Shopify enforces strict limits on product data that differ significantly from WooCommerce. If you're migrating from WooCommerce, these limits determine what products can be imported as-is and which ones need to be restructured. This article covers every limit that matters for migrations.

Quick reference: Shopify product limits

Data type	Shopify limit	WooCommerce equivalent
Variants per product	100	No hard limit (plugin-dependent)
Option types per product	3	No hard limit
Option values per option type	255	No hard limit
Images per product	250	No hard limit
Product title length	255 characters	No hard limit
Product description	No limit (HTML)	No limit
Handle (URL slug) length	255 characters	No limit
SKU length	255 characters	No limit
Barcode length	255 characters	No limit
Tags per product	250	No limit
Tag length	255 characters	No limit
Metafields per resource	No limit	No limit
Metafield value length	10 MB (single_line_text_field: 5000 chars)	No limit
Products per store (all plans)	No limit	No limit

The 100 variant limit — the most common migration problem

The 100 variant limit is the single most common issue encountered during WooCommerce to Shopify migrations. It affects any product with many combinations of attributes.

How to calculate your variant count

Shopify's variant count is the product of all option value counts:

3 sizes × 4 colors × 2 materials = 24 variants — fine
5 sizes × 5 colors × 5 materials = 125 variants — exceeds limit
10 sizes × 10 colors = 100 variants — exactly at the limit
10 sizes × 11 colors = 110 variants — exceeds limit

This matters even if you don't actually sell every combination. Shopify creates all possible variants when you define options — you can't define 5 sizes and 30 colors without Shopify expecting 150 variants.

Solutions for products over 100 variants

If your WooCommerce store has products exceeding 100 variants, you have a few options:

Split into multiple products: Create separate Shopify products (e.g., "T-Shirt — Blues" and "T-Shirt — Reds"). Link them via metafields or use a product grouping app. This is the most common solution.
Remove low-traffic variants: Use analytics to identify which variant combinations are rarely or never purchased and remove them. A product with 150 variants might be reducible to 80 by removing 5 unpopular colors.
Consolidate option types: Instead of separate Size and Fit options, combine them ("S / Regular", "S / Slim", "M / Regular"...). This reduces the number of combinations.
Use metafields for non-variant attributes: If some attributes don't affect price or inventory (like "care instructions" or "material composition"), move them to metafields instead of variants.

The 3 option types limit

Shopify allows a maximum of 3 option types per product (e.g., Size, Color, Material). WooCommerce has no such limit.

Most products work fine with 3 options. Problems arise for:

Custom product builders (personalization fields, printing options)
Complex apparel with fit, size, color, and length
Products with more than 3 variable attributes

The solution is the same as for the variant limit: consolidate options or use metafields/bundles for attributes that don't affect price/inventory.

Product title and handle limits

Shopify truncates titles and handles at 255 characters. WooCommerce has no such limit.

In practice, most product titles are well under 255 characters. The issues tend to arise with:

WooCommerce stores that generate long SEO-optimized titles automatically
B2B stores with technical part names and descriptions as titles
Stores that include attributes in titles ("Blue Widget XL Heavy Duty Stainless Steel...")

Tools like k-sync flag titles over 255 characters during validation and can auto-truncate them. If you're doing a large migration, check your title lengths in advance: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM products WHERE CHAR_LENGTH(name) > 255 in your WooCommerce database.

Image limits

250 images per product is rarely an issue in practice. However:

Products with many color variants sometimes have one image per variant × many variants = many images
Photography stores or detailed technical products occasionally have 100+ images

Note that Shopify images are hosted by Shopify — you provide a URL and Shopify fetches and re-hosts the image. You don't need to upload image files directly during migration.

SKU and barcode format

Shopify doesn't enforce a specific format for SKUs or barcodes — they're just text fields. However:

SKUs must be unique per variant across the store (not just per product) for inventory tracking to work correctly
Barcodes should be valid EAN-13, UPC, or ISBN format if you plan to use them for POS or fulfillment
Shopify doesn't enforce barcode validity, but apps and integrations may

WooCommerce SKUs are set per product, not per variant. If your WooCommerce products have a single SKU on the parent product but multiple variations, the migration tool needs to handle this — typically by appending variant identifiers (-S, -M, -L) to the parent SKU.

Tag limits

250 tags per product with a 255-character limit per tag. This is rarely a constraint for typical stores. If you're using tags as a substitute for proper category structure, you may have products with many tags that need to be reviewed.

Metafields

Metafields are Shopify's mechanism for custom product data beyond the standard fields. There's no hard limit on how many metafields you can have per product, but:

Single-line text metafields: 5,000 characters max
Multi-line text: larger limits
List metafields: up to 10 values per list
File references: up to 50 per list

WooCommerce custom fields (wp_postmeta) can be migrated to Shopify metafields. This requires defining the metafield namespace and key in Shopify first, then importing values via API.

What this means for your migration

Before you migrate: audit your WooCommerce products

Find products with over 100 variant combinations
Find products with more than 3 attribute types
Find products with titles over 255 characters
Check for SKU uniqueness violations (duplicate SKUs across products)

k-sync's validation engine flags all of these during migration. After importing your WooCommerce products and applying field mappings, the validation step checks each product against Shopify's constraints before anything is pushed.

Handling variant-heavy products

The most common resolution for products over 100 variants is splitting them in WooCommerce before migrating, then migrating the split products. Alternatively, split after import in k-sync — you can duplicate a product in k-sync and remove variants from each copy before pushing.

Shopify vs WooCommerce: structural differences that affect migration

Concept	WooCommerce	Shopify equivalent
Variable product	Product with attributes and variations	Product with options and variants
Attributes	Global or local, any number	Options, max 3 per product
Variation	Specific combination of attributes, up to any count	Variant, max 100 per product
Product categories	Hierarchical taxonomy	Collections (manual or smart)
Product tags	Flat tags	Flat tags (same)
Custom fields	wp_postmeta (unlimited)	Metafields (limited format per type)
Product type	Simple, Variable, Grouped, External	All standard products use same type
Downloadable products	Native support	Via Shopify Digital Downloads app

Understanding these structural differences helps set expectations before you start migrating. Products that fit cleanly into Shopify's model migrate automatically. Products that push against limits (primarily the variant and option constraints) need preparation.

Shopify product limits: variants, options, images & more (2026)