VTEX vs Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Stop managing two platforms for one commerce operation
Salesforce B2C and B2B Commerce are separate products with different codebases and independent upgrade cycles. VTEX gives your team one platform for everything.
Get startedThe core difference
Your B2C and B2B operations should run from a single platform, with one team, one admin, one upgrade cycle.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is two products: B2C Commerce (built on Demandware) and B2B Commerce (built on Lightning), different codebases, separate data models, different admin interfaces, and independent upgrade cycles. Companies that need both end up with two implementations, two SI relationships, and two sets of limitations.
With VTEX, you consolidate B2C, B2B, and Marketplace into a single platform, one data model, one admin, one upgrade cycle. Gartner's February 2025 advisory flagged declining B2C commerce investment at Salesforce and noted known scalability limitations in Salesforce B2B. Gartner, Digital Commerce Platforms Market Guide, Feb 2025
Customer story
“Migrating to VTEX changed everything for us, we grew revenue and slashed costs at the same time.”
- +21%
- revenue increase
- –40%
- platform cost reduction
One unified platform
B2C, B2B, and Marketplace share a single admin, data model, and upgrade cycle. No architectural split, no separate implementations, no diverging roadmaps.
Native promotions + subscriptions
VTEX allows promotions per payment method natively, and is PCI DSS 4.0 certified with credit card tokenization, enabling subscription commerce out of the box.
CRM-agnostic commerce
Hundreds of VTEX customers run Salesforce CRM alongside VTEX Commerce. You don't need Commerce Cloud to stay on Salesforce CRM, they're separable decisions.
Side by side
Salesforce Commerce Cloud compared with VTEX
| Salesforce Commerce Cloud | VTEX |
|---|---|
| Two products: B2C Commerce (Demandware) + B2B Commerce (Lightning), different codebases, data models, admin | Single unified platform: B2C, B2B, and Marketplace share the same codebase, data model, and admin |
| No native OMS, requires Order Management add-on or third-party | Full order management and omnichannel fulfillment included natively |
| No promotions by payment method natively | Native promotions by payment method, channel, customer cluster, and traffic source |
| Standard PCI compliance | PCI DSS 4.0 certified + credit card tokenization, enabling native subscription commerce |
| CRM bundling creates lock-in, commerce and CRM priced together | Works with any CRM including Salesforce CRM, commerce and CRM are independent decisions |
| Gartner (Feb 2025): declining B2C investment; B2B Lightning does not scale at enterprise | Growing platform, single investment covers all commerce models with one roadmap |
Platform limitations
Where Salesforce Commerce Cloud struggles
Two separate architectures
B2C Commerce (Demandware) and B2B Commerce (Lightning) do not share codebase, data model, or admin. Companies needing both face two implementations, two upgrade cycles, and two separate vendor conversations.
Declining B2C investment
Gartner's February 2025 advisory explicitly flagged declining B2C commerce investment at Salesforce. Gartner, Digital Commerce Platforms Market Guide, Feb 2025 The roadmap is slowing as the company shifts focus to Agentforce and CRM.
B2B Lightning does not scale
Gartner Advisory: "Core B2B [Lightning] does not scale and will not scale to meet enterprise", a known limitation internally at Salesforce. Gartner, Digital Commerce Platforms Market Guide, Feb 2025 Enterprise B2B requirements quickly exceed what the platform delivers.
High TCO + CRM bundle pressure
Salesforce bundles CRM and Commerce to lock in pricing. Decoupling is expensive. The bundle frequently includes components not needed, and Einstein Commerce recommendations are a separate license.
Evaluation questions
Frequently raised during platform evaluations
“We are already on Salesforce CRM. It makes sense to use Salesforce Commerce Cloud.”
Full response
Running Salesforce CRM is a reason to integrate CRM data into your commerce platform, not necessarily a reason to use Commerce Cloud, which is architecturally separate from the CRM within Salesforce. VTEX integrates with Salesforce CRM natively. The question is whether the integration quality and total cost of VTEX + Salesforce CRM compares favorably to Commerce Cloud + Salesforce CRM. In most evaluations, it does.
“Salesforce is the safe enterprise choice with better analyst recognition.”
Full response
Salesforce's Gartner Leader status is based primarily on its CRM credibility, not on commerce product excellence. Gartner's February 2025 commerce advisory explicitly flagged declining B2C investment and B2B scalability limitations at Salesforce. The “safe choice” narrative should be tested against what the platform actually delivers in commerce today, not the brand's historical CRM standing.
Run everything from one platform.
See what it looks like when B2C, B2B, and Marketplace share one admin, one data model, and one team.
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