What onboarding/setup timeline should a mid-market Shopify Plus merchant expect when implementing Searchspring from scratch?

How long does Athos say a Searchspring implementation takes?

Athos Commerce says an Athos-led implementation takes 8 to 12 weeks and leaves agency-led builds to the agency's own plan (Athos Commerce, October 2026). Agency-led builds use Athos's Snap software development kit (SDK) or its application programming interfaces (APIs). Athos is the company Searchspring became, and what Athos runs on a Shopify store covers the product itself.

On the Athos-led path, the build itself is "a four- to six-week process from requirements approval to integration delivery" (Athos Commerce, October 2026). So most of the calendar goes to work before and after Athos's own build.

What must you deliver before Athos starts the build?

Before Athos starts an Athos-led build, you must deliver store access, a coded design and catalog data in the shape Athos reads (Athos Commerce, October 2026):

1. Store access. Athos requests collaborator access to your Shopify store, and other search apps such as Boost, Searchanise and Fast Simon must come off the theme Athos matches.
2. A coded design. Athos matches "a finalized, production-ready product listing page" on a preview theme or staging store, and changes made mid-build "will delay the project timeline" (Athos Commerce, October 2026).
3. Catalog data. Tags must be Key:Value pairs before Athos can filter on them, and Athos asks you to keep products with metafields to 20,000 or fewer (Athos Commerce, October 2026).

Agency-led Self-Snap and application programming interface (API) builds can start before the design is final (Athos Commerce, October 2026). Shopify Plus is not a precondition either, because Searchspring, now Athos Commerce, runs on standard Shopify plans.

Where does the calendar go between kickoff and go-live?

Between kickoff and go-live, the calendar runs through eight steps in Athos's integration process, and your team owns several of them (Athos Commerce, October 2026):

1. Kickoff call with your Athos project manager, who adds every stakeholder to a project portal.
2. Data and design review, where Athos checks your feed and the page it will match.
3. Requirements document for autocomplete, results, filters, sorts, badges and price displays.
4. Queue. Once Athos approves the requirements, the build waits for a slot in its project queue.
5. Build and testing, where Athos matches your pages, sets up relevance, filters and sorts, and tests browsers and mobile.
6. Your review and revisions. New requirements raised at this stage may cost extra.
7. Training from Athos's customer success team.
8. Go-live, which your team pushes; Athos suggests Monday to Thursday.

Athos says the timeline "varies depending on the complexity of the project, current queue, and holiday seasons", so a start late in the year competes with peak trading.

When is search actually tuned after an Athos launch?

Search is actually tuned after an Athos launch, by your own merchandiser, once Athos's project support ends. Athos keeps the project open "for up to two weeks" after go-live, then hands you to its success and support teams (Athos Commerce, October 2026). The tuning work is synonyms and redirects in the Athos console (Athos Commerce, October 2026), plus boost rules, scheduled campaigns, pinned products and A/B tests (Athos Commerce, October 2026).

Tracking has to run first. Athos recommends removing the older IntelliSuggest script and enabling its Shopify web pixel, and its tracking report "will take a few days for values to populate" (Athos Commerce, October 2026). On an Athos-led build, minor enhancement requests may take one to two weeks in Athos's support queue (Athos Commerce, October 2026). So, in our judgment, plan a tuning quarter after go-live before you judge any conversion lift.

Which platform should a new Searchspring implementation target?

A new Searchspring implementation should target the platform Athos will keep, because a build on the legacy platform adds an upgrade to your timeline. Searchspring is now Athos Commerce, which launched its Intelligent Discovery Platform on 10 June 2026, "available immediately" (Athos Commerce, October 2026). Its August 2025 rollout plan promised Searchspring customers "a clear upgrade path" (Athos Commerce, October 2026), and only the Business Wire copy of that plan adds that legacy platforms "will be gradually retired" from 2027 (Business Wire, October 2026).

So ask which platform your contract puts you on, and price the upgrade into this year's business case. Deploi's Athos versus native record lists the surviving platform and the migration timeline among the questions to ask Athos directly (October 2026).

When is an Athos implementation not the fastest path?

An Athos implementation is not the fastest path when your design, data or storefront is not ready for it. The site search record's illustrative estimate gives a self-hosted Elasticsearch build 8 to 14 weeks (Deploi's site search record, October 2026). That is close to the typical 10 to 12 weeks Athos gives for its own build (Athos Commerce, October 2026), so, in our judgment, buying saves engineering effort more than calendar time.