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E-Commerce · head to head

Magento vs Saleor

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
Saleor logo

Saleor

E-Commerce

Open-source, headless e-commerce platform with a GraphQL API

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Saleor saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.
  • They diverge on capability: Magento covers Two editions, Saleor covers GraphQL API.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Magento and Saleor actually diverge.

Attributes where Magento and Saleor differ
AttributeMagentoSaleor
PlatformsWebweb, api
Founded20082019

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), 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 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

Only in Saleor

  • GraphQL API
  • Admin dashboard
  • Webhooks and apps
  • Omnichannel order processing
  • Configurator CLI
  • OpenTelemetry tracing
  • OpenID Connect support

What people use each for

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

Magento

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

Saleor

  • Custom headless storefrontsnot Magento
  • Composable commerce architecturesnot Magento
  • Omnichannel retail and B2B commercenot Magento
  • Developer-built e-commerce requiring deep API accessnot Magento

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Saleor

  • Saleor requires development resources to build a storefront, since it ships as an API-only backend without a front-end store out of the box.
  • Self-hosting requires managing infrastructure, scaling, and updates, which adds operational overhead compared to fully managed platforms.
  • Saleor Cloud's paid tiers start at $1,599/month, making the managed offering costly for small merchants compared to typical SaaS store builders.
  • The GraphQL-first, code-driven approach has a steeper learning curve for non-technical users than drag-and-drop e-commerce builders.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Saleor

Free
  • Sandboxes (Cloud)Free
    • Free forever tier for prototyping and development
  • Select (Cloud)$1599/month
    • Up to $200,000 GMV monthly
    • 0.8% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
    • Dedicated Slack channel
  • Volume (Cloud)$3999/month
    • Up to $1,000,000 GMV monthly
    • 0.4% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
    • Dedicated Slack channel
  • Enterprise (Cloud)$undefined/mo
    • Custom GMV limits
    • Fees negotiable as low as 0.2%
    • Project delivery lead

Which should you pick?

Choose Magento if

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

Choose Saleor if

  • You need graphql api.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want admin dashboard.
Saleor review

Questions people ask

Is Magento or Saleor better?
Neither clearly leads. Magento starts at Free and Saleor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Magento or Saleor?
Magento starts at Free and Saleor at Free.
Does Magento or Saleor run on more platforms?
Magento runs on Web. Saleor runs on web, api.
Can I use Magento for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Magento best used for?
Magento is most often used for a retailer with tens of thousands of skus and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that saas platforms restrict, a multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back office, a b2b seller needing company accounts, negotiated pricing and quoting inside the storefront, an enterprise with an in-house or retained development team that treats commerce as owned software. Of those, a retailer with tens of thousands of skus and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that saas platforms restrict and a multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back office are not what Saleor is typically brought in for.
What can Magento do that Saleor cannot?
Magento covers Two editions, Complex catalogue handling, Multi-store and multi-website, Native B2B in the paid edition. Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Saleor: Is Saleor free to use?

Yes. Saleor is open source under the BSD-3-Clause license and can be self-hosted for free. Saleor Cloud also offers a free Sandboxes tier for prototyping and development.

Source
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.

Saleor: How much does Saleor Cloud cost?

Saleor Cloud paid plans start at $1,599/month for the Select plan (up to $200,000 monthly GMV), with Volume at $3,999/month and custom Enterprise pricing for larger merchants.

Source
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.

Saleor: Does Saleor provide a storefront out of the box?

No. Saleor is an API-only, headless commerce backend built on GraphQL; storefronts must be built separately using the API and are not bundled with the platform.

Source
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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