Shopify or Kontorly? The short answer
If you want to launch a B2B online shop — with tiered pricing, customer groups, and clean invoices for business customers — and you're looking for a Shopify B2B alternative, there are two fundamentally different paths: a shop system that you buy, extend, and keep running (like Shopify plus apps), or a SaaS service that handles all operations for you (like Kontorly). Shopify can do B2B, no question. The question is who owns your shop, who maintains it, and what it really costs over three years — not just the subscription.
That's exactly the decision we lay out here: honestly, with all the differences, without marketing fog.
Two paths to a B2B online shop
Before you choose a Shopify B2B alternative, you should understand the operating model — it determines agency needs, cost trajectory, and dependencies more than any feature list.
The shop system (e.g. Shopify): You rent a platform and build your shop from it. B2B features have come natively on all plans since 2026 (up to three catalogs) — everything beyond that runs through apps from the store or an agency that configures themes, workflows, and interfaces for you. Updates, app compatibility, and security gaps remain your topic. Anyone who scales ends up at Shopify Plus (~$2,300/month) plus agency care.
The SaaS service (Kontorly): You sign up and set up your shop in the browser — like a tool, not a construction project. Tiered pricing, customer groups, E-Rechnungen, and German taxes are natively in, without an app stack. Operations, maintenance, updates, and security sit with the provider. Your dependency is a contract cancellable monthly — no agency, no IT department of your own, no house of cards made of plugins.
| Shop system (e.g. Shopify) | SaaS service (Kontorly) | |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Buy a platform, build the shop yourself | Rent a ready-made shop service |
| B2B features | Basics native, depth via apps | Tiered pricing, customer groups, E-Rechnung native |
| Setup | Configure yourself or an agency | Set up in the browser, no developers |
| Operations & updates | Your responsibility (apps, themes) | Included with the provider |
| Extending | App store + agency development | Built in by the vendor (integrations, roadmap) |
| German taxes & law | Via apps and configuration | Native: German taxes, E-Rechnungen, legal texts |
| Scaling | Shopify Plus from ~$2,300/month | Enterprise tier, no platform switch |
What Kontorly, the Shopify B2B alternative, has natively from day 1
Tiered pricing, customer groups, E-Rechnungen, and German taxes — at Shopify, much of this runs through apps. With Kontorly, everything is included from the first day.
Customer groups & terms
Regular customers, wholesalers, new customers — each group gets their own prices and payment terms.
Industriefolie A — Preis je Kundengruppe
AI chat assistant
Handle settings right in the chat: just describe what you want to change — the AI takes care of it. No menu digging, no manual.
„Füge 5 % Rabatt ab 50 Stück hinzu"
E-invoices (ZUGFeRD)
Automatic ZUGFeRD e-invoices as soon as an order is accepted — legally compliant with tax breakdown and your own branding. Meets the e-invoice mandate out of the box.
B2B quantities & order logic
Minimum order quantities, order increments and PAngV-compliant unit prices per product — B2B requirements that D2C shops don't cover.
Automatic legal texts
Imprint, privacy policy and shipping information are generated automatically and embedded in a legally compliant way — no lawyer, no copy & paste.
Tiered pricing & volume discounts
Define price tiers per product — 5% off from 10 units, 10% off from 50 units. All calculated automatically, no more Excel spreadsheets.
German taxes out-of-the-box
DE tax rates, small business rule, EU reverse charge, export handling — all automatic.
Closed customer circle
Invite your customers individually or via CSV — nobody orders until you approve them. Each buyer sees only their own shop.
Import products via CSV
Stripe + Invoice + Prepayment
DHL shipping labels
Own branding
Kontorly's architecture: everything from a single source
No plugin stack, no house of cards made of apps, no agency needed — your B2B shop runs as an all-inclusive package, instead of you bolting together Shopify apps.
B2B from the ground up
Not D2C with a B2B plugin bolted on, but built for B2B commerce from the very first line of code.
Shopify / WooCommerce
Kontorly
all natively included — no plugin needed
No plugin hell
Every feature is natively integrated — no searching, no installing, no updating third-party plugins.
No IT expert, no agency
You need neither a developer nor an agency: add products, define prices, invite customers — all on your own, without a single line of code.
Classic shop system
- Developer or IT expert for setup & maintenance
- Agency for B2B customizations
- Ongoing plugin maintenance & updates
Kontorly
- Set up yourself in minutes
- B2B features included from day one
- Maintenance & updates included
Who the Shopify B2B alternative is the right choice for
Manage your product range with tiered pricing and customer groups. Complete digital order processing and invoicing.
Sell directly to retailers — digitally and automated. From the order to the ZUGFeRD invoice.
Build your online B2B channel with professional tools. Scalable with your growth.
Kontorly customers order themselves — around the clock
Your customers order around the clock directly in your shop — with tiered pricing displayed live. No more calls for orders, no lost emails. Everything in one place, clear and traceable.
What a B2B shop really costs
The platforms' subscription prices are only the visible tip. The real decision falls in the lines below — the secondary costs that look small in the contract and get big in daily business.
| Cost item | Shop system (e.g. Shopify) | SaaS service (Kontorly) |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Basic ~$29–39 · Grow ~$79 · Advanced ~$299/month | Starter €249 · Business €449/month |
| B2B depth | Greater needs via apps (ongoing app subscriptions) | Native features, no app stack |
| German taxes & E-Rechnung | Apps/configuration, ongoing costs | Included natively |
| Build | Agency setup for B2B from ~€20,000 (Mittelstand), significantly more for Plus projects | Set it up yourself in the browser |
| Ongoing support | Agency flat fee or your own IT time | Not needed — operations included |
| Transaction surcharge | 0.6–2% with external payment providers | No platform cut, standard Stripe rates |
| Scaling | Shopify Plus from ~$2,300/month (3-year list) | Enterprise from €1,299/month |
(Platform list prices as of 2025/26 — we keep them current, but always check the original pages before deciding.)
Then there's the question of dependency: a custom-built shop system lives off the agency that built it — or off your IT department maintaining app updates, theme adjustments, and interfaces. If it drops away, what remains is a system nobody really knows anymore. Realistically: a mid-sized company rarely gets a B2B-capable shop set up by an agency for under €20,000 — with the Plus plan, custom themes, and interfaces, quickly far more. A SaaS service couples in the other direction: you rely on the vendor and its lifecycle. With Kontorly that's a deliberate deal — a German service cancellable monthly, instead of a structure with follow-up costs.
Project that over three years, and total costs usually look very different — even though the subscription price hardly differs at first glance. An honest sample calculation is broken down here in detail.
Shopify for B2B — an honest look
Shopify is a good product, and the B2B gap has shrunk: since spring 2026, company profiles, payment terms, tiered pricing, and self-service ordering are on all plans — no longer only in the Plus plan. Anyone looking for a Shopify B2B alternative today should acknowledge that fairly.
For your B2B business in Germany, three sticking points remain:
- The 3-catalog limit. More than three active B2B catalogs (e.g. one price directory per customer group) only works with Shopify Plus — ~$2,300/month list price. With several price lists per customer circle, it gets tight.
- German law runs through apps. VAT rules, the E-Rechnung mandate from 2027, legal texts — none of that comes natively, but through apps and configuration. Every app costs money monthly and can break on updates. What the E-Rechnung mandate means specifically is broken down here.
- The build belongs to you. Shopify delivers the platform, not the finished B2B shop. Themes, workflows, apps, and interfaces are configured by an agency — or by you. Operations stay your project.
If you see these three points as solvable — Shopify Plus behind you, a good agency under contract, GDPR-reviewed apps — the path can work. If you see them as risk, that's exactly the reason Kontorly exists.
Kontorly grows with you — no rebuild, no repurchase
Whether 10 or 10,000 products — Kontorly grows with you. A modern architecture that never gets in your way.
KontorlyProdukte
10.240
Kunden
1.847
Wachstum
+34%
Wachstumskurve
Kontorly: GDPR, hosting, and invoices from Germany
Where Shopify is a Canadian company with global hosting, with Kontorly you're in a German operating model: EU hosting, GDPR factored in from the start, E-Rechnungen in the German format.
GDPR-compliant
Full compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
Hosting Germany
Server location Germany for maximum data security.
SSL encryption
All connections are SSL-encrypted.
E-invoices (ZUGFeRD)
Automatic ZUGFeRD e-invoices — legally compliant, with tax breakdown and your own branding.
Preconfigured tax rates
Ready for Germany and global B2B trade — including the small-business scheme, EU reverse charge and export.
Legal text generation
Imprint, privacy policy and shipping information are generated automatically and embedded in a legally compliant way.
Made in
Germany!
Kontorly connects to what you already have
Stripe, DHL, analytics — the interfaces your B2B day needs, Kontorly brings along. You don't extend via an app store; you get integrations from the provider.
Stripe
Credit card, Klarna and more payment methods
DHL
Shipping labels directly from the order
Tracking & Analytics
Google Analytics 4, Meta Pixel, Google Tag Manager
ERP integration
On request in the Business plan.
FAQ
What's the difference between a shop system and SaaS?
A shop system like Shopify is a platform you rent and build your shop from yourself — with themes, apps, and often an agency. A SaaS service like Kontorly is a fully operated shop service: you set up your products and customer groups in the browser, and operations, maintenance, updates, and security sit with the vendor. The difference isn't the feature list but the operating model — and with it, agency needs, cost trajectory, and dependencies.
Do I need an agency or my own IT?
With Kontorly: no. Tiered pricing, customer groups, E-Rechnungen, and German taxes are built in natively and configurable in the browser — including the CSV import of your articles. With a shop system, an agency or IT responsibility is the norm: for the build, theme adjustments, app selection, and ongoing care. You should factor in these costs and dependencies from the start.
Can't Shopify do B2B?
It can — since spring 2026, Shopify offers B2B features on all plans: company profiles, payment terms, tiered pricing, self-service. The limits are in the details: up to three active B2B catalogs, German tax and invoicing requirements via apps, and for real scaling the jump to Shopify Plus (~$2,300/month). For simple B2B scenarios that can be enough — for multi-layered price structures and German law without an app stack, it gets tight. What that costs over three years is calculated here.
How do I get my articles and customer data in?
Via CSV import — natively, without an extra app. You maintain your products with tiered pricing and add your business customers by invitation: customers register, you approve them, assign them to a customer group — and the personal price framework is done. Your customers then order themselves in the browser, the way they know from any good online shop.
What about GDPR, hosting, and the E-Rechnung mandate?
Kontorly is operated in Germany, hosting and data storage sit in the EU — GDPR compliance here isn't a feature flag but the starting point. E-Rechnungen (ZUGFeRD/XRechnung) are natively included and meet the requirement for electronic invoice delivery that applies in stages from 2027. Legal texts for your Impressum (the German legal notice) and privacy policy ship with your shop. Made in Germany, from Hamburg.
What our customers say
Voices from German B2B trade — from traditional manufacturers to growing shops.
„For a long time, orders came in by phone and fax. Today our retailers order on their own, and by evening the list is simply done. That a traditional business like ours took to it that easily surprised even me.“
„The hospitality trade orders when it needs something — not when someone happens to have time. That used to be a lot of manual work; today customers place their orders themselves. Our team's heads are free again for products and customers.“
„Orders used to come in by email and were typed up twice. Today the customer orders directly, and in the morning I have a clean overview of what needs to ship — our business customer sales have become a lot calmer.“
Ready for the Shopify B2B alternative?
Richte deinen Shop in Minuten ein — Staffelpreise, Kundengruppen und E-Rechnungen inklusive. Oder lass dir alles in einer persönlichen Demo zeigen.