Everyday · Buying Guide

The Best AI Wholesale and B2B Apps for Small Shopify DTC Stores Opening a Wholesale Channel

A desk review of the five Shopify apps a small DTC brand actually chooses between when it decides to sell to retailers, scored on what the official App Store listings and docs say about pricing, net terms, approval workflows, and the smallest plan that's actually usable.

Tested by Hannah Osei·October 26, 2026·5 tools ranked

The verdict

For most small Shopify DTC brands opening a wholesale channel, SparkLayer B2B & Wholesale is the app we recommend. It's the only option here with a genuinely usable free plan on Shopify, it layers a self-serve B2B portal onto your existing theme, and paid plans start at $49/month without an upgrade to Shopify Plus. If your whole requirement is per-customer pricing plus registration and net terms, BSS B2B Wholesale Pricing is the deeper-featured all-in-one at $29 to $99/month. Wholesale Gorilla is the pick if a merchant-friendly quick order form is the single thing you want. Orbit's B2B Wholesale Hub is the safe tag-based choice when your account list is short and simple. And Sami B2B Wholesale Pricing is the budget starting point at $24.90/month. If you only have two or three wholesale accounts, Shopify's native B2B on a paid plan may be enough and you shouldn't install any of these yet.

This guide answers one question: if a small Shopify DTC brand decides to sell wholesale to retailers, distributors, or bulk buyers, which app earns a monthly line item on the P&L? We stuck to the apps a founder realistically chooses between on the Shopify App Store in 2026 and excluded enterprise-only platforms, Faire-style marketplaces, and bulk-order-only tools that don't handle pricing or approvals.

This was a desk review, not a six-week hands-on test. Every price, limit, and plan boundary below comes from each app's own Shopify App Store listing or developer pricing page, and those pages are in the sources block. We didn't score "AI quality" because none of these apps make a credible AI claim worth benchmarking; the useful work they do is pricing logic, registration, and order rules. What we scored instead is whether an owner-operator can get a working wholesale channel live without upgrading to Shopify Plus, how predictable the real monthly cost is once net terms and approvals are turned on, and how the entry tier compares against the plan a growing brand actually ends up on.

How we tested

This is a documentation and pricing review across six KPIs. We read each app's current Shopify App Store listing and the developer's own pricing page, mapped the smallest plan that supports the features a small wholesale channel actually needs (per-customer pricing, registration with approval, and net terms), and compared total monthly cost at the "real working setup" tier. Note quality and transcription-style KPIs don't apply here, so we scored the jobs these apps are actually hired for.

Entry plan usability

We opened the current Shopify App Store listing for each app and recorded what the lowest-cost plan (free or paid) can actually do out of the box. We awarded higher scores to plans a merchant can genuinely open wholesale on, and docked scores when the entry tier is a teaser (one pricing rule, one form) that forces an upgrade before the first real retailer can order.

Smallest viable plan cost

For each app, we identified the lowest plan that supports per-customer or group pricing plus registration/approval plus net terms (the three features a working wholesale channel usually needs), then recorded the published monthly price of that plan from the app's own Shopify App Store listing. Lower published cost scored higher. Credit systems and seat caps were noted when the listing disclosed them.

Approval and gating depth

We checked whether the official listing documents a wholesale registration form, an approval workflow, auto-tagging on approval, and the ability to lock prices or products from retail shoppers, and at which plan each unlocks. Apps that fully handle the application-to-approved-buyer flow on their entry tier scored highest.

Buyer ordering experience

We read the listing's own feature list for self-serve buyer tools: quick order forms, bulk ordering, pack sizes and MOQs, net payment terms at checkout, and whether a sales agent or company-account layer is included. Apps that give retailers a fast reorder experience on a plan a small DTC can afford scored higher.

Shopify-plan compatibility

We confirmed from each listing whether the app works on standard Shopify plans (Basic, Grow, Advanced) or requires Shopify Plus, and whether it duplicates functionality that native Shopify B2B now offers. Apps that keep a small DTC off the $2,300/month Plus upgrade scored higher; apps that only earn their price above a certain revenue were flagged.

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier

We costed the plan a small-but-growing DTC usually lands on inside a year, defined as the tier that unlocks net terms, order limits, custom shipping, and tax-exempt handling. We recorded that price from each app's own listing and docked scores where the growing-brand tier more than doubles the headline entry price.

The picks

Our pickSparkLayer B2B & WholesaleSparkLayer

90 / 100

The only app here that pairs a usable free plan with a proper B2B portal on standard Shopify plans.

Best forSmall DTC brands that want a self-serve wholesale portal without upgrading to Shopify Plus.

What we liked

The free Basic plan on Shopify genuinely lets you take wholesale orders: up to 3 price lists and 5 B2B orders per month, with net payment terms, company users, and a free onboarding call.
Paid plans start at $49/month for Starter with unlimited price lists, up to 50 B2B orders per month, and one included sales agent, so a working channel doesn't require a feature upgrade.
Works on any Shopify plan rather than requiring Shopify Plus at a $2,300/month minimum, which is the single biggest reason small brands pick it.

What to know

Paid tiers cap monthly B2B orders (50 on Starter, 100 on Growth, 150 on Pro), which is the lowest ceiling in this guide and the thing to model before signing up.
Quoting lives on Pro at $299/month or as a $49/month Starter and Growth add-on, so quote-heavy workflows cost more than the headline Starter price.

How it scored

Entry plan usability95

Smallest viable plan cost88

Approval and gating depth86

Buyer ordering experience92

Shopify-plan compatibility96

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier82

Runner-upBSS B2B Wholesale PricingBSS B2B Solutions

85 / 100

The deepest all-in-one wholesale toolkit on Shopify, priced like a Shopify app rather than a platform.

Best forDTC brands that know they need registration with approval, VAT handling, and net terms from day one.

What we liked

The $29/month Essential plan already unlocks unlimited volume pricing, unlimited custom pricing rules, review-and-approve registration, auto-tagging on approval, and EU/UK VAT and ABN/GST ID validation on forms.
The $49/month Advanced plan is where net terms, order limits, tax-exempt checkout, pack sizes, and extra fees unlock, which is a realistic growing-brand ceiling for most small DTCs.
App Store rating is 4.9 from more than 1,100 reviews, the deepest social proof in this category by a large margin.

What to know

Variant-level wholesale pricing, custom price lists per customer, and API/ERP sync all require the $99/month Platinum plan, so brands with per-SKU wholesale pricing jump straight to the top tier.
Some one-star reviews flag that app updates have shipped without release notes and occasionally broken storefront pricing, so a staging store and alerts on price changes aren't optional.

How it scored

Entry plan usability78

Smallest viable plan cost90

Approval and gating depth94

Buyer ordering experience82

Shopify-plan compatibility92

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier86

Also greatWholesale GorillaWholesale Gorilla

80 / 100

The quick-order-form specialist, built for DTC brands adding a bulk-ordering retail channel on top.

Best forDTC merchants whose wholesale buyers are retailers placing large, repetitive carts and who care about a fast reorder flow.

What we liked

Lite is $34.95/month and already includes unlimited price rules, unlimited customer price groups, a basic registration form, and manual orders, so a working wholesale setup starts at one price.
Advanced at $69.95/month is where the quick order form, wholesale shipping rules, net terms, product hiding, and CSV price upload live, which is the realistic tier for most growing brands.
21-day free trial on every plan is the longest in this guide, which gives a brand real time to migrate retailers in before billing starts.

What to know

No free plan, so even testing wholesale against a retail store costs $34.95/month from day one; by contrast SparkLayer and BSS both offer free tiers.
Volume discounts, store/page locks, and customizable sign-up forms are gated to the $149.95/month Premium plan, so a brand that needs tiered volume breaks is paying four times the entry price.

How it scored

Entry plan usability80

Smallest viable plan cost78

Approval and gating depth76

Buyer ordering experience88

Shopify-plan compatibility90

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier72

Also greatB2B Wholesale HubOrbit

76 / 100

The safe, long-running tag-based pricing app, best for a short list of named retailer accounts.

Best forDTC stores with a handful of wholesale accounts where tag-based pricing is the whole requirement.

What we liked

The $39/month Basic plan includes percentage discounts, order minimums, a quick order form, manual order entry, Markets support, and a registration form, which covers the simplest wholesale setup.
App Store rating of 4.7 across more than 700 reviews, with the app running on the Shopify App Store since Jan 2015 under its original 'Wholesale Club' name, is one of the longer track records in this category.
Annual billing saves 10% across all three tiers ($420, $744, and $1,068 per year), and the plan structure is clean three tiers with no credit meter or seat gating.

What to know

Net terms, custom per-variant prices, and volume discounts all require the $69/month Professional plan, and product visibility locking requires the $99/month Premium plan, so a 'real' setup usually lands at $69 to $99/month.
The listing's own feature set doesn't include pack sizes or tax exemption at any tier, so brands with those needs will outgrow this app faster than the entry price suggests.

How it scored

Entry plan usability72

Smallest viable plan cost74

Approval and gating depth70

Buyer ordering experience80

Shopify-plan compatibility90

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier70

Budget pickSami B2B Wholesale PricingSamita

73 / 100

The cheapest paid plan in this guide, with a free tier that genuinely covers the basics.

Best forDTC brands running a small wholesale channel on a tight budget who want a free plan that's more than a teaser.

What we liked

The Free plan includes basic wholesale pricing, a registration form, limited volume discount rules, and manual or auto-tag approval, which is enough to run a handful of accounts at $0/month.
Silver at $24.90/month unlocks unlimited wholesale pricing rules, unlimited volume pricing rules, unlimited registration forms, a quick order form, and Shopify Markets support, the lowest list price in this guide for an unlimited-pricing tier.
App Store rating of 4.9 across more than 990 reviews, with the app carrying Shopify's Built for Shopify designation.

What to know

Net terms, tax-exempt customers, order limits, custom shipping, extra fees, and Shopify POS integration all require the $49.90/month Gold plan, so most growing brands land there.
The listing doesn't advertise sales agent tools, company accounts, or API/ERP sync, which caps how far this app scales before you migrate to a heavier platform.

How it scored

Entry plan usability86

Smallest viable plan cost92

Approval and gating depth74

Buyer ordering experience76

Shopify-plan compatibility88

Real monthly cost at the growing-brand tier80

At a glance

Tool	Our take	Best for	Score
SparkLayer B2B & Wholesale Our pick	The only app here that pairs a usable free plan with a proper B2B portal on standard Shopify plans.	Small DTC brands that want a self-serve wholesale portal without upgrading to Shopify Plus.	90
BSS B2B Wholesale Pricing Runner-up	The deepest all-in-one wholesale toolkit on Shopify, priced like a Shopify app rather than a platform.	DTC brands that know they need registration with approval, VAT handling, and net terms from day one.	85
Wholesale Gorilla Also great	The quick-order-form specialist, built for DTC brands adding a bulk-ordering retail channel on top.	DTC merchants whose wholesale buyers are retailers placing large, repetitive carts and who care about a fast reorder flow.	80
B2B Wholesale Hub Also great	The safe, long-running tag-based pricing app, best for a short list of named retailer accounts.	DTC stores with a handful of wholesale accounts where tag-based pricing is the whole requirement.	76
Sami B2B Wholesale Pricing Budget pick	The cheapest paid plan in this guide, with a free tier that genuinely covers the basics.	DTC brands running a small wholesale channel on a tight budget who want a free plan that's more than a teaser.	73

Opening a wholesale channel is one of the highest-leverage growth moves a small DTC brand can make. A single retailer account can equal dozens of consumer orders, and once the plumbing is in place, the margin profile is usually healthier than paid acquisition. The problem is that Shopify’s own full B2B feature set still lives behind the Plus upgrade, which is a hard sell for a brand doing six figures a year.

That’s the gap these apps fill. All five run on standard Shopify plans, all five handle some version of per-customer pricing, and all five publish their pricing in dollars on their App Store listing. The useful question isn’t which one is “best,” but which trade-off a founder wants to make.

Who this is for

This guide is for Shopify DTC owner-operators who are deciding whether to add a wholesale channel and which app to use when they do. If you’re an established wholesale brand with hundreds of retailers, ERP-driven pricing, or a dedicated inside-sales team, you’re past the small-business decision this guide covers and should be comparing SparkLayer Pro or Enterprise against Shopify Plus directly. If you’re a Shopify store with only two or three wholesale accounts today, read the FAQ at the bottom first: Shopify’s native B2B features on your current paid plan may already cover you.

Our pick: SparkLayer B2B & Wholesale

SparkLayer’s plan ladder on Shopify runs Basic (free, 5 B2B orders per month, 3 price lists, no sales agents), Starter at $49/month (50 orders, unlimited price lists, 1 sales agent), Growth at $149/month (100 orders, 2 sales agents), Pro at $299/month (150 orders, 5 sales agents), and Enterprise from $499/month. That’s the clearest ladder in this category.

The reason it wins is the free plan. On Shopify, the free Basic plan includes up to 3 price lists, up to 5 orders per month, volume price breaks, review-and-approve forms, net payment terms, company users to create wholesale teams, and a free onboarding call. That’s enough to onboard your first few retailers without paying anything, which no other app in this guide can match. When you outgrow it, Starter at $49/month gives you unlimited B2B price lists, up to 50 orders per month, one included sales agent, B2B discounts, B2B-only shipping rules, and personalised onboarding.

The pitch against Shopify Plus is the other reason small brands land here. Shopify now offers basic B2B on all plans but gates the full feature set behind Plus at $2,300/month minimum, and SparkLayer gives you the full B2B experience on any Shopify plan starting free. You can argue with the maker’s framing, but the price difference is real.

What to watch: the order caps. 50 orders a month on Starter is a hard ceiling, not a soft throttle, and Growth at $149/month only lifts it to 100. If your wholesale channel grows faster than you expected, you’ll feel the upgrade. And quoting lives on Pro or as a $49/month add-on on Starter and Growth; it’s included on Pro and Enterprise.

The runner-up: BSS B2B Wholesale Pricing

If SparkLayer is a wholesale portal that happens to do pricing, BSS is a pricing engine that happens to do everything else. The feature density per dollar is the deepest in this guide.

BSS runs a free tier plus three paid plans: Essential at $29/month (unlimited volume, quantity break, and custom pricing rules, review-and-approve applications, auto-tagging, EU/UK VAT and ABN/GST ID checks), Advanced at $49/month (customer-specific custom pricing, tax inclusive/exclusive display, tax exemption at cart, order limits, wholesale shipping rates, pack-size quantity increments, extra fees, and net terms), and Platinum at $99/month (conditional-logic forms, variant-level wholesale prices, custom price lists per customer, bulk pricing import/export, API/ERP sync, US EIN tax ID checks on signup, and B2B prices on Shopify POS). That’s a lot to parse, and it’s also the most honest view of what wholesale on Shopify actually needs.

The social proof is also the deepest in the category. BSS B2B Wholesale Pricing is Built for Shopify and rated 4.9 from roughly 1,195 reviews. That’s nearly triple the review count of SparkLayer on the Shopify App Store.

Where it loses is the ceiling. If you need variant-level wholesale pricing, custom price lists per customer, or ERP sync, you jump straight to Platinum at $99/month; there’s no middle ground. And one-star reviewers consistently flag that app updates have shipped without release notes and have, in some incidents, broken storefront pricing including a reported case of selling all items for $5 each. That’s not a reason to avoid the app, but it’s a reason to maintain a staging store and watch your product pages after any BSS release.

For a buyer-first ordering experience: Wholesale Gorilla

Wholesale Gorilla has been on the Shopify App Store since 2018, and its differentiator in 2026 is still the quick order form, the piece of UI retailers actually use when reordering.

Pricing is Lite at $34.95/month (unlimited price rules, unlimited customer price groups, a basic registration form, and manual orders), Advanced at $69.95/month (quick order form, wholesale shipping rules, net terms, product hiding, discount codes, order limits, CSV price upload, and theme integration), and Premium at $149.95/month (volume discounts, store and page locks, payment terms, a customizable sign-up form, advanced product-lock rules, and priority video support). The gap between Lite and Advanced is where most small DTC brands actually sit.

Every tier includes a 21-day free trial , which is unusually long and gives a brand real time to migrate retailers in before the first bill. The downside is the lack of a free plan: unlike SparkLayer, Sami, and BSS, there’s no way to test Wholesale Gorilla without a card on file. And volume discounts are gated to the $149.95/month Premium tier, which is four times the Lite price, so a brand that needs tiered quantity breaks isn’t really starting at $34.95/month.

For a short wholesale list: B2B Wholesale Hub

The app most merchants still know as Wholesale Club is now listed as B2B Wholesale Hub, built by Orbit; it’s the same app under a new name, starting at $39 a month. It’s the longest-running option here.

The three tiers are Basic at $39/month (percentage discounts, order minimums, Quick Order Form, manual orders), Professional at $69/month (adds custom prices, net terms, and volume discounts), and Premium at $99/month (adds product visibility, with priority email and chat support).

Annual billing saves 10% across the board at $420, $744, and $1,068 per year.

The pattern to notice: net terms require the $69 Professional plan, and locking products behind a login requires the $99 Premium plan. If your wholesale setup needs both, you’re at $99 a month, not $39. The listing’s feature set also doesn’t include pack sizing or tax exemption at any tier , so brands selling by case pack or shipping to tax-exempt buyers in the US will outgrow Wholesale Hub quickly. For a store with five to ten tagged retailer accounts where tag-based pricing is the whole requirement, it’s still a safe pick.

The budget starting point: Sami B2B Wholesale Pricing

Sami is the only app in this guide where the entry paid tier costs under $25 and does something useful. The ladder is Free (basic wholesale pricing, registration form limit, limited volume discount rules, manual or auto-tag approval), Silver at $24.90/month (unlimited wholesale pricing rules, unlimited volume pricing rules, unlimited registration forms, quick order form, Shopify Markets support, priority support), and Gold at $49.90/month (everything in Silver plus minimum/maximum order limits, custom shipping rate rules, extra fees by quantity/amount/weight, payment terms and invoice payment, tax display and tax-exempt customers, and Shopify POS integration).

Sami is Built for Shopify and rated 4.9 from roughly 993 reviews , which is comparable to BSS and well above most of this category. The weakness is depth: there are no sales agent tools, no company accounts in the listing, and no API/ERP sync, so this is an app you install when wholesale is a side channel, not a strategic growth lever.

How this ties into the rest of your Shopify stack

Wholesale pricing is only one piece of what a DTC brand runs. If you’re also adding retailer-facing social proof, our guide to AI product review apps covers the apps that collect and display those reviews on your retail-facing storefront. If you’re already running a subscription program and layering wholesale on top, the AI subscription management guide is the one to read next. And if your retailers tend to buy curated case packs rather than single SKUs, the AI product bundle apps guide covers the tools that build those bundle SKUs.

How to choose between them

Four questions settle this decision for most small DTC brands.

Do you want a self-serve wholesale portal, or just wholesale prices? If retailers should log in and place their own orders through a branded storefront, SparkLayer. If you just need their logged-in prices to be different from the retail prices, BSS, Sami, or B2B Wholesale Hub.

Do you need an approval workflow for incoming wholesale applications? BSS and SparkLayer handle this cleanly on their entry paid tiers. B2B Wholesale Hub has a registration form but a thinner approval layer, and Sami covers it on the Silver tier.

Do you need net terms? On SparkLayer this is free. On BSS it’s Advanced at $49/month. On B2B Wholesale Hub it’s Professional at $69/month. On Wholesale Gorilla it’s Advanced at $69.95/month. On Sami it’s Gold at $49.90/month.

How many wholesale orders a month will you really do? If more than 50, SparkLayer’s Starter cap matters and you should model Growth at $149/month. If fewer, Starter is fine and nothing else in this guide beats the price.

We wouldn’t install more than one of these at a time. All five store wholesale logic in metafields and theme code, and running two in parallel is where storefront pricing bugs come from.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a wholesale app, or can Shopify's native B2B handle it?

If you only have two or three retailer accounts and the whole job is per-customer prices on a short catalog, the native B2B features Shopify now ships on paid plans may be enough and you shouldn't install anything yet. The reason to add an app is when you need an approval workflow for applicants, net terms on standard Shopify (not Plus), or a self-serve portal with a quick order form for repeat retailers. Model your real feature list first and avoid paying for an app the first month.

Which app has the best free plan for testing wholesale?

SparkLayer's Basic plan is the most capable free tier in this guide: up to 3 price lists and 5 B2B orders per month on Shopify, including volume price breaks, company users, review-and-approve forms, net payment terms, and a free onboarding call. Sami's free plan is a lighter alternative with basic pricing, a registration form, and auto-tag approval. BSS also has a free plan but it caps at one custom pricing rule and one registration form on live stores, which is a teaser rather than a working setup.

What's the realistic monthly cost for a small DTC's wholesale channel in year one?

In practice most brands land between $49 and $99 a month once net terms, approval forms, and some kind of order controls are turned on. SparkLayer Starter is $49/month with a hard cap of 50 B2B orders. BSS Advanced is $49/month and covers net terms, order limits, and tax-exempt handling. B2B Wholesale Hub Professional is $69/month for net terms and volume discounts. Wholesale Gorilla Advanced is $69.95/month for its quick order form and net terms. The outlier is Sami Gold at $49.90/month, which is the cheapest tier that unlocks terms and tax exemption together.

Do any of these replace Shopify Plus for B2B?

For a small DTC brand, SparkLayer is the closest substitute: it adds unlimited price lists, a sales agent portal, quoting (on Pro or as an add-on), and company accounts on top of a standard Shopify plan, which the maker positions explicitly against Shopify Plus at $2,300/month. BSS covers deep pricing, VAT, net terms, and approvals on a standard plan too. None of them replace Plus for very large, agency-run operations with hundreds of per-buyer catalogs or ERP-driven pricing, but for a founder-led DTC adding its first wholesale channel, a standard Shopify plan plus one of these apps is almost always the right path.