In short
What drives the cost of moving to Shopify: data, design, apps, redirects and order history, plus Shopify's monthly plan fees and our prices.
Moving your online shop to Shopify costs two things: a one-off project to build the new store and move everything across, and Shopify's own monthly plan fee. The project is the big number, and it's set by five things: your products and data, your design, your apps and integrations, your redirects and SEO, and your customer and order history. With us, platform migration and SEO migration planning come included in a Shopify Growth build at £25,000 + VAT.
Below, we go through what pushes each of those costs up or down, what Shopify charges every month, and how to plan the move so your search traffic comes with you.
What are you actually paying for when you move to Shopify?
You're paying for a new shop, not a copy of the old one. Every platform stores products, customers and pages in its own way, so a migration means taking your data out of one structure, fitting it into Shopify's, then checking it all arrived. On top of that comes the design work, the apps that replace your old plugins or modules, and the SEO work that protects your rankings.
Shopify's help centre guide to migrating to Shopify sets out the steps in order, from importing your content and data through to shipping, taxes, payments, test orders and your domain. Every step on that list takes time, and time is what you're paying for. Your quote reflects how much of it your store needs.
How do your products and data affect the price?
Size matters, but structure matters more. A thousand simple products with clean data move quicker than two hundred products with complex variants, custom fields, bundles and the attributes that drive your filters. The more your data has been bent to fit your old platform, the more work it takes to fit Shopify.
The order of the work matters too. Shopify's guide says: "Import your products first, then your customers, and then any historical orders". That way, past orders link to the right products and customers. The same guide lists gift cards, certificates and store credits, blogs and pages as data you can bring across. It also sets out the ways to do it: copying content across by hand, exporting to CSV files and importing them, using a migration app from the Shopify App Store, hiring a Shopify Partner, or building a custom migration with the Shopify API. The right route depends on how much data you have and how clean it is, and that choice moves the cost.
Do you need a custom design, or will a theme do?
A theme gets you live faster and costs less. A custom design costs more, and it pays its way when your brand, your product pages or the way customers shop need something a theme doesn't do well. The question to ask is where your sales come from. If shoppers need to compare options, build a bundle or check detailed specifications before they buy, those pages deserve design time.
Moving platform is also the cheapest moment to fix a design that's held you back, because you're rebuilding the pages anyway. Bolting a redesign on a year later means paying for much of the same work twice.
Why do apps and integrations change the budget so much?
Because this is where the unknowns sit. Every plugin, extension or custom module on your current shop needs an answer on Shopify: a built-in setting, an app from the Shopify App Store, or a custom app we build for you. Paid apps add their own monthly fees, so your running costs change as well as your build cost.
Integrations take the most care. Each back-office system your shop exchanges data with, whether that's stock control, accounts, fulfilment or customer records, needs its connection rebuilt and tested with real orders before launch. A shop with no integrations and a shop wired into four back-office systems are very different projects, even when the storefronts look alike.
How do you move without losing your Google rankings?
By treating redirects and SEO as part of the budget from day one, not a job for launch week. Your URLs will change on Shopify, so each old address needs a permanent redirect to its closest new page, whether it's a product, a category, an information page or a blog post. The cost here scales with the number of URLs and how much of the mapping has to be checked by hand.
Redirects are only half of it. Page titles, meta descriptions, product copy and structured data need to come across too, and rankings need watching after launch. We've set out that checklist in full in our guide to moving from WooCommerce to Shopify without losing SEO, and it applies whichever platform you're leaving. For a large store, budget for the mapping as a project in its own right, because it's careful, line-by-line work.
What happens to customer accounts and past orders?
They come across, and they're worth the effort. Order history lets your team answer questions about old orders and gives you proper reporting from day one. Customer records mean your repeat buyers are recognised as repeat buyers on the new store.
The cost comes from checking. Every customer and order needs to match up correctly after import, and test orders need placing before you switch. Tell your customers about the move before launch, so an account invite or a new-look checkout doesn't come as a surprise.
What will Shopify charge you each month?
Shopify's UK pricing page, checked in October 2026, lists four plans. Paying yearly, Basic is £19 a month, Grow £49 and Advanced £259. Paying monthly, they're £25, £65 and £344. Shopify Plus is listed from £1,800 a month. If you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, the page lists third-party transaction fees of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.
Which plan you need comes down to your volume, your team size and how much control you want over checkout. Our guide on when it's worth upgrading to Shopify Plus goes through that decision.
How much does DLR charge to move your shop to Shopify?
Every build has a fixed price, agreed with you after a short discovery stage. These are one-off prices:
- Launch: £10,000 + VAT, for new ecommerce businesses and simpler Shopify builds.
- Growth: £25,000 + VAT, with platform migration and SEO migration planning included.
- Shopify Plus: from £50,000 + VAT.
- Plus Migration: from £65,000 + VAT, for complex migrations to Shopify Plus from Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and custom platforms.
If you're coming from Magento, our guide to moving from Magento to Shopify covers the support dates and questions specific to that route.
Want to know your risks and costs before you commit to a build? Start with an audit. We run a migration and replatforming audit, and a Shopify Plus readiness audit if Plus is on the table, both listed on our audits page. We confirm the scope and price before any work begins, and there's no ongoing contract.
Frequently asked questions
Is migrating to Shopify a one-off cost?
The build is one-off. Shopify's plan fee is monthly, from £19 a month on Basic paid yearly, and any paid apps you add carry their own fees.
Should I redesign at the same time as I migrate?
Yes, if your current design is holding sales back. You're rebuilding the pages anyway, so it's the cheapest moment to fix them.
Can I keep my order history?
Yes. Shopify's guide recommends importing historical orders after your products and customers, so each order links to the right records.
Will my Google rankings drop?
Rankings fall when old URLs lead nowhere and content gets lost on the way. Redirect every old URL to its closest new page, bring your titles and copy across and watch your rankings after launch, and Google has what it needs to find your pages again.
Talk to our team
Tell us what you sell, which platform you're on and what your shop connects to, and we'll tell you what a move involves. Get in touch or call +44 1382 699595.
