Insights
Magento vs Shopify for UK Stores: An Honest Comparison
Shopify suits stores that want a hosted platform on a monthly plan, with Shopify running the hosting, security and platform updates. Magento suits stores that need deep customisation, complex catalogues, B2B selling or full control of their code and data, and that have a developer and good hosting behind them. For most UK stores, the choice comes down to budget, in-house skills and how far their needs go beyond a standard shop.
How each platform works
Magento is software you run. Magento Open Source is free and open source, under the Open Software License 3.0, and you choose where it is hosted and who develops it. Adobe Commerce is Adobe's licensed edition, and Mage-OS is a free community distribution of Magento Open Source.
Shopify is a hosted platform you subscribe to. Shopify says its plans include "secure commerce hosting", unlimited bandwidth and a free SSL certificate, so you don't buy hosting separately. You build on Shopify's platform with its themes and apps rather than running the software yourself.
Costs and fees
On Shopify, you pay a monthly plan and payment fees; on Magento, you pay for hosting, development and extensions, with no platform fee on Magento Open Source.
Shopify's UK pricing page, checked on 13 October 2026, listed these plans:
| Shopify plan | Paid monthly | Paid yearly (per month) | Online card rate with Shopify Payments | Fee if you use another payment provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | £25 | £19 | 2% + 25p | 2% |
| Grow | £65 | £49 | 1.7% + 25p | 1% |
| Advanced | £344 | £259 | 1.5% + 25p | 0.6% |
| Plus | From £1,800 on a 3-year term, or £1,950 on a 1-year term | 1.3% + 25p | 0.2% |
Shopify's terms say its fees are exclusive of applicable taxes. Prices and rates change, so check Shopify's own pricing page before you decide.
On Magento, the costs are different in kind. Magento Open Source and Mage-OS have no licence fee, and Adobe Commerce is licensed and priced by Adobe on request. On top of that you pay for hosting, development, extensions and your payment provider's fees. Hosting with us starts from £119 a month + VAT. Our Magento hosting cost guide breaks down the full picture.
Flexibility and customisation
On Magento you own the code, so anything can be changed: the checkout, the catalogue model, pricing logic and every integration. The trade-off is that every change is development work, which you pay for and maintain.
On Shopify you customise through themes, apps and Shopify's APIs. Shopify's own pricing table lists checkout customisation as "Limited" on Basic, Grow and Advanced and "Full" on Plus, and gives higher API rate limits on the higher plans.
B2B, multi-store and complex catalogues
Both platforms can sell to businesses. Shopify says its B2B features are available on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, with up to 3 B2B catalogs below Plus and unlimited catalogs on Plus. On Magento, Adobe's B2B module is part of Adobe Commerce, while Magento Open Source stores use built-in tools such as customer groups and tier pricing plus extensions. Our guide to Magento B2B on Open Source covers the options.
Magento runs several websites, stores and store views from one installation and one admin, which suits groups with several brands or countries; see running multiple Magento stores on one server. Shopify Plus includes 9 expansion stores, then charges £250 a month for each additional one, according to Shopify's Plus pricing page.
Performance: who is responsible
On Shopify, the platform's speed is Shopify's job, and your theme and apps decide the rest. On Magento, speed depends on your hosting and how it is set up: the full page cache, Redis or Valkey, search, PHP and the server size, plus your theme and extensions. That is more work, but also more control. See Magento performance optimisation.
Security and patching
Shopify maintains its platform, and states that "Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant", with that compliance extending to the stores it powers. On Magento, Adobe publishes security patches and someone has to apply them to your store: you, your developer or your host. Our Fully Managed plan, £169 a month + VAT, applies Magento security patches for you, staging first. See Magento upgrades and security patching.
Data ownership and UK hosting
With Magento, the database and files are yours, on a server you choose. With EveryHost, that server is in our London data centre. With Shopify, Shopify's privacy policy says personal data of people in the UK is received by its Irish affiliate and then sent to other Shopify locations and service providers, including Canada and the United States. Shopify lets you export products, customers and orders as CSV files; product images are not included in the product export.
The disadvantages of Magento
Magento is not the easy option, and it is fair to say so:
- Development costs more. Custom work, extensions and upgrades need a Magento developer or agency.
- It needs good hosting. A slow or badly set-up server makes a slow store, and cheap shared hosting rarely runs Magento well.
- Upgrades and patches are your responsibility. Adobe releases them; someone has to test and apply them.
- Extension quality varies. A poorly built extension can slow a store or block an upgrade.
- More moving parts. Search, cache, cron and queues all need to be running properly.
When Shopify is the better choice
Shopify is often the better fit for a store with a straightforward catalogue, no developer on hand, a preference for one predictable monthly platform fee, and no need to change how checkout works. It usually needs less set-up before launch, too. If that describes your store, Shopify is a sensible choice.
Does anyone still use Magento?
Yes. Adobe released Magento 2.4.9 on 12 May 2026, and its lifecycle policy gives Adobe Commerce 2.4.9 standard support until 31 May 2029. The next version, 2.4.10, was already in alpha on Adobe's GitHub in October 2026, and the community Mage-OS distribution released version 3.5.0 in September 2026.
What is Magento called now?
Magento's paid edition was renamed Adobe Commerce in 2021. The free edition is still called Magento Open Source, and Mage-OS is an independent, free distribution built on it. See What is Mage-OS?
Magento vs Shopify at a glance
| Magento | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Software you run on hosting you choose | Hosted platform on a monthly plan |
| Licence | Open Source and Mage-OS free; Adobe Commerce licensed | Included in the plan |
| Platform transaction fee | None on Magento Open Source | Applies if you use another payment provider, by plan |
| Hosting | Chosen and paid for separately | Included |
| Customisation | Full code access | Themes, apps and APIs; full checkout customisation on Plus |
| B2B | Adobe Commerce B2B module, or extensions on Open Source | Available on all main plans; unlimited catalogs on Plus |
| Patching | Adobe publishes patches; you or your host apply them | Shopify maintains the platform |
| Data location | Wherever your server is | Shopify's locations and providers |
| Needs a developer | Usually | Often not for a standard store |
Moving between Magento and Shopify
A move from Shopify to Magento, or from Magento to Shopify, is a quoted project: products, customers and orders move, but themes, apps and integrations have to be rebuilt. Our free migration covers moving an existing Magento 2 store between hosts only.
Sources
All accessed 13 October 2026.
- Shopify: UK pricing
- Shopify: Plus pricing (UK)
- Shopify: Terms of Service
- Shopify: PCI compliance
- Shopify: Privacy policy
- Shopify Help Center: B2B plan features
- Shopify Help Center: Exporting products
- Shopify Help Center: Exporting customers
- Shopify Help Center: Exporting orders
- Adobe: Commerce lifecycle policy
- Adobe: Magento Open Source licence (OSL 3.0)
- Adobe: Magento releases on GitHub
- Mage-OS: 3.5.0 release
Frequently asked questions
Weighing up Magento?
Tell us about your store and we will give you an honest view of whether Magento, and our hosting, is the right fit.