Choosing a B2B platform is less a question of “which one is best” and more a question of “what you will be paying for, and to whom, over the next few years”. Feature lists from different vendors look nearly identical - per-customer price lists, wholesale orders, a sales rep panel. The differences that actually hurt sit elsewhere: in the fee model, in the cost of integrating with your ERP, and in the price of every change you will want to make a year or two from now.
So this text is not a platform ranking. I explain in plain language what a B2B platform even is, what the three routes to rolling one out are and - most importantly - how to count the real cost of each before you sign anything.
What a B2B platform is, in plain language
A B2B platform is an online store for business customers, not consumers. In practice that means a few things an ordinary store does not have:
- Prices visible only after logging in - an anonymous visitor sees the catalogue but not the trading terms
- Price lists negotiated per customer - wholesaler X buys on different terms than wholesaler Y, and each sees only their own prices
- Wholesale ordering - quantities counted in cases, quick ordering from a list instead of clicking through product pages
- Payment terms - a regular customer does not pay up front but on an invoice with deferred payment
A B2B platform like that, for trading companies, wholesalers and manufacturers, replaces what today often happens by email and phone: a sales rep retyping orders by hand while the customer waits for a price confirmation. One note in the margin - if you sell services and need more of a brochure site collecting enquiries, that is a different subject, which I covered in the piece on how to build a good B2B company website.
A B2B platform versus an online store - the difference
Technically a B2B platform is still a store - there is a catalogue, a basket and orders. The difference sits in the commercial layer. An ordinary store assumes every buyer is anonymous, pays immediately and sees the same price. In B2B the buyer is a regular customer with a history, individual terms and often several people ordering within one company. On top of that comes the paperwork: invoices instead of receipts, company details, settlements with accounting.
That is why you cannot “just switch B2B on” in any store - the logic of price lists, company accounts and deferred payment has to be built. And the way that logic gets built defines the three routes.
Three routes: a WooCommerce module, a ready-made B2B platform, a custom build
Route one: a B2B module added to a WooCommerce store. You take a proven store engine and extend it with per-customer price lists, hiding prices from logged-out visitors and wholesale ordering. This is the cheapest way into B2B and - crucially for me - it means full ownership: the code and the data are yours, not the vendor’s. What that looks like in practice I wrote up in a separate piece on WooCommerce B2B.
Route two: a ready-made B2B platform from a vendor. Often tied to a specific ERP system - and that can be its greatest strength, because the start is fast and the connection to the warehouse comes ready. The price of that convenience: a subscription paid monthly regardless of sales, features limited to what the vendor anticipated, and dependency - your company’s data and processes live in someone else’s system, and moving out years later is painful.
Route three: a custom build. A platform written around your processes from scratch. Full flexibility - any unusual price list, order approval path or integration can be built. But it has the highest barrier: the longest rollout, the largest budget and the need for someone who will keep developing that code for years.
B2B platform cost - how to count what it really comes to
I deliberately do not quote individual vendors’ figures - price lists change too often for a table like that to stay honest longer than a quarter. Instead I am giving you a way of counting that works for all three routes. The real cost of a B2B platform is always the sum of four items:
- The rollout - the one-off cost of launching: configuration, migration of products and customers, testing
- Recurring fees - a subscription or licence at the vendor, or with your own platform, hosting and technical care
- Integration with ERP and accounting - so orders, stock levels and invoices are not retyped by hand; how to connect that I cover in the piece on ERP and e-invoicing integration
- Every future change - a new price list, an extra field on the order, a different approval process: who can do it and for how much
That fourth item is the one most often skipped, and after a few years it can outgrow all the rest. With a ready-made platform, changes are made exclusively by the vendor - at their rates and in their queue. With WooCommerce and a custom build, any developer you choose can change something.
What helps: before you compare offers, ask every vendor to break out all four items over several years ahead - and ask one control question: “how much does adding an unusual price list cost with you, and who can do it?”. The answer tells you more about the platform than the whole feature list.
A free B2B platform - what “free” really means
The phrase “free B2B platform” almost always means a cut-down version of a paid product: a limit on users, products or orders, integrations switched off, sometimes the vendor’s logo on your platform. It is bait - it works until the first serious requirement, and by then moving to a paid plan feels “natural”, because the data is already inside.
For the record: WooCommerce is free too - as software. But a free engine is not a free platform: the rollout, the B2B modules and the maintenance cost money as normal. The difference is that you are paying for work that becomes your property, rather than for the right to use somebody else’s system.
When WooCommerce with B2B features is enough, and when custom makes sense
From my experience most small and medium wholesalers are perfectly served by WooCommerce extended with B2B features: per-customer price lists, hidden prices, wholesale ordering, deferred payment and ERP integration. You get it faster and cheaper than a custom build, and ownership stays on your side.
A custom build makes sense when the processes genuinely do not fit any ready-made engine: several companies and warehouses in one system, elaborate order approval paths, unusual configurators. A vendor’s ready-made platform holds up when their ERP is already the heart of your company and the platform is simply its natural extension - provided you consciously accept the subscription and the dependency.
How I quote this
I work fixed-bid: a free diagnosis to start - I look at your current store or sales process and tell you which route makes sense for you. Then you get a specific quote in writing before anything begins. Projects of this type usually land in the 5,000-10,000 PLN net range with me - no hourly billing and no surprises along the way. The full scope of what I do when extending existing stores is on the optimization page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a B2B platform? It is an online store for business customers: prices visible after logging in, price lists negotiated per customer, wholesale ordering and deferred payment. It replaces orders collected by email and phone.
How much does a B2B platform cost? It depends on the route, so always count four items: the rollout, recurring fees, ERP integration and the cost of future changes. With me a B2B module on WooCommerce is typically around 5,000-10,000 PLN net, with a quote in writing before the start.
Is there such a thing as a free B2B platform? The free ones are usually cut-down versions of paid products - with limits and integrations switched off. WooCommerce is free as software, but rolling it out and maintaining it is a normal cost of work.
How does a B2B platform differ from an online store? In the commercial layer: an ordinary store sells to anonymous customers at one price and up front, a B2B platform serves regular customers with individual price lists, invoices and payment terms.
Sitting on this yourself and unsure where to start? I speed up and repair existing sites and stores - Core Web Vitals, outages, the features that are missing. Tell me what is happening and you will get a concrete quote with a date.