# Smartstore review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Open-source ASP.NET Core commerce platform for B2C and B2B shops Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Smartstore is an e-commerce platform built on ASP.NET Core that you download and run on your own server or cloud. A free open-source Community Edition covers a full shop, and paid Premium and Enterprise editions add search, scaling and B2B features. It comes from a German company and is documented in German and English. - **Category:** Online Store Builders - **Made by:** SmartStore AG - **Website:** https://smartstore.com/en - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you cannot run a server, as the free edition is self-hosted. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Smartstore has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Community Edition: open source, unlimited products, multishop, multilanguage, responsive Flex theme and SEO features. - **Free trial:** Free trial offered; the page does not state its length. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Community Edition | $0 | Open-source download that you host yourself, with unlimited products, multishop and multilanguage. | | Premium Edition | Custom | Adds AI tools, Mega Search, media manager, CSV/XML export, OpenTrans and BMEcat; no price shown, also offered as a rental. | | Enterprise B2C Edition | Custom | Adds webfarm support, Redis, Lucene-based search, customer-specific prices and 24/7 support. Price on request. | | Enterprise B2B Edition | Custom | Adds direct order, cart approval, budget limits, PunchOut via OCI and cXML, and order management. Price on request. | Read from https://smartstore.com/en/editions-prices/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Smartstore before buying. ## Key features - **Open-source core:** The source code is on GitHub, and the free Community Edition has no product limit. - **Multishop and multilanguage:** Run several shops, brands and languages from one installation, with currencies and taxes managed centrally. - **Page Builder:** Pages, menus and shopping experiences are laid out visually with drag and drop, through a Page Builder plugin and a Menu Builder. - **B2B tools:** The Enterprise B2B Edition lists cart approval, budget limits, sales representative support and PunchOut via OCI and cXML. - **Data exchange:** A REST API plus OCI, cXML, BMEcat and OpenTrans connect the shop to other systems; import and export are built in. - **Built-in AI:** AI features for texts, images and translations are listed from the Premium Edition up. ## Good for - Teams with .NET skills who want to host their own shop - German and European merchants who need local tax and legal settings - B2B sellers that need punch-out and cart approval ## Worth knowing - Paid editions show no prices; each one is quoted by sales. - You install and host it yourself unless you take the rental option, so someone must run the server. - AI tools, Mega Search and export features sit in the paid editions, not the free one. - The website and much of its documentation lead with German; the English site is a translation. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Smartstore is an open-source ASP.NET Core shop you host yourself, with unlimited products, multishop and multilanguage. AI tools, Mega Search and exports sit in paid editions that show no price, and its site leads with German. - **Value for money: C.** The Community Edition is free but needs a server, which makes it a C. Paid editions show no price. - **Free plan and trial: B.** Open source with unlimited products, multishop and multilanguage, if you can host it. A trial of the paid editions is offered, with no length stated. - **Features: C.** A full shop core, page builder and B2B tools, but AI tools, Mega Search and CSV or XML export are in the paid editions. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. You install and host it yourself, so someone must run the server. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, with seven listed integrations and an API. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Smartstore's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among online store builders - Smartstore's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 43 of the 80 other online store builders we grade, and level with 16. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 55 of 80) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/online-stores ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Smartstore you would be making checkout, card payments and sales tax handled for you. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. Smartstore is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could make: Inventory: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: Checkout, card payments and sales tax handled for you. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Microsoft Power BI, Azure BLOB Storage and Redis among them, and has an API. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Microsoft Power BI, Azure BLOB Storage, Redis, OpenTrans, BMEcat, cXML, OCI **Tags:** Online store, Open source, Self-hostable, Inventory, Public API, AI features ## Alternatives - [Shopware](https://toolgpa.com/tools/shopware): Open-source commerce platform for B2B and B2C stores. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/shopware-vs-smartstore) - [nopCommerce](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nopcommerce): Free open-source ASP.NET Core shopping cart. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nopcommerce-vs-smartstore) - [PrestaShop](https://toolgpa.com/tools/prestashop): Open-source ecommerce software, free to self-host or sold hosted. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/prestashop-vs-smartstore) - [OpenCart](https://toolgpa.com/tools/opencart): Free open-source shopping cart you host yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/opencart-vs-smartstore) - [WooCommerce](https://toolgpa.com/tools/woocommerce): Free, open-source store plugin for WordPress that you host yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/smartstore-vs-woocommerce) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://smartstore.com/en/editions-prices/ - https://smartstore.com/de - https://smartstore.com/en Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/smartstore Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).