Shopware migration: real costs and a realistic timeline
"It depends" is the honest answer, but it's not a useful one. Here's what actually drives cost and timeline on a Shopware migration, with real ranges.
Updated September 9, 2026 · 9 min read
Every migration quote request starts the same way: “roughly, what would this cost?” And every honest agency gives some version of “it depends,” which is true but not helpful. So here's what it actually depends on, with real numbers, so you can size your own project before you get on a call with anyone.
What actually drives the cost
It's rarely the platform switch itself that costs money — it's everything attached to your current store. Three things matter most: catalog size and structure (variants, bundles, and custom attributes all add mapping work), the number and complexity of integrations (ERP, PIM, CRM, marketplaces, tax engines), and how much custom logic lives in your current theme or checkout that has no Shopware equivalent out of the box.
| Tier | Typical scope | Budget range |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | < 500 SKUs, no B2B logic, standard payment/shipping only | $8,000 – $20,000 |
| Mid-complexity | 500–5,000 SKUs, one or two ERP/PIM integrations, some custom pricing | $20,000 – $60,000 |
| Complex / enterprise | 5,000+ SKUs, multi-shop or multi-currency, deep B2B rules, several integrations | $60,000+ |
What the budget is actually paying for
A migration quote isn't one line item — it's these six, in roughly this order of effort for most projects:
Data migration
Products, customers, and order history — scoped to how much cleanup the source data needs before it maps cleanly.
Theme redevelopment
Built for Shopware's architecture, not a pixel-for-pixel copy of the old theme.
Plugin migration or rebuild
Existing custom functionality rebuilt as Shopware plugins on public hooks.
SEO migration
URL mapping, 301 redirects, and metadata/structured data carried over — see our migration checklist for the full list.
QA and testing
Functional testing in staging plus a second pass after the final data sync, before cutover.
Post-migration support
A monitoring window after launch, usually folded into the first month of a maintenance retainer.
Cost by source platform
The tiers above hold regardless of what you're migrating from, but where a given project lands within a tier does shift by source platform:
| Migrating from | What tends to drive cost |
|---|---|
| Magento to Shopware | Usually mid-to-high within a tier — Magento's B2B rule engine and custom modules need careful mapping onto Shopware's B2B Suite rather than a straight port. |
| Shopify to Shopware | Often mid-tier — the work shifts from data mapping to rebuilding Shopify app functionality as native Shopware plugins. |
| WooCommerce to Shopware | Frequently needs extra discovery time upfront, since WooCommerce data quality varies more from years of plugin accumulation than the migration work itself. |
| Shopware 5 to Shopware 6 | Cost tracks how many Shopware 5 plugins and theme customizations have no direct Shopware 6 equivalent and need a rebuild rather than a straight upgrade. |
The realistic timeline
Migrations move in five overlapping phases rather than one straight line — theme and plugin work usually starts before data mapping is fully signed off, which is how the total timeline stays shorter than the sum of its parts.
Five-phase Shopware migration timeline: discovery and audit, data mapping, build and theme, migrate and QA, launch and stabilize — typically 7 to 17 weeks total depending on scope.
Discovery & audit
1–2 wks
Catalog, integrations, and data quality assessed
Data mapping
1–2 wks
Products, customers & orders mapped to Shopware's schema
Build & theme
3–8 wks
Storefront, checkout, and custom logic built in parallel
Migrate & QA
1–3 wks
Data moved, every flow tested against the old store
Launch & stabilize
1–2 wks
Go-live, monitoring, and fast-turnaround fixes
Discovery & audit · 1–2 wks
Catalog, integrations, and data quality assessed
Data mapping · 1–2 wks
Products, customers & orders mapped to Shopware's schema
Build & theme · 3–8 wks
Storefront, checkout, and custom logic built in parallel
Migrate & QA · 1–3 wks
Data moved, every flow tested against the old store
Launch & stabilize · 1–2 wks
Go-live, monitoring, and fast-turnaround fixes
What blows up the budget and the timeline
Data quality nobody looked at first
Duplicate SKUs, orphaned customer records, and inconsistent attribute naming don't show up in a demo — they show up mid-migration, and fixing them then costs more than an upfront audit ever would.
"We'll decide the integrations later"
ERP and PIM connections need to be scoped before the build starts, not after. Bolting them on afterward usually means rebuilding parts of the data model.
No content freeze plan
If the old store keeps taking orders and editing products right up to launch, the final sync gets messy. A short, clearly communicated freeze window is cheaper than reconciling drift after the fact.
Treating the theme as a lift-and-shift
Recreating your old theme pixel-for-pixel in Shopware often costs more than designing for the platform's actual strengths — and you inherit the old site's technical debt along with its look.
How we scope this
We start every migration with a short, fixed-price discovery phase — a real audit of your catalog, data quality, and integrations — before quoting the full project. It's the only way to turn “it depends” into a number you can actually plan around. If you're moving from Magento specifically, our Shopware vs Magento comparison is worth reading first. Our migration checklist covers the same six categories above at the step-by-step level, and our Shopware development services page covers what we build once the migration itself is done.
Frequently asked questions
For a straightforward store (a few hundred SKUs, no complex integrations) budget roughly $8,000–$20,000. Mid-complexity stores with ERP/PIM integrations and custom B2B logic typically run $20,000–$60,000+. Large catalogs with heavy customization can exceed that. The catalog and integrations drive cost far more than the platform switch itself.
Want a real number instead of a range?
Send us your current platform, catalog size, and integrations — we'll scope a fixed-price discovery phase within one business day.