Shopify Plus alternatives: six platforms for when you outgrow the bill
One destination per reason to leave, official prices, and a migration timed to your contract.
The short answer: BigCommerce if you want to stay hosted and pay less at the entry point, Adobe Commerce if B2B quotes and credit lines run your business, Shopware for several brands or countries from one instance, Salesforce Commerce Cloud for dozens of sites tied to a CRM, commercetools if you have the engineers for headless, and WooCommerce if you would rather own the stack. Many stores doing over $1M a month are still better off on Plus once development is counted, so check that first. We compared the six platforms against their official pricing pages for 2026.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always flagged on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why brands outgrow Shopify Plus, and why leaving is slow
Plus is fast to launch and easy for small teams to run, and most merchants who leave say so. They go because of what it costs at scale and what it won't let them change. Six reasons, each checked against Shopify's own pages.
A $2,300 floor and a fixed term
Shopify lists Plus as starting at $2,300 a month. The subscription runs for 1 or 3 years and can be canceled once the commitment expires. In practice your exit date is set the day you sign.
A fee for keeping your own processor
Use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments and Plus adds 0.2% on those sales. It's the lowest rate on Shopify's grid, but on large volumes it adds up every month on top of your processor's own fee.
Checkout code you have to rewrite
Shopify deprecated Scripts in mid-2026, and the old checkout.liquid file is gone. Every discount rule or checkout tweak built that way had to be redone in Shopify Functions or an app. Whatever you move to, that logic doesn't export.
Apps and developers on top of the license
On G2, Plus users keep coming back to cost, "both from platform fees and development". An agency on r/ecommerce says that when they cost up the app stack, "it's always double the price". Compare total cost, not the license alone.
One store per brand or region
Plus includes up to 9 free expansion stores. A German merchant on the Shopware forum, with four brands in ten countries and four currencies, found the setup would mean managing a long list of separate Plus stores; on Shopware the same structure fits one instance.
URLs and data that resist leaving
You can't redirect /products, /collections or /collections/all inside Shopify, and product exports leave images out. Leaving takes planning, not one export button.
You're leaving because… go to…
Start from the problem, not the logo. One line usually fits. Each card jumps to the full write-up.
Performance starts at $1,499 a month on an annual contract.
Your B2B runs on quotes and creditAdobe CommerceNegotiable quotes, credit lines, per-company catalogs.
You run several brands or countriesShopwareSales channels per brand in one instance, priced in euros.
You run dozens of sites and live in SalesforceSalesforce Commerce CloudUp to 100 sites on B2C Premium.
You want a custom front endcommercetoolsAPI-first, priced per order.
You want to own code and hostingWooCommerceFree software, you pay hosting and extensions.
Shopify Plus alternatives, platform by platform
For each platform: why move to it, who it fits, its limit, how to get there from Plus, and what the vendor publishes about price. Prices are the ones on the official pages in 2026; where a vendor publishes none, we say so.
BigCommerce: the closest hosted swap
Hosted, enterprise tierWhy switch to BigCommerce. If what you like about Plus is not running servers, BigCommerce keeps that and changes the bill. Its enterprise tier, now called Performance, is quoted on custom terms but the public page gives a floor: from $1,499 a month on an annual contract, against the $2,300 a month Shopify lists as the Plus starting point. Performance comes with 24/7 phone and chat support and a dedicated customer success manager.
Who it's for. Merchants with a large catalog or a wholesale side who want to stay on SaaS and stop paying a premium for leaving Shopify Payments.
Who it's not for. A brand with almost no developers. On r/ecommerce, an agency answering a store doing over $1M a month called BigCommerce more hands-on dev work than Shopify and passed on it.
Its limit. The tier below, Scale, is $399 a month ($299 billed yearly) up to $33,333 a month in sales, then 0.9% on everything above that cap. Once trailing-twelve-month sales hit $2 million, BigCommerce moves the account to Performance on its own. Model the plan you will be on in a year, not the one you sign.
How to migrate. Ask the BigCommerce sales team who runs the data move and whether 301 redirects are in scope. Checkout customizations you built with Shopify Functions have no direct equivalent: list them before you get a quote.
- Starts at
- $1,499/mo, billed yearly
- Support
- 24/7 phone and chat
- Best for
- hosted, big catalog
- Watch
- auto-upgrade at $2M GMV
Adobe Commerce: when B2B is the whole business
Complex B2BWhy switch to Adobe Commerce. Adobe Commerce, the paid edition of Magento, carries a full B2B module: company accounts that group several buyers, shared catalogs with a custom price per product for each company, negotiable quotes, and payment on account against a credit line. On Plus, B2B means catalogs and price lists; here a buyer and a seller can haggle over a quote inside the store.
Who it's for. Distributors and manufacturers whose orders run through quotes, credit terms and buyer hierarchies, with an agency or an in-house team to run the platform.
Who it's not for. A direct-to-consumer brand. You would pay for a B2B engine and a heavy build that you never use.
Its limit. Adobe publishes no price. Licence figures float around the web, but they come from vendors with a stake, so take nothing as given until you hold a written quote. A merchant on r/webdev who left Magento for headless said 40% of their backlog had become integration glue: plan for upkeep, not only the launch.
How to migrate. Rebuild your company structures and price rules on the Adobe side first, then import customers into the right company accounts. Run the quote flow end to end with a real buyer before the switch.
- Price
- on quote only
- B2B
- quotes, credit lines, shared catalogs
- Best for
- distributors, manufacturers
- Watch
- build and upkeep cost
Salesforce Commerce Cloud: dozens of sites, one CRM
Many sitesWhy switch to Salesforce Commerce Cloud. It is built for groups that run a lot of storefronts at once. The B2C Premium edition allows up to 100 sites and 3,500 price books; the B2B Growth edition, 6 B2B storefronts. If you already live in Salesforce for sales and service, the customer record stays in one place.
Who it's for. Large retailers and multi-brand groups already on Salesforce, with the budget for an integration partner.
Who it's not for. Any team that wants a public price before the first call, or a single-brand store.
Its limit. Every edition says "Contact for pricing". The percentages of sales you read in blog posts are third-party estimates, not Salesforce numbers. Expect a long sales cycle and a project run by a certified agency.
How to migrate. Time the project against your Plus term so you don't pay both platforms for months. Map each Shopify expansion store to a site and its price book before anything moves.
- Price
- contact for pricing
- B2C Premium
- 100 sites, 3,500 price books
- B2B Growth
- 6 storefronts
- Watch
- no public pricing
WooCommerce: own the stack, pay no platform fee
Open sourceWhy switch to WooCommerce. The software costs nothing and there is no subscription. What you pay for is the stack around it, and WooCommerce is upfront about it: most stores spend $25 to $350 a month on hosting, and extensions run $29 to $299 a year apiece. Its own processor, WooPayments, sits around 2.50% to 2.90% plus 30¢ a transaction. Compared with a $2,300 monthly floor, the license line disappears; the hosting and the people do not.
Who it's for. Brands with content on WordPress and a developer or agency on retainer who want full control of code and data.
Who it's not for. A high-volume store with no technical team. Someone has to own hosting, security and updates, the things Plus handled for you.
Its limit. At Plus volumes, cheap hosting won't hold a flash sale. Budget a managed host sized for your peak traffic, and count every paid extension that replaces a Shopify app.
How to migrate. Export products, customers and orders, import them on the WordPress side, and rebuild your 301s from the Shopify sitemap. Customer passwords don't come across, so plan a reset email.
- License
- free, no subscription
- Hosting
- $25 to $350/mo
- Extensions
- $29 to $299/yr each
- Watch
- you run the stack
commercetools: headless, billed by orders
HeadlessWhy switch to commercetools. commercetools is an API-first commerce engine with no storefront of its own. Its pricing is based on orders, and it sets itself against models that take a share of sales. Catalogs, channels and storefronts are unlimited, which suits a group running many brands or markets from one back end.
Who it's for. Companies with a strong engineering team that want to assemble their own front end, search and CMS.
Who it's not for. Anyone who wants a theme and a checkout working on day one. Everything visible is yours to build.
Its limit. No price is published, you contact sales. And the build is only the start: as the r/webdev merchant quoted above put it about headless maintenance, "It doesn't plateau, it compounds."
How to migrate. Run the new front end next to Plus, move one market or brand first, and keep Plus live until the last one is across.
- Price
- on quote only
- Model
- per order, not GMV
- Catalogs
- unlimited
- Watch
- you build the front end
Shopware: European, open source, B2B on the upper tier
Open source, EUWhy switch to Shopware. Shopware is a German platform with an open-source Community Edition that carries no license fee. Paid plans are priced in euros: Rise from €600 a month excluding VAT, Evolve from €2,400 a month, which adds B2B components such as quotes and purchase approvals. Several brands, currencies and countries can run from one instance; on the Shopware forum, a merchant with four brands in ten countries weighed it against setting up a stack of separate Plus stores.
Who it's for. Multi-brand or multi-country sellers, especially in Europe, who want open source with a vendor behind it.
Who it's not for. A US-only brand with no agency that knows the platform: the partner network is strongest in Europe.
Its limit. The free edition has a ceiling: once your shops pass €1 million in gross merchandise value over 365 days, Shopware requires a paid plan to keep access to your account. And B2B quotes only come with Evolve, not Rise.
How to migrate. Pick a Shopware agency first, set up sales channels per brand or country, then import catalogs and customers channel by channel.
- Free
- Community Edition
- Paid
- Rise from €600/mo excl. VAT
- B2B
- quotes on Evolve, €2,400/mo
- Watch
- paid plan above €1M GMV
The 6 alternatives side by side
Our default pick for a hosted store that wants a lower floor: BigCommerce. For heavy B2B: Adobe Commerce. Only three of the six publish a starting price, so for the rest the real number comes from a sales call. One row per platform: published pricing on the left, best use and main catch on the right.
| Published pricing | Best for and main catch | |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify PlusWhere you're leaving | From $2,300/mo, 1- or 3-year term | 0.2% on third-party payment providers; unlimited staff accounts and B2B catalogs |
| BigCommerceHosted | Performance from $1,499/mo billed yearly | Big catalogs on SaaS; Scale moves to Performance at $2M yearly sales |
| Adobe CommerceComplex B2B | On quote only | Quotes, credit lines, shared catalogs; heavy build |
| Salesforce Commerce CloudMany sites | Contact for pricing | Up to 100 sites on B2C Premium; long sales cycle |
| WooCommerceOpen source | Free; hosting $25 to $350/mo | Full control; you run security and updates |
| commercetoolsHeadless | On quote, priced per order | Unlimited catalogs and storefronts; front end to build |
| ShopwareEU, multi-brand | Community free; Rise €600, Evolve €2,400/mo excl. VAT | Brands in one instance; B2B quotes on Evolve |
Starting prices from official pages, before tax, subject to change. Enterprise contracts are negotiated: get every quote in writing.
Leave Shopify Plus in seven steps
At Plus volumes a botched migration costs more than a year of license. Each step protects one thing: your contract date, your revenue, your rankings or your customers.
Check your Plus term before anything else
Month 0Plus is sold on a 1- or 3-year subscription and you can cancel when the commitment expires. Find your renewal date and work backwards: the new store should be live and stable a few weeks before it, not after.
- Why
- no double bill
- Where
- your Shopify contract
List every app, script and integration
Month 1One row per app, per Shopify Function, per ERP or PIM connection, with what replaces it on the new platform. Shopify Scripts were deprecated in mid-2026, so checkout logic now lives in Functions or apps, and none of it exports.
- Output
- a replacement sheet
- Risk
- a forgotten integration
Export the data, and know its gaps
Month 1Shopify's product CSV leaves images out, exports SEO fields only if you edited them, and puts inventory by location in a separate file. Keep Plus running until the new platform has pulled every image.
- Missing
- images, default SEO
- Separate
- stock by location
Map your redirects from the sitemap
Month 2Your new URLs won't use /products/ and /collections/. Build a 301 map from the Plus sitemap, one old URL to one new URL, and test it on staging before launch.
- Source
- Shopify sitemap
- Check
- canonicals, crawl errors
Rebuild B2B accounts and prices
Month 2Company accounts, catalogs and price lists don't move as they are. Recreate them on the target platform, then have two or three real buyers place a test order at their own price.
- Test with
- real buyers
- Check
- price per company
Plan the customer password reset
Launch weekHashed passwords don't carry over between platforms. Write a short reset email that explains the move, and send it on launch day, not before.
- Send
- launch day
- Goal
- no lost logins
Switch, then watch for 30 days
LaunchPoint the domain, place real orders on every payment method, and watch 404s, organic traffic and conversion daily for a month. Cancel Plus only once the numbers hold.
- Watch
- 404s, traffic, orders
- Cancel Plus
- after 30 stable days
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a Shopify Plus migration go wrong
The same mistakes come up in merchant forums and agency write-ups. Most are planning errors, not technical ones.
Comparing licenses, not total cost
A lower license with double the developer hours is not a saving. Price apps, hosting, agency and internal time over three years for each option, Plus included.
Missing the renewal date
Start late and you renew Plus for another term while paying for the new platform. Work back from the end of your commitment.
Forgetting checkout logic
Discounts, shipping rules and payment tweaks built in Functions or apps vanish silently. Test every promotion you run on the new checkout before launch.
Launching without redirects
Every product and collection URL changes. Without a 301 map, years of rankings drop in a week. See our Shopify migration guide for the data side.
Underestimating headless upkeep
A composable stack keeps asking for integration work after launch. Budget a team for year two, not only the build. Our enterprise ecommerce ranking helps size the options.
- Renewal date of your Plus term written down
- Every app and Function listed with its replacement
- Three-year total cost for each option, Plus included
- 301 map built from the sitemap and checked on staging
- Test orders on every payment method
- Password reset email ready for launch day
Shopify Plus alternatives: frequently asked questions
How much does Shopify Plus cost?
Shopify lists Plus as starting at $2,300 a month, on a 1- or 3-year subscription. Card rates start at 2.25% plus 30¢ online, and using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a 0.2% fee. The full figure for a large store is set in the contract.
What is the cheapest alternative to Shopify Plus?
On license alone, WooCommerce and the Shopware Community Edition cost nothing. That said, a high-volume store pays for hosting, extensions and developers instead. Among hosted platforms with a public floor, BigCommerce Performance starts at $1,499 a month billed yearly. If you mostly use Plus for its name, Shopify Advanced is $399 a month, or $299 billed yearly.
Which Shopify Plus alternative is best for B2B?
For quotes, credit lines and per-company prices, Adobe Commerce has the deepest native B2B module. Shopware adds quotes and purchase approvals on its Evolve plan. Our B2B ecommerce ranking compares more options.
Can I leave Shopify Plus before my contract ends?
Shopify says you can cancel a 1- or 3-year Plus subscription when the term commitment expires. Read your own contract for the exact terms, and schedule the migration to finish before that date.
Does Shopify Plus charge a percentage of revenue?
Shopify's public pricing page shows the $2,300 starting price and payment rates, not a revenue-based fee. Partners report variable fees for large stores; if your sales team quotes one, ask for the rate and the cap in writing.
Is a headless platform cheaper than Shopify Plus?
Rarely in the first years. commercetools publishes no price, and you build and maintain the front end yourself. Merchants who went headless describe maintenance that keeps growing. See our headless commerce ranking.
Will I lose SEO when leaving Shopify Plus?
Not if you map every URL with a 301 redirect before launch and watch 404s for a month. The URL structure will change, since /products/ and /collections/ are Shopify paths.
Do customers keep their passwords after the move?
No. Passwords are stored hashed and don't transfer between platforms. Customers reset them; send a clear email on launch day.
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