The verdict in three sentences
For a merchant with 4 million euros of online revenue, whether in Amsterdam, Marseille or Antwerp, staying on an unmaintained Magento costs more than migrating from the second year. Shopify (Plus or Advanced) fits if your catalogue and pricing rules stay standard, Medusa if you have B2B rules, multiple warehouses or a demanding ERP. Budget 30,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT and 4 to 6 months, with an SEO redirect plan treated as a deliverable in its own right.
What the Magento status quo really costs
The cost of Magento 1 or an old Magento 2 never shows up on a single invoice. It is spread across oversized hosting, security patches, incompatible extensions and team time lost working around slowness. The table compares 2026 orders of magnitude for a merchant with 4 million euros online and 15,000 orders a year.
| Annual item | Ageing Magento | Shopify Plus | Self-hosted Medusa |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence or subscription | 0 EUR (open source) | 27,600 EUR (about 2,300 EUR/month) | 0 EUR |
| Hosting and CDN | 18,000 to 30,000 EUR | included | 6,000 to 12,000 EUR |
| Transaction fee | depends on PSP | 0.15 to 0.6% outside Shopify Payments | depends on PSP |
| Maintenance and patches | 25,000 to 45,000 EUR | 6,000 to 12,000 EUR | 12,000 to 24,000 EUR |
| Apps and extensions | 4,000 to 8,000 EUR | 6,000 to 15,000 EUR | 2,000 to 6,000 EUR |
| Security risk (PCI DSS) | high | low | controlled |
| Estimated total | 47,000 to 83,000 EUR | 40,000 to 60,000 EUR | 20,000 to 42,000 EUR |
Hosting alone is usually cut in half or more: an extension-heavy Magento needs servers sized to compensate for slow code, while Shopify includes hosting and Medusa runs on lightweight Node.js infrastructure.
Shopify or Medusa: the decision grid
The choice is not about tech fashion. It depends on the complexity of your business rules and your ability to steer a technical team.
| Criterion | Shopify Plus | Medusa (open source headless) |
|---|---|---|
| Migration time | 4 months | 5 to 6 months |
| Migration budget | 30,000 to 60,000 EUR excl. VAT | 50,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT |
| B2B prices per customer and volume | native, limited to standard rules | unlimited, custom built |
| Multi-warehouse and ERP | via apps and connectors | native API integration |
| Vendor lock-in | strong | none, you own the code |
| In-house team needed | 0.5 FTE technical marketer | 1 developer or fixed-fee provider |
| Front-end flexibility | Liquid or Hydrogen themes | free Next.js front end |
Rule of thumb: if more than 20% of revenue depends on negotiated prices, quotes or multi-site stock, Medusa is the better 3-year investment.
Line-by-line migration estimate
| Item | Shopify Plus | Medusa |
|---|---|---|
| Audit, mapping and specification | 3,000 to 5,000 EUR | 4,000 to 7,000 EUR |
| Custom theme or front end | 8,000 to 18,000 EUR | 15,000 to 29,000 EUR |
| Import of 40,000 customers and 15,000 orders | 4,000 to 8,000 EUR | 5,000 to 10,000 EUR |
| Catalogue, variants and media import | 3,000 to 7,000 EUR | 4,000 to 9,000 EUR |
| SEO redirect plan (301) and testing | 3,000 to 6,000 EUR | 3,000 to 6,000 EUR |
| ERP, carrier and PSP connectors | 5,000 to 12,000 EUR | 12,000 to 22,000 EUR |
| Testing, training, 1-month hypercare | 4,000 EUR | 7,000 EUR |
| Total | 30,000 to 60,000 EUR excl. VAT | 50,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT |
The redirect plan is the most underestimated item. A 4 million euro site often has 8,000 to 25,000 indexed URLs. Every product page, category and filtered page needs a 301 redirect to its equivalent. A poorly prepared migration loses 20 to 40% of organic traffic for 3 to 6 months.
Data migration also demands rigour: customer passwords (not transferable, plan a reactivation campaign), order history for customer service, loyalty points and active subscriptions.
Mini case study
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Julien, e-commerce director of a kitchenware merchant, makes 4 million euros online on Magento 2.3. Current annual cost: 68,000 EUR (hosting 24,000, maintenance 38,000, extensions 6,000). He picks Medusa for his 300 trade resellers on negotiated prices.
- Migration: 72,000 EUR excl. VAT over 5 months.
- Annual cost after migration: 32,000 EUR (hosting 9,000, maintenance 18,000, apps 5,000).
- Recurring saving: 36,000 EUR a year.
- Expected conversion gain: load time drops from 4.2 s to 1.6 s. A cautious 0.2-point conversion lift on 4 million euros means about 200,000 EUR of extra revenue, or 60,000 EUR of margin at 30%.
Payback: under 10 months, counting only the recurring saving and the additional margin.
FAQ
Can we migrate without losing rankings?
Yes, if the 301 plan covers 100% of URLs that received traffic over 12 months and testing is done on a staging environment. A temporary 5 to 10% dip for 4 to 8 weeks is normal.
Are customer passwords migrated?
No, hashing algorithms differ. Accounts are imported, then an email campaign invites the 40,000 customers to set a new password, usually with 35 to 50% reactivation in the first month.
Should we freeze changes during the migration?
You need a 4 to 6-week freeze before cutover. Urgent changes move to the new platform to avoid double maintenance at 2,000 to 3,000 EUR a month.
When should we switch?
Never between October and January for a B2C merchant. Ideal windows are February-March or June, with a Tuesday morning cutover and 4 weeks of hypercare.
Is Shopify Plus mandatory?
No, Shopify Advanced at about 400 EUR a month is enough under 1 million euros. Above that, Plus adds a customisable checkout, native B2B and lower transaction fees.
Let's scope your project. We estimate your Magento migration to Shopify or Medusa, with data import and SEO plan, between 30,000 and 90,000 EUR excl. VAT over 4 to 6 months. 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.