Choosing the right eCommerce platform is one of the most important decisions when building an online store. The right choice lays a solid foundation that can adapt and scale as your business grows.
Today, we’re diving into two platforms that couldn't be more different: Sylius and Shopify. On one hand, we have the developer's dream - a flexible, customizable open-source platform. On the other, a streamlined, ready-to-use solution that requires minimal technical knowledge.
Let’s start the comparison with a brief overview of these platforms.
Sylius and Shopify overview
Sylius is an open-source eCommerce platform built on the PHP Symfony framework. It was designed with developers and businesses in mind, offering a solution that can be customized to meet specific business requirements. First released in 2011, Sylius has evolved into a comprehensive eCommerce framework with a strong focus on developer experience and enterprise-grade capabilities. Its flexible architecture allows businesses to create a platform that exactly corresponds with their needs and eliminates unnecessary features that could slow down performance or complicate the user experience.
Shopify, in turn, is a leading SaaS (Software as a Service) eCommerce platform, providing ready, hosted solutions for online stores. It was designed with ease of use in mind, allowing merchants to quickly launch online sales without the need for extensive technical knowledge. Founded in 2006, Shopify currently serves over 2 million businesses across 175 countries, generating total sales exceeding $200 billion annually. The platform takes care of all the technical aspects of running an online store, enabling merchants to focus on product development and marketing activities instead of worrying about technological issues.
Comparison of Sylius and Shopify
Now, as we have a basic understanding of both platforms, let's dive deeper into their specific differences. The following comparison explores key aspects of Sylius and Shopify across various dimensions that matter most to eCommerce businesses. From technical architecture to business functionality and from customization capabilities to costs, we'll examine how these fundamentally different eCommerce approaches meet diverse business needs and requirements.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-50">Customization</div>
Customization in Sylius
Sylius delivers maximum eCommerce customization through its open-source, API-first architecture. At its core, Sylius embraces a philosophy of unlimited flexibility where every aspect of your store can be tailored to your exact business requirements.
The platform's foundation on the powerful Symfony framework gives developers access to a mature ecosystem of components and best practices. This architectural decision enables Sylius to function as a collection of decoupled components that can be modified independently without affecting the entire system.
What truly sets Sylius apart is its commitment to a best-of-breed approach. Rather than forcing businesses into a one-size-fits-all solution, Sylius promotes integrations with specialized tools and services that excel in specific tasks, for example, Pimcore for managing product information or SuluCMS for managing content. This philosophy extends to the frontend as well, where the headless and microservices capabilities allow developers to build customer experiences using any technology stack they prefer.
Full access to source code means there are virtually no limitations to what can be customized. Unlike closed platforms, Sylius allows you to modify core behaviors, create entirely new features, or completely redesign system functionality. This level of control is simply impossible with SaaS platforms that restrict access to their underlying code.
Customization in Shopify
Shopify stands out through its approach of streamlined simplicity and ready-made solutions. The platform offers an impressive collection of professionally designed themes that can be customized through Shopify's intuitive visual editors and Liquid template language. This approach enables entrepreneurs to craft polished, on-brand storefronts without deep technical know-how.
The platform's app marketplace represents one of the largest eCommerce ecosystems in the world, offering tools and services to enhance various aspects of an eCommerce store.
However, as a closed-source SaaS platform, Shopify imposes significant customization limitations that businesses must consider. The platform's architecture fundamentally restricts access to core functionality, meaning certain aspects of your store simply cannot be modified regardless of business need. This can create frustrating roadblocks when your business requirements don't align with Shopify's standardized approach.
While Shopify offers APIs for integration, they have clear boundaries that cannot be crossed. Core system behaviors are fixed, and businesses must adapt their processes to fit Shopify's model rather than the other way around.
For businesses with standard eCommerce needs, these limitations may never become obstacles. However, for companies with complex requirements, unique business models, or the need for deep integration with other systems, Shopify's constraints can become increasingly problematic as your business grows.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-50">Scalability & Performance</div>
Sylius
The platform's modular architecture creates natural performance advantages by allowing independent optimization of different system components, directing resources precisely where needed based on real-time demands. Thanks to its use of Doctrine ORM, Sylius supports flexible database configurations, such as read/write splitting and sharding. With the right setup, this allows the platform to handle large-scale product catalogs and traffic spikes (e.g., Black Friday or Christmas sales) effectively. Also, Sylius offers a clear path to modular architecture for rapidly growing businesses, allowing companies to benefit from a headless or microservices approach when needed.
Shopify
As a SaaS solution, Shopify offers the convenience of managed infrastructure that automatically scales to handle traffic spikes without merchant intervention, providing built-in redundancy and reliability from significant infrastructure investments. However, the platform's one-size-fits-all approach can create performance limitations for high-volume or complex stores, particularly noticeable with large product catalogs or extensive custom functionality. High-volume inventory operations often become progressively slower as the catalog size grows into tens of thousands of products, while custom app integrations may encounter API rate limiting that creates bottlenecks during peak periods. Despite Shopify Plus offering more flexibility and features, all stores ultimately run on the same core infrastructure, placing natural limits on how much performance can be optimized beyond what the platform allows.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-50">B2B & Multi-Store Capabilities</div>
Sylius
The Sylius Plus B2B module offers comprehensive organization account management, supporting organizational hierarchies and user permissions. Its advanced catalog management capabilities allow for customer-specific pricing, tailored product catalogs, and personalized catalogs for different business clients. To support complex business operations, the Import/Export integration layer allows for smooth data exchange between Sylius and external systems, such as ERPs or PIMs, enabling automated updates of product information, inventory levels, and customer records.
Additionally, Sylius’s open and modular architecture ensures that even the most industry-specific B2B requirements can be implemented without limitations imposed by the platform.
Shopify
Shopify has historically focused on B2C commerce, with B2B capabilities primarily available through Shopify Plus and various third-party applications that often feel disconnected from the core platform. While Shopify introduced native B2B features in 2022, its company profile system still lacks the advanced organizational hierarchies required for more complex B2B relationships. Although custom pricing can be assigned to specific companies, the system struggles with more advanced models, such as bracket pricing or volume-based discounts across multiple orders. On standard Shopify plans, multi-store management is virtually nonexistent, requiring separate subscriptions and admin panels for each storefront. Even with Shopify Plus Organizations, core commerce data like inventory and customer records remain separated across stores, often requiring custom integrations to achieve a unified backend.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-50">What about pricing?</div>
Sylius
Sylius Standard is completely free to use as an open-source solution, making it a cost-effective option for businesses looking to avoid upfront licensing fees. All Sylius plugins are also available for free, providing extensive functionality without additional costs. For enterprises requiring advanced capabilities, Sylius Plus offers a more comprehensive solution with pricing starting from €800 per year for smaller-scale implementations, significantly more affordable than most enterprise eCommerce platforms.
What sets Sylius Plus apart is its modular pricing model, which lets businesses license only the features they need, avoiding unnecessary costs. Flexible payment options are also available, including monthly, yearly, or, in some cases, a lifetime license, depending on your agreement.
The final pricing for Sylius Plus is always tailored to your specific business context. It takes into account a variety of factors, including your gross merchandise volume (categorized by tiers such as small, mid-sized, or large), the geographical scale of your business (national, international, or intercontinental), and your business model — whether it's B2C, B2B, or a hybrid of both. Additionally, the number of selected modules, whether you're migrating from another platform or upgrading from Sylius Standard, and your implementation strategy (in-house, via a certified partner, or a mix of both) all influence the pricing.
This tailored approach ensures that companies of all sizes can access enterprise-level eCommerce functionality at a price aligned with their real needs and growth potential.
Shopify
Shopify operates on a fixed subscription model with tiered pricing levels, ranging from $36 to $384 per month for standard plans. For businesses requiring enterprise-level features, Shopify Plus represents a substantial cost increase, with licenses starting at $2,500 per month under a standard annual contract. Even with a long-term commitment (e.g., a 3-year deal), the rate only drops slightly to around $2,300 per month.
These figures represent just the base license cost. The total cost of ownership typically rises significantly once you factor in additional apps and extensions (often $5–$50 per app monthly), premium themes (ranging up to $350), and transaction fees when using third-party payment gateways.
The transaction fees are particularly impactful in regions where Shopify Payments is unavailable — such as Poland — where Shopify imposes a percentage-based fee on every sale, creating a recurring cost that scales with your revenue. For high-volume merchants, this can lead to unpredictable and disproportionate expenses, in stark contrast to Sylius’s more transparent, license-based pricing model with no transaction-based costs.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-50">Complexity</div>
Sylius
In terms of complexity, Sylius presents a higher complexity barrier as it requires a development team or agency for successful implementation and ongoing management. The platform's powerful flexibility comes with the trade-off of technical complexity, expertise in PHP, Symfony framework, and modern web development practices to fully leverage its capabilities. Initial setup involves configuration and customization work, including server provisioning, database setup, and application deployment - tasks that require professional development experience.
Therefore, Sylius is not ideal for non-technical teams or businesses looking for fast, out-of-the-box solutions with minimal setup.
Shopify
Shopify excels in simplicity, allowing entrepreneurs and small business owners to launch their stores independently without programming skills. Its intuitive admin interface includes drag-and-drop functionality, visual editors, and step-by-step wizards that guide users through store setup and configuration. Template-based themes and point-and-click customization make it easy to create visually appealing storefronts without any need for HTML, CSS, or JavaScript knowledge.
All infrastructure, security updates, and performance scaling are handled automatically behind the scenes, freeing merchants from technical concerns. This approachability makes Shopify an excellent choice for businesses that prioritize quick market entry, operate with limited technical resources, and need a classic, simple eCommerce store.
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Sylius and Shopify case studies
Before we move on to the summary, let's take a look at examples of how both platforms are used to better understand the areas in which each of them demonstrates its strengths.
Sylius case study: Mytheresa
Mytheresa, one of the world’s leading luxury fashion eCommerce platforms, shipping to over 130 countries and offering curated collections from top-tier designers like Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga, faced growing limitations with its legacy Magento Enterprise platform. As the business scaled—with over 1,200 employees and a global customer base—the monolithic architecture proved increasingly difficult to maintain and adapt to new digital commerce demands.
To overcome these bottlenecks, Mytheresa decided to migrate to Sylius Plus, supported by BitBag, leveraging Sylius’s modular architecture and robust eCommerce capabilities tailored for enterprise-level operations.
The implementation included a headless setup using Vue Storefront 2 on the frontend, while Sylius Plus powered the backend. The platform was built for performance and scalability with modern DevOps practices—AWS infrastructure, Kubernetes orchestration, and GitHub Actions for CI/CD. Critical features like returns management and loyalty programs were delivered via Sylius Plus’ modules.
The result? A flexible, scalable platform that improved developer agility, streamlined operations, and supported Mytheresa’s continued global growth. This enterprise-grade implementation proves how Sylius can meet the demands of high-volume, luxury eCommerce while delivering a superior customer experience.
https://bitbag.io/case-studies/mytheresa
Shopify case study: Syster P
Syster P, a Swedish jewelry brand known for its handcrafted pieces inspired by global travels, faced growing problems with its previous setup using WordPress and Centra. Managing separate websites for each market led to duplicated efforts and a heavy dependence on external developers, costing them up to 30 hours of work per month. To simplify their operations and support international growth, the company decided to migrate to Shopify. The transition was completed in just three months - half the initially estimated time - demonstrating the platform's ease of use. Post-migration, Syster P saw an increase in international sales within the first year and reduced website development time by 50%.
With Shopify’s intuitive interface, the internal team was able to manage content and updates without relying on developers.
Summary
The choice between Sylius and Shopify represents a fundamental decision about your approach to eCommerce. Sylius offers maximum flexibility, customization, and control but requires technical expertise and development investment. It's the platform of choice when you need to build something unique that perfectly fits complex business requirements.
Shopify provides ease of use, rapid deployment, and a managed solution that lets you focus on selling rather than technology. It's the right choice when standardized eCommerce functionality meets your needs and you want to minimize technical overhead.
Your decision should align with your business capabilities, resources, timeline, and long-term strategy. Consider not just your current needs but how each platform will support your growth over the coming years.
<div class="rtb-text-box is-blue-100">Interested in Sylius? Contact our team and get a free consultation.</div>
