Shopify vs PrestaShop in 2026: Prices, PrestaShop Hosted and the Real Yearly Cost

PrestaShop is French open-source ecommerce software, widely used in France and across Europe. It changed owners in 2026 and now offers a hosted subscription plan, which changes how it compares with Shopify.

I build tools for Shopify with Scale Ova, so my view isn't neutral. That's why everything below is costed from official pages, checked on October 5, 2026, except Shopify's euro prices, checked on September 11, 2026. Since PrestaShop is mostly used in Europe, all prices are in euros, excluding VAT. And I'll tell you exactly when PrestaShop is the better pick.

The verdict for your profile

Shopify if you want to focus on selling. PrestaShop if your catalog or organization needs rules you want to control down to the code.

Three ways to go, not two

Shopify is a hosted service. PrestaShop comes in two versions: Classic, free, which you install with a host, and Hosted, a subscription where PrestaShop handles hosting.

• Shopify: you create an account, pick a theme, and sell. Hosting, security, updates, and support are in the subscription.
• PrestaShop Classic: the software is a free download. You pick a host, install it, and update the software, theme, and modules yourself. You get access to all the code.
• PrestaShop Hosted: from €24 a month billed yearly (€29 with no commitment), with a 14-day trial. PrestaShop sets up your store, hosts it with Gandi (50 GB), calculates VAT based on the customer's country, provides a GDPR and cookie assistant, and offers support 6 days a week by email or phone.

The real cost over a year

Fees per order are the same. The gap comes from the subscription or hosting, modules, and maintenance time.

Fees per order: identical with Stripe

PrestaShop takes no commission on your sales, whatever payment provider you use. On Shopify, if you don't use Shopify Payments, 2% is added to every sale on the Basic plan.

A typical year: 600 orders of €50

Shopify Basic and PrestaShop Hosted billed yearly. PrestaShop Classic hosted with o2switch, a common French host: Cloud plan at €22.32 for the first year, then €16 a month at the regular price, domain included. Shopify's €1 a month for 3 months offer isn't counted.

Modules and apps

This is where budgets slip, on both sides:

• PrestaShop: a module or theme bought on the PrestaShop Marketplace comes with a Business Care subscription, renewed every year at 40% of the module's price, to keep updates and support.
• Shopify: many apps bill monthly, and the subscriptions add up fast.

Before choosing, list the three or four features you really need and check their price on both sides. The full first-year cost on Shopify is in is Shopify free.

What each one does better

Shopify wins on simplicity, ecosystem, and in-store selling. PrestaShop wins on complex catalogs, B2B, and multistore.

Shopify does better at:

• Getting started: no install, the store is built from the admin.
• Maintenance: the platform, security, and checkout are updated by Shopify, with no versions to migrate.
• Ecosystem: the widest choice of apps and themes, and agencies everywhere.
• In-store selling: Shopify POS shares inventory with the online store.
• Support: 24/7 live chat included from the Basic plan.

PrestaShop does better at:

• Product combinations: you combine as many attribute groups as you need, where Shopify caps you at 3 options per product (and 2,048 variants).
• B2B: customer groups, specific prices, and cart rules are built in.
• Multistore: several stores from one back office, where each Shopify store is a separate subscription.
• Control: on Classic, full access to the code, the database, and page URLs.
• No commission on sales, whatever the payment provider.

SEO: full control versus a solid base

PrestaShop lets you set URLs and edit the code, Shopify enforces its structure but handles the essentials natively. Both can rank well.

On PrestaShop, you choose your URL format and can work on the page code. That control only helps if someone knows how to use it.

On Shopify, titles, descriptions, redirects, and the sitemap are handled natively. URLs follow a fixed structure: /products/ for product pages, /collections/ for categories. It doesn't stop you from ranking. On both, what matters most is your pages, internal links, and content.

Moving from PrestaShop to Shopify

Migrating makes sense when the tech takes more time than selling. It doesn't if your store runs well and relies on rules Shopify doesn't handle.

Signs a migration is worth studying:

• every change needs a developer;
• updates break modules;
• hosting keeps coming back as an issue;
• you spend more time on tech than on customers.

When not to migrate: if your business relies on rules Shopify doesn't cover (many product combinations, detailed B2B, multistore), if you have no budget to handle SEO, or if the only goal is a new design.

The steps:

1. Take inventory: products, combinations, customers, orders, modules, page URLs.
2. Find the equivalent of each module on Shopify, built in or as an app.
3. Export and import: PrestaShop exports the catalog to CSV, Shopify imports by CSV or with a migration app.
4. Redirect old URLs to the new ones, page by page. Without redirects, you lose the Google traffic of the old pages.
5. Test: orders, payments, emails, conversion tracking, before going live.

Ask for a quote that separates data migration, design, SEO, and testing: it's the only way to compare offers.

To launch on Shopify, the complete guide to building your Shopify store walks through the steps. If you're comparing other platforms: Shopify vs WooCommerce, Shopify vs Wix, and the comparison of online store builders.

Going further

If you go with Shopify, or want a clean start after PrestaShop, Scale Ova generates your complete store from a description, products, collections, and pages included: a median of 12 minutes between opening a project and the first store, according to the Scale Ova 2026 report. You browse it and edit it for free, and a Scale Ova subscription is only required to publish it to Shopify.

FAQ

Sources

• PrestaShop, Classic and Hosted plans (checked October 5, 2026, in French)
• PrestaShop, the Business Care subscription (in French)
• Stripe, pricing for France
• o2switch, hosting plans (in French)
• Shopify, pricing in France
• Shopify, adding variants
• Ecommerce Nation, PrestaShop officially acquired by cyber_Folks (February 18, 2026, in French)