Shopify is a fully hosted e-commerce platform known for its ease of use, fast setup, and large app ecosystem. It powers over 4.8 million live websites and holds around 10% of e-commerce platform market.

Shopware is a modular, open-source platform built for flexibility and deep customisation. It powers around 50,000 live stores and holds just 0.1% of the global market—though it’s popular in German-speaking regions and among businesses with complex infrastructure needs.

So if you are considering either of Shopware vs Shopify platforms:

• if you want a reliable, low-maintenance platform that’s ready to scale quickly, choose Shopify. It’s ideal for growing brands, lean teams, and businesses that want to get started without heavy developer input.
• On the other hand, choose Shopware if you need complete control over your store’s architecture, have in-house technical expertise, or need custom workflows that go beyond what hosted platforms typically offer.

Shopware vs Shopify at a glance

Feature	Shopify	Shopware
What is it?	Fully hosted online shop platform with built-in tools and ease of use	Open-source e-commerce solution with extensive customisation options, fully- hosted and on-premise options
Best for	Scaling businesses that need simplicity	Businesses that need custom features
Market Share	4.8% of all the websites	0.1% of all websites
Ease of use	Easier to use, less maintenance required	Requires more setup and management
Tech expertise needed	Minimal technical knowledge needed	Requires developers and coding skills
Control features	Less control, more built-in features	Complete control over customisation
Monthly fee	Starting from $19/month (Basic plan)	Starting from €600/month (Rise plan)
Hosting costs	Included in subscription	Included in subscription, Self-hosted options available

In a nutshell, Shopify is a fully hosted, user-friendly e-commerce platform designed for fast setup and operational ease. It’s well-suited for small to mid-sized businesses, and with Shopify Plus, it scales to meet the needs of high-growth brands with advanced requirements—such as automation, international selling, and B2B functionality. Across all tiers, Shopify prioritises simplicity, reliability, and access to a vast app ecosystem.

Shopware, in contrast, is an open-source platform built for flexibility. It gives businesses full control over the store architecture and infrastructure, making it a strong choice for companies with complex requirements, in-house developers, or specific integration needs.

Detailed comparison Shopware vs Shopify

1. Pricing

When comparing Shopware vs Shopify pricing, it’s clear that the two platforms take different approaches to cost and scalability.

Shopify operates on a subscription model with several pricing tiers based on the features and size of your business:

• Basic – 19 USD/month: Includes essential features for small stores, such as 10 inventory locations, 1 staff account, and 24/7 support.
• Shopify – 49 USD/month: Additional features like full data access to apps using Shopify APIs and 5 additional staff accounts.
• Advanced – 299 USD/month: Advanced checkout options, more staff accounts, and enhanced customer service.
• Shopify Plus – Starting at 2,300 USD/month: For enterprise-level businesses needing advanced features, customization, and high-volume sales. Includes a dedicated support team and custom solutions.

Additional costs:

• Transaction fees: Shopify charges a payment processing fee of 2.4% to 2.9% plus a per-transaction fee (typically 0.30 USD) unless you use Shopify Payments. 
• App costs: Many advanced features are available through paid apps, which can add additional costs.

Shopware offers several pricing plans designed to cater to different business needs.

• Rise – Starting at €600/month: Ideal for businesses looking to scale quickly with a complete SaaS solution. This includes hosting, software updates, and maintenance.
• Evolve – Starting at €2,400/month: Tailored for businesses seeking more advanced features and greater control.
• Beyond – Custom Pricing: Designed for enterprises with complex needs, offering full customization and dedicated support.

Additional costs:

• Indirect customisation fees: Since Shopware is highly customisable, businesses may need to hire developers or agencies for advanced features, integrations, and unique customizations.

Verdict: Shopify offers flexible pricing options for smaller businesses and large enterprises alike, making it easy to get started and scale over time. Shopware focuses more on mid-sized to large businesses that need a tailored solution—though its flexibility often comes with higher setup and development costs.

Note: The prices listed in this comparison reflect publicly available information as of early 2025. Pricing structures may change, so we recommend checking the official Shopify and Shopware websites for the most up-to-date details.

2. Ease of use

Shopify is designed for ease of use, which makes it accessible even for beginners with no technical knowledge. The platform offers a straightforward setup process with built-in hosting, pre-designed templates, and a guided onboarding experience.

Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and centralised dashboard simplify store management and allow users to add products, process orders, and run marketing campaigns with ease.

Shopware, by comparison, provides greater flexibility but comes with a steeper learning curve.

The setup process, especially for the self-hosted version, requires more technical knowledge, including server configuration and database management.

While the platform offers advanced customisation options and modular architecture, these features often require developer support.

3. Customisation & flexibility

The question of Shopware vs Shopify often comes down to how much flexibility your business needs—and how much technical support you have in-house.

Shopify offers front-end flexibility through Liquid, themes, APIs, and apps—within a stable, hosted environment.

Shopware provides open-source access and a modular system, giving developers full control over how the store functions. The right choice depends on whether you value control over infrastructure or prefer building on a secure, managed foundation.

Tip: If you’re weighing Shopify against other platforms beyond Shopware, you might also find our Shopify vs BigCommerce comparison helpful. It walks through the pros and cons of each solution for growing businesses.

3.1 Shopify’s approach to customisation

Shopify provides a flexible front-end customisation model that balances ease of use with development capability. While it doesn’t grant access to the platform’s core backend logic, it offers substantial control through its Liquid templating language, theme editor, APIs, and app ecosystem.

3.1.1 Shopify themes

Shopify’s pre-designed themes are mobile-responsive and highly customisable. Merchants can adapt layouts, styles, and content using the visual editor or directly modify theme code using Liquid. While this setup is more constrained than open-source platforms, it supports a wide range of design changes.

3.1.2 Customisation via apps and APIs

Shopify’s app ecosystem includes over 7,000 third-party apps that extend functionality in areas like marketing, payment gateways, shipping, inventory, and analytics. Developers can also use the Shopify API to build custom apps and integrate external systems.

3.1.3 Shopify Plus – Advanced customisation

For larger businesses, Shopify Plus unlocks deeper customisation options. This includes access to Shopify Functions, which allow developers to modify checkout and discount logic without compromising platform stability. Plus users also benefit from checkout.liquid (for now), custom storefronts via Hydrogen, access to exclusive APIs, and advanced automation through Shopify Flow.

If you’re considering Shopify Plus, you can explore more in our dedicated guide about its benefits.

3.2 Shopware’s flexibility

Shopware is a developer-friendly platform. As an open-source solution, it provides full access to the source code, which allows businesses to tailor every aspect of their store from the backend to the frontend.

• Modular Architecture: Shopware operates on a modular system, where businesses can add or remove features based on their needs.
• Developer Support: For businesses that need specialised functionality, Shopware allows developers to build custom plugins or adjust the platform’s core structure.

Verdict: Shopify offers flexible customisation through its theme language (Liquid), APIs, and thousands of apps, especially for those on Shopify Plus who need more advanced features. However, it doesn’t provide backend access. Shopware, as an open-source platform, allows full code-level customisation and is better suited for businesses with development resources and highly specific technical requirements.

4. Performance & speed

Shopware vs Shopify also reveals important differences in performance and hosting responsibilities.

Feature	Shopify	Shopware
Hosting Infrastructure	Fully managed, optimised hosting (Google Cloud, AWS)	Flexible (on-premise or cloud-hosted)
CDN Support	Built-in global CDN for faster delivery	Requires third-party CDN integration
Page Speed Performance	Optimised for speed with automatic caching and updates	Performance depends on hosting & configuration
Scalability	Automatic scaling with cloud-based infrastructure	Manual scaling (on-premise) or managed scaling (cloud-hosted)

4.1 Shopify: Managed speed and reliability

Shopify leverages a powerful global infrastructure to ensure that its stores perform well, no matter where the customer is located.

• Hosting Infrastructure: Shopify’s hosting is handled by top-tier providers, including Google Cloud and AWS, which ensures high availability, automatic scaling, and redundant backups.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Shopify integrates a global CDN, which caches your store’s static assets (like images, stylesheets, and scripts) on servers located around the world. This reduces load times by serving content from the server closest to the customer.
• Page Speed Performance: Shopify stores generally perform well on Google PageSpeed Insights, especially since the platform handles caching and optimization automatically.

4.2 Shopware: Flexible setup, user-managed Performance

Shopware offers more flexibility when it comes to hosting options. You can choose between self-hosted or cloud-hosted versions of the platform, with different implications for performance and speed.

• On-premise: For the self-hosted version, the store’s performance will largely depend on the hosting provider you choose. You’re responsible for server configuration, maintenance, and optimization.
• Cloud-hosted: With Shopware’s cloud-hosted option (e.g., Shopware Rise), you benefit from an optimised, fully managed hosting environment. Similar to Shopify, this version of Shopware leverages cloud infrastructure to ensure fast and reliable performance with automatic scaling.
• CDN support: Shopware doesn’t include a built-in CDN like Shopify. Instead, you will need to configure and integrate third-party CDN services, which may require additional setup.
• Page speed performance: Shopware offers stable performance, but since the platform doesn’t manage everything for you, there’s still a level of responsibility on the business to monitor and optimise performance.

Verdict: Shopify excels in performance and speed due to its fully managed hosting infrastructure, built-in CDN, and automatic optimizations. Shopware offers greater flexibility but places more responsibility on the user.

5. Security features

As a fully hosted platform, Shopify handles much of the security on behalf of the user, which makes it a more hands-off solution for business owners. Shopware offers both self-hosted and cloud-hosted options, meaning security can vary based on the version you choose.

Feature	Shopify	Shopware
SSL certificates	Free SSL certificate included for all stores	Free SSL for cloud-hosted; on-premise needs manual setup
PCI DSS compliance	Fully PCI DSS Level 1 compliant	Cloud version is PCI DSS compliant; self-hosted requires manual setup
Data encryption	256-bit SSL encryption by default	SSL encryption available for both versions
Fraud prevention	Fraud analysis tools and chargeback management	Depends on integration; no built-in tools like Shopify
Security updates	Automatic software updates and patches	Cloud version receives updates automatically; self-hosted requires manual updates
Two-factor authentication	Available	Available

Verdict: For cloud-hosted stores, Shopware’s security is on par with Shopify, including automatic updates and SSL encryption. However, for self-hosted stores, businesses must manage their own SSL certificates, PCI compliance, and updates, which adds complexity and risks if not managed properly.

6. SEO & marketing tools

Shopify and Shopware take different approaches to SEO and marketing. Shopify automates most of the essentials, making it easy for non-technical users to launch campaigns and optimise their stores with minimal effort.

Shopware, on the other hand, gives users more granular control over technical SEO and custom marketing workflows—ideal for teams with in-house expertise or agency support.

6.1 Shopify: Built-in tools and fast setup

Shopify covers key SEO elements automatically, including meta tags, clean URLs, XML sitemaps, and canonical tags to prevent duplicate content. Themes are mobile-optimised out of the box, and the platform handles caching and performance tuning behind the scenes—making technical SEO more accessible for non-specialists.

On the marketing side, Shopify offers native integrations with major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. Shopify Email supports basic email marketing, while thousands of third-party apps cover advanced functions like loyalty programs, upselling, and affiliate tracking.

Analytics are built into the platform and can be extended via Google Analytics.

Shopify users also have access to Shopify Flow, a no-code automation tool that helps streamline marketing and operational workflows across all paid plans.

6.2 Shopware: Customised SEO and modular marketing

Shopware gives users full control over technical SEO settings. You can configure meta tags, customise URL structures, manage 301 redirects, and add structured data to support rich results in search. This level of flexibility makes Shopware appealing for businesses with specific SEO strategies or advanced content models.

Marketing integrations are available through plugins, with tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and Affiliate Plus supporting campaign automation and affiliate marketing. While Shopware’s modular system enables deep customisation, many advanced features require additional setup or developer support.

Verdict: Shopify is ideal for businesses that want marketing and SEO features to work out of the box with minimal effort. Shopware is a better fit for teams that want to take a hands-on approach to technical SEO and are comfortable building more tailored marketing stacks.

7. App & plugin ecosystem

Shopify has one of the largest and most comprehensive app ecosystems in the e-commerce space. The platform offers over 7,000 apps available through the Shopify App Store, which covers a wide range of functionalities including marketing, SEO, inventory management, customer support, shipping, and accounting. 

Shopware also boasts a strong ecosystem, though the Shopware Extension Store is smaller compared to Shopify. The Shopware Store offers a broad selection of plugins and extensions for functionality across various areas such as payment processing, shipping, SEO, CRM, and marketing automation. 

Verdict: As the largest e-commerce platform provider, Shopify offers a vast ecosystem, which is far more extensive than Shopware.

8. Multilingual & international selling

Shopify supports most major currencies, depending on your store location, such as USD for US-based stores or AUD, NZD and USD for Australian Shopify Plus Shops. When serving multiple countries, Shopify gives you the option to deactivate local currencies, so that all customers in that market see prices in the market’s base currency.

Shopware makes multi-currency support as easy as the click of a button. E-Commerce managers can easily add currencies to their respective markets and even go into detail when it comes to rounding and decimal places.

Verdict: Both platforms offer ample currency and language support, while Shopware’s settings go more into detail. 

9. B2B capabilities

Both Shopify and Shopware support B2B selling, but they differ in how deeply and flexibly those features are built into the platform. Shopify makes B2B accessible through its integrated tools—especially on Shopify Plus—while Shopware offers a dedicated B2B Suite with more complex workflows and native integration options for businesses that need granular control.

9.1 Shopify: Built-in B2B features for fast scaling

Shopify, particularly through Shopify Plus, integrates a suite of B2B features directly within the Shopify admin:

• Wholesale storefronts: Businesses can create dedicated wholesale storefronts with tailored pricing, product catalogues, and ordering processes.
• Custom pricing and discounts: The platform allows for volume-based discounts and customer-specific pricing structures.
• Company profiles: B2B customers can be grouped under company accounts, each with distinct payment terms, shipping rules, and catalogue access.
• Checkout customisation: Shopify Plus offers advanced checkout customisation to accommodate wholesale ordering workflows.
• Third-party integrations: Additional B2B functionalities can be implemented through the app marketplace.

9.2 Shopware: Advanced B2B suite for complex operations

Shopware offers a B2B Suite designed to support more complex wholesale operations:

• Role and permission management: Businesses can define access levels for different users within a company.
• Approval workflows: Custom approval processes allow organisations to manage order authorisations.
• Quote management: Buyers can submit requests for quotations (RFQs) and negotiate pricing directly through the platform.
• Custom pricing and offers: Pricing models can be tailored to individual customers based on predefined conditions.
• Integration with external systems: Shopware supports native integrations with ERP, CRM, and PIM systems.

Verdict: Shopware, being open-source and modular, allows for more extensive customisation and direct integration with enterprise-level systems.

Tip: Looking into more custom or enterprise-level platforms? See how Shopify Plus compares with Magento Commerce in our side-by-side Shopify Plus vs Magento guide.

Shopify vs Shopware – Pros & cons overview

Conclusion – Which is better: Shopware vs Shopify

Both Shopify and Shopware are capable platforms, but they serve different business needs.

Shopify is a strong choice for most businesses—particularly those prioritising fast setup, ease of use, and reliable performance with minimal technical overhead. Its hosted infrastructure, broad app ecosystem, and automation features make it especially appealing for growing brands that want to focus on operations and scale without building everything from scratch. With Shopify Plus, even enterprise-level businesses gain access to advanced customisation, international tools, and robust B2B functionality.

Shopware, by contrast, is a great fit for businesses that require deep backend flexibility, custom workflows, or complex system integrations. Its open-source model provides full control—but with that control comes the need for in-house development skills or a dedicated technical partner.

In short: Shopify is the more accessible and scalable solution for most use cases, while Shopware is ideal when your business demands a fully tailored e-commerce stack and you have the technical capacity to support it.

Looking for the right Shopify setup?
At what., we design, build, and optimise Shopify stores—from startup-ready builds to fully customised Shopify Plus solutions. 

Book a free consultation to see how we can support your business.