Compare configurable, grouped, and bundle products in Magento

Magento has several product types that tend to trip up developers. Choosing the right product structure affects everything from how customers interact with products, to how your inventory functions behind the scenes.

Let's clear up the confusion around configurable, grouped, and bundle products.

Configurable Products

These are your classic "one product, many variations" scenario. That t-shirt comes in small, medium and large? That's a configurable product. You're selling one product, but customers get to pick which version they want.

Customers can only buy one variant at a time (nobody needs two sizes of the same shirt). The pricing might be the same across all variations, or maybe you charge more for the XXL size.

The tricky part is that with configurable products, inventory gets tracked in two places — for both the parent product and for each product variation.

Example: Proteus Fitness Jackshirt product from the Men → Tops → Jackets category

Grouped Products

You can think of grouped products as a product showcase. You're essentially saying, "Hey, check out all of these related items on a single page!" Each product keeps its own identity — separate prices, separate SKUs. Customers can pick and choose which items they want, and how many of each.

Behind the scenes, inventory only tracks at the individual product level. A perfect example of this is a desk set where you might want the lamp and chair, but not the desk organizer.

Example: Set of Sprite Yoga Straps product from the Gear → Fitness Equipment category

Bundle Products

Bundles are "build-your-own" products. An example of a bundled product would be a custom computer where customers can select their processor, memory, and disk space. You can set these up with fixed pricing (same price no matter what options they choose) or dynamic pricing (price changes based on their selections).

Depending on how you configure them, customers might be able to choose quantities of bundle components. And inventory tracking gets more interesting with bundles, because you can track it at the bundle level or the component level.

Example: Sprite Yoga Companion Kit product from the Gear → Fitness Equipment category