Understanding enterprise pricing and total cost of ownership
Choosing a shopping software platform is one of the most important decisions a retailer can make. The platform you pick shapes customer experience, operating costs, technical complexity, and how fast you can grow. In 2025 the market is broad, ranging from simple hosted builders that cost a few dozen dollars per month to enterprise solutions that may carry five figure annual license fees and substantial implementation budgets. In this article I explain the main categories of shopping software, what drives price up or down, and the highest enterprise price points you are likely to encounter when shopping around today.
Platform categories and how they affect price
There are three practical categories of shopping software to consider
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Hosted SaaS platforms
These are subscription services where the vendor handles hosting, security, and core updates. Examples include mainstream builders that support businesses from small shops through to enterprise customers. Monthly subscription fees are predictable but can rise quickly as you add apps, integrations, headless capabilities, or move to an enterprise tier. -
Open source and self hosted platforms
These are base platforms you host yourself or with a chosen cloud provider. The software itself may be free in open source editions, but implementation, customization, hosting, ongoing maintenance, and third party modules create cost. For merchants with heavy customization needs, the total cost can exceed that of SaaS once implementation and engineering work are taken into account. -
Licensed enterprise platforms
These are full enterprise suites with dedicated support, heavier SLAs, and licensing fees. Vendors often price these solutions based on revenue, order volume, or negotiated enterprise contracts. While they offer features suited for multi brand, B2B, and global operations, they also carry the largest upfront and recurring costs.
What drives the price
Here are the main cost drivers to keep in mind
• Licensing and subscription band
Many vendors use tiered subscriptions. Higher tiers unlock advanced features, multi store support, or lower transaction fees. Enterprise tiers may be quoted individually.
• Transaction and payment fees
Some platforms charge a percentage on transactions or require use of specific payment processors. Over time these fees can dwarf fixed subscription costs.
• Third party apps and extensions
Add on modules for analytics, advanced promotions, shipping, and tax calculation often add monthly or one time costs.
• Custom development and integrations
If you need unique checkout flows, complex ERP integrations, or omnichannel sync, expect substantial engineering budgets.
• Hosting and performance
For self hosted solutions, premium hosting, CDN, and security add recurring costs; for SaaS, higher traffic can push you into more expensive plans or usage tiers.
Headline enterprise price points in 2025
Below are realistic high end price points you will encounter when evaluating enterprise shopping software in 2025
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is the enterprise edition of a widely used hosted ecommerce platform. The official baseline license for Shopify Plus begins at roughly 2,300 USD per month on longer term contracts and around 2,500 USD per month on one year terms. Actual platform fees can increase for high volume merchants under a variable fee model tied to revenue or transaction volume.
BigCommerce Enterprise
BigCommerce lists enterprise plans with custom pricing based on a customer's annual online sales, and the Pro tier starts at several hundred dollars per month for high volume thresholds. For enterprise scale businesses the vendor requests that you contact sales for a tailored quote, and total costs depend on features, support level, and migration needs.
Adobe Commerce and Magento
Licensed enterprise platforms such as Adobe Commerce, which includes Magento Commerce, can charge license fees that scale into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for large customers. Published estimates for Adobe Commerce license fees commonly place high end annual costs in the five figure to low six figure range depending on deployment and bundled services. This makes Adobe Commerce one of the costliest enterprise options in many comparison searches.
WooCommerce and open source options
Open source platforms like WooCommerce or Magento Open Source reduce licensing expense but shift costs to hosting, extensions, and development. For very large or highly customized commerce operations the combined cost of premium hosting, enterprise grade extensions, and retained engineering can reach or exceed SaaS enterprise fees, but on average these setups remain cheaper for small and medium merchants.
What the highest prices mean in practice
When you see license quotes in the five figure or low six figure annual range for enterprise solutions, several things are happening
• The vendor is offering a full enterprise package which may include advanced B2B features, guaranteed uptime SLAs, performance tuning, global support, and integration tools that are expensive to build.
• The quoted number often assumes a complex implementation including migrations, custom theme work, data transformation, and integrations to ERP, POS, and PIM systems.
• License fees may not include professional services. Implementation partner fees and ongoing maintenance can equal or exceed the software license during the first one to two years.
How to compare total cost of ownership
Compare more than the sticker price. For a fair evaluation include these items in your total cost of ownership calculation
• Implementation and migration fees
Ask for realistic estimates for data migration, customizations, and the time required to go live.
• Ongoing operational costs
This includes hosting for open source options, app subscriptions for SaaS, and support retainers for enterprise customers.
• Payment processing and third party apps
Calculate annual transaction fees, app subscriptions, and any middleware costs.
• Opportunity cost of missing capabilities
If a cheaper platform cannot support required features, the cost of lost sales or slow innovation is a real factor.
Making the choice: practical guidance
• Start with business requirements not vendor hype
Document must have features, integrations, and growth projections before comparing platforms.
• Ask for fully itemized quotes
Request a breakdown that separates license, implementation, ongoing support, and optional third party services.
• Pilot or phased migration
When possible pilot with a representative product catalog or region so you can validate performance and cost projections.
• Factor in future growth
Some vendors price based on gross merchandise value or revenue. Make sure you understand the breakpoints that will trigger higher fees.
• Use independent cost benchmarks
Compare quotes to known public pricing ranges for similar customers. Public pricing pages and vendor FAQs provide baseline data that helps spot outliers. For example, Shopify Plus publishes baseline monthly fees that start in the low thousands, BigCommerce shows Pro and Enterprise tiers with custom pricing, and Adobe Commerce materials demonstrate how licensed enterprise systems can scale to very high annual license fees.
When highest price is justified
High enterprise price tags are justified when the solution removes critical complexity and reduces operational risk. Examples include
• Large omnichannel sellers with global inventory and tax complexity
• B2B sellers requiring account specific pricing, quoting, and purchase workflows
• Brands that must integrate many back office systems and require strict performance SLAs
For these scenarios the engineering, security, and support that accompany enterprise licensing can deliver measurable return on investment.
Final checklist before signing
• Confirm what is and is not included in the license
• Get concrete service level agreements and escalation paths
• Test migration and rollback plans
• Budget for the first year implementation and at least one year of support
• Compare alternatives using total cost over three years for a clearer picture
Conclusion
Shopping software pricing in 2025 spans a significant range. Small merchants can launch on affordable SaaS plans or self hosted open source stacks with limited upfront spend. At the other extreme, licensed enterprise platforms and bespoke implementations can carry five figure or low six figure annual costs once licensing, implementation, and support are included. When comparing options, focus on total cost of ownership, ask vendors for itemized quotes, and validate assumptions against published pricing baselines for major vendors. The publicly available baselines for enterprise options make it possible to identify where a quote is reasonable versus where it might be inflated. For example, Shopify Plus baseline fees start in the low thousands per month for enterprise licenses while Adobe Commerce can involve significantly larger annual license fees for major deployments.