6 Top Jamstack Headless eCommerce Platforms

Introduction

If you are considering using Jamstack for eCommerce, it’s worth taking a look at eCommerce platforms you can use.

As the number of such solutions grows, we decided to help you with making a final decision by handpicking the best Jamstack eCommerce platforms out there.

These are:

In this article, we cover:

• Reasons to use Jamstack for eCommerce
• Popular Jamstack eCommerce platforms
• Their pros and cons
• Their main features
• Real-life examples

In the end, we compare these six eCommerce platforms for Jamstack in an easy-to-read table format.

Let’s start with fundamentals – why should you consider using Jamstack to build an online store in the first place?

PS If you want to learn more about Jamstack, you can read our comprehensive guide on What is Jamstack?

You can also watch our interview with Colby Fayock, one of the top Jamstack experts.

Why use Jamstack for eCommerce?

Jamstack itself offers many benefits for companies that want to build their online presence. Requirements of both clients and Google are getting bigger and the idea behind Jamstack is to help businesses meet these requirements.

Jamstack means:

• Fast page load speed
• Rich user experience
• SEO efficiency
• Going omnichannel
• Being future-proof
• High security

However, these benefits apply to all kinds of businesses and websites, but there are some that are intended for eCommerce businesses.

So why use Jamstack for eCommerce?

• To sell anywhere
• Improve time to market
• Get unlimited experience possibilities
• Lower the development cost (in comparison to the traditional approach)
• Get a much better developer experience for your tech team

Choosing Jamstack for eCommerce is called headless eCommerce. And there are some eCommerce platforms that allow for unlocking the full potential of going headless.

Headless eCommerce platforms and their benefits

Headless is quite a new concept of separating the front-end layer from the backend layer, but syncing them with each other at the same time through API (Application Programming Interface).

It’s the main difference between headless eCommerce vs traditional eCommerce.

As content and design are separated from the logic and functional layer, online store owners don’t have to worry about breaking basic store functionalities (like payments or databases) while creating out-of-the-box customer experiences.

Thanks to headless eCommerce, you can efficiently manage the content and distribute it to any channel. That’s not possible in the case of traditional eCommerce. In short, it gives you full flexibility and control of content, user interface, page templates and custom code.

Going headless also means that you can create and design custom customer touchpoints like forms, product pages, checkout pages or anything else that customers interact with.

Benefits

As there are many eCommerce platforms that can be used in the Jamstack approach, we handpicked just a few of them. These are platforms that we use in our daily work:

• BigCommerce
• Crystallize
• Magento (Adobe Commerce)
• Saleor
• Shopify
• WooCommerce

Let’s take a look at each one of them.

Our Top Jamstack eCommerce Platforms

Here’s a handpicked list of our favourite eCommerce platforms that work perfectly, and are able to deliver superb results together with the Jamstack approach.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS eCommerce platform that aims to help merchants regardless of their growth stage. It’s easy to set up and start selling, even for people without coding experience or even web design skills.

Pros and cons

Main features

Pricing

If you exceed the annual sales limit on the Standard and Plus plans, you need to upgrade your plan.

You can check the detailed pricing on BigCommerce’s website.

When to use BigCommerce?

Although BigCommerce is a great choice for all kinds of online stores, it offers additional solutions for the following industries:

• Apparel & Fashion
• Automotive
• CBD
• Food & Beverage
• Health & Beauty
• Manufacturing

Examples of BigCommerce stores

Black Diamond Equipiment

Black Diamond Equipment is an online store with climbing, skiing and trail running gear.

Model Train Stuff

Model Train Stuff is an online store with model trains, train sets and model accessories.

Crystallize

Crystallize is a modern headless eCommerce platform for selling digital and physical products in any language. It combines Product Information Management (PIM) and rich content management. Essentially, it is an eCommerce platform with CMS and a search engine in one.

Pros and cons

Main features

• Custom price variants
• Custom product variants
• Fulfilment pipelines
• Highly scalable
• Multi-currency reporting
• Multiple stock locations
• Multiple users per account and multiple accounts per user
• Order management
• Structured content

Pricing

You can check the detailed pricing on Crystallize’s website.

When to use Crystallize?

Crystallize is a great and very flexible tool. It allows teams to have a central place to handle their products and content data that is available in production instantly, via the headless GraphQL API. It would be a perfect case for a business that shares information across multiple channels (multiple web fronts, apps, etc.). 

Since it is so flexible, it also fits business models that have specific requirements or are restricted by other platforms. The last big pain-point of businesses is performance, and that does not cover only data streams out of Crystallize but is also a big factor when securing sensitive information like checkout processes.

Examples of Crystallize stores

Bertel O. Steen

Bertel O. Steen is an official Mercedes Benz retailer in Norway.

Loql

Loql is a UK startup empowering local restaurants.

Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Magento is an eCommerce platform dedicated to bigger players with many rich features, headless architecture and various third-party integrations.

Pros and Cons

Main features

• AI-powered advanced live search
• Amazon Sales Channel extension
• Integration with ShopRunner (two-day deliveries)
• Multi-cloud support (Amazon Web Services or Azure)
• Order management
• Possibility to build PWA (Progressive Web App) on top of Magento (Adobe Commerce)
• Product recommendations functionality
• Revenue-based funding thanks to Wayflyer
• Visual page builder

Pricing

As pricing is not available publicly, you need to contact sales first.

When to use Magento (Adobe Commerce)?

Magento is a good option for mid-market businesses with a growing tendency and is a truly great choice for big enterprise businesses that demand high customizability.

Examples of Magento stores

EGLO

EGLO is an online store with contemporary lighting solutions for every area.

HÖGL

HÖGL is an online store with high-quality, stylish women’s shoes.

Saleor

Saleor is a headless eCommerce platform empowering online store owners to deliver blazingly fast, dynamic and personalised shopping experiences.

Pros and Cons

Main features

• CSV import and export
• Flexible product types
• Google Analytics integration
• Localised data
• Product bundles and collections
• Refunds and returns
• Reminders about abandoned carts
• Tracking sales history and metrics
• Quick product search

Pricing

There are two options:

• Open-source – it is and will be free forever to host on your servers
• Cloud – monthly pricing that depends on the number of monthly orders

Let’s check the pricing for 1,500-2,500 monthly orders on three plans (Startup, Pro, Enterprise).

You can check the detailed pricing on Saleor’s website.

When to use Saleor?

Saleor is a great choice regardless of whether you are a small, midsize or enterprise-level retailer with a physical or digital inventory.

Note that Saleor was built with headless commerce in mind.

You can also read more about Saleor here.

Examples of Saleor stores

A-dam

A-dam is a clothing brand focused on high-quality basics.

Pfeffer & Frost

Pfeffer & Frost is an emerging food-centered eCommerce company.

Shopify

Shopify is probably the most popular, and the first direction for any new web shop nowadays. It is a SaaS eCommerce platform, similar to BigCommerce, that’s widely popular worldwide.

You can choose it regardless of the stage you are at because Shopify offers solutions for beginner stores and well-established ones.

Pros and cons

Main features

Pricing

You can check the detailed pricing on Shopify’s website.

When to use Shopify?

Shopify is an excellent choice for shops of all sizes and industries, regardless of whether you are just starting out (consider Shopify Lite then) or have a well-established online store that needs some improvements.

We can also learn about using Shopify as a headless only.

Examples of Shopify stores

Grovemade

Grovemade is an online store that offers office accessories and helps with modern desk organisation.

Pop Chart

Pop Chart is an online store with infographic posters about everything pop culture.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin that enables you to transform WordPress websites into eCommerce platforms.

It does not only integrate seamlessly with WordPress but also with Jamstack. In other words, if you already have a WooCommerce store, you can go headless.

Pros and Cons

Main features

• Automated tax calculations
• Endless product variations
• Flexible and secure payments
• Free and paid extensions (available on the official WooCommerce marketplace)
• In-home label printing
• Integration with Google Analytics and Google Shopping
• Live shipping rates from leading carriers
• Mobile app for iOS and Android
• Order management
• Subscription options

Pricing

WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin however there are many WooCommerce extensions available, and some of them aren’t free.

When to use WooCommerce?

WooCommerce can be used regardless of the industry or number of products. Although it’s easy to set up a simple online store, adding more advanced features in the future will require installing extensions or the developer’s help so for some it may be deciding factor to use some other platform.

Examples of WooCommerce stores

Certified Comic Shop

Certified Comic Shop is an online store with comics.

Shop Catalog

Shop Catalog is an online store offering creative works from people behind Thought Catalog.

Head-to-head comparison of Jamstack eCommerce platforms

Now, after finding out about the pros, cons, and features of each eCommerce platform, let’s compare them against each other considering different aspects.

We created the following comparison from the perspective of building a simple online store, not some big eCommerce site.

Conclusion

In most cases, all platforms offer similar basic features that provide a lot of value for eCommerce brands. However, there are specific differences between these platforms that may become crucial for a specific business type and particular requirements.

If that’s the case, a free consultation with a dedicated Jamstack agency – like Pagepro – may help you with making a final choice.

Further readings

If you want to learn more about Jamstack or headless eCommerce in general, we recommend reading the following articles:

• What is Jamstack?
• Headless eCommerce vs Traditional eCommerce
• How can Jamstack help you increase conversion rate?
• Why use Jamstack for eCommerce in 2021?