Magento vs Shopify: Which eCommerce Platform Fits Your Business?
Shopify suits most businesses: a hosted store on fixed monthly plans that launches quickly without server management. Magento suits stores whose catalogue, B2B pricing or integrations need code-level control, and that can fund developers, hosting and upgrades. Magento Open Source has no licence fee; Adobe Commerce is licensed and priced by Adobe.
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Magento and Shopify both power serious online stores, but they ask for very different things from you. Shopify is a hosted platform: you pay a plan fee and Shopify runs the infrastructure. Magento is a developer-led platform: you get far more freedom, and you also take on hosting, security patches, upgrades and the developers who do that work. Neither is the better product in general; the right one depends on your catalogue, your selling model and the team you can put behind it.
A note on naming. "Magento" today covers two editions from Adobe: Magento Open Source, the free-to-license code base, and Adobe Commerce, the licensed edition with extra tooling and Adobe-backed hosting. Prices and limits below were checked on official Shopify and Adobe pages in October 2026, and they change, so confirm them before you budget.
Magento vs Shopify at a glance
| Shopify | Magento (Open Source and Adobe Commerce) | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Hosted platform run by Shopify | Open Source: code you host and run. Adobe Commerce: licensed, on-premises or on Adobe's cloud |
| Software cost | Basic $39/month ($29 billed annually); Grow $105 ($79); Advanced $399 ($299); Plus from $2,300 | Open Source: no licence fee (OSL 3.0). Adobe Commerce: licensed through Adobe, so you ask for a quote |
| Hosting | Included | Open Source: your choice and your cost. Adobe Commerce on Cloud Infrastructure: hosted by Adobe |
| Customisation | Themes (Liquid), apps, optional headless. Advanced checkout customisation needs Plus | Full access to the code, plus extensions from Adobe's marketplace |
| B2B | B2B catalogs on every plan (up to 3 on Basic to Advanced, unlimited on Plus) | Adobe Commerce B2B: company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiable quotes, requisition lists, payment on account |
| Upgrades | Handled by Shopify | You or your partner apply upgrades and security patches |
| Technical effort | Low to moderate | High: needs experienced Magento developers |
| Suits | Most direct-to-consumer and many B2B stores; fast launch | Large or unusual catalogues, complex B2B, deep custom logic |
How the two platforms work
Shopify is a hosted service. Themes written in Liquid render the storefront on Shopify's infrastructure, so there is no server to operate. You extend it with apps, theme code and, when you need more, Shopify's APIs.
Magento Open Source is software under the OSL 3.0 licence, maintained by Adobe with community maintainers. You install it, host it and operate it. Adobe Commerce is the licensed edition. Adobe's documentation describes cloud infrastructure for Adobe Commerce (an automated hosting platform on AWS and Azure) as well as Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, and it directs licensing questions to your Adobe account representative. We did not find a published list price, so budget by asking for a quote.
Customisation and control
Magento's strength is control. Because you can change the code, you can model unusual products, pricing rules, approval flows and integrations exactly as the business works. That is why it appears in complex B2B and large-catalogue projects.
Shopify gives you less raw control, and more guard rails. A few limits are worth checking against your own store:
- Variants. A Shopify product can have up to 2,048 variants and up to three options. Most catalogues fit; highly configurable products may not.
- Checkout. Basic customisation (logo, colours, fonts) is available on all plans. Shopify's documentation says advanced checkout customisation, such as apps on the information, shipping and payment pages, is only on Plus.
- Storefront. If themes are not enough, headless storefronts are possible (see the FAQ), at the cost of building and hosting the front end.
If none of these is a problem for your catalogue, Shopify's constraints will rarely hurt. If one is a dealbreaker, that is a legitimate reason to choose Magento.
B2B and wholesale
Adobe's B2B documentation lists company accounts and hierarchies, shared catalogs with different pricing for customer groups, negotiable quotes, purchase orders, requisition lists, quick order and payment on a company credit line. Those are the features to compare if you sell to trade buyers with negotiated pricing.
Shopify has B2B tools too: its pricing page lists B2B catalogs on every plan, up to three on Basic, Grow and Advanced and unlimited on Plus. Check that the workflows you rely on (quotes, credit terms, multi-user company accounts) exist in the form you need, rather than assuming parity either way.
Cost: what you actually pay for
Compare total cost over several years, not just the licence line.
- Shopify: the plan fee, payment processing, apps and theme work, plus any custom development. Costs are predictable, but app subscriptions add up.
- Magento Open Source: no licence fee, but you pay for hosting that can handle peaks, development, extensions, security patching, upgrades, testing and performance tuning, usually through a development partner.
- Adobe Commerce: the above, plus a licence quoted by Adobe. Ask what the quote covers, including whether hosting is part of it.
Magento tends to move spend from plan fees to engineering time. That can be worth it when the custom capability earns more than it costs, and it is wasteful when the store is mostly standard.
Performance, hosting and maintenance
On Shopify, Shopify manages hosting, uptime and platform updates. On Magento you, or your partner, own performance: server sizing, caching, search, queues and code quality. Adobe publishes a software lifecycle per release line, so upgrades are recurring work, not a one-off. Skipping them eventually leaves you on a release that no longer gets regular support.
SEO and marketing
Both platforms can be set up for the SEO basics: editable page titles and descriptions, sitemaps, redirects and fast pages. Because Magento's code is yours to change, developers can control more of the technical detail; Shopify gives you sensible defaults with less to configure. Rankings come mostly from content, site speed and links, not from the platform badge.
Pros and cons
Shopify, pros: fast to launch; hosting and updates handled; predictable plan pricing; large app ecosystem; lower technical overhead. Shopify, cons: less control over the platform core; limits on variants and checkout customisation outside Plus; app fees accumulate.
Magento, pros: deep customisation; strong fit for complex catalogues and B2B; you control hosting and code. Magento, cons: needs specialist developers; hosting, upgrades and security are your responsibility; higher and less predictable running cost.
How to choose
Choose Shopify if you want to launch in months rather than a long programme, your catalogue and pricing are fairly standard, you have no in-house developers, or you want predictable monthly costs.
Choose Magento if you have complex B2B pricing or approval flows, an unusual product model, or deep integrations with ERP and other systems, and you have budget for developers, hosting and regular upgrades.
Questions worth asking before you decide:
- Which three requirements are non-negotiable, and does Shopify cover them?
- Who will own security patches and upgrades for the next three years?
- What happens to performance in your peak season?
- Do we have, or can we hire, developers who know the platform?
How Mindrops works on this
Mindrops builds on both. As a Shopify partner we build custom storefronts, themes and private apps, and we migrate stores to Shopify while keeping data, URLs and SEO continuity in view. We also build Magento (Adobe Commerce) projects for large, complex catalogues and B2B. Because we build on both, we can recommend the one that fits your requirements instead of the one we happen to sell, and we integrate either with ERP, CRM, payment and logistics systems. For a review of your requirements, get a quote and tell us your catalogue size, selling model and current platform.
Conclusion
Shopify is the practical default for most stores: quicker, cheaper to run and easier to hand to a small team. Magento earns its place when your business logic is the competitive advantage and you can afford to maintain it. Decide on your requirements and your team, then confirm the numbers with each vendor.
For more platform comparisons, read WooCommerce vs Shopify, BigCommerce vs Shopify and Odoo vs Shopify. Our eCommerce development and Shopify development pages explain how we work.