Shopify or custom webshop: when to choose which?

You want to scale e-commerce. The decision is usually Shopify or a custom webshop. Both are valid. The differences are monthly cost structure, flexibility, integrations and long-term control.

This article helps you choose. You get indicative monthly costs (in euros, project-dependent), a comparison table, and a hands-on decision checklist.

Quick summary

Shopify offers fast time-to-market, predictable monthly fees and many off-the-shelf integrations. Custom development requires a higher initial investment, but gives full flexibility, bespoke integrations and long-term control. Your choice depends on growth expectations, technical needs and how much you want to customize.

Costs: monthly and one-off

• Shopify: plans typically start at about €29 to €299 per month. Add transaction fees, payment provider fees and paid apps. Many apps cost €5–€50/month. Active stores commonly spend €50–€400/month in total (project-dependent).
• Custom webshop: no platform subscription, but hosting, monitoring and a support contract are ongoing costs. Plan for €50–€300/month for infrastructure and ops, plus support hours (e.g. €75–€150/hour or a retainer).

One-off development costs (indicative):

• Shopify: basic setup with a theme and configuration: €1.500–€6.000.
• Custom: from €10.000 for a simple custom store, often €25.000+ for complex features like custom inventory logic, PIM or comprehensive B2B features.

Note: low monthly SaaS fees can be offset by many paid apps and integration costs in time.

Flexibility and custom needs

• Shopify works within platform limits: many things are doable with apps or theme tweaks, but you’ll hit constraints for checkout or deep business logic unless you use Shopify Plus.
• Custom gives full control over data models, checkout, performance optimizations and UX. For unique checkout flows, subscription mechanics or complex pricing, custom usually wins.

If 80% of your requirements are standard e-commerce features (products, discounts, shipping, common payments), Shopify is usually faster and cheaper. If you have two or more custom requirements, budget for custom.

Integrations

Shopify’s ecosystem has many ready integrations for accounting, fulfillment and marketing. That lowers integration time but can scatter data across multiple apps.

Custom development allows a single API layer connecting ERP, PIM, OMS and external services. It’s more expensive initially, but gives better data consistency and can reduce long-term maintenance.

Categorize integrations:

• Standard: payment provider, carrier, accounting — Shopify is faster.
• Complex: multi-location inventory, custom returns, B2B price rules — custom is better.

Performance, SEO and accessibility

Performance affects conversion. Shopify can achieve good scores, but themes and apps influence LCP and CLS. Follow Core Web Vitals guidance to keep metrics healthy: https://web.dev/articles/vitals. Also use search fundamentals for indexing and SEO basics: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials.

Custom allows precise control (SSR, image pipelines, CDN), but requires developer discipline to implement Core Web Vitals and SEO best practices.

Security and compliance

Shopify handles many security tasks (hosting, PCI). With custom, you’re responsible for secure development and infrastructure. Refer to OWASP Top 10 for common risks: https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/.

Regardless of platform, GDPR and cookie compliance remain your responsibility.

Growth path and migration

• Need to go live quickly and validate the market? Start on Shopify to reduce time-to-market.
• Expect significant revenue growth within 12–24 months or need complex ops (multi-country, custom pricing)? Plan for migration to custom or a hybrid setup.

Hybrid (headless) is an option: it pairs Shopify backend with a custom frontend. You get SaaS speed with frontend flexibility. It’s more complex and costs fall between pure Shopify and full custom.

Comparison table

Checklist to decide

• Want to be live in 1–4 weeks with standard e-commerce features: Shopify.
• Need unique checkout flows, subscription logic or B2B pricing: custom.
• Heavy custom integrations with ERP/PIM/OMS: custom or headless.
• Prefer predictable operational overhead and minimal DevOps: Shopify.
• Have budget and plan to differentiate via platform features: custom.

Practical steps to start or migrate

• List requirements and prioritize (must-have vs nice-to-have).
• Calculate TCO over 3 years, not just initial cost.
• Launch an MVP and measure real customer behavior.
• Decide migration trigger: when operational complexity outweighs the value of quick market entry.

Final notes

Shopify is often the right starting point. Custom is the right path once operational complexity and scale demand unique solutions.

If you want help weighing options for your situation, consider a practical project scan — we can outline cost ranges and migration paths. See our page to have a webshop built or request a quote for a tailored estimate.