Magento vs Shopify: An Honest Comparison (2026)

In short: Magento or Shopify?

Magento is the better fit for a business with deep custom requirements, a large or complex catalog, and a development team (in-house or agency) it is happy to fund every year. Shopify pays off when the goal is to stop spending on servers, patches and upgrades and put that budget into growth: conversion, retention and new markets. On license alone, Magento Open Source is free; Shopify’s case is built on total cost of ownership and speed of execution, not on the sticker price.

Stay on Magento if…

Your store depends on custom logic that would be hard to rebuild on a SaaS platform.
You run a complex B2B operation and Adobe Commerce’s native B2B tools already work for you.
You have a reliable Magento team and a funded plan for upgrades and security patches.
You need full control over hosting, infrastructure and data residency.
You recently upgraded to a supported release and the store performs well.

Move to Shopify if…

Your Magento version is near or past the end of its support window.
Hosting, patching and extension conflicts take a large share of your development budget.
You struggle to find or keep Magento developers.
Email and SMS (for example with Klaviyo) are becoming a main revenue channel and you want faster execution.
You want to launch new markets or features in weeks, not quarters.

What is Magento?

Magento is an ecommerce platform owned by Adobe, sold today in two main editions. Magento Open Source is free to download, with no license fee, and you host and maintain it yourself. Adobe Commerce is the licensed edition, with added B2B tooling, advanced merchandising and Adobe support, and it can run on your own servers, on Adobe Commerce on Cloud or as Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, Adobe’s SaaS version (scandiweb).

The current release is 2.4.9, available since May 12, 2026 for both editions. Each 2.4.x release gets a three-year standard support window from its launch, so 2.4.9 is supported until May 31, 2029 and 2.4.8 until May 31, 2028 (Adobe lifecycle policy). Extended support is offered to Adobe Commerce customers only, so for Open Source stores the end of standard support is effectively the end of support (Adobe extended support). Magento 1 has been fully out of support since June 2020.

Adobe’s own direction is moving to the hosted side: its lifecycle page calls Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service the recommended long-term destination for Adobe Commerce on Cloud customers, with infrastructure, patching and upgrades managed by Adobe.

Magento vs Shopify: comparison table

The biggest difference is who runs the platform: on Magento, you (or your agency) own hosting, security and upgrades; on Shopify, the platform does. Shopify prices are US prices on monthly billing; Adobe does not publish Adobe Commerce prices, so those figures are partner estimates. Data checked October 2026.

Criterion	Magento	Shopify	Source
Platform type	Open Source: self-hosted. Adobe Commerce: on-premises, PaaS (Cloud) or SaaS	SaaS, hosting included	scandiweb
License / subscription	Open Source free; Adobe Commerce est. 22,000 to 125,000+ USD/year on-premises, 40,000 to 190,000+ USD/year on Cloud, tied to GMV	Basic 39, Grow 105, Advanced 399 USD/month; Plus from 2,300 USD/month (3-year term)	scandiweb, eSEOspace
Hosting	Paid separately on Open Source (est. 1,200 to 7,000+ USD/year); bundled in Adobe Commerce Cloud	Included on every plan	scandiweb, eSEOspace
Updates and security	Merchant applies patches and upgrades; each release supported 3 years	Managed by Shopify	Adobe
PCI compliance	Merchant’s responsibility to assess	Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant	Adobe, Shopify
Transaction fees	No platform fee; payment gateway fees apply	Shopify Payments from 2.9% / 2.7% / 2.5% + 30¢ (Basic / Grow / Advanced), from 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus; extra fee with third-party gateways	eSEOspace
Email/SMS (Klaviyo)	Klaviyo extension for Magento 2.4.0+, installed via Composer with OAuth setup	Native Klaviyo integration	Klaviyo Help Center
B2B	Native in Adobe Commerce; extensions on Open Source	Native B2B on Basic, Grow and Advanced since April 2026 (up to 3 catalogs); unlimited catalogs on Plus	scandiweb, eSEOspace
International	Multiple websites, stores and store views from one installation	Markets in one store; theme and checkout per market on Advanced; up to 9 expansion stores on Plus	eSEOspace
Staff accounts	No platform limit	5 on Grow, 15 on Advanced, unlimited on Plus	eSEOspace
Products	No platform limit; performance depends on hosting	Unlimited products, up to 2,048 variants per product	eSEOspace
Customization	Full code access	Themes, apps and APIs; full checkout customization on Plus only	eSEOspace

How much does Magento cost compared to Shopify?

On license alone, Magento Open Source is free and Shopify is not. The real comparison is total cost of ownership: on Magento, hosting, security patches, upgrades and extension maintenance sit on your budget; on Shopify, most of that is inside the subscription.

Adobe does not publish Adobe Commerce prices. Partner estimates place the license between roughly 22,000 and 125,000+ USD a year on-premises, and 40,000 to 190,000+ USD a year on Adobe Commerce on Cloud, which bundles hosting (scandiweb). Shopify’s plan price does not depend on revenue: Basic costs 39 USD, Grow 105 USD and Advanced 399 USD a month on monthly billing, while Plus starts at 2,300 USD a month on a 3-year term or 2,500 USD on a 1-year term (eSEOspace).

Here is how the yearly license or subscription compares at different revenue levels:

Annual GMV	Adobe Commerce on-premises (est. USD/year)	Adobe Commerce on Cloud (est. USD/year)	Typical Shopify plan (USD/year, monthly billing)
Under 1M USD	~22,000	~40,000	Grow 1,260 or Advanced 4,788
1M to 5M USD	~32,000	~55,000	Advanced 4,788 or Plus from 27,600
5M to 10M USD	~49,000	~80,000	Plus from 27,600
10M to 25M USD	~72,000 to 75,000	~120,000	Plus from 27,600
25M+ USD	~125,000+	~190,000+	Plus, variable platform fee for larger businesses

Magento Open Source has no license line, but it is not free to run. Partner estimates put managed hosting at roughly 1,200 to 7,000+ USD a year, a straightforward build at 20,000 to 60,000 USD, and ongoing maintenance and support from about 4,000 USD a year for a small store to 50,000+ USD for a business-critical Adobe Commerce store (scandiweb).

The subscription is only part of Shopify’s cost too. Add card processing (from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic down to from 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus with Shopify Payments), an extra fee if you use a third-party gateway, and paid apps. On Magento, gateway fees still apply, typically around 2.9% plus 30¢ per transaction (scandiweb), so payment processing is a cost on both platforms, not a Shopify-only line.

The honest takeaway: if you already have a well-run, recently upgraded Magento store and a stable team, switching only to save money rarely makes sense. Moving to Shopify makes sense when the hours spent on hosting, patches and upgrades are hours you would rather spend on conversion, retention and new markets.

Who handles hosting, security and upgrades?

On Magento, you do. On Shopify, the platform does. This is the difference that shows up most in day-to-day operations.

Upgrades. Every Magento 2.4.x release gets three years of standard support, and the last three releases shipped in April 2024, April 2025 and May 2026. A store that does not upgrade eventually runs on an unsupported version. Adobe states that once an Adobe Commerce version is out of support, it is no longer PCI compliant (Adobe EOS FAQ).

Dependencies. Adobe does not provide fixes for third-party software such as PHP, MySQL, OpenSearch or Redis when they reach end of life during your support window. PHP 8.1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025, and PHP 8.2 reaches it on December 31, 2026, which Adobe flags as a PCI risk for stores still using them (Adobe lifecycle policy).

Cloud enforcement. Starting June 1, 2027, Adobe will no longer maintain Adobe Commerce on Cloud environments running unsupported versions and may suspend their traffic, which takes the storefront offline (Adobe lifecycle policy).

On Shopify, hosting, SSL, platform updates and PCI compliance are part of the subscription. Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant (Shopify). Your team still owns theme code, app choices and data quality, but not servers or version upgrades.

Which is better for SEO and site speed?

Neither platform wins on SEO by default; results depend on the theme, content and technical setup. Magento gives developers full control over URLs, meta data, redirects and structured data. Shopify covers the technical basics out of the box and lets developers fine-tune themes, structured data and redirects.

Speed on Magento depends heavily on hosting, caching and the frontend. The Hyvä theme, a popular lightweight Magento frontend, became free and open source on November 10, 2025 (Hyvä), which lowers the cost of a faster Magento storefront. On Shopify, hosting and CDN are managed for you, so speed work focuses on the theme and apps.

For either platform, test your own store rather than relying on platform claims. Run your top category and product pages through Google PageSpeed Insights, and compare them with a well-built Shopify store in your niche.

The bigger SEO risk is the migration itself. Without a complete URL map and 301 redirects, rankings can drop, which is why a migration without losing organic traffic starts with SEO, not design.

How do they compare on marketing and retention?

Both platforms connect to Klaviyo; the difference is setup and upkeep. On Magento, Klaviyo’s extension supports Magento 2.4.0 and later, is installed through Composer, needs OAuth configuration and requires your server to have a publicly accessible hostname (Klaviyo Help Center). Like every Magento extension, it has to be tested again after each platform upgrade. On Shopify, Klaviyo installs as an app and syncs orders, browsing behavior and product data without server work.

With the data flowing, you can build segmented flows such as welcome series, browse abandonment, post-purchase and win-back, and run email and SMS from one place. For brands where repeat purchases drive profit, Klaviyo retention automations often matter more than any single platform feature.

As a Shopify Plus Partner and Klaviyo Master Platinum agency, we see the same pattern often: the less time a team spends keeping integrations alive, the more time it spends improving the flows that drive predictable revenue.

Which scales better for B2B and international?

Both can run serious B2B and multi-market operations; Magento gives more control, Shopify gives more out of the box. Adobe Commerce includes native B2B tooling, while Magento Open Source relies on extensions for it (scandiweb). Magento can run multiple websites, stores and store views from one installation, which is one reason it stays popular with complex, multi-brand businesses.

Shopify added native B2B to its Basic, Grow and Advanced plans in April 2026, with up to 3 catalogs, company profiles, payment terms and volume pricing; Plus adds unlimited B2B catalogs and up to 9 expansion stores (eSEOspace). For international growth, the Advanced plan lets you customize the theme, checkout and customer account pages for each market, and Plus adds full checkout customization.

The key limit to watch on Shopify is checkout: full checkout customization is available only on Plus. The key limit on Magento is cost: every custom B2B or market-specific feature is code your team builds and maintains through each upgrade.

How easy is it to take your data with you?

On self-hosted Magento, you own the database, so nothing is locked in: products, customers, orders and content can all be extracted, with developer help where the admin export does not cover it. On Adobe Commerce, keep your license terms in mind: Adobe states that once a license expires, you must stop using the software and delete all versions of it (Adobe EOS FAQ), so plan your export before the renewal date.

Shopify lets you export products, customers and orders as CSV files from the admin, on every plan. Before any migration, also export what CSV files often miss: order history details, product reviews, blog posts, URL structure and any data held in extensions or your ERP.

When it makes sense to stay on Magento

Stay on Magento if the platform is not what limits your growth. A migration costs time, money and focus, and it only pays off when it solves a real problem.

Magento is likely still the right choice if you run on a supported release (2.4.8 or 2.4.9), your custom features would be expensive to rebuild, and your team keeps upgrades and patches on schedule. It also makes sense for complex B2B or multi-brand setups where Adobe Commerce’s native tools are already in daily use.

If growth has stalled, look at the bottleneck first. Weak ads, product pages or email strategy will follow you to any platform.

How migrating from Magento to Shopify works

A Magento to Shopify migration follows six steps, with SEO protection running through all of them. The timeline depends on catalog size, custom features, integrations and design scope.

Audit. We review your catalog, traffic, top-ranking URLs, custom modules, extensions and integrations, and agree on what must work on day one.
Data export. Products, customers and orders are exported from Magento, along with CMS pages, blog posts and reviews.
Store build. We set up the Shopify theme, design, checkout, apps that replace your Magento extensions, and integrations such as Klaviyo, payments and, where needed, your ERP.
SEO mapping. Every old URL gets a 301 redirect to its new equivalent, and titles, meta descriptions and structured data are carried over.
Testing. Orders, payments, emails, integrations and redirects are tested end to end before launch.
Launch and monitoring. We switch the domain, monitor rankings and crawl errors in Google Search Console, and fix issues in the first weeks.

Our Shopify development team handles the full process of migrating from Magento to Shopify, from audit to post-launch monitoring.

Magento vs Shopify: FAQ

Is Magento better than Shopify?

It depends on your goals. Magento is better for businesses with deep custom requirements, complex B2B or multi-brand setups, and a funded development team. Shopify is better for brands that want to stop managing hosting, patches and upgrades and focus their budget on growth. Choose the one that removes your current growth bottleneck.

Is Magento Open Source really free?

The license is free. Hosting, development, extensions, security patches and upgrades are not, so a Magento Open Source store still carries a yearly running cost.

How much does migrating from Magento to Shopify cost?

It depends on catalog size, custom features, integrations and design scope. An audit is the only way to get a reliable number, and it should also tell you honestly if staying on Magento is the better option.

Will I lose Google rankings if I migrate?

Not if the migration is planned around SEO. A complete URL map, 301 redirects for every old URL, and carried-over titles, meta descriptions and structured data protect your rankings. Monitoring Search Console in the first weeks catches anything missed.

Can I keep Klaviyo if I move to Shopify?

Yes. Klaviyo integrates natively with Shopify, and your Klaviyo account, lists and flows stay in Klaviyo. The flows need to be checked and reconnected to the new store’s data after launch.

Can Shopify handle a large catalog?

Shopify plans include unlimited products, with up to 2,048 variants per product. Very complex product configurations should be reviewed during the audit.

Want a recommendation for your store?

We will tell you honestly whether moving to Shopify makes sense, including when it does not. eCommerce Today is a Shopify Plus Partner and Klaviyo Master Platinum agency with 11 years and 300+ brands behind us, and our audit looks at your costs, integrations, SEO and growth plans before suggesting anything. Request a platform audit and get a clear recommendation for your store.

Already decided to scale? See how we run performance campaigns for Shopify.

Sources and methodology

We compared both platforms using Adobe’s official lifecycle and support documentation, Shopify’s published plans and security pages, Klaviyo’s integration documentation, and independent pricing guides, all checked in October 2026. Adobe does not publish Adobe Commerce prices, so those figures are partner estimates and should be treated as planning ranges, not quotes. Shopify prices are US prices. Where a detail could not be confirmed publicly, we say so. We review this page every 3 months.