MBA vs Magefan Automatic Related Products
A rule-driven Magento upsell/cross-sell and Frequently Bought Together extension with a popularity-based "Who Bought This Also Bought" engine, sold as a one-time per-edition license.
When MBA wins
If you want explainable co-purchase mining with inspectable support/confidence/lift, real-SKU bundles with A/B testing, agent/API access, or the same recommendation intelligence across multiple storefronts beyond Magento, MarketBasketAnalysis fits better.
When Magefan Automatic Related Products wins
If you run a single Magento store on Hyva or Breeze and want a mature, native, free-on-Open-Source extension with 20+ block positions and granular rule conditions, Magefan is a proven, low-cost choice.
Feature comparison
Color-striped rows favor MBA, Magefan Automatic Related Products, or are even. We mark each so you can scan for the trade-offs that matter to you.
| Feature | MBA | Magefan Automatic Related Products |
|---|---|---|
| Co-purchase / market-basket intelligence | Six mining engines (sql_pairs, fp_growth default, seasonal_cohort, return_aware, profit-aware HUI, ai_catalog cold-start), plus a co_occurrence fallback emitting support, confidence, and lift, with rules inspectable in-admin. | "Who Bought This Also Bought" and "Who Viewed This Also Viewed" algorithms analyze order/view history and surface popularity-sorted items, but do not expose support/confidence/lift metrics. |
| Rule-based placement and display conditions | Supports cart drawer, post-purchase upsell, substitutions, and rule conditions, with placements across the supported storefronts. | Very mature: 20+ block positions and rich conditions across product, cart, page, customer group, date/time, and dynamic attributes (best sellers, ratings, special prices). |
| Frequently Bought Together / bundles | Real-SKU bundles with multiple formats (BYOB, volume, BOGO, virtual) plus substitutions. | Includes a Frequently Bought Together template letting shoppers buy a set in one click and deselect unwanted items. |
| Cross-platform coverage | Same intelligence across Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and OroCommerce on one API contract. | Magento 2 only (CE, EE, ECE, B2B), with Hyva and Breeze theme compatibility. |
| Agent / API access | Public REST API, a 19-tool MCP server (18 off Shopify), and ACP/agentic-commerce endpoints. | Configured via Magento admin rules and widgets; no documented public recommendation API, MCP server, or agentic endpoints. |
| A/B testing and measurement | Built-in A/B testing with lift and confidence intervals. | No A/B testing documented; relies on popularity sorting and manual rule tuning. |
| Privacy / data residency | Mining runs first-party inside the merchant install (Magento/Woo); AI is bring-your-own key (Oro uses a thin hosted client). | Runs entirely on-server inside the Magento install, so order data stays first-party with no third-party recommendation service. |
| Email / marketing channel recs | Klaviyo and email recommendation outputs in addition to on-store placements. | On-store blocks across product, category, cart, CMS, and blog pages; no native Klaviyo/email recommendation feed documented. |
| Pricing model | Flat transparent pricing: free $0 tier, Plus $99/mo (or ~$79/mo on annual), no GMV or revenue share. | One-time perpetual license, free on Open Source and modest on paid tiers ($199-$748 by edition), 365 days updates then ~50% renewal, no GMV/revenue share. |
Pricing snapshot
MarketBasketAnalysis
Flat, transparent plan pricing: Free ($0) and Plus $99/mo flat (or ~$79/mo on annual). One paid plan, everything in it. These are product plans, not per-platform prices, and the same plans apply across every platform. Metered on capability and compute, never on GMV. No revenue share, no add-ons.
See plansMagefan Automatic Related Products
One-time perpetual license per Magento edition with 365 days of updates/support, then ~50% renewal. Open Source (CE): Basic free, Plus $199, Extra $349; Commerce (EE) and Commerce Cloud (ECE) priced higher (EE $248-$648, ECE $99-$748). No GMV or revenue share.
Visit Magefan Automatic Related ProductsThe honest verdict
Magefan is a strong, well-established Magento-only choice: free on Open Source, mature rule engine with 20+ placements, and solid Hyva/Breeze compatibility, so for a single-store Magento merchant it is hard to beat on cost and native fit.
Its recommendation logic is fundamentally rule-based plus popularity-sorted "also bought/also viewed" lists; it does not expose explainable association metrics (support, confidence, lift) the way MarketBasketAnalysis does.
MarketBasketAnalysis pulls ahead when you need explainable co-purchase mining, real-SKU bundle formats with A/B testing, agent-native REST/MCP/ACP access, or one recommendation contract spanning Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and Oro.
Both keep merchant order data first-party and avoid GMV/revenue-share pricing, so the decision is about reach and explainability rather than data privacy or surprise fees.
Pick Magefan for a budget-friendly, Magento-native rules engine; pick MarketBasketAnalysis for multi-storefront, measurable, agent-ready recommendation intelligence.
Want the full buyer's deep-dive?
This page is the per-vendor short version. For the long version, read “MBA vs Bloomreach” (8 pages on the enterprise-vs-mid-market trade-off) or “MBA vs the widget cluster” (4 pages of pricing math vs Glood, Rebuy, and PickyStory).
Try MBA on your own store
14-day money-back guarantee on all paid platforms. WP.org free tier on WooCommerce. No credit card required for the free path.