Every Exit Door, Honestly Compared
You have to leave — the only question is where to. We migrate to WooCommerce, and we'll argue for it, but here is every serious option scored on the axis that just burned you: can this platform do to you what Shopify did?
until the Shopify deadline · July 7, 2026 · 00:00 UTC
The comparison table
| Platform | ToS category risk | Vape payments | True cost | Verdict for vape |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | None — open-source, self-hosted | Any high-risk gateway, direct | Hosting + extensions; no % penalties | Default choice |
| BigCommerce | Hosted — same AG exposure; ToS already restricts vape via payment terms | Third-party only, allowed today | Plan tiers force upgrades by revenue | Renting from a different landlord |
| Magento / Adobe Commerce | Open-source (OS edition) | Anything, with dev work | High — real engineering team required | Right above ~$50M GMV with in-house devs |
| Shift4Shop | Hosted; tobacco/vape allowed under conditions that can change | Tied to Shift4 processing | Low sticker, processing lock-in | Cheap, but platform + processor are the same throat to choke |
| Squarespace / Wix | Hosted; vape restricted already in payment policies | Effectively unavailable | Low | Not viable |
| Custom build | None | Anything | $50K+ and months you don't have | Not in 48 hours |
The one-question filter
Ask each option: “If 25 attorneys general send this company the letter they sent Shopify, what happens to my store?” Every hosted platform gives the same answer Shopify just gave. Only self-hosted software makes the question meaningless — the letter would have to come to you, and you already run a compliant business.
Why not Magento, specifically
We're pro-Magento above a threshold: if you clear ~$50M GMV and employ developers, its flexibility pays. Below that, you're buying enterprise complexity to solve a landlord problem WooCommerce solves for a fraction of the overhead — and Woo's ecosystem covers age-gating, high-risk gateways and B2B out of the box.
Decision made? The clock hasn't stopped
Whichever door you choose, choose before July 7. If it's WooCommerce, here's exactly what happens next.
⏳ The July 7 deadline is counting down
Talk to a migration engineer today
15 minutes, any slot, any timezone. You leave the call with a fixed quote and a cutover date.
Quick answers
Isn't BigCommerce a safe harbor? It allows vape today.
It allows vape today under a hosted ToS it can amend tomorrow — and the AG coalition now has a proven playbook for exactly that.
When does Magento beat WooCommerce?
Roughly above $50M GMV with in-house engineers. Below that, you're buying enterprise complexity to solve a landlord problem Woo solves cheaper.
Why not just build a custom store?
$50K+ and months you don't have before July 7. Custom makes sense later; it doesn't make the deadline.
What about WooCommerce's own payment ToS — WooPayments?
WooPayments (Stripe-based) won't take vape — and doesn't need to. Woo the software is gateway-agnostic; you plug in a high-risk processor directly. That separation is exactly the point.
Is headless commerce worth considering instead?
Above ~$50M GMV with an engineering team, maybe. Below that it's paying custom-build money for a landlord problem Woo already solves.
Could Shopify reverse the ban later?
AGs spent a year extracting this concession; reversal would reopen that fight. Even if it happened, you'd be rebuilding on a platform that has proven it will evict you.