Platform Fit Guide

Which ecommerce platform fits your business?

The right platform depends on your operations, your integrations, and your growth trajectory — not a feature checklist. We've built on all of them. Here's what we've learned.

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Quick decision matrix

How each platform stacks up across the criteria that actually matter for your operations.

Platform	B2B Complexity	Time to Market	Total Cost of Ownership	Customization Depth	Ecosystem Lock-in	Headless Ready
Adobe Commerce (On-Premise)	★★★★★	★★☆☆☆	$$$$	★★★★★	Low	Moderate
Adobe Commerce (Cloud Service)	★★★★★	★★★☆☆	$$$$	★★★★★	Medium	Moderate
Magento (Open Source)	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆	$$	★★★★☆	Low	Moderate
Shopify Plus	★★★☆☆	★★★★★	$$	★★★☆☆	High	Moderate
BigCommerce	★★★★☆	★★★★☆	$$$	★★★☆☆	Medium	Strong
Salesforce Commerce Cloud	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆	$$$$$	★★★☆☆	High	Moderate
Medusa (MedusaJS)	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆	$$	★★★★★	None	Native

Adobe Commerce (On-Premise)

B2B: ★★★★★

Speed: ★★☆☆☆

TCO: $$$$

Custom: ★★★★★

Lock-in: Low

Headless: Moderate

Adobe Commerce (Cloud Service)

B2B: ★★★★★

Speed: ★★★☆☆

TCO: $$$$

Custom: ★★★★★

Lock-in: Medium

Headless: Moderate

Magento (Open Source)

B2B: ★★★☆☆

Speed: ★★★☆☆

TCO: $$

Custom: ★★★★☆

Lock-in: Low

Headless: Moderate

Shopify Plus

B2B: ★★★☆☆

Speed: ★★★★★

TCO: $$

Custom: ★★★☆☆

Lock-in: High

Headless: Moderate

BigCommerce

B2B: ★★★★☆

Speed: ★★★★☆

TCO: $$$

Custom: ★★★☆☆

Lock-in: Medium

Headless: Strong

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

B2B: ★★★★☆

Speed: ★★★☆☆

TCO: $$$$$

Custom: ★★★☆☆

Lock-in: High

Headless: Moderate

Medusa (MedusaJS)

B2B: ★★★☆☆

Speed: ★★★☆☆

TCO: $$

Custom: ★★★★★

Lock-in: None

Headless: Native

Platform deep dives

Honest assessments from 15+ years of building on these platforms. No vendor bias — just what we've seen work.

Adobe Commerce (On-Premise)

Deep Expertise

The enterprise workhorse for complex B2B commerce. Adobe Commerce on-premise gives you full control over your hosting, infrastructure, and codebase — ideal for organizations with demanding customization requirements and existing DevOps capabilities.

Strengths

• Native B2B: company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiable quotes
• Deep ERP/PIM integration capabilities
• Complex pricing rules & customer segmentation
• Multi-warehouse inventory management
• Full source code access & customization

Limitations

• Requires dedicated infrastructure management
• Longer implementation timelines (4–8+ months)
• Higher upfront & ongoing costs
• Performance tuning requires expertise
• Security patching is your responsibility

Ideal For

• Large B2B manufacturers & distributors
• Complex pricing with customer-specific catalogs
• Multi-warehouse, multi-brand operations
• Heavy customization requirements
• Organizations with in-house DevOps

Creatuity Experience

500+ projects over 15+ years. Adobe Commerce is where we cut our teeth and remains our deepest area of expertise. We've handled everything from greenfield builds to complex migrations and long-term managed services.

Adobe Commerce (Cloud Service)

Deep Expertise

All the power of Adobe Commerce with fully managed cloud infrastructure by Adobe. Same feature set, same customization depth — but Adobe handles hosting, scaling, CDN, and security patching so your team can focus on the business.

Strengths

• All on-premise features, fully managed
• Adobe-managed hosting, CDN, and scaling
• Automated security patching & updates
• Built-in staging environments
• Integrated CI/CD deployment pipeline

Limitations

• Less infrastructure control than on-premise
• Higher license cost than on-premise
• Some hosting constraints vs. self-managed
• Adobe's deployment workflow required
• Still requires skilled Magento developers

Ideal For

• Enterprises wanting Adobe Commerce without managing infra
• Teams that want to focus on commerce, not servers
• Organizations without dedicated DevOps
• Companies needing guaranteed SLAs
• Compliance-sensitive industries

Creatuity Experience

Extensive — we've deployed and managed dozens of Adobe Commerce Cloud projects. Our team is deeply familiar with the cloud deployment pipeline, environment management, and performance optimization on Adobe's infrastructure.

Magento Open Source

Deep Expertise

The free, community-supported edition of Magento. A solid starting point for businesses with developer resources, but lacks the native B2B features and official support that come with Adobe Commerce.

Strengths

• Free and open source — no license fees
• Large ecosystem of extensions
• Strong community & available talent
• Full source code access
• Good DTC catalog management

Limitations

• No native B2B features
• No official vendor support
• Security patching is community-driven
• Requires significant dev resources
• Performance optimization is manual

Ideal For

• Smaller businesses with dev resources
• Simpler DTC catalogs
• Budget-conscious startups
• Teams wanting to learn Magento before upgrading
• Projects where license cost is a dealbreaker

Creatuity Experience

Deep roots — Creatuity was built on Magento. We've worked with Open Source since its earliest versions and have helped many clients graduate from Open Source to Adobe Commerce as their needs grew.

Shopify Plus

Growing Practice

The fastest path to market for DTC brands with growing B2B aspirations. Shopify Plus prioritizes speed and simplicity — you trade deep customization for rapid deployment and a massive app ecosystem.

Strengths

• Fastest time-to-market of any enterprise platform
• Massive app ecosystem
• Strong DTC features out of the box
• Growing B2B capabilities
• Built-in global CDN & hosting

Limitations

• Limited deep customization (Liquid templates)
• Ecosystem lock-in — harder to leave
• Transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments
• B2B features still maturing vs. Adobe Commerce
• Multi-store requires multiple subscriptions

Ideal For

• DTC-first brands prioritizing speed
• Companies with simpler B2B needs
• Teams wanting minimal infrastructure burden
• Brands needing quick market entry
• Lower-complexity catalog operations

Creatuity Experience

Active & growing — we work with Shopify Plus for clients where speed-to-market and DTC simplicity align with their goals. We bring the same operations-led rigor to Shopify implementations.

BigCommerce

Growing Practice

A strong middle ground: BigCommerce combines solid native B2B features with headless flexibility and a powerful API. It's the SaaS platform that plays best with custom frontends and composable architectures.

Strengths

• Strong native B2B features (price lists, quotes)
• Best-in-class headless & API support
• No transaction fees
• Multi-storefront from single backend
• Good balance of SaaS ease + flexibility

Limitations

• Smaller app ecosystem than Shopify
• Fewer agency partners / talent pool
• Some B2B workflows need customization
• Theme customization less flexible than open source
• Annual revenue-based pricing tiers

Ideal For

• Mid-market B2B/DTC hybrid businesses
• Companies wanting headless without full custom
• Multi-brand, multi-storefront operations
• Teams needing strong API for integrations
• Businesses wanting SaaS with less lock-in

Creatuity Experience

Growing practice — we've delivered BigCommerce projects with headless frontends and complex B2B integrations. We particularly value its API-first approach for composable commerce architectures.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Advisory

The enterprise choice for organizations already deep in the Salesforce ecosystem. Commerce Cloud excels when you need tight CRM integration, AI-powered personalization (Einstein), and unified customer data across sales, service, and commerce.

Strengths

• Deep Salesforce CRM integration
• Einstein AI personalization
• Unified customer data platform
• Strong B2B & B2C editions
• Enterprise-grade scalability

Limitations

• Highest total cost of ownership
• Heavy Salesforce ecosystem lock-in
• Complex implementation (6–12+ months)
• Smaller developer talent pool
• Less flexibility for non-Salesforce integrations

Ideal For

• Organizations already on Salesforce
• Large retail with heavy personalization needs
• Enterprises needing unified CRM + commerce
• Companies with big Salesforce budgets
• Global brands with complex localization

Creatuity Experience

Advisory capacity — we help clients evaluate whether Salesforce Commerce Cloud fits their operations. When it's the right choice, we assist with platform selection and can partner with Salesforce-certified implementation teams.

Medusa (MedusaJS)

Emerging Practice

The modern, open-source alternative for teams that want full composability. Built on Node.js with a modular architecture, Medusa gives developer-led teams complete control over every layer of the commerce stack — with zero vendor lock-in.

Strengths

• Fully open source, zero lock-in
• Modern Node.js/TypeScript stack
• API-first, headless by design
• Modular, composable architecture
• Growing plugin ecosystem

Limitations

• Younger platform, smaller ecosystem
• Requires strong development team
• Fewer pre-built integrations
• B2B features require custom development
• Self-hosted — you manage infrastructure

Ideal For

• Developer-led teams wanting full control
• Modern composable architecture builds
• API-first, multi-channel commerce
• Teams with Node.js/TypeScript expertise
• Projects where vendor independence is critical

Creatuity Experience

Emerging practice — we're actively building with Medusa for clients who need modern composable commerce. Our deep backend integration expertise translates well to Medusa's modular architecture.

When to stay vs. when to migrate

Replatforming isn't always the answer. Here's our framework for making the call.

✓

Signals to stay & optimize

→ Your platform supports your current and near-term operations
→ Performance issues are solvable with optimization, not architecture changes
→ Your team has deep expertise on the current platform
→ Integration debt is manageable and well-documented
→ The cost of migration outweighs the cost of optimization
→ You're within 12 months of a major business event (IPO, acquisition, etc.)

⚡

Signals it's time to migrate

→ Your platform fundamentally can't support your business model (e.g., DTC platform, complex B2B needs)
→ You're spending more on workarounds than a migration would cost
→ Your platform is reaching end-of-life or losing vendor support
→ Integration architecture has become fragile and unreliable
→ You can't hire talent for your current stack
→ Performance has degraded beyond what optimization can fix

When to choose each platform

The one-line answer for every platform. Bookmark this.

Adobe Commerce (On-Prem) When you need maximum B2B complexity, full customization control, and have the DevOps team to manage infrastructure.

Adobe Commerce (Cloud) When you want everything Adobe Commerce offers but prefer Adobe to manage your infrastructure, scaling, and security.

Magento Open Source When budget is tight, your catalog is straightforward, and you have developers who can own the platform end-to-end.

Shopify Plus When speed-to-market matters most, you're DTC-first, and you'd rather build on a managed platform than manage one.

BigCommerce When you need strong B2B + DTC in one platform, want headless flexibility, and prefer SaaS with less lock-in.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud When you're already deep in Salesforce, need AI-powered personalization, and have the budget for a premium ecosystem.

Medusa (MedusaJS) When your dev team wants full composable control, you're building API-first, and vendor independence is non-negotiable.

Common questions

What is the best ecommerce platform for B2B businesses? +

There is no single 'best' platform — it depends on your operations. Adobe Commerce (on-premise or Cloud) excels for complex B2B with custom pricing, multi-warehouse, and deep ERP integration. BigCommerce offers strong native B2B features for mid-market. Shopify Plus is growing its B2B capabilities for simpler use cases. The right choice depends on your catalog complexity, integration needs, and team capabilities.

Should I choose Adobe Commerce on-premise or Adobe Commerce Cloud? +

Choose Adobe Commerce Cloud if you want the same powerful feature set without managing infrastructure — Adobe handles hosting, scaling, and security patching. Choose on-premise if you need maximum control over your hosting environment, have strict data residency requirements, or have an experienced DevOps team that prefers managing infrastructure directly.

When should I migrate from Magento Open Source to Adobe Commerce? +

Consider migrating when you need native B2B features (company accounts, shared catalogs, negotiable quotes), official vendor support, advanced staging and content scheduling, or enterprise-grade performance tools. If your business is growing into B2B or requires features you're currently patching together with third-party extensions, it's time to evaluate the upgrade.

Is Shopify Plus good for B2B ecommerce? +

Shopify Plus has significantly improved its B2B capabilities with dedicated company profiles, custom price lists, and B2B-specific checkout. It's a strong choice for brands that are primarily DTC with growing B2B needs or for B2B businesses with straightforward pricing and catalog structures. However, for complex B2B operations with custom workflows, multi-warehouse fulfillment, or deep ERP integration, Adobe Commerce or BigCommerce may be better fits.

What is headless commerce and when should I consider it? +

Headless commerce decouples the frontend presentation layer from the backend commerce engine. Consider headless when you need complete frontend flexibility, want to deliver content-rich experiences, need to support multiple storefronts from one backend, or want to integrate commerce into non-traditional touchpoints. Platforms like Medusa, BigCommerce, and Adobe Commerce all support headless architectures.

How much does it cost to switch ecommerce platforms? +

Migration costs vary dramatically based on catalog size, customization complexity, number of integrations, and data volume. A straightforward migration might start at $50K–$100K, while complex enterprise replatforming projects can exceed $500K+. The key is a thorough diagnostic to understand the true scope before committing. That's why we recommend starting with a diagnostic assessment.

Not sure which platform fits?

Start with a diagnostic. We'll map your operations, integrations, and growth plans — then recommend the platform (or optimization strategy) that actually fits. No vendor bias. No sales pitch. Just clarity.

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