The verdict in three sentences
If your Magento 2 maintenance exceeds EUR 50,000 a year and your B2B rules are standard, Shopify Plus is in 2026 the option with the lowest total cost over 5 years. A custom headless build (EUR 90,000 to 180,000 excl. VAT) is justified when business logic is your competitive edge: configurators, complex pricing, multi-warehouse, intertwined B2B and B2C catalogs. Either way, SEO and customer history migration matter more to success than the platform choice: a sloppy redirect plan can cost 15 to 30% of organic traffic for months.
Why Magento 2 is getting expensive in 2026
Magento Open Source is still powerful, but it requires regular security patches, heavy version upgrades, ten to twenty extensions to maintain and tuned hosting. Experienced Magento developers are scarce in France, with day rates of EUR 650 to 900. For an EUR 8M site, the typical annual bill breaks down as: corrective and evolutive maintenance EUR 60,000, hosting and CDN EUR 24,000, extension licences EUR 12,000, i.e. EUR 96,000 a year before any new feature.
Comparison of the three options
| Criterion | Stay on Magento 2 | Shopify Plus | Custom headless |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project cost | Version upgrade EUR 30,000 to 50,000 every 2 years | Migration EUR 40,000 to 90,000 | EUR 90,000 to 180,000 |
| Licence or subscription | EUR 0 (Open Source) | USD 2,300 a month, about EUR 25,400 a year | EUR 0 to 30,000 depending on engine |
| Hosting | EUR 24,000 a year | Included | EUR 18,000 to 30,000 a year |
| Apps or extensions | EUR 12,000 a year | EUR 12,000 to 24,000 a year | Built, included |
| Maintenance | EUR 60,000 a year | EUR 20,000 to 30,000 a year | EUR 30,000 to 45,000 a year |
| B2B features (accounts, pricing, quotes) | Rich, via extensions | Native since 2024, limits on complex cases | Unlimited |
| Lead time | 3 to 4 months per upgrade | 4 to 6 months | 6 to 10 months |
| Dependency | Magento agency | Shopify as vendor | Your code, your team |
These ranges are a 2026 order of magnitude for a 5,000 to 20,000-SKU catalog, 2 languages and a connected ERP. Above roughly USD 800,000 in monthly sales, Shopify Plus applies a 0.25% variable fee; with a third-party PSP, add about 0.2% in transaction fees.
Total cost over 5 years
| Item (5 years) | Magento 2 | Shopify Plus | Custom headless |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial project and upgrades | EUR 80,000 | EUR 65,000 | EUR 135,000 |
| Licence or subscription | EUR 0 | EUR 127,000 | EUR 25,000 |
| Hosting | EUR 120,000 | EUR 0 | EUR 120,000 |
| Apps or extensions | EUR 60,000 | EUR 90,000 | EUR 0 |
| Maintenance | EUR 300,000 | EUR 125,000 | EUR 175,000 |
| Estimated total | EUR 560,000 | EUR 407,000 | EUR 455,000 |
The gap between Magento and Shopify Plus reaches about EUR 150,000 over 5 years. Headless costs more than Shopify Plus but keeps code ownership and independence from the vendor.
Getting SEO and history migration right
The migration must carry over every indexed URL with one-to-one 301 redirects, title and meta tags, product structured data, customer reviews and accounts with their order history. Passwords cannot be migrated: plan an account activation campaign. A traffic dip of 5 to 10% for 4 to 8 weeks is normal; beyond that, the redirect plan is at fault. Budget EUR 8,000 to 20,000 for the SEO audit, mapping and post-migration monitoring.
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Julien, e-commerce director of a B2B2C professional equipment site in Bordeaux, generates EUR 8M in online revenue at a 32% gross margin. His Magento bill reaches EUR 96,000 a year. Migrating to Shopify Plus for a EUR 70,000 project brings recurring costs down to about EUR 68,000 a year, EUR 28,000 saved every year. A faster site (mobile load time from 4.1 s to 2.2 s) lifts conversion from 1.8% to 1.9%, i.e. +EUR 444,000 in revenue and about EUR 142,000 of gross margin a year. The project pays back in under 6 months, excluding the SEO stabilisation period.
FAQ
Does Shopify Plus suit a B2B2C site?
Yes, with company-specific B2B catalogs, payment terms and a B2C store on the same instance. Cases with more than 5,000 price lists or complex quotes need extra development of EUR 10,000 to 30,000.
How long does a Magento to Shopify Plus migration take?
Plan 4 to 6 months for 5,000 to 20,000 SKUs: 6 weeks of scoping and data, 10 weeks of development, 4 weeks of testing and cutover.
Can we keep Magento for B2B and Shopify for B2C?
It is possible but doubles maintenance. For EUR 8M in revenue, a single platform cuts costs by 30 to 40%.
What happens to customer order history?
It is imported via API, usually for the last 3 to 5 years. Older orders remain available in the ERP or an archived export.
Is headless too risky for an SME?
It requires a team or agency maintaining the code over time, EUR 30,000 to 45,000 a year. Without that guaranteed budget, Shopify Plus is safer.
Let's scope your project. Send us your online revenue, SKU count, Magento extensions and ERP: we will price the migration to Shopify Plus or headless between EUR 40,000 and 180,000 excl. VAT, with an SEO migration plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
