Shopify vs. Shopware

Customers shop where commerce moves faster

Shopify's market leadership, commerce innovation, dependable performance, cost efficiency, and enhanced usability are unmatched.

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Hundreds of brands have made the switch from Shopware to Shopify

Brands are choosing Shopify over Shopware to maximize return on their commerce investments, expand their business, and tap into new revenue streams.

Trusted industry leader

Engineered for commerce excellence

Our team of thousands of engineers is 100% focused on delivering best-in-class commerce solutions for brands and customers around the world. Plus, we have invested $1.7 billion in R&D in 2023 alone. This ensures Shopify remains leading in product quality and innovation—and that the innovative power brands deserve never wanes.

Browse our financial reports

Commerce Innovation

Ingenuity is more than a goal

Shopify’s track record of cutting-edge solutions is reflected in more than 200+ feature releases and updates across DTC, Retail, and B2B in the past year alone through Editions. With fewer projects in their product roadmap and only a limited number of new or improved functions released in 2024 to date, Shopware innovates at a slower pace. Consequently, Shopify was named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce for our consolidated offering and speed of innovation. We were also identified as the platform with the highest ability to execute. Shopware was listed as a Visionary.

Security & Reliability

Keeping commerce secure

The security of merchants and their customers is one of our top priorities so that brands can focus on achieving business goals. We continuously improve our security features and fix known vulnerabilities through automatic security updates and prioritize enabling your regulatory compliance, including GDPR. On Shopware, missing out on platform and security updates and all the third-party tools that have to be deployed can expose merchants to cybersecurity risks. At Shopify, in addition to the secure encryption, access control, data backups, and network security, each app goes through a 100-checkpoint review before it hits the Shopify App Store.

Shopify Editions

Product updates that make commerce more intuitive, more powerful, and more unified.

With hundreds of new product updates annually—from tools to reach and retain customers to new opportunities to sell your products on multiple social channels—we’re here to help you succeed. You can check out our comprehensive list of everything we’ve built in Shopify through Shopify Editions.

Developer Ecosystem

Developers prioritize working for Shopify

Shopify features an ecosystem of more than 8,000 apps*, providing users with extensive options for customization and integration. In comparison, Shopware 6 offers a selection of over 2,900 apps*. With an app library almost 3 times the size of Shopware’s, Shopify allows for greater flexibility and functionality, making it easier for businesses to tailor their online stores to their specific needs. The millions of shops on Shopify and our well-known development languages and frameworks create a vast ecosystem of developers building on Shopify, for Shopify.

Partner Ecosystem

A platform for everyone is perfect for no one

While no platform is an immediate perfect fit for every business, Shopify's extensive prebuilt integrations empower any brand to configure their own commerce stack with clicks, not code. If that’s not enough, then you can build niche features with the support of more than 2,800 partners* focused on Shopify compared to over 1,600 Shopware partners*. What may not seem like a big difference in numbers can be the key to your success: unlike Shopware, we provide you with a comprehensive range of built-in functions right at your fingertips, so that you don’t have to rely on partners—or build when you don’t need to.

*As of March 2024

Shopify

2,800+

Shopware

1,600+

Partner ecosystem*

Our network of 2,800+ vs Shopware’s 1,600+ partners is second to none.

Shopify

8,000+

Shopware

2,900+

App ecosystem*

Shopify’s app ecosystem helps brands do more with less developments.

Shopify

8,300+

Shopware

400+

Employees**

Shopify has the power to help brands grow in the long-term.

Shopify

Millions

Shopware

Thousands

Merchants†

Merchants worldwide trust Shopify with their business.

*App and partner count as of Aug 20, 2024. Sources are based on Shopware partner and app directory, and Shopify app and partner directory (including Plus Partners and non-Plus Service Partners).

**According to the Shopware company profile on Kununu and Shopify’s website as of Aug 20 2024.

†Merchant counts as of Aug 20, 2024. Numbers are obtained from Shopify’s website and Shopware ecommerce data from Storeleads.

Development was definitely an issue. Since we were one of the first Shopware 6 users we got all the teething problems. We had to get basic tools developed that were available out of the box in other platforms.
Raymond Weijers and Ylmar Haring — E-commerce Specialist and Senior Brand Manager, Le Nouveau ChefRead case study

We liked that Shopify was so out of the box. Things like payments took forever and were buggy with Shopware, while in Shopify everything is very standardized. You don’t need a huge development team for it because it’s easy to use and easy to launch, and you can focus on conversion and retention instead. End-to-end testing in particular is so much easier with Shopify than it was with Shopware.
Minh Gerritsen — Team Lead CRM and Webshop, BURNHARDRead case study

Greater ROI

More value for your money

Shopify excels in reducing costs. But that’s only half the story: Shopify’s powerful unified commerce solutions enable new ways of generating revenue and help brands to get more from their commercial investments.

Revenue Expansion

Unlock new revenue streams

Shopify’s unified commerce solutions for DTC, B2B, and Retail come with built-in features designed to cultivate new sources of revenue and propel your business growth. On Shopware, simply maintaining your business can require considerable expertise, time, and developer capacity. Our revenue expansion tools range from easy internalization across more than 150 markets to native integrations with Google, Meta, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok —so that you can empower your teams to innovate without going into technical debt.

After switching to Shopify, Pullup & Dip saw:

349%

Increase in conversion rate

48%

Increase in conversion rate

50%

Decrease in bounce rate

Read case study

Accelerated Revenue

Boost revenue, not complexity

Shopify's platform and services are designed to achieve best-in-class conversion and customer retention rates at every stage of your business. Our dashboard gives you access to key business metrics and customizable data models, allowing you to determine business efficiency and opportunities to grow revenue. Shopware, however, has limited native functionality which can leave merchants reliant on additional server capacity as traffic increases, as well as plugins to tap into new and more profitable revenue streams. Excessive complexity and slow performance can hold your brand back, drain precious resources, and ultimately impede growth. Make the most of your commerce investment by using Shopify products:

50%

Convert up to 50% better than guest checkout with Shop Pay, outpacing other accelerated checkouts by at least 10%.*

20%

Higher average order value with custom promotions through Shopify Functions.

4x

Checkout 4x faster in comparison to a guest checkout with Shop Pay.*

36%

Shopify's overall conversion rate outpaces the competition by up to 36% and by an average of 15%.*

*Based on an external study completed with a Big Three global management consulting firm in April 2023.

33%

Better TCO on Shopify than the competition, on average.

Cost

Shopify

Cost

Competitors

Reduce Ongoing Costs

Use your resources with maximum efficiency

From payments to blogs and everything in-between, all the essential features of world-class commerce are powered by Shopify’s native solutions. This frees you up to focus your resources on building your business—not integrating and testing plugin after plugin and ongoing maintenance, as can be the case with Shopware. Plus, because we manage and maintain the entire Shopify platform, you can set your teams and resources free to innovate and strengthen your business.

Lower TCO

Everything included except costly surprises

Shopify’s platform fees cover key functionality brands need, from global infrastructure and software updates to data encryption, fraud prevention, and our best-in-class commerce features. Moreover, our transparent pricing makes accounting simple and predictable, so you can confidently plan your finances right from the start. At Shopware, aside from platform fees, unexpected costs for plugins, maintenance, platform updates, and security bug fixes can drive up costs.

Compared to Shopify, our competitors have:

30%

higher platform costs than Shopify’s, on average.

23%

higher operating costs than Shopify’s, on average.

49%

higher implementation costs than Shopify’s, on average.

58%

longer time to set up and launch a new storefront without Shopify, on average.

*According to research commissioned by Shopify from a leading independent consulting firm to study TCO across major platforms in North America and understand Shopify’s relative positioning based on objective research methods. Major platforms include Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.

I thought Shopware would be quite affordable, but when we added it all up it was a lot more expensive than it seemed at first. We needed apps for everything, which all charged a fee of course. We also struggled with server capacity: we were told that we needed a more powerful, more expensive server, which we got—and then the site still went down. No matter how much money we threw at it, it didn’t work.
Peggy van Neer — Founder, SnurkRead case study

Ease of use

Amplified impact, without complexity

A well-designed commerce platform should enhance user effectiveness, both in technical and business terms, and operate without interference. Shopify gives brands a comprehensive and continuously evolved feature set, whereas Shopware requires additional plugins and developers to access many functionalities.

1.2x

faster site speed compared to Shopware on average.

2.3x

faster server speed compared to Shopware on average.

37%

less time needed to set up and launch a new storefront on Shopify compared to the competitor, on average.*

99.99%

Shopify’s average uptime ensures that online stores are always accessible to customers.

Robust Native Features

Go with a true unified commerce platform

If customization, productivity, and sales growth are your top priorities, then choose a platform that delivers everything you need for DTC, B2B, and Retail. Shopify offers integrated and omnichannel functions from the very start. In contrast to Shopware, there are no additional plugins required, no security risks through third-party tools, and no compromises on platform stability and agility with Shopify.

Empowered Business Users

We do the dev, you do the business

Shopify takes care of the backend development work so that you can concentrate on your business. In contrast, Shopware’s reliance on developers can pose a challenge, be it in the integration of add-ons, plugin configurations, or product launches. From basic product changes to marketing campaigns to operational and back-office management, our intuitive UI empowers everyone on your team to take control and focus on achieving their business goals.

Platform Flexibility

Tailored or not—it’s up to you

Use Shopify’s extensive built-in functions or go for customizations and innovate across every aspect of commerce to meet your brand’s specific needs. While Shopware allows brands to customize and intervene at code level, that’s a given for almost every commerce platform. At Shopify, you can choose your ideal commerce stack, including headless or modular solutions. Set up a custom storefront using your favourite framework. And seamlessly integrate with any third-party system you already have in place.

The main reason for the [Pullup & Dip] migration was the lack of integration of a large number of marketing and evaluation tools that could not be mapped in Shopware. That was very time-consuming, Shopware is very complex.
Benedikt Kordbarlag — CRO Manager, PsyCommerce for Pullup & Dip

Magento gave us the same feeling as Shopware 6. And since Ylmar and I both run our own webshop on Shopify, we knew that we wanted that kind of user-friendliness. It has the most complete ecosystem too, a controlled environment. When there’s an update nothing goes wrong, and new features can be live within a week without anything crashing.
Raymond Weijers — E-commerce Specialist, Le Nouveau ChefRead case study

Analyst validation

The experts choose Shopify

Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Shopify named as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Shopify was named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce, recognized for our consolidated offering, upmarket focus, and speed of innovation. We were also identified as the platform with the highest ability to execute.

Read the report

August 21, 2023

IDC MarketScape

Recognized as a Leader in IDC MarketScape—twice

Shopify was named a Leader in the 2024 IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2C Digital Commerce Platforms, particularly recognized for our large ecosystem of partners and developers, better TCO, rapid standup time, and platform-based approach to AI. In the 2024 MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise B2C Digital Commerce, IDC also named Shopify a Leader.

Read the MarketScape: B2C Digital Commerce Platforms report Read the MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise B2C Digital Commerce report

January 31, 2024

Forrester Wave™

Highest possible scores in Innovation, Market Presence, and more

Shopify was recognized as a Leader in the 2024 Forrester Wave™: Commerce Solutions for B2B Vendor Assessment, with the highest possible scores in Innovation, Market Presence, Partner Ecosystem, and more.

Read the report

May 6, 2024

Forrester Wave™

Highest possible scores in Innovation, Market Presence, and more

Read the report

May 6, 2024

Migration partners

Migration made easy with the largest partner ecosystem

Shopify Partners provide you with all the support you need when making the switch from Shopware to Shopify. We have more partners than any competitor—many of them specialize in helping Shopware customers migrate to Shopify.

10,000+

App and technology partners

100+

Shopify Plus Certified App Partners

Featured Shopware migration partners

View Shopify profile