Magento Alternatives for Grocery: Ecommerce Platforms for Online Grocery Retail

Magento, now sold by Adobe as Adobe Commerce (with the free Magento Open Source edition), has powered many grocery websites. It is flexible and has a large developer ecosystem. For grocers, though, that flexibility often comes with a high cost of custom development and ongoing maintenance.

This article is for grocers who already run Magento or Adobe Commerce, or who are considering it, and want to know the alternatives. It explains when a grocer has outgrown Magento, compares the main alternatives on consistent criteria, and gives a migration checklist. If you are comparing grocery ecommerce platforms in general rather than moving away from Magento, see our broader guide to the top grocery ecommerce platforms.

Magento and Adobe Commerce in 2026: what has changed

Two points matter for grocers planning ahead:

• Naming and editions. "Magento" now usually refers to two products: Adobe Commerce (the paid, supported edition, available on Adobe's cloud infrastructure or self-hosted) and Magento Open Source (the free edition you host and maintain yourself).
• Version support. Adobe publishes fixed support windows for each release. According to Adobe's lifecycle policy, standard support for Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 ended on August 11, 2026, 2.4.7 ends on May 31, 2027, and 2.4.8 on May 31, 2028. Each upgrade means testing and updating every custom grocery extension you depend on.

Regular upgrades are normal for any self-managed platform. For grocers with heavy customization, though, each upgrade becomes a project. This is often the point where teams start to evaluate alternatives.

Signs you have outgrown your Magento customizations

Magento can run a grocery store, but grocery workflows such as weighted products, substitutions, delivery slots, and store-level stock usually require custom extensions. Consider an alternative if several of these are true:

• Most of your development budget goes to maintenance, patches, and upgrades instead of new features.
• Grocery features depend on several third-party extensions from different vendors, and upgrades often break one of them.
• Changes to delivery slots, substitution rules, or promotions need a developer.
• Stock and price sync with your ERP or POS is unreliable or delayed.
• Your website slows down at peak times, or hosting costs keep rising.
• You need a native mobile app and a picker app, and both would be separate custom projects.
• Only one agency or developer understands your setup.

How to compare Magento alternatives for grocery

Use the same criteria for every option so the comparison is fair:

• Grocery fit: native support for weighted products, substitutions, slots, multi-store stock, and picking
• Target retailer: the size and type of business the platform is designed for
• Pricing model: subscription, revenue share, license, or custom quote, plus implementation and app costs
• Integrations: ERP, POS, payments, and delivery partners
• Mobile capability: responsive web only, or native iOS and Android apps
• Implementation effort: how much configuration and custom development is needed
• Support: who supports the platform and the grocery-specific features

Pricing and features change often. Confirm current pricing, included features, and contract terms with each vendor before you decide. The table reflects our assessment of each platform's fit for grocery, not a ranking.

Shortlist of Magento alternatives for grocery

Shopify (including Shopify Plus)

A hosted platform with a very large app ecosystem and a fast setup. It suits grocers with a smaller catalog, a simple fulfillment model, or a strong direct-to-consumer brand. Grocery workflows such as weighted items, delivery slots, and substitutions usually require third-party apps or custom development. See our Shopify comparison.

BigCommerce

A hosted platform with open APIs and strong B2B features. It suits grocers that also sell wholesale or have development resources for a headless setup. Grocery-specific workflows usually require apps or custom work. See our BigCommerce comparison.

WooCommerce

An open-source WordPress plugin with low entry cost. It suits small grocers with a simple range and access to a WordPress developer. Like Magento, it needs plugins for grocery features, and you are responsible for hosting, security, and updates. See our WooCommerce comparison.

commercetools

An API-first, headless commerce platform for large retailers with in-house engineering teams. It gives a high level of flexibility, but you build the front end, apps, and grocery workflows yourself or with a systems integrator. Implementation is typically measured in quarters.

Instacart Storefront

A white-label storefront connected to Instacart's fulfillment and shopper network. It suits grocers that want a branded website quickly and are comfortable using Instacart for fulfillment. You depend on a marketplace partner for part of the customer relationship and data.

Mercatus

A grocery-specific ecommerce provider focused mainly on regional grocers in North America, with branded web and app options. Pricing is by quote. See our Mercatus comparison.

Wave Grocery

A grocery-specific platform that includes the storefront, native mobile apps, order management, a picker app, delivery management, and loyalty in one system.

Strengths:

• Grocery workflows are standard: weighted products, cutting options, substitutions, delivery slots, and multi-store stock.
• Native iOS and Android apps and a picker app are part of the platform, not separate projects.
• Published pricing for smaller and mid-sized grocers, from $299 per month, with updates and support included. See pricing.
• Integrations with ERP and POS systems are handled as part of onboarding.

Limitations:

• It is designed for grocery and convenience retail. Retailers whose sales are mostly general merchandise may be better served by a general platform.
• Its third-party app ecosystem is smaller than Shopify's or Magento's.
• As a SaaS platform, it does not give the code-level control of self-hosted Magento Open Source.
• Enterprise plans are priced by quote.

Best fit: independent grocers, regional chains, and multi-store supermarkets that want grocery workflows without maintaining custom code. See the Wave Grocery vs Magento comparison for details.

Magento migration checklist

A well-planned migration protects your sales, data, and search rankings. Use this checklist with whichever platform you choose:

1. Audit your current setup. List all extensions, customizations, integrations, and scheduled jobs. Decide which features you need, which the new platform covers, and which you can retire.
2. Catalog data. Export products, categories, attributes, images, and weighted product settings. Clean up duplicates and missing data before you import.
3. Customers. Migrate customer accounts, addresses, and consent records in line with privacy law. Plan how customers will reset their passwords, because they usually cannot be migrated.
4. Order history. Migrate past orders so customers can reorder and support can see history. Agree how many years to migrate.
5. Loyalty and promotions. Migrate loyalty balances, active coupons, and gift cards, and test them.
6. Integrations. Rebuild and test connections to your ERP, POS, payment provider, delivery partners, and accounting.
7. SEO and redirects. Crawl the current site, map every product, category, and content URL to its new URL, and set up 301 redirects. Keep page titles and content for ranking pages. Submit the new sitemap after launch.
8. QA. Test full order journeys on web and app, including weighted items, substitutions, slots, payments, refunds, and integrations. Test performance under peak load.
9. Phased launch. Start with a pilot store or a share of traffic, monitor KPIs, then roll out to all stores. Keep a rollback plan for the first days.
10. Post-launch monitoring. Check Search Console for crawl errors and ranking changes, and monitor conversion, fill rate, and support tickets for at least four weeks.

For examples, read how Thanopoulos migrated from PrestaShop to Wave Grocery and how KH Glatt migrated two stores in under 20 days.

Making the decision

If your Magento setup is stable, your team can maintain it, and grocery features work well, upgrading may be the right choice. If most of your budget goes to maintaining custom grocery features, a platform designed for grocery is usually lower in total cost and faster to improve. Compare options on the same criteria, ask for live demos with your own data, and plan the migration before you sign.

To see how Wave Grocery compares, explore the Wave Grocery platform, read our grocery ecommerce platform comparison, or look up terms in our grocery ecommerce glossary.

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