Operations
Shopify vs Magento vs Headless for Indian D2C Brands 2026
By Sylvr Founder's Desk · Last checked 21 Oct 2026
TCO by platform
Shopify Basic: ₹1,499 per month billed yearly (₹1,994 monthly), about ₹18,000 a year before apps. App costs are not published.
Shopify Plus: ₹18–30L/year, justified above ₹15Cr ARR
Magento/Adobe Commerce: depends on the development partner; get quotes.
Headless (Next.js and the Shopify Storefront API): an initial build plus maintenance; get quotes.
Source: shopify.com/in/pricing, read 21 Oct 2026.
Decision criteria
For a smaller D2C business, Shopify with well-chosen apps is usually the right answer. As complexity grows (B2B, multi-region, custom workflows), platform investment starts to pay.
Sources
Every figure above is here. A page with a figure and no source here does not publish.
- shopify.com/in/pricing, read 21 Oct 2026. Open the source ↗
Questions founders ask
Can Shopify handle Indian payment gateways?
Yes — Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU all integrate cleanly. Shopify Payments is not available in India; this is the only meaningful gap.
Is headless faster?
Yes for page load, which usually helps conversion; measure it on your own store. But the engineering investment must be sustained — headless without dedicated engineering decays quickly.
What about Wix or Wix Studio?
Generally underpowered for serious D2C. Brands often move from Wix to Shopify as they grow.