The verdict in three sentences
For a B2B manufacturer with 25 M EUR in revenue, 8,000 SKUs and an ERP at the heart of pricing, Sylius offers the lowest 3-year total cost as a 2026 order of magnitude, around 119,000 EUR excl. VAT, because it carries no licence fee. Shopify Plus (2,300 USD a month) is justified when launch speed and the app ecosystem matter more than pricing complexity. Custom development (70,000 to 150,000 EUR) only makes sense if your ordering processes are truly unique, for example product configurations with technical calculations.
The three options against industrial B2B needs
Industrial B2B is nothing like retail: price lists per customer, payment terms at 30 or 60 days, multi-user accounts, quick ordering by part number, online quotes. Here is how each option handles them.
| B2B need | Shopify Plus | Sylius | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer or group specific prices (ERP synced) | Native B2B, limited to catalogs | Native via plugins, very flexible | Unlimited |
| 8,000 SKUs with technical attributes | Fine, variant limits (2,048 per product) | Very good | Very good |
| Invoice payment at 30 or 60 days | Native in B2B | Moderate development | To be built |
| Quick order by part number and CSV import | Third-party app | Plugin or development | To be built |
| Online quotes and sales approval | Third-party app | Moderate development | To be built |
| ERP integration (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, proALPHA) | Connector or middleware | Symfony API, custom | Custom |
| Time to launch | 3 to 5 months | 5 to 7 months | 7 to 10 months |
| Vendor dependency | Strong (SaaS) | Low (open source) | None, but agency dependency |
The decisive point is often price sync from the ERP. If your 400 active customers each have discounts by product family, Shopify needs a costly middleware, while Sylius, built on Symfony, lends itself well to fine-grained integration.
Total cost over 3 years
The following table is a 2026 order of magnitude for a specialized European agency, on a comparable scope (8,000 SKUs, ERP, 400 customer accounts). It is not a Kolonell quote.
| 3-year line | Shopify Plus | Sylius | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial build and ERP integration | 45,000 EUR | 65,000 EUR | 110,000 EUR |
| Platform licence | 77,400 EUR (about 2,150 EUR a month) | 0 EUR (open source edition) | 0 EUR |
| Paid apps or plugins | 36,000 EUR (about 1,000 EUR a month) | 0 to 6,000 EUR | 0 EUR |
| Hosting | Included | 10,800 EUR (300 EUR a month) | 10,800 EUR (300 EUR a month) |
| Maintenance and enhancements | 18,000 EUR | 43,200 EUR (1,200 EUR a month) | 64,800 EUR (1,800 EUR a month) |
| 3-year total | 176,400 EUR | 119,000 to 125,000 EUR | 185,600 EUR |
Two caveats. Shopify Plus charges 0.2 to 0.6% if you do not use Shopify Payments, which adds up on 3 M EUR of online orders. Sylius Plus, the commercial edition, adds a yearly licence if you need its advanced B2B features, to be checked during scoping.
At Kolonell, a B2B store with ERP integration is priced as a custom application of medium to high complexity: 4 M to 7 M FCFA or 7 M to 15 M+ FCFA on our grid (6,100 to 10,670 EUR, or 10,670 to 22,870 EUR and above), depending on the ERP connector and the number of pricing rules.
How to decide in 4 questions
Do your customer prices live in the ERP with hundreds of rules? Lean toward Sylius. Must you be live in under 5 months with a small internal team? Shopify Plus. Do orders require a technical configurator with feasibility calculations? Custom, or an extended Sylius. Do you want to avoid any licence indexed on your growth? Sylius or custom.
Mini case study
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Jonas, digital director of a hydraulic components manufacturer near Berlin (illustrative scenario), handles 12,000 orders a year by email and phone, with an estimated admin cost of 14 EUR per order. He targets 60% of orders placed online at a unit cost of 4 EUR: 7,200 orders x 10 EUR saved = 72,000 EUR a year, or 216,000 EUR over 3 years. With Sylius at 122,000 EUR over 3 years, the net gain is about 94,000 EUR. With Shopify Plus at 176,400 EUR, it drops to 39,600 EUR. The 54,000 EUR difference funds a second phase: configurator and online quotes.
FAQ
Is Shopify Plus really suited to industrial B2B in 2026?
Yes for a standard catalog and discounts by customer group, with native B2B features since 2023. It gets expensive beyond a few hundred pricing rules, where the ERP middleware adds 15,000 to 40,000 EUR.
Is Sylius a safe long-term bet?
Sylius is a French open source project built on Symfony and used by hundreds of European merchants. The main risk is not the vendor but the availability of Symfony developers, whose day rate is around 600 to 800 EUR in Berlin in 2026.
How long does ERP integration take?
Plan 6 to 10 weeks to sync items, stock, prices and orders with SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics or proALPHA. The timeline mostly depends on the quality of existing item data.
Can we migrate from Shopify to Sylius later?
Yes, but a migration costs 30,000 to 60,000 EUR and 3 to 4 months. It is better to choose with a complete B2B specification from day one.
Is custom software faster to evolve?
Not necessarily: every function (cart, promotions, accounts) must be built and maintained, hence maintenance around 1,800 EUR a month. It is only justified if more than 30% of your needs fall outside the standards.
Let's scope your project. Send us your SKU count, ERP and pricing rules: we will compare the 3 options on your real scope, with an indicative budget and timeline. 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.
