Saleor vs Swell (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Swell grades higher than Saleor: 2.2 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Swell grades higher on value for money, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Saleor
Open-source headless commerce with managed Cloud hosting
Swell
Headless-ready store platform for subscriptions and B2B
Which one is for you
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
Pick Swell if
- Fits if you sell subscriptions or wholesale and have a developer
- Works for brands that want a headless store on a flat monthly plan
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: each plan has a trailing 12-month sales ceiling, then 2% on Starter, 1.5% Basic, 1% Standard and 0.4% Unlimited
- Pricey if you grow, as Unlimited is $2,250 a month
- Watch out: API requests, function calls and storage are capped, and extras cost $5 per 100K requests or per extra GB
- Watch out: roles and permissions and developer support are on the Unlimited plan only
- Skip it if you need to know the trial length first, as it is not stated
How we grade them
| 1.6GPASaleorWeak | 2.2GPASwellFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CStarter is $29 a month billed yearly, level with the middle of the category. Basic is $79 and Standard $299. |
| Free plan and trial | DSandboxes are free forever but for non-commercial use only, so you can't run a real shop on them. No trial is listed. | DEvery self-serve plan has a free trial, but the page does not say how long it lasts or whether a card is needed. |
| Features | CGraphQL core, Saleor Apps, a dashboard and Cloud-only Essential Apps. Saleor Engine is labeled beta, and a storefront has to be built. | BSubscriptions, wholesale pricing, themes or headless, several gateways, localization and apps. The listing shows no gap in core store work. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. Customising means building apps over GraphQL, so it needs developers. | CNo store rating on record. Headless setups and functions mean building and configuring. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with GraphQL, webhooks and pub/sub, and a Cloud or self-hosted option. No phone or desktop app. | BWeb only, with an API, apps and functions, and Stripe, Authorize.Net, PayPal, Amazon Pay and Affirm. |
| Best for | API-first stores for high-volume sellers | headless or themed stores with built-in subscriptions |
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: Saleor and Swell. How we grade
Price against what you get
Saleor starts at $1,599 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Swell starts at $29 a month and scores 2.7.
Swell scores higher and starts $1,570 a month lower. Of the other online store builders on the chart, 13 score higher than Saleor for less, and 2 score higher than Swell 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.
- Swell also covers inventory and digital downloads.
At a glance
| Saleor | Swell | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV) | $29 per month, billed yearly |
| Free plan | Sandboxes: free forever for non-commercial use such as prototyping and trying new features. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial on every self-serve plan; the pricing page does not state its length. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Saleor Commerce | Swell |
| Price read from | saleor.io | swell.is |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Swell
- Each plan has a trailing 12-month sales ceiling; above it a percentage fee applies: 2% on Starter, 1.5% Basic, 1% Standard, 0.4% Unlimited.
- API requests, function calls and storage are capped per plan; extra usage is billed at $5 per 100K requests or calls and $5 per extra GB.
- Role-based permissions and developer support appear only on the Unlimited plan, and the trial length is not stated.
Key features
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.
Swell
- Built-in subscriptions
- Sell physical or virtual products as subscriptions with flexible order schedules and separate invoicing from fulfillment, on every plan.
- Wholesale and B2B pricing
- Serve retail and wholesale buyers from one store, with customer groups, bulk price rules and account management.
- Themes or headless
- Use a visual store builder and themes, upload Shopify themes, or run a headless storefront on the frontend and backend APIs.
- Multi-gateway payments
- Connect several gateways at once, including Stripe, Authorize.Net and PayPal, with split payments, saved cards and BNPL options.
- Localization
- Set prices in explicit currencies, add locales for multiple languages, and apply region-specific payment methods.
- Swell Apps and functions
- Extend the store with custom full-stack apps, app functions and a developer console for API calls and logs.
Plans
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.
Swell
Starter$29
per month, billed yearly
Up to 2 admin users, $50K annual sales ceiling, basic reports, 100K API requests a month and 1GB of storage.
Basic$79
per month, billed yearly
Up to 5 admin users, $250K annual sales ceiling, basic reports, 500K API requests a month and 3GB of storage.
Standard$299
per month, billed yearly
Up to 15 admin users, $1M sales ceiling, advanced reports, priority support, international price lists and 2M API requests.
Unlimited$2250
per month, billed yearly
Unlimited admin users, $5M sales ceiling, role-based permissions, developer support and 5M monthly function calls.
CustomCustom
For merchants above $10M in annual sales: negotiated pricing and priority technical support. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Saleor
No public discounts listed.
Swell
- Annual discount
Save 25% by paying yearly
The pricing page toggles between monthly and yearly billing and labels yearly billing as a 25% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Saleor or Swell?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Swell is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $1,599 a month for Saleor. Saleor starts at $1599 per month (Cloud Select, up to $200,000 monthly GMV), and Swell starts at $29 per month, billed yearly.
Which has a free plan, Saleor or Swell?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Saleor has a free plan. Swell 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.