Open-source alternatives to Shopify Plus

Which open-source alternative to Shopify Plus fits your store

If your Shopify Plus renewal, pricing change, data residency requirement or lock-in concern is forcing a decision, Magento Open Source fits catalog-heavy stores with complex pricing and many SKUs, Saleor or Medusa fit teams building a headless storefront on their own frontend, and WooCommerce fits smaller shops already running WordPress. Sylius and PrestaShop are credible middle options when your team works in PHP and wants a framework or a packaged store, and the choice between them depends on how much custom code you are prepared to own.

Teams look for alternatives for a few recurring reasons. Shopify Plus is a fully hosted platform, and Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average, so a self-hosted option moves hosting, patching, scaling and incident response onto your side of the contract. Every open-source option is self-hosted and carries its own license: Magento Open Source uses OSL 3.0, Saleor uses BSD-3-Clause, Medusa's core is MIT with Enterprise features under a commercial agreement, Sylius is MIT, PrestaShop Core is OSL-3.0 and WooCommerce is GPL version 2 or later. Read each license with your legal team, because the license governs the software, not the cost of running it. Confirm in writing what uptime your own hosting provider and operations team can commit to before you compare it with Shopify's figure.

Five open-source options to evaluate against Shopify Plus

Each option below replaces a different part of what Shopify Plus bundles: hosting, the storefront, the catalog and the checkout. Licensing, language, API style and the cost of running the platform yourself vary widely, so compare them against your catalog size, team skills and how much of the stack you want to own.

Magento Open Source

Magento Open Source is licensed under OSL 3.0 and suits catalog-heavy stores with complex attributes, configurable products and many storefronts. You take on hosting, patching, performance tuning and the search and caching layers that Shopify Plus runs for you. Adobe positions Adobe Commerce, with cloud hosting and AI merchandising, as the paid full-featured edition, so ask what features your team needs before assuming the open-source edition covers them. Check the extension list against your checkout and promotion rules before you commit.

Saleor

Saleor is a BSD-3-Clause, Python-based headless commerce platform that exposes its functions through a GraphQL API. It supports per-channel pricing, currencies, stock and products, which suits brands selling through several storefronts, marketplaces or regions. The trade-off is that you build the storefront and most integrations yourself, so you need developers comfortable with GraphQL and Python. Plan the storefront as a separate project from day one.

Medusa

Medusa's core commerce framework is MIT licensed and written in TypeScript, which fits teams already building React or Node.js storefronts. Its open-core model means Enterprise Edition features based on role-based access control require a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc. Confirm which features you need, then ask for written terms covering them before you design around them. The core is free to use, but the paid features are not.

Sylius

Sylius is an MIT-licensed ecommerce framework built on Symfony and API Platform, with a REST API. It suits PHP teams that want full control of the domain model, such as custom product types, B2B flows and complex order logic. Professional support is offered through Sylius Plus, so decide early whether your team can carry the support load alone. Expect to write more custom code than you would on a packaged store.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a GPL v2 or later plugin on WordPress, so it fits shops that already run content and marketing on WordPress and have modest catalog sizes. Hosting, security updates and plugin compatibility become your responsibility, and plugin sprawl is the most common source of upgrade risk. Review the license file and each plugin's license before adding paid extensions. Audit your plugin stack before you plan the migration.

PrestaShop 9.0

PrestaShop 9.0 was released on June 10, 2025, and requires PHP 8.1 or higher. PrestaShop Core is licensed OSL-3.0 and modules are AFL-3.0, so check the license of every module you plan to use. It suits European merchants who want a self-contained store with a large module marketplace. Confirm that the modules you need support version 9.0 before you commit to the upgrade path.

How Shopify Plus capabilities map to open-source options

This table compares the main Shopify Plus capabilities with the open-source options that can cover them, and shows where the responsibility moves to your team. Read the gaps column first, because hosting, uptime and app replacement are the areas that change most when you self-host. Use the coverage notes to shortlist platforms, then confirm each capability against the current release of the option you choose.

Capability	Open-source options	Coverage notes and gaps
Hosting and uptime	Self-hosted Magento Open Source, Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, PrestaShop, WooCommerce	Shopify Plus is fully hosted and states 99.99% uptime on average. Self-hosting moves hosting, scaling, patching, backups and uptime targets to you or your provider.
Product catalog and variants	Saleor, Medusa, Magento Open Source, Sylius, PrestaShop, WooCommerce	Core catalog and variant models exist in most options, but attribute structures differ. Confirm how each option models your variant count and option types before migrating.
Product images	All options, via import tooling or custom scripts	Shopify CSV exports omit images. Plan a separate download of original files from public URLs, and keep the Shopify store live until images are imported.
Customer records	All options, via CSV import or API	Shopify CSV exports include customer details, tags and supported metafields, limited to 15 MB per file. Split larger exports and confirm password handling, since customers typically need to reset credentials.
Checkout and checkout logic	Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, Magento Open Source (checkout customization), WooCommerce (plugins)	Shopify Plus checkout customizations do not transfer directly. Rebuild discount, shipping and tax rules in the chosen platform and test them against your order history.
Apps and integrations	Modules, plugins and custom integrations, varying by option	Shopify apps are not portable. Map each app to a native feature, an existing module or a custom integration, and confirm availability and maintenance status for every option.
Multi-currency and per-channel pricing	Saleor (per-channel pricing and currencies), Medusa, Magento Open Source, Sylius	Saleor documents per-channel pricing and currencies. For other options, confirm multi-currency and multi-store pricing support, and the cost of extensions if the feature is not native.
Headless storefronts	Saleor (GraphQL API), Medusa, Sylius (REST API via API Platform)	Headless builds require you to own the storefront, hosting and frontend release process. Confirm API coverage for your required operations before committing.

What Shopify's hosting and 99.99% uptime cover today

Shopify Plus is a fully hosted commerce platform, and Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average on its Shopify Plus page. That figure is the vendor's average, not a contractual promise for your store, so read the current service terms with your procurement team before using it as a baseline. The practical point for a self-hosting decision is that Shopify carries the infrastructure, scaling, patching, database backups, platform monitoring and the on-call rota behind those numbers. Once you self-host, every one of those responsibilities moves to your organization or its implementation partner.

Before you commit to an uptime target, write down what each responsibility means in your environment. Infrastructure covers the cloud accounts or data centers, load balancers, the database and the cache layer. Scaling covers how the store absorbs a flash sale or a seasonal peak. Patching covers the platform core, extensions and the operating system beneath them. Backups cover recovery point and recovery time, and whether restores have ever been tested. Monitoring and on-call cover who is paged at 2 a.m. when checkout fails. Each of these has a cost that recurs every month, whichever open-source platform you choose.

Set your own uptime target from your business exposure, not from Shopify's average. Ask your team to confirm the revenue lost per hour of downtime, the peak trading periods, the regulatory or contractual obligations that apply to checkout and customer data, and the staff available to respond out of hours. Then compare that target with the architecture you can fund, such as a single region or multi-zone deployment with a tested failover. Do not assume parity with a hosted platform until your own architecture, monitoring and on-call model has been designed and measured against that target.

How the cost of self-hosting compares to a Shopify Plus subscription

This table sets the Shopify Plus subscription and its apps against the components of a self-hosted store, marking each as one-time or recurring and listing what drives it. Use it to build a question list for written quotes, not to estimate totals, since no prices are given here.

Cost component	Who is paid or who carries it	One-time or recurring	What drives the cost
Shopify Plus subscription	Shopify, for hosting, uptime and platform updates (Shopify states 99.99% average uptime)	Recurring	Plan tier, transaction volume, number of staff accounts and contracted add-ons. Confirm current terms in your own agreement.
Shopify apps	App vendors, billed per app	Recurring	Count of installed apps and their plan levels. Each app often holds data and logic you must rebuild.
Cloud or data center infrastructure	Your cloud provider or data center, or a managed hosting partner	Recurring	Traffic peaks, environments (staging, production), database and search capacity, backup retention and region.
Open-source licenses	No license fee for MIT, BSD-3-Clause, GPL and OSL options such as Saleor, Medusa core, Sylius, WooCommerce and PrestaShop	None	Confirm license terms for each module or extension you add, since some third-party modules carry their own licenses.
Commercial editions and agreements	Adobe for Adobe Commerce, Sylius for Sylius Plus, MedusaJS, Inc. for Enterprise Edition features	Recurring if chosen	Feature needs such as enterprise access control, cloud hosting or vendor support. Request the edition list and terms in writing.
Implementation and architecture	DeployOpen or another implementation partner, or your internal team	One-time	Chosen platform, headless versus monolithic design, number of storefronts and integrations with ERP, PIM and payments. Ask for a fixed-scope written quote.
Data migration	Implementation partner or internal team	One-time	Catalog size, product variants, customer records, order history, URL redirects and image transfer. Shopify's CSV export excludes images and limits customer exports to 15 MB per file, so plan extra handling.
App rebuilding and checkout logic	Developers on your side or a partner	One-time, with ongoing maintenance	Number and complexity of replaced apps, custom checkout rules, tax and shipping logic, and payment provider connections.
Support retainers and upgrades	Partner or internal team, under a retainer or staff time	Recurring	Upgrade frequency, security patching, testing cadence and response expectations. Ask what the retainer covers and what is billed separately.
Internal skills and staffing	Your payroll, or contractors	Recurring	Required skills (platform engineering, security, merchandising tools), on-call duties and turnover. This is often the largest ongoing item and is easy to undercount.

What you give up when you leave Shopify Plus, and the usual workarounds

Leaving Shopify Plus moves hosting, uptime, apps, checkout and admin habits from the vendor to your team or your partner. Each card below names one of these losses, the workaround most teams use, and what to verify before you commit to a replacement stack.

Managed hosting and uptime

Shopify Plus is a fully hosted platform, and Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average. Self-hosting means you own servers, scaling, database failover, backups, patching and incident response. The usual workaround is managed hosting in your own cloud account, with monitoring on storefront, checkout and API paths and a written runbook for peak trading periods. Ask any partner what uptime they will commit to in writing, and which parts of that commitment depend on your own infrastructure.

App marketplace availability

Many Shopify Plus merchants rely on third-party apps for reviews, subscriptions, shipping rules or loyalty. Those apps do not run on Magento, Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, PrestaShop or WooCommerce, so each function needs a replacement. The workaround is a custom integration or an open-source module for the same job. Before you commit, list every installed app, confirm whether an open-source module exists for each platform, and confirm its maintenance status and license.

Checkout customization limits

Shopify Plus restricts how far merchants can change checkout, so custom logic often lives in checkout extensions or scripts that the platform controls. On a self-hosted or headless build, checkout is your code. That gives you full control over pricing rules, tax calls and address validation, but it also makes you responsible for PCI scope, conversion testing and every payment flow. Confirm which checkout steps you must rebuild and who will test them.

Admin tooling and staff familiarity

Merchandisers, customer service and finance teams know the Shopify admin. Open-source admin panels differ in layout, bulk editing, reporting and role permissions, so day-to-day productivity can drop during the first months. Plan training, write process guides for product onboarding and refunds, and test role-based access with real users before cutover. Measure how long common tasks take in the old and new admin during a pilot.

Managed payments and fraud tools

Shopify Plus bundles payment processing and fraud screening into the checkout experience. Self-hosted stores connect to payment gateways directly, so you must confirm which gateway offers hosted fields, tokenization, 3-D Secure, chargeback tooling and fraud scoring for your markets. Fees, settlement terms and fraud rules come from each provider, so request those terms in writing before you plan the migration.

How to move products, images and customers off Shopify Plus

This sequence moves your catalog, product images and customer records into a self-hosted store while the Shopify Plus store keeps taking orders. It ends with a tested cutover and a decommissioned Shopify environment that you can prove is clean.

Inventory apps, integrations and checkout logic
Your team lists every Shopify app, theme customization, webhook, ERP or warehouse connector, payment gateway, tax service and checkout script that the store depends on. Each item gets a column for its open-source replacement, a named owner and a decision: rebuild, replace or drop. Open the Shopify admin and the app store listings to confirm what is installed, because staff often forget apps that run in the background. The step is done when every dependency has a decision and an owner, and the list has been signed off by merchandising, finance and operations.
Export the product catalog to CSV
A store administrator exports products from the Shopify admin as a CSV file, which covers titles, descriptions, variants, prices, SKUs, inventory fields and metafields where the export includes them. Check the exported file against a sample of live products, especially variant options, tags, collections and SEO fields, since the fields included depend on your Shopify plan and apps. Keep a dated copy of the export outside the working folder. The output is a complete, versioned product file that the team can open, count and compare with the admin.
Migrate product images from public URLs
Product images are not included in the product CSV, so they need a separate path. Use the image URLs in the export and confirm they still resolve publicly, then have the new platform's import tooling fetch each image. Shopify advises keeping the original store live until the new store has imported images from their public URLs, so do not close or unpublish the source store at this point. Your check is a count of imported images per product compared with the source, plus a spot check of alt text and image order on high-traffic items. Ask your implementation partner which import method your chosen platform supports.
Export customers and split large files
Export customers from the Shopify admin as CSV. Shopify limits each customer export to 15 MB, so a large customer base needs to be split into several files before import, keeping each customer's rows together. Include tags and any metafields your new store will use, and note which fields the new platform cannot store so they can be mapped or archived. Passwords cannot be exported, so plan a password reset flow for customers who log in. The output is a set of validated customer files, each under the limit, with a record count that matches the source.
Map fields, metafields and data types
Build a mapping sheet that links each Shopify column and metafield to a field in the new platform, including money, weight, currency, locale, variant and customer address formats. Decide how to handle fields with no equivalent, such as certain app data or collections rules. Compare the catalog with the BigCommerce Catalog API approach if you are weighing programmatic extraction in general, but for Shopify your starting point is the CSV exports above. The step is done when a reviewer has signed the mapping and each unmapped field has a recorded decision.
Pilot the import on a subset
Import a representative subset of products, images and customers into a staging instance of the new store. Include simple products, variants, bundles, discounted items, and customers with tags and multiple addresses. Test search, category pages, price display, tax rules, checkout and order emails. Compare results with the source for counts, prices and URLs. The output is a defect list with owners and a second pilot run that clears the agreed critical issues.
Run the stores in parallel
Run full imports into the production candidate while Shopify continues to serve customers. Repeat the catalog, image and customer imports on a schedule agreed with the business, and reconcile counts, stock levels and open orders each time. Watch redirects, indexing and analytics tags so search visibility holds. Keep the cutover window and rollback plan written down. The step is done when two consecutive full reconciliations match and the business has approved go-live.
Cut over DNS and decommission Shopify
Freeze orders in Shopify, run a final delta import, then point DNS and payment, webhook and email endpoints to the new platform. Confirm checkout with live test transactions and verify certificates, redirects and monitoring. Keep Shopify in read-only mode for a period your legal and finance teams set, then export final records and cancel the subscription. The output is a live store, a documented rollback path, and an archive of the Shopify exports kept under your retention policy.

Rebuilding apps and checkout logic on an open-source stack

Start by listing every app installed on the Shopify Plus store, including the ones your team has forgotten about. For each app, record what it does, which storefront or back-office pages depend on it, what data it reads and writes, and who owns the business process behind it. Then classify each app into one of three outcomes: replace it with a native feature or a maintained open-source module, rebuild it as custom code on the new platform because it encodes business logic you own, or drop it because the process it supported is no longer needed. Apps that handle payments, tax calculation, shipping rate lookups, fraud screening, and loyalty points usually need the closest review because they touch money and customer data directly.

Checkout rules, tax, shipping and discount logic are where parity assumptions cause the most damage. Document each rule as a testable statement, such as which customer groups see which discounts, how stacking is resolved, which shipping zones and rate tables apply, and how tax is calculated for each jurisdiction you sell into. Then confirm each capability in the chosen option's documentation and current release rather than assuming it exists. Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, PrestaShop and WooCommerce differ in how they model promotions, channels, tax classes and shipping methods, and some of these behaviors may require plugins, custom services, or a third-party tax engine. Ask each vendor or community maintainer to point to the documentation for the specific behavior, and write acceptance tests from your rule list before the build starts.

Which option fits by situation

Magento Open Source is the option most often considered when the catalog is large, attributes are complex and merchandising rules run deep. Its source files are licensed under OSL 3.0, and the platform is built for large product data sets, but it asks more of the team that runs it than a hosted service does. Adobe positions Adobe Commerce as its paid full-featured edition, so features that merchants expect from a managed platform may be found there rather than in the open-source core.

Catalog depth: Attribute sets, configurable products and indexing are mature areas, but tuning them is ongoing work.
Hosting load: You operate the search, caching and database tiers yourself, usually across several environments.
Extensions: Many capabilities come from third-party modules, each with its own upgrade path and review needs.
Contribution terms: Contributors must sign the Adobe Contributor License Agreement before code is accepted, which matters if you plan to upstream fixes.
Upgrade cadence: Plan for regular platform upgrades and regression testing of custom modules.

Confirm with your team which Shopify Plus features your catalog relies on today, such as bulk pricing or multi-location inventory, and whether each one exists in the open-source core or in a module you would need to maintain.

What buyers ask before moving off Shopify Plus

How much effort and cost does a move off Shopify Plus involve?

The cost is driven by scope more than by the platform name, so the effort is best sized from your own catalog, integrations and checkout rules. Cost falls into a few components: the platform itself (free to download for Magento Open Source, Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, PrestaShop and WooCommerce, but hosting and licensing terms vary), hosting and infrastructure you run, a build or migration partner, rebuilt apps and integrations, and ongoing maintenance. Build work is largely one-time, while hosting, security patching, upgrades and monitoring recur every year. Ask any vendor for a quote that lists each component separately, with the assumptions behind it, so you can compare options on the same basis.

How long does a Shopify Plus migration take?

No researched duration is available for this move, so treat any timeline as provisional until your scope is written down. The main drivers are the number of products and variants, how many apps and third-party integrations must be rebuilt, how much custom checkout logic exists, and how many languages, currencies and sites you run. Headless builds usually add front-end work, while a platform like WooCommerce on an existing WordPress site may shorten the path. Ask for a plan with phases, a cutover approach and a parallel-run period, and confirm which dependencies sit outside your control, such as payment provider certification.

What does the migration need from our internal team?

Your team needs to own decisions that only the business can make, and to supply the knowledge the new platform will depend on. In practice this means named owners for product data, pricing rules, tax and shipping configuration, payment and fraud settings, and customer communications. Engineers must document existing Shopify apps, theme customizations, webhooks and scripts so each one is replaced, dropped or kept on purpose. Plan for testers who can check orders end to end, because automated tests rarely cover every promotion or returns path. Ask the implementation partner which of these tasks they expect you to perform and how much of your staff time that represents.

Can our own team migrate the store without outside help?

A capable in-house team can move a simple store, but the decision depends on how much custom logic and operational risk you carry. Shopify exports products to CSV from the admin, and it exports customers, including tags and supported metafields, to a CSV file limited to 15 MB. Those files are a starting point, not a finished migration, because they do not carry everything that a live store relies on. Outside help is most worth considering when you have a large catalog, complex B2B pricing, multiple storefronts, strict uptime needs or a short cutover window. A fixed-scope engagement lets you buy specific deliverables, such as data mapping, integration rebuilds or testing, without committing to a full team.

How do we move product images and customer data within the CSV limits?

Product images are not included in Shopify's product CSV, so image migration is a separate task. Shopify advises keeping the original store live until the new store has imported images from their public URLs, which means the source store must remain accessible during that step. For customers, the 15 MB CSV limit means large exports must be split into multiple files and checked for consistent headers, encoding and duplicate records. Confirm how your chosen platform imports images and customer addresses, test with a sample before the full run, and keep a verified backup of every export. Customer records also carry personal data, so restrict who can handle the files and delete working copies after import.

What happens to licensing for each open-source option?

Licensing differs by platform, and you should review each one against your legal and procurement requirements. Magento Open Source source files are licensed under OSL 3.0, with Adobe Commerce as the paid full-featured edition. Saleor is BSD-3-Clause, and the Medusa core is MIT licensed, but some Enterprise Edition features require a commercial agreement with MedusaJS, Inc. Sylius is MIT licensed, with professional support offered through Sylius Plus. PrestaShop Core is OSL-3.0 and its modules are AFL-3.0. WooCommerce is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or any later version. Check that any extensions, themes and modules you plan to use carry compatible terms, and ask counsel to confirm obligations if you modify or redistribute code.

When is outside help worth paying for during the move?

Outside help is worth considering when the cost of a mistake is higher than the cost of a partner. Typical triggers include replacing many Shopify apps, rebuilding payment, tax or fraud logic, moving customers with sensitive data, or needing evidence for a compliance assessment. DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms in your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. It also runs security testing and prepares systems and evidence for compliance assessments, though it does not issue audit reports or certifications. Most engagements are fixed-scope, with scope and timelines agreed in writing before work starts, and ongoing support is available as a retainer.

How DeployOpen scopes, migrates and supports the replacement

DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For a move away from Shopify Plus, that means a written scope that names the platform, the catalog and customer data to move, and the integrations and checkout logic to rebuild before any work starts.

How we scope

Engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.
The written scope lists which products, images, customers, apps and checkout rules move, and which stay in Shopify during parallel running.
A quote follows from the written scope, so ask for the scope document as the basis of any comparison.

How we build

Build the chosen platform (Magento Open Source, Saleor, Medusa, Sylius, PrestaShop or WooCommerce) in your own hosting environment.
Map each Shopify app to a replacement module, integration or custom component, and document which apps are dropped.
Run security testing on the storefront, APIs and admin before launch, and rebuild checkout logic with tests.

How we hand over

Deliver documentation for architecture, deployment, data import steps, configuration and operational runbooks.
Keep the original Shopify store live until images and customer records are verified in the new store.
Hand over controls and evidence that support your own compliance assessments, which independent auditors carry out.

How we support

Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous security testing are available as retainers after launch.
Plan platform upgrades and backups against the release cadence of your chosen open-source project.
Confirm with DeployOpen during scoping which support hours, response expectations and retainer terms apply.