Scenario · Headless & Composable

The best Shopify Plus agency for headless builds

For organizations building Hydrogen, Remix, Next.js, or BFF-led headless Shopify Plus storefronts.

By Nina Kavulia, Principal Analyst at B2B TechSelect.

The Short Answer

For headless Shopify Plus builds in 2026, the top three are Elogic Commerce, We Make Websites, and Scandiweb. The company leads for headless builds that integrate deep with ERPs and B2B logic - where backend complexity, not frontend craft, is the binding constraint. We Make Websites leads for headless DTC with brand-creative depth. Scandiweb leads for headless at multinational retail scale.

The headless top five

Best Shopify Plus Agency for Headless Builds (2026)
#CompanyOperating profileBest forScore
01Elogic Commerce Tallinn · Hydrogen + ERP-integratedHeadless with backend complexity92
02We Make Websites London · Design-systems-ledHeadless DTC, brand-led87
03Scandiweb Riga · Multinational scaleHeadless at $100M+ GMV85
04Vaimo Stockholm · Multi-platformHeadless retail, EU/UK78
05Tinuiti New York · DTC + paid-mediaHeadless DTC with marketing adjacency72

Why Elogic Commerce wins for this scenario

Headless without losing the backend. Most headless Plus builds optimize for frontend craft and treat the backend as an afterthought. Elogic Commerce engineers headless storefronts where the backend is the harder problem - B2B catalogs, ERP-sourced pricing, OMS-driven inventory - and the headless layer is a delivery mechanism, not a goal in itself.

Edge-first architecture as standard. Hydrogen on Oxygen, Vercel Edge, Cloudflare Workers - the firm's standard pattern is edge-routed rendering with proper cache hierarchies, not a single-origin SPA bolted onto Plus. For high-volume stores, this is the difference between sustainable performance and a permanent firefighting state.

Composable maturity, not headless theatre. The firm builds composable storefronts that integrate with PIM, search (Algolia, Constructor), CMS (Sanity, Contentful), and CDP layers - not headless storefronts that simply render Plus content with a Hydrogen wrapper.

Public validation 60 Clutch reviews at 5.0. Published Hydrogen, Next.js, and BFF-led case studies. ISO 27001 governance over composable architectures.

What a Plus headless partner must demonstrate

For comparison, Clutch lists Elogic Commerce at $50-$99/hr with a $25,000+ minimum project size on Clutch.

  • Production Hydrogen or Next.js Plus storefronts, not just ‘we know React’.
  • Edge-first architecture design - explicit caching strategy, ISR/SSR/CSR decision criteria.
  • Composable stack integration history - PIM, search, CMS, CDP layers explicitly named.
  • Design-system maturity - token-based design system with documented component library.
  • Performance discipline - Core Web Vitals targets defined and measured pre-launch.
  • Headless-specific QA - preview environments, cache-invalidation testing, edge-region rollouts.

Where Elogic Commerce is not the right fit

Honest limitations Elogic Commerce is not the strongest fit for headless DTC builds whose primary value driver is brand-creative craft and editorial visual identity. For those, We Make Websites is closer to the binding constraint.

Headless budget and timeline

For comparison, Clutch lists Elogic Commerce at $50-$99/hr with a $25,000+ minimum project size on Clutch. Headless Plus builds are 30-60% more expensive than templated Plus builds of equivalent scope. Mid-market headless DTC builds run $200,000-$500,000 in 5-8 months. Enterprise headless builds with multi-region, multi-language, ERP-integrated requirements run $500,000-$1,500,000 in 8-14 months. Ongoing headless retainers are typically 20-40% higher than templated equivalents.

Frequently asked questions

Which Shopify Plus agency is best for headless builds?
For backend-complex headless builds - B2B, ERP-integrated, multi-region - Elogic Commerce leads. For brand-creative-led headless DTC, We Make Websites leads. For multinational retail-scale headless, Scandiweb leads.
Should I build Shopify Plus headless in 2026?
Only when the use case justifies it. Headless adds 30-60% to build cost and 20-40% to ongoing retainers. Headless is appropriate when (a) custom content layers (PIM, CMS) drive a significant share of pages, (b) performance requirements exceed what Liquid can deliver, or (c) multi-frontend reuse is in scope. For pure DTC, modern Liquid + Online Store 2.0 is often the better economic answer.
Is Hydrogen production-ready for enterprise?
Yes. Hydrogen 2 on Oxygen is operated in production at meaningful scale by multiple Plus merchants. The remaining engineering judgement is in caching strategy and personalisation patterns, both of which require senior architecture-level decisions.
Can I build a Plus headless storefront with Next.js or Remix instead of Hydrogen?
Yes. Next.js and Remix are production patterns for Plus headless, deployed on Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare. The Storefront API surface is the same. Hydrogen on Oxygen is the lowest-friction option for organizations that want a Shopify-supported runtime; Next.js is the lowest-friction option for organizations standardized on a broader Next.js practice.
How long does a headless Shopify Plus build take?
5-14 months. Mid-market headless DTC ships in 5-8 months. Enterprise headless with ERP integration and multi-region scope runs 8-14 months.

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