Shopify suits most brands with a straightforward catalogue and a team that would rather trade than look after a platform. Magento suits you when your pricing, trade accounts or integrations are complicated enough that the platform has to be built around them.
We build on both, so we’ve got no reason to push you either way. This guide compares them on the things that decide it for a brand doing £2m or more online, and if you’ve already got a Magento store you’re thinking of leaving, read what to check before a Magento to Shopify migration too.
What’s the real difference between Magento and Shopify?
Shopify is hosted for you. Shopify runs the servers, applies the updates and keeps the checkout secure, and you work within what it allows, adding apps for anything extra.
Magento is software you run. You choose the hosting, you own the code and you can change almost anything, but somebody has to keep it patched and upgraded. That somebody is usually an agency on a retainer.
So the choice comes down to control against upkeep. Most of the differences below follow from it.
| Magento (Open Source or Adobe Commerce) | Shopify (and Shopify Plus) | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | You arrange and pay for it | Included |
| Platform fee | None on Open Source, a licence on Adobe Commerce | Monthly, with Plus from £1,950 a month on a one-year term |
| Upgrades and patches | Your job, or your agency’s | Shopify handles them |
| Custom features | Build almost anything | Apps, themes and Shopify’s APIs |
| Checkout | Fully customisable | Limited, with more control on Plus |
| B2B | Very deep, especially on Adobe Commerce | Native on Basic and up, with more on Plus |
| Integrations | Built into the platform if needed | Through APIs, apps or middleware |
| URL structure | Yours to set | Fixed paths such as /products/ and /collections/ |
| Team needed | Developer access for most changes | Your own team can do far more |
How much does each one cost to run?
Compare the two over three years, because the first invoice tells you very little about either.
On Shopify, your big costs are the monthly plan, app subscriptions and transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments. Plus starts at £1,950 a month on a one-year term. App bills creep up quietly, and we’ve written about the apps slowing Shopify stores down as they go.
On Magento, the costs sit in hosting, extensions and developer time. Magento Open Source has no licence, which looks cheap until you add up the patching, the testing and the retainer that goes with them. We’ve covered the hidden cost of running Magento 2 in detail. Adobe Commerce adds a licence on top, and that only makes sense if you’ll use what it adds.
If you want a rough rule, Shopify’s costs are easier to predict and Magento’s are easier to control. Neither is automatically cheaper once you’re past the first year.
Which one is faster?
A fresh Shopify store is quick out of the box, and you don’t have to think about servers. It slows down as apps pile up. AutoID’s Shopify Plus store got 38% faster once we’d cut the apps it didn’t need, and that’s on Shopify’s hosting.
Magento on the old Luma theme is slow, and that’s where its reputation comes from. Hyvä changed that by replacing the frontend, and the theme has been free and open source since November 2025. We took four seconds off Helmet City’s load time on Hyvä, and conversion went up 16%. Hyvä vs Luma goes into the detail.
So speed shouldn’t decide this. Both can be fast, and both can be slow if nobody’s looking after them.
Which is better for B2B?
Magento, if trade is complicated. Adobe Commerce has company accounts, buyer roles, approval workflows and quoting, and because you can change the code, the odd pricing rule your biggest customer negotiated in 2014 can be built properly. Our guide to Adobe Commerce for B2B has more.
Shopify has closed a lot of the gap. Since April 2026, native B2B has been on Basic, Grow and Advanced, with company accounts, net terms and three active catalog assignments. Plus adds unlimited assignments, catalogs set directly per company, and deposits. If trade sits alongside retail and your account types are simple, that’s plenty.
Which handles integrations better?
Both connect to the same ERP and warehouse systems, so the question is how much logic has to live in the connection. If your ERP is in charge of stock and orders and the store just needs to stay in sync, Shopify handles it well. We connected Robinsons of Bawtry’s ePOS to Shopify, and the team run the shop and the website without keying anything in twice.
If your store needs to make decisions based on that data, such as live customer pricing, back orders or stock rules by location, Magento gives you more room. Reliant run a custom integration with their nCompass ERP that covers inventory, back orders and product offers.
Which is easier for your team to run?
Shopify, by a distance. Your team can publish a landing page, change a collection or launch a promotion without opening a ticket, and that’s worth real money if you’re trading fast.
On Magento, most meaningful changes need a developer. Hyvä and a good page builder take some of that away, but you’ll still want a technical partner. Be honest about whether you’ve got the budget for one, because a Magento store nobody’s looking after is an expensive thing to own.
So which should you choose?
| Your situation | We’d usually pick |
|---|---|
| Simple catalogue, small team, want to move fast | Shopify |
| Selling mostly to consumers, with a bit of trade | Shopify |
| Trade and retail with complicated customer pricing | Magento or Adobe Commerce |
| Heavy ERP logic, or stock rules the store has to act on | Magento or Adobe Commerce |
| Tens of thousands of SKUs with complex attributes | Magento or Adobe Commerce |
| Want to own the code outright | Magento |
| Nobody to look after a platform, and no retainer budget | Shopify |
| Selling across several countries, on a tight timeline | Usually Shopify Plus |
Both routes work when they fit. Reliant stayed on Magento, sell to trade and retail, and rebuilt on Hyvä. Turnover went up 141%, and then they had to hire a merchandiser and an SEO manager and started talking about a new warehouse. Robinsons of Bawtry moved to Shopify and went from a 0.8% conversion rate to 1.6%, and three weeks after launch they had more orders than they could keep up with.
Who shouldn’t be reading this?
If your store’s trading fine and the platform isn’t what’s stopping you, leave it alone. Replatforming is one of the most expensive ways to avoid fixing a slow theme or a thin product page, and Google itself warns that rankings can fluctuate during a site move. Fix what’s actually losing you orders first.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify better than Magento?
For most brands with a simple catalogue and a small team, yes. For complex B2B, custom pricing or heavy ERP logic, Magento is usually the better fit. It depends on how you trade, so size alone won’t settle it.
Is Magento still worth using?
Yes, if you need what it does. Adobe keeps releasing new versions, with 2.4.9 supported until May 2029, and Hyvä has fixed its biggest weakness on the frontend. It’s less worth it if you’re not using the flexibility you’re paying to maintain.
Is Shopify cheaper than Magento?
Often in the first year, not always after that. Shopify Plus starts at £1,950 a month and app bills add up. Magento Open Source has no licence, but you pay for hosting and more developer time. Compare the total over three years.
Can Shopify handle a large catalogue?
Yes, in most cases, as long as the catalogue is fairly simple. Stores with very complex attributes, lots of variants per product or customer-specific catalogues tend to run into limits sooner, and that’s when Magento starts to make more sense.
Can you move from Magento to Shopify later?
Yes, and from Shopify to Magento too. It’s a full rebuild with a data migration and redirects either way, so it’s worth choosing carefully the first time.
How we can help
Send us your SKU count, the number of different price lists you run and a list of every system your store connects to. We’ll tell you which platform we’d pick and why, even if the answer is to leave things exactly where they are.
