Headless commerce decouples your storefront from the commerce backend, giving design freedom but adding engineering complexity. In 2026, choose by your team's technical capacity and growth trajectory.
Quick Picks
- SMB + Shopify ecosystem→ShopifyHydrogen
- Mid-market headless→BigCommerceCatalyst
- Enterprise MACH→Commercetools
- Open source self-host→MedusaorSaleor
Pricing (May 2026)
| Platform | Entry | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify (Hydrogen) | $39/mo (Basic) + dev cost | Hydrogen free, hosted on Oxygen |
| BigCommerce | $29/mo (Standard) | Catalyst free framework |
| Commercetools | Custom (typically $80K+/year) | Pure API + tenant pricing |
| Medusa | Free (self-host) | Medusa Cloud beta |
| Saleor | Free (self-host) | Saleor Cloud paid tiers |
What Each Wins At
Shopify Hydrogen — SMB Headless
Hydrogen is Shopify's React-based storefront framework. Hosted on Oxygen edge runtime. Best for: existing Shopify merchants wanting custom storefronts without leaving the ecosystem.
BigCommerce Catalyst — Mid-Market
Catalyst is BigCommerce's Next.js framework — fully open source. No Shopify-style transaction fees. Best for: D2C brands $1M-$50M revenue.
Commercetools — Enterprise MACH
Commercetools is the enterprise MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) leader. Used by Audi, Sephora, NBA. Best for: enterprise multi-channel commerce.
Medusa — Open Source Strong
Medusa is the JavaScript-native open-source commerce engine. v2 added subscription module. Best for: developers wanting full control + customization.
Saleor — Python/GraphQL
Saleor is GraphQL-first open source commerce. Used by complex B2B + custom enterprise needs. Best for: B2B with complex catalog requirements.
