The platforms powering online retail in 2026. SaaS, open source, headless and composable, filtered by architecture, price, deployment and fit.
Showing 18 of 26
Showing 18 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
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
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 | · | · |