Choosing an e-commerce platform can start with a very long list of names: Shopify, Adobe Commerce, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Shopware, BigCommerce, Sylius and many others.
The problem is that putting all of them into a single ranking can be more misleading than helpful.
These solutions were not built according to the same model. They differ in how they are implemented, how much responsibility remains with the organization, their customization capabilities, licensing models, approaches to B2C and B2B commerce, and the scale and complexity of the business processes they are designed to support.
In this article, we provide an overview of some of the most popular e-commerce platforms on the market and explain the key differences worth considering before starting a detailed technology assessment.
We are not awarding points or ranking platforms from best to worst. That would not provide a reliable comparison.
A platform that is suitable for a brand running relatively standard B2C commerce may be the wrong solution for a manufacturer building a complex B2B platform. At the same time, a company that needs extensive freedom in designing its processes may consciously accept greater responsibility for development and maintenance.
Our goal is therefore to provide an overview of the market, not to identify a single winner.
If you are looking for a more structured decision-making process rather than a market overview, we have described it separately in our decision framework for CEOs and CTOs.
Before looking at specific products, it is worth bringing some structure to the market. The simplest classification covers three models.
In this model, the vendor provides the platform as a service and takes responsibility for a significant part of the infrastructure and core maintenance. Shopify is one example.
SaaS is worth considering when a company wants to launch its store quickly, reduce its technology responsibilities and use a ready-made environment developed and maintained by the vendor.
In practice, this model can enable a faster launch because many elements of infrastructure, updates and core maintenance are already provided. However, it is important to verify whether the available level of customization will be sufficient for more non-standard processes.
The source code is available, giving the organization or its technology partner greater control over how the platform is developed.
Open source is worth considering when control, flexibility and the ability to customize the platform extensively are important. However, this also means taking greater responsibility for development, updates, security and maintenance.
This category includes WooCommerce, PrestaShop and Sylius, among others. Each targets a somewhat different audience and follows a different development philosophy. WooCommerce is a commerce platform for WordPress, PrestaShop develops its own e-commerce project, while Sylius, built on Symfony, was designed for a high degree of customization and more complex business processes.
Open source does not mean "free of cost". The absence of a fee for the core license may come with greater responsibility for hosting, development, maintenance, security and updates.
The boundaries between these categories are becoming increasingly blurred. Some platforms combine open components with commercial features, paid editions or vendor-provided services. Sylius has a free open-source core and the commercial Sylius Plus, which extends the core functionality with more advanced modules, for example for B2B, RMA, marketplaces, and role and permission management. Shopware also combines an open-source core with paid features that extend the platform's capabilities, including in B2B commerce.
When comparing e-commerce platforms, it is therefore important to examine the specific licensing and functional model rather than basing the decision solely on the "SaaS" or "open source" label.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform operating under a SaaS model. The vendor develops its offering for both consumer and B2B commerce. Shopify also makes it possible to run B2B and DTC sales within a single environment.
Its B2B offering includes mechanisms for companies and company locations, catalogs, customer-specific pricing, payment terms, payment and delivery methods, and self-service ordering.
The scope of functionality depends on the plan. Since 2026, core B2B features have also been available on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, while Shopify Plus provides additional capabilities such as unlimited catalogs and more advanced payment mechanisms
Shopify can be an option if the organization is looking for a SaaS model and wants to reduce its responsibility for the platform's underlying infrastructure.
For more non-standard sales processes, however, the right question is not "Does Shopify support B2B?", because it does. The more important question is: can the way this particular organization sells be accurately represented within Shopify's mechanisms and extensibility model?
In a SaaS model, more non-standard workflows may require applications, extensions or integrations available within the platform's ecosystem. In practice, this can increase cost, implementation time or solution complexity compared with an open-source platform where the organization has greater control over the code.
For complex processes, it is therefore worth assessing not only whether a particular capability can be implemented, but also at what cost and with what constraints it can be developed over the coming years.
That requires an analysis of the specific use case.
Adobe Commerce is a platform developed by Adobe on the foundation of solutions originating from Magento. Adobe positions it as a solution for more advanced digital commerce scenarios.
Adobe also offers an integrated Adobe Commerce B2B solution that can support both B2B and B2C commerce. Available capabilities include company accounts, shared catalogs with customer-specific pricing, quoting workflows, quick ordering, and dedicated B2B payment and delivery methods.
One of its strengths is its mature ecosystem. It includes a large number of ready-made extensions, integrations and technology partners, making it easier to find solutions for many common business requirements.Another significant advantage is the backing of Adobe as a global software vendor responsible for the platform's continued development.
However, it is worth remembering that an extensive extension ecosystem also has another side. The more third-party modules and customizations a project uses, the more important their quality, compatibility and future updates become. When evaluating Adobe Commerce, it is therefore worth looking not only at its feature set, but also at the implementation model, the expertise required for further development, the level of customization needed and the long-term cost of ownership.
Primarily when the organization is considering a solution for more advanced commerce, operates at a larger scale and needs B2B, B2C or both models within a single ecosystem. Adobe Commerce is positioned particularly for medium-sized and large organizations and projects with greater complexity.
However, this model usually requires a correspondingly larger budget, not only for the initial implementation but also for ongoing development, maintenance and the expertise required to operate and evolve the platform.
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform built for WordPress. The platform's core is free, its source code is available, and the solution can be developed and extended with additional features, integrations and extensions.
This distinguishes WooCommerce from the traditional SaaS model. The organization has greater control over the code, data and choice of hosting, but at the same time, more responsibility for how the environment is built, configured and maintained remains with the merchant or technology partner.
WooCommerce does not charge a fee for the core platform or take a share of revenue. However, the actual project cost may include hosting, development, maintenance, and paid extensions and services.
WooCommerce is worth considering primarily when an organization is looking for a flexible open-source solution based on the WordPress ecosystem and wants significant freedom in choosing hosting, extensions and how the store is developed.
At a larger scale, with extensive integrations and custom business logic, it is particularly important to carefully assess the architecture of the entire solution, the number of dependencies and the cost of maintaining custom extensions.
If the project involves highly complex business processes, extensive customization and multiple critical integrations from the outset, it is worth comparing WooCommerce with platforms designed for this level of complexity.
PrestaShop is an open-source e-commerce platform that has been developed since 2007. The project itself can be downloaded, modified and used to build an online store free of charge. Alongside the open-source project, PrestaShop also offers its own products and services, so when analyzing costs, it is important to distinguish the technology itself from the specific implementation model.
The platform provides the mechanisms required to run e-commerce operations, including catalog, product, order and content management. Its capabilities can be extended with additional modules.
The current PrestaShop 9 line uses Symfony 6.4 LTS and the new Admin API, while the latest version, 9.1, also supports PHP 8.5. This is particularly relevant for companies evaluating the platform not only from a functional perspective, but also from a technology perspective.
PrestaShop is worth considering if an organization is looking for an open-source solution and wants the ability to develop its store and extend its functionality without moving to a closed SaaS model.
Before making a decision, however, it is worth verifying how much of the required functionality will be provided by the platform core, how much by additional modules, and how much will require custom development.
This is not unique to PrestaShop. In any solution that relies on an extensive extension ecosystem, the number and quality of additional components can affect future updates, maintenance and development costs.
Shopware combines an open-source core with commercial plans and features. The platform is developed using an API-first architecture, and its technology stack includes Symfony and Vue.js, among others, with Vue.js used in the administration layer.
For organizations operating in B2B commerce, it is important to distinguish between the platform's open core and the commercial B2B Components. Shopware B2B Components include mechanisms for managing employees and permissions on the business customer side, order approval processes, quote management, quick ordering and shopping lists. B2B Components are available with the Evolve and Beyond plans, although some advanced features may depend on the specific plan.
Shopware also positions the solution as a platform capable of supporting B2B and B2C/D2C within a single ecosystem.
Shopware is worth considering, among other scenarios, when a company is looking for a solution based on an open-source core while also considering commercial features and vendor support.
For B2B projects, it is particularly important to determine which requirements are covered by the core itself, which require B2B Components, and which will require additional configuration or development.
The "open source" label alone therefore does not provide a complete picture of the platform's cost model. When comparing options, organizations need to analyze the specific set of features and the plan they will actually use.
Sylius differs from many of the platforms discussed above primarily in its approach to building the solution.
It is an open-source e-commerce framework built on Symfony and designed to be extended and adapted to specific business processes. It can serve as a backend for different interfaces thanks to its API-first approach and the ability to build headless architectures.
In practice, this also means a different implementation philosophy. Sylius is not a solution whose primary premise is to launch as many features as possible without development. Its value becomes particularly apparent when sales processes require greater freedom in how they are modeled and developed.
We have written in more detail about when Sylius has an advantage over ready-made platforms. It is a useful point of reference if this section has raised questions.
And this is also where we can draw on our project experience.
"Sylius is worth considering for projects where a standard purchasing process is no longer sufficient. This includes B2B e-commerce, customer-specific pricing logic, non-standard ordering processes, extensive integrations, and sales models that are difficult to fit into a ready-made structure.This flexibility, however, comes with a consequence. Sylius should not be chosen simply because "you can build anything with it." Customization creates value when it addresses a genuine business need. If the sales process is standard and the company does not need extensive flexibility, a simpler platform may be the more rational choice."
This is an important distinction when comparing Sylius with other e-commerce platforms.
Sylius Standard is an open-source solution. For more complex projects, the vendor also offers commercial Sylius Plus modules.
The current Plus offering includes B2B Suite, Marketplace Suite, Advanced Multi-store, Returns Management (RMA), Multi-source Inventory, Loyalty System, RBAC, Partial Shipment, Request for Quotation, Product Configurator and Subscriptions.
Modules can be selected according to the project's requirements. The vendor states that the pricing model for the complete Plus package takes online sales GMV into account, while in the modular model, the number and type of selected modules also matter.
For this reason, saying that "Sylius is free because it is open source" is an oversimplification. An open-source core does not mean there are no implementation, hosting, development or maintenance costs. If a project uses Sylius Plus, the cost of commercial modules must also be taken into account.
Primarily when an organization needs greater freedom in designing processes than the standard configuration of a ready-made platform can provide.
This may include:
complex B2B e-commerce,
custom purchasing processes,
non-standard business logic,
extensive integrations,
headless architecture,
marketplace solutions,
multi-store and multi-market projects.
This does not mean, however, that every large online store needs Sylius.
The decision should primarily be driven by the complexity of the processes and the need to customize them, rather than solely by the size of the company or its sales volume.
If you are not sure whether this level of complexity actually justifies choosing Sylius, a good first step can be a quick validation through a PoC before making the final decision.
Once you are familiar with the available solutions, it is easy to fall into another trap: starting with a feature comparison.
One platform has a more advanced promotions module. Another offers additional B2B capabilities. Another has a large ecosystem of extensions. This kind of comparison is necessary, but it should not be the first step in the decision-making process.
Before creating a detailed requirements list, it is worth narrowing the selection down to a few platforms that match the organization's business model, expected level of flexibility and technology capabilities.
The first criterion should be how the company sells.
A brand running a relatively standard B2C store will need different capabilities from a manufacturer developing a B2B platform, while an organization operating across multiple markets and supporting several sales models simultaneously will have different requirements again.
It is worth determining:
whether the company sells through B2C, B2B or both models,
how complex the purchasing process is,
whether pricing and the product offering are the same for all customers,
how many markets, brands or channels the platform needs to support,
how important custom business processes are,
what changes the company is planning over the coming years.
Only then is it worth assessing which e-commerce platforms best match this profile.
Greater flexibility does not always mean a better solution. If a company operates a relatively standard sales process, the ability to modify almost every element of the system may not provide enough value to justify the additional project complexity.
The situation is different when the company's competitive advantage comes precisely from its non-standard processes.This might involve a custom approach to pricing calculations, a non-standard checkout, product configuration, a quotation process, a complex B2B account structure or a specific approach to order fulfillment.
An e-commerce platform is part of a broader technology environment, but not every organization needs ERP, PIM, CMS, CRM and OMS as separate systems.
The architecture should reflect the actual complexity of the business.
With a relatively simple catalog, a separate PIM may be unnecessary. However, if a company manages a huge number of products, with product data coming from multiple sources and being distributed across multiple channels, its role may be much more significant.
Good architecture is not about implementing as many systems as possible. It is about consciously defining the responsibility of each one.
Comparing the costs of different e-commerce platforms is more difficult than simply comparing license prices.
In a SaaS model, some costs are included in the subscription, but there may also be fees related to the plan, additional services, applications or the specific way in which the platform is used.
With open source, access to the code itself may be free, but the organization still incurs costs related to development, hosting, maintenance, security and updates.
We have covered this in detail in our article on what determines the Sylius implementation budget. If you are looking for realistic cost ranges, it is a good place to start.
On top of that, there are integrations, extensions, the development of new functionality and the work of the team. This is why TCO, or Total Cost of Ownership, is a much more useful metric. A platform that is cheaper at the beginning does not necessarily remain cheaper over several years. Conversely, a higher initial implementation cost does not automatically mean a higher TCO.
It is also worth considering the potential cost of changing platforms in the future. As the business grows and requirements change, a solution that worked well at the beginning may no longer meet the organization's needs. Migrating to another technology can then be time-consuming and expensive, particularly when it involves data, integrations, custom business logic and processes developed over many years.
This criterion is often overlooked.
The choice of technology also affects the type of team the company will need over the coming years.
It is worth checking:
whether specialists with expertise in the technology are available on the market,
whether the platform will be developed by an internal team or a technology partner,
what the vendor ecosystem looks like,
how updates are handled,
who is responsible for security and infrastructure,
what access to documentation and support looks like.
A technology may fit the functional requirements very well, but if developing it will be difficult from an organizational perspective, this represents a significant project risk.
If Sylius is the final choice, it is worth assessing the team's capacity and expertise before the project starts. We have covered this in our article on how to prepare a development team for a Sylius implementation.
| Platform | Core model | Open source | Vendor's B2B offering/capabilities | What to verify next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | SaaS | No | Yes | Required functionality, plan and ability to support custom processes |
| Adobe Commerce | Commercial commerce platform | Adobe also develops the separate Magento Open Source project | Yes | Architecture, implementation model, required expertise and Total Cost of Ownership |
| WooCommerce | Open source for WordPress | B2B capabilities depend, among other factors, on the selected extensions and implementation | Number of extensions, integrations and approach to long-term maintenance | |
| PrestaShop | Open source + commercial products and services | Yes | Scope needs to be assessed for the specific configuration and modules | Core vs modules vs custom development |
| Shopware | Open-source core + commercial plans | Yes | Yes, including through commercial B2B Components | Required plan, scope of B2B Components and necessary customizations |
| Sylius | Open-source framework + commercial modules | Yes | Yes, including through Sylius Plus B2B Suite | Scope of customization, Standard vs Plus, and development and maintenance costs |
This table intentionally does not use labels such as "easy", "expensive", "for small businesses" or "best for enterprise".
Without knowing the specific project, such labels can lead to incorrect conclusions.
There is no single best platform for every organization.
The choice depends on factors including the sales model, business processes, integration requirements, expected level of customization, budget and how the system will be developed in the future.
It depends primarily on the complexity of the B2B processes.
In simpler scenarios, the ready-made functionality offered by the platform or its extensions may be sufficient. With more complex processes, such as customer-specific price lists, complex organizational structures, approval workflows, quotation processes or custom order logic, the mere presence of B2B features in a platform does not necessarily mean that it is a good fit.
In such projects, what matters is how easily the data model, processes and integrations can be adapted to the organization's actual requirements. Ready-made mechanisms can provide a starting point, but they often require significant extension or changes to the platform's logic.
When selecting a technology, it is therefore worth assessing not only the list of B2B features, but also the cost and flexibility of customizing them further.
Neither model is inherently better.
SaaS transfers part of the responsibility for operating the platform to the vendor. Open source provides access to the code and may offer greater control over the solution, but it also means taking responsibility for more elements of the environment.
The choice should be based on the requirements of the project and the organization's capabilities.
No. The code of the core platform may be available without a license fee, but implementation still generates costs related to development, hosting, integrations, maintenance and updates, among other things.
Some open-source solutions also offer paid modules or commercial editions.
Yes, but this does not mean designing an unchanging system for many years.
What matters more is choosing a solution and architecture that can respond to changes in the business model without requiring the entire environment to be rebuilt at every major stage of growth.
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