Shopify vs. Custom Platform

Commerce just works on Shopify

You built your custom platform because it was the right choice at the time. Switching to Shopify is the right one today.

Join the movement from custom to innovation

Thousands of brands are trading custom solutions for faster innovation on Shopify.
  • Glossier
  • Arhaus
  • Daily Harvest
  • Dollar Shave Club
  • JB Hifi
  • Butcherbox
  • Lull
  • Nobull
  • Simba
  • Shokz
  • Dr. Squatch
  • Anker
  • Makerflo
  • Escalade Sports

Why Shopify

Four reasons brands are switching

  1. 1
    150+ updates every six months

    Shopify builds industry-leading features that keep you ahead of the competition. 

  2. 2
    Less maintenance, more value

    Shopify gives you a strong infrastructure to ship code that solves real problems.

  3. 3
    Better ROI

    Eliminate entire cost categories and invest more in growth.

  4. 4
    Increased agility

    Experiment and innovate without getting bogged down in months-long projects.

150+ updates every six months

Do more impactful work on Shopify

Commerce moves fast, which makes it really tough to keep up with the competition on your own. People switch to Shopify from custom platforms because we have thousands of engineers building and shipping new features that solve the most complex challenges in commerce—freeing you up to focus on growth, instead of playing catch up.

We never stop shipping.
150+ updates unpacked every six months.

Explore Shopify Editions

More than $1.5 billion invested in R&D in 2025

Strong commerce focus, even stronger features

At Shopify, we put our money where our mouth is. In 2025, Shopify invested more than $1.5 billion in R&D, all dedicated to commerce innovation. On a custom platform, a simple update may cost tens of thousands of dollars to build, take months to implement—and there’s no guarantee it’ll even work.

The reason to migrate was not just to get through the next Christmas. Given how important the channel is and its role in the future growth of the company, there was a desire to seek a long-term partner organisation for ecommerce that would fit the culture of our organisation for longevity.

50% lower customer acquisition costs with Shopify Audiences

Shopify accelerates revenue growth

Shopify gives you a comprehensive suite of first-party tools that work seamlessly across the platform and allow you to automate repetitive tasks, improve conversion, and increase return on ad spend (ROAS). Integrating just one third-party application into your custom platform may require hours of upfront work, not to mention ongoing maintenance to ensure it stays compatible.

36%Shopify’s overall conversion rate outpaces the competition by up to 36%.*

50%lower customer acquisition costs with hyper-targeted ad campaigns on Shopify Audiences.**

15%higher average order value on Shop Pay than orders processed with another checkout method.***

*According to research commissioned by Shopify and conducted by a leading independent consulting firm to study TCO across major platforms in North America.

**Ad campaigns using the latest version of Shopify Audiences Retargeting Boost lists have seen as much as 2 times more orders for every marketing dollar spent on retargeting. This finding is compared to the next-best available tactic. Learn more.

***We determined this by comparing based on the comparison of average order values between transactions processed via Shop Pay and those processed via other checkout methods in Q1 2023. Learn more.

Once we went to Shopify, we were able to operate at another level and move so much faster. We didn’t need the developers to make changes, we could upload products faster, and make changes faster on the website. Shopify just made it so easy for our business to grow.

Anthony Nappa — CEO and Chief Customer Officer, Oz Hair and BeautyRead case study 

$68.1 billion in cross-border sales on Shopify

Reach new customers with Shopify

Stores on Shopify generated $68.1 billion in cross-border sales from July 2025 to June 2026.20 We’re constantly improving Shopify’s platform to unlock new revenue streams, channel partnerships, and international expansion for brands worldwide. This allows you to drive even more value than you could with a custom platform where brands are forced to build these channels from scratch—risking disjointed experiences for buyers and internal users alike.

Unified commerce

Shopify’s expansive solutions across B2C, B2B, and retail are built on the same infrastructure.

Social channels

Strategic partnerships with Google, Meta, Pinterest, Amazon, and TikTok fuel seamless product discovery and fast checkouts directly on social platforms.

Internationalisation tools

Easily expand to more than 150 countries with International Sales Tools and Shared Markets to provide localised shopping experiences.

Sales channels

Shop Pay is used by 200M+ buyers in 39 countries. Reach more customers with the Shop app and Shopify Collabs.

47%Increase in online transactions for Pinalli after migrating to shopify

Read case study 

7Retail stores launched in just 18 months for Oz Hair and Beauty after migrating to Shopify

Read case study 

Less maintenance, more value

Innovate without the technical debt

Shopify’s technical infrastructure, updates, and security free your teams up from time-consuming maintenance work—so you can work on projects that have a greater impact on growth.

PCI and SOC 1, 2, and 3 compliance

Managing your security posture is all risk, no reward

At Shopify, we proactively make meaningful changes to our infrastructure to reduce the burden on brands. Shopify covers all the boring and tedious work your teams don’t want to do, enabling compliance with frameworks like PCI for secure payments, SSL encryption, and SOC for retailers. With a custom platform, a single regulatory change in just one location can derail innovation and send your teams scrambling to secure everything.

Shopify offers an integral platform that is secure. We don't have to worry about things like privacy, security, and we can focus more on what matters to our business, like content management, marketing, and product development.

PCI Compliance

Shopify provides PCI compliance for all built-in features, which allows brands to securely process payments without the hassle of independent code compliance and auditing required by competitors.

SOC Compliance

Shopify is SOC 1, 2, and 3 compliant, providing a secure environment for retailers, while other enterprise offerings require costly development to achieve the same level of security.

SSL Encryption

Shopify includes SSL encryption for all online stores, safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring secure communication between customers and the website.

Fraud prevention

Shopify’s built-in fraud analysis tools integrate with leading fraud detection services to help brands identify and prevent fraudulent activities.

Data protection

Brands enjoy robust data protection and security measures like encryption, firewalls, and audits, consent management via the Shopify Privacy & Compliance app.

Learn more about Shopify’s PCI and SOC reports here.

99.9% uptime during the year’s biggest sales events

Shopify future-proofs your tech stack

Building a custom commerce solution requires a team of developers that has a deep knowledge of the intricacies of your tech stack. When even one developer leaves a company, they take valuable knowledge with them, making it more difficult for those who stay to maintain, troubleshoot, and innovate. But because Shopify relies on popular development frameworks—and is always backed by our best-in-class strategic support teams—it's easier for businesses to share knowledge, collaborate more effectively, and build faster.

Lull cut infrastructure and software costs 25%

Reduce ongoing costs with Shopify

According to research commissioned by Shopify and conducted by a leading independent consulting firm, our TCO is up to 36% better than the competition*. Choosing Shopify doesn’t just save costs—it eliminates entire cost categories, like compliance, hosting, and security, while also providing an extensive app and partner ecosystem. By comparison, building and maintaining a custom tech stack is time consuming—and often requires more development resources and manpower than you might expect.

Shopify's TCO is up to 36% better than the competition

Use our TCO Calculator to see how much you could save when you switch to Shopify.

Calculate your TCO
Graph highlighting how Shopify's total cost of ownership (TCO) is 36% better than the competition

*This research was commissioned by Shopify to study TCO across major platforms in North America.

Man standing next to a mattress manufactured by lull at the company's office

25%Lower infrastructure and software costs for Lull after migrating to Shopify.

Read case study 
Men's haircare and shaving products from dollar shave club, including razor, shave butter, and facial scrubs

40%Lower tech maintenance resources for Dollar Shave Club after switching to Shopify.

Read case study 

Migrate from a custom platform to Shopify

Shopify simplifies the migration process

Migrating from a custom platform can feel daunting. Shopify simplifies migrations with our intuitive UI, which can be supplemented with a powerful suite of data migration tools and best-in-class professional services team. We also have a simpler fee structure and an extensive network of partners ready to help with planning and implementation to ensure a smooth transition from your custom platform.

10%faster implementation, on average, for brands migrating to Shopify from custom platforms.*

*Shopify Time to Value report, results for brands migrating to Shopify from custom platforms. Study completed in partnership with a leading consulting firm.

Not ready for a complete migration? Add the world’s best converting checkout to your existing platform with the Shop Pay Component.

Learn more

Up to 36% better checkout conversion

Get to revenue faster with Shopify

Shopify invests significant resources to fine tune our checkout—and now we have real data that shows it’s the world’s best-converting. A study completed in April 2023 with a Big Three global management consulting company found that Shopify’s overall conversion rate outpaces the competition by up to 36%. The same study found that Shop Pay can boost conversion by as much as 50% compared to a guest checkout.

Having the rock solid foundation of the Shopify checkout was a huge deal for us because checkouts are really hard to get right if you don't have a team that's dedicated to stability and handling all the edge cases that happen.

person holding barbell in a gym, wearing a pair of nobull sneakers

92%lift in conversion for NOBULL after switching to Shopify.

Read case study 

Increased agility

Get more done with Shopify

With Shopify, business users get autonomy back through our intuitive back-office UI. This allows them to get meaningful work done and drive value—without asking developers to make every change. Custom tech stacks put business users across your company at the mercy of a development backlog. Simple tasks like creating products and building promotions often take a backseat to engineering’s critical, yet time-consuming maintenance tasks.

Our website [experience] is absolutely seamless. It is easy for the customer. It was easy for us to make. It is easy for us to make changes on the website.… We just go in and make a huge difference. We’ve seen crazy revenue jumps. The power of Shopify.

Platform flexibility

The possibilities are endless on Shopify

Shopify is as customisable as you want it to be—by anyone who wants to innovate. Our ecosystem includes over 10,000 easy-to-install applications and pre-built integrations, each vetted by a 100-checkpoint review before it hits the Shopify App Store. Instead of adding feature requests to engineering's long backlog, business owners can test new promotions and customer acquisition channels on Shopify with just a few clicks.

We felt confident that Shopify’s ecosystem would be able to support our changing needs through changing market trends, industry shifts, and evolving consumer behaviors.

Development flexibility

Build the way you want to build

Shopify encourages you to use the tech stack that makes sense for your business. Engineers can easily swap Shopify-native capabilities for the third-party back-end systems or software you prefer or already use. Use our full platform or explore a headless or modular solution with Storefront API and Hydrogen + Oxygen, Shopify’s official development stack for headless commerce.

Shopify also makes it easy to customise or extend the platform with powerful REST and GraphQL APIs, custom apps, Shopify Functions, Metafields, and Flow—which all integrate into the Shopify admin.

Migrating from a complex, homegrown tech stack to a confined platform was frightening. Would our unique identity fit into the confines of the Shopify infrastructure? The answer: Yes.

Checkout flexibility

Make the world’s highest-converting checkout your own

The best checkout experiences are incredibly difficult to build. With abandoned cart rates hovering over 70%, it’s never been more important to get it right. Shopify Checkout gives you the highest-converting checkout experience in commerce out of the box. Plus, it’s customisable.

Customise the front end with the GraphQL Branding API and extend checkout functionality with Checkout UI, post-purchase, and discount extensions—all powered by UI components and APIs that run in a secure sandbox environment.

+36%

Shopify converts up to 36% better than the competition

Analyst validation

Industry analyst recognition

70%Shopify’s market share from the top 800 global DTC brands, according to 2PM.

Read the article 

83%Number of rising apparel brands on Shopify, according to 2PM.

Read it on 2PM 
Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ report

Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Shopify was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce Platforms, its fourth consecutive year as a Leader, and positioned highest for Ability to Execute.16

Read the report 
Forrester logo

Forrester

Shopify was named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Commerce Solutions, Q3 2026, one of two Leaders in the evaluation and was designated a Customer Favorite.17

Read the report 
Gartner® Critical Capabilities™ report

Gartner® Critical Capabilities™

Shopify received the highest score in the AI-Enabled Commerce (3.33 out of 5) and B2C Digital Commerce (3.75 out of 5) use cases, and scored highest in the Composable and Agile Commerce use case, in the 2026 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce Platforms.18

Read the report 
IDC logo

IDC market share

IDC ranked Shopify #1 in worldwide digital commerce applications market share for 2025, with 21.8% of revenue, up from 19.5% in 2024.19

Read the IDC results 

Migration partners

Shopify’s partner ecosystem received $3.8 billion in payouts from Shopify in the last year21

Ready to make the leap from your custom platform to Shopify? Our global ecosystem of Shopify Partners has the expertise you need to navigate even the most complex migration challenges.

10,000+App and technology partners

Certified technology partnersApps reviewed against Shopify Plus requirements for security, privacy, performance, and merchant support

Featured migration partners

Shopify vs. custom platform comparison

How running your store on Shopify compares with building and running your own custom-built ecommerce website or platform, as of November 2026.
Comparison of Shopify and a custom-built ecommerce website or platform on total cost of ownership, implementation time, hosting and upgrades, security and compliance, scale and uptime, checkout, B2B, international selling, APIs and headless, AI capabilities, migration, and best fit
Buyer concernShopifyCustom platform
Total cost of ownershipShopifyShopify Plus includes Level 1 PCI DSS compliance and can include unlimited bandwidth, a CDN, and platform updates1Custom platformYou pay for hosting, security, PCI DSS compliance, and the team that runs them2,3
Implementation timeShopifyBrands moving from custom platforms implement 10% faster on average, starting with Shopify’s checkout, admin, and 21,000+ apps4,15Custom platformYou build checkout, admin tools, and integrations before launch2
Hosting and upgradesShopifyShopify hosts your store and ships 150+ updates every six months1,5Custom platformYour team hosts, patches, and upgrades the platform2
Security and complianceShopifyLevel 1 PCI DSS compliant and SOC 1, 2, and 3 compliant1,23Custom platformYour team secures the platform and achieves PCI DSS compliance itself2,3
Scale and uptimeShopify99.9% platform uptime during the year’s biggest sales events, and an edge that peaked at 489 million requests per minute during BFCM 202512,24Custom platformYou plan, test, and pay for the capacity your traffic peaks need2
CheckoutShopifyConverts up to 36% better than the competition, and extends with checkout UI extensions and Shopify Functions6,7Custom platformYou build and secure checkout, and keep it PCI DSS compliant3
B2BShopifyCompanies, catalogs, and payment terms on Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus; features vary by plan8Custom platformYou build company accounts, pricing, and payment terms2
International sellingShopifyMarkets sets currency, language, pricing, and product availability by country from one store9Custom platformYou build currency, language, and regional pricing2
APIs and headlessShopifyStorefront API and Hydrogen for custom frontends, hosted on Oxygen at no extra charge10Custom platformFull control of the code, and full responsibility for maintaining it2
AI capabilitiesShopifySell in AI chats from Shopify’s Catalog, and get help in your admin from Sidekick, the built-in AI assistant13Custom platformYou build product feeds and integrations for each AI channel, and any AI tools for your team2
MigrationShopifyImport with CSV files, a migration app, or a Shopify Partner, then redirect old URLs11Custom platformYour export depends on how your platform stores products, customers, and orders2
Best fitShopifyBrands that want to launch and update fast without running the platform themselves1,5Custom platformTeams that need control of every layer and can staff its hosting, security, and updates for the long term2

Sources: footnotes 1 to 13, 15, 23, and 24.

Shopify vs. custom platform FAQ

1. Shopify Help Center, “Shopify Plus plan,” help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan, accessed October 2026. Plan features, including bandwidth, CDN, and update terms, can vary by contract.

2. “Custom platform” in this comparison means an ecommerce platform a business builds, or commissions, and runs itself. Hosting, security, compliance, updates, and integrations are that business’s responsibility.

3. PCI Security Standards Council, “Does PCI DSS apply to merchants who outsource all payment processing operations and never store, process or transmit cardholder data?,” pcisecuritystandards.org, accessed October 2026.

4. Shopify App Store app count as of December 31, 2025, from Shopify investor materials.

5. Shopify Editions, accessed October 2026.

6. Shopify’s overall conversion rate outpaces the competition by up to 36% and by an average of 15%, according to a study completed in April 2023 with a Big Three global management consulting company.

7. Shopify.dev, “Technologies for customizing Shopify checkout,” shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/checkout/technologies, accessed October 2026. Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping, and payment steps are available on Shopify Plus.

8. Shopify Help Center, “Shopify B2B” and “Shopify B2B features by plan,” help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b, accessed October 2026.

9. Shopify Help Center, “Getting started with markets,” help.shopify.com/en/manual/markets/getting-started, accessed October 2026.

10. Shopify.dev, “Storefronts” (shopify.dev/docs/storefronts) and “GraphQL Admin API reference” (shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql), accessed October 2026.

11. Shopify Help Center, “Migrate to Shopify,” help.shopify.com/en/manual/migrating-to-shopify, accessed October 2026.

12. Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday 2025 data: peak edge traffic of 489 million requests per minute, and peak sales of $5.1 million per minute at 12:01 p.m. EST on Black Friday.

13. Shopify pricing, shopify.com/pricing, accessed November 2026. Selling in AI chats and Sidekick features vary by plan and region.

14. Shopify Time to Value report, shopify.com/compare/time-to-value. Study completed in partnership with a leading consulting firm.

15. Shopify Time to Value report, results for brands migrating to Shopify from custom platforms (shopify.com/compare/time-to-value). Study completed in partnership with a leading consulting firm.

16. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms, Aditya Vasudevan, Penny Gillespie, Sandy Shen, Jason Daigler, Mike Lowndes, 19 October 2026 (shopify.com/resources/gartner-magic-quadrant). GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

17. The Forrester Wave™: Commerce Solutions, Q3 2026, July 22, 2026 (reprint.forrester.com/reports/the-forrester-wavetm-commerce-solutions-q3-2026-9989c1a9/index.html). Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications.

18. Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce Platforms, Sandy Shen, Aditya Vasudevan, Mike Lowndes, Jason Daigler, Penny Gillespie, 20 October 2026 (shopify.com/resources/gartner-magic-quadrant). The Gartner disclaimer in footnote 16 applies.

19. IDC Market Share: Worldwide Digital Commerce Applications Shares, 2025, doc #US54603626, June 2026, as reported on the Shopify Enterprise blog, "Shopify Ranked #1 For Worldwide Digital Commerce Applications Market Share" (shopify.com/enterprise/blog/shopify-market-share).

20. Shopify, The Entrepreneur Effect (2026), note [2]; Shopify platform data for July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026. Cross-border sales are sales in which the buyer is outside the merchant’s home country (shopify.com/entrepreneur).

21. Shopify, The Entrepreneur Effect (2026), note [24]; Shopify partner payout records for July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 (shopify.com/entrepreneur).

22. Shopify, “International selling,” shopify.com/plus/solutions/international-ecommerce, accessed November 2026.

23. Shopify Help Center, PCI DSS and SOC compliance reports, help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/account-security/compliance-docs, accessed November 2026.

24. Shopify platform data: 99.9% platform uptime during the year’s biggest flash sales and events.

Shopify vs. Custom Platform

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