E-Commerce Platforms & Shop Systems
Vendure
Provenance unknown Report an error0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.
by Vendure · www.vendure.io
Report an error on this page Is this your product? →
Link to this page
Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds.
The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where
that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.
Vendure at a glance
- Vendor
- Vendure
- Headquarters
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Data hosting
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Free plan
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Starting price
- “Plans start at €199 a month, with no fee on order value, orders or users.” (vendor’s words) source, captured 3 Nov 2026
- Panel verdict
- The AI panel rates Vendure 3/5, the mean of 6 judges. Vendure, an open-source commerce framework from Elevantiq GmbH in Austria, positions itself for complex B2B. how scores are made
- As of
- Vendor pages captured 3 Nov 2026; evaluated by the panel 3 Nov 2026. all sources
Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The panel's verdict
Vendure, an open-source commerce framework from Elevantiq GmbH in Austria, positions itself for complex B2B. Its highest scores are extensibility, where five of six judges gave 9, and data control and exit at 8 to 9: a GPLv3 core with a plugin exception, plugins declaring semver compatibility, self-hosting on PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB including air-gapped environments, and a documented cutover between self-hosting and the planned Cloud. The lowest are tax and legal at 4 to 6 and operations at 5 to 6, where judges found no public information on invoicing from orders, OSS reporting data, e-invoicing formats, German checkout requirements, carrier label printing, multi-warehouse stock or maintained ERP connectors. Sovereignty splits widest, 5 to 8: judges credit self-hosting, but the published processor list includes United States providers under the Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses, and where the vendor-run Cloud will host data is not stated. Pricing transparency spans 6 to 8, the gap reflecting how judges weighed the public tiers against the unpriced Enterprise tier and unpublished Cloud overage rates.
Speaks for it
- Extensibility scores 9 from five of six judges for plugins as NestJS modules with semver compatibility declarations and independently extendable Shop and Admin GraphQL APIs.
- The GPLv3 Framework is free forever and self-hosts on PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB, including on-premises and air-gapped environments.
- Moving between self-hosting and the planned Cloud is documented as a data and configuration cutover rather than a re-platform.
- Starter, Growth and Scale prices are public at €199/mo, €599/mo and €2,499/mo, a 12-month term billed monthly excl. VAT, with no fee on order value, orders or users and a 30-day trial with no card required.
- The B2B trade side is documented: customer-specific and contract pricing, quotes, quick order by pasting SKUs, approval limits and orders on invoice terms.
Held against it
- Judges found no public information on invoicing from orders, OSS reporting data or e-invoicing formats, which keeps tax and legal at 4 to 6.
- Judges found no public information on carrier label printing, multi-warehouse stock or maintained connectors to named ERP and accounting systems.
- The Enterprise tier carries no public price, and Cloud usage above each plan's included base is billed on top at unpublished rates.
- The EU reverse-charge strategy's documentation page sits behind a Console sign-in.
- The published processor list includes United States providers, and where the vendor-run Cloud will host data is not stated.
Best for
- You run a development team that wants to own the commerce core and reshape checkout and processes without a rebuild.
- You sell complex B2B, since customer-specific and contract pricing, quotes, quick order by pasting SKUs and approval limits are documented in the paid plans.
- You must keep catalogue, customer and order data in your own PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB, on-premises or air-gapped.
- You are prepared to build storefront and ERP connections via APIs, going live with your own engineers, Vendure Professional Services or an official partner.
Avoid if
- You rely on the platform for invoicing from orders, e-invoicing formats or OSS reporting data — the judges found no public information on any of these.
- You expect maintained connectors to named ERP, accounting or carrier systems rather than building the connections via APIs.
- You sell mainly to consumers and need PayPal, direct debit or buy-now-pay-later — payments are documented through community plugins for Stripe, Braintree and Mollie, and the judges found no public information on the others.
- You need a fully priced annual bill up front — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it
The scores
| Criterion | Panel median |
|---|---|
| Catalogue & checkout | 3.5 of 5 |
| Tax & German legal correctness | 2.5 of 5 |
| Extensibility & developer surface | 4.5 of 5 |
| Order operations & back office | 2.5 of 5 |
| Data ownership & exit | 4 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 3.5 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3.5 of 5 |
Catalogue & checkout
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
Products, variants, pricing rules and the path to payment — the part that either converts or does not.
0 — Not a shop: no product catalogue and no checkout of its own.
3 — A product catalogue with categories and a checkout that takes payment through at least one provider.
5 — Products with variants, discounts or vouchers, guest checkout, and several payment methods including those German buyers expect (PayPal, invoice or direct debit) through named providers.
8 — Tiered and customer-group pricing, bundles or configurable products, rule-based promotions, per-channel or per-market pricing, abandoned-cart recovery, a checkout customisable without a rebuild, and buy-now-pay-later where offered.
10 — Merchandising and checkout are the product: rule-driven pricing and promotions, A/B-testable checkout, multi-currency and multi-language as standard, and conversion features (abandoned cart, one-page checkout) shipped rather than bolted on.
The Merchant
Products with variants, coupon-backed promotions and guest checkout are documented, payments flow through the named providers Stripe, Braintree and Mollie, and channels, currencies and languages are core concepts — with the checkout itself defined by an order process my engineers can reshape without a rebuild, plus customer-specific pricing. I found no public information on PayPal, direct debit or buy-now-pay-later for shoppers; invoice appears as order terms in the B2B flow rather than a consumer payment method, and I found no public information on abandoned-cart recovery, bundles or an A/B-testable checkout. The vendor sells this as the platform for complex B2B, and through my consumer lens that shows. 1 5 6 7 12
The B2B Seller
Products with variants, promotions and coupon codes are built in, and the trade side I care about is genuinely there: customer-specific and contract pricing, quotes, quick order by pasting SKUs and quantities, approval limits before an order is placed, and orders placed on invoice terms — payment on account, in other words. Checkout runs headless with guest carts, cart merge on login and community payment plugins for Stripe, Braintree and Mollie; we found no public information on abandoned-cart recovery, bundles or buy-now-pay-later. 1 5 6 7 12
The Developer
Products, variants, promotions and coupon codes are core, guest checkout runs through the storefront API, and named community payment plugins exist for Stripe, Braintree and Mollie; customer-specific and contract pricing, per-channel currencies and a configurable order process push this well past a basic shop. I found no public information on bundles or configurable products, abandoned-cart recovery or buy-now-pay-later, which is what holds it below the top band. 1 5 6 7 12
The Operations Lead
Variants, promotions with coupon codes, customer-specific contract pricing and multi-channel, multi-currency setup are all documented as core, with guest checkout and payment through the named community providers Stripe, Braintree and Mollie. I found no public information on the payment methods German buyers expect — PayPal, invoice or direct debit — nor on abandoned-cart recovery or buy-now-pay-later, and the storefront is a build on the API, which is freedom but also work before a single order ships. 1 5 6 7 12
The Data Protection Officer
Variants, a promotions engine with coupon codes, guest checkout and cart merge on login are documented, with payment via named community plugins for Stripe, Braintree and Mollie. Customer-specific and contract pricing, per-buyer order limits and channels as core concepts push toward the upper anchors; we found no public information on abandoned-cart recovery or buy-now-pay-later. 1 5 6 7 12
The Skeptic
Variants, promotions with coupon codes, a session-based cart with guest checkout and merge-on-login, and customer-specific contract pricing are all documented, with payment integrations for Stripe, Braintree and Mollie as community plugins and multi-currency, multi-language channels as core concepts. We found no public information on abandoned-cart recovery, buy-now-pay-later or bundle and configurable product types. 1 5 6 7 12
Tax & German legal correctness
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
VAT determination, OSS, B2B reverse charge, invoicing, and the checkout requirements German law imposes (Button-Lösung, Widerrufsrecht, Preisangabenverordnung) — judged on what the platform documents it does or ships as a maintained extension.
0 — No tax handling at all; prices carry no VAT logic and the merchant calculates tax outside the platform.
3 — VAT rates configurable per country or product, with prices shown gross or net and legal texts placed as pages in the checkout.
5 — VAT by destination country with gross and net display per customer group, B2B with VAT ID and reverse charge, and the German checkout requirements (order button wording, withdrawal policy, price indications) handled by the platform or a named official extension.
8 — VIES validation of VAT IDs, OSS thresholds tracked or OSS reporting data provided, invoices issued from orders with correct content per case including reverse-charge notes, small-business and third-country handling, and e-invoicing (XRechnung/ZUGFeRD) for B2B orders.
10 — Tax and legal correctness are maintained by the vendor rather than the merchant: rates and thresholds updated as the law moves, OSS reporting produced, every invoice case correct out of the box, and documented conformity a lawyer could review.
The Merchant
VAT rates and zones are configurable, every order line carries net and gross prices, tax-ID validation ships with the paid plans, and an EU reverse-charge strategy exists in the platform docs, with custom strategies able to call a third-party tax API. The VIES checks and OSS record-keeping the vendor documents concern its own sales of Vendure plans, not my shop. I found no public information on the German consumer checkout duties — order-button wording, withdrawal policy, price indications — nor on merchant invoicing, OSS reporting data or e-invoicing formats. 3 5 6 8 9
The B2B Seller
Tax is a configurable subsystem rather than an afterthought: tax rates and zones are part of core setup, order lines carry net and gross amounts, a replaceable calculation strategy can call a third-party tax engine, and the paid plans include company accounts with tax ID validation alongside a European reverse-charge exemption strategy — whose documentation page requires a Console sign-in to read. The vendor itself validates EU VAT numbers against the European Commission's VIES service and keeps the VAT location evidence and One-Stop-Shop records EU law requires; we found no public information on invoices issued from orders, OSS reporting data, e-invoicing, or the German checkout requirements such as order-button wording and price-indication rules. 3 5 8 9
The Developer
Tax zones and rates are core concepts, tax-line calculation is a replaceable strategy that can call a third-party tax API, and the vendor documents VIES checks on EU VAT numbers plus a named EU reverse-charge strategy — though that reverse-charge page itself sits behind a Console sign-in, which I read as a closed door I would want open before trusting the integration. I found no public information on invoice issuance from orders, e-invoicing formats like XRechnung or ZUGFeRD, or the German checkout requirements around order button wording, withdrawal and price indications. 3 5 8 9
The Operations Lead
Tax zones, gross and net line pricing and a pluggable tax-calculation strategy that can call a third-party tax API are documented, and paid plans include company accounts with tax ID validation plus an EU reverse-charge strategy — though that documentation page sits behind a Console sign-in. I found no public information on the German checkout requirements (order button wording, withdrawal policy, price indications), invoicing from orders, OSS reporting data or e-invoicing formats; in this model the merchant's team carries that weight. 5 6 8 9
The Data Protection Officer
Tax zones and gross/net price fields are core concepts, VAT IDs on company accounts are validated and checked against VIES, and an EU reverse-charge strategy exists although its documentation page is gated behind a sign-in. We found no public information on the German checkout requirements (order button wording, withdrawal policy, price indications), OSS reporting data, or e-invoicing, which holds this below the level a lawyer could file against. 3 5 8 9
The Skeptic
Tax zones and rates are core concepts and tax-line calculation is a replaceable strategy that can call a third-party tax API, company accounts include tax ID validation, and an EU reverse-charge strategy exists — but its documentation is gated behind a console sign-in. We found no public information on German checkout requirements such as order-button wording, withdrawal and price-indication rules, on invoicing from orders, OSS reporting data, or e-invoicing formats. 5 8 9
Extensibility & developer surface
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
Themes, apps, APIs and headless — whether the shop can be shaped to the business, and at what cost in lock-in.
0 — A closed shop builder: no themes to edit, no apps or plugins and no API.
3 — Themes adjustable in an editor and a set of apps or plugins to add features.
5 — Custom themes with a template language or code access, an app or plugin ecosystem, and a documented API with webhooks for order events.
8 — A storefront API for headless builds, an extension framework with its own lifecycle, staging or development environments, version control for themes, and documented rate limits.
10 — A platform a team can own: headless-first APIs, open-source or source-available core, plugin architecture with a real dependency model, local development and CI supported, and upgrade paths that do not orphan customisations.
The Merchant
This is where the money is for me: a GPLv3 open-source core public on GitHub, headless GraphQL APIs for shop and admin that can be extended independently, plugins as NestJS modules with their own lifecycle hooks and semver compatibility, published to npm, custom entities sharing the framework's migrations, and scaffolding from a CLI command. Extensions sit beside the framework, so upgrading does not mean reapplying a fork — the checkout-I-change-without-a-rebuild property I live on. I found no public information on documented API rate limits or staging environments. 4 5 10 11
The B2B Seller
This is a platform a development team can own: the core is open source under GPLv3 with a plugin exception, plugins are NestJS modules with full lifecycle hooks and semver-based framework compatibility, publishable to npm and a plugin hub, with the shop and admin GraphQL APIs extended independently and custom fields and entities first-class. A team self-hosts on its own Node.js and PostgreSQL stack with CLI scaffolding and database migrations, and upgrades are stated to be fork-free; we found no published API rate limits. 4 5 10 11
The Developer
This is the closest thing to a platform I would actually maintain for five years: a GPLv3 core I run anywhere, plugins as npm-packaged NestJS modules that declare framework compatibility as a semver range, a CLI to scaffold them, GraphQL shop and admin APIs extendable independently, and upgrades documented so extensions sit beside the framework rather than as a fork I reapply. Theme versioning as a named concept and CI guidance are undocumented, which is the only notch off the top. 4 5 10 11
The Operations Lead
A GPLv3 framework with a plugin model of NestJS modules carrying their own entities, resolvers, lifecycle hooks and semver compatibility ranges, independently extendable Shop and Admin GraphQL APIs, a CLI that scaffolds plugins, and upgrades that explicitly do not reapply a fork. For a team that owns its code this is close to the ceiling; I only note that staging environments and CI documentation were not among the captured pages. 4 5 10 11
The Data Protection Officer
The GPLv3 core runs on your own infrastructure, plugins are TypeScript modules with a real compatibility model (semver ranges since v2.0.0), CLI scaffolding, database migrations, and independently extendable Shop and Admin GraphQL APIs with overridable built-in resolvers. Extensions sit outside the framework so upgrades do not reapply a fork; we found no public information on documented rate limits or staging environments. 4 5 10 11
The Skeptic
Plugins are full NestJS modules with lifecycle hooks, semver compatibility declarations, their own database entities and migrations, publishable to npm and the Vendure Hub, and the Shop and Admin GraphQL APIs extend independently with custom scalars and resolver overrides. The GPLv3 core with a plugin exception runs on the merchant's own database, and the vendor states upgrading does not mean reapplying a fork. We found no public information on documented API rate limits or staging environments. 4 5 10 11
Order operations & back office
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
What happens after checkout: order management, stock, returns, shipping, and the link to ERP or accounting.
0 — No order handling in the product; orders leave as emails or exports to be processed elsewhere.
3 — An order list with statuses, stock counts per product, and shipping rates set up in the shop.
5 — Order management with status emails, stock tracking, named carrier integrations or label printing, and refunds or returns handled in the system.
8 — Partial shipments and partial refunds, multi-warehouse or multi-location stock, multi-channel or marketplace order intake, fulfilment routing, dropshipping, and maintained interfaces to named ERP and accounting systems (DATEV among them for German merchants).
10 — The shop is the front of an operation: real-time stock across channels and warehouses, returns and refunds fully worked including partials, ERP integration the vendor maintains, and operational reporting a merchant runs the business from.
The Merchant
The back office is real: a full admin dashboard for catalogue, orders, customers and settings; order search and management covering payments, fulfillments, refunds and modifications; draft orders for phone sales; stock corrected through stock movements on cancellation; and shipping rates computed by configurable eligibility checkers and calculators. ERP, PIM and CRM integrations are positioned through APIs, and a named customer runs Microsoft's ERP. I found no public information on carrier integrations or label printing, a returns flow, partial shipments and refunds, multi-location stock, or maintained interfaces to named accounting systems such as DATEV. 1 5 12 13
The B2B Seller
The dashboard covers catalogue, orders, customers and settings, and the order service handles modification with a dry-run option, surcharges, notes, draft orders for phone sales, refunds with custom destinations, cancellation that corrects stock, and fulfilments created per order item. Stock, payments, promotions and tax are core modules; we found no public information on partial refunds, returns handling, carrier label printing, multi-warehouse stock, or maintained connectors to named ERP and accounting systems such as DATEV — ERP links are presented as integration categories and APIs, with one customer story mentioning a Microsoft ERP. 1 5 12 13
The Developer
Orders, fulfilments with state transitions, refunds, modifications with a dry-run option, draft orders and cancellation with stock correction are all documented, with a job queue on a separately scalable worker for the heavy lifting. Interfaces to ERP, PIM and CRM systems are described only as a category with APIs to build the connection yourself, and I found no public information on returns handling, multi-warehouse stock, carrier label printing or a maintained DATEV-style accounting link. 1 5 12 13
The Operations Lead
The back office documents order search plus payments, fulfillments, refunds and order modifications, with draft orders, surcharges, manual payments and cancellation that corrects stock through stock movements — the daily December machinery exists, in API form. But the documented refunds do not state partials, I found no public information on carrier integrations or label printing, stock reads single-level rather than multi-warehouse, and the ERP story is integrations that connect to ERP, PIM and CRM with no named interface the vendor maintains. 1 5 12 13
The Data Protection Officer
Orders can be viewed, searched, modified and cancelled with stock corrected via stock movements, refunds run through the payment handler, fulfillments carry state transitions, and draft orders exist for phone orders. We found no public information on carrier or label integrations, multi-warehouse stock, dropshipping or maintained interfaces to named ERP systems such as DATEV; ERP connection is via APIs you build against. 1 5 12 13
The Skeptic
The documented back office covers viewing, searching and managing orders with payments, fulfillments, refunds, modifications with a dry-run option, draft orders, and stock corrections on cancellation. ERP connection is documented as APIs to connect your ERP rather than maintained interfaces to named systems, with one customer story naming a Microsoft ERP. We found no public information on named carrier integrations, label printing, multi-warehouse stock, dropshipping or marketplace order intake. 1 5 12 13
Data ownership & exit
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
Whether the catalogue, customers and order history remain the merchant's: export completeness, hosting choice, and what leaving actually costs.
0 — The terms state that the merchant's data cannot be exported or is not returned on cancellation.
3 — CSV export of products and customers, or of orders, from the admin.
5 — Export of catalogue, customers and orders documented (CSV, API or dump), with data deletion or return on cancellation stated in the terms or help centre.
8 — Full-fidelity export including media and order documents, a documented migration path in and out, self-hosting or a choice of hosting partner, and no metering that prices a migration out of reach.
10 — Ownership is structural rather than promised: open-source or source-available platform the merchant can run anywhere, database-level access, documented migration in both directions, and contractual data return.
The Merchant
Ownership is structural: the framework is free under GPLv3, runs on my own PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB, deploys on-prem, in Docker or air-gapped, and the vendor charges nothing on order value, orders or users; moving between self-hosting and Vendure Cloud is documented as reversible without re-platforming. Migration in is documented through a flat CSV importer for products, variants, assets and facets plus custom scripts for customers and orders. I found no public information on a documented export of catalogue, customer and order data out of the platform, or on contractual data return on cancellation. 1 4 5 14
The B2B Seller
Ownership here is structural: the framework is free under GPLv3 and runs on the merchant's own PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB on AWS, Azure, GCP, on-premises or a single machine, so catalogue, customers and orders sit in the merchant's database, and moving to or from the planned Cloud is documented as a data and configuration cutover rather than a re-platform. Migration in is well documented — CSV import of products, variants, assets and custom fields, plus scripted customer and order import and a migration path from other platforms; we found no public information on a documented export out of the system or on contractual data return on cancellation. 4 5 14
The Developer
Ownership here is structural rather than promised: the framework is GPLv3 and free to self-host, the database is mine (PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB on my own infrastructure, migrations included), and moving between self-hosting and the vendor's cloud is documented as a data and configuration cutover in both directions rather than a re-platform. The captured pages document import tooling thoroughly, including a documented path migrating in from another platform, but say little about a defined export format on the way out, which is what keeps it from a perfect score. 3 4 5 14
The Operations Lead
The framework is GPLv3 and runs on the merchant's own PostgreSQL or MariaDB in their own cloud or data centre, with import paths documented down to assets, facets and custom fields and scripted migration from other platforms. Because self-hosting is stated as free forever and moving to or from the managed Cloud is described as a runtime change rather than a re-platform, ownership is structural; I found no public information on a documented export routine or a contractual data-return commitment. 4 5 14
The Data Protection Officer
Ownership is structural: the framework is GPLv3, runs on PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB in your own environment at no licence cost, and moving to or from the vendor's cloud is documented as a cutover rather than a re-platform, with import paths from other platforms spelled out. For my file specifically, orders can be deleted with referencing sessions dereferenced first, and the privacy policy grants access, correction, deletion, restriction, consent withdrawal and portability; we found no statement of contractual data return on cancellation. 3 4 5 12 14
The Skeptic
The GPLv3 framework ships with catalogue, orders, customers and payments and can be self-hosted on the merchant's own PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB anywhere including air-gapped environments, making ownership structural rather than promised. Import tooling for products, variants, assets and custom fields plus custom scripts for customer and order data is documented, and moving between self-hosting and the Cloud is described as a reversible cutover, not a re-platform. We found no public information on export tooling or contractual data return on cancellation. 4 5 14
European sovereignty
panel opinion
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
Where customer and order data live, who the contracting entity is, and which subprocessors sit in the checkout path. Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline. Dimensions the evidence does not establish are unknown, not non-EU.
0 — Proven non-EU on every dimension the evidence covers: non-EU vendor and contracting entity and non-EU hosting, with no EU option stated.
3 — One European element proven — an EU hosting option, an EU contracting entity or EU representative, or a published DPA — with the rest of the chain unstated.
5 — EU hosting stated as standard or selectable and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, with a DPA offered; the subprocessor chain (CDN, analytics, payment routing, support tooling) is unstated or partly non-EU.
8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessor list published with locations, any non-EU processing named with its legal basis.
10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: vendor, entity, hosting and every subprocessor European, certification published, and a self-hosted option that puts the shop entirely under the merchant's control.
The Merchant
The contracting entity is Elevantiq GmbH, registered office in Oberndorf in Tirol, Austria, with the Innsbruck register court and an Austrian supervisory authority, and a data processing agreement covers support access and future Cloud hosting. The privacy policy publishes its processors with locations and legal bases — United States providers under the Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses, Northflank in the UK — and self-hosting including on-prem and air-gapped deployments keeps shop data on infrastructure I choose. I found no public information on where the vendor's own services are hosted, and the published chain includes United States providers, so it is not European end to end. 2 3 4 5
The B2B Seller
The contracting entity is Elevantiq GmbH, registered in Oberndorf in Tirol, Austria, with the register number, Austrian VAT ID and Austrian jurisdiction published, the Austrian Data Protection Authority named as supervisory authority, and a data processing agreement covering support access and future Cloud hosting. Subprocessors are published with locations and legal bases — United States processors under the Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses, Northflank in the UK under adequacy — and the self-hosted model keeps shop and checkout data wherever the merchant hosts them; a vendor-operated hosting option is not yet generally available, with general availability of Cloud planned for the first quarter of 2027. 2 3 4 5
The Developer
The contracting entity is Elevantiq GmbH in Austria with full commercial register details, a data processing agreement is offered for support and future cloud hosting, and the privacy policy names its subprocessors including the US and UK ones with their transfer mechanisms — while self-hosting, air-gapped deployment included, puts the shop runtime entirely under the merchant's control. We found no public information on EU hosting for the vendor's own cloud services or a published certification, and several named subprocessors are US companies, which is what holds it below the sovereign-end-to-end band. 2 3 4 5
The Operations Lead
The contracting entity is Elevantiq GmbH in Oberndorf in Tirol, Austria, registered at Innsbruck Regional Court, with the Austrian Data Protection Authority named and a data processing agreement offered for support and future hosting. The privacy policy names its United States processors — Stripe, WorkOS, Loops, Vercel, Sentry, Google, Amazon Web Services, Linear, Slack, Anthropic and OpenAI — under the Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses, so parts of the vendor's own chain are non-EU but disclosed. Where the vendor's hosting sits is not established; a self-hosted shop's residency simply follows the merchant's own infrastructure. 2 3 4
The Data Protection Officer
The contracting entity is Elevantiq GmbH in Austria with the Austrian Data Protection Authority as complaint authority, a data processing agreement is offered for support and future hosting, and the processor list is published by name (Stripe, PostHog, Vercel, AWS, Google, OpenAI, Slack among them) with US transfers covered by the Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses and UK processing named. What the captured pages do not show is EU hosting on named infrastructure — the vendor's cloud is a closed beta until Q1 2027 — though self-hosting including air-gapped deployment puts the shop and its checkout entirely under the merchant's control. 2 3 4 5
The Skeptic
The legal notice and privacy policy name Elevantiq GmbH in Austria with an Innsbruck registry entry and Austrian VAT ID as the contracting entity, the privacy policy names processors with locations and transfer bases — US processors under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses, Northflank in the UK under adequacy — and a data processing agreement covers support access and, once Cloud launches, hosting. The shop itself can run entirely on the merchant's own infrastructure, including on-premises and air-gapped. Where the vendor-run Cloud will host data is not stated, and general availability is planned for Q1 2027. 2 3 5
Pricing transparency
panel disagrees
Show reasoningHide reasoning
How this is scored
Whether a merchant can compute the real annual cost — licence, transaction fees, apps, hosting — from public pages alone. The category where the headline price is least often the invoice.
0 — No public prices at all; every tier is a sales conversation.
3 — A public "from" price or one priced tier.
5 — Prices for the main tiers public with the billing period stated and the main inclusions per tier listed.
8 — Every tier priced publicly including transaction or revenue-share rates, order or GMV limits, and the cost of the extensions most shops need; VAT treatment and minimum term stated.
10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given order volume and GMV including licence, transaction fees, hosting and typical extensions — and for open-source platforms, an honest statement that the licence is free and where the money actually goes.
The Merchant
Three tiers carry public prices — €199/mo, €599/mo and €2,499/mo — each a 12-month term billed monthly excluding VAT, with capabilities listed per tier, a 30-day trial without card, no fee on revenue, orders or users, and the honest statement that the framework itself is free under GPLv3 and self-hosting costs nothing. I found no public information on the Enterprise tier's price, on the overage rates for Cloud usage above each plan's included base, or on typical extension costs, so I can compute the licence but not a fully loaded annual bill. 1 4 5
The B2B Seller
Three tiers carry public prices with billing period, term and VAT treatment stated: €199/mo, €599/mo and €2,499/mo, each a 12-month term billed monthly and excluding VAT, with no fee on order value, orders or users and a plainly stated free self-hosted framework. The Enterprise tier is named but carries no public price, and Cloud usage above a plan's included base is billed on top with no public rates, so a full annual Cloud cost is not computable from the public pages. 1 4 5
The Developer
Starter at €199 a month, Growth at €599/mo and Scale at €2,499/mo are published with the twelve-month term, VAT treatment and trial conditions, and the vendor states plainly that there is no fee on order value, orders or users — alongside the refreshingly honest position that a team can run a real commerce business on the free framework alone and never pay anything. Cloud overage rates and the Enterprise tier are not priced publicly, so the real annual cost of a cloud deployment cannot be fully computed from these pages. 1 4 5
The Operations Lead
Starter at €199/mo, Growth at €599/mo and Scale at €2,499/mo are public with the twelve-month term, monthly billing, VAT excluded and trial terms stated, the vendor states there is no fee on order value, orders or users, and it says plainly that a team can run a real commerce business on the free framework alone. The Enterprise tier is unpriced and the Cloud overage rates above each plan's included base are not published, so the annual figure for a hosted setup still needs a sales conversation. 1 4 5
The Data Protection Officer
Starter at "€199/mo", Growth at "€599/mo" and Scale at "€2,499/mo" are public, each "12-month term, billed monthly, excl. VAT" with a 30-day trial, no card required, and "no fee on revenue, orders or users"; the free-licence statement for self-hosting is unusually honest about where the money goes. The Enterprise tier is a sales conversation and cloud usage above each plan's base resources is "billed on top" at unstated rates, so the full annual cost is not computable from public pages alone. 1 4 5
The Skeptic
Starter, Growth and Scale are priced publicly at €199/mo, €599/mo and €2,499/mo on a 12-month term billed monthly excluding VAT, with no fee on order value, orders or users, and the free GPLv3 Framework is stated as a real option a team can run a business on without paying. What a merchant cannot compute is the Enterprise tier, for which no price is published, and Cloud usage: each paid plan includes a base set of Cloud resources with overage billed on top, but no overage rates are published and Cloud is only a closed beta until Q1 2027. 1 4 5
European sovereignty — proven facts
0 of 6 dimensions provenBuilt only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.
| Legal entity | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Hosting options | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
| Open source | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
Questions about Vendure
Is Vendure European?
Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Vendure is based.
Where does Vendure store data?
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.
Does Vendure have a free plan?
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.
What are the best alternatives to Vendure?
As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates Shopify (3/5), Sylius (3/5) and OpenCart (3/5) highest among the other 27 E-Commerce Platforms & Shop Systems products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is OXID eSales (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Vendure alternatives.
Where this could be wrong
- Evidence ages. The oldest capture behind this page is from 3 Nov 2026. Vendors change pricing and policies without notice; every fact reflects its source as of the capture date shown in the registry.
- Weak sourcing — Open source, Legal entity, Hosting options. Not confirmed on the vendor’s own pages as captured.
- AI can misread a source. Extraction and judgement are automated; a citation guarantees traceability, not infallibility. If something here is wrong, say so — no account needed, every report is decided within 5 business days, and accepted corrections are published.
What we left out
A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.
- 11 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 4 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 2 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown. Know more? Tell us
Sources (15)
The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.
- 1 Vendor page www.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 2 Legal notice — found from the homepage vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 3 Privacy policy — found from the homepage vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 4 Self-hosting / on-premises installation docs — found from the homepage vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 5 Open-source licence page — found from the homepage vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 6 Catalogue & checkout — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 7 Catalogue & checkout — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 8 Tax & German legal correctness — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 9 Tax & German legal correctness — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 10 Extensibility & developer surface — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 11 Extensibility & developer surface — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 12 Order operations & back office — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 13 Order operations & back office — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 14 Data ownership & exit — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →
- 15 Data ownership & exit — found from sitemap docs.vendure.io Checked 3 Nov 2026 Details →