Every European headless commerce platform reviewed
Oberndorf in Tirol, Austria
Framework free (GPLv3); Starter €199/month, Growth €599/month, Scale €2,499/month on the annual term; Enterprise from €60,000/year; excl. VAT
Demo on request
Best for: Developer teams building B2B commerce with customer-specific prices and approvals
Vendure is a TypeScript commerce framework from Oberndorf in Tirol that exposes everything through a GraphQL API, so the storefront can be a Next.js app, a mobile client or a marketplace connector.
The Framework is free under GPLv3 and covers catalogue, orders, customers and payments with a plugin model. The paid plans add B2B functions: company accounts with tax-ID validation at Starter, branches and unit, box or pallet selling at Growth, and order approvals, contract prices and a ready-made B2B storefront at Scale.
The contracting party is Elevantiq GmbH, registered in Innsbruck as FN 506751 y, and its terms apply Austrian law.
Vendure began in 2018 as an open-source framework, according to the vendor, and the company says it ended its agency business in 2026 to work on the product alone. The vendor states that no fee is charged on revenue, orders or users, and its own pricing page says merchants with standard orders and card payments will probably not need a paid plan.
What Vendure does well
- Free GPLv3 Framework with a documented GraphQL API
- Euro plan prices are public, and there is no charge on revenue or orders
- Quotes, contract pricing and approvals ship as built-in B2B functions
- Austrian GmbH with an FN number, and Austrian law governs its terms
- The plan price is the same whether you self-host or use the planned cloud
Where Vendure falls short
- Vendure Cloud is in closed beta, with general availability planned for Q1 2027
- Starter comes with community support only
- The focus is B2B, so consumer-shop features are not what it sells
- GPLv3 can complicate redistributing modified code
Standout feature. Vendure is the only platform here that publishes plan prices in euros from a free GPLv3 Framework up to a €60,000 a year Enterprise tier.
Wrocław, Poland
Free open-source core; the managed Saleor Cloud is paid
Demo on request
Best for: Product teams building a custom frontend against a commerce API
Saleor comes from Wrocław and puts every commerce object, from products and channels to payments and fulfilment, behind a single typed GraphQL schema. A dashboard handles merchandising and an app framework carries extensions. Because several channels and currencies are part of the data model, one catalogue can feed a website, a mobile app and an in-store terminal without separate shops.
Python powers the open-source core, and Saleor Cloud hosts that identical code for a subscription tied to environments and volume, with no cut of turnover. Because the company is Polish, both contract and cloud service sit under EU law. The shopper-facing side is left to you, and fewer agencies and plugins exist around it than around Shopware or PrestaShop.
What Saleor does well
- One typed GraphQL schema covers the entire commerce domain
- Open-source core that you can host yourself
- Channels and currencies are built into the model
- An app framework handles extensions
- Polish company under EU jurisdiction
Where Saleor falls short
- Ships without a storefront, so you build one
- Needs front-end engineering capacity
- Fewer plugins and agencies than Shopware or PrestaShop
- Cloud is priced by environment and volume
Standout feature. Saleor offers one open-source codebase as both a hosted service and a self-run install, which turns a vendor exit into a hosting move.
Skien, Norway
Founded 2018
Three tiers: Particle is free and metered (one tenant, 100 items and 25 orders a month before overage), Atom is $949/month for 5,000 items and 500 orders a month, Crystal is priced per contract and includes SSO and dedicated support
Demo on request
Best for: Catalogues where rich product information weighs as much as checkout
Crystallize treats the product story as the foundation: images, variants and structured descriptions live in the same GraphQL API as carts and orders, so nobody keeps a separate PIM aligned with a shop. That built-in information layer is what separates it from Saleor, and its general content model, rather than fashion tooling, is what separates it from SCAYLE. Furniture, food and B2B catalogues are the natural fit.
The company dates from 2018 and works out of Skien, which puts it inside the EEA but outside the EU. Its public price page is in dollars: the metered Particle tier costs nothing, Atom is $949 a month once you need 5,000 items and 500 orders a month, and Crystal is negotiated with SSO and dedicated support. Storefront work stays with you, and overage beyond the free allowance deserves a forecast.
What Crystallize does well
- The free tier has no time limit and needs no sales call
- Product content and orders share one GraphQL schema
- Metered prices are published on the site
- Norwegian company inside the EEA
- A built-in PIM replaces a separate content system
Where Crystallize falls short
- A storefront is not included, so both routes mean a build project
- Free-tier overage can add up at scale
- Needs front-end engineering capacity
- Ecosystem is smaller than that of Saleor or Shopware
Standout feature. Crystallize pairs a single schema for product content and orders with a free tier that never expires, a combination no other tool on this list offers.
Łódź, Poland
Free open-source core; Sylius Plus is a commercial licence
Demo on request
Best for: Agencies and PHP teams building a shop with non-standard rules
Sylius, from Łódź, targets developers who construct a shop, not merchants who set one up. Its MIT-licensed core follows Symfony conventions and models products, taxonomies, channels, promotions and orders with an API alongside, so overriding or testing a component needs nothing beyond the PHP toolchain the team already owns. Departing from the defaults is expected usage.
Enterprise needs such as multi-source inventory, advanced returns and role-based access arrive with Sylius Plus, a licence quoted per project without a public price. The company belongs to the Cyber_Pixel holding together with PrestaShop and BitBag, and Cyber_folks, a Polish group, owns the majority, so the chain of ownership stays European. Expect fewer modules than PrestaShop and a need for Symfony skills.
What Sylius does well
- Fully open MIT-licensed core
- Standard Symfony code that a PHP team can extend
- Made for customisation, not configuration
- Domain model that is clean, with an API on top
- Ownership and hosting stay in Europe
Where Sylius falls short
- A merchant cannot install and run it alone
- Demands Symfony expertise
- Sylius Plus is sold under a commercial licence
- The PrestaShop ecosystem is larger
Standout feature. Sylius hands a PHP team an MIT-licensed Symfony codebase in which any class can be replaced, which fits shops whose special rules define the business.
Schöppingen, Germany
Community Edition is free and open source; commercial editions cost extra
Demo on request
Best for: Mid-market and B2B merchants who want to own their catalogue rules and checkout flow
Shopware 6 splits administration, storefront and API into separate layers of a Symfony and Vue application, so teams can go headless or keep the stock Twig storefront. The Rule Builder and Flow Builder express promotions, price logic and automations as configuration. Quotes, approvals and customer-specific prices come from a B2B suite that is part of the product itself rather than assembled from plugins.
Shopware AG, in Schöppingen, has worked on the software since 2000. You host the free Community Edition yourself; paying gets the B2B suite, professional support and the managed cloud under plan pricing, with no share of turnover taken. Good operation needs technical staff, plugin choice is narrower than for PrestaShop, and partners cluster in the DACH region.
What Shopware does well
- The open core can be self-hosted
- B2B suite is part of the platform
- API-first, with headless and standard storefronts on equal footing
- Rules and flows cover logic without writing code
- German company, so GDPR applies directly
- Priced by plan, not by share of turnover
Where Shopware falls short
- Takes technical capacity to operate well
- Fewer modules than PrestaShop
- B2B and support need the commercial editions
- Partners are concentrated in German-speaking markets
Standout feature. Shopware combines a free open core, an integrated B2B suite and a vendor-run cloud, and still lets you skip headless and use its own storefront.
Hamburg, Germany
Software free (LGPL-3.0); support from €239 + VAT for 2 hours; extended long-term support from €79/month + VAT
Demo on request
Best for: PHP teams on Laravel or TYPO3 that want to embed a catalogue and checkout into their own application
Aimeos is a set of commerce components from Hamburg that developers add to Laravel with Composer, install as a TYPO3 extension or run as a headless backend. A Next.js, Nuxt, Vue or React front end then reads the catalogue and places orders over JSON:API or GraphQL. Because the components live inside an existing PHP framework, an agency can add a shop to a CMS site without introducing a second admin system.
The company is Aimeos GmbH, registered in Hamburg as HRB 143090, and its general terms cover business customers only. The software is free under LGPL-3.0 and support is sold separately: €239 plus VAT for two hours, or extended long-term support from €79 a month plus VAT with a 12-month minimum. The performance figures on the homepage are the vendor's own and were not tested here, and no vendor-run cloud was found.
What Aimeos does well
- Free LGPL-3.0 software that exposes JSON:API and GraphQL
- Ready packages for Laravel, TYPO3 and Symfony
- The vendor describes marketplace, subscription and B2B extensions
- GmbH in Hamburg with a register number and published terms
- Support price list is openly published
Where Aimeos falls short
- Works only in the PHP ecosystem
- The vendor does not run a hosted platform, as far as the pages checked show
- Support is bought as blocks of hours
- Speed claims come from the vendor
Standout feature. Aimeos is a library you embed inside a Laravel or TYPO3 application, which no other tool on this list is.
Zug, Switzerland
Reached through a demo request; no price list was found
Demo on request
Best for: Manufacturers and distributors that want to automate purchase orders and onboarding across several systems
Emporix builds its offer around value streams instead of a feature checklist: a commerce engine for carts, checkout and orders, an orchestration engine for rules and process chains, and a no-code modeller where non-developers draw the flows. The vendor markets the combination as the ACE platform. Predefined streams cover purchase order automation, new customer onboarding and abandoned-cart actions, and an embedded iPaaS connects other systems visually.
The imprint names Emporix AG in Zug, company number CHE-423.041.325, which is a Swiss rather than an EU contract. Customer stories on the site come from ACR, LMT Tools and Bender Group, in manufacturing, wholesale, automotive aftermarket and healthcare. No price list, hosting region or self-hosted route was found, and the marketing text leans on AI-agent claims with little technical detail behind them.
What Emporix does well
- A no-code value stream modeller aimed at non-developers
- One vendor supplies the commerce engine and the orchestration layer
- Headless frontend together with an embedded iPaaS
- The imprint gives the AG form and company number
- B2B customers are named as references
Where Emporix falls short
- Prices are not published
- No self-hosted or open-source option exists
- The hosting region is not stated on the pages checked
- The company is Swiss, which is outside the EU
Standout feature. Emporix lets non-developers model B2B order processes in a visual value stream editor on top of its own commerce engine.
Berlin, Germany
Enterprise subscription, quoted project by project
Demo on request
Best for: Enterprises building B2B, marketplace or non-standard commerce models
Spryker targets commerce that a normal webshop template cannot express: contract-priced B2B buying, marketplaces with outside sellers, subscription and rental models, and selling across channels at once. A team composes catalogue, pricing, cart, checkout, merchant onboarding and fulfilment modules, with the GLUE API serving storefronts and a state machine driving order flows. Sellers, split payments and commissions are modelled directly in the marketplace suite.
The vendor, Spryker Systems GmbH, dates from 2014, sits in Berlin and lists European hosting options. Cost arrives as a project-specific enterprise subscription, which makes the fair comparison the build cost of the same model on Adobe Commerce or custom code, not a monthly plan. Source code is closed, a real engineering team is a requirement, and the tool page calls it overkill for a plain B2C shop.
What Spryker does well
- Designed for B2B, marketplace and hybrid models
- Composable modules in place of one fixed product
- API-first from the beginning, not retrofitted
- Sellers, split payments and commissions are handled by the marketplace suite
- Berlin company with hosting in Europe
Where Spryker falls short
- Quoted enterprise subscription, no price list
- Needs an actual engineering team
- Closed source
- Too much for an ordinary B2C shop
Standout feature. Spryker builds seller onboarding, split payments and commission handling into the platform itself instead of selling them as an extension.
Hamburg, Germany
Sold as an enterprise contract; the site shows no price list
Demo on request
Best for: Large fashion and lifestyle retailers with a big catalogue and their own front-end developers
SCAYLE GmbH in Hamburg belongs to the ABOUT YOU Group, a German fashion retailer with a Frankfurt listing. The software began as the engine behind that retailer's own shop and was later offered to others, which accounts for its fashion and lifestyle catalogue focus. Customer-facing screens are the retailer's own job; catalogue, checkout, pricing and orders run behind the API.
Commercially it is a contract sized to the retailer, with neither a published price nor a self-serve plan nor a self-hosted variant, and going live is an implementation project. Saleor is the broader GraphQL core by comparison; SCAYLE trades breadth for a specialisation tested in fashion retail, and distributed order management is among the features listed on the category page.
What SCAYLE does well
- The engine has carried the volume of ABOUT YOU itself
- Made for fashion and lifestyle catalogues
- German company in a Frankfurt-listed group
- API-first, with no tie to a particular storefront
- Handles large catalogues at enterprise scale
Where SCAYLE falls short
- Prices are not published
- No self-hosted choice and nothing for small merchants
- An engineering team has to implement it
- More specialised than general platforms such as Saleor
Standout feature. SCAYLE began as the commerce engine of the ABOUT YOU shop and only then was sold on to other fashion retailers.
Jena, Germany
The site has no price list and sends visitors to a demo request
Demo on request
Best for: Manufacturers and wholesalers that want a packaged B2B stack with APIs for their own ERP and PIM
Intershop describes its offer as a pre-composed middle path between all-in-one suites and do-it-yourself composable builds. The platform ships ready capabilities for pricing, contracts, customer portals and aftermarket sales, and buyers keep their existing PIM, ERP, CMS, frontend or search engine and connect them through more than 350 APIs. The Spring 2026 release lists Copilot for Buyers and Copilot for Merchants, which the tool page treats as optional modules to test in a demo.
The legal notice names Intershop Communications AG, Steinweg 10, Jena, entered as HRB 209419, independent of Intershop Holding AG in Switzerland. Customer stories name Lekkerland, Raja, Musgrave and KION. Delivery is a managed cloud on Microsoft Azure with auto-scaling and uptime commitments; the region is not stated, there is no self-hosted route, and no price list was found.
What Intershop does well
- German AG whose legal notice gives the commercial register number
- More than 350 APIs connect an existing PIM, ERP and search tool
- Customer stories come from named B2B companies
- Vendor-managed operation with auto-scaling and uptime commitments
- Features for contracts, pricing and aftermarket sales
Where Intershop falls short
- Prices are not published
- Cloud delivery only, with no self-hosted edition
- Runs on Microsoft Azure and the region is not stated
- Closed source, so no control at code level
Standout feature. Intershop sells a managed composable B2B platform with 350+ APIs, a packaged route that sits between a suite and a build-it-yourself stack.
