Should You Rent or Buy an Online Store? A Comparison of SaaS, Rental Stores, Open Source, and Custom Development

Whether you should rent or buy an online store depends less on the initial price than on two questions: Who handles hosting, updates, and security—and how do the costs scale with revenue? When you rent, you pay a recurring fee, and the provider manages the technology. With a purchased license or open-source software, you save on the rental fee but are responsible for operations, updates, and security yourself—or pay a service provider to handle them. This guide compares five operating models—SaaS platform, a rental store as a complete package, a purchased license, open source, and custom development—based on costs, responsibility, contract term, data sovereignty, and scalability.

Current legal status: October 4, 2026. This overview is not a substitute for legal advice. Information on individual e-commerce platforms is sourced from our comparison pages (as of October 2026), where links to the manufacturers’ sources are provided.

What is the difference between renting and buying an online store?

When you rent, you use shop software for the duration of the contract; the provider makes it available in a ready-to-run state, complete with servers, updates, and support depending on the plan. When you buy, you acquire a license for software that you operate yourself or through a hosting provider. Open-source software is a special case: the license is free, but you are responsible for its operation.

The lines are blurred: Licenses for self-hosted software are sometimes billed as a recurring fee, and some open-source systems are also offered by the manufacturer as a hosted rental option. What matters, therefore, is not the label “rental” or “purchase,” but who operates the technology and what you’re paying for on an ongoing basis. In this guide, we’re always referring to the online store software itself, not the purchase of an existing online store as a business.

What operating models are available for online stores?

1. SaaS platform and online store builder

Your online store runs on the provider’s platform; it’s designed using templates, settings, and apps, and the provider handles updates. Getting started is quick and doesn’t require your own servers. Apps—which come with their own fees—fill in the gaps where the platform falls short, and deeper customizations are only possible within the platform’s framework.

Costs: Monthly fee based on the plan, plus revenue-based components depending on the provider—such as a transaction fee when using an external payment provider (Shopify) or charges above a free volume threshold (Gambio Cloud). Other examples of this model include Shopware SaaS and Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service. This is a good fit if you want to get started quickly, manage as little as possible yourself, and are satisfied with the platform’s feature set.

2. Rental Store as a Complete Package

Here, too, you rent the platform, and the provider handles hosting, updates, security, and support. Key features of this model: software, operation, and support are provided by a single source at a fixed package price; extensions are implemented via interfaces or by the provider’s developers rather than through an app marketplace.

Costs: fixed monthly price per package; additional services such as marketplace integrations or custom programming are provided by agreement. This is a good fit if you’re looking for predictable costs and a dedicated point of contact , and don’t want to manage your own technology. Our own offering also operates on this model—more on that below.

3. Purchased License for In-House Operation

You purchase a license—either as a one-time fee or a recurring fee—and run the software on your own or a rented server. You organize hosting, updates, security patches, and backups yourself or through a service provider. In return, you determine the server, location, and update schedule yourself.

Examples: Shopware also offers its plans for self-hosted stores; Adobe Commerce is available on-premises with one license per base package; and JTL-Shop can be operated externally instead of using the optionally bookable JTL hosting. Make sure to check whether updates are included in the license and whether the software will continue to receive security updates once a maintenance or update contract expires.

4. Open Source Self-Hosted

The software is freely available, the source code is open, and there is no license fee. Operation, updates, security, and extensions are your responsibility or that of an agency. Examples include WooCommerce as a free plugin for WordPress, the Shopware Community Edition, PrestaShop Classic, and Magento Open Source; PrestaShop is also available from the manufacturer as a hosted version.

Costs arise for hosting, paid extensions, maintenance, and development—either as an invoice from a service provider or as your own labor time. This is a good fit if you have your own development team or a dedicated agency and want to customize the code yourself.

5. Custom Development by an Agency

An agency builds the online store according to your requirements, either on an existing system or as a custom development. This offers great flexibility in terms of features and workflows, but involves upfront costs for design and programming, followed by ongoing maintenance and hosting. Any subsequent changes require additional development work.

Pay close attention to the rights to the code: Copyright itself is non-transferable; what is granted are rights of use (Sections 29 and 31 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG)). If the types of use are not expressly specified individually in the contract, their scope is determined by the purpose of the contract (Section 31(5) UrhG). Therefore, make sure to specify in writing whether you are permitted to receive the source code, modify it, and have it further developed by another service provider.

How do the costs of renting compare to those of buying?

With renting, you pay on an ongoing basis; with purchasing and open source, a portion of the costs is incurred upfront: licensing, setup, or development. Ongoing costs remain in every model—for hosting, maintenance, enhancements, or your own labor. The models become comparable only when considering the total costs over several years, calculated based on your projected revenue.

A simple calculation illustrates just how significant revenue-based fees can be: 1% of revenue costs a store with €50,000 in monthly revenue €6,000 per year and €18,000 over three years—in addition to the payment provider’s fees. Read more in the article on shop systems without revenue sharing.

You can find all cost categories with calculation examples for a small and a medium-sized online store—calculated for a fixed-price package, a modular subscription with revenue sharing, and a self-hosted open-source system—in the guide “How Much Does an Online Store Cost?”

Who is responsible for hosting, updates, security, and data protection?

The table shows the typical breakdown; the specific contract takes precedence.

Data Protection: You remain responsible for your customers’ data in every model. Anyone who processes it on your behalf—whether a platform, hosting provider, or maintenance service provider—does so based on a data processing agreement, and you may only work with processors that provide sufficient guarantees regarding appropriate technical and organizational measures (Art. 28(1) and (3) GDPR). If the provider, in turn, engages additional data processors, it requires your prior authorization to do so (Art. 28(2) GDPR); ask to see the list of these service providers.

Security: The controller and the processor must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk (Art. 32 GDPR). In-house, this means in practice: promptly installing security updates for the online store, extensions, and servers, and regularly verifying that backups can be restored. If you are renting the service, the provider handles this aspect to the extent specified in the contract.

Server Location: If personal data is transferred to a country outside the EU and the EEA, the provisions of Art. 44 et seq. of the GDPR also apply, such as an adequacy decision by the European Commission or standard data protection clauses (Art. 45 and 46 of the GDPR). The article on GDPR-compliant shop systems outlines the questions you should ask the provider regarding this.

What should I check regarding the contract term and termination?

Rented online stores can be canceled monthly or have a fixed term; with many providers, annual payment is more cost-effective than monthly payment. The law sets limits on general terms and conditions for contracts involving regular deliveries or services: a maximum commitment period of two years; tacit renewal only for an indefinite period, after which the contract can be terminated at any time with a notice period of no more than one month; and a maximum notice period of one month prior to the end of the initial term (Section 309(9) of the German Civil Code (BGB)). This list does not apply directly to business owners (§ 310(1) BGB)—therefore, anyone booking a shop as a business owner should carefully read the terms and conditions themselves.

Check the following before signing

• Minimum term, automatic renewal, and notice period
• Rules for price changes during the term
• Switching to a higher or lower plan: when and under what conditions
• Access to the online store and data after the contract ends: for how long, in what format, and at what cost
• For purchased licenses: Term of the update or maintenance contract and what happens to security updates afterward
• For custom development: Acceptance, maintenance after project completion, and rights to the code

What happens to my data if I switch systems?

Switching systems is primarily a data migration: products with variants and images, customer accounts, order history, content pages, and existing URLs that should point to the new pages via 301 redirects. If you host the system yourself, the database and files are under your control. With hosted solutions, you access your data via export functions, APIs, or the provider—so be sure to clarify before signing the contract what data can be exported and in what format.

The GDPR sets the framework for personal data: The data processing agreement must stipulate that, upon completion of the service, the provider will delete or return all personal data at your discretion, provided there is no legal obligation to retain it (Art. 28(3)(g) GDPR). The practical details—format, deadline, and costs—should be specified in the contract.

For cloud and SaaS offerings, the EU Data Act also contains rules regarding switching providers; our article on the EU Data Act provides an overview.

Also ask whether customer passwords can be transferred—this depends on how the old system stores them—and who will set up redirects for the old addresses. A test migration with real data before the switchover will show whether everything is transferred completely.

How flexibly can the online store be expanded?

• SaaS platform: Apps from the provider’s marketplace, customizations within the scope of the platform’s templates and interfaces.
• Rental shop package: Modules and interfaces provided by the vendor; custom features developed by the vendor’s developers.
• Purchased license: Extensions and customizations within the scope of what the license allows; every customization must be maintained during updates.
• Open Source: Full access to the source code, third-party extensions, in-house development—also requiring maintenance with every update.
• Custom Development: Everything you commission; every change requires new development work.

For each model, check which payment, shipping, and inventory management integrations are included out of the box and which require an add-on module or custom programming. Also, ask about the ongoing costs of each extension: Who will update them when the system is upgraded?

Which model is right for whom?

Six Questions to Ask Before Making a Decision

1. Who installs security updates—and how quickly?
2. How much does the online store cost per year based on your projected revenue—and if revenue doubles?
3. Where is the data stored, is there a data processing agreement, and which other service providers are involved?
4. What features do you need from day one—payment methods, shipping, B2B pricing, inventory management, marketplaces—and are they included in the standard package or require an add-on?
5. Who provides support in the event of an outage, through which channels, and at what times?
6. How do you cancel the service: contract term, notice period, data export, and data transfers?

Our comparisons with Shopify, JTL, Shopware, Gambio, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento show how individual systems fit into these models—all at a glance in the comparison overview.

Where XONIC Fits In

The XONIC Shop System is part of the “rental shop” model as a complete package; a traditional one-time purchase is no longer available. Four packages are offered—Basic, Professional, Premium, and Enterprise—with fixed monthly prices starting at €149 for annual payment, with no revenue share and no setup fee; Enterprise is negotiated on a case-by-case basis. All prices are exclusive of VAT.

Included are hosting on servers in Frankfurt am Main, updates, an SSL certificate, daily backups, and support; store data and backups are stored exclusively in Germany. The contract term is 12 months; prior to signing up, the system can be tested for 30 days free of charge in a test environment with sample data. Those switching from another system can commission data migration as a service at a fixed price starting at €1,200. Details are available on the pricing page and the “Rent a Shop System” page, as of October 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions About Renting or Buying an Online Store

Sources

• General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Articles 28, 32, and 44 through 46
• Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act)
• § 309 BGB: Prohibited clauses without discretion and § 310 BGB: Scope of application
• § 29 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG): Legal Transactions Concerning Copyright and § 31 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG): Granting of Rights of Use
• Information on individual e-commerce platforms: Bibliographies for our e-commerce platform comparisons, as of October 2026