Compare
Roots HQ vs. CommentSold
Live-selling software for your own audience. Subscription plus a percentage of sales on every tier.
Live/video-commerce software · Last reviewed 2026-07-25 · commentsold.com pricing
At your volume
One of these bills grows every time you sell something.
CommentSold charges a subscription plus a percentage of your sales on every tier. Roots HQ charges a subscription and takes no percentage. So there is no single answer — there is a crossover, and it depends entirely on how much you sell.
CommentSold
Starter — the cheapest tier at this volume
- Subscription
- $149
- 6% of $10,000 in sales
- $600
Roots HQ
6 modules · rate card 2026-v1
- Subscription
- $214
- Percentage of your sales
- $0
At $10,000 a month, Roots HQ is $535/mo cheaper — $6,420 a year.
Nearly all of that gap is the percentage. Sell more and it widens; the Roots HQ figure does not move.
The crossover is around $1,083 a month in sales. Below it CommentSold costs less; above it the percentage does the damage. At $2,167/mo you would be paying CommentSold roughly $279 against a Roots HQ bill that is still $214.
What the Roots HQ figure covers
- Core HQ$49
- Inventory$29
- Customers & CRM$29
- Storefront$39
- Live Selling$39
- Orders & Fulfillment$29
Drop anything you do not need and the figure falls. Build your own selection.
What neither figure includes
Card processing. Excluded from both sides. CommentSold does not publish its processing rates on the pricing page, so putting a number there would mean inventing one. On Roots HQ you connect your own processor and pay it directly.
Their feature set. This is a price model, not a feature verdict. The sourced feature-by-feature comparison is below, reviewed on its own date.
CommentSold tiers ($149 + 6% · $499 + 5% · $999 + 4%) read from commentsold.com pricing on 2026-08-24. We apply whichever tier is cheapest at your volume. Roots HQ figures are summed from rate card 2026-v1. Prices change without notice — check both before deciding. This is an estimate, not a quote.
What each one actually is
Not the same kind of product.
- Roots HQ
- Connected business headquarters — inventory, customers, events, and money in one system, across every channel you sell on.
- CommentSold
- Live-selling software for the audience you already have — not a marketplace, not an operations platform.
A fair read
Where CommentSold is genuinely strong — and where it isn't.
Derived directly from the sourced comparison matrix below, not written separately.
Where CommentSold is stronger
- In-person card payments (POS, keyed card entry)"Point of Sale" and "CS Payments" are advertised capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Point of Sale", "CS Payments", read 2026-08-25.
- Live-stream schedulingLive selling is the core of the product, including pre-recording live sales to sell offline and shoppable clips on the seller's own site. Source: CommentSold — "Live Selling", "Pre-Record Live Sales to Sell Offline", read 2026-08-25.
- Live product spotlight
- Live-only promotions & drops
- Auctions"Live Auction" is an advertised capability, alongside comment-driven claims and auto-invoicing. Source: CommentSold — "Live Auction", read 2026-08-25.
- Claims & holds
- Just-sold ticker
- Your own hosted storefrontA "video-first storefront" website with a content management system, plus a branded mobile app for the seller. Source: CommentSold — "Website", "Branded Mobile App", "Content Management System (Website Creator)", read 2026-08-25.
- You own the customer list
- Sell on your OWN site (not a marketplace)
- Product catalog & inventoryInventory Management is one of CommentSold's named product capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Inventory Management", read 2026-08-25.
- Shipping with live carrier rates + labelsShipping and fulfilment are a real part of the product: shipping labels processed and printed in bulk across multiple orders, carrier and package preferences via FlexLabels, and label handling for auto-combined orders. Limits: FlexLabels cannot be used at the same time as the ShipStation integration. Source: CommentSold Help — Process and Print Shipping Labels in Bulk for Multiple Orders, read 2026-08-25.
- Marketplace order imports (Whatnot, eBay, Etsy…)Orders sync instantly into ShipStation, labels are created there, and label and tracking information syncs back into CommentSold. Limits: Labels are created in ShipStation, not in CommentSold, when this integration is used; Requires a ShipStation account, and cannot be combined with FlexLabels. Source: CommentSold Help — Ship Using ShipStation, read 2026-08-25.
- Multi-channel order consolidationSells across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok plus its own webstore and mobile app, with a "Multi-Source" capability and auto-combining of orders. Source: CommentSold — product overview, read 2026-08-25.
- Labels, tracking & status notificationsPacking slips print in bulk with or without labels, barcodes can be printed for package preferences so a scanner creates the label, and tracking flows back into the order. Limits: Bulk packing slips do not support combined orders or combined barcodes; Bin locations do not carry through to ShipStation packing slips. Source: CommentSold Help — Print Packing Slips in Bulk Without Generating Shipping Labels, read 2026-08-25.
- Email campaigns"Marketing Automation", customer loyalty and rewards, and unlimited push notifications are advertised capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Marketing Automation", "Customer Loyalty and Rewards", read 2026-08-25.
- Social cross-postingSelling runs natively across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with "Social Commerce — turn comments into sales" and CommentChat auto-replies and DMs. Source: CommentSold — "Facebook Selling", "Instagram Selling", "TikTok Selling", "Social Commerce", read 2026-08-25.
- Unified sales dashboard (all channels)"Insights and Reporting" is an advertised capability across its selling channels. Source: CommentSold — "Insights and Reporting", read 2026-08-25.
Where Roots HQ is stronger
No rows in the matrix currently credit Roots HQ over CommentSold.
Fees
What CommentSold actually charges.
- Monthly
- $149/mo (Starter) · $499/mo (Small Business) · $999/mo (Large Business)
- Commission
- 6% of sales (Starter) · 5% (Small Business) · 4% (Large Business) — on top of the subscription
- Processing
- Billed separately — not published on the pricing page
- Per order
- Not published
- Category exceptions
- None published
- Promo exceptions
- None published
Last verified 2026-08-24 against commentsold.com pricing.
Feature by feature
Every sourced row that mentions CommentSold.
Selling & discovery
Built-in marketplace audience & buyer discovery
Roots HQ
Not applicable
Roots HQ is a storefront and operations platform, not a marketplace — it has no built-in buyer audience of its own. Bringing buyers is on the seller; in exchange, the seller keeps the customer relationship (see Business ownership).
CommentSold
Not available
Live-selling software for the seller’s OWN existing audience, per CommentSold’s own positioning — no marketplace audience of its own.
Marketplace checkout (buyer pays inside the platform's own app)
Roots HQ
Not applicable
Buyers check out on the seller’s own branded checkout — Roots HQ does not operate a marketplace checkout of its own.
CommentSold
Not available
Not a marketplace — checkout runs on the seller’s own storefront.
In-person card payments (POS, keyed card entry)
Roots HQ
Available
Roots HQ runs the till and books the sale against the same inventory as every other channel. The card itself is taken by YOUR connected Square account — Square processes the payment and you remain the merchant of record. Roots HQ records the total, the processor's transaction reference and the payment status; it never stores card details.
CommentSold
Native
"Point of Sale" and "CS Payments" are advertised capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Point of Sale", "CS Payments", read 2026-08-25.
Live-stream scheduling
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Live selling is the core of the product, including pre-recording live sales to sell offline and shoppable clips on the seller's own site. Source: CommentSold — "Live Selling", "Pre-Record Live Sales to Sell Offline", read 2026-08-25.
Live product spotlight
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Live-only promotions & drops
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Auctions
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
"Live Auction" is an advertised capability, alongside comment-driven claims and auto-invoicing. Source: CommentSold — "Live Auction", read 2026-08-25.
Claims & holds
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
OBS overlays & QR to buy
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
Just-sold ticker
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Business ownership
Your own hosted storefront
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
A "video-first storefront" website with a content management system, plus a branded mobile app for the seller. Source: CommentSold — "Website", "Branded Mobile App", "Content Management System (Website Creator)", read 2026-08-25.
You own the customer list
Roots HQ
Native
Scoped to the customer contact list specifically (see “Data export” below for the exportable proof of this) — not a claim that every business record is exportable.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Sell on your OWN site (not a marketplace)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Operations
Product catalog & inventory
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Inventory Management is one of CommentSold's named product capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Inventory Management", read 2026-08-25.
Shipping with live carrier rates + labels
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Shipping and fulfilment are a real part of the product: shipping labels processed and printed in bulk across multiple orders, carrier and package preferences via FlexLabels, and label handling for auto-combined orders. Limits: FlexLabels cannot be used at the same time as the ShipStation integration. Source: CommentSold Help — Process and Print Shipping Labels in Bulk for Multiple Orders, read 2026-08-25.
Marketplace order imports (Whatnot, eBay, Etsy…)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Integrated
Orders sync instantly into ShipStation, labels are created there, and label and tracking information syncs back into CommentSold. Limits: Labels are created in ShipStation, not in CommentSold, when this integration is used; Requires a ShipStation account, and cannot be combined with FlexLabels. Source: CommentSold Help — Ship Using ShipStation, read 2026-08-25.
Multi-channel order consolidation
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Sells across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok plus its own webstore and mobile app, with a "Multi-Source" capability and auto-combining of orders. Source: CommentSold — product overview, read 2026-08-25.
Labels, tracking & status notifications
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Packing slips print in bulk with or without labels, barcodes can be printed for package preferences so a scanner creates the label, and tracking flows back into the order. Limits: Bulk packing slips do not support combined orders or combined barcodes; Bin locations do not carry through to ShipStation packing slips. Source: CommentSold Help — Print Packing Slips in Bulk Without Generating Shipping Labels, read 2026-08-25.
Growth
Email campaigns
Roots HQ
Available
Campaigns are composed, scheduled and sent from Roots HQ against a list you own. Delivery runs through YOUR own SMTP provider, billed to you — Roots HQ does not resell email sending, so deliverability is your provider's, not ours.
CommentSold
Native
"Marketing Automation", customer loyalty and rewards, and unlimited push notifications are advertised capabilities. Source: CommentSold — "Marketing Automation", "Customer Loyalty and Rewards", read 2026-08-25.
Social cross-posting
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
Selling runs natively across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with "Social Commerce — turn comments into sales" and CommentChat auto-replies and DMs. Source: CommentSold — "Facebook Selling", "Instagram Selling", "TikTok Selling", "Social Commerce", read 2026-08-25.
Business intelligence
Unified sales dashboard (all channels)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CommentSold
Native
"Insights and Reporting" is an advertised capability across its selling channels. Source: CommentSold — "Insights and Reporting", read 2026-08-25.
Bottom line
Should you use Roots HQ instead of CommentSold?
CommentSold is built for sellers who already have their own audience and want live-selling mechanics bolted onto it — it is software, not a marketplace, so it doesn’t bring buyers the way Whatnot or Palmstreet do. Its subscription-plus-percentage pricing and live-selling depth are real; it does not attempt to be a full operations platform (vendor purchasing, cross-channel inventory, financial reporting), which is where Roots HQ is positioned instead.
See how they compare against your real numbers.
Bring your current stack — we will map it honestly.