Magento

Magento Open Source is completely free to download, self-host, and use. However, the 'free' platform requires significant investment: web hosting ($100–1,000+/month for managed Magento hosting), developer costs (Magento PHP developers charge $50–200+/hour — setup typically costs $10,000–100,000+), SSL certificates, security maintenance, extension licenses ($50–2,000 each from Magento Marketplace), and ongoing development for updates and customization. Adobe Commerce (the enterprise version) is priced based on GMV: from $22,000/year for up to $1M GMV to $125,000+/year for large enterprises. Adobe Commerce Cloud (fully managed) adds hosting and managed services. Total cost of ownership for a mid-market Magento store is typically $50,000–500,000+/year.

Shopify Plus (enterprise Shopify) is better for most large retailers that prioritize ease of use, fast iteration, and low operational overhead — Shopify handles hosting, security patches, and PCI compliance, freeing engineering resources for store experience. Shopify Plus supports 10,000+ orders/minute and serves major brands. Magento/Adobe Commerce is better when you need: extreme catalog complexity (highly configurable products, large attribute sets), B2B e-commerce with company accounts and contract pricing, multi-store management with complex business logic, or want full source code control for competitive differentiation. Magento requires Magento developers and DevOps investment that Shopify doesn't. Most DTC brands choose Shopify; B2B and multi-brand enterprises with complex requirements choose Adobe Commerce.

Magento Open Source (formerly Magento Community Edition) is the free, self-hosted version with core e-commerce features: catalog management, checkout, payment integrations, CMS, and the extension marketplace. Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Commerce) adds enterprise features: B2B module (company accounts, purchase orders, shared catalogs, negotiated pricing), page builder drag-and-drop content editor, product recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei AI, customer segmentation and personalization, gift cards, store credit, advanced returns management, and Adobe Experience Cloud integrations (Adobe Analytics, Target, Campaign). Adobe Commerce Cloud includes Adobe's managed cloud hosting on AWS or Azure. Enterprise pricing starts at ~$22,000/year and scales with GMV. For most SMB retailers, Open Source (if you have developers) or Shopify is more appropriate.