Guide
30.05.2026
AddonsHub
Migrating from Shoper to PrestaShop — Complete Guide 2026
When your Shoper subscription starts holding you back, it's time to own your platform. Cost comparison, step-by-step data migration, SEO protection and how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
#migracja
#shoper
#prestashop
#ecommerce
#poradnik
#seo
Shoper is a great starting point — a simple dashboard, Polish support, no server configuration. But at some point every growing store hits a wall: product limits, missing modules for advanced B2B logistics, a rising subscription invoice, and most importantly — no full control over your own platform.
If you're reading this article, you're probably at that point. We'll examine when migration makes sense, what it costs, how to carry it out step by step, and how not to lose a single search engine ranking during the move.
30k+
stores
on Shoper
on Shoper
~48h
data migration
time (avg)
time (avg)
-60%
costs after
3 years on PS
3 years on PS
0
SEO positions
to lose*
to lose*
🤔 When does migrating from Shoper to PrestaShop make sense?
Not every store should migrate. Shoper is an excellent solution for stores with a simple product range and limited technical budget. Migration makes sense when:
✅ Migrate when:
- Monthly Shoper subscription exceeds €90–120
- You need advanced B2B (group pricing, quotes)
- You have more than 5,000 SKUs or plan rapid growth
- You need custom integrations with a warehouse or ERP
- You need full multistore (multiple domains and languages)
- You want your own backups and full code control
- You want marketplace integrations on your own terms
❌ Stay when:
- You have fewer than 200 products and simple B2C
- You don't have €1,200–2,500 budget for migration + hosting
- No IT resources to manage a server
- You're just entering the market and testing your model
💰 Cost comparison — 5 years Shoper vs PrestaShop
This is the key argument. Shoper charges a monthly subscription — PrestaShop is a one-time implementation + cheaper hosting:
Cumulative total cost of ownership (EUR) — Shoper vs PrestaShop over 5 years
Estimates for a mid-market store: Shoper Pro plan (~€90/mo), PrestaShop: implementation €1,800 + hosting €35/mo + modules €45/mo
| Cost | Shoper Standard | Shoper Pro | PrestaShop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription / hosting | €45/mo | €90/mo | €23–45/mo |
| Setup / implementation | €0 | €0 | €1,200–3,500 |
| Modules / extensions | included or app store | included or app store | €45–180/mo |
| Sales commission | 0–1% (plans) | 0% | 0% |
| Year 1 | ~€540 | ~€1,080 | ~€2,460 |
| Year 3 | ~€1,620 | ~€3,240 | ~€2,760 |
| Year 5 | ~€2,700 | ~€5,400 | ~€3,260 |
Break-even point for the Pro plan: PrestaShop becomes cheaper after approximately 26 months. From year 3 onwards — every month on Shoper Pro is a loss compared to PrestaShop.
⚖️ Feature comparison — where does PrestaShop win?
Feature score (max 10) — key e-commerce areas
Own assessment based on documentation and testing of both platforms, 2026
| Feature | Shoper | PrestaShop |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use (getting started) | ✓ Very easy | ⚠ Learning curve |
| Available modules / extensions | ⚠ ~300 in app store | ✓ 3,500+ verified |
| Multistore (multiple shops) | ✗ Not available | ✓ Native |
| Multilingual support | ⚠ Limited | ✓ Native, full |
| Customer groups / B2B | ⚠ Basic | ✓ Advanced |
| API / external integrations | ⚠ REST API v1 (limited) | ✓ Full REST API |
| Custom code / templates | ⚠ Liquid templates | ✓ Full Twig/PHP control |
| Marketplace integrations | ✓ Built-in | ✓ Modules (paid) |
| Carrier integrations | ✓ Built-in | ✓ Modules (paid) |
| Own server / backup | ✗ SaaS — no control | ✓ Full control |
| Performance / optimisation | ⚠ Managed by Shoper | ✓ Configurable |
📋 How to carry out the migration — 8 steps
- Audit and planning Count: products, variants, customers, order history. Decide what to migrate (full history vs fresh start). Plan the cut-over date — best on a weekend with low traffic.
- Prepare PrestaShop Install PS on a staging server. Configure the theme, categories, payment methods and shipping. Do not do this on production — test everything first.
- Export data from Shoper Shoper provides CSV export: products (with variants, images), categories, customers (with encrypted passwords — you must ask customers to reset). Orders — history only, via Shoper API.
- Import into PrestaShop Use the native PS importer (Admin → Import) or a migration module. Order: categories first → products → customers → orders. Check that images have loaded correctly.
- URL redirect map (301) The most important step for SEO! Shoper uses URLs in the format /p/xxx-product-name. PrestaShop generates its own slugs. Create a mapping table old URL → new URL and configure 301 redirects in .htaccess or Nginx.
- Staging tests Test: add to cart, payment (test mode), shipping, invoices, transactional emails. Check mobile responsiveness. Launch Google Search Console and check crawl errors.
- Cut-over — DNS switch Change DNS so the domain points to the new server. Propagation time: 1–48h (set TTL to 300s the day before). Keep the old Shoper server active for another 7 days.
- Post-migration monitoring For the first 2 weeks monitor: 404 errors in GSC, SEO rankings (Semrush/Ahrefs), conversion rate in GA4, server logs. React immediately to anomalies.
🔍 URL mapping — how not to lose SEO
This is the biggest fear during any migration. Good news: you can move without losing rankings if you do it properly:
SEO visibility impact (example scenario with 301 redirects)
Simulation based on Google Search Console data from 5 migrations carried out by AddonsHub partners
⚠ Most common mistake: Missing 301 redirects or redirecting everything to the homepage instead of the corresponding pages. Every missing redirect is a potentially lost ranking.
| Page type | Old URL (Shoper) | New URL (PrestaShop) | Redirect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | /p/123-product-name | /en/category/product-name | 301 → new URL |
| Category | /c/123-category-name | /en/category-name/ | 301 → new URL |
| CMS page | /pages/about-us | /en/content/1-about-us | 301 → new URL |
| Blog | /blog/slug | /en/blog/slug | 301 → new URL |
| Cart | /cart | /en/order | 301 → new URL |
⏱️ Migration timeline — realistic schedule
Migration phases (weeks from project start)
Estimates for a store with ~1,000 SKUs, no custom integrations
🚨 Most common migration mistakes
Technical mistakes
- Missing 301 redirect map
- Incorrect mapping of product variants
- Missing product images (wrong paths)
- Reviews and ratings not migrated
- SSL certificate not configured
- Missing canonical URL configuration
Business mistakes
- Migrating during peak sales season
- No testing period on staging environment
- Transactional emails not tested
- Forgetting customer password resets
- No customer communication about the change
- Cancelling Shoper before PS is stable
✅ Pre-launch checklist
- All products imported and checked (random sample of 50 products)
- Categories configured according to original hierarchy
- Payment methods configured and tested (test mode)
- Shipping carriers configured and pricing correct
- Transactional emails: order confirmation, shipping, return
- Invoices generated correctly (VAT, company details)
- SSL active on new server
- URL 301 redirect map loaded and tested
- Google Analytics 4 / Tag Manager configured for new domain
- Google Search Console verified for new server
- Sitemap.xml generated and submitted to GSC
- Custom 404 page with link to homepage
- Mobile test (Core Web Vitals) — LCP < 3s
- Full backup of old Shoper data (complete export)
Tip from AddonsHub: Most PrestaShop modules needed after migrating from Shoper — carrier integrations, marketplace connectors, payment gateways, invoicing — are available in our catalogue. The implementation can be planned so that from day 1 on the new platform you have complete functional parity with the previous one.
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