PLATFORM COMPARISON
Shopify vs Magento: Features, Cost and Migration (2026)
Shopify sells a hosted plan with a monthly price. Magento Open Source is a codebase under OSL 3.0, and Adobe Commerce adds an Adobe-provided cloud architecture and hosting. Most of the decision is how much of the platform you want to run.
✦ FEATURES
Feature comparison.
| FEATURE | SHOPIFY | MAGENTO |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Shopify's plans (Basic, Grow, Advanced, Plus) are priced per month. The pricing page does not describe a separate hosting line. | Adobe publishes system requirements for Commerce on Cloud and for on-premises installs. For 2.4.9 both list PHP 8.5 and OpenSearch 3. |
| License | Sold as a monthly plan. Basic, Grow and Advanced are billed yearly or monthly. | Magento Open Source is under OSL 3.0. The README points larger merchants to Adobe Commerce, which it says adds an optimized cloud architecture, hosting and AI-powered merchandising and analytics. |
| B2B | B2B customers are set up as companies in the Shopify admin. Shopify says B2B features are included on plans that support B2B. | Adobe Commerce B2B adds company accounts, negotiable quotes, requisition lists and purchase order approvals. The B2B page describes it as installed in your Adobe Commerce store, and does not say whether Open Source includes it. |
| B2B catalogs | Up to 3 catalogs on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Unlimited on Plus. | Shared catalogs set custom per-product prices for different companies, and are available only for stores configured for company accounts. |
| Multi-store and inventory | Basic, Grow and Advanced allow 10 inventory locations. Plus allows 200. | Adobe says Commerce lets you start multiple websites or store views with different attributes and content. Stores have separate catalog structures, and currency is managed per store view. |
| Checkout changes | Shopify lists checkout UI extensions, Shopify Functions, web pixel extensions and payments extensions as customization options. checkout.liquid is unsupported for the Information, Shipping and Payment steps. | The developer docs list PHP extensions under Extension Development. |
| Payments | Online card rates are 2.9%, 2.7%, 2.5% and 2.25% plus 30 cents on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. Third-party gateway fees are 2%, 1%, 0.6% and 0.2% in the same order. US pricing, checked October 2026. | Adobe says Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source support a wide variety of payment methods. It lists offline methods such as cash on delivery and check or money order, and recommends Payment Services, PayPal Express Checkout and Braintree. |
| Security and PCI | Shopify's pricing FAQ says it is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant. | Adobe's shared responsibility page covers Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure. Adobe maintains PCI certification for that infrastructure, and merchants are responsible for the compliance of their custom code, systems and organization. |
| APIs and headless | Rate limits depend on plan: standard on Basic and Grow, up to 2x on select APIs on Advanced, up to 10x on select APIs on Plus. | Adobe says the Commerce Web APIs let you integrate third-party software and build headless applications. The docs cover REST APIs, and describe GraphQL as a query language. |
| Headless storefronts | The pricing page lists 'Build headless storefronts': 1 on Basic, Grow and Advanced, and 25 on Plus. | Adobe's developer docs describe Edge Delivery Services as a way to create a storefront. They also list PWA Studio and Page Builder CMS under Storefront Development. |
| Apps and extensions | The App Store page says it has over 16,000 apps. | The developer docs list a Marketplace under Extension Development. |
| Search | Search & Discovery lets you add a maximum of 10 search terms to a product boost. | Adobe's 2.4.9 requirements list OpenSearch 3. |
| Release support | The pricing page does not publish a release-line schedule. | Regular support for the 2.4.9 release line ends May 31, 2029. Adobe recommends the latest security patch for each release. |
| Catalog limits | At 500,000 variants, no more than 10,000 new variants can be created per day on any API. The throttle does not apply to Plus. | The requirements page does not mention a catalog size limit. |
✦ COST OF OWNERSHIP
Cost of ownership.
| COST ITEM | SHOPIFY | MAGENTO |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | US pricing, checked October 2026. Billed yearly: Basic $29 a month, Grow $89, Advanced $359. Billed monthly: $39, $105, $399. Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term. | Open Source: the README names OSL 3.0 and lists no price. Adobe Commerce: we found no public price. |
| Hosting | Shopify's pricing page lists no separate hosting line. | Your host's price for an on-premises install. No public figure; it varies. Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure: we found no public price. |
| Transaction fees | Shopify Payments card rates start at 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic and fall to 2.25% on Plus. Third-party gateways add 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. | Set by the payment provider you choose. Adobe publishes no platform fee for payments on the page we cited. |
| Apps and extensions | Priced per app. Over 16,000 listed. | Priced per extension. It varies by vendor. |
| Development | Not published by either vendor. It depends on your agency or in-house team. | Not published by either vendor. It depends on your agency or in-house team. |
✦ MIGRATION
Migration effort.
Catalog, customer and order data can usually be mapped between the two platforms, but each field needs scoping. Themes, front-end code, custom extensions or apps and checkout customizations do not carry over. They are rebuilt on the target platform's extension model. Going from Magento to Shopify means turning custom modules into Shopify apps or Functions. Going the other way means provisioning hosting and rebuilding app functionality as Magento extensions. Scope URL redirects, ERP, payment and shipping integrations early, because those set the timeline more than the product data does.
✦ CHOOSING
Which fits your store.
Choose Shopify if
- You want one monthly plan price to budget against.
- You want a platform that says it is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant.
- Your checkout changes fit UI extensions and Functions.
Choose Magento if
- You want to control hosting, code and data.
- You want an open-source codebase (OSL 3.0) you can extend.
- You need Adobe Commerce B2B with company accounts, shared catalogs and quotes.
- You want several websites and store views from one installation.
✦ QUESTIONS MERCHANTS ASK
Common questions.
Do both have built-in B2B?+–
Shopify says B2B features are included on plans that support B2B, with up to 3 catalogs on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Adobe documents B2B as an Adobe Commerce feature. Its B2B page does not say that Magento Open Source includes it.
Can both run a headless storefront?+–
Shopify's pricing page lists 1 headless storefront on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Adobe says the Commerce Web APIs let you build headless applications.
Does Magento have a monthly fee?+–
Magento Open Source is under OSL 3.0, and the README lists no price. Hosting and development are separate. We found no public price for Adobe Commerce.
Is there a limit on catalog size?+–
Shopify documents that once a store has 500,000 variants, no more than 10,000 new variants can be created per day, except on Plus. The Adobe requirements page does not mention a catalog size limit.
Who is responsible for PCI compliance?+–
Shopify's pricing FAQ says it is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant. For Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure, Adobe maintains PCI certification for the infrastructure and merchants are responsible for their custom code, systems and organization.
SOURCES
- Shopify pricing (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify Plus pricing (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify Help Center: B2B (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify developer docs: Checkout (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify developer docs: API rate limits (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify Help Center: Search & Discovery (opens in a new tab)
- Shopify App Store (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce system requirements (opens in a new tab)
- Magento on GitHub (README and license) (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce B2B introduction (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce developer documentation (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce web API documentation (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce release versions (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce multi-site overview (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce payments overview (opens in a new tab)
- Adobe Commerce shared responsibility model (opens in a new tab)