PrestaShop to Shopify migration for established retailers

The short answer

PrestaShop is free, open-source ecommerce software that you host yourself. That gives you control, and it gives you the work that comes with it: hosting, security updates, version upgrades and the modules that add features. Shopify takes that layer away.

The data side of a PrestaShop to Shopify migration is well understood. Migration tools support PrestaShop as a source, and products, customers and orders map onto Shopify cleanly. The real work is in three places: turning PrestaShop combinations into Shopify variants, handling specific prices and customer groups, and redirecting URLs that, by default, include a numeric ID.

I’ve engineered more than 350 Shopify stores and migrated over 500,000 products in 20 years. This guide covers where PrestaShop is today, what moves to Shopify, how the URLs map, the tools, and when staying on PrestaShop is the better call.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for established retailers on PrestaShop, on any version from 1.6 or 1.7 through 8 and 9, who are weighing up Shopify. Typically that means a store with thousands of products and combinations, a few years of customers and orders, a stack of modules, organic rankings worth protecting, and someone, in-house or an agency, who keeps the whole thing running.

If your PrestaShop store is current, stable and well supported, and the running costs are absorbed by a team you’re keeping anyway, read when to stay on PrestaShop first.

Where PrestaShop is in 2026

The PrestaShop project has moved quickly over the last two years, and the version you’re on shapes the decision:

Ownership has changed too. MBE Worldwide acquired PrestaShop in 2021, and in February 2026 the Polish company cyber_Folks completed its acquisition of PrestaShop, together with Sylius and BitBag.

What that means in practice: a store on 1.7 is on a version the project no longer plans to fix, and a store on 8.2 has a support window that closes when version 10 arrives. Moving from 1.7 or 8 to 9 is a substantial upgrade in its own right, with module and theme compatibility to check. That upgrade is the natural moment to compare staying with moving.

Upgrade to PrestaShop 9, or move?

For a store on 1.7 or 8, the real choice is usually between two projects of similar size: a major PrestaShop upgrade, or a move to Shopify. Compared side by side:

If you’re happy running your own platform and have the people to do it, upgrading keeps you in control. If you’d rather never face this decision again, moving is the stronger long-term choice.

What moves to Shopify

Combinations, features and specific prices

PrestaShop builds product variations from attribute groups, such as size and colour, into combinations, each with its own reference, stock and price impact. Shopify’s equivalent is variants built from up to three options. Most PrestaShop products fit comfortably. Products that combine four or more attribute groups need restructuring, usually by turning one group into separate linked products or moving it into a metafield.

PrestaShop “features”, the descriptive characteristics such as material or dimensions, map naturally to Shopify metafields. That’s worth doing properly, because metafields can power collection filters and specification tables, which is how buyers narrow down a large range.

Specific prices need the most thought. PrestaShop lets a price depend on quantity, date range, shop, currency, country and customer group. Shopify handles those through different tools: compare-at prices for straightforward reductions, automatic and code-based discounts for promotions, Shopify Markets for country pricing, and B2B catalogues for trade customers. Since April 2026, Shopify’s Basic, Grow and Advanced plans include core B2B features with up to three active catalogues; Plus removes the limit. I map every active price rule to its Shopify equivalent at the audit, so nothing silently changes price at launch.

PrestaShop URLs and redirects

PrestaShop’s friendly URLs include a numeric ID by default, and the format changed in version 9. From the PrestaShop source code:

Shopify’s folders can’t be renamed, so every PrestaShop URL changes and needs a permanent redirect. Combination-specific URLs, which add the combination ID to the product URL, should point to the right product, and where a store has been upgraded from 1.7 or 8 to 9, both the old and new URL formats may still carry links. The redirect map covers both.

Shopify allows up to 100,000 redirects on standard plans and 20 million on Plus. My Shopify migration SEO guide covers how the map is built and tested.

Protecting rankings

Beyond the redirect map, a few PrestaShop-specific details protect rankings through the move:

• Meta titles and descriptions for products, categories, CMS pages and brands are carried into Shopify’s SEO fields, not regenerated from defaults.
• Category descriptions move into the new collection templates, so category pages keep the text that helped them rank.
• Language versions on a multilingual store map to Shopify’s translated URLs under Markets, each redirected from its PrestaShop equivalent.
• Image alt text moves with each image.
• A baseline of rankings, clicks and organic revenue is captured before launch and checked daily afterwards, because Google says rankings can fluctuate while a moved site is recrawled.

Getting data out of PrestaShop

PrestaShop’s back office lets you export most data tables, such as products, categories and customers, to CSV, and its SQL Manager can export the results of database queries. For a full migration, though, migration tools usually connect directly to the store, so products, combinations, customers and orders come across with their relationships intact.

Shopify’s own Store Migration app doesn’t list PrestaShop as a source. Cart2Cart and LitExtension both support PrestaShop to Shopify, with 301 redirects as an option. Matrixify can import PrestaShop data once it’s converted into its spreadsheet template. My Shopify migration tools guide compares them.

Customers, orders and multistore

Customers, addresses and order history move, with marketing consent carried on each record. Shopify’s guidance is to import products first, then customers, then historical orders, so each order links to the right customer and product. Orders arrive as historical records with notifications switched off.

On passwords, Shopify says they can’t be migrated from another store by CSV. Migration vendors differ: LitExtension says PrestaShop passwords can’t be transferred to Shopify, while Cart2Cart offers an extra module for it. Shopify’s customer accounts sign customers in with a one-time code sent to their email, so for most stores a clear launch email is the simplest answer.

Guest orders, placed without an account, come across as orders without a linked customer account, which is how Shopify treats guest checkouts too. Order statuses are mapped so completed, cancelled and refunded orders report correctly.

If you use PrestaShop multistore, decide early how it maps. Several countries or languages for one brand usually become one Shopify store with Shopify Markets. Genuinely separate brands usually become separate Shopify stores, or expansion stores on Shopify Plus if they share a brand.

Modules and themes

Every PrestaShop module needs a decision:

• Retire. Caching, performance, security and many SEO modules exist because PrestaShop is self-hosted. Shopify handles that layer.
• Rebuild in the theme. Product tabs, specification tables, filters, badges and many layout modules become features of a custom Shopify theme, with no module licence to renew.
• Replace. Reviews, email marketing, loyalty, marketplace feeds and accounting connections move to Shopify apps or integrations.

Module data deserves a check of its own. Reviews, loyalty points, wishlists and blog modules often keep their data in their own database tables, outside the standard product and customer exports. Those are listed at the audit and extracted separately, so nothing customers can see is lost in the move.

Your PrestaShop theme doesn’t transfer. The new store is designed and built as a Shopify theme, which is the moment to fix whatever never worked about the old one.

Payments, carriers and integrations

• Payments. PrestaShop payment modules are replaced by Shopify Payments or your existing provider’s Shopify integration. Shopify Payments is available in the UK and many other countries; Shopify adds a fee if you use a third-party provider instead.
• Carriers. Carrier rules, zones and price ranges are rebuilt as Shopify shipping profiles and rates, and tested with real orders.
• Tax. Tax rules and tax-inclusive pricing are set up for each market you sell to.
• Stock and ERP. Decide which system is the master for stock and products, and test the connector against the migrated catalogue.
• Marketplaces and feeds. Google Merchant Center, Amazon and other channels are reconnected through Shopify apps.

Ways to migrate PrestaShop to Shopify

Preparing your PrestaShop store before the move

• Note your exact PrestaShop version and whether it was upgraded from an older one, because URL formats may differ.
• Export your active specific prices and catalogue price rules, so every one can be mapped.
• List products with more than three attribute groups. They need a restructuring decision.
• List every module and what it does for the business today.
• Pull your top pages from Search Console, so the URLs that matter are checked one by one at launch.
• Document integrations: payments, carriers, stock, accounting and marketplaces.
• Take a full backup of files and database, and keep hosting live until the move is confirmed.

How a PrestaShop migration runs

My Shopify migration package runs over four weeks from signed brief to a live store. Very large catalogues and complex integrations can take longer, and I’ll tell you if yours will after the audit, before you commit.

1. Week 1: audit and mapCatalogue, combinations, price rules, modules, integrations and rankings reviewed; every PrestaShop URL mapped.
2. Week 2: design and buildA custom theme built around the restructured catalogue while PrestaShop keeps trading.
3. Week 3: move and connectProducts, customers and orders imported; payments, shipping and stock connected; redirects loaded.
4. Week 4: test and launchCheckout and prices tested, a final data sync, DNS switched, then 30 days of monitoring and fixes.

Launch week

• A short content freeze on PrestaShop, so no products or prices are lost between the final sync and launch.
• A final delta import of customers and orders placed since the main migration.
• Redirects tested in bulk, including old ID-based and combination URLs, with top pages checked one by one.
• Prices checked against the PrestaShop price rules they replaced.
• DNS switched carefully, changing only the website records so email keeps working.
• The new sitemap submitted in Search Console, and crawl errors watched daily.

What improves after the move

• No more version upgrades. Shopify updates the platform continuously, so there’s no PrestaShop 10 project waiting in the future.
• No hosting to manage. Server, PHP version, security patches and backups are no longer yours to worry about.
• Fewer moving parts. Features built into a custom theme rather than spread across modules with their own licences and update cycles.
• Cleaner product data, with features restructured as metafields powering filters and specification tables.
• A team that can manage the store through Shopify’s editor without a developer for everyday changes.

Choosing a Shopify plan

PrestaShop is free to download, so Shopify’s monthly plan can look like a new cost. The fairer comparison is with what you spend now on hosting, module licences, security, upgrades and developer time. Most PrestaShop retailers land on Shopify’s Grow or Advanced plan; Shopify’s US pricing lists them at $105 and $399 a month billed monthly, with local prices on its UK site. If you rely on group pricing for trade customers, the B2B features on those plans may cover it; if you need many price lists, multiple storefronts or deep checkout customisation, my Shopify Plus migration guide explains when Plus is worth it.

What a PrestaShop migration costs

My Shopify migration package starts from $19,997 USD, or £14,997 + VAT for UK clients, with flexible plans depending on the deposit paid. It includes the audit, a custom theme, migration of products, images, customers, orders and content, every old address redirected, integrations connected, launch and 30 days of post-launch fixes. I’m UK-based and work remotely with retailers all over the world. Outside the UK, the package starts from $19,997 with no VAT, quoted in US dollars after the free store audit.

Against that, set what you stop paying: hosting, module licences, upgrade projects and the developer time to keep PrestaShop current. My Shopify migration cost guide covers what moves the price.

Common mistakes

When to stay on PrestaShop

• You’re on a current 9.x version with a capable developer and modules that work.
• Your business depends on deep customisation that would need rebuilding from scratch elsewhere.
• You have an in-house PrestaShop team whose cost you’re carrying anyway.
• Your store is small and simple, in which case, if you do move, a migration tool may be enough.

For established retailers facing a major PrestaShop upgrade, moving to Shopify is often the better use of the same budget. For the full service, see my Shopify migration service, and for a large catalogue move in practice, the Lipton’s Shopify migration case study, with more than 2,800 products migrated.

PrestaShop to Shopify migration: FAQ

Sources

PrestaShop releases and support phases: build.prestashop-project.org announcements for 1.7.8 extended support (5 January 2023), 8.2.x extended support (4 July 2025), 9.0 (10 June 2025), 9.1.x and 9.2.0 (30 September 2026). PHP requirements: devdocs.prestashop-project.org system requirements for 1.7, 8 and 9, accessed 24 October 2026. Ownership: MBE Worldwide announcement, 25 November 2021; cyber_Folks investor relations and Fortidia announcements, 18 February 2026. URL patterns: PrestaShop Dispatcher class, 8.2.x and 9.1.5 source code, accessed 24 October 2026. Exports and product combinations: PrestaShop user documentation, accessed 24 October 2026. Migration tools: shopping-cart-migration.com and litextension.com PrestaShop to Shopify pages, matrixify.app, and Shopify’s Store Migration listing, accessed 24 October 2026. Shopify variants, redirects, import order, customer passwords and B2B: Shopify Help Center and changelog, accessed 24 October 2026. KA Consultancy prices and proof points as published on the Shopify migration services page.