Table of Content
How do you migrate to Shopify?
Back up your current store and list every URL, then import products, customers and orders by CSV, a migration app or a Shopify Partner. Build the store, map each old URL to a new one with 301 redirects, test checkout, switch your domain and submit your sitemap. Shopify says most businesses finish in under 3 months.
The short version
- You have five ways to move data. Copy and paste, CSV, a migration app, a Shopify Partner, or a custom build on the Shopify API. The right one depends on how much data you have and how messy it is.
- Import in the right order. Shopify says to import products first, then customers, then historical orders, so orders connect to the right records.
- Redirects decide whether you keep your rankings. Map every old URL to its new equivalent, and keep the redirects live for at least a year.
- Redirects only fire on broken URLs. Shopify’s redirect tool works only when the source URL returns an error, so the old address must stop serving a page.
- Expect a dip. Shopify’s migration guide puts ranking recovery at one to six months and mentions a 2.1% to 4.2% revenue decline right after a move.
- Complex moves need help. Large catalogs and custom data are the cases where a Partner or an agency pays for itself.
Choose how you will move your data
To migrate to Shopify, you first pick a method. Shopify’s migration guide lists five, from least to most technical. The choice sets your cost, your timeline and how much cleaning you have to do by hand.
| Method | What it moves | Best for | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copy and paste | Any content you enter by hand | A handful of products or pages | Slow and error-prone past a few dozen items |
| CSV import | Products and customers | A clean catalog on a platform that exports well | Orders and blog posts cannot move this way, and a product missing a variant option will not import |
| Migration app | Products, orders, customers, reviews and more, per Shopify | A mid-sized store that wants history kept | Apps are third-party, free or paid, and results depend on your source platform |
| Shopify Partner | Whatever the project scope covers | Large catalogs and complex data | Partners set their own rates |
| Custom build on the Shopify API | Anything the API supports | Unusual data models and very large volumes | Needs a developer and testing time |
Methods and limits from Shopify’s migration guide and migration page, checked October 9, 2026.
Whichever you pick, back up your current store first and decide what is worth moving. A migration is the one chance to leave behind dead products, thin pages and customers who never ordered.
The 9 steps to migrate to Shopify
This Shopify migration checklist follows Shopify’s own steps, reordered to protect your search rankings. Steps 1 and 7 are the ones stores skip, and they are the ones that decide whether traffic survives.
Step 1. Audit and back up your current store
Crawl your live store and build a master list of every URL: products, collections, blog posts and pages. Export your analytics so you know which pages earn traffic and which earn revenue, and make sure Google Search Console is set up on the old domain. This list is your redirect map in waiting. Our guide to e-commerce migration SEO goes deeper on what to capture.
Step 2. Import products, then customers, then orders
Move the data using the method you chose. Shopify’s guide is specific about order: import your products first, then your customers, then any historical orders, so each order connects to the right product and customer. Bulk options exist for products and customers by CSV. Orders, blogs and other data need a migration app or the API.
Step 3. Verify and organize the products
Check a sample of imported products against the originals: titles, prices, variants, images and descriptions. A product that is missing a variant option will fail to import, so expect to fix a few by hand. This is also the moment to merge duplicates and delete products you no longer sell.
Step 4. Set up the theme
Choose a theme and build the key pages. If you are still in your free trial, Shopify advises choosing a free theme to avoid charges, and it notes that paid themes are non-refundable. Our comparison of free Shopify themes covers nine options.
Step 5. Configure shipping and taxes
Rebuild your shipping zones, rates and tax settings. These do not carry across from another platform, and a missing zone stops customers from checking out. Our guide to Shopify shipping rates and sales tax walks through both.
Step 6. Set up payments
Turn on Shopify Payments, or connect your existing gateway. Shopify notes that Shopify Payments can help you avoid additional third-party transaction fees, which is worth weighing if your old platform used an outside processor. Our step-by-step guide to Shopify payment gateway integration covers each route.
Step 7. Map and load your 301 redirects in Shopify
This is the step that protects your rankings. Build a spreadsheet that maps every old URL to its new equivalent. Shopify’s URL structure uses /products/, /collections/ and /blogs/ paths, so almost every URL changes. Then load the redirects in your admin, under Content, then Menus, then View URL Redirects. You can create them one at a time or import a CSV.
Plan this before launch, but load it at the right moment. Shopify’s redirects only work when the source URL returns an error, so they take effect once your domain points to Shopify and the old pages stop loading. The rules in the next section matter here.
Step 8. Place test orders and crawl the new store
Run a successful order, a declined card, a refund and a cancellation. Then crawl the new store and compare it with your master URL list. Every old URL should either exist or redirect to a sensible page. Our guide to publishing a Shopify store covers the launch checks.
Step 9. Switch the domain, launch and monitor
Point your domain at Shopify, remove the password page, and submit your sitemap in Search Console. The DNS records and the wait are covered in our guide to connecting a Shopify custom domain. Then watch Search Console for 404 errors and fix them with new redirects. Keep your redirects live for at least a year, and ideally indefinitely, as Shopify advises. Our 27-point Shopify SEO checklist lists the monitoring steps.
Redirect rules that trip people up
| Rule | What it means for your migration |
|---|---|
| Source must be broken | A redirect works only when the old URL returns an error. If the URL still loads a valid page on Shopify, the redirect will not fire. |
| Blocked prefixes | You cannot redirect URLs that begin with /apps, /application, /cart, /carts, /orders, /services or /shop. |
| Fixed paths | The paths /products, /collections and /collections/all cannot be redirected. |
| Limits | Up to 100,000 redirects per store, and up to 20,000,000 on Plus. |
| Query strings and .html | URLs with query strings may not behave as expected, and a .html URL cannot redirect to the same URL without .html. |
| Markets | A redirect does not automatically cover every market subfolder. Add separate redirects for each one you want handled differently. |
| Browser caching | A 301 can stay active in browsers and search engines after you remove it, until the cache expires. |
Rules from Shopify’s help center page on URL redirects, checked October 9, 2026.
The fixed-path rule has a practical effect. If your old store used a generic /products or /collections page, you cannot redirect it, so plan an equivalent landing page instead.
Moving from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce
The nine steps are the same on every platform. What changes is what your old store exports well and how different its URLs are from Shopify’s.
- WooCommerce to Shopify migration. Products and customers export cleanly to CSV, but orders and blog posts do not move that way. Expect to use a migration app or a Partner for order history, and expect every product and category URL to change. Confirm that your migration app supports your variation setup before you commit.
- Magento to Shopify migration. Large Magento catalogs carry custom attributes, multiple store views and sometimes tens of thousands of URLs, which makes the redirect map the main workload. Our comparison of Magento and Shopify covers what you gain and give up before you decide.
- BigCommerce to Shopify migration, plus Wix and Squarespace. Smaller catalogs usually move by CSV or app. Shopify’s migration page names Wix among the platforms it has guides for. Check the export options on your current platform first, because they set how much you can automate.
If you are still deciding whether Shopify is the right destination, our guide to Shopify alternatives for growing stores compares the other platforms side by side.
What a Shopify migration costs
There is no single price, because the cost depends on the method and the size of the job. Shopify says there are a variety of free and paid apps for migrating data, and that Shopify Partners set their own rates for different levels of service. These are the lines to budget:
| Cost line | What drives it |
|---|---|
| Shopify plan | Basic is $29 a month on annual billing, per Shopify. See our breakdown of Shopify website costs. |
| Migration tool | Free for a small CSV job, a fee for an app, set by the Partner if you hire one. |
| Theme and design | A free theme costs nothing. Custom work is scoped separately. |
| Redirect and SEO work | The number of URLs, and how many need a manual match. |
| Dual running | You may pay for the old platform and Shopify at the same time until you switch. |
| The traffic dip | Shopify’s guide cites a 2.1% to 4.2% revenue decline right after a migration, varying by store. |
Cost statements from Shopify’s migration page and SEO migration guide, checked October 9, 2026. Partner and app prices vary, so ask for a written quote.
How long a migration takes
Shopify says most businesses migrate in under 3 months, and that complexity and method both affect timing. A small catalog moved by CSV can finish much faster. A large store with custom data and thousands of URLs sits at the other end.
Plan for the period after launch too. Shopify’s SEO migration guide puts ranking recovery at one to six months, with smaller sites often recovering within one to three. Shopify’s migration guide adds that it can take Google anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to index your new site. Avoid launching in the weeks before your busiest sales period.
When to hire help
You can use a Shopify migration app or CSV on a small, clean catalog yourself. Hire help when the cost of a mistake is higher than the cost of the project. That means a large catalog, custom data you cannot export cleanly, thousands of URLs that earn real traffic, or a launch date you cannot miss.
In those cases the work is mostly redirect mapping, data cleaning and testing, and it is easier with people who have done it before. If you are comparing Shopify migration services, ask who owns the redirect map and what testing is included. Our e-commerce migration services cover how that work is planned so rankings are protected, and our Shopify development services team builds the store itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I migrate to Shopify?
Back up your current store, list every URL, and move your products, customers and orders using CSV, a migration app or a Shopify Partner. Then build the store, load 301 redirects from every old URL, test checkout, switch your domain and submit your sitemap. Shopify says most businesses finish in under 3 months.
How much does it cost to migrate to Shopify?
It depends on the method. Shopify says there are free and paid migration apps and that Partners set their own rates. Beyond the migration itself, budget for the plan, which is $29 a month for Basic on annual billing, a theme, redirect work and any overlap with your old platform.
How long does it take to migrate to Shopify?
Shopify says most businesses migrate in under 3 months. A small catalog moved by CSV can be much quicker, while a large store with custom data takes longer. After launch, Shopify says it can take Google a few days to a few weeks to index the new site.
Will I lose my SEO rankings if I migrate to Shopify?
You can protect most of them. Map every old URL to its new equivalent with 301 redirects and keep them live for at least a year. Shopify’s guide still expects a dip, with ranking recovery typically taking one to six months and a short-term revenue decline of 2.1% to 4.2%.
Can I migrate orders and customers to Shopify?
Yes. Customers can move by CSV, and historical orders need a migration app or the API. Shopify lists historical orders that have already been fulfilled, plus gift cards, store credits, blogs and pages, as data you can move. Import products first, then customers, then orders.
What cannot be migrated to Shopify?
Shopify does not publish a full list. It says some data cannot move by CSV, including orders and blog posts, and that a product missing a variant option will not import. Anything specific to your old platform, such as custom plugins, has to be rebuilt.
Can I migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify?
Yes. Products and customers export cleanly by CSV, and a migration app or Partner can bring over orders. Every product and category URL changes, so the 301 redirect map is the most important part of the project.
Can I migrate from Magento to Shopify?
Yes, but it is usually the heaviest move because of custom attributes, store views and the number of URLs. Large Magento catalogs are the case where a Partner or an agency tends to pay for itself, mainly for the redirect map and data cleaning.
Do I need 301 redirects when I migrate to Shopify?
Yes. Shopify’s URL structure uses /products/, /collections/ and /blogs/ paths, so almost every old URL changes. Without 301 redirects, those addresses return errors and lose the rankings and links they had earned.
What is the best way to migrate to Shopify?
For a small, clean catalog, CSV is the cheapest method. For a mid-sized store that wants order history, a migration app is the usual choice. For a large or complex store, a Shopify Partner or agency reduces risk. Whatever you choose, plan the redirects first.
Bottom Line
To migrate to Shopify well, choose your method, import in the right order, rebuild shipping, taxes and payments, and treat the 301 redirect map as the most important deliverable. Test checkout, switch the domain, submit the sitemap and watch Search Console for errors.
Expect a short dip, keep the redirects for at least a year, and bring in help when the catalog or the stakes are large. If you want the migration planned before you commit, our e-commerce migration services team can scope it with you.
