European alternatives to Shopify

Shopify is the default hosted storefront for a generation of online merchants, Canadian-headquartered (Shopify Inc., listed on the NYSE and TSX) but running on Google Cloud, so EU merchant and customer data sits on US-controlled hyperscaler infrastructure even though the company itself is not US-incorporated; that is what sends a European merchant wanting genuinely EU-controlled infrastructure, or a procurement team writing a transfer impact assessment, looking for an alternative. Shopware and PrestaShop are the two most capable European platforms mapped here, both open-source and clean when self-hosted on EU infrastructure (Shopware's commercial entity is around 41% PayPal-owned, while PrestaShop passed from the Oaktree-backed Fortidia to the Warsaw-listed cyber_Folks S.A. in February 2026, ownership EU-owned); Sylius (Poland, MIT open-source, EU-owned) is the cleanest-ownership developer/B2B pick, and MyCashflow (Finland, own Helsinki hosting) is the cleanest fully-managed EU SaaS. We checked all six alternatives on who legally owns the company, where the data sits, whether you can self-host for full control, and whether the platform holds a recognised European compliance framework (ISO 27001, SOC 2), with every row sourced to the vendor's public information.

One category quirk is worth stating upfront: there is no EU-owned managed SaaS at Shopify's scale, so the strongest sovereign answer is usually to self-host an EU open-source platform on EU infrastructure rather than look for a like-for-like managed replacement.

The core storefront concept survives the move intact:

• A full storefront: product catalogue, cart, checkout, customer accounts, orders, discounts.
• Connections to EU payment providers (Mollie, Adyen) and shipping/fulfilment integrations.
• Themes/templates and a storefront you control, more so on the open-source platforms.
• Multi-language and multi-currency storefronts (a strength of the EU platforms for cross-border selling).
• An app/plugin ecosystem (largest on PrestaShop and Shopware).
• With self-hosting, complete control over hosting region, data, and customisation.

The costs sit mostly in ease of operation:

• Shopify's turn-key simplicity at the lowest price tier. The closest no-ops experiences here are the managed SaaS (MyCashflow, CCV Shop); the open-source platforms need hosting and, often, a developer or agency.
• The depth and polish of Shopify's app store and the Shopify Payments/Shop Pay fabric.
• Some hosted conveniences (automatic scaling, CDN, managed updates) that you take on yourself when self-hosting, unless you use the platform's managed cloud tier.

Moving a store off Shopify breaks down into six steps.

1. Export your data. Pull products, variants, customers, and orders from Shopify via CSV export and, for larger catalogues, the Admin API. Export your content pages and blog too.
2. Choose your operating model. Decide between fully-managed SaaS (MyCashflow, CCV Shop: no ops) and self-hosted open-source (Shopware CE, PrestaShop, Sylius, Saleor: full control). If self-hosting, provision EU hosting (Hetzner, OVHcloud, Scaleway) first.
3. Import the catalogue. Use the platform's Shopify-import tool or an agency partner. Validate product variants, images, categories, and SEO fields (meta titles/descriptions) after import.
4. Rebuild storefront and integrations. Re-create your theme, then connect EU payment providers (Mollie/Adyen), shipping, tax, and email/marketing tools. Re-test the full checkout flow end to end.
5. Set up redirects. Map old Shopify product and collection URLs to the new URLs with 301 redirects so you keep your search rankings. This is the single most-skipped step that costs traffic.
6. Stage, then cut over. Run the new store in staging, place test orders, then switch your domain. Keep the Shopify plan paused at the minimum tier for a month to handle any forgotten integrations or pending orders.

• You are a mid-market DACH or EU merchant who wants the most capable European platform and can self-host (or use an agency). Start with Shopware (Germany, open-source, ISO 27001 + SOC 2, on-prem option). Self-hosted Community Edition on EU infrastructure is clean; be aware the managed Cloud entity is ~41% PayPal-owned and Cloud pricing starts mid-market (~€600/month), not at Shopify-Basic level.
• You want the largest open-source ecosystem and a big plugin/community base. Start with PrestaShop (France, open-source, 250k+ live sites). Self-hosted on EU infrastructure it is clean. The ownership caveat is gone since February 2026, when the Oaktree-backed Fortidia sold PrestaShop to the Warsaw-listed cyber_Folks S.A. (EU-owned); what remains is the processor chain behind the hosted Account and Metrics services, which matters only for the managed offering, not for self-hosted installs.
• You are a developer-led team or B2B/wholesale merchant who wants the cleanest EU ownership. Start with Sylius (Poland, MIT open-source, EU-owned, no CLOUD Act exposure when self-hosted) for deep Symfony customisation and B2B flows, or Saleor (Poland, headless GraphQL, SOC 2) for composable/API-first stacks. Both are developer-oriented; Saleor's managed cloud runs on AWS, so self-host for a clean infrastructure story.
• You want turn-key managed SaaS with the cleanest EU ownership. Start with MyCashflow (Finland, own Helsinki hosting, EU-owned, CLOUD Act exposure: None, 0% commission, from ~€49/month). The cleanest no-ops EU option, best for Nordic and EU SMBs that value genuine EU hosting over Shopify's app-store depth. CCV Shop (Netherlands, from ~€36/month) is another managed option but is owned by US-based Fiserv.

Price tier, ownership cleanliness, and how much hosting you want to run yourself are the three axes this category actually turns on; find yours in the bullets above and start there.