PrestaShop to Shopify Migration
PrestaShop stores don't usually collapse — they stall. The version gets old, the modules stop being maintained, the developer who understood it moves on, and upgrading starts to look as expensive as replatforming. We move 1.6, 1.7 and 8 stores onto Shopify with the catalogue, customers, orders and search rankings intact.
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Why it matters
The real cost of PrestaShop isn't the licence. It's everything around it.
PrestaShop is free to download and expensive to keep running. You pay for hosting, PHP and MySQL upgrades, security patching, PCI scope, and a module stack where each paid add-on has its own version compatibility and its own renewal. Version fragmentation makes it worse: a 1.6 store can't take 1.7 modules, a 1.7 store hits breaking changes on the way to 8, and every upgrade quote arrives with a regression-testing bill attached. At some point the honest question stops being 'what does the upgrade cost' and becomes 'what are we actually buying by staying'. For a lot of merchants the answer is a maintenance liability, not a commercial advantage — and that's the point at which Shopify starts to make sense.
Sound familiar?
Most PrestaShop owners call us the week after an upgrade quote lands.
Not all of these mean you should migrate. One of them is a misunderstanding we'd correct before taking your money.
- You're still on 1.6 or an early 1.7, and every upgrade quote you receive frightens you.
- The developer who built and maintained your PrestaShop store has left, and nobody can safely touch it.
- Half your modules are unmaintained, licensed per version, or broken since the last PHP upgrade.
- Your host handles patching, backups and PCI, and you're not confident any of it is current.
- You assume Shopify can't handle your combination-heavy catalogue, so you've never seriously priced a move.
- Your multi-shop setup exists because PrestaShop forced it, not because the businesses are actually different.
What's included
What a PrestaShop migration includes
Extraction, mapping, rebuild and cutover — handled as one project rather than a data import followed by six months of surprises.
SQL-level data extraction
PrestaShop's admin CSV export drops fields you will miss: combination pricing rules, specific prices, customer group assignments, order histories and address relations. We read the database directly — ps_product, ps_product_attribute, ps_orders, ps_customer and their language tables — so the export matches what the store actually contains, not what the admin screen offers.
Combinations mapped to variants
PrestaShop builds sellable items by generating combinations from attributes; Shopify uses a fixed set of options with variants beneath them. Most catalogues map cleanly. Some don't — products with too many attribute axes need restructuring into options, separate products or a configurator app, and we decide that per product family before importing anything.
Modules replaced, not recreated
Every installed module gets audited against what it actually does for the business today. Some map to a Shopify app, some are already native Shopify behaviour, and some can simply be retired because they solved a PrestaShop problem you no longer have. You approve the replacement list before the build, so app costs are known upfront.
Multi-language and multi-shop
PrestaShop multi-shop is often used to run several languages or country storefronts from one back office. On Shopify that becomes Shopify Markets with market-specific pricing and domains, plus Translate & Adapt for localised content. Where genuinely separate businesses are involved, we'll tell you if separate stores is the more honest structure.
URL mapping and 301 redirects
PrestaShop's friendly URLs, ID-based product paths and language prefixes rarely resemble Shopify's /products/ and /collections/ structure. Every indexed URL is crawled, matched to its Shopify destination and redirected with a 301. Migration doesn't improve rankings — done properly it preserves the equity you already have instead of losing it.
Hosting and PCI burden ends
The day you cut over, server patching, PHP version anxiety, backup verification, SSL renewals and PCI scope for your storefront stop being your problem. That's usually the change merchants notice first — not a new feature, but the absence of a recurring maintenance conversation nobody enjoyed having.
How it runs
How a PrestaShop migration actually runs.
Typically 4–8 weeks from kick-off to cutover, depending on catalogue size and how many modules turn out to be carrying real business logic.
- 01
Audit the stack
We inventory your PrestaShop version, theme overrides, installed modules and database health, then crawl every indexed URL. This is where we find the custom overrides nobody documented — and where we tell you if migrating is the wrong call.
- 02
Extract and map
Data comes out at SQL level, not through the admin export. Products, combinations, specific prices, customers, addresses and full order history are mapped to Shopify's model, then test-imported into a development store you can inspect.
- 03
Rebuild the storefront
Your theme is rebuilt on Online Store 2.0 rather than converted — PrestaShop templates have no Shopify equivalent. Module replacements are installed and configured, Markets and translations are set up, and checkout is tested against real payment methods.
- 04
Cut over and monitor
Redirects go live with the DNS change, sitemaps are resubmitted, and we watch Search Console and server logs daily for the first fortnight. Ranking dips in week one are normal; unresolved 404s are not, and we fix those fast.
4–8
Weeks typical
Kick-off to cutover
SQL
Level export
Not the admin CSV
301
Redirect mapping
Every indexed URL
1.6–8
Versions handled
Including forked installs
Straight answer
PrestaShop to Shopify is a good move for most stores, but not all of them.
A good fit if…
- You have no in-house PrestaShop developer left, and hiring one is harder than it used to be.
- You're facing an upgrade path from 1.6 or 1.7 that costs more than it returns.
- Your module stack has become the thing you maintain instead of the store itself.
- You want hosting, patching, PCI scope and uptime to stop being your responsibility.
Probably not, if…
- You depend on deep ERP or warehouse logic living inside custom PrestaShop overrides that nobody has documented.
- Your pricing rules need per-customer contract pricing beyond what Shopify B2B or Functions can express.
- You have an in-house PHP team happily maintaining a current PrestaShop 8 install — stay put.
- You're migrating mid-peak-season and can't accept a cutover window with real risk in it.
Keep exploring
Migrating from somewhere else?
PrestaShop to Shopify is one part of the platforms we migrate stores from. Here's the rest of the picture.
Shopify Migration
The complete service — audit, data, redirects and cutover, from any platform.
View the serviceClosely relatedWooCommerce to Shopify
The other self-hosted open-source escape route — plugin sprawl instead of module sprawl.
Read the guideClosely relatedMagento to Shopify
Heavier catalogue, heavier licensing — the enterprise version of the same decision.
Read the guideAll guides in this series
- BigCommerce to ShopifySaaS to SaaS — the cleanest migration there is, and the one most often rushed.
- Wix to ShopifyOutgrown the site builder — move to a platform built for selling, not pages.
- Squarespace to ShopifyBeautiful site, limited commerce. Keep the design language, gain the engine.
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud to ShopifyEnterprise replatform — lower total cost without giving up B2B or multi-region.
- Custom Build to ShopifyBespoke or headless store to Shopify — usually the messiest data, always doable.
Beyond this service
Other things we do
Most stores need two or three of these working together. Book a call and we'll tell you which ones actually move your numbers.
- Shopify Theme DevelopmentCustom themes built from Figma to production Liquid on Online Store 2.0 — fast and merchant-editable.
- Shopify App DevelopmentCustom and public apps, Checkout UI Extensions and Shopify Functions built with React and Polaris.
- Shopify MigrationMove from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce with a full 301 redirect map and zero downtime.
- Shopify SEOTechnical audits, Core Web Vitals, structured data and collection content built around buyer intent.
- Shopify Performance OptimizationFaster load times and green Core Web Vitals — theme refactors, image pipelines and app cleanup.
- Shopify A/B TestingHypothesis-led experiments on product pages and checkout, shipped as native theme code.
- Shopify Email Marketing & KlaviyoFlows, segmentation and campaigns — welcome, abandoned cart, winback and SMS, built and monitored.
- Shopify CRO & FunnelsValue-ladder, tripwire, quiz and post-purchase upsell funnels built to lift conversion and AOV.
- Shopify Maintenance & SupportRetainers covering uptime monitoring, security patching, bug fixes and proactive improvements.
Frequently asked questions
- No upgrade needed. We read your database directly, so the source version only affects the table structure our export scripts target — not whether the migration is possible. Upgrading 1.6 to 1.7 or 8 purely to make a migration easier is money spent on a platform you're about to leave. If you're on 1.6, that's usually an argument for migrating sooner, not for upgrading first.
Still on PrestaShop?
Book a 30-minute technical call. We'll look at your version, module stack and catalogue, and tell you honestly whether migrating beats upgrading.
Book a free call