Decision Memo • HT&T Consulting
Shopify Plus vs Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce): decision memo with TCO matrix and Agentic Commerce
In short (TL;DR)
If your goal is a fast time-to-market, a predictable TCOⓘ , and lean governance across multiple markets, Shopify Plus provides a managed SaaS core (scalability, security, performance) and an app ecosystem, integrated B2Bⓘ, a high-converting checkout and, today, agentic features already in production (Shopify Magic and Sidekick) that compress operating costs and increase execution speed. Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce is preferable when you need deep customizations (catalog, processes, pricing), complex B2B (RFQ, roles/permissions, multi-price lists), and full application/infrastructure control: it shifts value to the long term while requiring higher ongoing effort (DevOpsⓘ, SecOpsⓘ, patching). The effective choice comes from a 12–24 month TCO matrix that includes licenses/fees, hosting, development, apps/extensions, security, integrations, payment & checkout, people cost, and roadmap. Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS), recently presented and brought to market, still needs field validation to fully understand its TCO.
Executive summary: recurring scenarios & guidelines
Let’s start from a typical CMO/IT Director context: fixed budget, short launch window, multiple countries to orchestrate, legacy to integrate, and a backlog that must not explode. In this picture, Plus allows you to move resources from run to change (fewer servers, patches, and incidents; more design, content, growth). Conversely, when competitive differentiation depends on very specific processes (pricing engines, configurators, multi-level approval flows, sector compliance), the total flexibility of Magento is a sensible investment—provided you accept a more variable TCOⓘ and a more rigorous release cycle.
Here are the 3 common scenarios.
Scenario A: Growing multicountry D2C
Prefer Shopify Plus if the team is marketing-driven and the roadmap includes fast expansion for languages, currencies, payment methods, marketplaces, social commerce, and retail media. The SaaSⓘ model reduces technical friction and speeds up market tests.
Scenario B: Enterprise B2B with bespoke processes
Prefer Magento / Adobe Commerce when you need to model Roles & Permissions, RFQⓘ, credit lines, multi-price lists, and complex approval workflows, with granular control over APIⓘ, environments, and security.
Scenario C: Technical product with mission-critical integrations
It depends on the degree of custom required. If flows can follow standards (with some extensions), Plus is faster. If you need “hardcore” proprietary services and non-negotiable server-side logic, Magento tends to perform better long term.
For a scaling D2C, marketplace/social integrations are often faster; for B2Bⓘ with RFQ, PO, and advanced roles, architectural freedom carries more weight.
Adobe Commerce 2026: Adobe Commerce editions (SaaS, PaaS, Open Source)
Today Adobe offers three distinct models:
- Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS): fully managed, “versionless” platform with upgrades/patches handled by Adobe and cloud-native services. Available for only a few weeks, with costs comparable to Shopify Plus.
- Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure (PaaS): infrastructure managed by Adobe, but application code, patching, and QA remain your responsibility.
- Magento Open Source (self-hosted): no license; full responsibility for hosting, security, and maintenance.
In this memo, when we cite “Magento/Adobe,” we distinguish these three paths in the TCO reading.
Agentic Commerce: what it means and what’s already available on Shopify
By Agentic Commerce we mean experiences where AIⓘ agents cooperate with data, catalogues, and payment/logistics services to autonomously handle parts of the funnel: from discovery to cart composition, up to post-sale support. Users move from “navigators” to “delegators,” while merchants gain operational efficiency and new conversion surfaces (conversational assistants, semantic search, auto-merchandising, autonomous actions on marketing and catalogue).
Why this matters in a decision memo
In your TCOⓘ matrix you’re not only measuring licenses and hosting, but also man-hours saved or reallocated thanks to agentic features (content, merchandising, merchant support, insights). More importantly, you factor in new demand surfaces (LLMⓘ, assistants, conversational search) where the cart can form outside the site and land in checkout in a single step.
What’s already available in Shopify today
- Shopify Magic: AI generation for product descriptions, emails, FAQs, and more—natively integrated in the admin, with contextual prompts and brand-voice adaptation.
- Shopify Sidekick: agentic assistant for the merchant (analysis, setup, operational automations, form filling, admin navigation via natural language).
- “Agent-ready” infrastructure: APIs and services enabling external agents to query catalogues, compose carts, and initiate checkout—with integration cases already rolling out across the AI ecosystem.
Practical implication: on Plus you immediately gain operational leverage (content & automations) and readiness to adopt external agentic channels (assistants, LLMs) that drive “high-intent” traffic straight to checkout.
Selection perimeter (SaaS vs PaaS/Open Source)
| Aspect | Shopify Plus (SaaS) | Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS) |
Adobe Commerce (PaaS) / Magento Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting & Ops | Managed (scaling, CDN, WAF, TLS) | Managed (cloud-native, versionless) | Your responsibility (app + patching + hardening) |
| Upgrades & patches | Handled by Shopify | Handled by Adobe (SaaS) | Team/partner (variable cost and time) |
| Customization | High, via extensions/apps/APIs | High, composable + SaaS services | Maximum (core, modules, DB) |
| B2B | Native on Plus (lean governance) | Enterprise (Adobe suite) | Enterprise (features + full control) |
| Owner cost & TCO | Predictable (plans/fees) | Predictable (plans/consumption) | Variable (hosting, dev, QA, security) |
TCO Matrix (12 months): cost items, risks, and opportunities
The table below summarizes the impact of the main cost items and the trade-offs. Assessments are indicative and depend on volumes, countries, integrations, and team maturity.
Shopify Plus (SaaS), Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS), and
Adobe Commerce (PaaS) / Magento Open Source (self-hosted).
Guidance varies by volumes, countries, integrations, and contracts.
| Item | Shopify Plus (SaaS) | Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service (SaaS) | Adobe Commerce (PaaS) / Magento Open Source (self-hosted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform license / fees | Predictable enterprise plan; B2B included. | Enterprise plan (SaaS) with cloud-native services; enterprise B2B. | Commerce: license by tier/GMV; Open Source: €0 license (costs shift elsewhere). |
| Hosting & infrastructure | Managed: CDN, WAF, TLS, scaling. | Managed (cloud-native “versionless”); resilience handled by Adobe. | Adobe PaaS or your own IaaS: environments and SRE on you. |
| Core upgrades & patching | Handled by Shopify (themes/apps must remain compatible). | Handled by Adobe (versionless SaaS). | Your responsibility (core + modules): patch calendar and regression tests. |
| Security & compliance | Protections handled at the platform level. | Enterprise controls managed (SaaS). | Hardening, WAF, pentests, and incident response on you. |
| Development & customizations | Themes/Apps/Functions; no core editing. | Extensions/APIs within SaaS guardrails. | Total freedom (core, modules, DB); higher effort and QA. |
| Extensions / Apps / Modules | Rich app store; predictable fees; performance guidelines. | Adobe marketplace and managed services. | Large marketplace; compatibility/upgrades to handle at every release. |
| Checkout & payments | Checkout Extensibility (blocks/extensions/pixel); integrated PSPs. | Managed enterprise checkout; PSP integrations via Adobe/partners. | Fully custom checkout; free PSP choice; performance/compliance on you. |
| B2B & multistore | Native B2B (Plus); lean governance across markets/languages. | Enterprise B2B suite (cloud). | Deep enterprise B2B (RFQ, roles, multi-price lists) and advanced multistore. |
| ERP/PIM/DAM integrations | APIs + webhooks; event-driven patterns via apps. | APIs/services by Adobe; integration with Experience Cloud. | Full freedom (API, queues, DB); you must design resilience/security. |
| Headless & composable | Storefront API / Hydrogen. | Composable SaaS (cloud-native services). | Full headless with maximum architectural freedom. |
| Agentic Commerce | Available: Shopify Magic & Sidekick; “agent-ready” ecosystem. | Feasible with AI services/Adobe suite. | Feasible via custom/partner solutions. |
| Observability & performance | Platform telemetry; infra tuning limited (by design). | Managed observability (SaaS); tuning within guardrails. | APM, logging, alerting, and capacity planning on you. |
| People cost | Lean team (less DevOps/SecOps). | Medium team (product/integrations) thanks to SaaS offloading. | Broader team (full-stack + DevOps + SecOps). |
| Time-to-market | Fast (weeks → few months). | Medium-fast (months) with enterprise capabilities. | Medium-high (months) incl. hardening and UAT. |
| Cost predictability / TCO | High (known plans/fees). | High (SaaS plans/consumption). | Variable (hosting, development, QA, security). |
Terminology note: “Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service” = fully managed, versionless SaaS. “Adobe Commerce (PaaS)” = Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure (infra by Adobe; code/patches/QA on you). “Magento Open Source” = self-hosted.
Operational take: Plus reduces run costs and shortens the distance from idea to release; Magento shines when process specificity and total control create sustainable competitive advantage.
Decision criteria (go/no-go) with examples
- B2Bⓘ complexity: multi-level RFQ, credit lines, POⓘ, granular roles/permissions → Magento tends to win. “Lean” B2B or progressive B2B built on D2C → Plus.
- Checkout customization: official blocks/extensions and pixel-side tracking → Plus. Strong server-side flows and atypical UX → Magento.
- Internal capacity: marketing-driven team (Plus) vs IT/DevOpsⓘ/ SecOpsⓘ team.
- Speed & certainty: tight deadlines, multiple markets, few developers → Plus.
- Regulatory & IT policy: data/infrastructure governance and control → Magento; “managed” compliance → Plus.
- Agentic readiness: if you want to leverage agents immediately for content, merchant assistance, and conversational demand surfaces → Plus.
Risks & mitigations (2025)
Migration to Checkout Extensibility (Shopify)
Legacy customizations based on checkout.liquid are no longer the recommended approach. For Shopify Plus there is a deadline to migrate the Thank You and Order Status pages to the new versions. Mitigation plan: audit customizations, replace scripts with compatible extensions, run QA on tracking and any third-party apps.
Security and continuous patching (Magento)
In PaaSⓘ/on-prem environments the operational burden is significant: you must manage core and extension patches, hardening, compatibility testing, and incident response (also monitoring new CVEⓘ). Mitigation: upgrade calendar, WAFⓘ/CDNⓘ, periodic pentests, rigorous CI/CD, blue-green deploys, and emergency runbooks.
Over-engineering risk
Total freedom can lead to solutions that are too complex for the value created. Countermeasure: a decision memo for every customization with cost, risk, impact on conversion, and maintainability; 70/20/10 rule (70% standard, 20% adapted, 10% custom).
Integrations & data stack (ERP, PIM, DAM, Ads, Analytics, LLM)
ERPⓘ / PIMⓘ / DAMⓘ: on Plus, favour certified connectors and event-driven patterns; on Magento, you can go deep with proprietary APIs/queues with maximum freedom—and responsibility.- Analytics & micro-CDP: GA4ⓘ + warehouse for cohorts, LTV, incrementality, audience activation toward ads / CDPⓘ.
- LLMs & external agents: prepare catalogue, policies, and endpoints so third-party agents can compose carts and initiate checkout safely, while you retain control over stock, pricing, and fulfilment.
Implementation roadmap (90→180 days)
Phase 0 — Discovery & TCO (2–3 weeks)
- Requirements gathering (D2C/B2Bⓘ), integration inventory, process mapping, and KPIs.
- TCOⓘ calculation for 12–24 months with scenarios; define the “must-have” backlog.
Phase 1 —
MVPⓘ
(6–10 weeks on Plus; 10–16 on Magento)
- Environment setup, theme/UX, catalogue, payments/shipping, taxation.
- Core integrations (ERP, PSPⓘ, email, analytics), QAⓘ and UATⓘ.
Phase 2 — B2B/expansion (4–8 weeks)
- B2B enablement and price lists/terms; operational automations; extra-EU localisations.
- Performance optimisation, governance, and continuous security.
Phase 3 — Agentic enablement (continuous)
- Enable Shopify Magic/Sidekick for content and internal operations.
- Test external agents (LLMs/assistants) for discovery and cart → checkout.
- Measure impact on cost-to-serve, conversion, and new channels.
Conclusion
In short, the choice among Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, and Adobe Commerce (PaaS) / Magento Open Source hinges on three factors: how much you need speed and cost predictability, how much value you create from deep customizations, and how ready you are for Agentic Commerce (AI-enabled content, operations, and discovery). The correct way to decide is a 12–24-month TCO matrix with explicit risks and trade-offs, followed by an MVP → scale-up roadmap aligning platform, integrations, and KPIs. With this memo, you have the criteria for a conscious go/no-go; now turn them into numbers and operational priorities—or call us for help with your go-live!
FAQ
Shopify Plus or Magento 2: which is better for a mid-complexity B2B?
For B2Bⓘ “enterprise” with RFQ, approvals, roles, company-specific price lists, and PO, Adobe Commerce offers an advanced native set. If B2B is simpler or you want to unify D2C and B2B on a single instance with light governance, Plus is often faster and with a lower TCO.
Is checkout still customizable in Shopify Plus?
Yes: today you use Checkout Extensibility (blocks/extensions/pixel). Legacy checkout.liquid customizations are no longer the supported approach on core pages. Plan the migration, including Thank You and Order Status.
How much does Adobe Commerce cost?
Pricing is on request (tier/GMVⓘ, features, hosting). Magento Open Source has no license fee but requires budget for hosting, development, security, and maintenance.
Who wins on time-to-market and cost predictability?
For fast launches and stable budgets, Plus wins. If your distinctive advantage arises from highly custom processes and deep integrations, Magento can maximize ROIⓘ over the long term.
Is Agentic Commerce already working today or still futuristic?
It already works today: Shopify integrates Magic and Sidekick for productivity and automations, and there are agentic integrations able to compose carts and route them to checkout. In parallel, the enterprise ecosystem is introducing agent orchestrators for specific use cases.
References & sources
To deepen and keep your evaluations of TCO, governance, and features (including Agentic Commerce) up to date, we recommend regularly checking these official sources:
- Checkout Extensibility & Thank You / Order Status upgrade (Shopify Plus) — Official guide with deadlines and migration:
Upgrade guide (Plus) •
Upgrade guide (non-Plus) - Shopify Magic & Sidekick — Official hub for AI features:
Overview •
Magic docs •
Editions update (AI & agents) - B2B on Shopify Plus — Overview and features:
B2B docs •
Features list - Headless & Checkout via Storefront API — Managing Cart and checkout URLs:
Storefront API: Cart •
Create/Update Cart & checkout URL - Adobe Commerce (Magento) — B2B:
B2B Guide •
Enable B2B - Adobe Commerce Cloud / Cloud Service — Managed hosting and architecture:
Cloud Service overview •
Commerce on Cloud infrastructure - Adobe Commerce — Pricing & packaging (sales contact and tiers):
Pricing (EN) •
Pricing (IT) - Shopify Editions — Quarterly summary of updates (AI, checkout, storefront):
Summer ’25
Pro tip: save these links into an internal watchlist and schedule a monthly check of “Docs/Help/Experience League” pages so you can promptly update your TCO matrix and roadmap.
About HT&T Consulting
For over 25 years we’ve been designing, building, and operating eCommerce. We work on both Shopify / Shopify Plus and Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce, handling integrations (ERP/PIM/DAM), performance, UX/CRO, and privacy-safe measurement (we are Google Marketing Platform Certified). If you need to choose a platform or scale your eCommerce, we can assist across multiple areas to hit your goals. We have several “from zero to hero” success cases where brands and SMEs moved from prototypes to scalable stores in Italy and across Europe.
Glossary (acronyms)
TCOTotal cost of ownership over 12–24 months (licenses, development, hosting, people). ↑
SaaSSoftware delivered as a service: hosting, patching, and scaling managed by the vendor. ↑
PaaSManaged platform; the application remains under your responsibility. ↑
IaaSCloud infrastructure (VMs, networking, storage) with maximum management on you. ↑On-premOn-premises infrastructure (on site/proprietary) managed internally.
↑
B2BBusiness selling (price lists, payment terms, RFQ, roles). ↑
D2CDirect selling to the end consumer (no intermediaries). ↑
RFQFormal request for quotation, typical in B2B processes. ↑
POCustomer purchase order issued to the supplier. ↑
PSPPayment service provider (gateway, e.g., Stripe, Adyen). ↑
WAFFirewall for web applications; protects against application-level attacks. ↑
TLSProtocol encrypting data in transit (HTTPS). ↑
CDNNetwork of servers that deliver content quickly and reliably. ↑QAQuality verification (functional/visual tests) before release. ↑
AISet of techniques enabling systems to perform “intelligent” tasks. ↑
UATUser/business acceptance before go-live. ↑
ROIReturn on investment relative to costs incurred. ↑
LTVExpected economic value of a customer over the entire lifecycle. ↑
GA4Google’s event-based analytics platform. ↑
CDPPlatform to unify, segment, and activate customer data across channels. ↑
APIInterface to integrate systems and exchange data in a controlled way. ↑
CI/CDProcesses and toolchain to integrate and release software continuously. ↑
CVEPublic catalogue of known vulnerabilities with standard IDs. ↑
MVPMinimal, working version to validate quickly. ↑
GMVGross value of sales transacted on a platform/period. ↑
UXOverall experience of a digital product/service. ↑
DevOpsPractices aligning development, operations, and release automation. ↑
SecOpsSecurity operations and monitoring at app/infra level. ↑
LLMLarge language model (e.g., ChatGPT) for generation/search. ↑
B2CDirect selling to end consumers. ↑
ERPBusiness suite integrating processes (orders, accounting, inventory). ↑
PIMSystem to manage and distribute product data to multiple channels. ↑
DAMCentralised management of digital assets (images, video, documents). ↑
WMSSystem managing warehouse operations (picking, packing, stock). ↑
Next step
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