Choose Shopify if you want the platform infrastructure handled for you; choose self-managed PrestaShop if your team needs direct control over the source code and hosting environment. That is the practical starting point for a PrestaShop vs Shopify comparison: who will run the technical side of your online store?
For US merchants, Shopify’s pricing page displayed Basic at $29 per month equivalent with annual billing, or $39 per month with monthly billing, on October 9, 2026. PrestaShop’s open-source software is free to download and modify. In both cases, the operating budget also involves payments, extensions and the work needed to keep the business running.
PrestaShop and Shopify operating models
| Dimension | Self-managed PrestaShop | Shopify |
| Software model | Open-source software, free to download and modify | Hosted commerce service sold by subscription |
| Hosting | The operator selects the hosting environment and its management arrangement | US plans include secure hosting, unlimited bandwidth and TLS/SSL |
| Customization | Direct source-code modification and control over the installation | Theme and API customization within platform boundaries |
| Infrastructure maintenance | Handled by the operator or contracted technical providers | Hosting and platform services are managed within the service |
| Operating cost components | Hosting, modules, payment processing, implementation and maintenance | Subscription, apps, payment processing and applicable third-party transaction fees |
The decision starts with who runs the technical side
Shopify sells a hosted subscription. PrestaShop provides open-source software—software whose source code you can access and modify—that you can run on infrastructure you select. The distinction is a bit like choosing between renting a serviced workspace and managing your own premises: the second gives you more control, along with more decisions to own.
This comparison concerns self-managed PrestaShop, rather than every hosted arrangement available around the software. If you hire a provider to handle hosting and maintenance, the responsibilities shift according to that agreement.
Start with a concrete question: who will handle updates, backups, server upkeep and compatibility problems? If the answer is an employee, agency or developer, that work belongs in the PrestaShop budget. If your priority is reducing infrastructure work, Shopify’s managed model is the more direct fit.
Technical skill alone does not settle the choice. A capable developer may prefer a hosted service to spend less time on infrastructure. Equally, a merchant without development skills can hire a team to operate PrestaShop. The useful distinction is the responsibility you want to retain, and the people you have to carry it.
What each operating model puts in your hands
Hosting: selected infrastructure or an included service
With self-managed PrestaShop, you choose the hosting environment and decide how its operation will be handled. That gives you direct influence over the infrastructure, but it also makes hosting selection and upkeep part of the project.
Shopify says its US plans include secure commerce hosting, unlimited bandwidth and a TLS/SSL certificate for connected domains. TLS/SSL encrypts the connection between a customer’s browser and the store. Those inclusions bring several infrastructure costs and tasks into the subscription rather than requiring a separate hosting purchase.
For a small team focused on products and orders, that consolidation can be valuable. For a team that needs control over its server environment, choosing and operating its own PrestaShop installation may be worth the extra work.
Code: direct modification or platform extensions
The PrestaShop open-source project allows you to download and modify the software. In a self-managed deployment, that gives your technical team a direct route to changing the underlying application.
Shopify supports customization through themes and APIs—interfaces that let software exchange information and interact with the platform. Those options operate within Shopify’s platform boundaries. Changing a storefront’s appearance and changing the underlying commerce system are different kinds of work, so map your requirements to the actual customization route before committing.
That distinction matters most when your business has a hard requirement for source-code access. PrestaShop aligns directly with that requirement. When your needs fit Shopify’s themes, apps and APIs, a managed service can provide customization without putting the server in your hands.
The costs behind the platform price
PrestaShop: free software, separate operating expenses
PrestaShop’s free software license removes a license charge from the budget. Running the installation still involves a set of choices, each with its own cost:
- Hosting: the infrastructure selected for the store.
- Modules: extensions used to add or adapt functionality, including paid modules where needed.
- Payment processing: the chosen payment provider’s charges and any associated module costs.
- Implementation: installation, configuration and custom development.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, compatibility checks, technical support and server upkeep, according to the hosting arrangement.
A useful PrestaShop quote should therefore cover a defined store configuration and an ongoing maintenance scope. Ask who will perform the technical work, what is included and how additional development is charged. Otherwise, the software price tells you very little about the workload you are buying.
Shopify: subscription, extensions and payment charges
Shopify puts hosting into its subscription, making that part of the budget easier to identify. Apps, payment processing and plan changes can add costs. The plan you need also depends on operational requirements such as staff access and checkout customization.
The following US prices and payment rates were displayed on Shopify’s US pricing page on October 9, 2026. All dollar amounts are US dollars.
| Shopify plan | Monthly equivalent with annual billing | Price with monthly billing | Shopify Payments standard online card rate | Third-party transaction fee, when applicable |
| Basic | $29 | $39 | From 2.9% + $0.30 | 2% |
| Grow | $79 | $105 | From 2.7% + $0.30 | 1% |
| Advanced | $299 | $399 | From 2.5% + $0.30 | 0.6% |
Shopify’s US page also displayed Plus starting at $2,300 per month, with standard online card processing from 2.25% + $0.30 through Shopify Payments and a 0.2% third-party transaction fee when applicable.
The annual-billing column expresses a monthly equivalent under an annual billing commitment. Basic’s monthly-billed option is $39.
Payment processing and third-party fees follow different paths
Card processing is the charge for processing the customer’s payment. With Shopify Payments, the US Basic standard online card rate starts at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
A third-party transaction fee is a separate Shopify charge that can apply when you use an external payment provider. In that situation, the provider charges for processing the payment, and Shopify can charge its applicable transaction fee as well.
Shopify’s third-party transaction fee terms describe payment-method and order-type exceptions. The documented calculation base is the product amount after discounts, plus taxes and shipping charges, multiplied by the applicable plan rate.
For budgeting, price the payment route you intend to use. With PrestaShop, that means the selected gateway and any associated modules. With Shopify, it means Shopify Payments processing, or the external provider’s processing charges together with Shopify’s applicable third-party fee.
A US Shopify Basic example, with the assumptions shown
A worked example makes the fee structure easier to follow. Consider a US store on Basic with annual billing, using the displayed $29 monthly equivalent, and the following activity in one month:
- 100 domestic standard online card orders.
- $50 per order.
- Shopify Payments.
- No refunds, cross-border cards, taxes, shipping charges, apps or other costs.
Gross card sales are:
100 × $50 = $5,000
Using the displayed US Basic standard online card rate, processing is:
(2.9% × $5,000) + (100 × $0.30) = $145 + $30 = $175
Adding the annual-billing monthly equivalent produces:
$175 + $29 = $204 for the modeled month
That $204 covers the modeled processing amount and the subscription’s monthly equivalent. The assumptions exclude the other operating expenses listed here; the subscription itself remains annually billed.
The external-provider alternative
Now keep the same order count and values, but use an external provider instead of Shopify Payments. Assume those orders are eligible for Basic’s displayed 2% third-party transaction fee.
Shopify’s third-party fee would be:
2% × $5,000 = $100
The modeled subtotal is therefore $129: the $29 annual-billing monthly equivalent plus the $100 third-party fee. The external provider’s own processing charge is added separately.
The two paths expose different budget components. The Shopify Payments path produces a $204 modeled amount under the stated assumptions. The external-provider path produces $129 plus that provider’s processing charges. Its final cost depends on the provider’s terms.
Customization, maintenance and security responsibilities
Checkout customization can determine the Shopify plan
Source-code control makes self-managed PrestaShop a direct fit for teams that need to modify the application itself. The practical cost is the development and maintenance needed to support those changes.
Shopify’s US plan grid lists limited checkout customization on Basic, Grow and Advanced, and full checkout customization on Plus. Checkout is the stage where a customer completes an order and payment. If changes to that process are central to your project, review them before selecting a plan: a storefront design requirement and a checkout requirement can lead to different implementation choices.
Staff access is a separate plan requirement
Shopify’s US plans list unlimited products, but additional staff accounts differ: Basic has none, Grow has five, Advanced has 15, and Plus has unlimited additional staff accounts. Collaborator accounts are listed separately and do not count as staff accounts.
For a business with several employees managing the store, account access can matter as much as a lower payment rate. Work out who needs staff access before budgeting around Basic.
Support also varies in the US plan grid. Basic and Grow list live chat, Advanced lists enhanced live chat, and Plus lists priority support. These differences belong in the operational decision alongside subscription and payment costs.
Maintenance follows the deployment arrangement
In a self-managed PrestaShop installation, updates, backups, server upkeep and compatibility checks fall to the operator or the team hired to perform them. A hosting or maintenance contract can delegate parts of that workload. Put those responsibilities into the agreement rather than leaving them to assumption.
Shopify consolidates hosting and platform services into its managed offering. You still have business-side work: maintaining products, managing apps, configuring payments and running day-to-day store operations. The benefit is a reduction in infrastructure responsibility, rather than an absence of work.
One business example illustrates why that division can matter. Frank Gosdschan, General Manager at Veneta Blinds, described the company’s previous PrestaShop setup as increasingly cumbersome to maintain. He said its move to Shopify automated many previously manual processes and provided a useful reporting structure. That is a specific company’s operational experience, shaped by its implementation and business needs.
Performance and security involve concrete responsibilities
With self-managed PrestaShop, performance depends on hosting resources, configuration and optimization. Your team’s infrastructure choices therefore become part of the performance work. Shopify provides managed hosting, shifting that infrastructure responsibility into the service.
For a store evaluation, include the intended theme, extensions and catalog in your performance checks. Those are part of the store customers will actually use, and technical work on a self-managed installation needs to account for them.
Shopify states that its platform meets Level 1 PCI DSS requirements, the payment-card industry’s data security standard. It also includes hosting and TLS/SSL in the US plans. For self-managed PrestaShop, server upkeep and application maintenance belong to the operator’s technical arrangements. Define who handles those tasks and how backups are maintained when selecting providers.
Which platform fits your team?
Choose Shopify if you want to delegate infrastructure
Shopify fits a merchant who wants hosting and core platform services included, and whose customization requirements fit its platform tools and plan boundaries. That can be a useful trade for a small team that wants to focus on products, orders and customer operations.
Before selecting the plan, map staff access, checkout requirements and the intended payment provider. Those requirements affect both capability and ongoing cost.
Choose PrestaShop if direct control is a requirement
Self-managed PrestaShop fits an operator who needs source-code modification and control over the hosting environment, with a developer, agency or internal team ready to maintain the installation.
Budget for that team’s ongoing work as well as the launch. A deployment that meets your needs on opening day also needs updates, backups and compatibility maintenance as the store changes.
Bottom line
The decisive trade is control versus delegated infrastructure. Shopify’s subscription buys a managed platform within its boundaries; self-managed PrestaShop puts code and infrastructure choices in your hands, with the corresponding technical work in your operating budget.
