How to move from Shopify to another platform: a complete checklist

If you decide Shopify is no longer the right fit, you can leave without starting over. Use this checklist, and keep your Shopify subscription active until the end.

Before you start

• Decide your target platform and confirm it can import the files you will export.
• Note your Shopify plan, renewal date and any apps with separate billing.
• Keep your staff and collaborators informed, and agree a quiet date.

What to export from Shopify

From the Shopify admin you can generally export these as CSV files:

1. Products (including variants, prices, images, SEO fields).
2. Customers (names, contact details and addresses).
3. Orders (order history, line items, payments, shipping).
4. Discount codes (many must be recreated by hand).
5. Inventory levels.

Menu names and options change, so follow Shopify's current help pages. Our export checklist covers the other items.

What to copy by hand or with a tool

• Pages, policies and blog posts.
• Collections and navigation menus.
• Your existing URL redirects, if you have set any.
• Shipping rates and tax settings.
• Email templates and notifications.
• Gift cards, store credit and subscriptions, which need a plan of their own.

What cannot move

Your Shopify theme, app data and customer passwords generally do not transfer. Plan to rebuild the design, replace or export app data, and invite customers to set a new password. See what does not migrate cleanly.

Domain

Check where your domain is registered. If you bought it through Shopify, you can either keep it there and point it to the new platform, or transfer it away, which needs the domain to be unlocked, an authorisation code and a domain at least 60 days old. Read transferring a domain away from Shopify and connect vs transfer.

Payments

If you use Razorpay or another gateway, connect it to the new store and run test payments. Check settlement accounts and refund flows. Note any pending refunds or disputes on the old store.

Go-live and after

1. Test the new store end to end.
2. Add your 301 redirects (guide).
3. Switch your domain's DNS.
4. Watch orders, errors and rankings for two weeks.
5. Only then cancel Shopify. Export a final copy of your data first.

Common mistakes

• Cancelling Shopify too early, which can take your store offline and your admin access with it.
• Forgetting email records, so business email stops when DNS changes.
• Skipping redirects, so old product links return errors.
• Ignoring pending orders that were placed just before the switch.

What to do next

Start a trial on the new platform, import five products, and see how well the data maps. That small test tells you how much cleanup the full migration needs.