2026 platform comparison
Magento vs Shopify Plus
For most DTC and mid-market brands, Shopify Plus is the cheaper, faster platform to run: hosting, security, PCI compliance and upgrades come in one subscription from $2,300/month on a three-year term. Magento – Open Source or Adobe Commerce – still wins when you need code-level control of checkout, bespoke B2B logic or your own servers, and have the engineers to maintain them.
Which should you choose?
Choose the platform that matches who you want maintaining the store. Magento gives you the whole codebase and the whole operating burden. Shopify Plus takes the operating burden off your team and, in exchange, limits what you can change.
Choose Magento or Adobe Commerce if…
- Your B2B logic is genuinely bespoke – multi-level approval chains, negotiated quotes or pricing rules that run inside the platform
- You need to change checkout or core behavior in code, beyond what Shopify Functions and checkout extensions allow
- Your products depend on configurators with more than three options that can’t be restructured
- You already have an engineering or DevOps team that keeps up with patches and upgrades – and the budget to keep it
- You must run on your own infrastructure, or you’re committed to Adobe Experience Cloud (AEM, Analytics, Target)
Choose Shopify Plus if…
- You want hosting, security, PCI and upgrades off your team’s plate
- Your hosting, DevOps and security bills already add up to more than a Shopify Plus subscription ($27,600–$30,000 a year)
- You need to launch fast – new builds typically take 2–6 months on Shopify Plus, against 4–12 on Magento
- You sell DTC or standard B2B – company accounts, price lists and net terms are native on every paid Shopify plan
- Your Magento version is near the end of Adobe support and the next upgrade costs almost as much as a move
How do Magento and Shopify Plus compare side by side?
| Criteria | Magento | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Self-hosted or PaaS Open Source or Adobe Commerce on your own servers, or Adobe Commerce on Adobe’s cloud; only the new Cloud Service is SaaS | SaaS Hosted and run by Shopify |
| Hosting and servers | You run it Or Adobe’s cloud on Adobe Commerce | Included Managed by Shopify |
| CDN | Configure it Included on Adobe’s cloud (Fastly) | Included |
| Security patches and core updates | Manual You schedule, test and deploy each one | Automatic |
| PCI compliance | Yours or shared Yours on Open Source; shared with Adobe on its cloud | Included Shopify is a PCI DSS Level 1 platform |
| Performance | Depends on your hosting, caching and tuning | Infrastructure tuned by Shopify; theme and apps decide the rest |
| Checkout | Full code access | Optimized and extensible Shopify-run checkout, customized with Checkout Extensibility and Shopify Functions |
| Product model | Configurable products with any number of attributes | 3 options and up to 2,048 variants per product, plus metafields and metaobjects |
| B2B | Native on Adobe Commerce Extensions only on Open Source | Native Core B2B on every paid plan; Plus adds company-specific catalogs and deposits |
| Extensions and apps | Marketplace extensions you install and keep compatible | Shopify App Store apps, updated by their vendors |
| AI features | Mostly custom or third-party; Adobe services on Adobe Commerce | Shopify Magic and Sidekick built in, plus apps |
| Time to launch a new build | Typically 4–12 months | Typically 2–6 months |
Broad comparison; details vary by edition and project. Platform facts as of October 2026.
Which Magento are you comparing?
“Magento” now covers several products, and the comparison changes with each one. Check which you run before reading the cost table.
| Edition | Who hosts it | License | Upgrades and patches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magento Open Source | You – any host or cloud | Free | You plan, test and deploy them |
| Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure (PaaS) | Adobe, on AWS or Azure | Annual, usually priced on revenue (GMV) | You apply them; Adobe runs the servers |
| Adobe Commerce on-premises | You | Annual | You |
| Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS, launched 2025) | Adobe | Annual | Adobe, continuously – custom code runs outside the core |
| Magento 1 | You | No longer sold | None since end of life on June 30, 2020 |
Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service is Adobe’s SaaS answer, and Adobe updates it continuously. It drops the Luma storefront for Edge Delivery Services and moves customizations into external apps, so moving an existing Magento 2 store onto it means rebuilding the storefront and much of the custom code. Treat it as a replatform rather than an upgrade, and compare its license, timeline and rebuild cost with Shopify Plus before choosing.
Weighing Adobe Commerce specifically – license renewals and the wider Adobe stack? Read Adobe Commerce vs Shopify Plus.
What does each platform cost to run?
Shopify Plus usually costs less to own, but not because the subscription is cheap. The savings come from cost lines that disappear: hosting, CDN, server management, PCI work and upgrade projects.
| Cost line | Magento Open Source (self-hosted) | Adobe Commerce (Adobe’s cloud) | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform license | None No license fee | $22,000–$125,000+ Industry estimate; Adobe prices on revenue | $27,600–$30,000 $2,300/month on a three-year term or $2,500/month on a one-year term |
| Hosting and cloud | $6,000–$60,000 | Included In the cloud subscription | Included |
| CDN | $1,000–$10,000 | Included Fastly | Included |
| Server management and DevOps | $5,000–$30,000 | Reduced Adobe runs the servers; deployments and environments stay with you | Included |
| Security and PCI | $2,000–$15,000 | Shared Adobe covers the platform; your code and integrations are yours | Included |
| Platform upgrades | $10,000–$100,000+ Per upgrade project | $10,000–$100,000+ Per upgrade project | Included Continuous |
| Development and support | $60,000–$300,000 | $60,000–$300,000 | $24,000–$180,000 |
| Extensions and apps | $5,000–$50,000 | $5,000–$50,000 | $3,000–$30,000 |
| Monitoring and backups | Separate Usually its own tool and contract | Partly included New Relic monitoring | Mostly included Platform monitoring included; restoring store data needs exports or a backup app |
Illustrative ranges from typical mid-market projects, per year unless noted – estimates, not quotes. Real costs depend on revenue, catalog and integration complexity, and staffing. Shopify Plus pricing checked on Shopify’s pricing page in October 2026; Adobe does not publish Adobe Commerce prices. Adobe Commerce on your own servers adds the hosting, CDN and DevOps lines from the Open Source column.
Costs the table leaves out
- Payment processing. It applies on every platform and usually outweighs the subscription at scale. On Shopify Plus, a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments adds a 0.20% Shopify transaction fee on top of the processor’s own fees.
- High-volume pricing. Large Shopify Plus merchants move to a variable, revenue-based platform fee. Shopify doesn’t publish the rate; about 0.35–0.40% of sales above roughly $800,000 a month is commonly reported – confirm yours in writing with Shopify.
- Tools you’d pay for on either platform. Email and SMS, reviews, search and helpdesk vendors charge much the same on Magento or Shopify, so they sit outside both columns.
- The move itself. A Magento 1 or 2 migration typically costs $50,000–$180,000 once; Adobe Commerce, $60,000–$200,000. The migration cost guide breaks down what moves the number.
On the table’s estimates, hosting, CDN, DevOps and security alone add up to $14,000–$115,000 a year on self-hosted Magento Open Source, before any upgrade project – the spend a $27,600–$30,000 Shopify Plus subscription replaces.
All in – subscription, apps and ongoing development, before payment processing – a realistic Shopify Plus budget lands between $60,000 and $250,000+ a year. The Shopify Plus pricing guide shows the full breakdown by store size.
Want the numbers for your own move? Get a free migration assessment: within 2 business days an engineer sends a written cost band and timeline for moving your store – yours to keep, even if the answer is to stay.
Who runs the servers – and what decides speed?
On Magento Open Source, and on Adobe Commerce licensed for your own servers, every layer is yours to size, patch and watch – on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or a dedicated host:
- Nginx or Apache
- PHP-FPM
- MySQL or MariaDB
- Redis
- OpenSearch
- Varnish full-page cache
- RabbitMQ
- CDN
- SSL certificates
- Backups
- Monitoring and alerts
- Scaling before peak sales
Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure moves the servers to Adobe, with Fastly CDN, a web application firewall and New Relic monitoring included. Deployments, environment configuration and application patches stay with your team.
Shopify Plus runs all of it: hosting, a global CDN, caching, SSL, scaling and platform monitoring. There is nothing to provision before Black Friday – though restoring your own store data still needs scheduled exports or a backup app.
What decides speed on each platform
On Magento, speed is engineered: cache hit rates, Varnish and Redis configuration, OpenSearch tuning, server size and the overhead of every extension. A misconfigured cache slows every page until someone notices.
On Shopify Plus, the server side is Shopify’s job. Page speed comes down to theme code, app scripts and image weight – which is where performance work on Plus focuses.
How much maintenance does each platform need?
Both platforms change constantly. The difference is who does the work when they do.
Magento: upgrades are projects
Adobe ships a new 2.4.x release line about once a year and gives each three years of standard support. In between come security patch releases – 2.4.8 received five between June 2025 and May 2026 – plus isolated hotfixes for critical vulnerabilities between scheduled releases. Each one has to be tested against your extensions and custom code before it goes live.
| Release line | Released | Standard support ends |
|---|---|---|
| 2.4.9 | May 12, 2026 | May 31, 2029 |
| 2.4.8 | April 8, 2025 | May 31, 2028 |
| 2.4.7 | April 9, 2024 | May 31, 2027, then extended support to May 31, 2028 |
| 2.4.6 | March 14, 2023 | Ended August 11, 2026; extended support to August 31, 2027, then security-only fixes to May 31, 2028 |
| 2.4.4 and 2.4.5 | 2022 | Ended; security-only fixes until May 31, 2027 |
| 2.4.3 and earlier | 2021 and earlier | Ended |
| Magento 1 | 2008 | End of life June 30, 2020 |
Source: Adobe Commerce lifecycle policy, checked October 2026. Extended support and security-only fixes are offered to Adobe Commerce customers. Magento Open Source uses the same version numbers, but plan on the standard support dates.
Around those releases sit the routine jobs: fixing extension conflicts after each patch, PHP, database and OpenSearch version upgrades, database maintenance and performance tuning – all before any new feature gets built.
On 2.4.6 or 2.4.7? Your next upgrade is due within months. Put its quote next to the cost band and timeline from a free migration assessment before you budget either.
Shopify Plus: no upgrade projects, but not zero maintenance
Shopify updates the platform continuously, so there is no version to upgrade. Your team’s time goes to the theme, apps, custom features, integrations and conversion work.
Two things still need planning. Shopify releases a new API version every quarter and supports each for at least 12 months, so custom apps and integrations need a yearly update. And Shopify retires features on its own schedule: stores that relied on Shopify Scripts had to rebuild that logic in Shopify Functions before Scripts stopped running on June 30, 2026, and checkout.liquid has given way to Checkout Extensibility.
Who is responsible for security and PCI?
The useful question isn’t which platform is more secure – it’s how much of the security work lands on your team.
| Task | Magento Open Source | Adobe Commerce (Adobe’s cloud) | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server hardening and OS patches | You | Adobe | Shopify |
| Firewall and DDoS protection | You | Adobe (Fastly WAF) | Shopify |
| Applying platform security patches | You | You | Shopify, automatically |
| PCI DSS compliance | You | Shared – your code and integrations stay in scope | Shopify (PCI DSS Level 1) |
| Custom code, extensions and apps | You | You | App vendors maintain apps; you review what each can access |
| Admin accounts and access | You | You | You |
Magento 1 has had no official security patches since June 30, 2020. If your store still runs on it, the security case for moving – to Shopify Plus or to any supported platform – is already made.
What can you customize – checkout, catalog and B2B?
If anything should keep you on Magento, it shows up in this section. Shopify Plus is flexible through extension points – Functions, checkout extensions, metafields – not through access to the core.
| Area | Magento | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Checkout | Any change, in code Every step, field and rule | Through extension points Checkout UI extensions, the branding API, web pixels and Shopify Functions; you don’t own the checkout code |
| Catalog | Any product structure EAV attributes and configurable products | 3 options per product Up to 2,048 variants, plus metafields and metaobjects; larger option matrices are restructured |
| B2B | Deepest on Adobe Commerce Negotiable quotes, requisition lists and approval rules; extensions only on Open Source | Native Core B2B on every paid plan, company-specific catalogs and deposits on Plus; custom approval chains need a light rebuild |
Checkout
Magento lets you change any checkout step, field or rule in code. On Shopify Plus you don’t own the checkout codebase: you customize it with Checkout UI extensions, the branding API, web pixels and Shopify Functions for discount, shipping and payment logic. That covers most real requirements, but not every bespoke step of a heavily modified Magento checkout.
Catalog
Magento’s attribute system (EAV) and configurable products allow almost any product structure. Shopify allows 3 options and up to 2,048 variants per product, with extra data in metafields and metaobjects.
Large option matrices are the biggest scope driver when a Magento store moves. Options become grouped products, filter-only attributes become metafields, and rarely sold combinations are retired against real order history.
B2B
Adobe Commerce has the deeper B2B toolkit: company hierarchies, shared catalogs, negotiable quotes, requisition lists and purchase-order approval rules. Magento Open Source has no native B2B module.
On Shopify, B2B is no longer a Plus exclusive. Since April 2, 2026, core B2B has been on every paid plan: company accounts with multiple buyers and locations, up to 3 B2B catalogs with price lists, volume pricing and quantity rules, and net payment terms. Shopify Plus adds what larger wholesale programs need – more than 3 catalogs, catalogs assigned to specific companies and locations, deposits and partial payments, and custom Shopify Functions and checkout extensions. Together that covers most wholesale programs; custom approval chains need a light rebuild. ERP, PIM and OMS connections run through the Admin API or middleware such as Celigo or Boomi; see commerce integrations.
What is it like to build on each – and what about AI?
Your developers feel the trade-off every week: Magento gives them more freedom and more upkeep, Shopify Plus fewer choices and faster releases.
Building on Magento
Strengths
- Full access to the source code, the database and the backend
- Any business logic, built exactly where you want it
- No replatforming: your team, extensions and integrations already work
Trade-offs
- Longer release cycles – every change is tested against your stack, your extensions and the next patch
- Magento specialists usually bill more than Shopify developers
Building on Shopify Plus
Strengths
- Faster releases on a managed platform
- Modern APIs: GraphQL Admin and Storefront APIs, Shopify Functions, theme app extensions
- Hydrogen and the Storefront API if you go headless
Trade-offs
- No access to the core or the database, and API rate limits apply
- Fixed URL paths: /products/, /collections/, /pages/
- Platform changes arrive on Shopify’s schedule, not yours
AI and automation
Shopify Plus ships AI in the admin: Shopify Magic for content, and Sidekick, an assistant that can analyze the store and carry out tasks with your approval. Shopify Flow handles automation, and the app ecosystem adds AI search and merchandising. On Magento, AI is mostly custom or third-party; Adobe Commerce adds Adobe-built services such as Live Search and Product Recommendations.
Thinking about leaving Magento?
Price the move before you commit to it. OUXP moves Magento and Adobe Commerce stores to Shopify Plus, and our free assessment needs no access to your store. Within 2 business days an engineer sends a written platform verdict, timeline band, cost band and the 2–3 risks most likely to complicate your move – and says so if staying on Magento is the better call.
What a Magento move involves
- Product model. Option matrices beyond three options are restructured before any data moves, and you approve the plan.
- Attributes. EAV attributes become metafields; structured data such as spec sheets or fitment tables becomes metaobjects.
- URLs and SEO. Every URL changes, so a per-pattern 301 map, carried-over metadata and ranking monitoring are part of the job.
- Checkout and promotions. Cart price rules and custom checkout code are rebuilt as Shopify Functions and checkout extensions.
- Integrations. Each ERP, PIM, OMS or 3PL connection is its own small project.
Typical ranges: Magento 1 or 2, $50,000–$180,000 over 8–24+ weeks; Adobe Commerce, $60,000–$200,000 over 10–24+ weeks. Every OUXP migration gets a fixed price and timeline before work starts, and SEO preservation is always included.
“OUXP was highly communicative and quick to respond. Store migration is successfully done by a top-notch team on Shopify. They met the requirements and provided high-quality work, just as requested.”
On Adobe Commerce, start 6–9 months before your license renewal so you don’t pay for both platforms. The Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus migration page covers that timing in detail.
Honest note
If you run a supported Magento or Adobe Commerce release, your checkout or B2B logic is truly bespoke and your team keeps up with patches, staying on Magento is a sound decision. Revisit it at your next major upgrade or license renewal – that’s when the numbers change.
And if your store sells under roughly $1M–$2M a year with a simple catalog, price standard Shopify too. Plus earns its premium when you need to customize the checkout steps, run custom Shopify Functions, open expansion stores or get higher API limits.
Magento vs Shopify Plus questions
Short answers to what buyers ask us most. Something else? Ask an engineer.
Is Magento more powerful than Shopify Plus?
In raw flexibility, yes. Magento gives you the source code, the database and the checkout, so almost anything can be built. Shopify Plus trades that for a managed platform you extend through APIs, Shopify Functions, checkout extensions and apps. For most retail and standard B2B stores that covers every requirement; the exceptions are deeply bespoke checkout, pricing or approval logic – exactly what a free migration assessment checks.
Is Shopify Plus cheaper than Magento or Adobe Commerce?
Usually, once you count everything. As of October 2026, Shopify Plus costs from $2,300/month on a three-year term ($2,500/month on a one-year term) and includes hosting, CDN, PCI and upgrades. Adobe Commerce licenses are commonly estimated at $22,000–$125,000+ a year before hosting, DevOps and upgrade projects. Magento Open Source has no license fee, but self-hosting, security and upgrades often cost more than a Plus subscription.
Can Shopify Plus handle enterprise traffic and flash sales?
Yes. Shopify runs and scales the infrastructure, so a product drop or a Black Friday peak doesn’t mean adding servers, warming caches or pre-scaling a database – the work Magento teams do before every big sale. What you still control is front-end weight: a heavy theme or too many app scripts slows pages on any platform, so performance work on Plus focuses on the theme and app stack.
Is Magento or Shopify Plus better for B2B?
Start from the B2B workflows you run today. Company accounts, B2B price lists, payment terms, quantity rules and volume pricing are native on Shopify – core B2B on every paid plan since April 2, 2026, with company-specific catalogs and deposits on Plus – and cover most wholesale programs. Negotiable quotes, requisition lists and multi-step purchase-order approvals are where Adobe Commerce goes deeper – map how each would work on Shopify Plus before deciding. Magento Open Source has no native B2B module, so compare your B2B extensions against Shopify’s native features.
Should we upgrade Magento or move to Shopify Plus now?
Decide before your next forced spend. Adobe gives each Adobe Commerce release three years of standard support: 2.4.6 left standard support on August 11, 2026, and 2.4.7 follows on May 31, 2027. If an upgrade, a hosting change or an Adobe renewal is coming, price the move first. Migrations take 8–24+ weeks from Magento and 10–24+ weeks from Adobe Commerce, so start 6–9 months before a renewal to avoid paying for both platforms.
How long does a migration from Magento usually take?
Typically 8–24+ weeks from Magento 1 or 2: about 8–12 weeks for a standard store, 12–18 weeks for B2B or mid-complexity builds and 18–24+ weeks for enterprise projects with multiple stores or heavy custom modules. Adobe Commerce moves take 10–24+ weeks. Option matrices, custom checkout logic and the number of ERP, PIM or OMS integrations decide where you land. A free migration assessment gives you a timeline band within 2 business days, and every OUXP migration gets a fixed timeline and price in writing before work starts.
Will moving from Magento affect our SEO rankings?
Not if the move is planned for it. Every URL changes, so rankings depend on a per-pattern 301 map, carried-over metadata and structured data, and ranking monitoring after launch; SEO preservation is part of every OUXP migration, never an add-on. On the platforms themselves, Magento lets you shape every URL, layered-navigation page and robots rule – and leaves your team to maintain them. Shopify Plus fixes URL paths to /products/, /collections/ and /pages/, but generates the sitemap automatically and lets you edit robots.txt.
Can customer accounts and order history move to Shopify Plus?
Yes. Customers, addresses, order history, products, categories, CMS pages and reviews all migrate. Passwords are the exception: Shopify can’t import Magento password hashes. With Shopify’s customer accounts, customers sign in with a one-time code sent by email, so no password is needed; stores that keep legacy, password-based accounts send account activation invites instead. Gift card balances and active subscriptions need their own migration steps, planned from day one.
Get a straight answer for your store
Send your store URL and current setup. Within 2 business days you get a written assessment – platform verdict, timeline band and cost band – yours to keep, even if the answer is to stay on Magento.