Shopify Plus B2B or a custom webshop in Toronto: a 3-year cost comparison in 2026

The verdict in three sentences

For a manufacturer generating about 6 million CAD in online revenue, the 3-year total cost of ownership of Shopify Plus B2B and a custom open-source webshop (Sylius or a similar framework) sits in the same range, around 420,000 to 450,000 CAD in a median scenario. Shopify Plus charges a licence and monthly apps but reduces the initial build; a custom webshop needs a heavier upfront investment with no licence fee. The decision therefore depends on the complexity of your customer pricing, the depth of the ERP connector and whether you need a product configurator.

Cost items, line by line

Here are 2026 benchmarks for an industrial manufacturer in the Greater Toronto Area, as orders of magnitude seen on the Canadian market (excluding HST).

At about 500,000 CAD of online revenue a month, the manufacturer stays below the volume threshold where Shopify adds a variable platform fee: the minimum licence applies.

3-year TCO in a median scenario

We take the midpoint of each range over 36 months, excluding payment fees, which are comparable on both options.

A gap of about 29,000 CAD is small at this scale. What tips the decision is everything that falls outside the standard.

What tips the balance

Customer pricing. Shopify Plus B2B natively handles company profiles, per-customer catalogues, price lists, minimum quantities and net 30 or net 60 terms. If your discounts follow simple logic (one price list per group, one rate per customer), that is enough. If your prices come from ERP matrices (discount by product family, quantity and framework agreement), a custom webshop computes them without workarounds.

The configurator. A manufacturer of made-to-order parts or modular furniture often needs a configurator with compatibility rules and price calculation. On Shopify, that means a custom app or a third-party app at 300 to 1,400 CAD a month; on a custom build, it is a module of the project.

Vendor dependency. With Shopify, the vendor sets the roadmap and licence pricing. With an open-source build, you own the code and can switch agencies, in exchange for technical maintenance (framework updates, security) that must be budgeted.

Your in-house team. Without an in-house developer, Shopify Plus lowers operational risk. With a technical lead on staff, a custom build becomes more comfortable.

Mini case study

Daniel, e-commerce director of an industrial valve manufacturer in Mississauga, generates about 6 million CAD online with 1,200 trade accounts and 300 customer-specific price lists coming from NetSuite. About 15 % of his SKUs are configurable (diameters, materials, fittings).

On Shopify Plus, that configurator requires a custom app estimated at 35,000 CAD, plus syncing the 300 price lists through middleware. TCO rises from 453,000 to 488,000 CAD. On a custom build, the configurator and price lists sit in the upper half of the build range, and TCO stays at 423,600 CAD. Gap: about 64,000 CAD in favour of the custom webshop, roughly 0.36 % of 3-year online revenue, plus code ownership. Without a configurator, Daniel would have been better off on Shopify Plus, launching 2 to 3 months sooner.

FAQ

Does Shopify Plus really handle B2B in 2026? Yes: company profiles, multiple locations, per-customer catalogues and price lists, payment terms and order approval are native. Limits appear with ERP-calculated pricing rules, which must be synced through an app at 400 to 1,000 CAD a month.

Is an open-source webshop free? The open-source edition carries no licence. The real cost lies in the build, 80,000 to 200,000 CAD, and in maintenance, 4,500 to 7,500 CAD a month for a site of this size.

How long does each option take? Allow 3 to 5 months for Shopify Plus B2B and 5 to 8 months for a custom build, ERP connector included. Product data migration often takes 4 to 6 weeks either way.

Can we migrate later? Yes, but a migration costs 30 to 60 % of the original budget: catalogue, customer accounts, order history and SEO redirects. It is better to decide on a 3-year projection.

What payment fees should we expect? For Canadian business customers, card fees run between 1.5 and 2.9 %, and EFT or wire transfer remains the main B2B method. The difference between the two platforms is small on this line.

Let's scope your project. Share your online revenue, ERP and customer pricing structure, and we will compare both options over 3 years with an indicative budget and a realistic timeline. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.