Is it time to move from Magento to Shopify?

If your Magento store is costing more each year just to stay patched, hosted and supported, it's time to price up a move. Shopify handles hosting, security patches and platform updates for you, which takes most of that upkeep off your team. Whether it's right for you comes down to three things: your catalogue, your integrations and when your current version stops getting support.

Why does Magento feel so expensive to keep running?

The problem with Magento is rarely what the store does. It's what it takes to keep it doing it. There's the hosting bill, the monthly developer retainer, the security patch that breaks a checkout extension, and the version upgrade that turns into a project of its own because your modules need updating first.

None of that is a fault in Magento. It's an open, flexible platform, which is why big catalogues and complex B2B set-ups chose it. But every custom module is something a developer has to check each time the core changes, and that work never stops.

Is my version of Magento still supported?

If you're still on Magento 1, the answer is no. Adobe's security bulletin from June 2020 confirmed that "Support for Magento Commerce 1.14 and Magento Open Source 1 is ending in June 2020". That bulletin carried the last security patches those editions would get. A Magento 1 store taking card payments today is running on software that hasn't had an official patch in over six years.

On Adobe Commerce, it depends on your exact version. Adobe's lifecycle policy for Adobe Commerce, last updated in September 2026, gives each version "a three-year standard support window from the General Availability (GA) date". In practice that means:

• 2.4.4 and 2.4.5: standard and extended support have both ended, and the security-only period runs to 31 May 2027.
• 2.4.6: standard support ended on 11 August 2026, extended support runs to 31 August 2027, and security-only fixes to 31 May 2028.
• 2.4.7: standard support runs to 31 May 2027, with extended support to 31 May 2028.
• 2.4.8 and 2.4.9: standard support runs to 31 May 2028 and 31 May 2029.

If you run Magento Open Source rather than Adobe Commerce, check your release's dates with your developer, as this policy is written for Adobe Commerce.

So if you're on 2.4.6 or older, you're already in a reduced support window. Once a version reaches its security-only period, Adobe ships only limited, isolated security fixes, with no quality fixes at all. For 2.4.4 and 2.4.5 even those stop on 31 May 2027, and for 2.4.6 on 31 May 2028, so you need to upgrade or move before then. That's the moment to put the full cost of a major Magento upgrade next to the cost of replatforming.

What actually changes when you move to Shopify?

The biggest change is who looks after the platform. Shopify is hosted and maintained for you, so hosting, core security patches and version upgrades stop being your problem. Your budget moves away from keeping the lights on and towards the things that sell more, like content, product pages and marketing.

The trade-off is that you work within Shopify's way of doing things. Much of what's custom code on Magento becomes an app or a built-in setting on Shopify. Where nothing fits, such as unusual pricing rules, complex B2B logic or a bespoke configurator, we build a custom app instead. Working out which is which is the first real job in any migration, and it's where the cost and risk sit.

What has to move across?

The obvious parts are products, variants, images, customers and order history. Then there are the parts that are easy to forget until they break: customer groups and tiered pricing, gift card balances, product reviews, blog content, and the fiddly attribute data that drives your filters.

Integrations need the most care. If your Magento store talks to an ERP, a warehouse system or a CRM, those connections need rebuilding on Shopify, and they need testing with real orders before launch. Product feeds for Google and Meta have to move too, so your shopping ads point at live product pages from the day you switch.

Will I lose my Google rankings?

Not for good, if the move is planned properly, but expect some movement. Google's own guidance on site moves with URL changes, updated in August 2026, says to "Expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move." It also says a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move, and larger sites take longer.

The same page recommends permanent, server-side redirects, kept in place for as long as possible and generally for at least a year. Shopify puts products under /products/ and categories under /collections/, so your old Magento product and category URLs will change. Every one of them needs a redirect to its new page, along with page titles, meta descriptions and content carried across. Skip that and you're leaving Google to work it out on its own. We've gone through the redirect and content checklist step by step in our guide to moving from WooCommerce to Shopify without losing SEO, and the same principles apply to a Magento move.

When is the best time to switch?

Not in the run-up to Black Friday or Christmas. Google's guidance is to time a move to coincide with lower traffic, so if your peak is the festive season, launch in the new year once returns have settled. If your busy season falls elsewhere, plan around that instead.

Work backwards from your launch date. If you want to go live in late February, discovery and planning need to start in the autumn so the build, data testing and redirect mapping are done before you lose your team's attention to peak trading.

How much does a Magento to Shopify migration cost?

The price is set by catalogue size, how much custom functionality you have, and how many systems the store connects to. Our pricing is fixed once we've done discovery, and all prices are one-off and + VAT. A Shopify Growth build, which includes platform migration and SEO migration planning, is £25,000. For larger or more complex stores, Shopify Plus Migration starts from £65,000.

When you compare that with a major Magento upgrade, include the costs you'd stop paying afterwards: hosting, patching and the developer time that goes on keeping extensions working. Those savings are where the case for moving is made.

How does DLR handle a Magento migration?

We start with an audit and plan. We map your products, customers, orders, URLs, apps and integrations, then agree a fixed scope and price. If you'd like that picture before you commit to anything, our migration and replatforming audit is the place to start. After that we design and build, move and check your data, redirect every old URL to its new page, and plan the switch-over around your trading calendar. Once you're live, we monitor rankings, traffic and orders.

You work with the same team from discovery to launch, all in a private Slack channel, so you're never explaining your set-up twice. We migrate Magento 1 and 2 stores, including those with custom extensions, ERP connections and large catalogues. One luxury jewellery retailer we moved from Magento to Shopify now has a 27.9% returning customer rate.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep my order history when I move to Shopify?

Yes. Customers and past orders are migrated and checked, so your team can still look up old orders and customers can see their history.

Do I need Shopify Plus or will standard Shopify do?

That comes down to your volume, markets and integrations. A single-market store with standard integrations runs well on standard Shopify, while high-volume, multi-market or ERP-heavy stores are what Shopify Plus is built for, and our guide to upgrading to Shopify Plus covers the difference.

How long does a Magento to Shopify migration take?

We fix the timeline after discovery, because it's set by your catalogue size, data and integrations. You know your launch date before the build starts.

Should I upgrade Magento instead?

Yes, if your store relies on functionality that would be expensive to rebuild and your team is comfortable with the running costs. We'll tell you if that's what the numbers show.

If you'd like to talk through your Magento set-up and what a move would involve, book a free call or ring us on +44 1382 699595.