Shopware Costs 2026: What B2B Merchants Pay

€600 per month. That's the number Shopware brings to the pricing conversation — and it's meant honestly. It just says almost nothing about the bill that lands on your desk in the end. Anyone evaluating Shopware for B2B compares license prices and systematically underestimates the two items that determine total costs: agency and operations. Industry analyses are unusually unanimous — the license accounts for only 15 to 25 percent of total costs in Shopware projects. This article adds up the other 75 to 85 percent.

The short answer

Shopware in B2B use realistically costs from €2,400 per month (Evolve tier — below that, the B2B features are missing), plus an agency setup of €5,000–15,000 for simple shops and €30,000–100,000+ for B2B portals with pricing logic and interfaces, plus ongoing maintenance of typically 15–20% of the investment per year. Over three years, a serious B2B setup lands at €115,000 and more — with a license share of one-fifth. The €600 from the pricing conversation is the smallest item on the bill.

The four editions — and what they mean

The Shopware pricing page names four tiers. Matching them to your project matters more than the numbers themselves:

For B2B, the calculation starts in row three. With Rise you don't build a shop with tiered pricing per customer group and purchasing on invoice — you build a D2C shop with a B2B extension. Anyone budgeting Shopware costs seriously starts at Evolve. Five times the advertised entry price, before the first B2B price list is in the system.

Common question: Isn't the Community Edition free? The license, yes — but since March 2025 only for companies up to €1 million in annual revenue. And free with self-hosting means: hosting, updates, security, performance, and every extension sit with you or your agency. The €0 stands for an operating model, not for a free B2B shop system. For serious B2B operations, the CE is realistically not a path — you buy back the license savings in agency hours.

The biggest item: agency and setup

Shopware is designed for agency operations — that's not a criticism, it's the architecture of a suite. Setup, theme, plugins, interfaces to ERP and shipping, performance tuning: that's project work. The ranges from industry analyses:

• Simple shop: €5,000–15,000 one-time
• B2B portal with pricing logic, roles, ERP connection: €30,000–100,000 and more
• Ongoing maintenance: typically 15–20% of the investment per year — as a retainer or in projects

After that, one question remains: who still knows this system in three years? A custom-built Shopware shop lives off the agency that built it. If it drops away, what remains is a suite nobody fully understands anymore. This dependency costs nothing directly — until it costs.

What makes B2B specifically more expensive

The B2B features of the Evolve tier are good: price lists per customer, quick order for buyers, adaptable processes. But every requirement beyond that — multi-layered tiered pricing per customer group, German E-Rechnung formats from 2027, special approval workflows — runs through extensions from the plugin marketplace or custom development. Each one of those: selection, installation, maintenance, compatibility across updates.

Add the tier logic itself: growth beyond Evolve ends in Beyond — custom contracts, custom prices. Planning growth with a suite means planning the next negotiation along with it.

The 3-year calculation

Scenario from our consulting conversations: 40 fixed business customers, 3 customer groups with their own price lists, tiered pricing, purchasing on invoice, around 3,000 orders per year.

With Rise and a D2C focus you run cheaper — just without B2B pricing logic. The full breakdown of all four paths (SaaS, Shopify, Shopware, custom) is in What Does a B2B Online Shop Cost?

When Shopware still pays off

This calculation isn't a verdict. Shopware is one of Europe's most mature commerce suites, from Germany, with a strong partner network. It pays off when your scenario is big: multiple sales channels, international markets, processes that no standard software maps. When you have an agency under contract that knows the suite — and a budget that carries Evolve plus fully exploiting the suite. Then you get a scale for your money that a SaaS service in this price class doesn't deliver.

But if your core business is German wholesale with 40 business customers — catalog, tiered pricing per customer group, orders on invoice — with Shopware you pay for architecture you never fully use. Kontorly is a German B2B e-commerce platform (SaaS) for online shops with tiered pricing, customer groups, and direct ordering by business customers. Made in Germany, from Hamburg. Tiered pricing, customer groups, and E-Rechnungen are natively on board from day one — no agency setup, no tier logic, no cut of your revenue.

We've put the direct comparison between suite and SaaS service — operating model, features, dependencies — on one page: The Shopware B2B Alternative in Detail

Whether that model fits your business, you'll see in 30 minutes: Book a demo — costs nothing, commits you to nothing.

FAQ

Do I need an agency for Shopware?

In practice, almost always. Setup, theme, plugins, and interfaces to ERP or shipping are project work: €5,000–15,000 for simple shops, €30,000–100,000 for B2B portals with pricing logic. Add ongoing maintenance of typically 15–20% of the investment per year.

Is Shopware worth it for small B2B shops?

Rarely. B2B at Shopware starts in the Evolve tier (€2,400/month) plus agency setup — architecture that small and mid-sized merchants never fully use. Shopware plays out its strengths in large, multi-channel scenarios; for the classic German Mittelstand, the B2B SaaS path is usually the clearer one.

Are there cheaper alternatives to Shopware for B2B?

Yes — for the German Mittelstand mainly B2B SaaS platforms: tiered pricing, customer groups, and E-Rechnungen natively included, without agency setup and without tier logic. Kontorly, for example, starts at €249/month. You'll find the direct comparison on the Shopware B2B alternative page.

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Prices as of August 2026: Shopware list prices (Rise from €600, Evolve from €2,400, Beyond custom) per shopware.com/de/preise; agency ranges and license share from industry analyses (including Qualimero, Ostend Digital). Kontorly: Starter €249, Business €449, Enterprise from €1,299 per month. Check current prices before your decision.