Is Saleor or commercetools better?

Neither clearly leads. Saleor starts at Free and commercetools at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Saleor or commercetools?

Saleor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Saleor and On request for commercetools.

Does Saleor or commercetools run on more platforms?

Saleor runs on web, api. commercetools runs on Web.

Can I use Saleor for free?

Yes. Saleor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. commercetools starts at On request.

What is Saleor best used for?

Saleor is most often used for custom headless storefronts, composable commerce architectures, omnichannel retail and b2b commerce, developer-built e-commerce requiring deep api access. Of those, custom headless storefronts and composable commerce architectures are not what commercetools is typically brought in for.

What can Saleor do that commercetools cannot?

Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

E-commerce · head to head

Saleor vs commercetools

Saleor

E-commerce

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

commercetools

E-commerce & Retail

The Digital Commerce AI Company

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Saleor has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: 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.; commercetools no pricing plans or figures are published; the pricing page states specific pricing details require contacting sales and offers only a Talk to sales link

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Saleor and commercetools actually diverge.

Attributes where Saleor and commercetools differ
Attribute	Saleor	commercetools
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	open-source	quote
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	web, api	Web
Category	E-commerce	E-commerce & Retail
Founded	2019	Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Saleor

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

Only in commercetools

Nothing recorded that Saleor does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Saleor

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

commercetools

No use cases recorded yet. See the commercetools review.

Where each one falls short

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

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.

commercetools

No pricing plans or figures are published; the pricing page states specific pricing details require contacting sales and offers only a Talk to sales link
Premium Support, Audit Log Premium, Advanced B2B APIs and additional regions are sold as separate paid add-ons rather than included in the base order-based price

Pricing, plan by plan

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

commercetools

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the commercetools review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose commercetools if

Nothing in the data separates commercetools from Saleor on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

commercetools review

Questions people ask

Is Saleor or commercetools better?: Neither clearly leads. Saleor starts at Free and commercetools at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Saleor or commercetools?: Saleor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Saleor and On request for commercetools.
Does Saleor or commercetools run on more platforms?: Saleor runs on web, api. commercetools runs on Web.
Can I use Saleor for free?: Yes. Saleor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. commercetools starts at On request.
What is Saleor best used for?: Saleor is most often used for custom headless storefronts, composable commerce architectures, omnichannel retail and b2b commerce, developer-built e-commerce requiring deep api access. Of those, custom headless storefronts and composable commerce architectures are not what commercetools is typically brought in for.
What can Saleor do that commercetools cannot?: Saleor covers GraphQL API, Admin dashboard, Webhooks and apps, Omnichannel order processing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

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

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

Saleor vs commercetools

Saleor

commercetools

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Saleor

Only in commercetools

What people use each for

Saleor

commercetools

Where each one falls short

Saleor

commercetools

Pricing, plan by plan

Saleor

commercetools

Which should you pick?

Choose Saleor if

Choose commercetools if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Saleor

More on commercetools

Keep looking

Other head to heads