By Evan Knox, Founder of Homegrown · Last updated May 5, 2026
Methodology: We reviewed Cottage CMS's pricing and feature pages on May 5, 2026, and cross-referenced details with Cottage CMS founder Drew Meyer. Cost-comparison math uses publicly listed transaction-fee structures from each platform and assumes Square's standard 2.6% processing rate.
The best Cottage CMS alternative for cottage food vendors who want to take pre-orders without building a website is Homegrown. It costs $10 per month billed annually ($120 per year), gets you selling in 15 minutes, and charges no platform fee on top of payment processing — unlike Cottage CMS's Free plan, which adds a 1.9% + $0.25 platform fee to Square's processing on every transaction.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Cost at $2,000/month in orders | Homegrown ~$68/mo · Cottage CMS Pro ~$69/mo (including Square fees) · Cottage CMS Free ~$110/mo. Pro and Homegrown are roughly tied; Free is the most expensive option for active vendors. |
| Custom domain support | Cottage CMS Pro ($200/year) only — Homegrown does not currently offer it |
| Free trial of paid plan | Homegrown 7 days · Cottage CMS Pro free trial discontinued February 2026 (30-day money back instead) |
| Setup time | Homegrown ~15 min · Cottage CMS ~30 min |
| Best for full website | Cottage CMS |
| Best for fast pre-orders + pickup | Homegrown |
If you want a website with cottage-food-specific templates, recipe costing, and state compliance content, Cottage CMS is a fair pick. If you want a storefront link you can text to customers tonight with predictable monthly costs that don't scale with order volume, Homegrown is the simpler answer.
We built Homegrown for cottage food vendors who didn't want to manage a website. We also know Cottage CMS is the platform our prospects most often compare us to. Rather than pretend they don't exist, we wrote this guide to be the most accurate side-by-side anywhere on the web. Where Cottage CMS does something better, we say so. Where Homegrown costs less or sets up faster, we show the math.
Cottage CMS is a website platform built specifically for cottage food entrepreneurs. The founder built it after struggling with generic website builders for his own cottage food business. As of May 2026, the platform reports 820+ vendors across all 50 US states and Canada and is the official sponsor of the Cottage Food Business Facebook group.
Core features include:
Default sites live on a subdomain like `yourbiz.cottagecms.com`. Custom domains are available on the paid Pro plan only.
Cottage CMS has two plans as of May 2026. Important: both plans charge Square's standard payment processing fees (~2.6% per transaction) on top of any subscription cost. Cottage CMS uses Square as its payment processor.
Free plan — $0/month
Pro plan — $20/month or $200/year
The annual Pro plan saves $40/year versus monthly billing.
Cottage CMS offers a Free plan with no monthly subscription, but the Free plan adds a 1.9% + $0.25 platform fee on every transaction on top of Square's standard processing fees. The Free plan is genuinely free only if you use Cottage CMS as a product showcase or contact form without accepting orders. Once orders start flowing, the platform fee scales with volume. To eliminate the platform fee, you upgrade to Pro at $200 per year — Square's processing fees still apply on Pro.
This is the biggest reason. Cottage CMS is a content management system first; ordering is one of many features. If you bake 30 loaves of sourdough every Friday and just want 15 customers to pre-order before Saturday's market, a CMS is more tool than you need. You don't want to manage pages, templates, blog posts, or content. You want a link you can text to customers Wednesday morning.
Homegrown is built for that workflow specifically.
Cottage CMS Free is a real plan, not a limited trial — but the 1.9% + $0.25 platform fee per transaction adds real cost as orders grow, on top of Square's processing. A vendor doing $2,000 per month in orders pays roughly $38 per month in Cottage CMS platform fees alone, before Square's processing of around $52 per month — totaling about $90 per month just in fees, with no subscription. To remove the Cottage CMS platform fee, vendors upgrade to Pro at $200 per year, and Square's processing still applies. Either way, "free" is misleading once you accept payments at any volume.
Recipe costing, custom pages, blogging, compliance content, and CMS features genuinely matter for full-time cottage food businesses scaling toward wholesale or multi-location operations. A part-time vendor selling at one farmers market typically does not need recipe costing software. Simpler tools mean less to learn, less to maintain, and less time on a computer instead of in the kitchen.
Homegrown is an online storefront built for cottage food vendors who sell for local pickup. It is intentionally not a website builder.
Setup takes about 15 minutes:
Pricing is $10 per month billed annually ($120 per year) or $12.50 per month billed monthly, with a 7-day free trial. Card processing is industry-standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction — there are no Homegrown platform fees on top of processing.
If you're just getting started selling food from home, the how to start a food business from home guide covers the basics before picking any platform.
Three questions decide it.
1. Do you want a website or just an order link? A full website (about page, blog, custom pages) → Cottage CMS. A pre-order link you can text to customers → Homegrown.
2. Is your processing rate or your subscription rate the bigger factor? Cottage CMS uses Square (2.6% processing). Homegrown uses 2.9% + $0.30. Cottage CMS Pro charges $200 per year subscription; Homegrown charges $120 per year on the annual plan. Pro saves on processing but charges more in subscription. Homegrown saves on subscription but charges slightly more in processing. At every volume tier from $500 to $5,000+ per month, Homegrown and Cottage CMS Pro track within ~$10 per month of each other. The cost difference is small enough that the decision should be features-driven — do you want a website (Pro) or just an ordering link (Homegrown) — not cost-driven.
3. Do you need a custom domain? Yes — `yourbiz.com` matters to your brand → Cottage CMS Pro is the only option in this comparison. Homegrown uses a Homegrown URL.
If you're a part-time vendor selling at one or two farmers markets and want the fastest path from "thinking about online orders" to "taking online orders," Homegrown is the better fit. If you're a full-time operation that wants a website with cottage-food-native features and recipe costing, Cottage CMS Pro is reasonable.
| Feature | Cottage CMS | Homegrown |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Website builder with online ordering | Storefront for pre-orders and pickup |
| Setup time | ~30 minutes | ~15 minutes |
| Online ordering | Yes | Yes |
| Payment processing | Square (~2.6% per transaction, separate Square account required) | Built-in (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) |
| Cottage CMS platform fee | Free plan: 1.9% + $0.25 per transaction · Pro plan: $0 | None |
| Recipe costing tool | Yes | No |
| Compliance content | 50-state pages | Covered in our blog |
| Custom domain | Pro only ($200/year) | Not available |
| Subscription cost | Free, or $200/year ($20/month if billed monthly) Pro | $120/year (annual) or $150/year (monthly) |
| Free trial of paid plan | Discontinued February 2026 (30-day money back instead) | 7-day free trial |
| Best for | Full website + cottage food features | Fast pre-orders + predictable cost |
Pricing in the abstract doesn't help. Here's what each option actually costs at three real volume tiers, with all components broken out.
At $500/month in orders (~20 transactions):
| Component | Cottage CMS Free | Cottage CMS Pro (annual) | Homegrown (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $0 | $16.67 | $10 |
| Square / payment processing | ~$13 | ~$13 | ~$15 |
| Cottage CMS platform fee | ~$15 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | ~$28/mo | ~$30/mo | ~$25/mo |
At $2,000/month in orders (~80 transactions):
| Component | Cottage CMS Free | Cottage CMS Pro (annual) | Homegrown (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $0 | $16.67 | $10 |
| Square / payment processing | ~$52 | ~$52 | ~$58 |
| Cottage CMS platform fee | ~$58 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | ~$110/mo | ~$69/mo | ~$68/mo |
At $5,000/month in orders (~200 transactions):
| Component | Cottage CMS Free | Cottage CMS Pro (annual) | Homegrown (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $0 | $16.67 | $10 |
| Square / payment processing | ~$130 | ~$130 | ~$145 |
| Cottage CMS platform fee | ~$145 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | ~$275/mo | ~$147/mo | ~$155/mo |
A few patterns:
Run the math on your own volume → Order Volume Calculator.
If you already use a Square card reader at your booth, Square Plus is the easiest way to add online ordering. The basic plan is free with 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fees; paid plans start at $39 per month with custom domain support and Square branding removal. Square Plus isn't built for cottage food specifically — no compliance content, no recipe costing, no food-specific templates.
Hotplate is a drops-focused platform popular with sourdough and microbakers who run weekly "drops" rather than continuous storefronts. No subscription fee; takes a percentage on each transaction. Best fit if your business model is timed drops with SMS notifications, not continuous pre-orders.
Free, manual, breaks under volume. Good for validating demand under 10 orders per week before paying for any tool.
Picking a platform also means betting on which platforms will still be operating in two years.
Cottage food is a niche where well-funded competitors have shut down. When picking a platform, weigh durability — predictable economics, sustainable business model — alongside features and price.
If you're already on Cottage CMS and considering Homegrown, the migration is straightforward:
You don't need to maintain both during transition. Homegrown's 7-day free trial lets you set up and test before committing.
Use this decision tree:
Most cottage food vendors selling at farmers markets don't need a website. They need an ordering link. Cottage food laws vary by state, and understanding what you can legally sell is more important than which website builder you pick. Resources like the South Dakota State University Extension guide on cottage food safety and the Texas DSHS cottage food production page explain what you can and can't sell from your home kitchen. For label specifics, see cottage food labeling requirements.
| Weekly Orders | Best Starting Tool |
|---|---|
| Under 10 | Homegrown or Google Forms + Venmo |
| 10–30 | Homegrown |
| 30–50 | Homegrown |
| 50+ | Homegrown or Cottage CMS |
Homegrown is built to scale with vendors from their first online order through 50+ orders per week. If you're under 10 orders per week and want a free way to validate demand before committing to any platform, Google Forms + Venmo can work as a temporary stopgap. Above 50 orders per week, you may add Cottage CMS Pro if you want a full website with cottage-food-specific features. For everything in between — where most cottage food vendors at farmers markets land — Homegrown is the simplest answer.
If you're managing pre-orders alongside walk-up sales, the how to handle pre-orders and in-person sales guide covers logistics.
Cottage CMS is a good fit for cottage food vendors who genuinely want a website, not just an ordering tool. If several of these apply:
Cottage CMS is not the wrong choice. It's a niche product built by someone who understands the cottage food industry. The question is whether you need what it offers or whether a simpler ordering tool gets you to the same place faster.
Yes — but only on the Pro plan ($20 per month or $200 per year, with Square's processing on top of transactions). Free plan vendors are on a subdomain (`yourbiz.cottagecms.com`) and cannot attach a custom domain without upgrading. Homegrown does not currently offer custom domains; storefronts use a Homegrown URL.
For full-time cottage food vendors who want a website with recipe costing, compliance content, and custom domain support — yes, Cottage CMS Pro at $200 per year is fairly priced for what it offers, recognizing Square's processing fees still apply. For part-time vendors who just want to take pre-orders for pickup, Cottage CMS is more tool than you need, and the Free plan's 1.9% transaction fee on top of Square's processing will likely cost you more than a flat-fee alternative like Homegrown over time.
Ready to take pre-orders without building a website? Try Homegrown free for 7 days — about 15 minutes from signup to your first product live.
The Free plan has no subscription, but adds a 1.9% + $0.25 platform fee on every transaction on top of Square's processing fees. Free as a product showcase or contact form. Once you accept orders, the platform fee scales with volume.
Homegrown. $120 per year on the annual plan, 15-minute setup without a website, no platform fee on top of standard payment processing.
Through a Square integration. You need a separate Square account; Square's standard processing applies on both Cottage CMS plans. Homegrown has built-in payment processing — no separate provider account required.
Yes, on the Pro plan ($200 per year, plus Square's processing on transactions). On the Free plan, your URL is a subdomain (`yourbiz.cottagecms.com`). Homegrown does not currently offer custom domains.
Free with Google Forms and Venmo, $10–$12.50 per month for Homegrown, free or $200 per year on Cottage CMS (Square processing applies on both plans), or $39+ per month on Square Plus. Right price depends on weekly volume and whether you want a website.
No. Many successful vendors use a simple storefront link they share via text, social, or QR code. A website is optional and can come later if your business outgrows a basic storefront.
Google Forms + Venmo is the completely free route, manual but workable under 10 orders per week. Cottage CMS itself has a Free plan (with the 1.9% + $0.25 transaction fee plus Square processing). Homegrown offers a 7-day free trial at $10 per month after that.
Castiron was acquired by T.D. Jakes Enterprises in late 2024, rebranded as Nourysh, and the original platform wound down through 2025. The platform is no longer operating.
If you're a cottage food vendor looking for a fast, affordable way to take pre-orders and get paid before market day, start your free Homegrown trial today — or run the numbers on your own volume in our Order Volume Calculator.
