Esntial Commerce vs Modal
Head-to-head comparison for car dealers evaluating Digital Retailing. Both vendors are in the same subcategory, so the comparison is apples-to-apples.
Esntial Commerce
Cox Automotive's unified commerce platform
Founded—
HQ—
SegmentFRANCHISE
PricingPer rooftop / month
OwnershipPRIVATE
ParentCox Automotive
Employees—
Website—
Modal
Direct-to-consumer purchase for OEM sites.
Founded2016
HQNew York, NY
SegmentFRANCHISE
PricingEnterprise
OwnershipPRIVATE
ParentIndependent
Employees50-200
Websitemodalup.com
What each vendor does
Esntial Commerce
Esntial Commerce is Cox Automotive's next-generation digital retailing layer, unifying shopping, deal-making and checkout across its retail product family.
Modal
White-labeled end-to-end online checkout used by OEM certified sites.
Notable customers
Esntial Commerce
None listed
Modal
FordGMC
Integration matrix
| Integration kind | Esntial Commerce | Modal | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|
| crm | VinSolutions | — | None |
| dms | Dealertrack | CDK Drive, Tekion ARC | None |
Only Esntial Commerce (2)
Dealertrack, VinSolutions
Shared integrations (0)
—
Only Modal (2)
CDK Drive, Tekion ARC
Feature checklist
| Feature | Esntial Commerce | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile app | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Open API / webhooks | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| SSO / SAML | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Native AI tools | ○ — | ○ — |
| Third-party marketplace | ○ — | ○ — |
| Two-way texting | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Video messaging | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Digital retail workflow | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Desking & payments | ○ — | ○ — |
| Credit prequal / soft pull | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Inventory syndication | ○ — | ○ — |
| Custom reporting dashboards | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Call tracking & recording | ● Yes | ● Yes |
| Spanish-language support | ○ — | ○ — |
| Multi-rooftop management | ● Yes | ● Yes |
Compare more than two?
Build a 2–4 vendor side-by-side and share the URL.
Choose Esntial Commerce vs Modal
Choose Esntial Commerce if…
- ▸Your budget process aligns better with Per rooftop / month pricing.
- ▸You want the longer track record in the dealer tech category.
Choose Modal if…
- ▸Your budget process aligns better with Enterprise pricing.
- ▸You want the longer track record in the dealer tech category.
- ▸You need broad DMS connectivity — this vendor lists 2 DMS integrations.
- ▸You want more reference proof points from named dealer groups.
Quick facts scorecard
| Dimension | Esntial Commerce | Modal | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track record | — | 2016 | B |
| Scale | — | 50-200 | — |
| Segment breadth | FRANCHISE | FRANCHISE | — |
| Integrations listed | 2 | 2 | Tie |
| DMS connectivity | 1 DMS | 2 DMSes | B |