Saleorvs
Medusa
Medusa: Medusa is another open-source, headless commerce platform aimed at developers building custom storefronts.
Saleor
Open-source, headless e-commerce platform with a GraphQL API
As of 29 August 2026, Saleor is free to use. An open-source, API-first headless commerce platform built on GraphQL, used to build custom storefronts and omnichannel commerce. Softwr lists it under E-Commerce. Saleor is made by Saleor Commerce, launched in 2019, available on Web, API.
Overview
What Saleor does
Saleor is an open-source, headless e-commerce platform providing a GraphQL-native API for building custom storefronts across web, mobile, and other channels. It includes an administration dashboard for product information, order management, and translations, plus extensibility through webhooks, apps, and metadata rather than a plugin system. Saleor can be self-hosted under its BSD-3-Clause license or run on Saleor Cloud, a managed offering with support and compliance certifications.
What people use it for
- Custom headless storefronts
- Composable commerce architectures
- Omnichannel retail and B2B commerce
- Developer-built e-commerce requiring deep API access
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Saleor
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- Saleorvscommercetools
commercetools: commercetools offers a similar composable, API-first commerce platform targeted at enterprise merchants.
- SaleorvsShopify
Shopify: Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform offering a built-in storefront, unlike Saleor's API-only, self-hosted approach.
Pricing
What Saleor costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Sandboxes (Cloud)
Free
- Free forever tier for prototyping and development
Select (Cloud)
$1,599 /mo
- Up to $200,000 GMV monthly
- 0.8% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
- Dedicated Slack channel
- Solution architect support
Volume (Cloud)
$3,999 /mo
- Up to $1,000,000 GMV monthly
- 0.4% fee on orders exceeding GMV limit
- Dedicated Slack channel
- Solution architect support
Enterprise (Cloud)
On request
- Custom GMV limits
- Fees negotiable as low as 0.2%
- Project delivery lead
- Quarterly business reviews
Capabilities
Features
GraphQL API
Native GraphQL API for querying and managing all commerce data
Admin dashboard
Web dashboard for product information management, order management, and translations
Webhooks and apps
160+ webhooks and an app framework for extending functionality without plugins
Omnichannel order processing
Handles orders from web, mobile, retail, and other channels from a single backend
Configurator CLI
Command-line tool for managing commerce configuration as code with CI/CD pipelines
OpenTelemetry tracing
Built-in observability using the OpenTelemetry standard for debugging distributed systems
OpenID Connect support
Integrates with external identity providers via OpenID Connect
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
SourceHow 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.
SourceDoes 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.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Saleor
- Company
- Saleor Commerce
- Based in
- Warsaw, Poland
- Founders
- Mirek Mencel, Patryk Zawadzki
Timeline
Saleor over time
- Milestone2019-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
Saleor spun out as a standalone open-source commerce product
Source
Keep looking
Where to go from Saleor
- Saleor alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Saleor pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Saleor badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All E-Commerce softwareThe full category
- Best E-Commerce softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best E-Commerce software for
Compare Saleor with
- Medusa
- Shopify
- commercetools
- UnoPIM
- Vendure
- PrestaShop
- Shopware
- Spree Commerce
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- AliExpress
- Big Cartel
- Razorpay
- Retail Pro
- SamCart
- Sellfy
- PrestaShop
- Shopware
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14 researched notesExplore the open-source commerce platform, backed by our global community
Free, then €600/mo10 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Saleor, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Saleor
Saleor alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Saleor pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Saleor
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Saleor badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best E-Commerce software alternatives
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Ultra-fast-fashion e-commerce app shipping low-cost apparel direct from Chinese manufacturers
Free to browse and use; pay per order, optional paid loyalty tier
Japan-founded peer-to-peer resale marketplace with a flat seller commission
Free to list; 10 percent seller commission on sale price plus payment processing fee
Amazon's consumer marketplace app for browsing, buying and tracking orders
Free to use; optional Prime subscription for fast shipping and bundled media
Lithuania-founded secondhand fashion marketplace that charges the buyer, not the seller, a platform fee
Free for sellers, no commission; buyer pays a variable Buyer Protection fee at checkout
Ultra-low-cost general merchandise marketplace owned by PDD Holdings, parent of Pinduoduo
Free to browse and use; pay per order, heavy promotional discounting