Wholesale comparison
Crate vs SparkLayer
A separate wholesale portal priced by plan, not by orders, from $50/month.
By the Crate teamUpdated
The short answer
- Crate never counts your orders.
- Crate Growth is $80/month with standing orders and invoicing, however many orders your buyers place.
- SparkLayer Growth is $149/month for 100 B2B orders and Pro is $299 for 150, and cancelled or refunded orders still count toward the cap.
Why pick Crate
- No order cap. SparkLayer plans allow 5, 50, 100 or 150 B2B orders a month, and orders later cancelled or refunded still count. No Crate plan limits orders; Growth at $80/month covers up to 50 active buyers. Source
- Pay-later orders that invoice themselves. SparkLayer saves Pay on Account and Pay by Invoice orders as Shopify draft orders that you complete by hand. Crate keeps terms such as Net 30 on the account, and on Growth it sends the invoice when you confirm the order. Source
- No charge per sales rep. SparkLayer includes 1, 2 or 5 sales reps by plan and charges $39 a month for each extra rep on Pro. Crate does not charge per team member, and anyone on your team can place an order for a customer from the dashboard. Source
- Nothing added to your Shopify theme. SparkLayer runs inside your store, keyed on customer tags. Crate asks Shopify for no theme access: buyers order in their own branded portal on your domain, so a theme change never touches wholesale. Source
- Built for roasters. Set roast weekdays with an order cutoff banner, show the roast date on every order, and print a production sheet PDF that sums orders by SKU.
Where SparkLayer may still fit: if you take fewer than 5 B2B orders a month (its Basic plan is free on Shopify), you sell on BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce or Wix, or you want wholesale inside your Shopify theme and checkout.
What it costs at 10 and 50 accounts
| Accounts | Crate | SparkLayer |
|---|---|---|
| About 100 orders a month | Growth: $80/month for up to 50 active buyers, with standing orders and invoicing | Growth: $149/month for 100 B2B orders and 2 sales reps, plus your Shopify plan. |
| About 150 orders a month | Growth: $80/month for up to 50 active buyers, Plus $150/month above that | Pro: $299/month for 150 B2B orders and 5 sales reps, plus your Shopify plan. |
Crate and SparkLayer, side by side
| Topic | Crate | SparkLayer |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Starter $50/month, Growth $80/month, Plus $150/month. No order limit on any plan. | Basic free (5 B2B orders a month, Shopify only), Starter $49 (50), Growth $149 (100), Pro $299 (150), Enterprise from $499. Cancelled and refunded orders count. Source |
| Commerce systems | Square, Clover, Shopify or a standalone Crate catalog. | Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce and Wix. Source |
| Where buyers order | A separate branded portal on your own domain. Crate needs no Shopify theme access. | Inside your store, with buyers matched to customer groups by customer tags. Source |
| Pay later | Terms on the account, from prepaid and COD to Net 7 through Net 90; Growth sends the invoice when you confirm the order. | Pay on Account and Pay by Invoice orders are saved as Shopify draft orders. Source |
| Price lists | Unlimited price lists and customer prices on every plan. | Up to 3 price lists on Basic, unlimited from Starter. Source 1 Source 2 |
| Sales reps | Team members place orders for any customer from the dashboard, at no extra charge. | 1 rep on Starter, 2 on Growth, 5 on Pro, then $39 a month per extra rep on Pro. Source |
Keep the catalog you already have
Crate brings in your Square, Clover or Shopify catalog, so there is no second product list. Invoice through Square, Shopify, QuickBooks Online or Crate.
Nice Coffee Roasters, a Shopify roaster in Los Angeles, runs wholesale on Crate. Read their story.
Already on SparkLayer? Read the step-by-step switch guide.
Questions
- How much does SparkLayer cost?
- SparkLayer lists Basic free for 5 B2B orders a month (Shopify only), Starter at $49/month for 50, Growth at $149 for 100, Pro at $299 for 150 and Enterprise from $499. Orders later cancelled or refunded count toward the allowance.
- Does Crate limit how many wholesale orders I can take?
- No. Crate plans are priced by plan, from $50/month, and none of them caps orders per month.
- Can I keep my Shopify catalog if I move from SparkLayer to Crate?
- Yes. Connect Shopify and Crate syncs your products. Download each SparkLayer price list as a CSV before you uninstall, since SparkLayer says to treat uninstalling as deleting your data.
Sources
Published by Crate from SparkLayer's published information, not a hands-on test. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.
- SparkLayer pricing
- SparkLayer B2B and Wholesale on the Shopify App Store
- SparkLayer docs: plans and features
- SparkLayer docs: how SparkLayer works
- SparkLayer docs: Shopify FAQs
- SparkLayer docs: pricing FAQs
Other comparisons
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