Shopware 6 Pricing 2026: Community, Rise, Evolve, Beyond – The Real Numbers
“How much does Shopware 6 cost?”
It’s the question I get asked most often – and the honest answer is: it depends on a lot of factors. The license is often the smallest item. The things nobody warns you about upfront are usually what catch people off guard.
In this article, I’ll walk you through every cost layer: licensing, hosting, plugins, development, and ongoing operations. With real numbers from real projects.
The Short Version (If You’re in a Hurry)
| Scenario | License | Hosting/month | Setup Cost | Total Year 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter, Community Edition | €0 | €50–100 | €5,000–15,000 | ~€6,000–16,200 |
| Mid-sized, Community Edition | €0 | €100–300 | €15,000–50,000 | ~€16,200–53,600 |
| Mid-sized, Rise | from €600/month | Included | €5,000–20,000 | ~€12,200–27,200 |
| Enterprise, Beyond | from €6,500/month | Custom | from €50,000 | Ask your agency |
These are ballpark figures. Keep reading for what they actually include – and what they don’t.
Shopware 6 Licensing: The Four Editions
Shopware 6 comes in four editions. The key difference isn’t just the price – it’s the deployment model and feature set.
Community Edition (Free)
The Community Edition is open source and completely free. You download it, host it yourself, and own everything.
What you get:
- Full e-commerce functionality (products, categories, orders, customers)
- Rule Builder for pricing logic and discount campaigns
- Flow Builder for automation
- Shopping Experiences (page builder for content pages)
- Multi-language and multi-currency support
- REST API
- Active open-source community
What you don’t get:
- B2B Suite (business customer portals, quote management)
- Custom Products (product configurator)
- AI Copilot (AI-assisted content generation in the admin)
- Publisher (editorial workflow tools)
- Dedicated Shopware support (community forum only)
- Automatic updates and hosting
My take: For most shops I build, Community Edition is the right starting point. The missing features are real but rarely needed until a business has outgrown its first setup. I’ve built mid-sized shops turning over €3–5M/year on Community Edition without issues.
Rise (from €600/month)
Rise is Shopware’s entry-level commercial offering. Pricing starts at €600/month (excluding VAT), scaling with GMV. Shopware adjusts prices periodically – check their website for current rates.
Rise is available both as SaaS (Shopware hosts it) and self-hosted at the same base price. The SaaS option is the simpler path; self-hosted gives you more control but you handle infrastructure yourself.
What you get over Community:
- Managed hosting (SaaS) or commercial license features (self-hosted)
- Automatic updates
- AI Copilot
- Publisher
- Dedicated onboarding support
Important: SaaS means less control. On the SaaS option, you can’t access the server directly, plugin compatibility is restricted, and custom infrastructure setups (Redis configurations, custom cron jobs, non-standard deployment workflows) aren’t possible. Self-hosted Rise removes these constraints but brings infrastructure responsibility back to you.
Evolve (from €2,400/month)
The middle tier, positioned between Rise and Beyond. Pricing starts at €2,400/month and scales with GMV. Shopware positions this as their “bestseller” for mid-sized businesses.
Adds over Rise:
- B2B Components (business customer portals, quote management)
- Advanced Search
- Dynamic Access (rule-based content personalization)
- 4-hour support reaction time and phone support
My take: Evolve makes sense when B2B Components are genuinely needed – wholesale portals, quote workflows, customer-specific pricing logic. If you’re considering Evolve purely for better search or the support SLA upgrade, it’s a €1,800/month step up from Rise. Verify the B2B use case is real before committing.
Beyond (from €6,500/month)
Shopware’s enterprise tier. Pricing starts at €6,500/month and is negotiated based on GMV and requirements.
Adds over Evolve:
- Digital Sales Rooms
- Multi-Inventory
- Customer-specific pricing
- Subscriptions
- 1-hour 24/7 priority support and personal account manager
My take: Beyond is for businesses where e-commerce is the core revenue channel and downtime or limitations directly translate to significant loss. If you’re asking whether you need it, you probably don’t yet.
Community Edition vs. Rise: Which Should You Choose?
This is the real decision for most businesses. Here’s how I frame it for clients:
Choose Community Edition if:
- You have (or can hire) a developer or agency to manage hosting and updates
- You need maximum flexibility – custom server setup, non-standard plugins, unusual integrations
- Budget is a priority in year one
- Your feature requirements are met by the free tier
Choose Rise if:
- You want Shopware to handle the infrastructure entirely
- You don’t have internal technical resources
- You want automatic updates without worrying about plugin compatibility
- The AI Copilot or Publisher are features you’ll actually use
The math: Rise at €600/month = €7,200/year. If a good managed VPS for Community Edition costs €100/month (€1,200/year), you’re paying €6,000/year for the SaaS overhead. Whether that’s worth it depends on how much developer time you’d spend on infrastructure management.
For most clients I work with who have an ongoing developer relationship, Community Edition on a properly configured VPS makes more financial sense. For clients who want to be as self-sufficient as possible and don’t want to think about servers, Rise is easier.
When Does Evolve or Beyond Make Sense?
Rise → Evolve when:
- You have a genuine B2B business with customer portals, quote workflows, or account-based pricing
- Support response time is a contractual obligation (Evolve gives you 4-hour phone support)
- You’ve hit a concrete limitation in Rise that Evolve addresses
Evolve → Beyond when:
- You need Multi-Inventory across multiple warehouses or locations
- Subscription products are part of your business model
- Your GMV is large enough that a dedicated account manager and 1-hour 24/7 SLA is worth the price
A useful rule of thumb: if the cost of the tier upgrade is less than 1–2% of your monthly GMV, it’s probably worth having the conversation with Shopware.
Hosting Costs for Community Edition
If you go with Community Edition, hosting is your responsibility. Here’s what different setups actually cost:
Shared Hosting (Not Recommended for Shopware 6)
Theoretically €5–20/month. In practice, Shopware 6 requires more resources than most shared hosting environments provide. Expect performance problems, failed background jobs, and slow admin interface. Don’t do this for a live shop.
VPS / Root Server
The most common setup for small to mid-sized shops.
| Provider | Specs | Price/month |
|---|---|---|
| Hetzner CX23 | 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM (shared) | ~€3.50 |
| Hetzner CX33 | 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (shared) | ~€5.50 |
| Hetzner CCX23 | 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (dedicated) | ~€24.50 |
| Hetzner CCX33 | 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM (dedicated) | ~€48.50 |
| netcup RS 2000 G11 | 6 vCPU, 8 GB RAM | ~€10 |
For a standard Community Edition setup with a few thousand products and moderate traffic, I recommend at minimum a dedicated 4-core server (~€25/month). The Hetzner CCX23 with 16 GB RAM is a solid choice for most mid-sized shops. Add a separate database server once traffic grows.
A well-configured Hetzner CCX23 with Redis, proper Nginx configuration, and Elasticsearch handles most shops up to ~500,000 products and moderate concurrent traffic.
Managed Shopware Hosting
Several providers offer managed Shopware hosting where they handle updates, security patches, and monitoring.
Prices typically range from €100–400/month depending on included services. Worth it if you want the control of self-hosting but without the maintenance overhead.
Additional Infrastructure Costs
- SSL certificate: €0–150/year (Let’s Encrypt is free, or your provider includes it)
- Email delivery (Mailjet, Postmark, etc.): €10–30/month for a mid-sized shop
- CDN (optional but recommended): €10–50/month (Cloudflare Pro is €25/month)
- Elasticsearch/OpenSearch: Included in your VPS, or €30–80/month as a service
- Backup solution: €10–30/month
Realistic monthly infrastructure cost for a Community Edition mid-sized shop: €150–350/month
Plugin Costs: The Budget Item Everyone Underestimates
This is where real-world Shopware budgets diverge most from initial estimates.
The Shopware Store has thousands of plugins. Most cost €20–200/month as subscriptions, or €300–2,000 as one-time purchases.
Here’s a realistic plugin budget for a mid-sized shop:
| Category | Example Plugins | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | SEO Basics, Sitemap Pro | €20–50/month |
| Reviews | Trusted Shops, Trusted Reviews | €50–150/month |
| Payment | Mollie, Unzer | Free + transaction fees |
| Shipping | DHL, DPD, GLS connectors | €20–60/month |
| B2B (if needed) | Custom development or Rise tier | €0 or tier upgrade |
| Analytics | Custom tracking setup | €0–500 one-time |
| Customer service | Gorgias, Zammad integration | €50–200/month |
A common mistake: Buying the cheapest plugin available. I’ve seen clients spend €2,000 ripping out a poorly coded €15 plugin that caused performance issues. For anything touching the checkout, orders, or customer data – pay for quality.
Budget for plugins: €100–400/month for a mid-sized shop. This is not optional.
Development Costs: The Biggest Variable
Here’s the honest version of the table from my Shopware 6 introduction – expanded with more granularity:
| Project Type | What It Includes | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| Starter shop | Standard theme with customizations, <200 products, 1–2 payment providers, basic shipping | €3,000–8,000 |
| Small shop | Custom design based on existing theme, <500 products, standard integrations | €8,000–15,000 |
| Mid-sized shop | Custom design, ERP integration, complex pricing rules, multi-language | €15,000–35,000 |
| Complex mid-sized | Full custom design, multiple ERP/PIM integrations, B2B functionality | €35,000–60,000 |
| Enterprise | Multi-market, custom plugins, bespoke development | €60,000–200,000+ |
What shifts these numbers:
- Custom design always costs more than you expect. Template-based design starts around €3,000. A genuinely custom Twig-based theme is €8,000–15,000 minimum.
- ERP integrations (SAP, JTL, Dynamics) are almost always more complex than the first estimate. Budget €5,000–15,000 per integration depending on complexity.
- Payment provider setup sounds simple. It never is. Expect €1,000–3,000 for a proper setup with testing, edge cases, and documentation.
- Migrations from Shopware 5 or Magento/WooCommerce add €5,000–20,000 depending on data complexity.
Total Cost of Ownership: Three Real Scenarios
Scenario 1: Local Retailer Starting Online
Profile: Specialty store, 150 products, starting fresh, no technical staff
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Shopware setup (Community Edition, standard theme) | €6,000 |
| Design customizations | €2,000 |
| Payment + shipping setup | €1,500 |
| SEO basics | €1,000 |
| Setup total | €10,500 |
| Hosting (Hetzner + managed updates via agency) | €150/month |
| Plugins (SEO, reviews) | €80/month |
| Agency support contract (4h/month) | €600/month |
| Monthly total | €830/month |
| Year 1 total | ~€20,460 |
Scenario 2: Mid-Sized Fashion Shop (Real Project)
This is the project I mentioned in my Shopware 6 introduction.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Custom theme design | €8,000 |
| ERP integration (JTL) | €5,000 |
| Payment setup (Mollie) | €1,500 |
| SEO & tracking | €2,000 |
| Plugins | €1,800 |
| Setup total | €18,300 |
| Hosting (dedicated server, managed) | €280/month |
| Plugins (ongoing subscriptions) | €180/month |
| Agency retainer | €800/month |
| Monthly total | €1,260/month |
| Year 1 total | ~€33,420 |
Scenario 3: B2B Distributor Moving from WooCommerce
Profile: Industrial supplies, 8,000 products, business customers, needs B2B functionality
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Custom design | €12,000 |
| WooCommerce migration | €8,000 |
| ERP integration (SAP) | €18,000 |
| B2B customer portal setup | €10,000 (Rise tier or custom development) |
| Custom plugins | €6,000 |
| Setup total | €54,000 |
| Rise license (GMV-scaled) | €700/month |
| Plugins | €250/month |
| Agency retainer | €1,500/month |
| Monthly total | €2,450/month |
| Year 1 total | ~€83,400 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shopware 6 Community Edition really free?
Yes. The software is free and open source (MIT license). You pay for hosting, plugins, and development – but not the software itself.
Can I start with Community Edition and upgrade to Rise later?
Yes, the migration is trivial. After purchasing the license, the new features are immediately available as plugins.
What’s the minimum realistic monthly budget for a live Shopware 6 shop?
For a small but properly running shop: €250–400/month including hosting, basic plugins, and occasional developer time. Below that, something is likely being neglected (updates, backups, monitoring).
How does Shopware 6 compare to Shopify in cost?
Shopify Basic: €27/month. But add transaction fees (0.5–2% without Shopify Payments), app costs (typical stack: €100–300/month), and you’re often at €200–400/month before development. For German shops, Shopify also requires additional localization plugins. Shopware is more expensive upfront but often more cost-efficient at scale.
Do I need a separate license for a staging/development environment?
For Community Edition: no. For Rise/Evolve/Beyond: it depends on your contract. Ask explicitly before signing.
The Bottom Line
Shopware 6 is not a cheap platform. It’s not supposed to be. It’s a professional e-commerce system built for businesses that are serious about their online channel.
The businesses I’ve seen struggle with Shopware costs are usually those who budgeted for the license (free!) and forgot everything else. The businesses who succeed are those who treat it as an investment with a real budget for year one and ongoing operations.
If you want to know whether Shopware 6 makes financial sense for your specific situation, feel free to reach out. I’ll give you an honest assessment – including if another platform would serve you better.