Magento vs Shopify - aka Shopify vs Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Welcome to our series of Shopify reviews - in this article we compare Magento vs Shopify - aka Shopify vs Magento (Adobe Commerce).

Choosing the right eCommerce platform for your business is one of the most important decisions you'll make, and with so many options available in 2025, it can feel overwhelming.

You want a platform that will evolve with you as your business grows, meet your changing needs, and support your long-term success without requiring constant rebuilds or migrations.

There are two core differences between Magento vs Shopify - aka Shopify vs Magento (Adobe Commerce).

1. Shopify is a fully hosted, subscription-based platform that you can set up in minutes, while Adobe Commerce (and Magento Open Source) requires you to arrange your own hosting, installation, configuration, and ongoing technical maintenance.
2. Shopify is designed for ease of use with a straightforward interface, while Adobe Commerce offers extensive customisation and flexibility that typically requires medium to high-level web development expertise.

Let's step you through an analysis of which platform is best for you in 2025.

Full disclosure — we are a Shopify partner.

The State of eCommerce Platforms in 2025

The eCommerce landscape has evolved significantly. As of 2025, Shopify powers over 5.5 million active online stores worldwide and commands approximately 27-30% of the US eCommerce software market. Adobe Commerce (Magento) serves around 140,000 live websites globally, with a focus on enterprise-level businesses with complex requirements.

Both platforms have matured considerably, but they continue to serve fundamentally different business needs and technical capabilities.

Start With Your Business Needs

Before you start comparing platforms, you need to look forensically at your own business and identify its strengths and weaknesses. Where are you great? Where do you need support? And how is your team structured?

For example, if you don't have the in-house skills to manage world-class hosting, security patches, development work, and platform maintenance, you'll either need a digital agency to take care of it for you, or use a fully hosted platform like Shopify.

It's also worth creating a second 'wish list' of what you want the site to be able to deliver. For example, do you want a loyalty programme? Do you need it to be easily and frequently updated with new product ranges? Do you want Instagram feeds? Ratings and reviews? International selling capabilities?

Once you have both of these lists in hand, it gets a lot easier to make a considered decision and get on the right platform.

The Big Players in 2025

You'll see brands discussed, such as WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Shopify, Adobe Commerce (Magento), and more. All have merits, all have differences, and all have some downsides.

Today, we're focusing on comparing two of the leading platforms: Magento vs Shopify - aka Shopify vs Magento (Adobe Commerce). Both are major players with solid track records. Both have 'tiers' of their offering, making them suitable for businesses at different stages of growth.

What Does Your Business Need?

There are different versions of Magento vs Shopify, so it's important to choose the right version for the size and complexity of your business.

Shopify offers multiple tiers: Shopify Starter for social selling and basic needs, then Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans priced according to their features. Shopify's pricing starts at $29 USD per month for Basic, with plans scaling up based on the features you need.

For startups and smaller businesses, we recommend the Shopify or Advanced Shopify plans for excellent sales features like abandoned cart recovery, detailed reporting, and advanced shipping options. For enterprises, The Hope Factory recommends designing and developing on Shopify Plus.

Adobe Commerce offers Magento Open Source (free to download) for small to medium businesses with technical capabilities, and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise) for larger brands, with pricing starting around $22,000 USD annually. Both require separate hosting and ongoing development resources.

Investment and Total Cost of Ownership

Shopify is fully hosted and you pay a flat monthly fee that includes platform maintenance, security, hosting, and core features. You'll also typically pay for premium apps on a per-month basis, which can add up but remains predictable.

As open-source software, Magento Open Source is free to download. However, you're responsible for your own hosting (which can run into thousands per month depending on scale), security patches, ongoing development work, and system maintenance. Many Magento extensions have one-off fees or annual licence fees, and you'll often need to pay developers to integrate and maintain your Magento components.

Adobe Commerce starts at approximately $22,000 annually for licensing, plus hosting, development, and ongoing maintenance costs. Total cost of ownership for Adobe Commerce typically ranges from $50,000 to several hundred thousand dollars annually for enterprise implementations.

In summary, both platforms require investment, but they charge in different ways. If you're looking for a one-stop-shop that requires less custom development work and charges predictable monthly fees with everything managed for you, Shopify is a strong option. If you need ultimate customisation and have the technical resources (or budget for ongoing agency support), Adobe Commerce provides that flexibility.

Hosting, Security & Domains

Both Magento and Shopify allow you to have your own domain linked to your store.

A major difference is that Shopify is a fully hosted solution that can be set up (even without a custom domain) in minutes. Adobe Commerce and Magento require separate hosting arrangement, download, installation, configuration, and ongoing server management.

Shopify delivers world-leading security and hosting that's already in place, with 99.99% uptime, automatic security updates, and PCI DSS compliance built in - perfect for growing businesses. Adobe Commerce gives you responsibility for your hosting, security patches, and server maintenance, which adds costs and can increase the risk of downtime or security vulnerabilities if not properly managed.

Themes, Design & User Experience

Both Shopify and Adobe Commerce use themes to create a design framework for your website. Some are free, and the higher-quality, feature-rich ones typically require a purchase.

We hold the view that Shopify themes are superior from both a design and user experience (UX) standpoint. They're mobile-responsive by default, work seamlessly across devices, and look polished straight out of the box. If you want style and sophistication without months of development work, Shopify is a standout.

Adobe Commerce offers thousands of themes through various marketplaces, but quality varies significantly. While this gives you choice, Shopify delivers quality over quantity in absolute spades.

From a technical standpoint, Shopify themes are one-click to install and relatively straightforward to modify using Liquid (Shopify's templating language). Adobe Commerce themes are more complex to install and significantly more complex to modify, typically requiring experienced PHP developers.

When it comes to design and UX, you'll have a better-looking and easier-to-manage theme with Shopify, no question.

Driving Traffic and SEO

It's one thing to set your site up, and quite another to drive customers there to shop. Every site needs a solid traffic-driving strategy encompassing SEO (search engine optimisation), paid advertising, social media, content marketing, and more.

At the core of it, you need to have a solid SEO proposition in your online store. Both platforms offer strong SEO capabilities to deliver search engine traffic. Shopify has made significant improvements to its SEO features over the years, including customisable H1 tags, meta descriptions, robots.txt editing, and clean URL structures.

Adobe Commerce has traditionally been praised for its SEO flexibility, offering granular control over URL structures, meta data, and technical optimisation. However, this requires technical expertise to implement properly.

In 2025, both platforms can deliver excellent SEO results when properly configured. The difference is that Shopify makes good SEO more accessible out of the box, while Adobe Commerce requires more technical expertise but offers deeper customisation for complex SEO strategies.

Product and Inventory Management

When your site is live, you need to be able to update your ranges and product information quickly and easily.

Both Shopify and Adobe Commerce have robust product management sections in the back end where you can add and edit products. Both offer bulk upload features and the capability to integrate with your stock management or warehouse systems.

However, Shopify is significantly easier to use when adding and editing products and categories, with a much more user-friendly interface. The learning curve is minimal, and you don't need coding knowledge to manage your catalogue effectively.

Adobe Commerce offers more advanced product management features, including sophisticated attribute sets and complex product relationships, but this comes at the cost of increased complexity. If you're not technically proficient, Shopify is far easier to use for day-to-day product management.

Apps, Integrations & Extensibility

Apps and integrations are the elements that customise your customer experience. Loyalty programmes, dropshipping tools, shipping calculators, SEO tools, email marketing, and more can all be added via apps.

The Shopify App Store has over 8,000 apps to choose from in 2025, with robust vetting processes to ensure quality and security. Many apps are free, many require investment, but most can be integrated with just a few clicks and no coding required. The ecosystem is mature, well-supported, and designed for non-technical users.

Adobe Commerce has thousands of extensions available through the Adobe Commerce Marketplace and third-party sources. Many are free, but quality can vary significantly. The main difference is that you'll typically need technical expertise to properly integrate, configure, and maintain extensions, and not all extensions are compatible with each other.

Shopify wins on ease of implementation and maintenance for apps and integrations.

Point of Sale and Omnichannel Selling

If you're selling at markets, trade fairs, or have a bricks-and-mortar store, you need to look at your point of sale solutions. Ideally, your payment system should be linked to your online store to track inventory, orders, customer data, and eliminate the need to run two separate data streams for your accounting platform.

Shopify offers a robust POS system that seamlessly integrates with your online store. The Shopify POS app works on any device and accepts all major payment methods including cash, credit, gift cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. In 2025, Shopify POS supports businesses across multiple locations with sophisticated inventory management.

Adobe Commerce offers POS capabilities through various extensions and integrations available in the marketplace. However, these typically require custom configuration and ongoing technical maintenance. The setup is more complex and may require developer assistance.

For ease of use and seamless integration between online and offline channels, Shopify wins decisively.

Time Investment - Building It

A Shopify build is a significantly faster proposition than an Adobe Commerce build, no question.

Shopify has excellent design out of the box and requires far less custom coding. The Liquid programming language is efficient for developers to work with, and the platform's architecture is optimised for speed. You can have a basic Shopify site live in minutes, and a fully customised, professional store in weeks rather than months.

Adobe Commerce is a solid platform but requires substantial design work, longer setup times, and is more complex to modify unless you're an experienced developer. Implementation timelines typically range from 3-6 months for a properly configured Adobe Commerce site, and often longer for enterprise implementations.

When you've got an awesome brand and idea to launch, you're much better off choosing a platform that can be operational faster and customised more cost-effectively, so you can get out there and start trading.

Day-to-Day Management

Adobe Commerce is a robust and powerful platform serving approximately 140,000 live websites worldwide. But Shopify has over 5.5 million active stores globally, and a large part of the reason for Shopify's market dominance is that it's significantly easier to use.

The Shopify back-end is intuitive, and installing new products, features, and apps is as simple as a few clicks. The learning curve is minimal, and most business owners can manage their store confidently without technical knowledge.

As a business owner, you'll be able to use the Shopify backend with far more ease than Adobe Commerce. You won't need to engage developers as frequently, saving significant investment that can be better spent on marketing, inventory, and growing your business.

What About Other Platforms?

While Shopify and Adobe Commerce (Magento) are the traditional heavyweight comparison, the eCommerce landscape in 2025 includes several other players worth considering depending on your specific needs:

Webflow

Webflow has grown steadily to power approximately 493,000 active websites as of 2025, with a 1.2% CMS market share. It's particularly popular with designers and creative agencies who want visual control without deep coding knowledge.

Webflow for eCommerce: Webflow offers native eCommerce capabilities including inventory management, product pages, and payment integration with Stripe, PayPal, and other processors. It's grown 647% in eCommerce adoption between 2020-2023, reaching over 12,500 active eCommerce sites.

Best for: Design-focused brands, creative businesses, and companies that prioritise visual storytelling and want more design control than Shopify offers, but find Adobe Commerce too complex.

Limitations: Webflow's eCommerce features are less mature than Shopify's, with fewer native integrations and a steeper learning curve for non-designers. It's not ideal for large-scale operations or businesses requiring extensive eCommerce-specific functionality.

Framer

Framer has emerged as a powerful design-first platform in 2025, particularly popular with designers transitioning from Figma. It's grown significantly, reaching 154.7K followers on X and 100K on Instagram, with a thriving community and marketplace.

Framer for eCommerce: Framer itself isn't a native eCommerce platform, but it integrates with Shopify through plugins like Framer Commerce and Frameship to create headless storefronts. This allows you to design stunning, highly interactive front-ends in Framer while using Shopify's robust eCommerce backend.

Best for: Brands that want absolute design freedom and cutting-edge visual experiences, particularly those with strong design teams. It's excellent for creating unique, animated, highly interactive shopping experiences.

Limitations: Requires a Shopify subscription for eCommerce functionality, may require technical knowledge for complex implementations, and the headless approach adds complexity compared to all-in-one solutions.

Wix & Squarespace

Both Wix (with 18.28% US eCommerce market share) and Squarespace (with 20.51% US market share) are popular website builders with eCommerce capabilities.

Best for: Very small businesses, solopreneurs, and creative professionals who need a simple online store with basic features. They're significantly cheaper and easier to learn than Shopify.

Limitations: Both platforms are limited in scalability, have fewer eCommerce-specific features, and offer less customisation than Shopify. They're best suited for businesses expecting lower order volumes (typically under 100 orders per month).

WooCommerce

WooCommerce powers over 3.5 million eCommerce websites globally (20.1% market share), making it the second most popular eCommerce platform after Shopify.

Best for: Businesses already comfortable with WordPress, those wanting ultimate flexibility and control, and companies with technical resources who want to avoid monthly platform fees.

Limitations: Requires you to manage your own hosting, security, and updates. While the plugin is free, total cost of ownership including hosting, premium extensions, and maintenance can exceed Shopify's fees. Not ideal for non-technical users.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce positions itself as an enterprise-grade solution with strong native features and no transaction fees.

Best for: Mid-market to enterprise businesses that want more built-in features than Shopify offers at similar pricing, and companies selling high volumes (it offers higher built-in sales limits before forcing plan upgrades).

Limitations: Steeper learning curve than Shopify, fewer apps available, and less intuitive interface.

The 2025 Comparison: Platform Summary

Here's how the major platforms stack up for eCommerce in 2025:

Shopify - 27-30% US market share, 5.5M+ active stores. Best all-round solution for most eCommerce businesses. Easy to use, scalable, comprehensive features.

WooCommerce - 20.1% market share, 3.5M+ sites. Best for WordPress users wanting flexibility and control with technical resources.

Squarespace - 20.51% US market share. Best for creatives and small businesses wanting simple, beautiful stores.

Wix - 18.28% US market share. Best for absolute beginners and very small businesses.

Adobe Commerce (Magento) - 140,000 live sites. Best for large enterprises with complex requirements and technical resources.

Webflow - 12,500+ eCommerce sites. Best for design-focused brands wanting visual control.

Framer + Shopify - Growing rapidly. Best for brands wanting cutting-edge design with Shopify's eCommerce reliability.

BigCommerce - Growing market share. Best for mid-market businesses wanting more built-in features.

What Do the Experts Say in 2025?

"While Adobe Commerce (Magento's cloud-hosted version) does offer a more user-friendly approach with some pre-built tools, the platform's true strength lies in its flexibility – which ironically makes it more complex for businesses without technical expertise."

— Atwix, Magento development agency, March 2025

"Magento's most notable limitation is its complexity, which can be daunting for beginners or businesses without technical expertise. Unlike Shopify, Magento requires coding knowledge for setup, customization, and maintenance."

— LitExtension, eCommerce migration platform, October 2025

"After working with hundreds of eCommerce brands, we've seen that Shopify Plus gives you enterprise power with implementation speeds that Adobe Commerce simply can't match. That said, if your business has genuinely complex B2B requirements or needs deep customisation that goes beyond what apps can provide, Adobe Commerce's flexibility becomes worth the investment and ongoing technical overhead."

— Andrew Cox, Director, The Hope Factory

The Bottom Line - Shopify vs Adobe Commerce (Magento) in 2025

We're Shopify Plus partners, and we focus on Shopify because we want to offer our clients a platform that delivers clear sales funnels, is easy to operate, looks amazing, and provides an excellent customer experience without requiring constant technical intervention.

In 2025, the choice is even clearer than it was years ago:

Choose Shopify if you want:

• A platform you can set up and manage yourself
• Predictable monthly costs with no surprise development bills
• World-class hosting, security, and reliability built in
• Access to 8,000+ vetted apps and integrations
• A platform that scales from startup to enterprise
• Beautiful, mobile-responsive themes out of the box
• To focus on growing your business, not managing technology
• Excellent customer support available 24/7

Choose Adobe Commerce if you have:

• Annual revenue exceeding £10M+ and complex requirements
• An in-house development team or agency on retainer
• Budget for £50,000+ annual platform costs
• Unique business processes requiring deep customisation
• Complex B2B requirements with custom pricing logic
• Time for 3-6 month implementation projects

Consider Webflow, Framer, or WooCommerce if:

• Design control is paramount and you have design resources
• You're already deeply invested in WordPress (for WooCommerce)
• You want to avoid monthly platform fees (WooCommerce)
• Your business is content-heavy with eCommerce as secondary (Webflow)
• You want cutting-edge visual experiences (Framer + Shopify)

The eCommerce platform landscape in 2025 offers more choice than ever, but for the vast majority of businesses—from startups to established brands—Shopify remains the standout choice. It ticks so many boxes, which is why we chose to become Shopify Experts and why we continue to recommend it to our clients.

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