Shopify vs PrestaShop: costs, management and customisation

The central difference between Shopify and PrestaShop is how the platform is managed. Shopify provides ecommerce as a service; PrestaShop Open Source lets you manage your own installation and adapt its code. This changes maintenance, technical freedom and budgeting, but does not by itself determine which store will sell more.

If you already have an ecommerce business, compare both using your catalogue, integrations and daily tasks. A store with customer-specific prices and a custom ERP needs a different evaluation from a brand selling a straightforward range.

What exactly are you comparing?

PrestaShop Open Source does not use the same commercial model as a hosted service. If you are evaluating a PrestaShop offer with hosting or included services, incorporate those conditions. For Shopify, separate the plan, theme, apps and agency work: the platform subscription does not cover everything.

Total cost: use an equivalent worksheet

Downloading software without a licence fee does not make operating a store free. Nor does a Shopify subscription include all future development. Compare a common period and separate initial investment, recurring costs and foreseeable work.

• Initial: analysis, design, development, migration and launch.
• Recurring: platform or hosting, modules or apps, payments, maintenance and external tools.
• Variable: app usage, transaction volume, services and incidents according to the contract.
• Internal: time your team spends publishing changes, correcting errors and coordinating providers.

The Shopify Spain pricing page is the reference for the plan. Check billing period, taxes and payment conditions. If you use an external provider, also review whether an additional transaction fee applies: this differs from the gateway's processing fee.

Customisation: which freedom do you really need?

PrestaShop can suit processes that justify maintaining your own code with a team capable of supporting it. That freedom loses some value when every change makes the next update harder or only one person understands how it works.

Shopify may fit when you prefer resolving more processes with components and tools maintained within its ecosystem. Platform, API and checkout limits must be checked before promising an exact replica. Development that exists in PrestaShop does not demonstrate it can be moved unchanged.

Test the hardest requirement

Choose a feature you cannot lose: B2B pricing, combined promotions, product configuration or connection with a legacy system. Ask for a complete behavioural test in the destination. This provides more value than comparing the number of available apps.

Catalogue management and team tasks

Assess which tasks the team can handle without development: creating a product, preparing a campaign, changing a menu, launching a promotion and correcting an inventory error. In either platform, careful implementation can simplify them; a rigid structure can make them harder.

The catalogue must fit the data model. Review variants, categories or collections, filters, units, languages and extra fields. If you sell B2B, do not rely on old comparisons: Shopify documents B2B features across several plans, with important differences in catalogues, pricing and advanced payments.

Performance and security

A well-prepared PrestaShop installation can perform well. A Shopify store overloaded with scripts can provide a poor experience. Measure real pages and journeys with the content and apps you will use before drawing speed conclusions.

For security, compare specific responsibilities: updates, access, apps, recovery, backups and incident response. Delegating infrastructure does not remove the need to protect accounts and control access to commercial data.

The cost of switching counts too

If you are already on PrestaShop, migration includes data, design, integrations and SEO. You may need to rebuild modules, reorganise content and prepare new team routines. Customer passwords and payment data should not be handled like a product CSV.

Keep URLs where possible, prepare equivalent redirects and check pages with traffic. Google warns of possible fluctuations during major changes. There is no migration with guaranteed ranking outcomes.

What to choose for your situation

We would lean towards keeping PrestaShop if it meets requirements, reliable maintenance exists and the main issue can be fixed within a small scope. We would investigate Shopify if infrastructure and technical dependencies consume too much time, the team needs more autonomy and critical features have demonstrated solutions.

A Shopify fit assessment can compare the alternatives without assuming migration is necessary. If the decision is already made, the next step is defining data, dependencies and tests within the project.

Continue working on your store

• Operational benefits of moving from PrestaShop to Shopify
• Diagnosing PrestaShop problems
• How to prepare a Shopify migration

Sources and review

• Migrating to Shopify: Shopify documentation
• Shopify plans and pricing in Spain
• Shopify B2B: features by plan
• Google Search Central: site moves and URL changes

Editorial review: the Migraciones.io team · 30 October 2026. Features, plans and availability are checked against the linked sources.