WooCommerce to Shopify migration: 30 most asked questions (2026)

These are the 30 questions we hear most often from WooCommerce store owners considering a migration to Shopify. Each answer is direct and practical.

General migration questions

1. Will I lose my Google rankings when moving to Shopify?

Not permanently — if you set up 301 redirects correctly. With proper redirects from all your WooCommerce URLs to their Shopify equivalents, Google transfers link equity within 2–6 weeks. You may see a temporary dip, but rankings should recover or improve. Without redirects, you will lose rankings permanently. See our full redirect setup guide.

2. How long does migration take?

Depends on catalog size and complexity:

• Under 100 products: 1–3 days
• 100–500 products: 3–7 days
• 500–2,000 products: 1–2 weeks
• 2,000+ products: 2–6 weeks

Configuration (shipping, taxes, payments, apps) adds 1–2 days regardless of catalog size.

3. Will there be downtime during migration?

With a proper parallel migration approach, near-zero downtime is achievable. You build and test Shopify while WooCommerce stays live. On cutover day, a 1–2 hour maintenance window is typical to handle the DNS change and final inventory sync.

4. How much does WooCommerce to Shopify migration cost?

DIY tools: $0–$200 for software. Agency migration: $1,000–$10,000+ depending on catalog size and custom requirements. See our full cost breakdown.

5. Can I do the migration myself without a developer?

Yes, for most stores. Product migration tools like k-sync are designed for non-developers. Theme selection, app setup, and Shopify configuration are all admin-panel operations. Custom checkout modifications or complex integrations may require a developer.

What migrates and what doesn't

6. Do product images migrate to Shopify?

Yes. When you push products to Shopify via the API, Shopify downloads your WooCommerce product images and re-hosts them on Shopify's CDN. Your WooCommerce server no longer needs to host those images. Blog post images are different — they need to be manually re-hosted (see blog migration guide).

7. Do product reviews migrate?

Not automatically. You need to export reviews from WooCommerce and import them via a Shopify review app (Judge.me is recommended). See our product review migration guide.

8. Do customers migrate to Shopify?

Customer names, emails, and billing/shipping addresses can migrate. Customer passwords cannot — they're hashed and Shopify uses different hashing. On first login to Shopify, customers need to reset their password. See our customer data migration guide.

9. Does order history migrate?

Shopify doesn't natively support importing historical order data. You can export WooCommerce order history to CSV for reference, keep WooCommerce accessible for lookups, or use a migration service (LitExtension, Cart2Cart) for API-based order import. See our order history migration guide.

10. Do WooCommerce coupons migrate?

Not automatically. Export your active coupons from WooCommerce and manually recreate them in Shopify Admin → Discounts. Prioritize active codes customers may have received. See our coupon migration guide.

11. Do blog posts migrate from WordPress to Shopify?

Not automatically — migration tools focus on products. WordPress blog content needs to be migrated separately using Matrixify, LitExtension, or manually. See our blog migration guide.

12. Does WooCommerce product data like custom fields / ACF migrate?

Custom fields and ACF data don't map to standard Shopify fields. They can be migrated to Shopify product metafields if you set up the mapping in your migration tool. See our metafields migration guide.

13. Do WooCommerce subscriptions migrate to Shopify?

Active subscription payment details (card tokens) cannot migrate — payment tokenization is processor-specific. Customers need to re-enter payment details on their first renewal in Shopify. Use Recharge or Bold Subscriptions on Shopify. See our subscriptions migration guide.

Shopify platform questions

14. Does Shopify have a limit on the number of products?

No hard product limit. Shopify has been used for stores with millions of products. However, each product is limited to 100 variants (3 option types) on standard plans. See our product limits guide.

15. Can I use my existing domain on Shopify?

Yes. You point your domain's DNS to Shopify by changing the A record and CNAME in your domain registrar. Shopify provides an SSL certificate automatically. See Shopify's domain setup guide for exact DNS values.

16. Can I keep WooCommerce running while setting up Shopify?

Yes — this is the recommended approach. Run both simultaneously, using Shopify's myshopify.com URL for testing. When Shopify is ready, switch your DNS. See our parallel migration guide.

17. Is Shopify faster than WooCommerce?

For most stores: yes, significantly faster. Shopify's managed hosting, CDN, and auto-WebP images typically improve mobile PageSpeed scores by 15–40 points vs WooCommerce on shared hosting. The gains are smaller if your WooCommerce store was already well-optimized. See our speed comparison guide.

18. How does Shopify handle tax differently than WooCommerce?

Shopify has built-in automatic tax calculation (Shopify Tax) for US, EU, UK, AU — no plugin needed. WooCommerce required TaxJar or manual rate setup. See our tax setup guide.

19. Can I have multiple languages on Shopify?

Yes. Use Shopify Markets with Translate & Adapt (free app by Shopify) or Weglot for multilingual stores. This replaces WPML/Polylang from WooCommerce. See our international setup guide.

20. Does Shopify have a POS?

Yes. Shopify POS is built-in with iOS and Android apps, Shopify hardware, and unified inventory with your online store. It replaces WooCommerce POS plugins. See our POS migration guide.

SEO and marketing questions

21. Will my WooCommerce URLs work after switching to Shopify?

Only with 301 redirects. WooCommerce product URLs (/product/name/) must redirect to Shopify product URLs (/products/handle/). Set these up in Shopify Admin → Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects before switching DNS.

22. Will my Google Shopping feed break?

Yes, temporarily. After migration, update your Google Merchant Center feed URL to point to Shopify's feed (use Google & YouTube app on Shopify or a feed app like Feedonomics). Re-submit for approval. Approval typically takes 24–72 hours.

23. Will my Facebook pixel data reset?

Historical pixel data stays in Meta Business Manager. Reconnect your Facebook pixel to Shopify (via Meta channel app or Customer Events API). Future events fire from Shopify correctly. Past event history is preserved in Meta.

24. Do email marketing automations carry over?

Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Omnisend are platform-agnostic — reconnect them to Shopify instead of WooCommerce. Your email lists, templates, and contact profiles stay in the email platform. Automations with WooCommerce-specific triggers need to be updated to Shopify triggers.

Cost and operations questions

25. Is Shopify more expensive than WooCommerce?

Depends on your setup. Shopify Basic at $29/month is cheaper than a managed WooCommerce hosting + premium plugins for many stores. Large stores with many plugins often spend $500–$2,000/year on WooCommerce and find Shopify comparable or slightly higher. See our full cost comparison.

26. Can I use Stripe on Shopify?

Yes. Stripe is available as a third-party payment gateway on Shopify. Note: Shopify charges an additional transaction fee (0.5–2%) if you use Stripe instead of Shopify Payments. In countries where Shopify Payments is available, it uses Stripe's infrastructure with no extra Shopify fee.

27. Will WooCommerce plugins work on Shopify?

WooCommerce plugins don't work on Shopify — they're WordPress-specific code. Each WooCommerce plugin needs a Shopify app equivalent. Most popular WooCommerce plugins have direct Shopify equivalents. See our apps after migration guide.

28. Can I revert back to WooCommerce if Shopify doesn't work out?

Yes. Your WooCommerce store stays intact during migration — it's not deleted or modified. You can keep it running as backup until Shopify is proven. If you decommission WooCommerce and need to go back, export your Shopify products and re-import to WooCommerce via CSV. Customer passwords would need to be reset again.

Migration tool questions

29. What's the best free WooCommerce to Shopify migration tool?

k-sync's free tier supports up to 50 products with full product migration (title, description, images, variants, SKUs). For larger stores, paid tiers or a trial of full-service tools (LitExtension, Cart2Cart) are options. See our free migration guide.

30. What WooCommerce data can k-sync migrate?

k-sync migrates: products (all types), product variants and attributes, product images, categories and tags, stock levels, SKUs, prices (regular and sale), product descriptions (HTML), and custom meta fields (via field mapping). k-sync does not migrate: customer accounts, order history, coupons, blog posts, or WooCommerce plugin-specific data.