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The fundamental difference
A plugin is PHP that runs inside your Shopware process. An app is an external service that Shopware talks to over HTTP, using webhooks, the Admin API and app scripts. The plugin can do anything; the app can only do what the app system exposes — and that limit is exactly what protects you.
Why apps age better
An app talks to a versioned API. A plugin talks to Shopware's internals, which move. When Shopware releases a minor version, apps usually keep working while plugins need a compatibility pass. If your extension will live for five years, that difference is the whole argument.
Where apps genuinely cannot help
Deep template work, performance-critical code in the request path, or anything that must run inside a database transaction. An HTTP round trip during cart calculation is a latency budget you probably do not have. There, a plugin is still the honest answer.
Our default in 2026
Start with an app. Fall back to a plugin only when you hit a wall you can name. And if you ever want to run on Shopware's cloud offering, the decision has already been made for you — apps are the only option there.
- Apps survive updates; plugins survive nothing for free.
- Anything in the cart's hot path stays a plugin.
- Shopware Cloud means apps only.
Frequently asked questions
A plugin is PHP running inside your Shopware process, so it can reach anything the code can reach. An app is a separate service Shopware talks to over HTTP — webhooks, the Admin API, app scripts. The app can only do what the app system exposes. That restriction sounds like a downside and is actually the main reason to pick one.
Start with an app and switch to a plugin only when you hit a wall you can name out loud. Most teams reach for a plugin out of habit, not need. If the requirement is an integration, an admin screen or a piece of automation, the app system almost certainly covers it — and you will not pay for that choice at every update.
Because they talk to different things. An app speaks to a versioned API, which is a promise. A plugin speaks to Shopware's internals, which are not a promise — they get refactored. So a minor release usually leaves apps untouched and hands plugins a compatibility pass. Over a five-year lifetime that difference is most of your maintenance bill.
No — the cloud product takes apps only, so the decision is made for you before you start. If moving to cloud hosting is even a distant maybe, building a plugin today means budgeting a rewrite later. This is one of the few points in the whole trade-off with no grey area in it, so it is worth settling early, while it costs nothing but a conversation.
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