Commerce Layer vs Elastic Path
Commerce Layer
commercelayer.ioElastic Path
elasticpath.comSide by side
| Figure | Commerce Layer | Elastic Path |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 20 |
| Spec score · Ecommerce platforms | 9.0 (#20) | 9.2 (#9) |
| Spec score · Headless Ecommerce Platforms | 9.0 (#4) | 9.0 (#5) |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Funding | TechCrunch reported on May 26, 2021 that Commerce Layer raised a $16 million Series B led by Coatue, with Benchmark and Mango Capital also participating. | Elastic Path announced a $60 million growth financing round on February 1, 2022, bringing total funding announced by the company to more than $120 million. |
| Hosting model | hosted | hosted |
| Integrations | Documented payment integrations include Adyen, Axerve, Braintree, Checkout.com, Klarna, PayPal and Stripe, with external gateways available for custom providers. | Composer provides managed no-code integrations, low-code integration building, workflow orchestration, monitoring, and alerts. |
| Praise: flexibility | The TrustRadius reviewer praised Commerce Layer’s flexibility, true headless MACH architecture, integrated sales and shipment workflows, and extensive API and webhook coverage. | G2 reviewers repeatedly praise Elastic Path's flexibility, API-first headless design and ability to integrate with existing systems. |
| Product | Commerce Layer is a transactional commerce API for international brands that makes digital experiences shoppable. | Elastic Path describes its offering as composable commerce software for commerce businesses. |
| Rating on Capterra | 5.0 out of 5 from 3 reviews | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 30 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 10 out of 10 from 1 review | 8.0 out of 10 from 5 reviews |
| Sales channels | omnichannel | omnichannel |
| SDK | The official JavaScript SDK is distributed through npm and Yarn and includes token refresh, validation-error handling and resource operations. | Elastic Path maintains a JavaScript Commerce Cloud SDK distributed as @elasticpath/js-sdk with full TypeScript support. |
| Security | The security page states SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS Level 1 Provider, and ISO 27001 certifications. | Elastic Path says it has completed a SOC 2 examination and offers a third-party report describing its security practices. |
| Self-hosting | Dashboard applications can be forked, customized and run locally or self-hosted, but the pricing FAQ says Commerce Layer does not offer an on-premise version of its core service. | Self-Managed Commerce can run on-premises, in a customer's cloud account or as single-tenant Elastic Path managed hosting on AWS. |
| Subscriptions | The platform supports recurring commerce with subscription management, billing scenarios, payment-method updates and customer lifecycle automation. | Subscriptions provides REST APIs, event webhooks, customizable billing plans, customer portals and payment-gateway integrations. |
Plans
Elastic Path
- Entry — order basedPrice not published
- Professional — order basedPrice not published
- Enterprise — order basedPrice not published
- Entry — GMV basedPrice not published
- Professional — GMV basedPrice not published
- Enterprise — GMV basedPrice not published
- Subscriptions + EntitlementsPriced on request
- Subscriptions + Entitlements add-on$0.50, paid once
- Entry (GMV-based)$49,500 a year
- Entry — GMV Based Pricing$49,500 a year
In their own words
Commerce Layer
Commerce Layer is a hosted transactional commerce API for brands making digital experiences shoppable across online and in-store channels. Its checkout supports multiple markets and currencies and can connect with payment gateways and tax calculators. A distributed order management system provides a unified inventory view across locations and automates order steps from reservation through shipping. Teams can configure market-specific promotions with a visual editor or JSON-based DSL. Its point-of-sale system uses the same API as online channels and supports store inventory, endless aisle, and shareable selling links. Commerce Layer lists 400+ API endpoints and real-time webhooks with 100+ trigger events. The homepage states an average API response time below 90 ms and guaranteed uptime of 99.99%. Listed security credentials include SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS Level 1 Provider, and ISO 27001 certifications; OAuth 2.0 and resource-level permissions govern API access. Third-party integrations include a documented Zapier app. The Developer plan provides 100 free live orders per month and unlimited test orders; Enterprise orders are custom quoted. There is no trial period, and on-premise deployment is not offered.
Elastic Path
Elastic Path is composable commerce software for businesses that sell across channels. Its modular capabilities are available through APIs and can be used separately or together. The platform lists B2B tools for account hierarchies, quoting, pricebooks, rule-based catalogs, buyer tools, and dynamic bundles, alongside Intelligent Commerce features such as MCP servers, an AI storefront builder, semantic search, and agents. Composer supports managed no-code integrations, low-code integration building, workflow orchestration, monitoring, and alerts. It names Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, and Worldpay as payment providers and states there is no processor surcharge. Self-Managed Commerce can run on-premise, in a customer’s cloud, or through Elastic Path Managed Hosting. Listed Entry pricing is $49,500 a year, either for up to $5M GMV per year or up to 15,000 orders per year. The platform also lists unlimited SKUs, catalogs, storefronts, brands, and business users, with no per-seat fees. Elastic Path was founded in 2000.