The honest comparison

HDL Commerce
vs Magento

We'll give it to you straight. Here are the differences, line by line — cost, features, operations and the time it takes to go live. You decide.

H
HDL CommerceComposable SaaS
VS
M
MagentoAdobe Commerce
Feature
HDL Commerce Composable SaaS
Magento Adobe Commerce
License model
Fixed, predictable subscription
License + GMV-based tiers
Operations & hostingWho is responsible?
Included and managed for you
Your own/your agency's responsibility
Upgrades
Continuous, automatic
Recurring projects
Security & patches
Handled continuously
Your own patch process
B2B (pricing, contracts, quotes)
Built in
Higher license tier
PIM — product information
Built in
Extension/separate system
Multichannel & markets
Built in
Configuration & modules
Headless storefront
API-first from the start
Requires PWA Studio
Ready-made connectorsERP, payments, shipping
200+ ready to go
Via extensions/agency
Open APIsREST & GraphQL
Versioned & stable
GraphQL & REST
Custom development possible
Open APIs & webhooks
Full code access
Data access & export
No lock-in
Your own database
Time to launch
Days–weeks
Months–quarters
Support in Swedish
Nordic team
Depends on partner
Uptime & SLA
99.3% in Sweden
Depends on hosting

The comparison reflects a typical Nordic mid-sized merchant with B2B and B2C needs. Magento refers to Adobe Commerce / Magento Open Source. Adobe and Magento are trademarks of Adobe Inc.

Total cost of ownership

Count the whole bill, not just the license.

What makes Magento expensive rarely shows up in the quote — it's the consultant hours, the extensions and the upgrade projects. Here's the honest picture.

HDL Commerce

One predictable price

up to 40% lower TCO
  • Platform, operations, security and updates included
  • No license fees per order or GMV
  • Ready-made integrations — fewer consultant hours
  • Zero upgrade projects over time
Magento

Plenty of hidden line items

License + everything else
  • License (Adobe Commerce) and hosting sold separately
  • Extensions bought and maintained one by one
  • An agency for development, operations and security
  • Recurring upgrade projects
Migration

Switching from Magento? We do the heavy lifting.

Our migration team moves products, customers, orders and URLs for you — with SEO preserved and a controlled, step-by-step transition. Free migration analysis included.

1

Analysis

We map your Magento setup, extensions and integrations. You get a clear plan.

2

Migration

Catalog, customers, orders and content move over. 301 redirects preserve your SEO.

3

Integrations

We connect ERP, payments and shipping with ready-made connectors — not custom code.

4

Live

We go live together, monitor the launch and run operations from there.

Common questions

What you're wondering before a switch

Do we have to rebuild everything from scratch?+

No. We migrate your existing catalog, customer data and orders. The storefront is built on our headless foundation, but you keep your content, your URLs and your SEO.

How long does a migration take?+

Most merchants are live in a few weeks rather than months. The exact timeline depends on the number of integrations and how customized your current setup is — the free analysis gives you the answer.

What happens to our Magento extensions?+

Most of what extensions solve in Magento is already built into HDL Commerce — B2B pricing, PIM, multichannel. For the rest, we have ready-made integrations or open APIs.

Do we own our data?+

Always. Your data is yours. Open APIs and lock-in-free export mean you can take everything with you, whenever you want.

Where is the platform hosted?+

In Sweden, on green infrastructure, GDPR-safe and with 99.3% uptime — a higher SLA is available as an add-on. We handle operations, security and updates.

Next step

See the difference for yourself.

Book a demo with our commerce architects. We'll show you the platform and run your TCO numbers against Magento.