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E-Commerce · head to head

Klarna vs Magento

Klarna logo

Klarna

E-Commerce

Buy now pay later and instalment checkout for online and in-store merchants

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Magento logo

Magento

E-Commerce

Open core commerce platform, free as Magento Open Source and licensed by revenue as Adobe Commerce

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Magento has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Klarna merchant fees for the short-term products run around 5.99% plus a fixed fee in the United States, roughly double a standard card rate, so unless Klarna measurably lifts average order value or conversion it is a straight margin loss.; Magento it is open core rather than open source, so B2B, customer segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation services sit behind the Adobe Commerce licence, and discovering that mid-project converts a free platform into a revenue-banded contract.
  • They diverge on capability: Klarna covers Pay in 4, Magento covers Two editions.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Klarna and Magento actually diverge.

Attributes where Klarna and Magento differ
AttributeKlarnaMagento
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
FoundedUnknown2008

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Klarna

  • Pay in 4
  • Pay in 30 days
  • Longer-term financing
  • Klarna app placement
  • Klarna Checkout
  • In-store payments
  • On-site messaging
  • Merchant portal

Only in Magento

  • Two editions
  • Complex catalogue handling
  • Multi-store and multi-website
  • Native B2B in the paid edition
  • Multi-currency and multi-region
  • Composer module system
  • GraphQL and REST APIs
  • Hyva and Mage-OS ecosystem

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Klarna

  • A fashion or furniture retailer with average order values high enough that a 3% fee uplift is repaid by a larger basketnot Magento
  • A merchant selling to younger shoppers who have low credit card penetration and would otherwise abandon at checkoutnot Magento
  • A European retailer wanting a single hosted checkout that handles instalments, invoice and card in one flownot Magento
  • A brand that wants distribution inside Klarna's shopping app as an acquisition channel rather than only a payment optionnot Magento

Magento

  • A retailer with tens of thousands of SKUs and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that SaaS platforms restrictnot Klarna
  • A multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back officenot Klarna
  • A B2B seller needing company accounts, negotiated pricing and quoting inside the storefrontnot Klarna
  • An enterprise with an in-house or retained development team that treats commerce as owned softwarenot Klarna

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Klarna

  • Merchant fees for the short-term products run around 5.99% plus a fixed fee in the United States, roughly double a standard card rate, so unless Klarna measurably lifts average order value or conversion it is a straight margin loss.
  • Rates are negotiated and unpublished, which means small merchants pay the standard rate while large ones negotiate down, and you cannot benchmark what you are being charged without going to market.
  • Returns and partial refunds are handled through Klarna's systems rather than your payment processor, so your finance team reconciles a second settlement flow and customer service handles a second dispute process.
  • Buy now pay later is being brought under consumer credit regulation in the UK, the EU and Australia, which is already changing affordability checks and disclosures; the checkout experience that converts today may be legally required to add friction.
  • Klarna owns the post-purchase relationship, sending payment reminders and marketing in its own name, so a shopper who has a poor collections experience associates it with your brand while you have no control over the messaging.

Magento

  • It is open core rather than open source, so B2B, customer segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation services sit behind the Adobe Commerce licence, and discovering that mid-project converts a free platform into a revenue-banded contract.
  • The Adobe Commerce licence is priced on bands of gross merchandise value, so the platform bill increases as the store succeeds and is largely unrelated to the infrastructure or support you consume.
  • A production installation needs a search engine, a cache, a reverse proxy, a message queue and a database tuned together, so hosting is a DevOps engagement rather than a plan, and the first serious traffic event is where under-sizing becomes visible.
  • Minor version upgrades regularly break third party modules, so staying current means a regression testing and remediation project several times a year, and merchants who skip upgrades to avoid that end up running software with unpatched vulnerabilities.
  • The specialist developer market is small and expensive relative to other platforms, so an agency retainer becomes a permanent operating cost and losing that agency is a genuine business continuity problem rather than a procurement inconvenience.

Pricing, plan by plan

Klarna

On request
  • Klarna for Business$undefined/year
    • Per-transaction percentage plus a fixed fee, negotiated by merchant
    • No published rate card; rates vary by market, product and volume
    • Short-term products priced materially above card interchange

Magento

Free
  • Magento Open SourceFree
    • Unlimited products
    • Multiple storefronts
    • Advanced marketing
  • Adobe Commerce$20000/year
    • All Open Source features
    • 24/7 enterprise support
    • Managed cloud hosting

Which should you pick?

Choose Klarna if

  • You need pay in 4.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want pay in 30 days.
Klarna review

Choose Magento if

  • You need two editions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want complex catalogue handling.
Magento review

Questions people ask

Is Klarna or Magento better?
Neither clearly leads. Klarna starts at On request and Magento at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Klarna or Magento?
Magento has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Klarna and Free for Magento.
Does Klarna or Magento run on more platforms?
Klarna runs on Web, iOS, Android. Magento runs on Web.
Can I use Magento for free?
Yes. Magento has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Klarna starts at On request.
What is Klarna best used for?
Klarna is most often used for a fashion or furniture retailer with average order values high enough that a 3% fee uplift is repaid by a larger basket, a merchant selling to younger shoppers who have low credit card penetration and would otherwise abandon at checkout, a european retailer wanting a single hosted checkout that handles instalments, invoice and card in one flow, a brand that wants distribution inside klarna's shopping app as an acquisition channel rather than only a payment option. Of those, a fashion or furniture retailer with average order values high enough that a 3% fee uplift is repaid by a larger basket and a merchant selling to younger shoppers who have low credit card penetration and would otherwise abandon at checkout are not what Magento is typically brought in for.
What can Klarna do that Magento cannot?
Klarna covers Pay in 4, Pay in 30 days, Longer-term financing, Klarna app placement. Magento covers Two editions, Complex catalogue handling, Multi-store and multi-website, Native B2B in the paid edition.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Klarna: What does Klarna cost a merchant?

Klarna does not publish a rate card. In the United States most merchants pay around 5.99% plus $0.30 for short-term products, with longer-term financing nearer 3.29% plus $0.30, and large merchants negotiate lower.

Magento: Is Magento free?

Magento Open Source is. Adobe Commerce is not, and it holds back B2B, segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation layer. Establish which edition a requirement needs before you commit.

Klarna: Does the merchant carry the credit risk?

No. Klarna pays the merchant the full amount less fees and takes the risk of the shopper not paying.

Magento: How is Adobe Commerce priced?

On bands of gross merchandise value, so the licence grows with revenue rather than with usage. Model it against your three year forecast, not this year's turnover.

Klarna: Can I use Klarna alongside my existing processor?

Yes. It is normally added as an additional payment method through Shopify, Adyen, Stripe or a direct integration rather than replacing your card acquirer.

Magento: What does it really cost to run?

Licence if applicable, plus tuned infrastructure, plus a specialist agency or in-house team. For most deployments the people and hosting exceed the licence.

Klarna: Is Klarna still independent?

Yes. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2025 and holds a Swedish banking licence.

Magento: Why do agencies keep mentioning Hyva?

The stock front end stack is slow to develop against, so Hyva, a commercially licensed replacement front end, has become a common default. It is another licence to budget for.

Magento: What happened with Magento 1?

It reached end of life and left merchants on unsupported, unpatched software facing a full replatform. It is the reference point for how long to assume support for any edition you adopt.

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