Webshop: hosted platform or custom development?

According to Mesterséges Intelligencia Központ Kft., a software development company based in Budapest, Hungary, a hosted webshop is the right start if your range fits within its limits; custom development pays off when pricing or integrations outgrow them.

In short: Three questions decide: whether your product range and ordering process fit within a hosted platform's limits, how many other systems the webshop has to exchange data with, and how important it is to develop further without platform limits. For many companies a hosted platform is a good first step: if the data can be exported, moving to a custom solution later remains possible.

What are the options?

Today a “webshop” can mean four different routes. The boundaries are not sharp: a hosted platform can have a custom integration behind it, and a custom webshop can use a ready-made payment page. Still, responsibility and room to manoeuvre sit in a different place in each.

Hosted webshop (SaaS)

SaaS (software as a service) means that the provider runs, updates and protects the webshop software, while the merchant subscribes to it and manages it in the browser. An international example is Shopify; on the Hungarian market there are Shoprenter and UNAS. Hosted platforms can be extended with add-ons, and most of them also offer an API: the programming interface through which another system can read data from the webshop or write data into it.

Shoprenter's developer documentation describes its interface resource by resource (products, customers and orders among them) and also offers webhooks: automatic messages that the webshop sends to an external system after an event, such as an order being placed or its status changing (Shoprenter: WebHook automation). According to UNAS's documentation, the purpose of its API is to connect the store, even in both directions, with external systems such as invoicing or inventory software; the interface is available with the PREMIUM and VIP subscription packages (UNAS: API documentation, checked on 17 October 2026). It is therefore worth checking what a given tier allows when choosing the package.

Open-source, self-hosted webshop

A common example is WooCommerce, the open-source webshop plugin for the WordPress content management system. Its source code is available under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (WooCommerce: licence), and the plugin's description mentions a REST API and webhooks for integrations and stresses that the store's content and data remain with the owner (WordPress.org: WooCommerce). Freedom comes at a price: hosting, updates to WordPress and the plugins, backups and protection are the responsibility of the owner or of the operator the owner hires.

Headless webshop

In a headless setup, the interface the shopper sees and the webshop engine are separate systems. According to Shopify's developer documentation, headless commerce separates the storefront's frontend from its backend: the interface can be built and hosted with any technology, while products, the cart and checkout are served by the platform's API (Shopify: Headless). This helps when the shopping experience has to be highly distinctive, when the webshop is part of a content-rich website, or when the same range has to appear in several channels (on the web, in a mobile app, at a kiosk). The trade-off is two systems to maintain: the platform and your own interface.

Custom-built webshop

In a custom webshop the product model, pricing, ordering process and integrations are built exactly around the way the company works. There are no platform limits, but there is no ready-made app marketplace either: whatever the webshop has to do must be designed, developed, tested and operated. The custom route is strong when the webshop is the company's main sales channel and has to work closely with the ERP system, the warehouse or production.

Comparison in one table

Aspect	Hosted platform	Open source (e.g. WooCommerce)	Headless	Custom development
Launch	fastest: ready-made theme and settings	quick, if ready-made themes and plugins are enough	longer: your own interface has to be built	longest; the size of the development decides
Fee model	subscription; add-on apps may cost extra	no subscription for the software; hosting, paid plugins and operation	the platform's subscription, plus building and running your own interface	one-off development, then operation and further development
Extensibility	within the platform's limits and its marketplace	freely, but every plugin is one more thing to update	the interface can be shaped freely, the engine belongs to the platform	unlimited; the contract governs the source code
Integrations (stock, ERP, invoicing, couriers)	ready-made add-on or via the API, if the package allows	plugin or custom code	via the platform's API	through any interface, as the company needs
Performance	set by the provider's infrastructure and the theme's quality	depends on the hosting and the number of plugins	can be optimised well, but it is your own work	depends on design and operation
Data and export	according to the platform's export functions and terms	the whole database belongs to the owner	the engine's data sits on the platform	the whole database belongs to the client
Hosting and security	the provider is responsible	the owner or the owner's operator	shared: the engine is the platform's, the interface the company's	the client or the operator the client hires

Speed is worth measuring rather than guessing: the Core Web Vitals recommended by Google measure loading (LCP), interactivity (INP) and visual stability (CLS) (web.dev: Web Vitals), and they apply equally to every type of webshop.

When is a hosted platform enough, and when does custom pay off?

Signs that a hosted platform is enough

The products are simple: few variants, a clear price, no complex configuration.
The ordering process is the usual one: cart, shipping method, payment, confirmation.
There are ready-made add-ons for the integrations you need: invoicing, couriers, payment.
A quick launch matters, and the team has neither the time nor the wish to run a server.
The webshop is one sales channel, not the whole business model.

Signs that it is worth moving towards custom or headless

The products are configurable or made to measure, or the price is calculated from several factors.
Reseller (B2B) price lists, special discount rules or framework-contract prices are needed.
The webshop has to work in real time with the ERP, the warehouse or production.
The number of plugins is so large that every update is a risk.
Because of the platform's limits, the company adapts its own process to the software instead of the other way round.

A common and sound middle way is a hosted webshop with a custom integration: the store stays on the platform, and behind it a custom service connects orders with the invoicing software, the warehouse and the ERP system. This is a system integration job; Process automation explains the details. The general comparison of custom software and off-the-shelf products is covered in Custom software or an off-the-shelf solution (SaaS)?.

Hungarian specifics: invoicing, NAV, couriers, payment

Invoicing and NAV Online Számla

According to the Hungarian tax authority (NAV), since 4 January 2021 invoice data reporting has also covered invoices issued to persons who are not VAT-registered, private customers included; the invoicing software has to send the data electronically to the Online Számla system immediately when the invoice is issued, without human intervention, in XML format (NAV). NAV also publishes the description of the machine interface in a public repository (NAV: Online-Invoice). Webshops typically handle this through an invoicing service: according to Számlázz.hu's documentation, for example, its interface called Számla Agent automates invoice and receipt operations in XML (Számlázz.hu: API documentation). What matters is the process: a paid or fulfilled order should become an invoice without manual re-entry, and someone should be notified if a data report fails or is rejected.

Couriers and parcel lockers

Connecting courier and parcel-point services means three things: at checkout the shopper can choose the pickup point or locker, the parcel label is created from the order automatically, and the parcel's status flows back to the webshop and to the shopper. On a hosted platform it is worth checking whether a ready-made add-on exists for this; in a custom webshop, or if there is no suitable add-on, we connect to the provider's interface. We connect, for example, GLS, Foxpost, MPL or Packeta.

Online payment

For card payments, the PCI DSS international security standard applies to everyone who stores, processes or transmits card data. According to Stripe's documentation, with its lower-risk integrations the payment data goes directly to the payment provider without passing through the merchant's servers, which reduces the merchant's PCI obligations (Stripe: Integration security guide). That is why we recommend that the webshop does not store card data: payment should happen on the page or embedded interface of a provider such as Barion, SimplePay or Stripe.

Stock and ERP

If stock lives in a warehouse system or an ERP, the webshop has to read from it, so that sold-out products cannot be ordered, and has to write orders into it. This is one of the webshop's most important connections; the back-office side is covered on Business software.

Legal must-knows that apply to every webshop

The law applies regardless of the platform: on a hosted platform the provider helps with a lot, but the merchant is responsible for compliance. This is information, not legal advice; for a specific case it is worth consulting a lawyer.

The right of withdrawal

Directive 2011/83/EU regulates consumer rights for distance contracts; the points below are based on the consolidated text of 27 September 2026 (EUR-Lex: Directive 2011/83/EU, consolidated):

Under Article 9(1), the consumer may withdraw from the contract within 14 days without giving any reason; for goods, the period generally runs from the day the goods are received.
Under Article 6(1)(h), the trader must inform the consumer before the contract about the conditions, time limit and procedure for exercising the right of withdrawal; this includes the model form and, where applicable, information on the existence and placement of the withdrawal function.
Under Article 11a, inserted by Directive (EU) 2023/2673, a trader must ensure that for distance contracts concluded through an online interface the consumer can also withdraw by means of a withdrawal function labelled “withdraw from contract here” (or an unambiguous corresponding formulation) and continuously available throughout the withdrawal period, through which the consumer sends an online withdrawal statement; the statement is sent with a step labelled “confirm withdrawal”, and the trader sends an acknowledgement of receipt on a durable medium. Member States apply these provisions from 19 June 2026 (EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2023/2673).
If this information is not provided, under Article 10 the withdrawal period expires 12 months after the end of the original period.
Under Article 13, the trader reimburses all payments received from the consumer, including delivery costs where applicable, within 14 days of being informed of the withdrawal.
Article 16 lists exceptions, for example goods made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalised.

In Hungary the detailed rules are set out in Government Decree 45/2014 (II. 26.); the withdrawal function is governed by the provisions of its section 22 inserted by Government Decree 415/2025 (XII. 23.) (Nemzeti Jogszabálytár, checked on 17 October 2026). For a webshop this means concrete features: the information has to appear before the order, the online withdrawal function has to be continuously available throughout the withdrawal period, with an acknowledgement of receipt, returns and refunds have to be tracked, and personalised products have to be flagged.

Accessibility

Under Directive (EU) 2019/882, Member States apply accessibility requirements to e-commerce services provided to consumers from 28 June 2025 (the Hungarian rules implement the directive); e-commerce services are services provided through websites and mobile device-based services with a view to concluding a consumer contract (EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2019/882). Microenterprises providing services (under the directive, enterprises employing fewer than ten persons and below a set turnover or balance-sheet threshold) must be exempted from the requirements (Article 4(5)). Under Annex I of the directive, websites and mobile applications have to be made perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. On a hosted platform part of this depends on the platform and the chosen theme, so the theme is worth checking for accessibility as well; in a custom webshop we follow the WCAG 2.2 guidelines.

Under Article 5(3) of the consolidated text of the ePrivacy Directive, Directive 2002/58/EC, storing information on a user's device or accessing information stored there is only allowed with prior consent given on the basis of clear and comprehensive information. The exception is storage strictly necessary to provide a service explicitly requested by the user (EUR-Lex: Directive 2002/58/EC). A cookie needed for the cart is therefore treated differently from an analytics or advertising cookie: the latter need consent, and the cookie banner has to offer a real choice.

Artificial intelligence in the webshop

Product texts: product descriptions, category texts and translations drafted with a large language model. Some hosted platforms already offer this built in: according to Shopify's help centre, the AI features in its admin also write product descriptions, and Shopify itself asks merchants to review anything an AI tool creates, because it can contain errors (Shopify Help Center: AI features).
Search: product search that understands what the shopper means (“waterproof hiking boots for rain”), not only the exact keyword.
Customer service: an AI chatbot that answers from the webshop's own data on products, shipping terms and order status, and makes clear that the shopper is talking to artificial intelligence. Details on AI chatbots and agents; the legal background is covered in AI Act and GDPR.

On a hosted platform, the range of AI features depends on what the platform or an add-on offers. With a custom webshop or a custom integration, we can choose among the models of OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini) and connect the model directly to the webshop's data, with human review wherever a mistake would cost money or trust.

Moving from a hosted platform to a custom webshop

Many companies start on a hosted platform and move on when the webshop outgrows it. How smooth this is depends largely on how much data can be taken out of the old system. According to Shopify's help centre, for example, products, orders and customers can all be exported to CSV files (Shopify: exporting products, exporting orders, exporting customers), but the images belonging to products are not included in the product CSV, so they have to be saved separately. The steps of a move:

Data inventory: what data the old system holds (products, variants, images, customers, past orders, coupons, content pages) and what can be exported from it.
Data mapping and cleansing: where each old field goes and what needs tidying up, for example duplicate customers or incomplete product data.
URL map and redirects: according to Google Search Central, each old URL has to be mapped to a new one, and server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308) have to be set up, so that the search rankings you have earned are not lost (Google Search Central).
Re-connecting integrations: invoicing, payment, couriers and stock, all tested end to end with trial orders.
Go-live and follow-up: a final sync of the old system's data, then monitoring metrics and errors after the switch.

If you choose a hosted platform today, it is worth preparing an exit plan now: which data can be exported, in what format, and whether there is an API through which a later system can take it over continuously.

What do cost and time depend on?

On a hosted platform, the cost is made up of the subscription, add-on apps, the theme and the work spent on setup; if a custom integration is also needed, that is separate development. For a custom webshop, we measure the functional size of the development in COSMIC function points (ISO/IEC 19761), and the offer and the schedule are based on it. Beyond the size, these factors count:

the number of integrations, and how well documented their interfaces are;
the complexity of the product model: variants, configurable products, special pricing rules;
how custom the design is and the number of interfaces (web, mobile, admin);
the volume and quality of the data to be migrated;
non-functional requirements: speed, availability, accessibility, security;
the scope of operation and further development after handover.

Pricing explains the measuring method.

Common mistakes when deciding

Looking only at the launch cost, not at subscriptions, add-ons and operation over several years.
Not checking in advance which data can be exported and whether the chosen package includes an API.
Installing so many plugins that after an update nobody knows what broke and why.
Starting with manual invoicing, which becomes the bottleneck as the number of orders grows.
Skipping redirects during a move, so that old addresses lead to error pages.
A cookie banner that accepts everything by default, or loads analytics code even after a refusal.

Frequently asked questions

Should we choose a hosted or a custom webshop?

If your product range and ordering process fit within a hosted platform (for example Shopify, Shoprenter, UNAS) or WooCommerce, that is the quicker and lower-risk start. A custom webshop pays off when your range or pricing is unusual, when a close, real-time connection to an ERP or warehouse is needed, or when the webshop is your main sales channel and you want to develop it without platform limits. The middle way is a hosted webshop with a custom integration.

Can we move from a hosted platform to a custom webshop?

Yes, if the data can be taken out of the old system: products, customers, orders, images and content. Redirecting the old addresses to the new ones and re-connecting the integrations are essential parts of the move. It is worth checking which exports and API a hosted platform offers when you choose it.

Can the webshop be connected to our invoicing software and warehouse?

Yes. We connect the invoicing software (for example Számlázz.hu, Billingo) through automatic invoicing, and the warehouse system or ERP through stock synchronisation, if they have an accessible interface (API) or the data is available in files or a database. Such a connection can also be built behind a hosted webshop, if the platform's API is available in the chosen package.

Who owns the data on a hosted platform?

That is set by the platform's terms of use and its data processing agreement; under Article 28 of the GDPR, processing carried out on behalf of a controller has to be governed by a contract (EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/679). In practice, what matters is whether you can take your data out: the larger platforms offer exports and APIs, but their scope differs by platform and package. With a self-hosted or custom webshop, the whole database is with the owner.

Does a webshop have to be accessible?

Under the rules implementing Directive (EU) 2019/882, e-commerce services provided to consumers have had to meet the accessibility requirements since 28 June 2025; under the directive, microenterprises providing services must be exempted. If your company is not a microenterprise, the webshop is worth reviewing for accessibility, and on a hosted platform, the theme as well. This is information, not legal advice.

How we can help

We build custom online stores and connect them to payment, shipping and invoicing providers, the warehouse and the ERP, with artificial intelligence on request. If your hosted platform serves you well, there is no need to replace it: we build the integration behind it. Webshop development explains the details.

The first consultation is free, we sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on request, and after handover we also take on operation and maintenance. The contract governs source code and usage rights. If you describe in a few sentences what you sell and which systems you work with, get in touch with us.