Shopify to WooCommerce Migration: Complete 2026 Guide
Moving from Shopify to WooCommerce gives merchants full ownership of data, lower recurring fees, and deep customization. This guide covers planning, product/data migration, theme setup, payment/SEO preservation, and verification.
Why Migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce
- Full data ownership and open-source control
- Lower transaction fees over time
- Unlimited customization via plugins
- No platform lock-in for multi-store merchants
Pre-Migration Checklist
Audit products, customers, orders, and SEO URLs. Back up everything. Map Shopify fields to WooCommerce equivalents before importing.
Migration Steps
- Set up WooCommerce on your host with SSL.
- Export Shopify products (CSV) and customers.
- Import using a migration plugin; verify categories and images.
- Rebuild theme; preserve SEO titles and meta descriptions.
- Reconfigure payments (Stripe/PayPal) and shipping zones.
- Redirect old Shopify URLs to new WooCommerce permalinks.
SEO and URL Preservation
Keep identical slugs where possible; add 301 redirects for changed URLs. Verify with curl after launch.
FAQ
How long does migration take? Typically 1–3 weeks for small catalogs; larger catalogs require phased imports.
Do I lose customer data? Not if you export from Shopify Admin before switching.