, Walmart, eBay and TikTok Shop where it fits, sends regular emails and turns artwork into print-on-demand products when it makes sense.¹¹ Marketing in the program is organic, with social posting, email, marketplace listings and search-friendly product pages. Brakebee states plainly that it cannot promise sales and commits to doing the work consistently. You keep the copyright to your original work and keep selling at your in-person shows. Pricing and terms are shared when you apply.¹¹

If you are still deciding where to sell, our guide on <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/how-to-sell-art-online">how to sell art online</a> walks through every option.

Wix and Big Cartel offer free plans, Shopify and Squarespace start with free trials, and Art Storefronts begins with a call. Brakebee starts with a free account that already includes a shop with cart and checkout.

Getting started

Squarespace and Wix give you templates and editors to shape yourself, and Art Storefronts gives you art-focused designs to edit. Brakebee gives you a free shop, a website plan, or a private custom design built for you in about a week.

Design

Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Big Cartel sell from your own site. Brakebee sells from your site and a curated art marketplace on the same catalog.

Selling

Shopify, Squarespace and Big Cartel add print-on-demand through apps or integrations, and Art Storefronts runs its own fulfillment. Brakebee prints, packs and ships from its own lab in Phoenix.

Printing

Each platform includes email or marketing tools, and Art Storefronts adds coaching and an agency. Brakebee offers Social Central, email blasts and drips, an included CRM and done-for-you marketing through Managed Lines.

Marketing

Shopify and Squarespace offer point-of-sale tools. Brakebee covers the whole show, from finding events and applying with a saved jury packet to taking payment at the booth.

Art fairs

Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Big Cartel publish plan prices, and Art Storefronts shares pricing after a call. Brakebee publishes its packages, its marketplace commission and its Custom Design pricing.

Pricing transparency

Every platform here can put your art online. If you want one catalog behind your website, a curated art marketplace, print-on-demand, art fair sales and marketing, Brakebee brings them together, and you can start with a free account today. For more on the print side, see our guide to <a href="https://brakebee.com/articles/best-print-on-demand-for-artists">print-on-demand for artists</a>.

¹ Brakebee, Custom Sites page: private design, shop and checkout, timeline, approval before launch, image protection, URL mapping. brakebee.com/custom-sites, confirmed Oct 14, 2026.

² Brakebee, Makers page: one catalog, free shop, marketplace and Verified Artist badge, connectors including Shopify order sync. brakebee.com/makers, confirmed Oct 14, 2026.

³ Brakebee, Features page: shop contents and SEO fields, website plan, marketplace, print-on-demand and print runs, art fair tools and Make a Sale, Wholesale Market. brakebee.com/makers/features, confirmed Oct 14, 2026.

⁴ Shopify, pricing page: platform overview, templates and prompt-built stores, hosting, social, marketplace and AI chat selling, point of sale, apps, email marketing, B2B catalogs, published plan prices. shopify.com, accessed Oct 14, 2026.

⁵ Art Storefronts, homepage and pricing page: member count, introductory call, designs, image security, fulfillment, CRM, email automation, marketing plan, workshops, community, agency. artstorefronts.com, accessed Oct 14, 2026.

⁶ Squarespace, pricing page: templates and editor, ecommerce on paid plans, Printful, point of sale, Facebook and Instagram sync, contacts panel, newsletter blocks, abandoned cart recovery, Mailchimp, free trial, published plan prices. squarespace.com, accessed Oct 15, 2026.

⁷ <a href="https://brakebee.com/custom-sites">Source: Website published prices as of 10/14/2026</a>

⁸ Brakebee, Makers page: free account, 15% marketplace commission with card processing included, no monthly marketplace fee, Social Central, email blasts and drips, CRM included, artist packages. <a href="https://brakebee.com/makers">Source: Website published prices as of 10/14/2026</a>

⁹ Wix, plans page: free plan with no card, templates, AI site builder, wixsite.com address, premium plan features, ecommerce on Core and above, marketing suites, money-back guarantee, customer care, published plan prices. wix.com, accessed Oct 15, 2026.

¹⁰ Big Cartel, pricing page: free limited plan, free trial, custom domains, products, shipping labels, design customization, print-on-demand apps, abandoned carts, product drops, Zapier, published plan prices. bigcartel.com, accessed Oct 15, 2026.

¹¹ Brakebee, Managed Lines page: program scope, marketplaces, organic marketing, no sales guarantee, ownership, pricing at application. brakebee.com/managed-lines, confirmed Oct 14, 2026.

Facts about other platforms reflect their websites on the date accessed and may change.

Artist editing a portfolio website on a laptop next to framed prints

Compare Brakebee, Shopify, Art Storefronts, Squarespace, Wix and Big Cartel for artists: design, selling, print-on-demand, marketing and how each one starts.

#Website Builders

Best Website Builder for Artists in 2026: 6 Platforms Compared