Shopify Plus vs Magento Open Source: The Honest 5-Year Cost
Shopify Plus vs Magento Open Source: the honest five-year cost
This is the comparison every growing merchant eventually faces: stay easy and rented, or own your platform. Shopify Plus and Magento Open Source sit at opposite ends of that trade-off, and the marketing on both sides is loud. Here's the honest version — what each really costs over five years, and when each is the right answer.
Shopify Plus: easy, and rented
Shopify Plus is genuinely excellent at being simple. It also starts around £24,000 a year and climbs with revenue — before the app subscriptions you'll stack to match features Magento has natively, and the platform fees baked into the model. Over five years that's a six-figure spend on something you will never own, can't deeply customise past a point, and whose speed is bound to a theme.
Magento Open Source: owned, and yours to shape
Magento Open Source has no licence fee. Your costs are hosting, the modules you choose, and a front end. In return you get the full enterprise-capable engine, total customisation, native B2B foundations, and — crucially — ownership. Nobody can change your terms, take a cut, or cap what you build.
The five-year picture
| Shopify Plus | Magento Open Source + stack | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | £24k+/yr + apps | £0 licence |
| 5-year platform cost | £120k+ (rising) | Hosting + modules |
| Own it? | No | Yes |
| Customisation | Capped | Unlimited |
| Speed ceiling | Theme-bound | Headless: 96/1.1s |
| B2B | Add-ons | Native + modules |
When Shopify Plus wins
Be fair: if you're a lean team that values simplicity over control, ships mostly standard B2C, and would rather pay to never think about infrastructure — Shopify Plus is a fine choice and you'll be productive fast.
When Magento Open Source wins
If you sell real volume, run B2B, need deep customisation, care about speed and SEO, and want to own your store rather than rent it — the maths and the control both favour Magento. The historic catch was that assembling the modules and a fast front end was an agency-sized project. That's exactly the gap we closed. The full money comparison across all options is in the real cost of a Magento store.
Own your store, don't rent it. The AgenticEcom Suite is the owned alternative — 40+ modules and a 96-Lighthouse headless storefront, from £9,995 a year, less than Shopify Plus charges for the base plan. See the Suite →
Frequently asked questions
Is Magento cheaper than Shopify Plus?
Over time, usually yes. Shopify Plus starts around £24,000/year forever plus apps; Magento Open Source has no licence fee, so your spend is hosting and modules — and you own the result rather than renting it.
Should I move from Shopify Plus to Magento?
If you need deep customisation, serious B2B, top-tier speed, or simply want to own your platform and stop paying a rising rent, Magento Open Source is the stronger long-term home. If you value simplicity above all, Shopify Plus is fine.
What's the catch with Magento Open Source?
Historically, assembling modules and a fast front end was a big project. A pre-integrated platform like the AgenticEcom Suite removes that, giving you the ownership without the assembly.