commercetools vs Saleor (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, commercetools grades higher than Saleor: 2.0 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
commercetools grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
commercetools
API-first headless commerce platform for large retailers
Free trial
Saleor
Open-source headless commerce with managed Cloud hosting
Free plan · from $1599/mo
Which one is for you
Pick commercetools if
- Fits if you're an enterprise with engineers replatforming a large multi-market shop
- Works for B2B sellers who need buyer roles, quotes and approval flows
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a store builder, as there is no built-in storefront editor
- Skip it if you want a price before talking to sales, since none is published
- Watch out: premium support, advanced B2B APIs, checkout and extra regions are add-ons
- Skip it if you are a small shop that just wants to sell, as this is built for engineering teams
Pick Saleor if
- Fits if you're a high-volume merchant with engineers and want a custom headless build
- Works for teams that want the option to self-host and keep their data
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're small: Cloud starts at $1,599 a month, and Volume is $3,999
- Not for you if you want to try it on a real shop free, since Sandboxes are non-commercial
- Watch out: Accelerator is $6,000 and Forward Deployed Engineering $12,000, credited back over 12 months after go-live
- Skip it if you want a finished store, as Saleor Engine is beta and the storefront is yours to build
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAcommercetoolsFair | 1.6GPASaleorWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published. The pricing page sends buyers to sales and says pricing is order-based, so there is nothing to set against the category's $29 to $49 a month. | DSelect is $1,599 a month for up to $200,000 in monthly sales, with 0.8% on orders above that. The category's dearest tenth starts at $89. Migration help and 24/7 support are included. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 60-day free trial with no credit card that doesn't convert automatically. There is no free plan, and the trial excludes InStore, Frontend and agentic features. | DSandboxes are free forever but for non-commercial use only, so you can't run a real shop on them. No trial is listed. |
| Features | CCatalog, cart, order, pricing and promotion APIs, B2C and B2B models and a Merchant Center. There's no storefront theme editor, so a front end has to be built or bought. | CGraphQL core, Saleor Apps, a dashboard and Cloud-only Essential Apps. Saleor Engine is labeled beta, and a storefront has to be built. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. Using it means engineers assembling APIs into a storefront, not a merchant clicking through a builder. | DNo store rating on record. Customising means building apps over GraphQL, so it needs developers. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb admin and a managed runtime for custom integrations, with MCP servers for AI agents. Not a store builder you can use from a phone or desktop app. | BWeb, with GraphQL, webhooks and pub/sub, and a Cloud or self-hosted option. No phone or desktop app. |
| Best for | enterprise headless commerce APIs | API-first stores for high-volume sellers |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: commercetools and Saleor. How we grade
Where they differ
- Saleor is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
In commonWebPublic APIAI featuresOnline store
At a glance
| commercetools | Saleor | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV) |
| Free plan | None | Sandboxes: free forever for non-commercial use such as prototyping and trying new features. |
| Free trial | 60-day free trial, no credit card, does not convert automatically. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | commercetools GmbH | Saleor Commerce |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | saleor.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
commercetools
- No prices are published; the pricing page sends buyers to sales and says pricing is order-based rather than based on sales volume.
- There is no built-in storefront theme editor; a team has to build or buy the front end, and Frontend is a separate product.
- Premium Support, advanced B2B APIs, checkout, HIPAA compliance and extra regions are listed as add-ons.
- The 60-day trial covers the core commerce APIs and Merchant Center, but not InStore, Frontend or agentic capabilities.
Saleor
- Cloud pricing is tied to monthly GMV, and orders above the plan's limit add a percentage fee (0.8% on Select, 0.4% on Volume).
- The free Sandboxes plan is for non-commercial use only.
- Optional add-ons: the Accelerator Plan costs $6,000 and Forward Deployed Engineering $12,000, credited back over 12 months after go-live.
- Saleor Engine is labeled beta, and the Essential Apps run only on Saleor Cloud.
Key features
commercetools
- Headless commerce APIs
- Each capability, such as catalog, cart and order management, inventory, promotions and pricing, is exposed as its own versioned API that teams assemble into a custom storefront.
- B2C, B2B and hybrid models
- The page lists B2C, B2B, D2C, marketplaces and subscriptions as supported models. Business units, buyer roles, approval flows and quotes are sold as an Advanced B2B APIs add-on.
- Merchant Center
- A business tool for managing catalog and orders, included in the 60-day trial next to the APIs, with preloaded B2C or B2B sample data.
- Connect hosting
- Connect is a managed runtime for deploying custom integrations and back-office applications inside a commercetools environment, with templates to start from.
- AI and agent commerce
- AI Hub and AgenticLift are products for selling through ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, and the platform exposes MCP servers for agents. The trial excludes agentic capabilities.
- InStore point of sale
- A separate product that gives store staff the same catalog, cart and orders that serve the online shop. It is not part of the free trial.
Saleor
- Headless GraphQL core
- Customization is done by building Saleor Apps that connect through GraphQL, webhooks and pub/sub, which keeps the core files untouched.
- Saleor Engine
- A beta feature that runs your storefront, apps and ERP sync alongside Saleor, with deployment, variables and logs managed from the Dashboard.
- Essential Apps
- Cloud-only apps cover multilingual customer emails, Adyen payments, Google Merchant Center feeds, MCP, ACP/UCP and Ink AI Search.
- Pulse dashboard
- Dashboard home shows revenue, orders, returns and low stock, and flags anything that looks unusual.
- Migration and engineering support
- Each Cloud plan includes migration from platforms such as Shopify Plus or Magento, a delivery lead, a Slack channel and 24/7 support with SLAs.
- Cloud and self-hosted
- Moving between Saleor Cloud and self-hosted open source is supported, though a data migration or version update may be needed.
Plans
commercetools
Pricing could not be confirmed. See commercetools.com.
Saleor
Sandboxes$0
Free forever, for non-commercial use only: prototyping, side projects and trying new features.
Select$1599
per month, up to $200,000 monthly GMV
For new projects and smaller companies; 0.8% charged on orders above the GMV limit, with a fair API usage policy.
Volume$3999
per month, up to $1,000,000 monthly GMV
For high-volume businesses; 0.4% charged on orders above the GMV limit, with a fair API usage policy.
EnterpriseCustom
Negotiated pricing with a fair API usage policy. Sold through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, commercetools or Saleor?
As of Nov 12, 2026, commercetools has no price we could confirm, and Saleor starts at $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV).
Which has a free plan, commercetools or Saleor?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Saleor has a free plan. commercetools does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.