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E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS · MIGRATION GUIDE

Switching from BigCommerce to Shopify

Shopify has no direct BigCommerce importer, but both support CSV export/import for products and customers. Themes and apps are rebuilt by hand.

Bill Belcamino
Bottom line up frontby Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
Editorial assessment

Bottom line up front: What does moving a store from BigCommerce to Shopify actually involve?

A CSV move for products and customers and a hand rebuild for everything else, since Shopify has no BigCommerce importer and themes and apps don't carry over.

The plan price doesn't move, Basic is $29/mo (annual) like Core, but you trade BigCommerce's zero gateway fees for Shopify's transaction fee on third-party gateways unless you use Shopify Payments. The part that costs stores real money is search traffic. URL structures usually differ between platforms, so without a redirect from every old product and category URL to its new home, rankings you spent years earning can leak away within weeks. Having led SEO work, I'd crawl the old store first, redirect every URL that gets traffic or links, and only then place a real test order and point the domain.

My read of the verified data on this page, checked against vendor sources on September 23, 2026. Disagree or spot an error? Tell Bill

Estimate · your inputs

Switching Cost & Friction Estimator

Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.

25,000
10

Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.

Estimated Migration Time —
Data Friction Rating —
Total Hidden Switching Cost $0

    Why teams move from BigCommerce to Shopify

    Flat price regardless of sales

    No auto-upgrade tied to a GMV threshold.

    Largest app/theme ecosystem

    The biggest marketplace in e-commerce.

    Widely adopted

    Easier hiring and community support.

    How the migration actually works

    Shopify charges transaction fees on third-party payment gateways unless you use Shopify Payments; BigCommerce charges none at any tier.

    StepWhat you do
    1Export your catalog and customersDownload products, variants, customers and order history as CSV from the old platform.
    2Create your Shopify storeSign up for the Basic plan and start its trial.
    3Import your catalogUse the new platform’s CSV import tool to bring in products, variants and customer records.
    4Rebuild your theme and storefrontRecreate your storefront design; themes are not compatible between platforms.
    5Reinstall apps or extensionsFind and configure equivalents for any apps or extensions your old store relied on.
    6Test checkout and switch your domainPlace a real test order end to end, then point your domain at the new store and take the old one offline.

    What this path doesn’t do for you:

    BigCommerce’s built-in multi-channel selling and zero transaction fees on any gateway have no exact Shopify equivalent without relying on its app ecosystem or Shopify Payments.

    Pricing side by side

    PlanBigCommerceShopify
    Pricing basisPer store, GMV-gated tiersPer store, flat
    Entry priceCore $29/mo (annual)Basic $29/mo (annual)
    HostingIncludedIncluded
    Transaction feesNone, any tierOn 3rd-party gateways unless Shopify Payments
    Free planNo, 15-day trialNo, 3-day trial

    Prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 23, 2026.

    Feature parity check

    CapabilityBigCommerceShopify
    Pricing basisGMV-gated tiersFlat
    Transaction feesNone, any tierOn 3rd-party gateways
    App ecosystemSmallerLargest in category
    Price$29/mo$29/mo

    Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?

    Read the BigCommerce vs Shopify comparison Switching from Shopify to BigCommerce instead?
    Verified data

    Security & access: what changes when you switch

    Security, offline and access rules that differ between BigCommerce and Shopify. Rows where both tools are the same (3) are left out; the full side-by-side is on each tool’s page: BigCommerce, Shopify.

    What changesBigCommerce (today)Shopify (after)
    ISO/IEC 27001CertifiedsourceNot published
    Other certificationsISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO 22301sourcePCI DSS Level 1, SOC 3source
    Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)Not publishedYesShopify Plussource
    SCIM user provisioningNot publishedYesShopify Plussource
    Two-factor authenticationNot publishedYesEnforcement: Shopify Plussource
    Admin audit logNot publishedYesShopify Plussource
    Offline modeNot documentedPartialThe Shopify POS app can complete checkouts offline with cash, custom payment methods and (once activated) card payments on supported readers; customers, gift cards, returns and inventory/order sync need internet, and orders sync automatically on reconnect.source
    Offline limits—Offline card payments need POS app 9.14.0+, a supported Shopify reader, a staff permission, and are capped by per-device daily and per-transaction limits.source
    Office & room hardwareIn-store selling is handled through point-of-sale integrations (third-party POS) that connect to the store on every plan.sourceShopify POS runs on iOS/Android and supports Shopify card readers (POS Go, POS Terminal, Tap & Chip and others) plus retail hardware such as barcode scanners and cash drawers.source
    Editorial assessment

    Before you cut over

    • Set up single sign-on in Shopify on Shopify Plus before you invite the team, so accounts are created through your identity provider rather than by hand.
    • Shopify adds offline access (partial): install the mobile app for staff who work on the move.

    Checked September 24, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does Shopify import BigCommerce data?

    Not automatically. Export products and customers as CSV and import them into Shopify.

    Will it cost more?

    The published entry price is identical ($29/mo); watch for Shopify Payments vs third-party gateway transaction fees, which BigCommerce doesn’t charge.

    Do I still avoid transaction fees?

    Only if you use Shopify Payments; other gateways carry a transaction fee that BigCommerce does not charge at any tier.

    Does my product catalog transfer automatically?

    Not fully automatically. Export products and customers as CSV from the old platform and import them into the new one; themes, custom code and installed apps/extensions are rebuilt by hand since they don’t carry over between platforms.

    Sources

    Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.

    Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.

    Cite this page: HelpCompare, “Switching from BigCommerce to Shopify”, helpcompare.com/bigcommerce-to-shopify-migration/ (updated ).

    Source links on this site are checked every month; last check . How sources are checked.

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    Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
    About the author

    Bill Belcamino

    Founder and author, HelpCompare

    Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent eight and a half years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

    “I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

    Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 23, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.