When Shopify Plus or self-hosted PrestaShop fits your store
Choose Shopify Plus if you want someone else to run the platform, checkout and uptime, and you are willing to build on a hosted app ecosystem. Choose self-hosted PrestaShop if code, data and hosting need to sit inside your own infrastructure, and you have the in-house or partner skills to run them. Most renewals, data residency requirements and lock-in concerns come down to that split. Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average for Shopify Plus, according to the Shopify Plus page, and that figure reflects a provider carrying the hosting work on your behalf.
The decision turns on four things: who carries hosting responsibility, how far your payment flows reach into PCI scope, which modules you genuinely need, and what your team can maintain after launch. With PrestaShop, you take on server operations, patching of PHP and the database, backups and the module update cycle. Confirm your PCI scope with your payment provider and QSA before you commit, because a self-hosted store that handles card data directly carries a different compliance workload from one that redirects to a hosted payment page. Also confirm that your required payment gateways and integrations already exist as PrestaShop modules, since the module marketplace is where many Shopify apps will need replacements.
Licensing is the other axis. PrestaShop Core is licensed under OSL-3.0 and PrestaShop modules under AFL-3.0, so you can run, inspect and modify the code without a per-store SaaS subscription. That is a different contract from a Shopify Plus subscription, which covers hosted service and platform access. Ask your counsel to review how the module licenses apply to any paid third-party modules you plan to buy, and ask your integrator for the expected ongoing cost of PrestaShop 9 upgrades and security releases, since those recur every year.
Which platform fits which scenario
This table matches common Shopify Plus merchant conditions to the platform that usually fits better, with the reason tied to that condition. Read each row as a conditional: the right answer changes when the condition changes, so check which row describes your store before weighing the rest.
| Scenario | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog with heavy variants and frequent bulk edits | Shopify Plus, unless you have PHP skills to build import tooling | PrestaShop handles combinations, but large variant catalogs need tested import scripts and database tuning that you own. Confirm variant limits and import speed in a trial with your real data. |
| Strict data residency in a named country or your own data center | PrestaShop | A self-hosted shop keeps orders, customers and payment data where you place it. Shopify Plus stores data on Shopify's hosting, so confirm its data location terms against your residency obligations. |
| Team with strong PHP and MySQL skills | PrestaShop | Your staff can maintain themes, modules and database work directly. Without that skill, budget for an outside partner to patch and upgrade the platform. |
| Team with no PHP or server administration skills | Shopify Plus | Hosting, patching and upgrades would move to people you may not have. Shopify Plus keeps those tasks with the vendor. |
| Business that depends on Shopify apps for core operations | Shopify Plus, at least until the app functions are mapped | PrestaShop modules cover many needs but are not one-to-one with Shopify apps. Map each app to a module or custom build before deciding. |
| Merchant that needs Shopify-managed uptime and hosted checkout | Shopify Plus | Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average for Plus, according to the Shopify Plus page. A self-hosted PrestaShop shop makes uptime depend on your hosting design and staffing. |
| Mid-market merchant with a stable catalog, a fixed budget and a wish to own the storefront | PrestaShop | Self-hosting removes the recurring platform subscription, but it adds hosting, security and maintenance costs you must budget for. Ask for a written three-year cost comparison that includes both. |
| Store needing PCI scope kept small | Shopify Plus | Hosted checkout tends to reduce the cardholder data environment you manage. A self-hosted PrestaShop store puts more of the PCI responsibility on you, so confirm the payment integration method with your assessor. |
How PrestaShop covers catalog and checkout compared with Shopify Plus
PrestaShop gives you an application you host and customize, while Shopify Plus gives you a hosted checkout that Shopify runs and updates. PrestaShop is an open source ecommerce web application written in PHP. Its README describes it as highly customizable and says it supports the major payment services, so payment gateways are added as modules rather than set by the vendor. Shopify Plus checkout is hosted and managed by Shopify, which publishes 99.99% average uptime on its Plus page. On the PrestaShop side, checkout behavior, payment routing, fraud rules and performance under load are decisions your team or implementation partner owns, and they should be written down as requirements before any platform choice is final.
Catalog depth is where the two platforms differ most in practice. Shopify Plus products, variants, collections and metafields are managed in its admin and Admin API, and exports come out as CSV files that you then map to the new store. PrestaShop stores products, combinations, categories and customers in its own database, and its webservice gives third-party tools CRUD access to products, orders and customers with access keys. PrestaShop 9 also adds an Admin API built on API Platform with OAuth2 authentication, multi-shop support and Swagger documentation. Confirm in your own environment whether your catalog structure, B2B price lists, multi-currency pricing and tax rules need modules or custom code, and test each one against a copy of your store rather than assuming parity with Shopify Plus features.
Capabilities side by side: Shopify Plus and PrestaShop
This table compares how Shopify Plus and self-hosted PrestaShop 9 differ on hosting, data export, API access, licensing and server requirements. Read the Shopify Plus column as what the vendor provides and the PrestaShop column as what your team must provide, test and confirm. The main takeaway is that PrestaShop removes the software subscription, but hosting, uptime, patching and export testing move to your side.
| Capability | Shopify Plus | Self-hosted PrestaShop 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting model | Fully hosted by Shopify | Installed on servers or a cloud account you control, with a host you choose |
| Uptime responsibility | Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average, per its Plus page | Your hosting, database, network and patching set availability; get the host's written commitment |
| Catalog import and export | Product CSV export from the admin, which omits product images | Product data reachable through the webservice and Admin API; image and variant transfer must be scripted and tested |
| Customer export | Customer CSV limited to 15 MB per file | No file cap in the supplied facts; run a full customer pull on production-sized data to confirm limits |
| Admin API and webservice access | Shopify Admin API, scoped to the store and subject to Shopify's rate limits | Webservice gives CRUD on products, orders and customers with access keys; PrestaShop 9 adds an Admin API with OAuth2 and Swagger documentation |
| Multi-shop | Confirm with Shopify how multiple storefronts and markets are configured on your plan | Multi-shop support in PrestaShop 9, managed from one installation |
| Module or app marketplace | Shopify App Store apps, each with its own subscription terms and data access | AFL-3.0 modules from many vendors; review code, update history and support terms before installing |
| Licensing | Proprietary hosted subscription with no access to platform source code | PrestaShop Core under OSL-3.0; modules under AFL-3.0 |
| System requirements | Not applicable; Shopify runs the infrastructure | MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2 minimum, Apache 2.4 or later or Nginx, memory_limit of at least 512M, best on Unix-based systems |
How the module marketplace changes when you self-host
On Shopify Plus, most extensions come from the Shopify app store. Each app is installed into a hosted store, the platform handles the runtime, and the app vendor is responsible for keeping its integration working with Shopify's platform changes. Your team typically reviews permissions and pays the vendor's subscription, and the store owner does not patch the underlying platform.
- Vendor support: The app vendor supports the app, and Shopify supports the platform it runs on.
- Upgrade compatibility: Shopify manages platform upgrades, so your concern is whether each app keeps working after a platform change.
- Security review: You review the permissions each app requests and the data it reads, and you rely on Shopify's controls for the hosted environment.
- Pricing: Apps are priced by their vendors, often on a recurring basis, so app costs add to the platform subscription.
- Exit cost: Apps do not move with your data, so each one needs a replacement plan when you leave.
Before you rely on any app's behavior after a move, list every app in use and note what it does for your store.",
PrestaShop modules extend a self-hosted shop. PrestaShop Core is licensed under OSL-3.0 and modules under AFL-3.0, so you can read the code, modify it and run it in your own environment. Module quality varies widely, and the installation, updates and any security review sit with your team or your implementation partner. A module that works on one PrestaShop release may need changes on another.
- Vendor support: Support depends on the module publisher, which may be a commercial vendor, a community author or your own developers.
- Upgrade compatibility: Modules must be checked against the PrestaShop version you run, including PrestaShop 9.
- Security review: Your team reviews module code, database changes and hooks, because a module runs inside your shop.
- Licensing: Check each module's license, since some are free, some are open and some are sold under commercial terms.
- Ownership: You own the code you install and any patches you apply to it.
Confirm that each module you need is still maintained before you commit to a design that depends on it.",
Upgrade work moves from the platform provider to your team when you self-host. On Shopify Plus, the platform changes on the provider's schedule and the app vendor adapts. With PrestaShop, you decide when to move between versions, and modules, themes and custom code must be tested against each target. The PrestaShop README directs production shops to install from the releases page rather than from the development repository, which is a useful starting point for your change process.
- Release tracking: Watch the PrestaShop releases page for the 8.x and 9.x lines, which the project still publishes.
- Test environment: Keep a staging copy with the same modules so you can test each upgrade before production.
- Vendor commitments: Ask module vendors in writing which PrestaShop versions they support and how long.
- Custom code: Budget for changes to any module you have forked or modified.
- Support contracts: Decide whether internal staff or a partner will handle module support and patching.
If a vendor cannot name the PrestaShop versions it supports, treat the module as a maintenance risk.
Before you buy or install a module, verify the facts that determine whether it will stay usable. Many shops find that the cheapest option has the least recent maintenance, so the checks below matter more than the sticker price. The aim is to know, for each module, who maintains it, what it can access and what it will cost over time.
- License: Confirm the license terms, including whether the code can be modified and redistributed in your environment.
- Last release: Check the date of the most recent release and whether issues are being addressed.
- PrestaShop 9 compatibility: Confirm that the module states support for PrestaShop 9 and that the vendor has tested it.
- Pricing: Marketplace modules may be priced by the vendor, with recurring fees, license tiers or support plans, so request the full price in writing.
- Data access: Note which customer, order and payment data the module reads and stores.
Ask each vendor for its compatibility statement and support policy in writing, and keep the answers with your change records.
What moves to you: hosting, data and PCI responsibilities
Shopify Plus runs the hosting, uptime and much of the payment environment for you. Self-hosted PrestaShop hands those duties to your team or implementation partner, along with patching, backups and access control. The cards below cover each responsibility that changes hands and what to confirm before you commit.
Hosting and uptime commitments
Shopify Plus is a fully hosted platform, and Shopify states 99.99% uptime on average. With PrestaShop, no vendor carries that commitment. Your web servers, PHP runtime, MySQL or MariaDB database, cache, CDN and load balancing become your SLA, and any uptime target must be designed, funded and tested by you. Ask your hosting provider for a written availability commitment and a recovery time objective, and confirm how peak sales events are sized.
PCI DSS scope and payment model
Card data handling is the area where self-hosting changes the most. A hosted checkout that keeps card fields out of your servers usually shrinks the systems in PCI DSS scope, while a self-hosted checkout that touches card data expands it. Choose the payment integration with that scope in mind, then have your Qualified Security Assessor confirm the boundary in writing. Treat the scope decision as a design input, not a later audit finding.
Data location and residency
Shopify stores your customer, order and catalog data in its infrastructure, and you accept its regional terms. A self-hosted PrestaShop store places that data wherever you deploy it, which can meet residency rules that require in-country storage or a specific cloud region. The cost is that backups, logs, email relays and third-party modules can each move personal data elsewhere. Map every data flow, including module-based analytics and payment callbacks, before choosing a hosting region.
Admin and API access control
PrestaShop's webservice uses access keys for CRUD access to products, orders and customers, and PrestaShop 9 adds an Admin API with OAuth2 authentication. Shopify handles administrator sign-in and API tokens for you. With PrestaShop, you define who holds back office accounts, how API clients are scoped, how keys rotate and how access is logged. Review each integration key as a credential with an owner and an expiry date.
Patching PHP, MySQL and PrestaShop
Shopify applies platform updates without action from you. With PrestaShop, you own every layer: the PrestaShop release, the modules, PHP, the database engine and the web server. PrestaShop 9 requires PHP 8.1 or higher and MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2 at minimum, and the 8.x line continues to receive releases, so you must choose a version path. Plan a standing patch cycle, test modules against each release in staging, and confirm that your versions are still supported before you go live.
Backup and disaster recovery
Shopify keeps the store recoverable on its side, but you have no direct access to that process. A self-hosted store needs its own backups of the database, the file system, uploaded images and configuration, stored off the primary server and tested by restore. Set recovery point and recovery time targets with the business, and rehearse a full restore at least once before launch. Confirm who is paid to run restores and who is on call when a payment or inventory sync fails.
How a move from Shopify Plus to PrestaShop typically runs
The sequence moves a live Shopify Plus store to a self-hosted PrestaShop shop in an order that keeps product images, customer records and payment compliance intact. Each phase ends with a sign-off the store owner can check before the next one starts.
Export and inventory the Shopify Plus store
Your team or your implementation partner exports products, customers and orders from the Shopify admin as CSV files, and lists the apps, themes, metafields, automatic discounts and scripts the store relies on. Shopify limits customer exports to 15 MB per file, so large customer bases need several exports. Product images are not in the product CSV, so record every image URL separately. The step is done when you hold a written inventory that maps each app and custom logic to a PrestaShop module, a custom build or a deliberate removal.
Design the PrestaShop environment and hosting
Decide where PrestaShop will run and who operates it. PrestaShop 9 requires PHP 8.1 or higher, MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2 at minimum, Apache 2.4 or later (Nginx also works) and a memory_limit of at least 512M, and the docs say it works best on Unix-based systems. Plan staging, production, backups, TLS and patching for PHP, the database and modules, since you now carry these tasks. The step closes with an architecture document and a staging environment that passes the system requirements check.
Map catalog and customer data
Map Shopify products, variants, collections, metafields and customer tags to PrestaShop's product, combination, category, feature and customer objects. Decide how multi-shop or multi-language settings will be handled if you use them. Test the mapping with a small sample of products and a few customer records, using the PrestaShop webservice or Admin API where a CSV import cannot carry a field. The step is complete when a sample import reproduces the expected prices, variants and customer groups in staging.
Re-import product images from public URLs
Because exports exclude images, download or reference each image from the public URL recorded in the inventory and attach it to the matching PrestaShop product. Shopify advises keeping the original store live until a new store has imported images from their public URLs, so do not close the Shopify store during this step. Check image counts and alt text against the inventory for a sample of products. The step is done when every product in the migration set has its images in staging and a reconciliation report shows no gaps.
Select and configure modules and payments
Replace each Shopify app with a PrestaShop module that you have reviewed, or with custom code, and confirm each module's license and maintenance status before installation. Configure payment gateways and decide which parts of checkout stay on your servers. Payment card handling determines your PCI DSS scope, so confirm with your payment provider and assessor how hosted fields, redirects or tokenization affect your responsibilities. The step closes with a module register, a payment configuration record and a written PCI scope decision.
Plan redirects and SEO continuity
Build a redirect map from every indexed Shopify product, collection and page URL to its PrestaShop equivalent, and carry over titles, meta descriptions and canonical tags. Review robots rules and sitemaps so search engines do not index staging copies. Crawl the old and new sites to find broken links and missing redirects. The step is done when the redirect file is tested in staging and a crawl of the old URL list returns no unexpected 404 responses.
Test checkout, integrations and performance
Run end-to-end tests covering search, cart, checkout, tax, shipping, payment callbacks, order emails, returns and any integrations with ERP, shipping or marketing tools. Include load and failover checks sized to your peak trading periods, and review security findings from the staging environment. Compare test results with the requirements agreed in the design phase. The step closes when the open defect list has no blocking items and the business owners have signed off the test report.
Cut over DNS and retire the old store
Run a final delta export of orders and customers from Shopify, import them into PrestaShop, switch DNS and payment webhooks, and monitor logs, orders and error rates closely after go-live. Keep the Shopify store available for a period agreed with the business so that you can reconcile late orders and recover any missing data. The step is complete when orders placed after cutover appear correctly in PrestaShop, the reconciliation report is signed, and the old store is archived under a documented retention decision.
Questions buyers ask before choosing PrestaShop over Shopify Plus
What does self-hosting PrestaShop cost compared with Shopify Plus?
Self-hosting moves costs from a platform subscription to components you pay for directly: hosting and infrastructure, PHP and database operations, a CDN, paid modules and themes, build and migration work, security patching, and support. Shopify Plus bundles hosting and platform updates into its fee, and the Shopify Plus page states 99.99% uptime on average. Most of the PrestaShop cost is recurring operations labor and is driven by catalog size, traffic peaks, the number of modules and how many payment integrations you run. Ask any implementation partner for a written scope that lists each component separately, with one-time and recurring amounts shown apart, so you can compare it against your current Shopify invoices over several years.
How long does a PrestaShop migration from Shopify Plus take?
The timeline depends on catalog size, how much customization you are replacing, the number of apps your store relies on, and how many integrations must be rebuilt. Shopify exports products as CSV, but product images are not in that file, so the original store should stay live until a new store has imported images from their public URLs, according to the Shopify Help Center. Customer exports are limited to 15 MB per file, which can mean splitting files for large databases. Ask for a fixed-scope plan that sets out data mapping, theme work, module selection, payment setup, redirects and a parallel test period before agreeing any date.
What skills does the internal team need to run PrestaShop?
The team needs people who can operate a LAMP-style stack and keep it current. PrestaShop 9 requires MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2 at minimum, Apache 2.4 or later (Nginx also works), and PHP 8.1 or higher, with a memory_limit of at least 512M recommended, per the PrestaShop 9 system requirements. Your team also needs to test module and theme updates, manage backups, monitor performance and handle incident response. Storefront work usually needs front-end and theming skills. Confirm with your own engineers whether these roles already exist or must be hired, contracted or covered by a support retainer.
Can a merchant run PrestaShop without an implementation partner?
A technically strong team can install and run PrestaShop without a partner, because the software is open source and the installation process is documented. The harder part is production readiness: hardening the server, configuring payments and PCI scope, testing upgrades, setting up backups and building evidence for audits. The PrestaShop README says production shops should be installed from the releases page rather than from the development repository, so the install process itself needs care. DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure under a written scope, so you can decide which parts your staff will own and which a partner will handle.
How are PrestaShop 9 and the 8.x line maintained?
Both lines receive releases, so you can choose a supported branch for your upgrade plan. The PrestaShop releases page shows PrestaShop 9.2.0 published on September 30, 2026, 9.1.5 and 8.2.8 published on August 18, 2026, and the first stable version of PrestaShop 9.0 released on June 10, 2025. Plan your upgrade path with those dates in mind, and confirm current support windows with the PrestaShop project before committing to a branch. Ongoing upgrades, testing of modules against new versions and security patching should be written into your operating model, whether run in-house or under a retainer.
How do the PrestaShop Admin API and webservice support integrations?
PrestaShop has two programmatic interfaces. The webservice gives third-party tools CRUD access to shop resources such as products, orders and customers, authenticated with access keys, according to the PrestaShop 9 webservice documentation. PrestaShop 9 also adds an Admin API built on API Platform with OAuth2 authentication, multi-shop support and Swagger documentation. Use the Admin API for new integrations where OAuth2 fits your security model, and check each ERP, warehouse, or marketing connector against the interface it uses. Shopify apps do not carry over automatically, so list every integration your store depends on and confirm the PrestaShop route for each one.
Who is responsible for PCI scope and hosting security with PrestaShop?
You are. On Shopify Plus, the platform hosts the storefront and checkout, and Shopify handles much of the platform-level operation. Self-hosting shifts server hardening, patching of PHP, the database, the web server and modules, network controls, backups and payment integration choices into your scope. Your choice of payment method and how card data flows through your site determines how much of your environment falls under PCI DSS requirements. Ask your assessor and your partner to map that scope before build starts, and expect the evidence work to be part of the engagement.
When PrestaShop fits mid-market merchants better than an enterprise SaaS plan
PrestaShop is the better fit when the catalog is defined, the team can run PHP and MySQL, and the business wants to own its data and checkout rather than rent them. A defined catalog matters because PrestaShop has no hosted app store to absorb sprawling requirements. If the product range, pricing rules and promotions can be listed in a short written specification, the store can be built and tested against it. If the range changes weekly across many markets, the effort of maintaining modules and custom code grows quickly, and an enterprise SaaS plan may be the lower-risk choice.
The second condition is operational skill. PrestaShop 9 requires MySQL 5.7 or MariaDB 10.2 at minimum, Apache 2.4 or later (Nginx also works), and a memory_limit of at least 512M, according to the PrestaShop 9 system requirements. Confirm that your internal team or a partner can patch PHP, the web server and the database on a schedule, and that the Unix-based hosting the documentation favors is available to you, since Windows is not actively supported. Your data control and checkout customization advantages depend on that capability being in place. For production, install from the releases page rather than the GitHub repository, which the project describes as meant for development and preview. Confirm the current stable release on the PrestaShop releases page before you lock a version.
The third condition is a budget that favors ownership over subscription. The Core is under OSL-3.0 and modules are under AFL-3.0, so license fees are not the cost driver; hosting, implementation, module selection, upgrades and security work are. Ask any quote to separate one-time build costs from recurring hosting, payment gateway, module licenses and maintenance, and to show which of these would be avoided by the SaaS plan. Where data residency or customized checkout is a hard requirement, weigh those controls against the staffing you must keep for the life of the store.
How DeployOpen helps you evaluate and move to PrestaShop
DeployOpen treats the Shopify Plus to PrestaShop decision as an engineering and compliance question before it is a platform choice. We plan, implement, customize, integrate, harden, back up and document a self-hosted PrestaShop store inside your own cloud account, data center or private network, so hosting, PCI responsibilities and module choices are settled in writing before any migration starts.
How we scope
- We review your Shopify Plus catalog, apps, checkout flows and payment providers against PrestaShop modules and the Admin API.
- The written scope lists which features map to core, which need a module, and which need custom development.
- Deliverables, timelines and responsibilities for hosting, patching and PCI scope are agreed in writing before work starts.
- Engagements are fixed-scope, and we quote from that scope rather than from a price list.
How we build
- We install and configure PrestaShop 9 on your infrastructure, with the database, web server and PHP settings your scope requires.
- We integrate payment gateways, shipping and ERP connections through the webservice or Admin API, with OAuth2 access controls.
- We run security testing on the storefront, APIs and hosting before go-live, and document the findings and fixes.
How we hand over
- We deliver architecture records, runbooks for backups, updates and module management, and the configuration for each environment.
- Migration evidence covers product, customer and order data transfers, image re-imports and URL redirect mapping from your scope.
- We prepare the systems, controls and evidence your compliance assessors need, while independent auditors issue any formal reports.
How we support
- Ongoing support, PrestaShop upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer after handover.
- Retainers can cover patching across PrestaShop, PHP, the database and modules, which you otherwise carry internally.
- Confirm the retainer terms, response expectations and included testing with us in writing before you commit.
