Shopify Plus vs Magento (Adobe Commerce) in 2026: An Honest Evaluation

Updated October 19, 2026

Shopify Plus is the better fit for most brands that want to sell more without running servers, while Magento and Adobe Commerce still win for complex B2B, deep code-level customization and full control of hosting. In 2026, Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month with hosting and upgrades included. Adobe doesn't publish Adobe Commerce prices, but third-party estimates put licenses at $22,000 to $190,000 a year. We build on Shopify, so this guide also covers where Shopify Plus falls short.

What is the difference between Shopify Plus and Magento in 2026?

Shopify Plus is one hosted platform that Shopify runs for you. "Magento" now means four different products, from free self-hosted software to Adobe's own SaaS. Comparing them starts with knowing which Magento you mean.

Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service is the biggest change. It upgrades automatically, like Shopify. The trade-off is flexibility: Adobe's feature comparison says it doesn't allow PHP customization, doesn't support Magento Marketplace PHP extensions, and uses a new headless storefront instead of Luma. In other words, it removes much of what made Magento different from Shopify.

How much do Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce cost per year?

For a store selling $1 million to $5 million a year, Shopify Plus costs about $27,600 to $30,000 a year, while Adobe Commerce on Adobe's cloud is estimated at $55,000 to $80,000. Shopify Plus pricing is published: $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term. Adobe doesn't publish Adobe Commerce prices, so the Adobe figures below are third-party estimates compiled by Swell in April 2026 from agency and partner sources.

Hosting figures convert Swell's monthly estimates of $500 to $5,000 into yearly costs. They don't include extensions, security monitoring or developer time, which is where most Magento spending goes.

Two costs to watch on Shopify Plus. Very high-volume brands move to a variable platform fee that Shopify quotes privately. And if you don't use Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a 0.2% fee on Plus for third-party payment providers.

Building the store costs more on Magento. Swell's compiled agency estimates put a basic Adobe Commerce build at $50,000 to $100,000 and an enterprise build at $250,000 to $500,000 or more. Our own Magento to Shopify Plus migrations range from $15,000 for a simple store to $150,000 or more for enterprise rebuilds. For a full breakdown of Plus fees, see what Shopify Plus costs.

Which platform is easier to maintain and secure?

Shopify Plus, because Shopify handles hosting, security patches and upgrades. On Magento Open Source and self-managed Adobe Commerce, that work is yours.

• Upgrades are on a three-year clock. Adobe's lifecycle policy gives each 2.4 release about three years of standard support. Version 2.4.6 ended on August 11, 2026, 2.4.7 ends May 31, 2027, and the newest, 2.4.9, ends May 31, 2029.
• Upgrades often mean new servers. Adobe's requirements for 2.4.9 include PHP 8.5, OpenSearch 3 and Valkey, replacing Elasticsearch and Redis.
• Attackers target unpatched stores. In October 2025, CISA added a critical Adobe Commerce and Magento flaw, known as SessionReaper, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Both platforms handle large traffic peaks. Adobe says Adobe Commerce can process more than 200,000 orders an hour. Shopify reported in an SEC filing that its merchants sold $14.6 billion over Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025, peaking at $5.1 million a minute. The difference is who manages the capacity: Shopify does it for every store, while on self-hosted Magento your team or host does.

Which platform is better for B2B?

Adobe Commerce still has the deeper native B2B toolkit, but Shopify has closed much of the gap. Adobe Commerce includes company accounts with buyer roles, customer-specific catalogs and pricing, purchase approvals and online quote negotiation.

Shopify opened native B2B to its Basic, Grow and Advanced plans on April 2, 2026, with company profiles, custom catalogs, volume pricing and payment terms. Shopify Plus adds unlimited catalogs, catalogs assigned by company location, deposits and partial payments. Quotes on Shopify run through draft orders or apps rather than a built-in negotiation tool.

Choose Adobe Commerce for B2B if buyers negotiate quotes online, you need multi-level approval rules, or you run very large account-specific price lists. Choose Shopify Plus if your B2B buyers mostly reorder from set catalogs and you want B2B and DTC in one store. Our Shopify B2B development team can map your B2B requirements against Shopify's native features.

Which platform is more flexible?

Magento, by a wide margin. On Magento Open Source and self-managed Adobe Commerce, developers can change any part of the code, the data model and the checkout. Shopify Plus is flexible within limits Shopify sets.

Where Shopify Plus holds you to its rules:

• 3 options per product. Shopify allows up to 2,048 variants per product, but only 3 options, such as size, color and material. Magento has no such limit.
• Fixed URL prefixes. Every product URL starts with /products/ and every category with /collections/.
• Checkout through extensions only. Shopify retired checkout.liquid for Plus stores. Checkout changes now run through checkout extensions and Shopify Functions.
• Custom logic needs Plus. Only Plus stores can use custom apps containing Shopify Functions, which handle custom discounts, shipping and payment rules.
• One brand per contract. Plus includes your main store and 9 expansion stores, but separate brands usually need separate contracts.

For most DTC brands, these limits rarely block anything. For brands with complex configurable products or deep custom logic, they can be deal-breakers.

Who should choose Magento or Adobe Commerce?

Brands whose custom features are a real competitive advantage, and who have the developers to maintain them. Magento or Adobe Commerce is likely the better choice if you:

• Run complex B2B with negotiated quotes, approval chains and account-specific pricing at scale.
• Sell highly configurable products with many options that don't fit Shopify's 3-option model.
• Need full control of hosting and data, for compliance or data residency reasons.
• Already have an in-house Magento team and custom code that would be expensive to rebuild.
• Want Adobe's wider stack, such as Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe's analytics tools.

Who should choose Shopify Plus?

Brands that want their budget going into growth rather than servers and upgrades. Shopify Plus is likely the better choice if you:

• Sell mostly DTC, or DTC plus simple wholesale.
• Don't have, or no longer want, a dedicated Magento team.
• Face a Magento upgrade or support deadline that would cost close to a rebuild.
• Want faster launches, using Shopify's app ecosystem instead of custom code.
• Have seasonal peaks and don't want to plan server capacity for them.

How does Solo Media Group help brands choose?

We start with your requirements, not the platform. Solo Media Group is a Shopify Platinum Partner that has completed 75+ replatforms and new builds since March 2018, and Magento and Adobe Commerce are the migrations we're asked about most. Solo is rated 5.0 from 38 reviews on the Shopify Partner Directory.

"The project involved migrating from Magento, cleaning up years of technical debt."

Say It With A Condom, Shopify Partner Directory review

We're not the right fit if you've decided to stay on Magento or Adobe Commerce, since we build only on Shopify. If you're moving, see our Shopify Plus migration services or book a discovery call.

Shopify Plus vs Magento FAQs