PrestaShop to Shopify Migration in 2026: Real Cost, Timeline, and What Actually Breaks

TL;DR

Migrating from PrestaShop (8 or 9) to Shopify takes 3 to 10 months and costs €20,000 to €600,000+ depending on catalog complexity, module count, multi-shop and multi-language setup, and whether you go native Shopify Plus or headless. For most mid-market fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands operating on PrestaShop 8 or 9 with moderate B2B and ERP integration, the migration lands in the €60,000 to €200,000 range and completes in 3 to 6 months.

Brands are leaving PrestaShop in 2026 for a specific reason: in February 2026, Polish hosting group Cyber_Folks acquired PrestaShop from Fortidia (formerly MBE Worldwide) for €53.7 million. Eight weeks later, on 10 April 2026, the company announced a formal PSE (Plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi, statutory group redundancy process) affecting a significant share of its ~347-person team. Release cadence is intact (PrestaShop 9.1.0 shipped in March 2026 with the Hummingbird 2.0 theme), but every merchant we speak to is asking the same question: is PrestaShop still the right long-term home under new ownership? On the underlying platform, PrestaShop has been in structural decline: 156,539 live stores as of July 2026, down from a peak of 218,906 in Q4 2021, a 28% drop over four years. Yearly decline is running around 15%.

What actually breaks in a PrestaShop to Shopify migration: custom modules built on hooks and Symfony bundles, Smarty templates, product features and combinations logic, customer group and specific-price hierarchies, multi-shop configurations, native i18n translations, custom checkout overrides, PrestaShop's Shopping Experiences equivalents, and Southern European payment and shipping stacks (PayPlug, Alma, Redsys, Nexi, Colissimo, Correos, Poste Italiane). Everything else is a solved problem with the right playbook.

At Ask Phill, we have delivered 200+ Shopify migrations across fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands, including a PrestaShop to Shopify replatform for Lamptwist that delivered a 2.5x faster platform and a 12% conversion rate lift, as well as complex replatforms from Magento (Pink Gellac, PAUW), Salesforce Commerce Cloud (Denham), and Shopware. The PrestaShop playbook is roughly 90% the same as those; the 10% that is different is what this guide is about.

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Why brands are leaving PrestaShop in 2026

PrestaShop has been the leading e-commerce platform in France for over a decade and holds strong second-tier positions in Spain, Italy, and Poland. PrestaShop 9 is a technically competent Symfony-based product. But the platform economics, velocity gap versus Shopify Plus, and now the ownership uncertainty have changed the conversation. Six drivers dominate the discussions we have with PrestaShop brands in 2026.

1. The Cyber_Folks acquisition and April 2026 layoffs. On 18 February 2026, Polish hosting group Cyber_Folks S.A. (listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, based in Poznań) acquired PrestaShop from Fortidia for €53.7 million via its Cyber_Pixel subsidiary. Eight weeks post-close, on 10 April 2026, PrestaShop announced a formal PSE process, subject to DREETS approval. Cyber_Folks now runs a three-tier e-commerce stack: Shoper (SMB), PrestaShop (mid-market), and Sylius (enterprise headless). The strategic role of PrestaShop within that portfolio is not yet clear, and merchants are rightly asking hard questions about roadmap, security patch cadence, and community support commitments.

2. Platform decline is real. PrestaShop's live-store count peaked at 218,906 in Q4 2021 and stood at 156,539 as of July 2026, a 28% drop over four years and roughly -15% year on year. Merchants who leave PrestaShop split roughly between WooCommerce and Shopify as destinations. That is a structural shift in the platform's centre of gravity, not a temporary dip.

3. Module compatibility hell. PrestaShop's plugin model (hooks, module.php, Symfony bundles from PrestaShop 9 onward) means every major-version upgrade is effectively a rebuild for merchants with any meaningful customization. Custom overrides break during core updates. Third-party modules often lag major releases by six to twelve months. For merchants on PrestaShop 8 considering the move to PrestaShop 9, the effort is comparable to migrating to Shopify. If you are rebuilding anyway, the strategic question is whether to stay on PrestaShop.

4. Release velocity gap. PrestaShop ships major versions roughly once a year (PrestaShop 9.0 in June 2025, 9.1 in March 2026). Shopify ships two Editions per year (Winter and Spring) plus hundreds of interim releases. Spring 2026 alone shipped 215+ features including the Universal Commerce Protocol, native A/B testing (Rollouts), and Hydrogen rebuilt on Vercel. See our Shopify Spring 2026 Edition breakdown for the full picture. The platform gap widens every quarter.

5. App ecosystem depth. The PrestaShop Addons marketplace has ~4,000 modules; Shopify's app store has ~13,000+. For common categories (returns, loyalty, subscriptions, advanced search, personalization, PIM) the Shopify options are more numerous, better maintained, and updated in step with the core platform. For mid-market brands, this means more capability off-the-shelf and less custom development.

6. Native AI and agentic commerce. PrestaShop's response to agentic commerce (products discoverable and purchasable inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot) is minimal. Shopify's Universal Commerce Protocol shipped with Spring 2026 makes every Shopify catalog eligible for AI-driven distribution instantly. For brands prioritizing AI-driven acquisition and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Shopify has a multi-quarter lead.

Brands that were happy on PrestaShop in 2020 are moving in 2026 because Shopify Plus caught up on the multi-language, multi-currency, and EU tax compliance requirements that used to keep merchants on PrestaShop, while pulling ahead on velocity, ecosystem, ownership stability, and AI.

PrestaShop vs Shopify: the honest comparison

Shopify Plus wins on total cost of ownership, developer velocity, app ecosystem depth, release cadence, native retail (POS), AI distribution, admin usability, and time-to-market. PrestaShop retains an edge in a narrow set of scenarios: brands with hyper-specific French tax or accounting integrations that have not yet been ported to Shopify apps, extreme B2C catalog customization where PrestaShop's product features and combinations model was heavily exploited, and brands whose in-house team is exclusively Symfony/Twig-fluent and unwilling to retool.

For most fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands with €5M to €100M in online GMV, none of the PrestaShop-favoring scenarios apply meaningfully. Shopify Plus now handles multi-currency, EU VAT with OSS/IOSS, PayPlug (via app), Alma (BNPL, native app), Klarna, Mollie, Stripe, Redsys, Nexi, Systempay/Payzen, Colissimo, Chronopost, Mondial Relay, Correos, SEUR, Poste Italiane, BRT, and native French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese language checkout out of the box or via well-maintained apps.

For a full head-to-head, we cover this in our dedicated Shopify Plus pricing guide and Shopify Plus Partner evaluation framework.

What a PrestaShop to Shopify migration actually costs

The cost of migrating from PrestaShop to Shopify depends on four variables: catalog complexity, custom module count, integration surface area (ERP, tax, payment, shipping, PIM), and whether the frontend is native Shopify Plus or headless. Our observed ranges from 200+ Shopify migrations, weighted for the PrestaShop pattern:

No-code migration: €20,000 to €50,000, 2 to 3 months

Best for brands on a lightly-customized PrestaShop 8 or 9 setup, clean product data, and standard integrations (a payment gateway or two, one shipping carrier, one marketing tool). Uses a Shopify theme like Dawn or a paid theme with light customization. Data migrated via PrestaShop's Admin API plus a third-party migration tool (Prestify) with manual QA. Fits brands under €5M in yearly revenue with fewer than 5,000 SKUs and no custom PrestaShop modules.

Mid-market accelerator build: €60,000 to €200,000, 3 to 6 months

The most common range for French, Spanish, and Italian fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands migrating from PrestaShop 8 or 9. Includes a custom Shopify Plus theme, complex data migration (products with features and combinations, customer groups with specific prices, historical orders, customer records), 3 to 6 integration rebuilds (ERP like Sage, Cegid, Odoo, or Zoho; PIM like Akeneo; marketing automation like Klaviyo or Splio; POS; Southern European payment mix), and a full SEO migration with 301 redirect mapping.

Custom enterprise migration: €180,000 to €600,000+, 6 to 12 months

Headless Shopify Plus (Hydrogen, Next.js, or Remix), deep ERP/OMS/WMS integration, multi-country and multi-language (FR/ES/IT/PT/EN at minimum), custom checkout with Shopify Checkout Extensibility, complex B2B with hierarchical company structures and contract pricing, and specialized retail requirements. Fits brands with 20,000+ SKUs, multiple legal entities, and PrestaShop multi-shop footprints that need careful mapping to Shopify's Expansion Stores plus Markets architecture.

The ongoing cost story is where the migration pays back

The initial project is the visible line item. The ongoing savings are where PrestaShop-to-Shopify migrations produce genuine TCO wins.

• Platform fee: PrestaShop's software is free but hosting, security patches, module licences, and maintenance typically cost €800 to €3,000/month for a mid-market brand once you include hosting (OVH, Kinsta, WP Engine-tier), premium modules, and monthly maintenance retainer. Shopify Plus is $2,300 USD/month or 0.35% of GMV, whichever is greater, plus a 0.20% third-party transaction fee (waived if you use Shopify Payments). Once you account for hosting, security, module licences, and maintenance, Shopify Plus is usually comparable or cheaper at mid-market volumes.
• Module and app maintenance: €15k to €60k/year on PrestaShop (custom modules, module licences, hook overrides, upgrade fixes) drops substantially on Shopify because more capability is native or app-based with automatic updates.
• Implementation partner spend: French, Spanish, and Italian PrestaShop agencies typically bill €90 to €180/hour for even routine work; Shopify partners have lower average rates in comparable geographies and higher productivity per hour on comparable scope.
• Development velocity: feature releases that took 6 to 12 weeks on PrestaShop typically ship in 2 to 4 weeks on Shopify. That compounds into meaningful revenue when you can iterate faster.

For a full year-by-year comparison, request a paid discovery workshop and we will model your specific TCO. Or read the Shopify Plus TCO breakdown for the full cost stack.

How long a PrestaShop to Shopify migration takes

A typical PrestaShop to Shopify migration runs 3 to 6 months from kickoff to launch for a mid-market brand. Enterprise PrestaShop migrations with multi-shop, multi-language, and deep ERP integration run 6 to 12 months. The phases stack roughly like this.

Discovery (weeks 1 to 4). Audit the PrestaShop store: catalog structure (products, features, combinations, attributes), custom module inventory (native hooks, Symfony bundles from PrestaShop 9), specific prices and customer group logic, multi-shop configuration, sales channels, ERP integration (Sage, Cegid, Odoo, Zoho, Xentral for cross-border DACH), payment providers, shipping carriers, VAT and tax setup (especially OSS/IOSS for cross-border EU), SEO URL structure, and historical order/customer data volumes. Map integration requirements. Define the target Shopify architecture (native Plus vs headless). Deliver an architecture decision document.

Design (weeks 3 to 10, parallel). UX and UI design for the new Shopify Plus theme or headless storefront. For most PrestaShop brands this is also a rebranding or design-refresh opportunity. Define performance budgets per page type (LCP, CLS, INP targets) before development begins.

Data migration mapping (weeks 4 to 12). Map PrestaShop data schemas to Shopify equivalents. Products, features, combinations to Shopify variants + metafields, specific prices to B2B price lists, customer groups to Shopify Customer Segments and B2B companies, categories to collections, historical orders, redirects. Identify which custom PrestaShop fields become Shopify metafields or metaobjects. Build the migration scripts. PrestaShop's Admin API is well-documented for PrestaShop 8 and 9; the transformation phase is where most of the effort sits.

Development (weeks 8 to 22). Theme build (or headless storefront build), custom Shopify Functions for checkout logic, app installations and configuration, ERP and PIM integration development, custom admin extensions if needed, CMS setup (Shopify sections/metaobjects for native theme, or Contentful/Sanity/Storyblok for headless). Runs in parallel with data migration testing.

QA and staging migration (weeks 18 to 24). Full data migration to a staging Shopify store. Redirect map verification. Order flow testing. Multi-currency and multi-market testing (Southern European specific: VAT, PayPlug, Alma, Redsys, Nexi, Colissimo, Correos). B2B flow testing if applicable. Load testing.

Launch and post-launch (weeks 20 to 26). Cutover from PrestaShop to Shopify with DNS switch. Real-time monitoring. Redirect verification via Google Search Console. Post-launch hypercare for 4 weeks with rapid-response development capacity. PrestaShop hosting and module contract wind-down.

Fastest possible timeline: a smaller PrestaShop 8 or 9 brand with clean data and no custom modules can migrate in 6 to 10 weeks. Slowest realistic timeline: enterprise PrestaShop multi-shop builds with deep ERP integration and multi-country roll-out land at 10 to 14 months. Anything faster than 6 weeks or slower than 14 months usually means the scope was misjudged.

What actually breaks in a PrestaShop to Shopify migration

Most migration guides skip this. This is the editorial answer to "what will go wrong that I have not budgeted for."

1. Custom modules with no Shopify equivalent. PrestaShop's module ecosystem is built on hooks and (from PrestaShop 9) Symfony bundles. Enterprise PrestaShop stores commonly have 20 to 80 modules installed. Common problem areas: advanced pricing logic, custom shipping calculators, French/Spanish/Italian tax edge cases (auto-entrepreneur regimes, reverse charge, OSS/IOSS handling), and product configurators. Solutions: some become Shopify Functions, some become Shopify Apps, some become metaobjects, some genuinely need custom development. Module audit is week-one work.

2. Product features and combinations. PrestaShop's variant model uses "features" (product-level attributes) and "combinations" (variant-level attributes with their own stock, price, and SKU). Maps to Shopify variants (up to 100 per product on Basic, expandable via metaobjects for extreme catalogs) plus metafields for feature-level data. Migration requires an attribute-level design decision upfront: which PrestaShop features become Shopify options, which become metafields, which become tags. Get it wrong at week two and you rebuild in week fifteen.

3. Customer groups and specific prices. PrestaShop supports multiple customer groups with graduated pricing (specific prices attached to products, categories, or store-wide). Shopify handles this via B2B price lists (per company or catalog) and Customer Segments. Mapping is straightforward architecturally but data-heavy in practice, especially for B2B-heavy brands with hundreds of price rules.

4. Multi-shop configuration. PrestaShop's multi-shop feature (multiple storefronts on one backend, sharing catalog or with independent catalogs per shop) maps to Shopify Expansion Stores on Plus (9 included) plus Shopify Markets for country-specific presentation within a single store. The mapping is generally cleaner than PrestaShop's model but requires re-architecting how storefront-specific content is managed and whether you want one Shopify store per country or one Shopify store with Markets.

5. Multi-language content. PrestaShop's native i18n stores translated fields directly in the product, category, and CMS records. Shopify handles this via Shopify Markets + Translate & Adapt (or via a headless CMS layer like Sanity). The translation export from PrestaShop is programmatic via the Admin API, but the target Shopify structure needs deliberate mapping, especially for CMS page content that lived inside PrestaShop's CMS block system.

6. Smarty templates do not port. PrestaShop's frontend is built on Smarty templates. These do not translate to Shopify Liquid or Hydrogen. The frontend is a full rebuild either way. This is not unique to PrestaShop (every replatform has this cost) but is worth naming so no one arrives at week four surprised.

7. SEO equity if URL redirects are not mapped carefully. The single most-cited migration failure. PrestaShop URL structures use /id-category/slug for categories and /id-product/slug for products by default (configurable via the SEO tab). Shopify uses /collections/handle and /products/handle. Every existing indexed URL needs a 301 redirect to its Shopify equivalent. Miss this and organic traffic drops 30 to 60% in the first six weeks post-migration. See the SEO migration checklist below.

8. Historical order and customer data. Migrating years of order history and customer accounts requires careful mapping. Shopify has strict data limits per resource, and most migration guides will tell you to leave older orders behind. At Ask Phill, we aim to migrate up to 10 years of historical orders so brands keep customer lifetime value data, repeat-purchase history, and CRM segmentation intact. It takes deliberate mapping and staged imports, but the alternative (running PrestaShop in maintenance mode as an archive) creates a permanent data debt.

9. Southern European payment providers. PayPlug (native French PSP), Alma (BNPL leader in France), Stripe, Mollie, PayPal, Klarna, Systempay/Payzen (bank-owned French gateway), Redsys (dominant Spanish gateway), Nexi (dominant Italian gateway), Scalapay (BNPL popular in Italy and Spain). All are supported natively or via app on Shopify Plus, but the configuration and testing surface is larger than most SaaS payment integrations. PayPlug and Alma are the two you should not underestimate for French brands.

10. VAT / OSS / IOSS and Southern European tax compliance. PrestaShop has strong native VAT handling for EU cross-border. Shopify Plus handles this via Shopify Tax (native) plus optional Avalara AvaTax or Taxdoo integration for edge cases. The switchover requires re-verification against your accountant's setup; do not assume automatic parity. French auto-entrepreneur, Spanish Recargo de Equivalencia, and Italian IVA regimes have specific edge cases worth budgeting time for.

11. ERP and PIM integrations. PrestaShop typically integrates with Sage (100c and X3 lines popular in France and Spain), Cegid (retail-heavy in France), Odoo (Belgian/French mid-market), Zoho (Southern European SMB), Xentral (Franco-German cross-border), and Akeneo for PIM. On Shopify, most of these have first-party or well-maintained third-party apps or integrations via Celigo, Boomi, or middleware. Do not underestimate.

12. Custom checkout logic. If your PrestaShop checkout has custom steps (age verification, GDPR-specific consent capture, prescription verification, or custom validation logic), rebuild via Shopify's Checkout Extensibility API (Plus only). Cannot be replicated on Basic or Advanced plans.

Everything on this list is solvable. None of it is a reason to stay on PrestaShop. It is a reason to budget for a serious discovery phase and pick an experienced Platinum Partner who understands the French, Spanish, and Italian market specifics.

PrestaShop 8 to Shopify migration: important context

PrestaShop 8 runs on Symfony 4.4, which has been out of official Symfony support since November 2023. Merchants still running PrestaShop 8 in 2026 are on an unsupported Symfony version and typically also on outdated PHP (7.x or 8.0/8.1).

Timeline for PrestaShop 8 to Shopify: typically 3 to 6 months.

Cost: €20,000 to €120,000 depending on customization and integration count.

Migration approach: PrestaShop 8 data extraction is programmatic via the Admin API (well-documented since PrestaShop 1.7) plus direct database extraction for edge cases. The rebuild work is where the effort sits, not the extract. Custom PrestaShop 8 modules do not translate; every custom capability needs to be re-implemented on Shopify.

For brands on PrestaShop 8, the strategic question is not "PrestaShop 8 or Shopify" but "Shopify or PrestaShop 9". Both require significant rebuild work because PrestaShop 8 to 9 changes the underlying Symfony version from 4.4 to 6.4 and requires module compatibility work across the stack. Shopify's velocity, cost, ecosystem, and post-acquisition-uncertainty advantages usually win the comparison.

PrestaShop 9 to Shopify migration: what is different

PrestaShop 9 is a modernized product built on Symfony 6.4 LTS with support through November 2027, PHP 8.1 to 8.5, and (in 9.1) the new Hummingbird 2.0 theme built on Bootstrap 5 with 95%+ EAA (European Accessibility Act) compliance. Compared to PrestaShop 8, the data model is cleaner and the extraction is more programmatic, but the frontend rebuild is where the bulk of the work goes.

Key differences vs PrestaShop 8:

• Cleaner API extraction (PrestaShop 9 Admin API is more consistent, Symfony 6-native)
• Frontend needs full rebuild (Hummingbird templates do not port to Shopify Liquid or Hydrogen)
• Customer groups and specific prices map more cleanly to Shopify B2B price lists
• Multi-shop configuration is programmatically cleaner to export in PrestaShop 9
• Shopping Experience content maps cleanly to Shopify sections or a headless CMS

Cost parity with PrestaShop 8: in our experience, migrating from PrestaShop 9 typically costs about the same as PrestaShop 8. The data model is cleaner and the API extraction is more programmatic, but the frontend rebuild dominates the effort either way.

PrestaShop to Shopify migration tools: how it actually works

Unlike Magento's ecosystem or the bespoke-script-heavy Shopware pattern, PrestaShop has an established off-the-shelf "PrestaShop to Shopify" migration tool that handles a substantial share of the automated data transfer. Enterprise PrestaShop migrations still typically use bespoke scripts for the custom pieces, but the tooling landscape is more mature than Shopware's.

Prestify (Shopify App Store, launched February 2022 by Anglerfox). Plans start at $19 one-time. Migrates products with combinations, customers, orders, categories to collections, reviews, images, and CMS pages. Preserves SEO 301 redirects. Unlimited re-migrations on paid plans. Well-maintained and specifically built for the PrestaShop path. Best for: mid-market brands with a clean PrestaShop catalog and standard integration surface.

Bespoke migration scripts. The typical approach for enterprise PrestaShop replatforms with custom modules, complex multi-shop, or hyper-specific integration data. Custom Node.js or Python scripts read PrestaShop data via the Admin API (PrestaShop 8+) or direct database extraction, transform to Shopify's schema, and write via Shopify's Admin GraphQL API using bulk operations. This is what Ask Phill uses for enterprise PrestaShop migrations. Handles the edge cases the off-the-shelf tools do not: custom module data, specific-price rule migration, multi-shop mapping, Shopping Experience content, custom checkout logic.

Matrixify (formerly Excelify). A Shopify app for CSV-based bulk import and export. Excellent for mid-market PrestaShop migrations where the data volume is manageable and the transformation is straightforward. Cost: $50 to $200/month. Best for: brands with agency support who need fine-grained control over how PrestaShop data maps to Shopify fields.

PrestaShop Admin API export. PrestaShop 8 and 9 expose a well-documented Admin API. Extraction is programmatic via /api/products, /api/customers, /api/orders, and the CMS endpoints. Rate limits are the constraint; large catalogs need batched extraction.

The tool question matters less than the partner question for PrestaShop migrations. Prestify handles the mechanical data transfer well, but it does not handle module logic, custom Symfony bundles, multi-shop mapping, or Shopping Experience rebuilds. That is where a Platinum Partner earns their fee.

SEO migration checklist: protect the organic traffic

Losing SEO equity is the single most-cited failure of PrestaShop to Shopify migrations. It is entirely preventable with discipline. The checklist we run on every enterprise migration:

Before launch:

1. Crawl the entire PrestaShop site with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Export every URL that returns a 200 status.
2. For each URL, define the Shopify equivalent and build a comprehensive redirect map (spreadsheet with old URL, new URL, redirect type).
3. Preserve URL structure where possible. Where PrestaShop and Shopify URL patterns diverge (PrestaShop's /id-product/slug product URLs vs Shopify's /products/<handle>), test the redirect at scale using the SEO URL slug field where available.
4. Rebuild internal links to point to new URLs before launch, not after.
5. Rebuild XML sitemaps for the new Shopify store and prepare for submission.
6. Preserve title tags and meta descriptions where the content still makes sense. Do not rewrite everything.
7. Migrate structured data (product schema, breadcrumb schema, FAQ schema) with the new URL structure.
8. Preserve hreflang tags on multi-language sites. This is where Southern European multi-language stores most often lose traffic.

At launch:

9. Implement all 301 redirects at cutover, not after.
10. Submit new sitemap to Google Search Console immediately.
11. Verify robots.txt allows crawling.
12. Verify canonical tags point to the correct new URLs.
13. Request indexing on the top 100 URLs via GSC URL Inspection.

Post-launch monitoring:

14. Monitor GSC Coverage report daily for the first four weeks. Watch for crawl errors, soft 404s, and coverage drops.
15. Monitor organic traffic in GA4 or your analytics tool. Expect a 5 to 15% dip in the first two weeks that recovers within four to eight weeks if redirects are clean.
16. Fix any 404s from important URLs immediately. Do not wait.
17. Monitor Core Web Vitals. Shopify's platform typically improves LCP and CLS materially versus PrestaShop, which itself helps rankings within 60 to 90 days.

Skipping any step on this checklist is where migrations lose traffic. We estimate 60 to 80% of migration SEO failures come from redirect map gaps or delayed 301 implementation.

B2B PrestaShop to Shopify B2B migration

PrestaShop's B2B capability is delivered via a combination of native customer group logic, specific price rules, the "B2B" module, and third-party modules for quotes, purchase orders, and account hierarchies. It works, but it is more assembly than out-of-the-box. Shopify B2B has reached feature parity with what most PrestaShop B2B implementations actually use. Winter '26 shipped native B2B on Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus plans; the enterprise-grade B2B feature set lives on Plus. See our complete B2B on Shopify guide for the full feature comparison.

Key mapping considerations for B2B PrestaShop to Shopify:

• PrestaShop customer groups with specific prices become Shopify B2B companies with location-specific catalogs and B2B price lists
• PrestaShop graduated pricing (specific price rules) become Shopify B2B volume pricing and quantity rules
• PrestaShop payment methods (bank transfer, on-account, deferred) map to Shopify B2B payment terms (Net 15, 30, 60, 90, custom) plus Klarna or Riverty for deferred consumer-style payment
• PrestaShop B2B module company accounts and role permissions become Shopify B2B company profiles with buyer permissions
• PrestaShop quote workflow modules map to Shopify draft orders and dedicated quote apps
• PrestaShop wishlist and reorder features map to Shopify B2B customer portal reorder functionality
• PrestaShop tax rules per customer group map to Shopify Customer Segments and B2B tax overrides

Most PrestaShop B2B feature parity now exists in native Shopify B2B on Plus. Some edge cases (highly customer-specific pricing at scale, EDI workflows with Sage or Cegid, per-buyer contract pricing) benefit from Shopify Plus with Custom App integration for ERP and EDI providers.

Southern European payment and shipping: the specific mapping

This is the section that separates a generic migration guide from one that actually helps French, Spanish, and Italian brands. PrestaShop merchants in Southern Europe run a payment and shipping stack that is materially different from the Anglo default. Here is the mapping.

France payment providers.

• PayPlug (native French PSP owned by Oney): supported on Shopify via the PayPlug for Shopify app. Handles cards, Bancontact, and localized flow.
• Alma (French BNPL leader, 2-4x installments): supported on Shopify natively via the Alma app. Widely adopted in French fashion and lifestyle.
• Stripe, Mollie, PayPal: native or via first-party integration.
• Klarna: native Shopify partner. Handles Pay Later and installment flows widely used across France.
• Systempay / Payzen (bank-owned, common with Crédit Agricole, Société Générale): available on Shopify via specialized apps or the third-party payment gateway framework.

Spain payment providers.

• Redsys (dominant Spanish gateway, bank-network operator): available on Shopify via specialized apps and third-party gateway integration. Non-trivial but well-trodden.
• Stripe, Mollie, PayPal, Klarna: native or first-party.
• Scalapay (BNPL popular in Spain and Italy): native Shopify app.

Italy payment providers.

• Nexi (dominant Italian gateway): available on Shopify via specialized apps or third-party gateway framework.
• Scalapay, Klarna: native or first-party apps.
• PostePay and Satispay (local Italian payment methods): via specialized apps.

France shipping carriers. Colissimo (La Poste, default for many French e-commerce sites), Chronopost, Mondial Relay (pickup-point leader), GLS. All available via Sendcloud or Shippo on Shopify, plus dedicated Colissimo and Mondial Relay apps.

Spain shipping carriers. Correos (default), SEUR, MRW, GLS. Via Sendcloud, Shippo, or dedicated apps.

Italy shipping carriers. Poste Italiane, BRT, DHL, GLS. Via Sendcloud, Shippo, or dedicated apps.

Local payment mix reality. According to European market data, digital wallets now represent 38% of European transaction value, with credit cards materially weaker on the Continent than in the UK or US (France 20%, Italy and Spain lower). Account-to-account payments dominate in some markets (Netherlands 64% via iDEAL). Home delivery remains dominant in Southern Europe at 61% of shipments, with parcel lockers and parcel shops growing but still secondary. Configure your Shopify checkout to reflect this local reality; do not assume Anglo card-first defaults.

For Southern European brands, the payment and shipping migration is the single most detail-sensitive part of the entire replatform. Under-scope this and the launch feels wrong to end customers even if everything else works.

What replaces your custom PrestaShop modules on Shopify

Every PrestaShop merchant has a stack of custom modules that do specific things. Here is how the most common categories map to Shopify equivalents.

• Custom pricing rules and specific prices map to Shopify Functions (discount, delivery, payment customization APIs) on Shopify Plus, plus B2B price lists for account-level pricing
• Advanced merchandising modules become Shopify Search & Discovery app, or third-party apps like Voyado, Bloomreach, Klevu, Algolia
• CMS block modules (Shopping Experiences equivalents) become Shopify sections and metaobjects (native theme) or headless CMS pages (Sanity, Contentful, Storyblok)
• Product configurator modules become custom Shopify apps built with the App Bridge framework, or third-party configurator apps (Zakeke, Product Options)
• French, Spanish, Italian tax modules become Shopify Tax (native) plus optional apps like Avalara AvaTax, Taxdoo, or hellotax for OSS/IOSS and Southern European edge cases
• Payment provider modules (PayPlug, Alma, Redsys, Nexi, Systempay, Klarna, Mollie, Scalapay) become Shopify Payments (native) or supported gateway apps: PayPlug and Alma are native Shopify apps as of 2026
• Shipping carrier modules (Colissimo, Chronopost, Mondial Relay, Correos, SEUR, Poste Italiane, BRT) become Shopify Functions delivery customization API plus shipping apps (Sendcloud, Shippo, Ingrid, or dedicated carrier apps)
• ERP connector modules (Sage, Cegid, Odoo, Zoho, Xentral, plentymarkets) rebuild via app or Custom App on Shopify (Odoo has native connector; Sage typically via integration platform like Celigo, Boomi, or middleware; Cegid via specialized apps)
• B2B customer group modules become Shopify B2B companies, price lists, and customer segments
• Custom checkout steps use the Shopify Checkout Extensibility API (Plus only)
• CMS content modules rebuild as Shopify sections + metaobjects or as pages in a headless CMS
• Multi-shop modules map to Shopify Expansion Stores (Plus, 9 included) plus Shopify Markets

The one-to-one mapping does not always exist. Some PrestaShop module capability requires rethinking rather than replicating. This is where an experienced Platinum Partner earns their fee.

Ask Phill's Shopify migration authority

We have migrated Lamptwist.com from PrestaShop to Shopify, which resulted in a 2.5x faster platform and a 12% bump in conversion rate. We are actively working with more brands on PrestaShop replatforms in 2026. What we can also point to is the underlying enterprise migration capability that transfers directly:

• Denham (Amsterdam-based premium denim): migrated from Salesforce Commerce Cloud to a headless Shopify Plus setup with Contentful CMS. See the full Denham case study and our SFCC to Shopify migration guide. SFCC is arguably a harder migration than PrestaShop because SFCC has a larger custom cartridge and API surface.
• Pink Gellac (Dutch nail care leader): migrated from Magento to Shopify 2.0 with a custom starter theme and Tapcart app integration. 12% conversion lift on launch day. See the full Pink Gellac case study.
• PAUW (luxury multi-brand fashion, 26 stores across the Netherlands): migrated from Magento to Shopify Plus with integrated Odoo (ERP), Akeneo (PIM), Klaviyo (marketing automation), and Shopify POS across all 27 retail locations for unified commerce. See the full PAUW case study.

The PrestaShop playbook is roughly 90% the same as our Magento, SFCC, and Shopware playbooks. The 10% that is different (module architecture, features and combinations, multi-shop, Southern European payment and shipping mix, Symfony extensions) is what this guide is about. If you are evaluating a PrestaShop replatform and want to see the depth of our enterprise migration work firsthand, the paid discovery workshop is where we build your specific migration plan.

Post-migration: what to expect in the first 90 days

The first 90 days on Shopify after leaving PrestaShop have a predictable rhythm.

Weeks 1 to 2: hypercare. Real-time monitoring of orders, checkout, integrations. Expect 3 to 6 minor issues per week that require rapid fixes. Have your development partner on retainer with dedicated capacity. Southern European specific watch items: VAT calculation on cross-border orders, PayPlug and Alma transaction flow, Redsys and Nexi acceptance rates, Colissimo and Correos label generation.

Weeks 3 to 6: SEO stabilization. Organic traffic dips 5 to 15% then recovers as Google reprocesses your redirect map and re-indexes URLs. Watch GSC Coverage report daily. If traffic does not recover by week 8, the redirect map has gaps. Multi-language sites: verify hreflang implementation with the International Targeting report.

Weeks 4 to 8: PrestaShop hosting and module wind-down. PrestaShop hosting contracts (OVH, Kinsta, or dedicated hosting) are typically monthly or annual with specific termination clauses. Plan the wind-down carefully; some brands run PrestaShop and Shopify in parallel for 2 to 4 weeks during cutover for zero-downtime safety, which adds cost but reduces risk.

Weeks 6 to 12: performance measurement. Core Web Vitals improvements start showing up in Google's ranking signals. Most brands see 15 to 40% organic traffic growth compared to their PrestaShop baseline within 90 days if the migration was executed cleanly. Site speed improvements are typically dramatic, particularly for PrestaShop stores that were carrying a heavy custom-module load.

Weeks 8 to 12: iterate on the new capabilities. Start using capabilities PrestaShop did not have or made harder to use: Shopify Functions for discount and checkout logic, native A/B testing (Rollouts, shipped in Spring 2026), Shopify B2B if applicable, Klaviyo integration depth, Shopify POS unified retail (if you run physical stores).

Month 4 onward: unlock growth. With platform uncertainty, module maintenance burden, and hosting fragility removed, teams can focus on revenue-generating projects instead of firefighting. This is where the migration ROI compounds and where most PrestaShop-to-Shopify brands see step-change improvements in commercial velocity.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a PrestaShop to Shopify migration take in 2026?

A typical PrestaShop to Shopify migration takes 3 to 6 months for a mid-market brand. Smaller PrestaShop stores with clean data and no custom modules can complete in 6 to 10 weeks. Complex enterprise migrations with headless architecture, multi-shop, multi-country roll-out, and deep ERP integration take 8 to 14 months. The primary variables are custom module count, integration surface area, and multi-shop or multi-language complexity.

How much does it cost to migrate from PrestaShop to Shopify?

PrestaShop to Shopify migration costs range from €20,000 for a no-code migration to over €600,000 for full enterprise headless implementations with deep Southern European integration work. Most mid-market fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands land in the €60,000 to €200,000 range for a Shopify Plus rebuild. Ongoing cost savings post-migration typically deliver 2 to 4x lower total cost of ownership over three years compared to remaining on PrestaShop when you account for hosting, module licences, security, and maintenance.

Will my SEO rankings drop after migrating from PrestaShop to Shopify?

Not if the migration is executed correctly. A properly implemented 301 redirect map, preserved title tags and meta descriptions, correctly rebuilt hreflang tags on multi-language sites, and rebuilt structured data typically causes a temporary 5 to 15% traffic dip in the first two weeks that fully recovers within four to eight weeks. Many brands see organic traffic growth of 15 to 40% within 90 days because Shopify's Core Web Vitals scores materially outperform PrestaShop's typical output. Skipping the SEO migration checklist is the most common cause of permanent traffic loss during platform migrations.

Should I migrate from PrestaShop 8 to PrestaShop 9 or to Shopify?

PrestaShop 8 runs on Symfony 4.4, which is out of official Symfony support since November 2023. PrestaShop 8 to PrestaShop 9 is a major-version upgrade with breaking changes: modules need compatibility work, custom overrides break, and the Symfony version jumps from 4.4 to 6.4. Total cost and timeline are comparable to PrestaShop 8 to Shopify. Given the Cyber_Folks acquisition uncertainty, the platform decline (-28% over four years), and Shopify's velocity advantage, most fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands find Shopify the better long-term destination.

How does Shopify Plus compare to PrestaShop on pricing?

PrestaShop software is free but the true monthly cost (hosting, security patches, module licences, maintenance) typically runs €800 to €3,000/month for a mid-market brand. Shopify Plus is $2,300 USD/month or 0.35% of GMV, whichever is greater, plus a 0.20% third-party transaction fee if you use a non-Shopify payment gateway (waived on Shopify Payments). At typical Southern European mid-market volumes (€5M to €30M online), Shopify Plus is comparable or cheaper on total platform cost. Add lower module maintenance, faster agency hours, and higher release velocity, and the three-year TCO gap widens further.

Can I migrate from PrestaShop B2B modules to Shopify B2B?

Yes. Shopify B2B has feature parity with typical PrestaShop B2B setups (customer groups, specific prices, quote workflow, on-account payment). Shopify B2B supports company accounts with buyer permissions, custom price lists with tiered pricing, net payment terms (Net 15, 30, 60, 90), quantity rules, wholesale channels, and integrated ordering. It is available across all Shopify plans as of 2026, with the enterprise-grade B2B feature set on Shopify Plus. For complex enterprise B2B with heavy Sage or Cegid EDI workflows and per-buyer contracted pricing, Shopify Plus with Custom Apps is typically the right architecture.

What happens to my French, Spanish, and Italian payment providers after migration?

All major Southern European payment providers are supported on Shopify Plus. PayPlug and Alma are native Shopify apps as of 2026. Redsys (Spain), Nexi (Italy), Systempay/Payzen (France) are available via specialized apps or Shopify's third-party payment gateway framework. Klarna, Mollie, Stripe, PayPal, and Scalapay are native or first-party. Test all providers thoroughly during staging, particularly for cross-border EU transactions and BNPL flows.

What about ERP integration (Sage, Cegid, Odoo, Zoho, Xentral)?

All major Southern European ERP systems have paths to Shopify. Odoo has a native Shopify connector. Xentral has a well-maintained third-party app. Sage (100c and X3 lines) integration is typically handled via integration platforms like Celigo, Boomi, or middleware. Cegid via specialized apps. Zoho has a Shopify integration in its marketplace. Each integration is a discrete rebuild during migration; do not assume automatic parity with your PrestaShop setup.

How do I choose between native Shopify Plus and headless Shopify for my PrestaShop replacement?

Choose native Shopify Plus if platform speed, developer velocity, and total cost of ownership are your primary drivers and your PrestaShop customization was moderate. Choose headless (with Hydrogen, Next.js, or Remix) if you need extreme design flexibility, granular content management independence (typically with Sanity, Contentful, or Storyblok), or custom product experiences beyond what Shopify's Liquid templates support. Most mid-market PrestaShop replacements land on native Shopify Plus. See our headless Shopify guide for the full decision framework.

Who has done PrestaShop to Shopify migrations successfully?

At Ask Phill, we have delivered 200+ enterprise Shopify migrations across fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands, including a PrestaShop to Shopify replatform for Lamptwist that delivered a 2.5x faster platform and a 12% conversion rate lift, plus complex replatforms from Magento (Pink Gellac, PAUW), Salesforce Commerce Cloud (Denham), and Shopware. The PrestaShop migration playbook is roughly 90% the same as those; the 10% that is different (module architecture, features and combinations, multi-shop, Southern European payment and shipping mix) is what this guide covers. Choose a Shopify Platinum Partner with specific enterprise replatform experience and French, Spanish, or Italian market fluency for the smoothest outcome. Get in touch to scope your PrestaShop migration in a paid discovery workshop.

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About the author

Martijn Wijsmuller is Co-founder and Commercial Director at Ask Phill, a Shopify Platinum Partner based in Amsterdam. Ask Phill has delivered 200+ Shopify migrations across fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands in Europe, including Nike x Corteiz, American Eagle, Bestseller, Suit Supply, Stokke, Denham, Mr Marvis, Patta, Filling Pieces, Pink Gellac, and PAUW. Get in touch to discuss your PrestaShop migration.

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