WooCommerce to Shopify, plugin-free.
Database translation to plugin consolidation to DNS flip. Escape the WordPress plugin web; land on one platform with one set of accountable defaults.
The average Woo store runs on 37 plugins.
WooCommerce did not start as a commerce platform. It started as a WordPress plugin. Every feature beyond the basics (subscriptions, B2B, custom fields, payment gateways, shipping rules, email marketing, reviews, analytics) lives in another plugin. After a few years, a WooCommerce store runs on 20 to 50 plugins, each from a different vendor, each with its own update cycle, each capable of breaking everything when the next version ships. This migration escapes that graph.
| WooCommerce plugin | Shopify equivalent | Consolidation |
|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce core | Shopify native | Native. |
| WooCommerce Subscriptions | ReCharge or Shopify Subscriptions | Subscription state migrates. |
| WooCommerce Bookings | BookThatApp or Tipo Appointment Booking | Shopify App Store. |
| Mailchimp / MailPoet | Klaviyo | Upgrade path. |
| Yoast SEO | Shopify native + metafields | Native. |
| Advanced Custom Fields | Shopify metafields | Native. |
| WooCommerce Stripe Gateway | Shopify Payments + Stripe | Native. |
| Reviews (YITH / Ryviu) | Judge.me or Loox | Shopify App Store. |
| WooCommerce Shipping / Table Rate | Shopify Shipping + Functions | Native plus Function. |
| Wordfence / iThemes Security | Shopify platform (included) | Eliminated. Platform handles. |
| WooCommerce B2B / Wholesale | Shopify Plus native B2B | Upgrade path if Plus. |
| UpdraftPlus / BackupBuddy | Shopify platform (included) | Eliminated. |
A typical 37-plugin WooCommerce store consolidates to Shopify plus 6 to 10 apps. Five to eight plugins disappear entirely because their function is native to Shopify (security, backup, SEO basics, image optimisation, CDN). Every remaining plugin gets a named replacement path.
Data migrates. Presentation rebuilds.
- Product catalog with variants and images
- Categories + tags (becomes Collections + tags)
- Customer records with addresses
- Order history (read-only import)
- Active subscriptions (to ReCharge / Shopify Subscriptions)
- Blog posts + permalinks (via 301 map)
- WordPress pages (becomes Shopify Pages)
- Coupon codes (becomes Shopify discount codes)
- WordPress theme (Shopify Dawn or custom)
- Every plugin (consolidated onto Shopify + apps)
- Custom post types (as metaobjects or products)
- Shortcodes (as Shopify theme sections)
- Form plugins (Shopify Forms or Formspree)
- Customer passwords (one-time reset email)
- Custom functions.php logic (as theme code or app)
- WordPress user roles (as Shopify staff permissions)
Web of plugins, pulled apart cleanly.
wp_posts. wp_postmeta. wp_woocommerce_.
WooCommerce stores product data across the WordPress wp_posts and wp_postmeta tables, with WooCommerce-specific tables for orders and sessions. Migrating to Shopify means translating this into Shopify's cleaner product, variant, collection, customer, and order schema.
| WordPress table | Shopify entity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| wp_posts (product) | Product | Title, slug, description, status. |
| wp_postmeta (product) | Product fields + metafields | SKU, price, stock, plus custom fields. |
| wp_posts (product_variation) | Product variant | Each variation row becomes a Shopify variant. |
| wp_term_taxonomy (product_cat) | Collection | Nested categories flatten. |
| wp_users | Customer | Email, name, WP user role mapping. |
| wp_wc_orders | Order (read-only import) | Historical record for customer service. |
| wp_woocommerce_subscriptions | ReCharge / Shopify Subscriptions | Active subs migrate with next-bill-date preserved. |
WooCommerce Subscriptions out. ReCharge in.
Subscription migrations are the highest-risk part of a Woo-to-Shopify move. A single double-billing or missed renewal damages customer trust at exactly the moment you want it intact. Below is the engineered cutover pattern.
Export active subscriptions
From WooCommerce: customer, product, quantity, frequency, next-bill-date, payment token reference, consent timestamp.
Payment token migration
Stripe tokens transfer via Stripe's account-to-account flow. Other gateways may require customer re-authentication on first Shopify bill.
ReCharge import
Bulk import via ReCharge migration tool. Next-bill-date honoured. Historical billing cycles imported as reference.
Cutover window
Last WooCommerce bill fires, DNS flips, first ReCharge bill fires on its scheduled date. No customer double-billed, none skipped.
WordPress permalinks. Shopify URLs.
WordPress permalinks are configurable per site; Shopify URLs follow fixed patterns. The 301 map bridges the two. For blog content especially, the migration preserves every indexed post URL so backlinks and rankings survive.
| Source URL type | Shopify target | Example |
|---|---|---|
| /product/{slug}/ | /products/{handle} | Handle preserved where possible. |
| /product-category/{slug}/ | /collections/{handle} | Category becomes Collection. |
| /{year}/{month}/{slug}/ | /blogs/news/{handle} | Blog post date structure collapses. |
| /{slug}/ (page) | /pages/{handle} | WordPress page slug preserved. |
| /shop/ | /collections/all | Main catalog page. |
| /my-account/ | /account | Customer account surface. |
| /?s={query} | /search?q={query} | Site search parameter. |
WooCommerce is not free. Do the math.
A typical 20-plugin WooCommerce store at $1M annual revenue runs roughly:
- Managed WordPress hosting: $2,400 to $6,000 per year (Kinsta, WP Engine, Pantheon tier).
- Premium plugin licensing: $1,200 to $4,000 per year (Subscriptions, B2B, Reviews, SEO, Security, Backup).
- SSL, DDoS, CDN: $500 to $2,400 per year.
- Dev retainer for plugin conflict + updates: $6,000 to $24,000 per year.
- Downtime cost: variable. Industry average is 2 to 6 hours per quarter of unplanned outage.
Shopify consolidates hosting, SSL, CDN, security, backup, and most plugin equivalents into a single platform fee plus a small app stack. For most merchants the TCO crossover happens within the first 12 months.
A subscription brand. 4,200 active subs. Zero missed bills.
An archetype coffee subscription brand running WooCommerce Subscriptions with 4,200 active subscribers and $1.8M annual recurring revenue. The ask: escape plugin instability, migrate active subs with zero double-billing or skipped renewals, keep SEO ranking on the blog content.
What shipped: 2,841 SKUs migrated with variants, 4,207 WooCommerce subscriptions moved to ReCharge with full billing cycle preserved, 31,000 customer records with one-time password reset, 820 published blog posts with permalinks preserved via 301 map, 23 plugins consolidated to 7 Shopify apps, Klaviyo replacing MailPoet with 18,000 email subscribers consent-preserved. Monitored for 60 days; subscription continuity 100%, organic traffic up 9% at day 60 from faster page speed.
Six questions Woo merchants ask.
How long does a WooCommerce to Shopify migration take?
A standard WooCommerce to Shopify migration takes 10 to 12 weeks for a catalog under 3,000 SKUs with one storefront and no subscriptions. Migrations with WooCommerce Subscriptions running to ReCharge or Shopify Subscriptions add 2 to 3 weeks. The clock starts when data access is granted and the audit is signed; audits typically take 10 working days. If you are also moving the blog content (recommended for SEO), add 1 to 2 weeks for content migration and permalink remapping.
What happens to our WordPress plugins?
Plugins do not port. The average WooCommerce store runs 15 to 40 plugins; every one gets audited and a Shopify-native path decided. Typical outcome: 60 to 75 percent consolidate into Shopify native features plus a small Shopify app stack, 15 to 25 percent need a specific Shopify App Store replacement, and 5 to 15 percent need bespoke engineering. WordPress itself (as a CMS for non-commerce pages) can optionally stay running on a subdomain for blog and content, though most merchants consolidate everything onto Shopify for one admin surface.
Can you migrate active WooCommerce Subscriptions?
Yes. Active WooCommerce Subscriptions migrate to ReCharge or Shopify Subscriptions with full state preserved: next billing date, subscription product, quantity, shipping address, discount if any, and customer consent. Cancelled or expired subscriptions import as historical records. The migration requires a coordinated cutover window where the last WooCommerce bill and the first ReCharge bill are timed so no customer gets billed twice or skipped. Typical subscription migrations add 2 to 3 weeks to the overall timeline.
Will we lose SEO rankings during the cutover?
Not if we engineer the migration properly. Three safeguards ship with every migration: every indexed WordPress URL gets a 301 redirect to its Shopify equivalent before DNS flips; canonical tags, hreflang, and structured data are preserved or improved on Shopify; and a Google Search Console migration is filed immediately after cutover. With those in place, ranking recovery is typically full within 14 to 30 days. Blog content in particular benefits: moving from a slow WordPress host to Shopify's CDN can actually lift rankings because of page speed improvements.
Should we keep our WordPress blog separate or migrate it?
Migrating is usually the better answer. A subdomain blog (blog.yourstore.com) keeps WordPress but splits your SEO authority across two domains, which is worse for rankings than a unified site. Shopify's native blog handles most content needs: categories, authors, tags, SEO metadata, structured data. WordPress stays relevant if you need deep CMS features like custom post types, Gutenberg block libraries, or membership plugin behavior. Most ecommerce merchants do not need those, and the simplicity of one admin is worth the consolidation.
How does pricing compare between WooCommerce and Shopify?
WooCommerce looks cheaper on paper because the core plugin is free. The real cost is hosting ($30 to $500 per month depending on scale), SSL and security ($10 to $100 per month), premium plugins ($500 to $3,000 per year), developer retainer for plugin conflict resolution ($1,000 to $5,000 per month), and downtime cost when plugins break. Shopify rolls most of this into the platform fee. For a $1M per year WooCommerce store running 20 plugins, Shopify Advanced or Plus usually costs the same or less once total cost of ownership is computed. Exact math in the migration audit.
Two-week migration audit. Plugin consolidation plan.
Plugin dependency graph, subscription migration plan, 301 map scope, scoped quote.
Book my 30-minute Woo migration call