The five most important Shopware alternatives for UK retailers: costs, strengths, limits and a decision guide by store type.
The most important Shopware alternatives are Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce, OXID eShop and JTL-Shop. Which one fits depends less on the feature list than on your team, your processes and your budget for running the store.
Shopify is the strongest alternative if you want to launch fast and do not want to look after any technology yourself. WooCommerce suits small product ranges on a WordPress site, Magento suits large companies with their own developers, and JTL-Shop suits merchants who already work with JTL-Wawi.
Moving away from Shopware pays off less often than many people think. The problem is often not the system but hosting, extensions or missing maintenance. That is cheaper to fix than a migration.
This article is for managing directors, e-commerce leads and IT managers who face a platform decision: before the first store, before a relaunch, or because the current Shopware store is not running well. We are a Shopware agency and we build Shopify stores too. So this is not an advert for one system. It is an assessment based on projects with both.
Nobody searches for a Shopware alternative without a reason. In conversations with merchants we hear the same triggers again and again. Some are good reasons for a platform comparison, some are not.
If you do not know Shopware yet, start with What is Shopware?. It explains how the system is built and who it is made for.
The table shows the five systems that are most often evaluated as an alternative to Shopware 6. Shopware itself is in the first row for comparison. All prices are vendor list prices before tax, accessed in November 2026. Shopware and OXID publish their prices in euros.
| System | Model | Entry price for the software | Operation | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopware 6 | Open source (MIT licence) plus paid plans | 0 € (Community Edition), Rise from 600 € per month | Self-hosted, PaaS or SaaS | Mid-sized companies, B2B, custom processes, ERP integration |
| Shopify | Hosted platform | $39 per month (Basic), Plus from $2,300 per month | Hosting and updates included | D2C brands, fast launches, teams without developers |
| WooCommerce | Open-source plugin for WordPress | $0 | Self-hosted | Content sites with a store, small product ranges |
| Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce | Open source or enterprise licence | $0 (Open Source), Adobe Commerce on request only | Self-hosted or Adobe cloud | Large companies, international multi-store projects |
| OXID eShop | Subscription licence with a fixed monthly fee | 121 € per month (Community) to 1,583 € per month (Enterprise B2B) | Hosting of your choice | German mid-sized companies, B2B |
| JTL-Shop | Three paid editions | Prices from JTL | Self-hosted, Standard edition also hosted by JTL | Merchants using JTL-Wawi |
One number is missing from every table like this: what the system costs to run. The licence or subscription is rarely the biggest item. Implementation, extensions, payment fees and support weigh more. We have worked this out for Shopware in What does Shopware 6 cost?.
Shopify is the opposite model to Shopware. You rent a finished platform. The vendor takes care of hosting, security and updates. You take care of products, design and marketing.
Shopify has three standard plans. At US list prices these are Basic at $39, Grow at $105 and Advanced at $399 per month when you pay monthly. With annual billing that drops to $29, $79 and $299 per month. Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 per month.
Payment fees come on top. With Shopify Payments, the standard online card rate on the Basic plan is 2.9 per cent plus 30 cents per transaction. If you use a third-party payment provider, Shopify charges an additional 2 per cent on Basic, 1 per cent on Grow, 0.6 per cent on Advanced and 0.2 per cent on Plus.
This additional fee is often overlooked. An example: with $1.5 million in revenue through a third-party payment provider, that is $9,000 per year on the Advanced plan. The licence for Shopware Rise costs 7,200 euros per year. If you choose Shopify, plan with Shopify Payments from the start.
You will find the full comparison with a cost calculation in Shopify or Shopware. The plans are explained in detail in What does Shopify cost?.
WooCommerce is not a standalone shop system. It is an extension for WordPress. That explains both its strength and its weakness. If you already have a WordPress site with a blog, guides and good visibility, you get the store on top without changing systems.
The software is free and open source. There is no revenue share. The costs arise elsewhere: WooCommerce itself states $25 to $350 per month for hosting for most stores and $29 to $299 per year for each paid extension. Subscriptions, bookings or product configuration are examples of such extensions.
WooCommerce is a good choice up to a manageable product range. If the store grows towards inventory management, customer groups and several countries, running it takes more effort than with a system built for that. More on this in What is WooCommerce?.
Magento comes in two versions. Magento Open Source is free. Adobe Commerce is the commercial version with additional features, for example for B2B. Adobe does not publish list prices for it. The pricing page names three packages, Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, Adobe Commerce on Cloud and Adobe Commerce Optimizer, each with an individual quote.
The current version is 2.4.9, released on 12 May 2026 and supported until 31 May 2029 according to Adobe. Version 2.4.7 is supported until 31 May 2027. Regular support for version 2.4.6 ended on 11 August 2026. If you are still on an old version, a project is coming anyway and now is the time to compare platforms.
For mid-sized companies Magento is rarely the better alternative. The move more often goes the other way, from Magento to Shopware. You will find the direct comparison in Magento vs. Shopware vs. WooCommerce.
Two systems from Germany appear in almost every comparison in the German-speaking market. Both have a clear niche.
OXID eSales is based in Freiburg, Germany, and offers its shop system as a subscription licence with a fixed monthly fee and no revenue share. According to the pricing page, the Community edition costs 121 euros per month, Professional 360 euros, Enterprise B2C 1,123 euros and Enterprise B2B 1,583 euros. In the Enterprise editions, each subshop adds 173 euros per month. The minimum term is 36 months, and 48 months for Enterprise B2B. You choose the host yourself.
OXID is mainly interesting for B2B. The Enterprise B2B edition includes customer-specific price lists, approval workflows for orders, and roles and budgets for buyers. Shopware offers comparable features with the B2B Components from the Evolve plan, which starts at 2,400 euros per month.
The downside from our point of view: the market of extensions and agencies is smaller than for Shopware. That makes you more dependent on individual service providers. Factor in the long contract terms before you sign.
JTL-Shop is the online store for the JTL-Wawi inventory management system. There are three paid editions for self-hosting: Standard, Professional and Enterprise. The Standard edition can also be hosted directly by JTL. You maintain items and orders in JTL-Wawi, and the store synchronises with it.
That is exactly the reason to choose JTL-Shop. If you already run purchasing, warehouse, marketplaces and shipping through JTL-Wawi, you save yourself an integration project. If you do not use JTL-Wawi, there is little reason for JTL-Shop. In our experience Shopware gives you more freedom in design and custom workflows in the store. Shopware can also be connected to inventory management systems, as we show in our article on Shopware inventory management.
The software is the smallest item in a switch. Everything that has to move with it is what costs money. The following figures are based on our project experience in the German market and are not quotes.
For a small store, expect a migration budget from around 20,000 euros and two to four months. A mid-sized store with inventory management is more likely to need 40,000 to 120,000 euros and four to eight months. That applies in both directions, including the move from Shopware to another system.
Before you approve a five-figure migration budget, a sober look at the current state is worth it. Many problems that look like a platform problem have a different cause.
If real gaps remain after this check, for example because your business model has become simpler or your team has shrunk, then switching is a reasonable decision. In that case, approach it with a clear list of requirements and not with a gut feeling.
The following overview does not replace an analysis of your store. It does help to narrow the choice down to two systems quickly.
Four points matter more for retailers in the UK. First, VAT: the standard rate is 20 per cent, with a reduced rate of 5 per cent and a zero rate for certain goods. Every system compared here can handle tax rates per country, but check that your accounting and inventory software receives them correctly. Second, data protection: the UK GDPR applies alongside the Data Protection Act 2018. With Shopware, WooCommerce, Magento, OXID and JTL-Shop you choose the host and data centre yourself. With Shopify the vendor decides on the infrastructure. Third, shipping to the EU: since the UK left the EU single market, orders to EU customers involve customs declarations and import VAT. Ask for every platform how it handles prices, taxes and duties per destination country. Fourth, prices: the Shopify prices in this article are US list prices in dollars, so check the UK pricing page for the amounts in pounds. Shopware and OXID list their prices in euros. Most Shopware agencies are based in continental Europe, which means a time difference of only one hour.
It depends on the store. For small teams without developers it is Shopify. For WordPress sites with a small product range it is WooCommerce. For merchants using JTL-Wawi it is JTL-Shop. For mid-sized stores with inventory management and B2B there is rarely an alternative that fits better than Shopware.
At the start, usually yes. Shopify Basic costs $39 per month and hosting is included. As revenue grows, apps, higher plans and, with third-party payment providers, an additional fee of 0.2 to 2 per cent come on top. From revenue in the millions, Shopware can be cheaper. What counts is the calculation over three years.
WooCommerce and Magento Open Source have no licence fee. The same is true of the Shopware Community Edition as long as your merchandise value stays below 1 million euros in 365 days. In all three cases only the software is free. You always pay for hosting, implementation, extensions and maintenance.
OXID Enterprise B2B and Adobe Commerce include B2B features such as price lists, approvals and budgets. Shopify offers basic B2B features, and for complex approval processes you need apps there. In Shopware the B2B Components are included from the Evolve plan.
In our experience two to four months for a small store and four to eight months for a mid-sized store with inventory management. Data quality and integrations have the biggest influence, not the design.
solution25 is a Shopware Platinum Partner from Bremen, Germany, and has been building online stores since 2017. We deliver projects with Shopware and with Shopify. That is why we can run the numbers for both sides and do not have to sell you one system.
If you are not sure whether your store runs on the right system, the store analysis is the right first step. You get an assessment of where the problems really are and whether a switch would solve them. Sometimes the result is: stay and clean up. Sometimes it is: switch. We will tell you either way.
Would you like to talk about your project directly? Write to us through the contact page. A first conversation is free.
Henrik Schäfer is a TÜV-certified data protection officer and handles privacy and compliance topics in ecommerce projects at solution25. He helps merchants put privacy requirements into practice without losing sight of conversion. Get in touch
Responsible for content and updates: Henrik Schäfer. Last updated: November 2026. Next content review: February 2027.
