Shopify Plus vs Alternatives
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Common Questions
At $1M+/month in online sales, is staying on Advanced actually leaving money on the table by not upgrading to Plus?
Advanced at $1M per month leaves money on the table in two cases: a third-party payment processor, or a Plus-gated capability already on the roadmap. The plan-fee gap is $1,901 to $2,201 per month, which is 19 to 22 basis points of that revenue (shopify.com/pricing, September 2026). Above eight figures, card rates are negotiated.
For a brand at $20M GMV where B2B/wholesale is 10%-30% of revenue, is Advanced's 3-catalog limit already a real constraint?
Three catalogs binds at $20M with 10% to 30% wholesale in one specific case: pricing tiers multiplied by currencies. Shopify allows 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets on Basic, Grow and Advanced alike, and each catalog carries one price list in exactly one currency (Shopify, September 2026). Volume breaks nest inside a catalog free.
Does Adobe Commerce's native B2B feature depth (RFQ, negotiable quotes, multi-level approvals, requisition lists) still beat Shopify Plus B2B in 2026?
Adobe Commerce still ships deeper native B2B than Shopify B2B in 2026. Adobe's B2B extension v1.5.3 documents negotiable quotes, purchase order approval rules and requisition lists (Adobe, September 2026). Shopify's own B2B feature list documents none of the three. Closing that gap on Shopify is $38,000 to $95,000 of scoped build, a Deploi estimate; Adobe publishes no license price.
Worked example: a $35M GMV DTC apparel brand, 15% wholesale, selling in US+Canada, with a 2-person dev team. Advanced or Plus?
Shopify Plus wins this profile, and the deciding factor is currency rather than GMV. Selling wholesale in US and Canadian dollars doubles catalog consumption, because a price list carries exactly one currency (shopify.dev, September 2026). Two tiers across two currencies is 4 catalogs against an Advanced cap of 3. The 2-person dev team makes the case stronger, not weaker.
For a brand at $40M GMV with 20% B2B share and active international expansion into 2 new markets this year, do all three factors point the same direction, or do they conflict?
All three point the same direction, and two of them compound. B2B share and international expansion multiply against the same 3-catalog allowance, because catalogs are counted "across all your B2B markets" and each price list holds one currency (Shopify, September 2026). Two new markets plus two wholesale tiers needs 6 catalogs against a cap of 3.
Worked example: a $28M GMV furniture brand, 35% B2B to interior designers, US-only, no in-house dev, high AOV/low order volume. Advanced or Plus?
Shopify Plus wins this profile, and catalogs are not the reason. A US-only trade program invoices in one currency, so three catalogs stretch further than they look. The binding constraint is payment structure: "Deposit requirements" and "Partial payments" are Plus-only B2B features (help.shopify.com, September 2026), and a high-AOV furniture order almost always takes a deposit.