The short answer
| Tier | Your store fits when | Fixed price |
|---|---|---|
| SmallStandard Shopify theme set up to your brand, up to 5 apps | Up to 500 products, one currency and language, ordinary extensions, no integrations | from $4,500 |
| Mid-sizeCustom theme work, up to 10 apps | Up to 5,000 products, a design worth rebuilding, a few integrations (email, reviews, shipping) | $9,000 to $18,000 |
| Large or PlusB2B, multi-market, custom apps | Over 5,000 products, customer-group pricing, several store views or currencies, ERP, PIM or warehouse connections | $18,000 to $35,000 |
| Custom piecePer extension with no Shopify equivalent | A private app that rebuilds one piece of logic | $600 to $2,000 each |
Those are the prices. The rest of this page explains what puts a store in one tier rather than another, so you can place your own before you ask us.
The five things that move the number
1. Product count and structure
Shopify imports are fast; checking them is not. Every configurable product has to be verified as the right variants with the right prices and stock. Up to 500 products is a day of checking; 5,000 is a week; beyond that the data work becomes the project. Configurable products with more than 100 variants, or more than three options, need splitting or an app, and each one is listed in the estimate.
2. How much of the design must be rebuilt
Three options, in rising cost:
- Set up a Shopify theme to your brand. Colours, type, logo, layout choices from a well-built theme. Fastest and usually the best on phones. Fits the small tier.
- Rebuild your current design as a custom theme. Your layouts, your sections, your product page, rebuilt in Shopify's theme language. The usual choice for mid-size stores whose design is part of the brand.
- A new design. Priced separately as a design project; we will tell you if we think you do not need one.
3. Extensions with no Shopify equivalent
This is the line that varies most between stores. Most extensions map to a native Shopify feature or an app and cost nothing to replace beyond the app's subscription. The ones that need a custom piece are business logic specific to you: a pricing rule, a configurator, a connection to a system Shopify has never heard of. Each is $600 to $2,000 as a private app, and you choose which to keep. A typical mid-size store has zero to three.
4. B2B, multi-currency, multi-language
Customer-group pricing becomes B2B company accounts and catalogs on Shopify Plus, or discount logic on standard Shopify. Several store views become Shopify Markets. Translations move with an app. Any of these alone can be handled in the mid-size tier; two or more together put a store in the large tier because the testing matrix multiplies.
5. Integrations
Email platform, reviews, shipping and tax services, accounting, a warehouse or ERP. Standard services have Shopify apps and are quick. A custom ERP or PIM connection is a custom piece, scoped from its documentation.
Three worked examples
Illustrative stores, built from the patterns we see. Your own figures come from the estimate.
Small: 320 products, standard theme
320 products (40 configurable), 2,900 customers, 7,400 orders, 9 extensions
- VPS hosting $120/month, developer retainer $400/month
+ Shopify Basic, 3 apps at $62/month, no retainer
- 9 extensions: 6 native in Shopify, 3 replaced by apps
+ 0 custom pieces
- Stock theme lightly customised
+ Shopify theme set up to the brand
Mid-size: 2,300 products, custom design, three custom pieces
2,300 products (410 configurable), 18,000 customers, 61,000 orders, 23 extensions
- 23 extensions: 9 native, 11 replaced by 6 apps, 3 need custom pieces
+ 3 private apps (dealer locator, bulk order form, custom shipping rule) at $2,400 total
- Custom theme from 2019, 3.9 s largest paint on mobile
+ Same design rebuilt as a Shopify theme, 1.4 s
- 4,100 ranking URLs
+ 4,100 redirects
Large: 14,000 products, B2B, two currencies, ERP
14,000 products, 4 customer groups with group pricing, USD and CAD store views, ERP sync for stock and orders
- Adobe Commerce licence plus $900/month hosting plus two developers
+ Shopify Plus, B2B companies and catalogs for the 4 groups, Markets for CAD
- ERP connector built in Magento
+ ERP connector rebuilt as a private app (the largest custom piece, $2,000)
- 30,000 ranking URLs incl. filtered pages
+ Redirect rules covering all patterns
Running costs after the move
The migration is a one-off. These are monthly, billed by the providers to you, and the estimate lists them for your store:
| Cost | Typical range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan | $39 to $399 a month; Plus from about $2,300 | Replaces hosting, SSL, patching and most security spend |
| Apps | $0 to $300 a month for most stores | Listed one by one in the estimate |
| Theme licence | $0 to $400 one-off | Only if a paid theme is chosen |
| Transaction fees | Depends on gateway | Shopify Payments avoids the extra fee where available |
| Care plan (optional) | $300 to $900 a month | Theme and app updates, small changes, monitoring, a named engineer |
For most stores the Shopify plan plus apps costs less than the hosting, patching and retained developer time they were paying on Magento. The estimate shows the comparison for your numbers.
Place your own store, then check it
If you can count your products, list your extensions and look at your design honestly, you can place your store in a tier from this page. The free estimate confirms it with a written, fixed price in two working days.
Questions people ask
Why do other agencies quote $20,000 to $75,000 for a mid-size store?
Several reasons, some fair. Many quotes include a full redesign, which we price separately only when you want one. Many are hourly, so the number is an estimate of hours that tends to grow. Some include months of 'strategy'. And some are simply priced for enterprise buyers. Our tiers are fixed because the shape of a migration is known once the store has been scanned; we price the whole job, and the price does not move unless you add to the scope.
Is the price really fixed? What if something unexpected comes up?
Yes. If we find during the build that something is bigger than the scan showed, we tell you in writing, with the cost and the alternative, before doing it. You decide. Most surprises are an extension that stores data in an unusual place, and most are absorbed within the tier. You will never receive an invoice for work you did not approve in advance.
What is not included in the migration price?
Your Shopify plan, app subscriptions, a paid theme licence if you choose one, and any new photography or copywriting. All of these are listed in the estimate with their monthly or one-off cost so the total is clear. Also not included: a redesign that departs from your current design, which we price as a separate line if you want it.
How is payment structured?
Half at the signed scope, half at launch, by wire transfer or PayPal in US dollars. Custom pieces are invoiced with the launch half. The care plan, if you take it, is monthly from the month after launch and can be cancelled any month.
Can we reduce the cost?
Yes, in three ways. Drop extensions you no longer use before the scan; every one you drop is one fewer to map. Accept a Shopify theme set up to match your brand rather than a pixel-for-pixel rebuild; it is usually faster and better on phones anyway. And clean your catalog: disabled products and empty categories cost time to migrate and nothing to delete.
Do you charge for the estimate or the scope?
The estimate is free. The scope is written after you accept the estimate and is covered by the first payment. If you take the estimate to another agency, that is fine; it is yours.