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Today, the ecommerce market offers a diverse range of solutions. Spryker Cloud Commerce OS remains a strong contender, recognized for its composable commerce capabilities. However, with evolving business needs and new B2B and marketplace-driven solutions, it's crucial to evaluate how Spryker compares to alternative platforms.
For those considering Spryker as an ecommerce partner, the Virto Commerce technical team has prepared this review. Here, we examine Spryker’s features, strengths, and weaknesses while comparing it to top B2B ecommerce solutions.
Spryker Systems GmbH, founded in 2014 in Berlin, Germany, specializes in developing platforms to streamline ecommerce operations, offering tools for B2B, B2C, Unified Commerce, and Enterprise Marketplaces. Over the past decade, the company has experienced systematic year-over-year growth, establishing a global presence with headquarters in Berlin, New York, London, and Amsterdam.
Initially a privately held technology company, Spryker has attracted significant investment, securing a Series C funding round of $130 million in 2020, contributing to a total of $152 million raised across four funding rounds.
Spryker's core product, Spryker Cloud Commerce OS, is a cloud-based, composable ecommerce platform known for its headless (separating the frontend from the backend) and API-first (emphasizing application programming interfaces for integration) approaches. This design offers flexibility and adaptability, allowing businesses to tailor the platform to their needs. Additional services include frontend enablement, software development kits (SDKs), and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution to maximize investment value.
Since 2021, Gartner®, a leading IT research and advisory firm, has recognized Spryker in the Magic Quadrant™️ for Digital Commerce as a Visionary for three consecutive years. And in November 2024, Spryker was recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™, marking its fifth consecutive inclusion and highlighting its commitment to innovation and customer success.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) has also acknowledged the company's achievements, publishing reports on upcoming changes in B2B commerce based on case studies of Spryker customers.
Also, in December 2024, Spryker achieved the AWS Consumer Goods Competency, its sixth AWS competency, demonstrating efficiency, industry knowledge, and reliable experience in various industry ecosystems.
Spryker gained its recognition due to its modern approach to commerce and its core product — Spryker Cloud Commerce OS. The solution is a cloud-native platform acknowledged for its ease of use, flexibility, and speed. The platform provides businesses with the tools they need to build and manage their online stores. Here's a list of its key features:
Spryker's platform is open-source, allowing businesses to build and customize solutions tailored to their needs.
Spryker Cloud Commerce OS is known for its composable architecture. The platform is built from independent modules that can be mixed and matched to meet specific business requirements. It gives an opportunity to integrate technology partners with a single click. Businesses can choose the functionalities they require and integrate them, getting greater flexibility and customization compared to monolithic platforms.
Built on microservices architecture, Spryker's services are easy to deploy and adjust, allowing immediate use and scalability.
Prioritizing the use of APIs, Spryker ensures smooth integration with existing systems like CRM, ERP, and marketing automation tools, fostering unified data flow across the business. The platform can connect with over 300 endpoints via APIs.
By separating the frontend (user interface) from the backend (commerce engine), Spryker allows businesses to design unique and tailored user experiences using preferred frontend technologies, while leveraging robust backend functionalities for managing products, orders, and customer data.
Delivered as a cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service+ (PaaS+), Spryker eliminates the burden of managing infrastructure, allowing businesses to focus on core operations and scale their online stores.
Spryker has integrated Business Intelligence powered by Amazon QuickSight directly into the Back Office, enabling users to visualize data, create customizable dashboards, and perform deep analytics on sales, product performance, customer behaviors, and marketplace KPIs. This integration unlocks new monetization opportunities and supports data-driven decision-making.
The platform's Marketplace Commissions Engine automates the calculation and management of merchant commissions and payouts, streamlining operations and supporting marketplace growth. This feature integrates seamlessly with third-party ERP systems and payment service providers like Stripe.
Spryker serves multiple sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale, retail, food and beverage, and medical technology. The platform boasts a client base of over 150 companies worldwide, including well-known brands like Bosch, Siemens, and Aldi.
Businesses worldwide choose Spryker for its robust capabilities, enabling the creation of future-proof online stores that scale and adapt alongside their ambitions. The platform caters to complex business models, integrates with the Internet of Things, and supports features like subscriptions. Key benefits include:
Flexibility and Scalability
Spryker's modular architecture allows entrepreneurs to adapt their stores to evolving business needs and customer demands. This flexibility supports various business models, including B2B, B2C, and marketplaces.
Faster Time to Market
The pre-built components can be easily added, removed, or modified which helps businesses launch their online stores quicker.
Reduced Development Costs
The platform's modularity and extensive pre-built features can lead to lower development costs compared to building a custom ecommerce platform from scratch. Explore our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO Guide) to make sure your platform remains a strategic asset for sustainable growth!
Future-Proof Platform
The composable ecommerce solution allows businesses to integrate new technologies and features as needed.
Spryker facilitates customer experience across all touchpoints, including online stores, mobile apps, physical stores, and even IoT devices. This helps create a unified brand experience for customers, regardless of how they choose to interact with the business.
Third-Party Integrations
The system offers a curated Spryker marketplace of pre-built integrations with various third-party solutions like payment gateways, CRM systems, and marketing automation tools that can significantly grow ROI of the company using Spryker. This simplifies the integration process and ensures compatibility.
While Spryker offers a powerful and flexible solution for enterprises, it does come with some drawbacks to consider.
Complexity
The composable architecture, while powerful, can be complex to manage, requiring significant technical expertise for implementation and customization. This complexity may lead to longer development times and increased resource allocation.
Limited Community
Compared to more mainstream platforms, Spryker has a smaller community of users and developers. This can make it more challenging to find support and resources.
Steep Learning Curve
Spryker's architecture and functionality can be challenging for teams unfamiliar with the platform, leading to a longer onboarding process and necessitating training for developers and administrators.
Resource-Intensive Setup
The platform's flexibility and scalability come with a resource-intensive setup, potentially requiring substantial investment in infrastructure and development resources.
Limited Out-of-the-Box Functionality
While Spryker offers a wide range of features, some functionalities may require additional development to achieve your specific needs. This can add to the cost and development time.
Pricing Model
As for the Spryker Pricing Model and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), the platform operates on a licensing model mostly. The cost might be significant depending on the needs of a particular company. Nevertheless, it offers immense value for the companies.
Since the e-commerce solutions market thrives, it can be difficult to choose the best option. To answer your questions, we will compare Spryker with its key competitors focusing on the main aspects of any best B2B ecommerce platform, such as functionality, flexibility, scalability, integrations, complexity of implementation and other crucial points. Let’s see which companies can be considered a Spryker alternative.
Functionality and Flexibility
Spryker is renowned for its high degree of customization, attributed to its modular architecture that allows businesses to assemble pre-built microservices tailored to their needs. In contrast, platforms like Adobe Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud have traditionally utilized monolithic architectures, which may limit flexibility for complex requirements. However, it's noteworthy that Adobe Commerce has been evolving towards a more modular and headless approach, enhancing its flexibility.
Scalability
Both Spryker and Commercetools are designed to handle extensive product catalogs, high order volumes, and increasing traffic, owing to their cloud-native architectures. This design ensures scaling to accommodate business growth. In comparisons such as Spryker vs. SAP or Spryker vs. Mirakl, Spryker often stands out due to its readiness for growth and innovation.
Integrations
Spryker's modular design facilitates easier integration with external systems compared to more monolithic platforms like, for example, Adobe Commerce.
Performance
The combination of a cloud-native system and an API-first approach positions Spryker and Commercetools as high-performance platforms, particularly suitable for large businesses with growth prospects. Other solutions, such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, or Optimizely, may experience performance challenges under heavier loads. Conversely, platforms like Virto Commerce for large enterprises and Shopify for smaller B2C businesses demonstrate robust performance that can rival Spryker.
Complexity of Implementation
While Spryker offers extensive customization and scalability, this flexibility introduces complexity, necessitating substantial technical expertise for setup and maintenance. In contrast, platforms like Shopify are acclaimed for their user-friendly interfaces and intuitive setups, enabling implementation even with limited technical experience. Other solutions, such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud or BigCommerce, may involve more complex initial implementations and higher associated costs.
Availability of specialists
Finding Spryker specialists might be more challenging compared to some other ecommerce platforms like Optimizely or Salesforce Commerce Cloud due to its niche nature and focus on enterprise-level businesses. It takes significant time to learn how to reconfigure the system and work with its code. Moreover, Spryker onboarding for developers has proven to be extremely long and hard: juniors have to spend up to one year, middles — up to 6 months and more, seniors have to onboard around 3-6 months.
To make the comparison more vivid, let us create a table disclosing selection criteria for Spryker and its key competitors, such as Commercetools, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Shopify and Virto Commerce. Detailed data about Spryker prices, B2B ecommerce TCO and some specifics may change, so we recommend checking the up-to-date information on each platform's official website.
Selection Criteria
|
Spryker
|
Virto Commerce
|
Commercetools
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Adobe Commerce (Magento)
|
Shopify
|
Mirakl
|
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
|
BigCommerce
|
Optimizely
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Target Audience
|
Enterprises and mid-market businesses
|
Large enterprises and mid-market businesses
|
Mid-sized to large enterprises
|
Large and medium enterprises
|
Small and mid-market businesses
|
Large enterprises
|
Large enterprises
|
Small to mid-market businesses
|
Large and medium enterprises
|
Functionality
|
High, API-first, cloud-native
|
High, API-first, cloud-native
|
High, API-first, cloud-native
|
High, feature-rich
|
Medium
|
High, API-first
|
High, feature-rich
|
Medium to High
|
High, API-first
|
Flexibility and Customization
|
High, modular architecture
|
High, built on standard Microsoft practices
|
High, microservices architecture
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
Low due to SaaS arcihitecture
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
Delivery Model
|
PaaS
|
PaaS
|
SaaS
|
On-premises (Open Source)
|
SaaS
|
SaaS
|
SaaS
|
SaaS
|
SaaS/PaaS
|
Business Model
|
B2B, B2C, Marketplaces |
B2B, B2C, Marketplaces
|
B2B, B2C
|
B2B, B2C
|
B2B, B2C
|
Marketplaces
|
B2B, B2C
|
B2B, B2C
|
B2B, B2C
|
Integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
Wide range, extensive integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
Mostly integrates within Salesforce ecosystem
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
API-first, extensive integrations
|
Availability of Specialists
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Low, niche expertise required
|
High, due to standard technology
|
Low, niche expertise required
|
Medium
|
High, widespread expertise
|
Medium
|
High, widespread expertise
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
Price
|
Subscription-based
|
Upon request
|
Subscription-based
|
Free Open Source
|
Subscription-based
|
Subscription-based
|
Subscription-based
|
Subscription-based
|
Subscription or licensing
|
Spryker and Virto Commerce both operate in the competitive landscape of ecommerce platforms, sharing similarities such as cloud-native architectures, API-first approaches, and modular designs. However, there are some distinctions between the two:
Learning Curve
Virto Commerce: Developers can become productive within one to two sprints, facilitating rapid project initiation.
Spryker: The platform's extensive feature set can result in a steep learning curve for new users, requiring a high level of technical expertise for implementation and customization.
Developer Accessibility
Virto Commerce: Built on standard Microsoft practices, it allows businesses to leverage a broad pool of developers familiar with its ecosystem.
Spryker: While offering robust capabilities, its unique architecture may necessitate specialized knowledge, potentially making it more challenging to find qualified developers.
Support and Community
Virto Commerce: Provides transparent operations with direct access to platform experts, enabling clients to address many situations independently.
Spryker: Offers a range of developer resources, including community forums and events, to support its users.
Service Offerings
Virto Commerce: Offers a comprehensive suite of B2B marketing services, including marketplace solutions, catering to a wide range of business needs.
Spryker: Primarily positions itself as a platform for developing B2B marketplace solutions, providing corresponding services tailored to that niche.
In summary, while both platforms offer robust ecommerce solutions, Virto Commerce stands out for its shorter learning curve, developer accessibility, and broader service offerings. Spryker, on the other hand, provides specialized capabilities for B2B marketplaces but may require more specialized expertise to fully leverage its potential.
Spryker remains a strong choice for mid-market and enterprise businesses looking for a composable, cloud-native, and API-first ecommerce platform, particularly for B2B marketplace solutions. Its modular architecture and high flexibility make it a viable option for companies prioritizing scalability and customization.
However, Spryker’s complexity, steep learning curve, and niche developer ecosystem can pose challenges, especially for businesses that need rapid deployment, predictable costs, and easier access to skilled professionals.
For businesses aiming to scale efficiently, minimize operational complexity, and leverage an enterprise-ready B2B commerce solution, Virto Commerce presents a compelling alternative. With its Microsoft-based architecture, flexible deployment options (PaaS & on-premises), and extensive B2B capabilities, Virto Commerce offers a future-proof approach for companies looking beyond marketplace-specific solutions.
To gain deeper insights and practical advice for choosing the right ecommerce platform, explore our related guides:
TCO Guide: Evaluate long-term costs to keep your platform a strategic asset.
Choosing the Right Platform: A step-by-step guide to align your platform with business goals.
When to Re-platform: Key signs and tips for a smooth transition.