Adobe Commerce native modules vs third-party — when to pick which?

Adobe Commerce ships with several powerful native modules (B2B Companies, Live Search, Page Builder, Catalog Subscriptions, MSI inventory). The choice between native and third-party isn’t obvious. Decision rules:

Pick the Adobe native module when:

• You’re already paying for the Adobe Commerce license — the native module is bundled. Free.
• You want the deepest Adobe support relationship. Adobe SLA covers their modules; you’re on your own with third-party.
• Your need fits the vanilla feature set. Native B2B Companies covers ~80% of mid-market B2B needs out of the box.
• Procurement / security wants “Adobe-built, Adobe-supported” as the answer.

Pick the third-party when:

• You’re on Magento Open Source — native modules aren’t bundled with Open Source.
• The native module is feature-thin compared to a third-party. Adobe Live Search’s AI ranking is weaker than Klevu or Algolia today; Adobe Page Builder is heavier than Magezon Page Builder Plus.
• You need a niche workflow Adobe hasn’t built (e.g. Yotpo Loyalty’s referral tier engine, Mirasvit’s SEO audit-in-admin tooling).
• Long-term you might leave Adobe Commerce. Third-party modules port to Open Source; native ones don’t.

The recommender flags Adobe-native picks explicitly with the “Adobe Commerce” vendor name + $0 price — you’ll see them as the top option in B2B, search, page-builder, and subscriptions categories when applicable.