Which is the best shop system for a German online shop in 2026: Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce or JTL-Shop?

How much do Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce and JTL-Shop cost in 2026?

All four platforms can start at little or no licence cost. The real differences show up in hosting, transaction fees and the paid tiers. The figures below were taken from each vendor's official pricing page on 29 October 2026.

• Shopify: The pricing page lists Basic at $27/month, or $19/month billed yearly. Grow costs $72 or $54, Advanced $399 or $299, and Plus starts at $2,300/month. Hosting is included. Displayed prices and currency can vary by region. If you don't use Shopify Payments, you pay an extra fee on every sale: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify Payments is available in Germany.
• Shopware: The pricing page lists the Community Edition as free and self-hosted, so you pay for your own hosting. A paid plan is required once linked shops exceed €1 million in GMV over 365 days. Rise starts at €600/month and Evolve at €2,400/month, both excluding VAT. Beyond is priced individually. Shopware says plan pricing depends on GMV and other factors.
• WooCommerce: The core is free. WooCommerce estimates hosting at $25–350/month for most stores and extensions at $29–299/year each. For German legal texts and features, the common add-on Germanized is free in its basic version. The Pro version costs €85 for one domain, with optional renewal at €65/year.
• JTL: The pricing page bundles shop and ERP. JTL Start is €0 and includes a free shop with up to 500 articles. JTL Advanced is listed at €119/month, and a lower €99 figure is also shown. JTL Pro is listed at €369/month, with €329 also shown. JTL says annual contracts save up to 17%. JTL-Shop hosting costs €29/month per shop. Orders from your own JTL-Shop are free. Orders from marketplaces, Shopify or Shopware need an order package, starting at €25/month for 100 orders. The page doesn't say whether prices are net or gross.

We could not find a reliable, current source for typical agency setup costs in Germany, so we don't quote a range here. Ask for a fixed-scope quote that lists theme work, legal setup, payment, ERP and marketplace integration as separate items.

Which platform best supports German legal requirements?

None of the four platforms makes a shop legally compliant on its own. Shopware and JTL are built in Germany for the German market. WooCommerce reaches a similar level with Germanized. Shopify needs the most deliberate setup.

The core requirements are the same on every platform:

• Button-Lösung: Under § 312j(3) BGB, the order button must read "zahlungspflichtig bestellen" or something equally unambiguous.
• Widerrufsbutton: Since 19 June 2026, online shops must offer a two-step withdrawal function, labelled "Vertrag widerrufen" and then "Widerruf bestätigen". It must stay available throughout the withdrawal period, according to the consumer centre EVZ. If customers aren't informed about it, the withdrawal period can extend to one year and 14 days.
• Impressum, withdrawal instructions and terms (AGB): You need these on every platform. They usually come from a legal-text provider.
• GDPR and cookie consent: You need a consent tool on every platform. This is a configuration task, not a platform feature.
• Invoicing and GoBD: According to DATEV, businesses that keep electronic records need procedure documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation) for each IT system. JTL-Wawi covers invoicing natively as an ERP. On Shopify and WooCommerce, invoicing usually runs through an app, a plugin or an accounting tool. Germanized adds PDF invoices for WooCommerce.
• Trusted Shops: Its Easy Integration plugin covers JTL, Shopware, Shopify and WooCommerce. Germanized describes itself as pre-certified by Trusted Shops.

Which payment methods popular in Germany does each platform support?

All four platforms can offer PayPal, Klarna and invoice or SEPA. Shopify and Shopware are the only ones with their own payment service for Germany.

• Shopify Payments supports Klarna in Germany with "Pay in 30 days", "Pay in 3", financing and pay in full. The German market must use EUR. PayPal runs alongside Shopify Payments. When Shopify Payments is your primary provider, PayPal transactions don't carry the third-party fee.
• Shopware Payments is available to merchants in Germany and Austria. It offers PayPal, Klarna, cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA direct debit and "Pay upon invoice", which is available for German merchants only. On the Shopware Payments price list, Rise merchants pay ramp-up rates such as 1.09% + €0.19 for Visa and Mastercard and 1.89% + €0.35 for Klarna, if they activate by 31 December 2026.
• WooCommerce: WooPayments is available in Germany. WooCommerce's pricing page gives a general card rate of about 2.50–2.90% + 30¢. PayPal, Klarna and invoice providers connect through their own plugins.
• JTL-Shop connects payment providers through plugins. JTL doesn't list payment provider fees on its pricing page.

Which platform connects best to Amazon.de, Kaufland and OTTO?

JTL is the strongest choice here, because JTL-Wawi works as a multichannel hub. The other platforms usually need a connector.

• JTL lists Amazon, the Kaufland Global Marketplace and OTTO as marketplace connections. Marketplace orders are billed through the order packages. JTL-Wawi can also process orders from Shopify and Shopware 6, so it works as an ERP behind either platform.
• Shopify's official Marketplace Connect app covers Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Target Plus. The first 50 orders each month are free. After that, each order costs 1%, capped at $99/month. OTTO and Kaufland need third-party apps or an ERP such as JTL-Wawi.
• Shopware 6 connects to Amazon, Kaufland, Zalando and OTTO through connectors such as ChannelEngine, or through JTL-Wawi.
• WooCommerce depends on third-party plugins or middleware for every marketplace.

Which platform scales best?

Shopify and Shopware scale with the least infrastructure work. WooCommerce and a self-hosted Shopware setup scale as far as your hosting and development team allow.

Shopify is fully hosted. Shopify Plus adds higher API limits and more headless storefronts, according to its pricing page. Shopware offers SaaS, PaaS and self-hosted models, as well as B2B features in Evolve and Beyond, such as quotes, approvals and customer-specific pricing (source). JTL scales on the operations side, with warehouse management, multiple shops on Pro and unlimited shops on Enterprise. Its storefront is less flexible than Shopware's. WooCommerce performance depends heavily on hosting, caching and how many plugins you run.

How do the four platforms compare side by side?

The main differences are in hosting model, payments, marketplace reach and how much legal setup you have to do yourself.

Criterion	Shopify	Shopware	WooCommerce	JTL-Shop
Entry cost	Basic $27/mo ($19 yearly)	Community Edition free (self-hosted)	Core free + hosting ($25–350/mo est.)	JTL Start €0 (500 articles)
Paid tiers	Grow, Advanced, Plus (from $2,300/mo)	Rise from €600/mo, Evolve from €2,400/mo	Extensions $29–299/yr each	Advanced €119/mo, Pro €369/mo
Hosting	Included (SaaS)	SaaS, PaaS or self-hosted	Self-hosted	€29/mo per shop
Extra transaction fee	2–0.2% without Shopify Payments	None stated for plans	None from WooCommerce	Order packages for marketplace orders
Own payment service (DE)	Shopify Payments, Klarna	Shopware Payments, PayPal, Klarna, invoice, SEPA	WooPayments	Via plugins
German legal fit	Needs careful setup	Strong (German vendor)	Strong with Germanized	Strong (German vendor)
Amazon / Kaufland / OTTO	Amazon via Marketplace Connect, others via apps	Via connectors	Via plugins	Native via JTL-Wawi
ERP	Apps or JTL-Wawi	Integrations or JTL-Wawi	Plugins	JTL-Wawi built in

Which shop system should you choose?

Choose based on where your operational complexity lies, not on the licence price.

• D2C brands selling internationally from Germany: Shopify, with Shopify Payments.
• German mid-market B2C and B2B with complex catalogues or custom pricing: Shopware Rise or Evolve.
• Small budgets, content-heavy brands and existing WordPress sites: WooCommerce with Germanized and good managed hosting.
• Marketplace-heavy merchants with a warehouse: JTL-Wawi with JTL-Shop. Or keep Shopify or Shopware as the storefront and run JTL-Wawi behind it.