The platforms powering online retail in 2026. SaaS, open source, headless and composable, filtered by architecture, price, deployment and fit.
Showing 26 of 26
Showing 26 of 26
shopify.com
The mainstream SaaS standard, still dominant among DTC.
Best for: Fast-launching DTC brands and small-to-mid retailers wanting a managed platform with the largest app ecosystem.
Allbirds, Gymshark, Heinz, Kylie Cosmetics
shopify.com
Shopify's enterprise tier, built for high-volume DTC at scale.
Best for: High-growth DTC brands ($1M to $500M GMV) and multi-region retailers needing expansion stores and Shopify Flow automation.
Kylie Cosmetics, Gymshark, Rothy's, Staples
bigcommerce.com
Mid-market SaaS with the most open architecture of its tier.
Best for: Mid-market B2B and B2C merchants wanting SaaS convenience with more open architecture than Shopify.
Skullcandy, Solo Stove, Ben & Jerry's, Ted Baker
business.adobe.com
The artist formerly known as Magento Enterprise.
Best for: Enterprises with complex catalogues, B2B-heavy businesses, brands needing deep customisation and Adobe Experience Cloud integration.
Coca-Cola, Ford, Nestlé, Canon
salesforce.com
Einstein-powered enterprise commerce in the Salesforce orbit.
Best for: Global enterprise retailers ($50M+ GMV) needing Einstein AI, deep Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud integration, and omnichannel.
Adidas, L'Oréal, Puma, Under Armour
sap.com
The B2B heavyweight, formerly Hybris.
Best for: Global B2B manufacturers, industrial distributors and complex B2C enterprises already running SAP ERP.
Samsung, Thomson Reuters, Maserati, DHL
vtex.com
Unified commerce with native marketplace DNA.
Best for: Retailers and brands needing native marketplace capability, and Latin American / global multi-country operations.
Walmart, Sony, Coca-Cola, Whirlpool
commercetools.com
The category definer for MACH composable commerce.
Best for: Enterprises committing to composable / MACH architecture with dedicated engineering teams.
Audi, Sainsbury's, Ulta Beauty, Lufthansa
shopware.com
Germany's mid-market leader, now scaling globally.
Best for: German and European mid-market, B2B merchants needing native features, and brands wanting an open-source escape hatch.
Philips, L'Oréal, Haribo, Aston Martin
wix.com
Drag-and-drop with AI onboarding for solo creators.
Best for: Solo creators, small retailers, and service businesses wanting a visual drag-and-drop builder with AI onboarding.
Independent creators and small brands across hundreds of thousands of stores
squarespace.com
The design-led all-in-one for creators and services.
Best for: Design-led creators, service businesses, subscription merchants, and boutique retailers valuing template quality.
Designers, creators, small boutique brands
webflow.com
Design-led SaaS with a visual code editor.
Best for: Design-led DTC brands and marketing teams wanting a fully custom-designed store without developers.
Dell (marketing), HelloSign, Philz Coffee
squareup.com
The online storefront for Square POS merchants.
Best for: Local retailers and restaurants already using Square POS who want an online storefront fast.
Local restaurants and boutique retailers using Square POS
bigcartel.com
The creator's storefront, still serving artists loyally.
Best for: Independent artists, musicians, makers and print-on-demand creators with small catalogues.
Independent artists, bands, crafters, small print shops
ecwid.com
The embeddable cart that plugs into any site.
Best for: Existing site owners (WordPress, Squarespace, etc) wanting to add ecommerce, and multi-channel social sellers.
1.5M+ small businesses adding commerce to existing sites
woocommerce.com
The world's most-used ecommerce platform, open source by default.
Best for: Content-first brands on WordPress, cost-conscious SMBs, and stores wanting maximum ownership and plugin flexibility.
Singer, Porter & York, All Blacks Shop, Airstream
business.adobe.com
Adobe Commerce without the licence fee.
Best for: Merchants wanting enterprise-grade features without the Adobe Commerce licence, and complex catalogues with developer resources.
Independent mid-market and enterprise merchants
prestashop.com
The European open-source favourite with a polished admin.
Best for: European SMBs, multilingual merchants, and cost-conscious open-source fans who like a polished admin.
European SMBs and regional brands
opencart.com
The lightweight PHP cart that keeps small stores online cheaply.
Best for: Very small merchants needing a lightweight PHP cart with low hosting requirements.
Small global retailers
elasticpath.com
Headless commerce with PIM built-in.
Best for: Enterprises prioritising PIM and commerce together, and complex B2B with deep product data.
Intuit, Pella Windows, Schneider Electric, Serta Simmons
medusajs.com
The fastest-growing open source headless engine.
Best for: JavaScript-first developer teams building highly custom DTC or B2B stores with Next.js or Remix.
Mitsubishi Motors, Viessmann, Foraged, Catalog
saleor.io
GraphQL-first, Python-based, global by design.
Best for: Developer teams already using Python, and global brands needing strong multi-channel and localisation natively.
Lockheed Martin, Breitling (case studies), Intel
vendure.io
The TypeScript-native headless core for clean builds.
Best for: TypeScript teams wanting the smallest-possible headless core with a clean plugin API.
Boutique DTC brands and agencies
swell.is
Managed headless, purpose-built for subscription DTC.
Best for: Subscription-first DTC brands wanting headless flexibility without self-hosting overhead.
Subscription DTC brands
spryker.com
B2B composable, marketplace-ready, built for industry.
Best for: Enterprise B2B manufacturers, industrial distributors, complex marketplaces and IoT commerce.
ALDI, Siemens, Ricoh, ZF Friedrichshafen
oroinc.com
B2B-first from the ground up.
Best for: B2B-only manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors needing native B2B features like corporate accounts and price lists.
Proxima, Dickinson Fleet Services, Saltworks
Which platforms fit which store sizes. Solid square: sweet spot. Outlined square: viable fit. Dot: not suited.
| Platform | Tiny <$50K GMV | Small $50K to $500K | Mid $500K to $10M | Large simple $10M to $100M | Large complex $100M+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Commerce | · | · | |||
| Big Cartel | · | · | · | · | |
| BigCommerce | · | ||||
| commercetools | · | · | · | ||
| Ecwid by Lightspeed | · | · | · | ||
| Elastic Path | · | · | · | ||
| Magento Open Source | · | · | |||
| Medusa | · | ||||
| OpenCart | · | · | · | ||
| OroCommerce | · | · | |||
| PrestaShop | · | · | |||
| Saleor | · | · | |||
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | · | · | · | ||
| SAP Commerce Cloud | · | · | · | ||
| Shopify | · | · | |||
| Shopify Plus | · | · | |||
| Shopware | · | ||||
| Spryker | · | · | · | ||
| Square Online | · | · | · | ||
| Squarespace Commerce | · | · | · | ||
| Swell | · | · | |||
| Vendure | · | · | |||
| VTEX | · | · | |||
| Webflow eCommerce | · | · | |||
| Wix eCommerce | · | · | · | ||
| WooCommerce | · | · |