What Is Really Going On at Shopware? PayPal, Mandatory Subscription and Replatforming

Shopware 5 is end of life, with no security updates since July 2024. Thousands of merchants face a decision that is much bigger than a version upgrade: migrating to Shopware 6 is effectively a complete platform change. And this is where the question gets interesting. Do I stay with Shopware, or do I look around?

In this deep dive, I analyze what is really going on at Shopware in 2026: the SW5 to 6 migration, the new Fair Usage Policy, PayPal with a 41% stake, the North America expansion (and its reality), composable frontends, B2B Components and the new pricing model. With sources, data and an honest assessment for technical decision-makers.

Disclaimer: I was never a Shopware partner. During my time as VP at Pimcore, I had close contact with Shopware, including in the US market. This video is an opinion piece based on publicly available sources plus my own market observation.

Sources
EHI/ECDB market leader study 2025 (in German): https://www.shopware.com/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/zum-vierten-mal-in-folge-shopware-bleibt-marktfuehrer-in-deutschland-unter/
Bloomberg, PayPal takes over Carlyle stake: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-21/paypal-to-take-over-carlyle-stake-in-e-commerce-firm-shopware
Shopware Fair Usage Policy: https://www.shopware.com/de/news/fair-usage-policy-community-edition/
Shopware 5 end of life timeline: https://endoflife.date/shopware
Shopware 5 to 6 upgrade guide: https://docs.shopware.com/en/migration-en/UpgradeGuideShopware6
Shopware composable frontends documentation: https://developer.shopware.com/frontends/why-shopware-frontends.html
Shopware B2B Components pricing (Qualimero): https://qualimero.com/en/blog/shopware-b2b-pricing
StoreLeads, Shopware stores in the US: https://storeleads.app/reports/shopware/US/top-stores
The full list of sources is in the pinned comment below the YouTube video.

About it depends: it depends is the deep-dive channel for eCommerce technology, composable commerce and the strategies behind them. No tutorials, no promotion, honest analysis for decision-makers who want to take a closer look.

More videos
The Golden Cage: why Shopify's most successful brands are rethinking: https://youtu.be/lTxL6MaUAck
What is really going on at Spryker: https://youtu.be/c124RLM2gEw
Gartner MQ analysis: https://youtu.be/zX2Ni2VJCSM

foobar Agency, composable commerce agency in Munich: https://foobar.agency/en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phkrueger/

Your opinion? Are you on Shopware? Have you moved away from SW5 or are you in the middle of the migration? What do you think of the Fair Usage Policy and the PayPal stake? Let me know in the comments. I reply to every serious comment.

#Shopware #eCommerce #ComposableCommerce