Crystallize vs Saleor (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Crystallize grades higher than Saleor: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Crystallize grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Crystallize
Headless commerce, product information and content in one GraphQL API
Saleor
Open-source headless commerce with managed Cloud hosting
Which one is for you
Pick Crystallize if
- Fits if you have developers and want your own front end
- Makes sense if product data has to feed several channels
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a ready-made storefront, as none ships
- Tight if you stay on the free plan: 25 orders and 100 items a month
- Pricey if you grow, with $949 a month per tenant plus overages
- Watch out: SAML/SSO and invoice billing need the sales-quoted Crystal plan, and prices can change on 12 months' notice
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
| 1.8GPACrystallizeWeak | 1.6GPASaleorWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DAtom is $949 a month per tenant, in the category's dearest tenth, plus metered orders, items, bandwidth and API calls. | 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 | CThe free Particle plan allows 25 orders, 100 items and 25,000 API calls a month. A real shop passes that quickly. | 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 | CProduct information, commerce, content and subscriptions in one API. There's no storefront, so the front end is yours to build. | 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 rating on record. It's a developer tool: you build against GraphQL APIs. | DNo store rating on record. Customising means building apps over GraphQL, so it needs developers. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb API platform that fits Next.js, Astro, Remix, Nuxt and other frameworks. No phone or desktop apps. | BWeb, with GraphQL, webhooks and pub/sub, and a Cloud or self-hosted option. No phone or desktop app. |
| Best for | developers building headless stores on a GraphQL API | 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: Crystallize and Saleor. How we grade
Price against what you get
Crystallize starts at $949 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Saleor starts at $1,599 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and Crystallize starts $650 a month lower. Of the other online store builders on the chart, 32 score higher than Crystallize for less, and 32 score higher than Saleor for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Saleor is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Crystallize also covers inventory.
At a glance
| Crystallize | Saleor | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $949 per month, plus metered usage | $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV) |
| Free plan | Particle plan: free base price, 25 orders, 100 items, 5 GB bandwidth and 25,000 API calls a month, then metered. | Sandboxes: free forever for non-commercial use such as prototyping and trying new features. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Crystallize AS | Saleor Commerce |
| Price read from | crystallize.com | saleor.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Crystallize
- There is no ready-made storefront; a developer has to build the front end.
- The $949 Atom base price is per tenant, with overages for orders, items, bandwidth and API calls beyond the included amounts.
- SAML/SSO, tenant cloning and invoice billing are limited to the sales-quoted Crystal plan.
- Prices can change on 12 months' notice; Particle and Atom can be ended at any time, with that month's usage billed.
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
Crystallize
- PIM, commerce and CMS together
- Product information, orders and rich content live in one data model, which Crystallize describes as breaking down the usual silos between three tools.
- GraphQL APIs
- Content and catalog are delivered through GraphQL APIs, with guides for Next.js, Astro, Remix, Svelte, React, TanStack and Nuxt storefronts.
- Subscription and bookable commerce
- The product pages cover recurring subscription products and selling time or access slots, alongside standard physical products.
- AI and MCP tooling
- Pages cover AI commerce and an MCP server; Crystal plans meter AI tokens used by Flare, the platform's AI assistant.
- Multi-tenant environments
- Crystal includes three tenants for production, staging and development, with a copy-tenant utility; Particle and Atom allow one tenant per project.
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
Crystallize
Particle$0
One tenant per project, unlimited users and languages, full features. Extra orders $2.50, items $0.10 each.
Atom$949
per month, plus metered usage
Per tenant; includes 500 orders, 5,000 items, 50 GB and 500,000 API calls. Extra orders $1.00, items $0.02.
CrystalCustom
3 tenants, SAML/SSO, tenant cloning, invoice billing, enterprise SLA and a dedicated engineering Slack channel.
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, Crystallize or Saleor?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Crystallize is cheaper to start with: $949 a month, against $1,599 a month for Saleor. Crystallize starts at $949 per month, plus metered usage, and Saleor starts at $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV).
Which has a free plan, Crystallize or Saleor?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Crystallize and Saleor have a free plan.
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.