How to Migrate from WordPress to Shopify: A WooCommerce Guide

Migrating from WordPress (WooCommerce) to Shopify means building the new store on Shopify, moving your data, mapping every old URL to a 301 redirect, replacing plugins, reconnecting integrations, testing, and switching the domain at cutover. Your WooCommerce store keeps selling throughout, apart from a short freeze at cutover. For an established brand this is a phased replatform, not an import.

Each phase protects something specific:

1. Audit and data mapping: sets scope and protects customer and order data.
2. Redirects: a 301 for every old URL protects rankings.
3. Theme or redesign: protects conversion on the traffic you already have.
4. Integrations and QA: protects revenue by proving orders, payments, email and analytics work before launch.
5. Cutover: a short freeze, a final data sync and the domain switch, so no orders fall between platforms.

For the data, Shopify recommends importing products first, then customers, then historical orders. We moved Nature's Answer, a supplement brand, from WooCommerce to Shopify Plus (see the Nature's Answer WooCommerce to Shopify Plus case study).

WordPress site or WooCommerce store?

A plain WordPress content site has no catalog to import. Its pages and posts move through apps or Shopify's Blog, Article and Page APIs, not CSV, and the store is built new. A WooCommerce store has products, customers and orders to map, and that is most of the work below.

Many brands are hybrids: a WooCommerce store plus a large blog. If that is you, the blog decision in the plugins and blog section matters as much as the product import.

The audit sets scope. It covers custom fields stored in WooCommerce, backend funnel and landing pages (one brand handed us a spreadsheet of them), and what each plugin actually does. WooCommerce lets developers modify the platform itself; Shopify extends through apps and custom apps. So every plugin needs a named replacement before the build starts.

Shopify will not let you keep WooCommerce's URL structure. Products live under /products/ and collections under /collections/, and pages move under /pages/, for example /pages/shipping-policy. Every old URL that earns traffic or links needs a 301 to its new address.

Mapping each WooCommerce URL type

• /product/slug goes to /products/slug.
• /product-category/slug goes to /collections/slug.
• WordPress pages go to /pages/slug.
• Blog posts go to the new store's blog path. Build these rows from the actual paths on the new store, not an assumed format.
• Tag and filter archives, attachment pages and paginated archives each need a decision: redirect to the closest equivalent, or retire.

Redirect limits that catch WooCommerce stores

Shopify redirects only fire from URLs that return 404, and you cannot create them from the fixed /products and /collections paths. A URL ending in.html cannot redirect to the same path without.html. Collection tag-filter URLs cannot be redirected, and redirects do not apply automatically to Markets subfolders.

Shopify also blocks redirects from URLs starting with /apps, /cart, /orders, /services or /shop. WooCommerce's default shop page lives at /shop/, so test that redirect on the live domain before anyone promises it. If it will not fire, plan an internal-link and sitemap fix.

Capacity is rarely the problem. Non-Plus stores hold up to 100,000 redirects and Plus stores up to 20,000,000. Load them in bulk by CSV under Content > Menus > URL redirects > Import.

Metadata, internal links and the weeks after launch

Redirects are not the whole job. Carry over titles, meta descriptions, alt text and structured data, and rewrite internal links in product descriptions and posts to the new URLs so they do not chain through redirects. On one recent migration the brand's team had already loaded products into Shopify, so we planned around duplicate products, pages and redirects before the migration ran.

Shopify generates the sitemap automatically. Indexing takes longer: Google can need up to a few weeks after launch to index the new site. Watch rankings, 404s and organic revenue by page through that window. Nobody can honestly promise zero movement. A complete redirect map gives your rankings the best path across.

Products, variants, customers, historical orders, reviews and content can all reach Shopify, each by a different route, and some need reshaping first. Keep Shopify's order: products, then customers, then orders.

Products and variants

Products with more than 3 options won't have their options imported. WooCommerce catalogs with four or more attributes per product need remodeling, for example splitting products or moving some attributes into metafields. The variant ceiling itself is now 2,048 per product, up from 100.

Custom fields are the other trap. One brand's product data lived in WooCommerce custom fields, so each field needed a mapping plan before import.

Customers and logins

Customer CSVs must match Shopify's column headings exactly; there is no field mapping. Legacy customer accounts are no longer available to new stores (changelog dated February 26, 2026), and sign-in uses email plus a one-time code.

A newly migrated store runs passwordless login by default, so WooCommerce passwords are not part of how customers sign in. Tell customers before launch that they sign in with their email and a code.

Orders and reviews

Historical orders need a third-party app such as LitExtension, Matrixify or Ablestar. Turn off staff order notifications first, or every imported order sends staff a new order email. Reviews cannot be exported or migrated directly; you need a review app such as Judge.me, Loox or Yotpo.

Plugin-specific data, such as custom checkout fields, funnel pages and membership flags, only moves if someone maps it. Run a test migration early. On one call we told the brand the first run would show us most of what breaks.

None of your WooCommerce plugins come across to Shopify. Each one is replaced by a native Shopify feature, an app, or a custom app built on Shopify's APIs, so the audit should end with a plugin-by-plugin replacement list. Shopify extends through apps, not changes to the core platform.

Replacing plugins

• Subscriptions: an app, such as the Shopify Subscriptions app or Bonde (below).
• Reviews: an app such as Judge.me, Loox or Yotpo.
• Wholesale pricing: native B2B on every plan, extended by an app when you need more.
• Multilingual: native translation and Markets selling on all plans.
• Calculators, configurators and ERP logic: usually a custom Shopify app built on Shopify's APIs.

Page builders like Elementor

Teams used to Elementor ask for the same freedom on Shopify; one brand raised it on our first call. On Shopify that freedom comes from the theme. We build on Shopify's current theme architecture, with modular sections your marketing team assembles into new pages without a developer.

Active subscriptions

Subscriptions get reissued in Shopify and have to be done carefully right before the switchover, because renewals cannot lapse during cutover. The Shopify Subscriptions app is one option, but for migrations we recommend working with a 3rd party provider that has experience with these complicated migrations.

Our Bonde subscriptions app is another option. Bonde imports WooCommerce subscriptions by CSV, including saved payment methods from Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.net and PayPal, with review, retry and rollback, and runs them on Shopify's native subscription contracts. Subscriptions are on Bonde's Pro plan, a flat $15/month with no transaction fees (14-day free trial).

Move the blog or keep WordPress

Moving the blog into Shopify puts content and commerce in one admin. Posts and pages move through apps or the Blog, Article and Page APIs, not CSV, and every post URL changes and needs a 301.

Keeping WordPress for the blog, on a subdomain or a separate install, keeps your editorial tools. The cost is a site split across two platforms, two logins and two sets of upkeep. We have seen brands keep courses and memberships on a subdomain for the same reason.

The reverse works the same way. If a Shopify blog later moves to WordPress, its old post URLs can be redirected once they return 404, within the plan's redirect cap.

Most WooCommerce brands do not need Shopify Plus by default. Plus earns its cost with heavy checkout customization, high order volume, many B2B price lists, or Magento-level complexity. One brand questioned the cost jump when its main need was a dealer portal. That is why we treat the plan as a scoping decision made in the audit.

What changed in 2026

Since April 2, 2026, native B2B wholesale features are available on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Non-Plus plans get up to 3 active B2B catalogs, assigned through Markets; unlimited catalogs, assigning catalogs directly to companies, and partial payments and deposits remain Plus-only. Contextual B2B checkout and storefront customization through Markets requires Advanced or Plus.

If you need more pricing groups than the 3-catalog cap, upgrade to Plus or use an app. Our B2B Onboarding & Wholesale app works alongside native B2B on any Shopify plan and adds unlimited pricing groups from its Grow plan ($29/month).

International selling alone does not force Plus. Local currencies, Markets selling, local domains and translation are on all four plans.

Checkout, APIs and price

Shopify Scripts were deprecated on June 30, 2026, so checkout logic from WooCommerce plugins gets rebuilt with Shopify Functions or an app. Checkout customization is rated Limited on Basic, Grow and Advanced and Full on Plus. Plus also adds high-volume checkout, 25 headless storefronts versus 1, and up to 10x API rate limits on select APIs, against up to 2x on Advanced.

US prices: Basic is $39/mo billed monthly or $29/mo yearly, Grow $105 or $79, and Advanced $399 or $299. Plus starts at $2,300/mo, sold on 1- or 3-year terms. Third-party payment providers add transaction fees from 2% on Basic down to 0.2% on Plus, and Plus raises the redirect cap to 20,000,000.

A Conspire Build that includes a WooCommerce migration starts at $15k, most land at $25-45k, full scope runs $100k+, and the timeline is 8 to 14 weeks. Current numbers are on our Shopify build and retainer pricing page.

Conspire Builds are scoped line by line: page templates, migration, app development and integrations. The base covers the full six-phase process (art direction, strategy, UX, design, development, handoff), and pages, migration, apps and integrations are added as scoped lines.

Signature Builds, for custom design, advanced functionality or complex integrations, start at $100K+ and run 12+ weeks. For a contained migration or a smaller build, a Full Sprint is two weeks of dedicated team focus at $14k. If it runs over, the extra time is billed at a day rate, not another full week. Sprints are always booked and priced by the week.

Several things move the number: catalog size and attribute complexity, order history volume, how many plugins need a custom replacement, integrations (ERP, 3PL, Klaviyo), how much design work the store needs, and the blog decision. A high-volume store running subscriptions, funnels and upsells on plugins sits higher in the range than a simple catalog.

Budget for running costs too: the Shopify plan, from Grow at $79/mo yearly up to Plus from $2,300/mo, plus app subscriptions.

Shopify's own migration tools handle catalog and customer basics. They do not handle the parts that put revenue at risk.

What the native tools cover

Shopify's Store Migration app is in early access, only for certain stores and only on desktop. Its listing says it moves product and customer data; orders, blogs and redirects are not among its listed features. Customer CSVs have no field mapping, and order history needs third-party apps.

At sign-up, Shopify can also generate a Dawn-based theme from your WooCommerce URL. That is a Shopify feature, useful for a first look. It is not a redesign.

Where DIY breaks down

The risk sits in redirect mapping, ERP, 3PL and Klaviyo integrations, GA4 and Meta pixel continuity, plugin replacement, design and QA. Decide by revenue at stake and complexity: a large organic channel, integrations or active subscriptions point toward an agency.

A hybrid works too. One brand's in-house team pulled products and rewrote descriptions themselves, then worked with us on the migration and redirects. Some partners keep one team on call for every migration that comes up.

When the risk sits in redirects, integrations and QA, our Shopify migration service covers it: products, variants, customers, orders, reviews and content, a 301 for every old URL, a new theme build or full redesign, GA4, Meta and Klaviyo continuity, QA, launch support and training. The store stays live throughout, and we have completed close to a hundred migrations since 2011.

A migration checklist is the same whether you are leaving WooCommerce or Magento: freeze, verify, cut over, then monitor.

Before launch

• A full URL inventory from a crawl, the sitemap and analytics, including funnel pages.
• The redirect CSV loaded and spot-tested, including /shop/ and any.html URLs.
• Staff order notifications off before the historical order import.
• Test orders through the real payment setup, with GA4, Meta pixel and Klaviyo events firing.
• A customer email explaining the email-plus-code sign-in.

Then a content and order freeze, a final data sync, and the domain switch, with email (MX) records kept intact when the domain moves.

After launch

Watch 404s, submit the sitemap and track index coverage until Google has indexed the new site, which can take up to a few weeks. Compare rankings and organic revenue by page against the pre-launch baseline, and check subscription renewals and integrations on their first real cycle.

Who owns the store after go-live

A question we hear on WooCommerce calls is whether Google rankings disappear after the switch. The answer depends less on the build than on someone owning redirects, CRO, Klaviyo and releases after launch.

For most of our build clients, that owner is our fractional Shopify team: a senior team covering strategy, design, development and project management that works in your Slack and ships changes every week. Most build clients stay on retainer after launch, many for six, seven, even ten years. Retainers run on yearly or six-month commitments, with tiers on the pricing page.

Will WooCommerce customer passwords work on Shopify?

Not as the way in. Legacy customer accounts are no longer available to new stores, and sign-in uses email plus a one-time code, so a migrated store runs passwordless login by default. Customer records still import by CSV, as long as the columns match Shopify's headings exactly.

Can I redirect my WooCommerce /shop/ page on Shopify?

Possibly not. Shopify does not allow redirects from URLs starting with /shop, and redirects only fire from URLs that return 404. Test it on the live domain, and fix internal links and the sitemap if it will not fire. Other redirects load in bulk by CSV.

Does Shopify's Store Migration app move orders and blog posts?

Its listing covers product and customer data; orders, blogs and redirects are not listed, and the app is in early access for certain stores on desktop. Orders need a third-party app, and posts move through apps or the Blog, Article and Page APIs.

Do I need Shopify Plus to sell wholesale after migrating?

No. Since April 2, 2026, native B2B is on Basic, Grow and Advanced, with up to 3 active catalogs. Plus is still needed for unlimited catalogs, direct catalog assignment to companies, and partial payments and deposits. Contextual B2B checkout and storefront customization needs Advanced or Plus.

How many redirects can a Shopify store hold?

Up to 100,000 on non-Plus plans and up to 20,000,000 on Plus.

If you are planning a move off WooCommerce, talk to us about scoping your migration and the team that runs the store once it is live.