When Magento (now Adobe Commerce) launched in 2008, it solved an eCommerce problem that other platforms didn’t. At the time, businesses had to choose between limited-feature hosted platforms and enterprise-level platforms that were only feasible for massive companies.
Even though Shopify started two years earlier than Magento, its basic features at the time couldn’t provide what Magento was offering. That made it the default choice for many businesses.
A lot has changed since 2008. Magento’s customizability and flexibility also made it more complex, creating an opportunity for hosted platforms like Shopify to fill the gap for businesses tired of paying thousands of dollars a month for licensing and self-hosted servers.
If you’re thinking about switching, hosting, licensing, and maintenance costs are just part of the equation. In this article, we’ll compare Magento and Shopify based on total cost of ownership, speed, security, conversion rates, and scalability.
Read More: The Top 5 Benefits of Moving From Magento to Shopify
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Magento gives your business more control and customization, but that also means you’re responsible for maintaining a complex infrastructure just to keep your store running.
Hosting
Because Magento is a self-hosted platform, you typically can’t use a basic web hosting platform like Bluehost, GoDaddy, or SiteGround. Magento’s infrastructure requires more powerful cloud hosting, such as AWS or Adobe Commerce Cloud, or managed hosting from providers like Nexcess.
These platforms provide the server processing power you need while also supporting the dedicated database, page caching, content delivery network (CDN), and automated backups required.
However, to handle traffic spikes during flash sales or busy shopping seasons like Black Friday, you often need to pay for a higher server capacity to prevent your store from crashing. This can include paying for higher capacity year-round or enabling auto-scaling, which can double or triple your Magento hosting costs when traffic increases.
Other Costs
Hosting can be expensive, but it’s just part of Magento’s TCO.
- Ongoing maintenance. Magento sites are filled with custom code and extensions that require manual updates and security patches. Updates need testing to avoid breaking the code, which requires ongoing development work even for simple maintenance.
- Specialized development. Aside from basic maintenance, you often need a developer to help with website design changes, content updates, integrations, and troubleshooting. The more custom your code is, the more you need to rely on developers with specialized experience.
- Platform licensing. The licensing fee for Magento’s enterprise-level platform, Adobe Commerce, starts at $22,000 per year and increases based on your store’s revenue.
These are a few reasons why Shopify Plus has become such a popular Magento alternative. Shopify Plus has monthly subscription fees starting at $2,300 per month for a 3-year contract or $2,500 per month for a 1-year contract. For brands that meet GMV thresholds, the flat fee switches to a capped, variable fee based on GMV.
Most importantly, the subscription fee includes:
- Hosting
- Global CDN
- Auto-scaling for traffic
- Automatic platform updates
- Security patches
- Server monitoring
The completely different fee structure has a major impact on the cost of ownership. According to research from an independent consulting firm on Shopify’s TCO, Magento costs 42% more than Shopify Plus for platform fees and implementation costs, while operating costs are 24% higher.
Want to learn more about the features and costs of Shopify? Read more in our guide to planning a Shopify Plus migration.
Security & Compliance
TCO is arguably the biggest driving factor for switching to Shopify Plus, but security is just as important. On Magento, you are responsible for securing every component in your tech stack and maintaining the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) on your own.
Because of the complexity, you often need dedicated developers to test and implement security patches manually on Magento. Meanwhile, Shopify Plus includes Level 1 PCI DSS by default. And because your checkout script is hosted on Shopify’s secure servers, the only thing you need to do to comply with PCI DSS is complete an annual Self-Assessment Questionnaire Type A (SAQ A).
On top of that, Shopify apps run on external servers and connect to your store via isolated APIs. This means apps can’t modify your checkout page or access credit card data. On the other hand, third-party apps run via extensions installed directly on your server if you use Magento. A single app with a security vulnerability could let a hacker access and modify your checkout code, exposing customer payment information.
Customization Capabilities
App security is one thing, but how you integrate them and customize your store is another.
On Magento, you have full control over the codebase.
- You can change the code to create completely customized workflows and databases.
- Apps integrate directly into your source code using third-party extensions.
- This is more complicated to manage, but with no API limits and no platform limitations, you can build anything you want.
Shopify’s customizability is more structured.
- The platform has a number of native apps like Shopify Email, Shopify Flow, and Search & Discovery.
- For enterprise businesses, these basic apps don’t always have enough functionality.
- To fill this gap, the Shopify App Store has nearly endless options that you can use for more customization. However, you often need to pay subscription fees and watch out for apps that may affect your site speed.
If your business needs more customization than you can get from off-the-shelf apps, custom app development is another option. Brandography’s app developers can create tools that support your unique business needs without having to resort to workarounds that make your store more complicated.
Conversion Rates & Customer Experience
Your store’s speed, navigation, mobile experience, and checkout process all play a huge role in your conversions. Anything that slows down your store or feels clunky to shoppers can lead to higher bounce rates and cart abandonment.
Magento stores have total control over these factors, which means stores on the platform can have excellent conversion rates. However, you won’t automatically have a high-converting store just because the platform supports it. Highly customized code can sometimes slow your store, especially if something breaks during an update or patch.
Shopify is built around reducing friction in the shopping experience. An independent consulting company that analyzed 220,000 store checkouts found that Shopify’s overall conversion rate is an average of 15% better than other eCommerce platforms. Compared to Magento specifically, Shopify outperforms Magento by 5%. For an enterprise-level business, this is significant revenue.
Read how we helped high-end air purification company Molekule increase revenue by 16% with a Shopify migration that fixed UX issues and site lag.
Scalability
Magento and Shopify can both scale with your business, but the way they do it is very different. With Magento, you can increase your servers, boost your CDN capacity, and adjust your code to make sure your store supports higher traffic and more complex product offerings. However, it’s a manual process that usually means you need more developer resources.
Shopify manages your infrastructure automatically, so your capacity keeps up with business demands. This means you can keep growing without managing all the underlying changes yourself.
Customize Your Site & Scale Your Business with Brandography
Choosing the best eCommerce platform isn’t just about cost, functionality, security, or infrastructure. All of those factors matter. If you’re struggling with conversions, customizations, user experience, or decreasing revenue, we can help you find a solution.
As a Shopify Plus Premier partner, we can help you develop a store that supports every business need and goal. But we don’t just do Shopify migrations. We tailor our solutions to your business needs, whether that means replatforming, adding new sales channels, or optimizing your conversions.
Fill out the form below to start the conversation with a 1:1 consultation.
