The 7 Best Next.js E-commerce Templates in 2026 (Compared)

A Next.js e-commerce template is really two decisions wearing one name. The first is the commerce backend - where products, inventory, carts, orders, and payments actually live. The second is the storefront - what shoppers see, and whether it feels like a real shop or a demo. Most free starters are built around one backend and ship a deliberately plain storefront. A few templates go the other way: a fully designed storefront with no backend attached. Knowing which half you need is most of the decision. This is an honest comparison of seven worth your time, two of them ours.

Pick your backend first

• Already selling on Shopify or BigCommerce - use a storefront built for that platform, so products and orders stay where they are.
• Want to own and self-host the commerce backend - look at open-source engines like Medusa or Saleor, and check their licenses.
• Want the storefront design and shopping experience finished first, and will connect payments yourself - a designed storefront template is the faster route.
• Check what each template needs before it renders a single page: a store, an API key, a running backend, or nothing at all.

The 7 best Next.js e-commerce templates in 2026

1. Next.js Commerce - Best free storefront for Shopify

Vercel's Next.js Commerce is the reference App Router storefront: React Server Components, Server Actions, Suspense, and optimistic cart updates, with Shopify as the backend. Products, collections, pages, menus, and SEO are all managed in Shopify, and the template listens to Shopify webhooks to revalidate when catalog data changes. Vercel actively maintains only the Shopify version; other providers fork it and swap the commerce layer. One catch worth knowing up front: it doesn't work on Shopify's Starter plan, which doesn't allow the custom setup a headless storefront needs. If you sell on Shopify, this is the default answer.

2. Stockwell - Best designed everyday-goods storefront

Stockwell is ours, and it's the opposite trade from the backend starters: the full merchant surface, finished. Ten routes - home, shop, category pages, product pages, deals, cart, a multi-step checkout, wishlist, and an account area with order tracking - with persistent search, faceted filtering, rich reviews and Q&A, and a deals system. Its "Warm Mono" design is photography-first: warm bone and charcoal instead of stark white and black, Instrument Serif headlines, and a single red kept for sale tags, in light and dark. It also includes a shopping assistant panel that recommends products from the catalogue. Built on Next.js 16, React 19, and Tailwind v4, with unit tests for the cart, wishlist, and assistant and the shipped WCAG 2.2 AA check.

The honest caveats: everything is static and typed, with the whole catalogue in one file and no backend or database. Checkout is a mock that charges no card - you connect a payment provider before taking real orders. And the assistant is offline and rule-based: it matches keywords against the catalogue and calls no model, though it's built so you can swap in a real model call without touching the panel. If your products already live in Shopify, Next.js Commerce is the better fit.

3. Écru - Best editorial fashion storefront

Écru is our second storefront, and it covers a different niche from Stockwell rather than competing with it: a smaller, gallery-like fashion shop. Six pages - an editorial home with lookbook and new arrivals, a shop with filtering by category, size, and colour, product pages with an image gallery and variant selection, a bag, a single-page checkout, and a brand story page. The design is near-monochrome and warm, with a high-contrast Fraunces serif, Hanken Grotesk body text, and Geist Mono for prices, sizes, and SKUs. Cart lines are keyed by product, size, and colour, backed by unit-tested reducer functions. It carries the same WCAG 2.2 AA check.

Same caveats as Stockwell: a typed product file instead of a backend, and a mock checkout to connect to your payment provider. It's light-only and has no AI features. Choose Écru for a fashion or apparel brand that wants an editorial feel; choose Stockwell for a broad catalogue that needs search, deals, and accounts.

4. Medusa DTC Starter - Best open-source backend you own

Medusa is an open-source commerce engine, and its MIT-licensed DTC starter is a monorepo with both halves: the Medusa backend and a Next.js storefront, covering product browsing, cart, checkout, customer accounts, and orders. It replaced Medusa's older Next.js starter, which was archived in July 2026 - so if a tutorial points you at nextjs-starter-medusa, use the DTC starter instead. It's the strongest choice if you want to own and self-host the whole stack, with the tradeoff that you're now running a commerce backend as well as a website.

5. Catalyst - Best for BigCommerce merchants

Catalyst is BigCommerce's open-source Next.js storefront framework, built on BigCommerce's GraphQL Storefront API and set up through a CLI. BigCommerce charges nothing extra for using it, but it requires a BigCommerce store (trial stores work), and you host the Next.js frontend yourself - Vercel is the recommendation. If you're on BigCommerce already, it's the obvious pick; if you're not, it commits you to the platform.

6. Saleor Paper - Best for a GraphQL-first commerce API

Saleor's storefront template, Paper, is current - Next.js 16, React 19, App Router and Server Components - and talks to a Saleor GraphQL backend, with Stripe available through Saleor's Stripe app and a dummy payment for testing checkout. Saleor itself describes it as a new release with some rough edges. Read the license before you build on it: it's under the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1, converting to Apache 2.0 after two years), and offering it as a managed service means talking to Saleor first.

7. Your Next Store - Best for many ready-made themes

Your Next Store is an MIT-licensed Next.js 16 storefront with Stripe integration for checkout, billing, and subscriptions, shadcn/ui components, and a large set of visual themes kept on separate branches. It's built with AI coding tools in mind, shipping an AGENTS.md and a typed SDK. Note that it runs against the YNS platform - the quick start asks for a YNS API key from yns.store - so check that platform's terms alongside the open-source code.

Side-by-side comparison

How to choose

• You sell on Shopify - Next.js Commerce. On BigCommerce - Catalyst.
• You want to own and self-host the commerce backend - Medusa DTC Starter, or Saleor Paper if its license fits.
• You want a finished, distinctive storefront for a broad catalogue, and you'll connect payments yourself - Stockwell.
• You're launching a fashion or apparel brand and want an editorial look - Écru.
• You want Stripe-based commerce with lots of theme options to start from - Your Next Store.