Disclosure: WEBDIGITA appears at position 1. Our WooCommerce development services page covers our build capability and Shopify data migration experience. This guide covers both the business case for moving and the agencies that can manage it.
- Shopify app stack costs average £800-£1,500/month for a mature UK store when email, reviews, bundles, loyalty and subscription apps are aggregated (Shopify App Store analysis, 2026)
- Shopify transaction fees of 0.5-2% on non-Shopify Payments cost a £2M GMV store between £10,000 and £40,000 per year
- UK Shopify to WooCommerce migrations range from £5,000 for simple stores to £25,000+ for stores with custom apps, subscriptions and ERP integrations
The short answer:
Businesses move from Shopify to WooCommerce for five reasons: transaction fee cost at scale, app stack costs that grow faster than revenue, platform ownership (WooCommerce gives full access to the database and codebase that Shopify does not), content and SEO flexibility that WordPress provides but Shopify constrains, and customisation depth for checkout and product logic that Shopify restricts to Plus. If none of these apply to your situation – if you are on Shopify Payments, your app costs are modest, and your content requirements fit Shopify’s CMS – migration is unlikely to generate a positive return.
Quick picks
- Best governance-led Shopify to WooCommerce migration at 40% below market average: WEBDIGITA (from £7,800)
- Best ISO-certified WooCommerce build for regulated sectors: Kanuka Digital (Platinum WooExpert, ISO27001)
- Best for stores that want WooCommerce and ongoing support from one agency: ChilliApple (70+ team, tiered maintenance packages)
- Best for health, DTC and wellness stores migrating from Shopify: Fitpixels (13 years WooCommerce, stores up to £400k/month)
Should you actually move from Shopify to WooCommerce
This is the question most “Shopify to WooCommerce migration” articles skip. Migration has a cost and a risk. Before contacting any agency, run the numbers on whether migration makes commercial sense for your specific store.
| Reason to move | When it applies | When it does not apply |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction fees | Using a non-Shopify Payments provider (Stripe, PayPal, Klarna directly) at significant GMV – fees at £2M GMV cost £10,000-£40,000/year | Using Shopify Payments – transaction fees are 0% on Shopify Payments regardless of plan |
| App stack costs | Monthly app subscription total exceeds £800/month and growing – email, reviews, loyalty, bundles, subscriptions all have Shopify-specific pricing | Using only a handful of apps with modest monthly cost |
| Platform ownership | You need full database access, the ability to customise at code level, or export data without restriction | You are comfortable with Shopify’s hosted model and do not need database-level access |
| Content and SEO flexibility | Large content operation where WordPress CMS and full URL control matters – editorial workflows, author pages, taxonomies | Your content needs are modest and Shopify’s blog and pages cover them |
| Checkout customisation | Need checkout fields, checkout logic or payment flows that Shopify restricts (Shopify Plus gives some, standard Shopify gives very little) | Standard Shopify checkout covers your requirements |
If two or more rows in the “when it applies” column describe your situation, the migration case is worth evaluating seriously. If zero or one apply, the operational overhead of moving to WordPress hosting, plugin maintenance and security patching is unlikely to produce a positive return against the problem you are trying to solve.
What makes Shopify to WooCommerce migration technically different
Shopify locks data behind its API and does not expose database access. WooCommerce is a WordPress database with direct table-level access. The migration journey goes in the harder direction technically – Shopify’s closed system requires API-based data extraction before WooCommerce import, and several Shopify-native concepts have no direct WooCommerce equivalent.
| Shopify concept | WooCommerce equivalent | Migration complexity |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify product variants (options + values) | WooCommerce variable product with attributes and variations | Medium – field mapping differs, 100-variant limit drops away on WooCommerce |
| Shopify collections (smart + manual) | WooCommerce product categories and tags | Medium – smart collection rules need rebuilding as WooCommerce category rules or plugins |
| Shopify metafields | WooCommerce custom fields / ACF | Medium – metafield structure needs mapping to WooCommerce custom field schema |
| Shopify blog posts | WordPress posts | Low – standard export/import with metadata |
| Shopify Pages | WordPress pages | Low – content and meta exports cleanly |
| Shopify Checkout | WooCommerce checkout (fully customisable) | Low build complexity – higher testing requirement for payment gateways |
| Shopify Apps (subscriptions, reviews, loyalty) | WooCommerce Subscriptions, Judge.me / WP Product Review, LoyaltyLion | High if subscriber data needs migrating – plan specific mapping for each app |
| Shopify Payments | WooCommerce Payments / Stripe / Klarna | Low – configure new payment gateways, plan cutover timing |
| Shopify order data | WooCommerce orders in MySQL database | Medium – API extraction then validated import |
| Shopify customer records | WooCommerce customers as WordPress users | Medium – passwords cannot migrate, plan reset email sequence |
Quick comparison: 9 WooCommerce agencies for Shopify migrations
| # | Agency | WooCommerce specialism | UK Base | WooCommerce status | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WEBDIGITA | Shopify-to-WooCommerce migration, governance-led | London / Reading / Birmingham | WooCommerce Partner | £££ |
| 2 | Kanuka Digital | Platinum WooExpert, ISO27001, B2B catalogues | Stafford | Platinum Certified WooExpert | £££ |
| 3 | ChilliApple | WooCommerce + Shopify both, tiered packages | London / Kent | WooCommerce Partner | ££ |
| 4 | Harrison Carloss | Certified Woo Partner, full-service hosting | Staffordshire | Certified Woo Partner | £££ |
| 5 | Fitpixels | 13 years WooCommerce, DTC and health stores | UK | WooCommerce specialist | £££ |
| 6 | Envisage Digital | Multi-platform, WooCommerce + Magento + Shopify | Bournemouth | WooCommerce Partner | £££ |
| 7 | Brown and Brown | Custom WooCommerce, checkout and payment depth | UK | WooCommerce specialist | £££ |
| 8 | Ronins | London / Surrey, WooCommerce retainers | London / Surrey | WooCommerce specialist | £££ |
| 9 | Webheads | 20+ years London, bespoke WooCommerce builds | London | WooCommerce specialist | £££ |
How we selected and ranked these agencies
I evaluated nine agencies against four criteria: confirmed WooCommerce development capability at the depth required for a Shopify data migration, ability to handle product, customer, order and blog content import, UK presence confirmed from public sources, and evidence of post-launch WooCommerce maintenance (since a Shopify to WooCommerce migration creates an ongoing WordPress maintenance responsibility that did not exist on Shopify). WEBDIGITA leads because we have the most explicit experience with this specific migration direction and the governance model that migration to a self-hosted platform requires.
WEBDIGITA appears at position 1 and produced this guide. We applied the same criteria to ourselves as to every other agency on this list.
Pricing key: ££ = budget (£5,000-£10,000) · £££ = mid-market (£7,800-£20,000) · ££££ = established (£20,000+)
Agency profiles
1. WEBDIGITA
Shopify to WooCommerce migration with Shopify data extraction, product and order import, WordPress hosting setup and redirect mapping built into the project scope from day one – priced approximately 40% below the UK market average
- Specialisms
- Shopify to WooCommerce migration, WooCommerce development, Shopify data extraction via API, product catalogue migration, customer and order import, URL redirect mapping, WordPress hosting and security setup, WooCommerce maintenance
- Office Locations
- London, Reading, Birmingham
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- Long-term eCommerce partnerships averaging 8-10 years across B2B and D2C sectors
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce Partner
- Pricing
- From £7,800 – approximately 40% below the UK market average of £13,000 for comparable Shopify to WooCommerce migration engagements
Why choose WEBDIGITA
- The migration scope covers what Shopify-to-WooCommerce specifically requires and what is often absent from generic agency proposals: Shopify API data extraction (not just CSV export), metafield mapping to WooCommerce custom fields, smart collection rule rebuilding as WooCommerce category rules, and WordPress hosting setup with security hardening – the new maintenance responsibilities that come with leaving a hosted platform
- Redirect mapping is treated as a parallel pre-launch workstream – every Shopify URL is mapped to its WooCommerce equivalent before DNS cutover, which is particularly important on this route because Shopify uses a fixed URL structure that differs from WordPress permalink patterns
- Pricing from £7,800 is approximately 40% below the UK market average of £13,000 for mid-complexity Shopify to WooCommerce migrations – boutique team model, not a reduction in migration planning depth
Evidence sources: webdigita.co.uk (woocommerce-development, woocommerce-migration, shopify-migration, service pages), LinkedIn (11-50 employees, founded 2011, London/Reading/Birmingham)
Ideal for
UK Shopify merchants generating £300k to £3M who are moving to WooCommerce for ownership, content flexibility or app cost reasons and need a governance-led migration with explicit Shopify data extraction scope and post-launch WooCommerce maintenance from the same team.
View WEBDIGITA WooCommerce development services →
WEBDIGITA produced this guide and appears at position 1. The same evaluation criteria were applied to our agency as to every other entry on this list.
2. Kanuka Digital
The only WooCommerce agency on this list with both Platinum Certified WooExpert status and ISO27001 information security accreditation – directly relevant for Shopify merchants in regulated sectors migrating to a self-hosted WooCommerce environment where data security becomes the merchant’s responsibility
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and support, Platinum Certified WooExpert, B2B catalogue management, ERP and API integration, ISO27001 information security, LearnDash LMS
- Office Locations
- Stafford, UK
- Team Size
- 11-50 (part of The Cargo Project group)
- Notable Clients
- Bacofoil, Tile Giant, Mountfield Mowers, Willows Veterinary Group, Buy4Pets Online
- WooCommerce Status
- Platinum Certified WooExpert (highest WooCommerce certification tier)
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market to established)
Why choose Kanuka Digital
- Platinum Certified WooExpert status signals the deepest available WooCommerce platform knowledge – when migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce, the destination platform knowledge is as important as the source, and Platinum certification requires demonstrated depth that non-certified agencies do not have to evidence
- ISO27001 is directly relevant for Shopify merchants moving to self-hosted WooCommerce where data security shifts from Shopify’s managed responsibility to the merchant’s – for healthcare, pharmaceutical and regulated sector clients, ISO27001 certification from the agency managing the migration is a procurement requirement
- Bacofoil and Tile Giant as named clients confirm B2B WooCommerce delivery at trade distribution scale – the same product catalogue complexity that Shopify merchants with large B2B operations bring to a migration
Evidence sources: kanukadigital.com (Platinum WooExpert confirmed, ISO9001 and ISO27001 confirmed), named clients on website, WooCommerce Partner Directory, The Cargo Project group
Ideal for
Shopify merchants in healthcare, food, veterinary or regulated B2B sectors moving to WooCommerce who need ISO27001-compliant build and hosting on the destination platform alongside Platinum WooExpert delivery depth.
Think twice if
You need a large team for enterprise-scale parallel workstreams, or an agency with London or multi-city UK offices for in-person engagement. Kanuka is Stafford-based and operates primarily remotely.
3. ChilliApple
The multi-platform agency that maintains Shopify and WooCommerce stores simultaneously – meaning they understand both platforms from the operational side rather than just the build side
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and maintenance, Shopify development and maintenance, Magento support, bespoke plugin development, migrations between platforms, SEO optimisation
- Office Locations
- London (UK management), Kent
- Team Size
- 70+ (UK management with India-based development team)
- Notable Clients
- Versapak, Oxford Products Ltd, Merlin Workwear, As One Telecom
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce Partner
- Pricing
- ££ (budget to mid-market, transparent tiered pricing)
Why choose ChilliApple
- ChilliApple actively maintains both Shopify stores and WooCommerce stores – their Bronze to Platinum support tiers cover both platforms, which means when they receive a Shopify migration they understand the source platform from an operational maintenance standpoint, not just from documentation
- 95%+ client renewal rate on maintenance contracts means Shopify merchants migrating to WooCommerce can expect the same post-launch support relationship to continue rather than handing off to a separate team after launch
- Most cost-effective option on this list with transparent tiered pricing – relevant for Shopify merchants whose primary motivation for migration is reducing platform costs and who do not want to replace Shopify app fees with a high-cost agency retainer
Evidence sources: chilliapple.co.uk (WooCommerce maintenance tiers confirmed, Shopify maintenance tiers confirmed, cross-platform capability), Companies House (registered 2008), LinkedIn (70+ team)
Ideal for
Mid-market Shopify merchants moving to WooCommerce who want the most cost-effective migration and ongoing maintenance combination, and who value working with an agency that understands both platforms from a live operational standpoint.
Think twice if
Your Shopify store has complex B2B catalogue requirements or significant Shopify metafield data that needs careful mapping. ChilliApple’s strongest position is standard WooCommerce at transparent mid-market pricing – complex custom data migrations benefit from a discovery-led scoping process.
4. Harrison Carloss
One of approximately eleven UK agencies to hold Certified Woo Partner status – and the agency most likely to bundle hosting, maintenance and marketing alongside the migration for Shopify merchants who want a full-service relationship post-launch
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and maintenance, WordPress, hosting and support, API integrations, HubSpot, SEO, paid media, branding, green hosting
- Office Locations
- Staffordshire, UK
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- Cottage Delight, The Residence Collection, Angel Remy Hair Extensions, Crazy Price Beds
- WooCommerce Status
- Certified Woo Partner
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market)
Why choose Harrison Carloss
- Certified Woo Partner – one of only approximately eleven UK agencies with this certification, which gives them priority WooCommerce support channels and exclusive access to WooCommerce Academy training that filters through to how their team handles platform-level issues post-migration
- Hosting and ongoing support are part of the same agency relationship – when a Shopify merchant migrates to WooCommerce they acquire new WordPress hosting and security responsibilities that did not exist on Shopify. Harrison Carloss bundle hosting alongside the migration and ongoing support, eliminating the coordination gap between a build agency and a separate hosting provider
- Founded 1972 as a marketing agency, which means the Shopify merchants in lifestyle, homewares and gifting sectors who move for content and marketing reasons get strategic marketing support available alongside the technical migration
Evidence sources: harrisoncarloss.com (Certified Woo Partner confirmed, hosting and support confirmed, green hosting confirmed, client testimonials)
Ideal for
Shopify merchants in lifestyle, gifting or homewares sectors moving to WooCommerce for content and marketing reasons who want hosting, maintenance and ongoing digital marketing from the same full-service agency relationship.
Think twice if
Your migration is primarily technical – complex Shopify app replacement, subscription data migration or ERP rewiring. Harrison Carloss is a full-service marketing and web agency; for technically complex migrations a more development-focused WooCommerce specialist is a better fit.
5. Fitpixels
The UK WooCommerce specialist currently managing stores up to £400,000 per month – the production-scale evidence that matters for Shopify DTC merchants who worry WooCommerce cannot handle their order volume
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and maintenance, managed hosting, security hardening, performance optimisation, Core Web Vitals, health and wellness eCommerce, DTC
- Office Locations
- UK
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- Health, wellness and fitness brands including supplement companies, online pharmacies, CBD stores
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce specialist (13 years)
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market, named plan tiers: Foundation, Growth, Full-Service)
Why choose Fitpixels
- Currently managing WooCommerce stores handling up to £400k per month – the most specific evidence on this list that WooCommerce can handle DTC revenue scale, which directly addresses the concern most Shopify merchants have when evaluating migration
- 13 years WooCommerce-specific experience covering the performance engineering, security hardening, database optimisation and hosting architecture that WooCommerce stores require to operate reliably at scale – exactly what a Shopify merchant moving from a fully managed platform needs from their first WooCommerce agency
- Direct team access with no account manager relay – for Shopify merchants who have experienced Shopify’s support model, the jump to a WooCommerce agency where the engineer working on their store is directly reachable is often named as a meaningful operational improvement
Evidence sources: fitpixels.uk (13 years WooCommerce confirmed, £400k/month stores confirmed, named maintenance plan tiers: Foundation, Growth, Full-Service)
Ideal for
Shopify DTC merchants in health, wellness and fitness generating £500k to £5M who are concerned about WooCommerce’s ability to handle their traffic and order volume – Fitpixels’ current client base at £400k/month directly answers that concern.
Think twice if
Your Shopify store operates outside health, wellness or DTC. Fitpixels’ sector specialism is narrow by design – a B2B manufacturer or fashion brand moving from Shopify to WooCommerce will find less directly relevant sector experience here than a DTC supplement brand would.
6. Envisage Digital
The Bournemouth multi-platform agency for Shopify merchants migrating to WooCommerce who run other platforms alongside Shopify and need one agency maintaining the full environment post-migration
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and maintenance, Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, Laravel, 24/7 support options, SEO, UX design
- Office Locations
- Bournemouth, UK
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- Specialist Crafts, Kinetico, Poles and Blinds, Drinkaware
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce Partner
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market, 24/7 support options available)
Why choose Envisage Digital
- Multi-platform capability across WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce and Laravel means that Shopify merchants migrating to WooCommerce who also run other systems (a separate Magento B2B portal, a BigCommerce wholesale channel) can have one agency maintaining the entire environment rather than coordinating separate specialists
- 24/7 support options are explicitly available – relevant for WooCommerce stores with international customers or overnight trading where a 9-5 UK agency creates a support gap that Shopify’s managed hosting previously covered automatically
- Founded 2008 – their WooCommerce maintenance experience predates most of the agencies on this list, which means they have dealt with the WordPress security, PHP version and plugin compatibility issues that Shopify merchants encounter for the first time when they take on a self-hosted platform
Evidence sources: envisagedigital.co.uk (platform support pages, 24/7 options confirmed, Specialist Crafts and Kinetico case studies), LinkedIn (Bournemouth UK, founded 2008)
Ideal for
Shopify merchants migrating to WooCommerce who also run Magento or other platforms, or those needing 24/7 post-launch support from an agency with a long WooCommerce maintenance track record.
Think twice if
You need a WooCommerce-only specialist. Envisage’s breadth across five platforms distributes their WooCommerce team depth across a wider scope than a pure WooCommerce specialist agency.
7. Brown and Brown
The custom WooCommerce agency for Shopify merchants whose primary migration reason is checkout customisation – because WooCommerce allows the checkout modifications that Shopify restricts to Plus or blocks entirely
- Specialisms
- Custom WooCommerce development, checkout and payment gateway configuration, trade and wholesale pricing, ERP integration, long-term partner model
- Office Locations
- UK
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- UK eCommerce businesses in retail, B2B and trade sectors
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce specialist
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market)
Why choose Brown and Brown
- Checkout and payment gateway expertise across Stripe, Klarna, Opayo, Worldpay, Apple Pay and Google Pay – for Shopify merchants moving because Shopify restricts checkout customisation, Brown and Brown’s documented checkout depth means the WooCommerce checkout can be configured exactly as required without compromise
- Trade and wholesale pricing capability covers the B2B Shopify merchants who are moving because Shopify B2B on Plus does not cover their specific trade pricing logic and WooCommerce with B2BWoo or WholesaleX gives them more configurability at lower cost
- Long-term partner model – their WooCommerce page confirms many clients rely on them as their ongoing WooCommerce partner for updates, security, UX improvements and feature additions, which matters for Shopify merchants who are taking on new platform maintenance responsibilities
Evidence sources: brownandbrown.co.uk (WooCommerce page, checkout expertise confirmed, trade pricing confirmed, long-term partner model confirmed, payment gateway list confirmed)
Ideal for
Shopify merchants whose primary migration reason is checkout customisation or trade pricing flexibility – stores that need checkout logic, payment gateway configurations or B2B pricing structures that Shopify restricts without Plus, or restricts even on Plus.
Think twice if
You need formal WooCommerce certification or ISO accreditation for a procurement process. Brown and Brown are a capable technical partner whose credentials are evidenced through delivery rather than formal certification.
8. Ronins
The London and Surrey WooCommerce agency whose retainer model covers patching, bug fixes, SEO and hosting under one agreement – the package of services that Shopify merchants are taking on for the first time when they move to a self-hosted platform
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development and retainers, migrations between platforms, SEO, CRO, hosting, B2B and retail eCommerce
- Office Locations
- London and Surrey
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- UK retailers and scale-ups across B2B and consumer sectors
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce specialist
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market)
Why choose Ronins
- WooCommerce retainer packages covering patching, bug fixes, SEO, CRO and hosting under one agreement – this is the complete set of new responsibilities that a Shopify merchant takes on when they move to WooCommerce. Ronins offer it as a named, consolidated package rather than requiring the merchant to source each element separately post-migration
- London and Surrey presence provides in-person access for Shopify merchants whose teams are based in or around London – relevant for those who want a closer working relationship than a purely remote agency model
- Migration capability confirmed in both directions – they have delivered migrations between platforms and understand the operational continuity challenges that arise during the cutover period when both platforms are live simultaneously
Evidence sources: ronins.co.uk (WooCommerce retainer packages confirmed, patching/bug fixes/SEO/CRO/hosting scope confirmed, London and Surrey offices)
Ideal for
London-based Shopify merchants migrating to WooCommerce who want a single agency covering the migration and the full post-launch retainer (hosting, security, patching, SEO) without assembling separate services after launch.
Think twice if
You need formal WooCommerce certification, ISO accreditation, or a large team for complex data migration scopes. Verify their active Shopify-to-WooCommerce migration experience specifically in a discovery conversation before committing.
9. Webheads
The London agency with 20+ years of web development experience and an ongoing support model for bespoke WooCommerce stores – relevant for Shopify merchants moving to WooCommerce for deep customisation that Shopify’s theme architecture does not support
- Specialisms
- WooCommerce development, bespoke theme development, plugin customisation, payment gateway integration, ongoing support and maintenance
- Office Locations
- London
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Notable Clients
- UK businesses in retail, professional services and eCommerce
- WooCommerce Status
- WooCommerce specialist
- Pricing
- £££ (mid-market)
Why choose Webheads
- 20+ years of web development experience including WooCommerce builds from early in the platform’s life – longevity at this scale in London signals consistent client retention and platform knowledge depth that most newer agencies have not yet accumulated
- Bespoke theme development for WooCommerce means that Shopify merchants moving for design and customisation reasons get a genuinely custom WooCommerce frontend rather than an off-the-shelf theme adapted from a Shopify aesthetic
- Ongoing support positioned as a core service rather than an afterthought – relevant for Shopify merchants who are accustomed to Shopify’s managed support and who need to understand that WooCommerce requires proactive agency maintenance, not reactive ticket handling
Evidence sources: webheads.co.uk (20+ years confirmed, WooCommerce and ongoing support services confirmed), multiple UK agency roundups, LinkedIn (London UK)
Ideal for
London-based Shopify merchants moving to WooCommerce for design and customisation reasons who want bespoke theme development and a long-term ongoing support relationship with a London agency.
Think twice if
You need formal WooCommerce certification, ISO accreditation, or specific Shopify-to-WooCommerce migration case studies. Verify their active migration portfolio and process for Shopify data extraction in discovery before committing.
What changes when you move from Shopify to WooCommerce
The new responsibilities that come with WooCommerce
Shopify is a hosted platform. Your store runs on Shopify’s infrastructure, Shopify manages security updates and uptime, and Shopify’s support team handles platform-level issues. Moving to WooCommerce means taking on all of these responsibilities yourself, through a WooCommerce agency or a managed WordPress hosting provider.
Specifically, a Shopify merchant moving to WooCommerce takes on: WordPress core updates, WooCommerce plugin updates, theme and plugin conflict management, hosting performance and capacity management, SSL certificate management, security monitoring and malware scanning, database backups and restore testing, and PHP version management as WordPress requirements advance. These are not reasons not to migrate – they are reasons to factor an ongoing WooCommerce maintenance retainer into the migration cost calculation before committing to the decision.
Questions to ask before starting a Shopify to WooCommerce migration
- Have you calculated your actual Shopify cost reduction after accounting for WooCommerce hosting and maintenance? Transaction fee savings are real. App subscription savings are real. WooCommerce hosting (£50-£200/month) and agency maintenance retainer (£500-£1,500/month) are real costs that come the other way
- What WooCommerce hosting environment will the agency set up? Managed WordPress hosting (WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways) reduces the operational burden significantly compared to a shared hosting environment. Get the hosting recommendation in writing before the project starts
- How is Shopify subscription app data migrated? If your store uses Recharge or Bold Subscriptions on Shopify, the subscriber records, billing cycles and card tokens do not transfer automatically. This needs explicit scoping
- What is the redirect strategy for Shopify’s fixed URL structure? Shopify uses /products/, /collections/ and /blogs/news/ prefixes. WooCommerce WordPress uses configurable permalink structures. Every URL that changes needs a 301 redirect set up before the domain points to WooCommerce
Final recommendation
Shopify to WooCommerce is a genuine migration direction that almost no UK agency explicitly advertises – which means the merchants who need it get poor search results and end up speaking to agencies who pitch WooCommerce from a development standpoint without understanding the Shopify-specific data extraction challenges.
The agencies on this list are WooCommerce specialists who understand both platforms well enough to manage the migration in the right direction. For most mid-market Shopify merchants, the decision on which agency to choose follows from why they are leaving Shopify. Moving for content and SEO flexibility: Harrison Carloss or Webheads. Moving for checkout customisation or B2B pricing: Brown and Brown or Ronins. Moving for sector-specific WooCommerce depth in DTC or health: Fitpixels. Moving for ISO-certified governance or regulated sector requirements: Kanuka Digital. Moving for the most cost-effective migration and ongoing maintenance combination: ChilliApple. Moving for a governance-led migration at 40% below the UK market average: WEBDIGITA.
For context on what WooCommerce maintenance looks like after migration, the WooCommerce maintenance agencies guide covers the ongoing support model you are signing up for when you leave Shopify’s managed hosting.
Frequently asked questions
1. Why would a business move from Shopify to WooCommerce?
Businesses move from Shopify to WooCommerce for five main reasons. First, transaction fees: Shopify charges 0.5-2% on transactions processed through non-Shopify Payments providers - at £2M GMV this costs £10,000-£40,000 per year. Second, app stack costs: a mature Shopify store aggregating email, reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, bundles and search apps typically pays £800-£1,500 per month in recurring app fees that have no direct equivalent cost on WooCommerce. Third, ownership: WooCommerce gives full database access and code ownership that Shopify does not. Fourth, content and SEO flexibility: WordPress provides full URL control, editorial workflow capability, and content management depth that Shopify constrains. Fifth, checkout customisation: WooCommerce allows the checkout modifications and payment gateway configurations that Shopify restricts to Plus or blocks entirely. If none of these apply to your specific situation, the operational overhead of moving to a self-hosted platform is unlikely to generate a positive return.
2. How much does a Shopify to WooCommerce migration cost in the UK?
UK Shopify to WooCommerce migration costs range from £5,000 for a simple store with a small product catalogue and no subscription billing, to £25,000 or more for stores with custom Shopify apps requiring plugin rebuilds, subscription customer data migration and ERP integration rewiring. The UK market average for a mid-complexity migration is approximately £13,000. Webdigita's Shopify to WooCommerce migrations start from £7,800, approximately 40% below this market average. Post-migration, budget for WooCommerce hosting (£50-£200 per month for managed WordPress hosting) and an ongoing maintenance retainer (£500-£1,500 per month) - these costs did not exist on Shopify and need to be factored into the ROI calculation before committing to migration.
3. Will I lose my Shopify SEO rankings when migrating to WooCommerce?
Not if the migration is managed correctly. The URL structure change from Shopify to WooCommerce is the main SEO risk. Shopify uses fixed URL prefixes (/products/, /collections/, /blogs/news/) that differ from WooCommerce's configurable permalink structure. Every URL that changes without a 301 redirect is an organic traffic leak. A competent agency will crawl every Shopify URL, map each to its WooCommerce equivalent, implement 301 redirects before DNS cutover, and submit updated sitemaps within 48 hours of launch. A temporary ranking adjustment of 2-6 weeks is normal during any platform migration. Permanent ranking loss results from incomplete redirect mapping, not from the migration itself.
4. What Shopify apps need to be replaced when moving to WooCommerce?
Most Shopify apps have WooCommerce plugin equivalents. The most significant replacements are: Recharge or Bold Subscriptions (replace with WooCommerce Subscriptions - subscriber data requires careful mapping and billing continuity planning), Klaviyo (has native WooCommerce integration), Yotpo or Okendo reviews (replace with Judge.me or WP Product Review), LoyaltyLion (has WooCommerce support), and Shopify's built-in checkout (replaced by WooCommerce's fully customisable checkout). Shopify's managed security, hosting and platform updates have no plugin equivalent - these become agency and hosting responsibilities that must be covered by a maintenance retainer and managed WordPress hosting after migration.
