Shopware · Costs & Pricing · 2026
What does Shopware cost?
License, development, hosting, maintenance: we break down what really makes up the cost of a Shopware 6 project – with market-typical ranges for 2026 and without sales rhetoric.
The essentials in brief
Shopware itself is free and open source as the Community Edition. Since 24 March 2025, however, the Fair Usage Policy has set a limit: if the shops linked to your Shopware Account generate more than €1 million in GMV a year, you need at least the paid Rise plan to keep using the Account and Store. Costs arise mainly from implementation (agency or in-house development), from hosting and – for the commercial editions – from the license.
A professional Shopware 6 shop typically ranges, depending on scope, from around €15,000 for a standard B2C shop to around €120,000 for a B2B shop with ERP integration. On top come ongoing costs for hosting, licenses and maintenance. For a quick, project-specific orientation, use our Shopware price calculator.
Shopware license costs: Community vs. commercial editions
The license is only part of the total cost – and for many mid-market projects it's even €0. Shopware distinguishes the free Community Edition and the commercial editions Rise, Evolve and Beyond (cloud and self-managed). Since March 2025 there has been a limit: if you generate more than €1 million in GMV a year with the Community Edition and want to keep using the Shopware Account and Store, you have to switch to a commercial plan.
| Edition | License costs | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|
| Community Edition | Free · open source (MIT) · self-hosted | Most custom-built B2C and B2B shops – with the Shopware Account and Store up to €1 million in GMV a year |
| Commercial editions (cloud) | Rise from €600, Evolve from €2,400/month excl. VAT · based on GMV and features | Merchants who want SaaS operation, support and commercial features without their own hosting |
| Commercial editions (self-managed) | Rise from €600, Evolve from €2,400/month excl. VAT · based on GMV and features | Merchants with their own hosting who need commercial plugins (e.g. B2B Components, from Evolve) and contractual SLAs |
List prices according to Shopware, as of September 2026: Rise from €600 and Evolve from €2,400 per month excl. VAT, Beyond priced individually; the actual price depends on GMV and other individual factors. According to Shopware's terms, the €1 million limit of the Fair Usage Policy refers to the GMV (excluding taxes) of all shops linked to a Shopware Account over the preceding 365 days. Guide values – not binding prices.
What does a Shopware agency cost?
The largest line item in a Shopware project is usually not the license but the implementation. Specialised Shopware agencies in Germany typically charge market-rate day rates of around €800 to €1,400, or hourly rates of roughly €90 to €160 – depending on seniority, region and degree of specialisation.
What drives your budget is therefore not the day rate alone but the effort: how many interfaces (ERP, PIM, payment) need to be connected? How custom are checkout, pricing logic and assortment? How much data is migrated? A serious agency quantifies this effort after a short discovery – not by gut feeling.
As a Shopware agency we work with fixed-price packages for clearly scoped building blocks and with transparent effort estimates for custom development. You get a first range for your project in a few minutes via the Shopware price calculator.
Example project budgets for Shopware 6
The following ranges are market-typical orientation values for complete projects (concept, design, development, interfaces, go-live). They don't replace a quote but give a realistic sense of the order of magnitude.
| Project type | Typical budget range | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Standard B2C shop | approx. €15,000–40,000 | 8–12 weeks |
| B2B shop with ERP integration | approx. €40,000–120,000 | 4–6 months |
| Replatforming / migration | from approx. €15,000 | 5–12 weeks, up to 6 months with an ERP integration |
| Headless / composable storefront | from approx. €60,000 | from 4 months |
Market-typical orientation, as of 2026 – not binding prices. Your actual budget depends on interfaces, assortment and data volumes.
Shopware B2B Suite & B2B Components: costs
For B2B trade, Shopware offers native features such as customer-specific pricing, tiered prices, order approvals and quotation processes. Historically these were delivered via the paid B2B Suite; currently the features are moving into the B2B Components of the commercial editions. B2B Components are included from the Evolve plan upwards, not in Rise – so the license cost sits in the plan, not in a separate fixed price.
More relevant than the license is usually the integration effort: ERP connection, pricing and approval logic, and mapping your real purchasing processes. What the Shopware B2B Suite costs mean in detail – and why the Suite is being phased out in 2026 – we've described at length on the blog. How we deliver the Suite, Components and ERP integration is covered on the Shopware B2B agency page.
Ongoing operating and hosting costs
After go-live, ongoing costs arise – independent of the one-off development. The main items are hosting, maintenance and updates, plus optional license and support fees for the commercial editions. A commercial license becomes mandatory if you use the Community Edition with the Shopware Account and Store and exceed €1 million in GMV a year – then you need at least Rise, from €600 per month excl. VAT.
Hosting for a Shopware 6 shop typically ranges from around €50 per month for smaller shops to several hundred euros per month for high-revenue shops under heavy load; specialised managed-hosting partners are clearly preferable to cheap standard web hosting here. For maintenance, security updates and further development, a fixed service or hourly retainer is advisable.
Important: a fast, well-maintained shop is not a pure cost factor but a prerequisite for conversion and revenue. Whoever saves here pays elsewhere – through slow load times, security gaps or missed sales.
What does your Shopware project cost?
Instead of blanket prices, you get a solid orientation from us. Calculate a first range with the price calculator or talk to us directly about your project.
Starting fresh instead of migrating? Our guide having an online shop built covers the process, choosing a partner and realistic budgets for your shop launch.
Shopware costs – frequently asked questions
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Is Shopware free?
The Shopware Community Edition is free and open source (MIT license) – you can download, customise and self-host it without a license fee. However, the Fair Usage Policy has applied since 24 March 2025: if the shops linked to your Shopware Account generate more than €1 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) a year, you need at least the paid Rise plan to keep using the Account and Store. Costs arise from implementation (agency or in-house development), from hosting and, if you use a commercial edition with support and commercial features, from its license.
Roughly what does a Shopware shop cost?
A professional Shopware 6 shop typically ranges, depending on scope, from around €15,000 for a standard B2C shop to around €120,000 for a B2B shop with ERP integration. The range depends mainly on the number of interfaces, how custom checkout and pricing logic are, and the data migration. For a project-specific range, use our Shopware price calculator.
What does the Shopware license cost?
The Community Edition costs €0. If you also use the Shopware Account and Store and exceed €1 million in GMV a year, the Fair Usage Policy requires at least Rise for them. For the commercial editions Shopware publishes list prices as a guide: Rise from €600 and Evolve from €2,400 per month excl. VAT, Beyond priced individually (as of September 2026). The actual price depends on GMV and other individual factors. Many mid-market projects deliberately run on the free Community Edition with custom development.
What is the Shopware Fair Usage Policy?
The Fair Usage Policy has applied since 24 March 2025 to merchants who use the Shopware 6 Community Edition together with the Shopware Account and Store. If, according to Shopware's terms, the GMV of all shops linked to your Account exceeds €1 million over the preceding 365 days, you need a paid plan for the Account and Store – at least Rise. GMV is calculated excluding taxes; discounts reduce it, returns don't, and shipping costs count. The Community Edition itself stays open source under the MIT license and keeps running without an Account. Extensions bought outright keep working, rented ones only until the end of the current rental term, and you can no longer buy or update anything from the Store. You have to report your GMV even below the limit – since April 2026, shops on Shopware 6.7.8 or later do this automatically.
What does a Shopware agency cost per day?
Specialised Shopware agencies in Germany typically charge market-rate day rates of around €800 to €1,400, or hourly rates of roughly €90 to €160. What matters for your budget, though, is less the day rate than the total effort – that is, how many interfaces, customisations and data your project involves.
What ongoing costs does a Shopware shop have?
Ongoing costs are mainly hosting (market-typical from around €50 per month, considerably more under heavy load), maintenance and security updates, plus optional license and support fees for the commercial editions. A commercial license becomes mandatory if you use the Community Edition with the Shopware Account and Store and exceed €1 million in GMV a year – then you need at least Rise, from €600 per month excl. VAT. A fixed service or hourly retainer for upkeep and further development is sensible.
Is Shopware more expensive than Shopify?
Shopify has low entry costs (a monthly fee) but ties you to the platform and, depending on the plan, charges transaction fees. Shopware – especially with custom development – involves a higher initial investment, but you own the code and data, there are no transaction fees (although the commercial plans are priced by GMV) and the platform is deeply customisable. Which option is cheaper depends on revenue, assortment and growth goals.
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