# What's the real total cost of ownership difference between self-hosted Adobe Commerce and Shopify Plus once hosting, security, and PCI compliance are included?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 9, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/adobe-commerce-self-hosted-vs-shopify-plus-tco

## Short answer

Self-hosted Adobe Commerce has no published price, so its total cost of ownership gap with Shopify Plus isn't one number ([Adobe's pricing page](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), October 2026). Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026), including hosting and Level 1 Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance ([shopify.com/security](https://www.shopify.com/security/pci-compliant), October 2026). Self-hosting makes hosting, patching and PCI scope yours.

- **Shopify Plus entry price:** $2,300 a month on a 3-year term. $2,500 on a 1-year term, with hosting included. More complex, higher-volume businesses move to a variable platform fee. ([Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing); [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing))
- **Self-hosted Adobe Commerce price:** Not published; no self-hosted edition listed. Adobe's pricing page lists Cloud Service, Cloud and Optimizer editions, each with 'Get pricing'. Adobe's docs still name on-premises as a deployment model. ([Adobe, Adobe Commerce Product Pricing](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html); [Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce SaaS vs PaaS comparison](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison))
- **Adobe patch cadence:** Six patch releases and a minor release a year. On Adobe Commerce on Cloud and on-premises, Adobe says updates require manual upgrade and patching. Each version gets about three years of standard support. ([Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce SaaS vs PaaS comparison](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison); [Adobe Experience League, Software lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy))
- **Adobe 2.4.7 standard support:** Ends 31 May 2027; extended to 31 May 2028. 2.4.8 runs to 31 May 2028 and 2.4.9, released 12 May 2026, to 31 May 2029. Adobe's 1 June 2027 enforcement covers its cloud, not self-hosted servers. ([Adobe Experience League, Software lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy))

## Deploi's call

The real total cost of ownership gap between self-hosted Adobe Commerce and Shopify Plus can't be stated as one number, because Adobe publishes no license price. It can only be built line by line. Refuse the single number and build the lines. Weight the upgrade clock and the patching obligation heavily, because they are labor lines that recur, while hosting is a commodity line that does not.

**WAIT: Keep self-hosted Adobe off the shortlist while**

- No requirement needs servers you control. [Our enterprise platform record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation) scores a $20M to $500M merchant WAIT on Shopify Plus unless a requirement sits outside software as a service (SaaS) (October 2026).
- Nobody owns applying Adobe's patches, which self-hosted installs take six times a year ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), October 2026).
- Your model has no line for the next version upgrade.

**BUY: Price self-hosted Adobe Commerce when**

- Self-managed hosting or data residency your team must control is a hard requirement, the case the enterprise platform record scores BUY.
- You already run a security team that patches, scans and passes Payment Card Industry (PCI) assessments on your own servers.
- Adobe has quoted the license in writing, with its term and renewal terms.

## Can anyone state the total cost of ownership gap between self-hosted Adobe Commerce and Shopify Plus?

No one can state the total cost of ownership (TCO) gap between self-hosted Adobe Commerce and Shopify Plus as one number, because Adobe publishes no license price. Adobe's pricing page lists Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service, Adobe Commerce on Cloud and Adobe Commerce Optimizer, each with "Get pricing" and no figure ([Adobe](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), October 2026). The page lists no self-hosted edition, though Adobe's documentation still names on-premises as a deployment model ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), October 2026). Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term and $2,500 on a 1-year term ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026).

So a self-hosted number is built line by line, and the license and fee lines sit with [what Shopify, BigCommerce and Adobe publish at $50M a year](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-tco-vs-bigcommerce-adobe-commerce-50m-gmv). The question usually starts with [Adobe's business-to-business (B2B) feature depth](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/adobe-commerce-vs-shopify-plus-b2b-features); self-hosting adds hosting, patching, upgrade and Payment Card Industry (PCI) lines underneath it.

## Which costs does self-hosting Adobe Commerce add?

Self-hosting Adobe Commerce adds hosting, edge security, monitoring, patching and upgrade work, which Shopify Plus either includes or runs itself. Shopify includes "secure commerce hosting" with every plan ([Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). Adobe Commerce on Cloud, Adobe's platform-as-a-service (PaaS) edition, bundles part of that, with Fastly's services "at no additional cost" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-on-cloud/user-guide/cdn/fastly), October 2026). Self-hosted, none of that is bundled, so each line is one you buy and staff. On Shopify, your own upkeep is custom app code, which tracks a new application programming interface (API) version every three months ([Shopify developer docs](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/versioning), October 2026).

**Self-hosting moves hosting, edge security, monitoring, patches and upgrades onto your budget**

| Cost line | Shopify Plus | Self-hosted Adobe Commerce |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hosting | Included, with unlimited bandwidth | Yours to buy and size for peak |
| Content delivery network (CDN) and web application firewall (WAF) | No separate line on Shopify's pricing | Yours; Adobe includes Fastly only on Adobe Commerce on Cloud |
| Monitoring | No separate line on Shopify's pricing | Yours; Adobe includes New Relic only on Adobe Commerce on Cloud |
| Platform patches | Shipped by Shopify to every store | Yours to apply, six patch releases a year |
| Version upgrades | Custom apps move to a newer API version at least once a year | Yours, one minor release a year, each with three years of standard support |

Sources: [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce SaaS vs PaaS comparison](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison); [Adobe Experience League, Software lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy); [Adobe Experience League, Fastly services overview](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-on-cloud/user-guide/cdn/fastly); [Shopify developer docs, About Shopify API versioning](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/versioning); [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Adobe Commerce vs. Shopify Plus: Do You Need an Enterprise Platform?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation). Verified October 9, 2026.

## How often does self-hosted Adobe Commerce force an upgrade?

Self-hosted Adobe Commerce forces a version upgrade about every three years, because Adobe gives each version "a three-year standard support window from the General Availability (GA) date" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy), October 2026). Standard support covers "quality fixes, security patches, and full Adobe Commerce on-call support".

**Each version gets about three years of standard support; 2.4.6 and 2.4.7 get one more year of extended support**

| Version | General availability | End of standard support | End of extended support |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2.4.9 | 12 May 2026 | 31 May 2029 | Not yet set |
| 2.4.8 | 8 April 2025 | 31 May 2028 | Not yet set |
| 2.4.7 | 9 April 2024 | 31 May 2027 | 31 May 2028 |
| 2.4.6 | 14 March 2023 | 11 August 2026 | 31 August 2027 |

Sources: [Adobe Experience League, Software lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy). Verified October 9, 2026.

Adobe adds that extra year for 2.4.6 and 2.4.7 "at no additional cost". From 1 June 2027, Adobe "will no longer maintain Cloud environments running unsupported Commerce versions", and its action "includes suspending traffic to the affected infrastructure" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy), October 2026). That deadline binds Adobe's cloud, not your servers, which means a self-hosted upgrade can slip until a security issue forces it. Budget one upgrade project per supported version.

## Who carries PCI compliance for self-hosted Adobe Commerce and for Shopify Plus?

Self-hosted Adobe Commerce leaves Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance for your servers and your code with you, while Shopify's certification covers a Shopify Plus store and its hosting. Shopify reports Level 1 compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS): "Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant". Shopify adds that "our certification covers your store, its shopping cart and web hosting" ([Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/security/pci-compliant), October 2026). Shopify's page doesn't list residual merchant duties, so don't read it as saying you have none. This is a compliance-scope statement, not legal advice, and the quoted words are the vendors' own.

Adobe's shared-responsibility model describes Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure, its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) edition ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/security-and-compliance/shared-responsibility), October 2026). There, "Adobe maintains PCI certification for the infrastructure and services used for the Adobe Commerce solution". The merchant runs "PCI ASV scans" with an approved scanning vendor (ASV) and applies patches "immediately following their release by Adobe". Self-hosted, no Adobe infrastructure sits under the store, and Adobe's edition comparison lists PCI certification "per hosting provider" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), October 2026). So the infrastructure half of that model is yours, or your host's. One rule holds either way: "Storing cardholder data in Adobe Commerce is strictly prohibited" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/implementation-playbook/best-practices/planning/payment-processing-storage), October 2026).

> **What we can't tell you, and why**
> We won't tell you which self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) you file. That depends on how your checkout is built and on your acquirer, and neither vendor publishes a merchant-level mapping. Ask your acquirer first, then your qualified security assessor (QSA).

## How do you build the comparison when Adobe prints no price?

Build the comparison line by line, in this order, because the lines that recur matter more than the ones that don't.

1. **Get Adobe's license quote in writing**, with the term and the renewal terms.
1. **Price hosting against your peak, not your average.** On Adobe Commerce on Cloud's Pro plan, production runs on three virtual machines behind a load balancer ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-on-cloud/user-guide/architecture/pro-architecture), October 2026); self-hosted, that shape is your bill.
1. **Name the person who patches, and the share of their year it takes.** Adobe ships "Six patch releases and one minor release per year" to cloud and self-hosted installs ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), October 2026).
1. **Add one upgrade project per supported version**, at what your last major upgrade cost.
1. **Ask your acquirer, in writing, what changes in your Payment Card Industry (PCI) paperwork** under each option.
1. **Then set the total against Shopify Plus**: $2,300 or $2,500 a month, your app subscriptions, and 0.20% per transaction if a third-party processor handles payments ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). [A realistic Plus app stack](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-plus-tco-minimal-vs-15-app-stack) fills in the subscriptions.

## When should you skip the self-hosted TCO comparison?

Skip the self-hosted total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison when no requirement needs servers you control, or when a key line is missing.

> **When not to do this**
> - **When the trigger was a feature gap.** [Our enterprise platform record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation) scores a $20M to $500M merchant WAIT on Shopify Plus and moves only for a requirement outside software as a service (SaaS) (October 2026).
> - **When nobody has priced the upgrade line.** A model without it flatters self-hosting, because it leaves out the largest recurring cost.
> - **When Adobe's quote hasn't arrived.** Half a comparison is worse than none.
> - **When Adobe's own cloud would meet the hosting requirement.** Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service is "Automatically upgraded by Adobe" ([Adobe Experience League](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), October 2026), which removes the patching and upgrade lines, if your requirement allows it.

## Deploi's point of view

**Where we disagree.** The standard framing treats Shopify's fee as the expensive side because it is the visible side. The visible number is not the expensive number. An unpatched Adobe instance is cheap right up until it is the most expensive thing the company owns.

**Where self-hosted models go wrong (our judgment).** Self-hosted cost models that lose come in two shapes. The first prices infrastructure and forgets the person who patches it. The second prices year one and never prices year four, which is where the forced upgrade lands.

**What this page adds.** The parent compares business-to-business (B2B) features. This page prices the self-hosted platform underneath them: the hosting, monitoring and patching lines Shopify Plus includes, Adobe's published support dates by version, and who carries card-security (PCI) scope on each side.

## When this answer changes

- Adobe publishes a price for any Adobe Commerce edition, or lists a self-hosted edition on its pricing page.
- Adobe changes its three-year standard support window, or sets extended support dates for 2.4.8 or 2.4.9.
- Adobe stops offering on-premises installs as a deployment model.
- Shopify changes the $2,300 or $2,500 Plus price or the 0.20% third-party transaction fee.
- Your acquirer changes which self-assessment questionnaire your checkout setup needs.

## Sources

1. [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), checked October 9, 2026
2. [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), checked October 9, 2026
3. [Adobe, Adobe Commerce Product Pricing](https://business.adobe.com/products/commerce/pricing.html), checked October 9, 2026
4. [Shopify, PCI Compliant Hosting Provider, Web Hosting Service by Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/security/pci-compliant), checked October 9, 2026
5. [Adobe Experience League, Adobe Commerce SaaS vs PaaS comparison](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/cloud-service/feature-comparison), checked October 9, 2026
6. [Adobe Experience League, Software lifecycle policy](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy), checked October 9, 2026
7. [Adobe Experience League, Shared Responsibility Security and Operational Model](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/security-and-compliance/shared-responsibility), checked October 9, 2026
8. [Adobe Experience League, Best practices for Payment Processing and storage](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/implementation-playbook/best-practices/planning/payment-processing-storage), checked October 9, 2026
9. [Adobe Experience League, Pro architecture](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-on-cloud/user-guide/architecture/pro-architecture), checked October 9, 2026
10. [Adobe Experience League, Fastly services overview](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-on-cloud/user-guide/cdn/fastly), checked October 9, 2026
11. [Shopify developer docs, About Shopify API versioning](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/usage/versioning), checked October 9, 2026
12. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Adobe Commerce vs. Shopify Plus: Do You Need an Enterprise Platform?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/enterprise-platform-evaluation), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research