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Saleor Commerce

Headless, open source, GraphQL-first e-commerce infrastructure.

Pricing

$0/mo

Freemium
Score

4.6/5

License
BSD-3-Clause
Certifications
2
Last technical review
2026-10-29
Available plansVisit website (opens in a new tab)

Technical Overview

Saleor is a headless, open source e-commerce platform built with a GraphQL-first architecture. It enables development teams to build custom shopping experiences, integrate freely through APIs, and retain full control over their technology stack. It supports both managed cloud deployment and self-hosting via containers, catering to enterprise-grade projects.

Analyst Evaluation: Pros and Limitations

Verified Advantages

  • Pure GraphQL architecture optimizing complex data queries.
  • Open source model allowing complete self-hosted deployment.
  • Headless approach decoupling backend from any frontend technology.

Technical Considerations

  • Steep learning curve for teams without prior GraphQL experience.
  • Complex initial setup requiring dedicated infrastructure in self-hosted mode.

Technical Capabilities & Features

7/7
Included:REST & GraphQL API
Included:SSO / SAML Authentication
Included:Self-Hosted Option
Included:Full Data Export
Included:Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Included:Custom Domains & SSL
Included:Immutable Audit Logs
Scorecard
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Technical Scorecard: Saleor Commerce

89/100
DX & Tech Documentation
Excellent
92/100
Pricing Fairness
Excellent
80/100
Security & Governance
Excellent
90/100
Data Portability & Sovereignty
Excellent
95/100
Performance & Reliability
Excellent
88/100

Time to Value & Fit by Segment: Saleor Commerce

Estimated Time-to-Value1 - 7 days (Agile)

Standard sprint integration without complex external dependencies.

Learning CurveHigh (Specialized)

Requires dedicated DevOps or infrastructure architecture expertise.

Fit Index by Organization Size

Startup & Agile Teams1 to 50 members
70%
Mid-Market & Scaleup50 to 500 members
90%
Corporate Enterprise500+ members
95%
Pricing & TCO
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Pricing

$0.00/mo

Model: FREEMIUM.

Free Tier Verification:

  • No credit card required
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Unlimited usage with no expiration
  • No mandatory watermarks
Get Saleor Commerce (opens in a new tab)

Billing Risks & Hidden Clauses: Saleor Commerce

Free Tier Limits:

Open source core edition is permanently free for self-hosting.

Audited Billing Critical Points:
  • Cloud tiers scale based on API call volume and transaction thresholds, leading to unpredictable overage costs.
  • Advanced security features like audit logs and SSO may require enterprise engagement.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Projection: Saleor Commerce$0.00/mo
Deterministic cost estimation at 12 and 36 months based on team size, including SSO tax premiums and annual prepay discounts.
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Indie / Solo (1 active user)

Solo developer or independent technical founder.

Base Monthly Cost
$12/month
1 active user
12-Month Investment
$122/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$366total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 3 active users

Calculated infrastructure: VPS 1 vCPU / 2GB RAM (~$5) + 0.5h DevOps/mes ($20)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$300/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSaaS is $178/year
Startup (10 active users)

Agile engineering team in validation and early traction stage.

Base Monthly Cost
$270/month
10 active users
12-Month Investment
$2,754/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$8,262total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 5 active users

Calculated infrastructure: VPS 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM (~$15) + 2h DevOps/mes ($80)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$1,140/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $1,614/year
Growth (25 active users)

Scaling company with team governance and granular access control requirements.

Base Monthly Cost
$675/month
25 active users
12-Month Investment
$6,885/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$20,655total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 13 active users

Calculated infrastructure: Cluster VPS 4 vCPU / 16GB RAM (~$45) + 6h DevOps/mes ($240)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$3,420/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $3,465/year
Scaleup (100 active users)

Established organization with enterprise security policies and mandatory SAML/SSO.

Base Monthly Cost
$2,700/month
100 active users
12-Month Investment
$27,540/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$82,620total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 35 active users

Calculated infrastructure: Infraestructura HA redundante + Backups (~$150) + 16h DevOps/mes ($640)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$9,480/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $18,060/year
Usage Surcharges & Bill Shock Simulator: Saleor CommerceWhat usage costs as you scale
Detect overage penalties before they impact engineering budget.
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Prototype / MVP (10 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 5 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$1/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$21/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Suitable for development; verify concurrent connection limits.

Base Production (50 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 5 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$8/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$28/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Implement table compression policies and temporal partitioning.

Active Growth (250 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 5 GB.
High Risk / Accelerated Overages
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$44/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$64/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Offload cold backups to standard object storage (S3).

Large Scale (1.000 GB (1 TB))

Included base quota in plan: 5 GB.
Critical Risk / Severe Bill Shock
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$179/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$199/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Migrate to dedicated instance or self-hosted cluster to curtail I/O fees.

Procurement Strategy & Discounts: Saleor CommerceB2B Negotiation Playbook
Corporate executive level with highest authority to approve budgetary exceptions.
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Fair Market Price & B2B Procurement Benchmark

Non-renewal notice: 60 days before expirationMedian achieved discount: -12%
Public List Price
Custom / Contact
100% baseline
Audited Market Average
-12% median
~88% of list price
Optimized Target Price
-20% target
Max achievable discount (Q4 / multi-year): -20%

Verified Tactical Savings Levers

  • Annual Upfront PrepayUp to -15%

    Consolidated discount for upfront annual billing versus monthly rate.

  • Multi-Year AgreementUp to -25%

    Multi-year contract commitment (2-3 years) with inflation rate lock.

Security & Data Exit
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Compliance & Security Standards: Saleor Commerce

SOC 2 Type IIAudited
ISO 27001Not reported
GDPR / RGPDAudited
HIPAANot reported
PCI-DSSNot reported
Jurisdiction & Legal Sovereignty
🇵🇱Poland [PL]Immune to US CLOUD Act (EU Sovereign)GDPR DPA Available
SSO Availability (SAML Enterprise)
Enterprise-Only SSO
Data Residency
USEUSELF_HOSTEDAWS
AI Privacy Policy
Not evaluated
Data Liberation & Migration Runbook: Saleor CommerceJSON · CSV · SQL DUMP
Actionable escape runbook and credential export guarantees to mitigate vendor lock-in.
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Supported Structured Export Formats
JSONCSVSQL DUMP
Password Hash Portability
Subject to Support Ticket (Manual Process)

Credential hash export requires commercial mediation or formal support ticket approval.

CLI Command / Rescue Endpoint
GraphQL API export queries
Exit Protocol & Migration Notes

Full data export available through GraphQL API endpoints and database dumps for self-hosted instances.

Deployment & Infrastructure Requirements: Saleor CommerceBSD-3-Clause
Hardware specs and Docker directives to run on local servers, dedicated VPS, or Kubernetes without telemetry leak to the cloud.
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Minimum Memory1 GB RAM (Recommended)
Compute CPU1 vCPU
Runtime / LanguagePython
Code LicenseBSD-3-Clause
Docker CLI Directive
docker run -d --name saleor-commerce -p 8080:8080 saleor-commerce:latest
Companion Services & Dependencies:
PostgreSQL 15+Redis 7+
Community & Repository
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Technical Reputation of Saleor Commerce

80/100 Technical Trust

Frequent Praises in Production

  • Pure GraphQL architecture optimizing complex data queries.
  • Open source model allowing complete self-hosted deployment.
  • Headless approach decoupling backend from any frontend technology.

Reported Production Frictions

  • Steep learning curve for teams without prior GraphQL experience.
  • Complex initial setup requiring dedicated infrastructure in self-hosted mode.
Commercial Treatment & Vendor Lock-in:Requires Sales Contact

Assisted cancellation requiring meeting with account team or contract notice period.

Open source repository activity: Saleor Commerce23,488
Stars, forks and release cadence
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Stars23.5k
Forks6.2k
Open Issues303
SPDX LicenseBSD-3-Clause
Latest Commit DetectedOct 29, 2026

Frequently Asked Technical Questions (Saleor Commerce)

How does Saleor integrate with frontends and sales channels?

Saleor exposes a comprehensive GraphQL API that connects any frontend framework, mobile app, or IoT channel using typed queries and mutations.

Is it possible to self-host Saleor completely for free?

Yes, being an open source platform, you can deploy the core version on your own infrastructure without software licensing costs.

What scalability level does Saleor's architecture support?

Saleor is engineered for high-traffic environments, handling millions of requests per month and complex transactions in its cloud infrastructure tier.

Direct Alternatives

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