Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce comes down to who runs the platform: Shopify Plus is a hosted service where Shopify runs the infrastructure and you customise within its rules, while Adobe Commerce (the commercial edition of Magento) gives you the full code and far more freedom, at the price of more development, hosting and upkeep. Most growing brands with standard selling models are better served by Shopify Plus; complex B2B catalogues, deep custom logic and strict control of data and code are where Adobe Commerce earns its extra effort.
Last updated: 21 October 2026.
This guide compares the two on what a buyer actually feels: who maintains what, how far each can be customised, B2B and multi-store features, selling across European markets, performance, total cost of ownership and the effort of moving between them. It ends with a decision checklist and the questions to ask an implementation partner.
At Odduel, a creative and technology agency in Barcelona and São Paulo, our e-commerce service designs and builds shops on hosted and self-hosted platforms. For The Sugar Coated Cult we wrote a Shopify theme from scratch and moved the brand from a static site to a live Shopify store; that experience informs the trade-offs below, which apply whoever builds the shop.
In short: choose Shopify Plus when speed to market, low maintenance and a large app ecosystem matter most and your selling model is close to standard. Choose Adobe Commerce when your catalogue, pricing or B2B workflows are complex, when you need to change the platform’s core behaviour, or when you want full ownership of the code and where it runs, and you are ready to fund a development team for the long term.
What are Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce?
Shopify Plus is the top plan of Shopify, a software-as-a-service platform. Shopify hosts the shop, applies security and platform updates and scales the infrastructure. You build the storefront with a theme or a headless front end, extend it with apps and Shopify’s APIs, and work within the limits the platform sets.
Adobe Commerce is the paid edition of Magento, an open-source e-commerce platform now owned by Adobe. It can run on Adobe’s managed cloud or on infrastructure you choose. Its free sibling, Magento Open Source, shares the same core. You get the full source code, so almost anything can be changed, and you take on responsibility for development, hosting choices, upgrades and security patches, directly or through a partner.
The difference is not about features alone. It is a choice between renting a platform that is maintained for you and owning one that you maintain.
Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce side by side
The table sets out the differences that usually decide the choice. It describes the platforms in general terms; the exact features of each plan change, so confirm them with the vendors’ current documentation.
| Shopify Plus | Adobe Commerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Hosted software as a service | Licensed software, managed cloud or self-hosted |
| Who maintains the platform | Shopify | You or your partner |
| Customisation | Within platform rules, through themes, apps and APIs | Full access to the code |
| Speed to launch | Usually faster | Usually slower, more build work |
| B2B features | Available and improving, simpler models | Deep: company accounts, quotes, shared catalogues, complex pricing |
| Multi-store and markets | Markets and expansion stores | Multiple websites, stores and views on one installation |
| App and extension ecosystem | Very large app store | Large extension marketplace |
| Development skills needed | Theme and app development | Specialist PHP and Magento expertise |
| Ongoing technical effort | Low | High: upgrades, patches, hosting |
| Main cost lines | Subscription, apps, transaction-related fees, build | Licence, hosting, build, upkeep team |
Where does Shopify Plus win?
Shopify Plus is usually the better choice when:
- You want to launch and change quickly. Themes, a mature checkout and apps let a capable team go live and iterate without building the foundations.
- You do not want to run infrastructure. Hosting, scaling for peak days, security of the core and platform updates are Shopify’s job.
- Your selling model is close to standard. Direct-to-consumer brands with clear products, variants and promotions fit its structure well.
- Your team is lean. Merchandisers and marketers can run much of the shop day to day without a developer.
- You value a predictable running cost. The subscription and app fees are easier to forecast than the upkeep of a self-run platform.
Its limits are the other side of the same choice. The checkout and core data model can be extended but not rewritten; very unusual pricing, product configuration or order logic may need workarounds or several apps working together.
Where does Adobe Commerce win?
Adobe Commerce is usually the better choice when:
- Your B2B needs are complex. Company accounts with buyers and roles, negotiated quotes, customer-specific catalogues and price lists, and approval rules are core strengths.
- Your catalogue is large or complicated. Many attributes, configurable products, bundles and rules that would strain a simpler data model.
- You need to change how the platform behaves. Custom checkout steps, pricing engines or integrations that must sit inside the core rather than beside it.
- You run many brands, countries or stores on one system. Its websites, stores and store views structure is built for that.
- You need control of code and hosting. For data residency, compliance or architecture reasons, owning the code and choosing where it runs can be decisive.
The trade-off is effort. Adobe Commerce needs specialist developers, a hosting and deployment setup, regular upgrades and security patches. Without that investment, a powerful platform becomes an expensive, fragile one.
How do they handle selling across European markets?
Both platforms can sell in several countries, currencies and languages, but they approach it differently.
Shopify Plus groups international selling into markets: per-country domains or subfolders, local currencies, translated content through apps or built-in tools, and duties and tax settings. Some brands also run separate expansion stores for markets that need very different catalogues.
Adobe Commerce lets one installation hold several websites and store views, each with its own language, currency, catalogue and prices. That suits companies with genuinely different offers per country, at the cost of more configuration.
Whichever you choose, European selling brings the same obligations: VAT handled correctly for cross-border sales to consumers (the EU’s One-Stop Shop scheme simplifies the reporting), consent for tracking under the GDPR, and, for many shops, accessibility under the European Accessibility Act, which applies to e-commerce services since 28 June 2025. Check how each platform and theme supports these before you commit.
What drives the total cost of ownership?
We do not quote figures here: the cost of either platform depends on your catalogue, integrations, markets and traffic, and a fixed quote follows a short brief. The structure of the cost is what differs, and it is what you should compare over several years, not only at launch.
With Shopify Plus, the main lines are the subscription, the apps you add, fees linked to payments and transactions depending on your setup, and the design and build of the theme and integrations. Ongoing technical upkeep is light, so most of the budget goes into the storefront and marketing.
With Adobe Commerce, the main lines are the licence, hosting (Adobe’s cloud or your own), a larger build, and a continuing team for upgrades, patches, performance and new features. Extensions add licences and maintenance of their own. The platform rewards that spend with control, but the spend never stops.
A useful exercise is to list your requirements, mark which ones Shopify Plus meets with standard features or apps, and price only the gaps. If the gaps are few, the hosted platform is usually cheaper over time; if they are many and central to how you sell, Adobe Commerce’s higher running cost may be the price of doing business your way. Our article on running an online store in-house or outsourced covers the people side of that cost.
How hard is it to move from one to the other?
Moving in either direction is a replatforming project, not an export and import. Products, customers and order history can be migrated with care; themes, custom features and integrations have to be rebuilt; and every old address must redirect to its new one to protect search visibility.
Moves from Magento to Shopify are common among brands that want to reduce technical overhead. Moves from Shopify to Adobe Commerce usually happen when a business outgrows the hosted model’s limits, often because of B2B complexity. In both cases, plan the migration of data and search rankings as carefully as the new design; our website redesign SEO checklist covers the redirect map and launch-day checks.
How to choose: a seven-step checklist
For the wider build, from catalogue to launch, our guide to building an e-commerce website that sells covers the steps around the platform choice.
- Write down how you sell. Products, pricing, customer types, B2B rules and markets, in plain words.
- Mark what is non-negotiable. The features your business cannot work without.
- Test the standard features first. For each must-have, check whether Shopify Plus covers it natively or with a well-supported app.
- Count the gaps. Few and minor gaps favour Shopify Plus; many and central ones favour Adobe Commerce.
- Look at your team. Do you have, or will you fund, specialist developers for the long term?
- Compare five-year costs. Include licences or subscriptions, apps or extensions, hosting, build and upkeep.
- Ask for a short paid discovery. A partner who maps your requirements against both platforms will show you the answer more reliably than a demo.
Questions to ask an implementation partner
- Which of our requirements would need custom work on each platform?
- How will product data, customers and order history be migrated, and how will you protect our search rankings?
- Who will maintain the shop after launch, and what does that include?
- How will VAT, consent and accessibility be handled for our markets?
- What will we own at the end: theme code, custom apps or modules, and documentation?
Questions people ask
If you are choosing between the two, start by writing down how you sell and which features you cannot work without; the gaps will usually point to the answer. See how our e-commerce service plans and builds shops, or talk to us about your project and we will map your requirements against both platforms.
