Migrate WooCommerce to Shopify: subscriptions, custom fields and SEO

To migrate WooCommerce to Shopify, a migration tool moves products, customers and orders. What decides the project is everything else: WooCommerce Subscriptions and saved payment methods, custom fields from plugins like ACF, the plugins your store depends on, your WordPress content, and redirects from WooCommerce's URL structure to Shopify's. This guide covers that part.

What migration tools move well

• Simple and variable products with attributes, images, prices and stock.
• Product categories and tags.
• Customers and addresses.
• Order history.
• Sometimes blog posts and pages, depending on the tool.

The hard parts, WooCommerce-specific

Variable products and attributes

WooCommerce variable products map to Shopify products with variants. Attributes used for variations become product options. Other attributes, such as material, brand or specifications, become metafields. Check Shopify's current limits on options and variants per product before migrating very large variable products.

Custom fields (ACF and others) → metafields and metaobjects

Custom fields created with ACF, Meta Box or theme options often hold the most valuable product content: spec tables, downloads, FAQs, compatibility. Plan them as typed metafields on products and variants, or as metaobjects for repeated structures, and migrate them with a script or an import tool that supports metafields. Generic migration tools often skip them.

Plugins → apps and custom code

Make a list of active plugins and what each actually does. Typical mapping:

WooCommerce Subscriptions

This is the part to plan most carefully:

1. Pick the Shopify subscription app and check its migration support.
2. Confirm your gateway. Shopify supports importing payment methods from Stripe, Braintree, PayPal Express and Authorize.net. Subscribers on other gateways will need to enter a new payment method.
3. Pause renewals in WooCommerce during the migration window.
4. Import customers, payment method references and subscription contracts with the correct next billing dates and prices.
5. Run a test renewal on real (internal) subscriptions before resuming.

WordPress content

Decide early whether WordPress stays:

• Move everything to Shopify: posts to Shopify's blog, pages to Shopify pages, redirects for every post URL. This is simpler to run.
• Keep WordPress for content: Shopify runs the store, WordPress the content. The two sites need careful linking and consistent navigation.

URLs and redirects

Keep slugs identical to Shopify handles where you can. Export every URL from the WordPress sitemap and Search Console, generate the mapping, import it in bulk and test it automatically.

Customers and passwords

WordPress password hashes can't be imported into Shopify. Shopify's current customer accounts use email plus a one-time code, so customers don't need a password. Tell them before launch.

SEO details specific to WooCommerce stores

• Product reviews stored in WooCommerce need exporting into your Shopify review app so ratings and review content carry over.
• Yoast or Rank Math titles and meta descriptions are stored as post meta. Migrate them into Shopify's SEO title and description fields, which most generic tools skip.
• Image URLs under /wp-content/uploads/ sometimes have backlinks or image-search traffic. Redirect the important ones.
• Pagination and filter URLs that are indexed should redirect to the parent collection.
• Trailing slashes. WooCommerce URLs usually end with /, Shopify's don't. Make sure the redirect list includes the exact old form.

Testing the subscription migration

Before switching subscribers over, test with a few internal subscriptions on real payment methods:

1. The imported contract shows the right product, price, frequency and next billing date.
2. The payment method reference is attached and valid.
3. A manually triggered renewal charges correctly and creates an order.
4. The customer can see and manage the subscription where your subscription app says they can.
5. No renewal was charged in WooCommerce during the same period.

Only then import the rest, in batches, with the WooCommerce renewals still paused.

Step-by-step plan

1. Audit products, custom fields, plugins, subscriptions, content and URLs.
2. Decide app, custom build or drop for each plugin function.
3. Define metafields and metaobjects. Set up markets, taxes and shipping.
4. Migrate a sample, check it, then run the full migration.
5. Build the custom replacements and set up subscriptions migration.
6. Generate and import redirects.
7. Test orders, subscriptions, discounts, tax, shipping and emails.
8. Cut over: delta-migrate new orders and customers, switch DNS, monitor.

Pre-launch checklist

• All product, category, page and post URLs 301 to the right place.
• Custom field content appears on product pages.
• Subscription renewals are scheduled correctly and WooCommerce renewals are disabled.
• Replaced plugins work: bundles, options, pricing, checkout fields.
• Test orders complete for each payment method.
• Analytics and marketing pixels fire on the new store.
• Customers know how to sign in.