If you run Magento or Adobe Commerce, every route forward now involves a rebuild. Adobe's SaaS product rebuilds your storefront and moves your custom modules into a different runtime. Staying on PaaS keeps the code but leaves the upgrade cycle in place. So the decision to make is which platform you want to rebuild on, and where your custom logic should live afterwards.
This post compares Adobe's new paths with Shopify on that basis. If you want the broader platform comparison and Adobe's support dates first, read Magento vs Shopify in 2026.
The three backend options Adobe offers today
- ✓Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service: Adobe's SaaS backend, which Adobe runs and updates for you
- ✓Adobe Commerce Optimizer: a newer catalog and storefront layer that can sit in front of an existing PaaS install, or be used on its own
- ✓Stay on PaaS: keep the Magento code you have, adjust licensing, and keep upgrading within Adobe's support windows
Adobe's backend comparison shows that the new Commerce Storefront is included with the Cloud Service and Optimizer licenses, but not with PaaS. A PaaS merchant who wants the new storefront has to add Optimizer, sync the catalog into it and move off the Luma theme. Adobe also says PaaS is still supported with no end-of-life date announced, so nobody is being forced off it this year.
Why Adobe's SaaS path is a rebuild too
Adobe's own migration overview is clear about the work. Storefronts are rebuilt on Edge Delivery Services. In-process PHP modules, plugins and observers are modernized into App Builder applications. Integrations are re-established through App Builder, API Mesh and Adobe I/O Events, and data in third-party custom tables needs its own App Builder solution.
Adobe is moving customization out of the core, which I think is the right direction. It still means a Luma store on PaaS faces a new storefront, re-architected custom code and re-plumbed integrations whichever modern Adobe path it takes.
Once a rebuild is on the table, comparing it with a Shopify rebuild is fair. The budget, the timeline and the risk are in the same range, and the decision comes down to which platform you'd rather run for the next five years.
Security is part of the running cost
From late February 2026, Netcraft tracked a defacement campaign against more than 7,500 Magento sites, with files planted across more than 15,000 hostnames. Researchers didn't agree on the exact entry point, though Netcraft suspected an unauthenticated file upload flaw. On a self-managed install, keeping up with patches is your job, and a store that falls behind is exposed.
Adobe's SaaS answers that by running the platform for you. Shopify does the same. If you stay on PaaS, put patching on a fixed schedule and budget for it.
Where custom code lives on Magento and on Shopify
A Magento extension runs inside the platform with full access to core. That is what makes Magento so flexible, and also why an upgrade is only as smooth as the modules installed and the people who wrote them. ERP pricing plugins, custom cron jobs and checkout tweaks all sit in the same codebase and all need checking on every version bump.
Shopify's core is closed. Custom work attaches through versioned extension points: Shopify Functions, checkout and admin UI extensions, metafields and metaobjects, and the Admin API. A Function receives JSON input and returns JSON output, so Shopify can keep updating the platform underneath it without your code changing. When an API version is retired, you update the app that uses it. The store itself never has an upgrade project.
One plan detail matters when you scope the rebuild. Functions inside a public App Store app work on any Shopify plan. A custom app built only for your store can use Functions only on Shopify Plus. So the same Magento discount or validation rule might be an existing public app on Advanced, or a custom Function on Plus.
B2B and ERP: move the complexity behind the API
Most of the pain in a Magento B2B upgrade comes from logic that lives inside the platform: customer-specific prices pulled from the ERP, stock syncs on cron, custom pricing plugins. On Shopify the same logic moves into a connector or app that talks to Shopify through the API. It keeps working when Shopify updates, and the ERP stays the source of truth for price and stock.
Shopify's B2B features are available on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans, with what you can use depending on the plan. Check the plan limits against your number of price lists and buyer catalogs early, because that often decides whether you need Plus.
A pattern that works for trade buyers who pull product and stock feeds every few minutes: let the ERP connector own price and stock, and build a feed per catalog that each buyer collects from a private URL. Those requests never touch the storefront, so a busy buyer integration can't slow down retail customers.
For businesses where most orders still come in offline through reps, phone or EDI, the goal is one Shopify backend that holds every order and every customer record, whichever channel it arrived through. If you run more than one brand, pilot on the smaller one first, fix what breaks, then move the main site.
Don't trust a connector because the vendor says it has an API. Before it goes into the plan, ask which fields sync, in which direction, how often, and what happens when a sync fails. Then test it with your own data.
Differences to plan for
- ✓Promotions: Shopify's discount types and combination rules don't map one to one with Magento cart price rules. When discounts can't combine, Shopify applies the one that gives the customer the best value. Rebuild the important promotions and test them against real baskets
- ✓Search and merchandising: Shopify's native search is simpler than many Magento setups. Budget for a search and merchandising app if your catalog is large or technical
- ✓URLs: Shopify uses fixed paths such as /products/ and /collections/, so every Magento URL needs a mapped redirect
- ✓Customer passwords: they can't be carried across, so plan an account activation email for launch
AI shopping channels come with the platform
Shopify's Agentic Storefronts syndicate your catalog to AI shopping surfaces including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app, with the merchant staying the seller of record. Adobe's AI tools, such as Firefly, GenStudio, Real-Time CDP and Journey Optimizer, are separate products with their own licensing, so check what your contract covers before you count on them.
There is one B2B catch. AI agents surface the catalog price Shopify holds for the product. If your B2B prices live in catalogs and your retail price is the base price, AI channels will show the retail price, including to trade buyers who ask. Decide which products you syndicate, and say clearly on the page that trade pricing needs a login.
Launch in stages to protect SEO
Don't move every store, region and domain on the same day. Start with a smaller site, brand or region, or send a small share of traffic to Shopify first, and watch orders, redirects and Search Console before moving the rest.
- ✓Build the redirect map from a crawl plus your top pages in Search Console, including .html suffixes and category-path product URLs
- ✓Import redirects by CSV in the Shopify admin. Shopify matches the old path, not the domain, so each redirect starts with a slash
- ✓If you run country domains, plan how each old domain redirects at the DNS or CDN level before Shopify ever sees the request
- ✓Keep the Magento install available read-only until you have checked that nothing is missing
When we'd tell you to stay on Magento
Very heavy custom catalog logic and complex quote workflows are the two cases where Shopify gets expensive in year one. Both can be built, but the comparison with a well-run Magento upgrade gets close, and sometimes Magento wins. If either describes your business, start with a scoping call before anyone writes a statement of work.
If you are looking at Shopify Plus specifically, read our Shopify Plus due-diligence checklist before you sign.
We migrate Magento and Adobe Commerce stores to Shopify: module-by-module decisions, ERP and B2B connectors, redirects, data, storefront build and a staged launch. Migrations start at $8,000.
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