What line items typically make up a full Shopify Plus migration quote (discovery, design, dev, QA, training, post-launch support)?
Short answer
A Shopify Plus migration quote has six line items, not one price: discovery, design, development, quality assurance (QA), training and post-launch support. Only development needs splitting further, so ask for it as named components you can price and cut. Deploi's replatforming record puts most of an illustrative $75,000 to $400,000 migration in data and integrations (Deploi decision record, October 2026).
- Historical order import
- Migration app or Order and Transaction APIsShopify's Help Center lists product and customer CSV imports, but only migration apps and APIs for historical orders, so the quote needs its own line for order history.Source: Shopify Help Center (Migrate to Shopify)
- Record estimate, mid-market migration
- $75,000 to $400,000 one-timeData, theme, integrations, redirects and training for a $20M to $100M store leaving a self-hosted or licence-based platform: the replatforming record's illustrative estimate, not a quote.Source: Deploi Build vs. Buy (WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Should You Replatform?)
- Record estimate, timeline
- 3 to 9 months end to endDriven by catalog size, integration count and custom checkout logic rather than theme design: the replatforming record's illustrative estimate.Source: Deploi Build vs. Buy (WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Should You Replatform?)
- Shopify's charge to migrate
- None; the Plus fee is separateShopify doesn't charge you to migrate. Plus starts at $2,500 USD a month on a 1-year term or $2,300 on a 3-year term, or a variable platform fee for more complex business structures.Source: Shopify (Shopify Plus pricing)
Deploi’s call
Six lines make up a Shopify Plus migration quote, and development is the only one worth interrogating. The test is whether it decomposes into named storefront components. A quote that will not break down that way is not hiding a margin; it is hiding an assumption about what gets built.
BuySign the migration quote when
- The development line names five to eight storefront components, each with its own estimate, so one can be cut without reopening the rest.
- The data line says how historical orders arrive, because Shopify's Help Center lists only migration apps and the Order and Transaction APIs (application programming interfaces) for them (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- The quote says whether it includes the Plus fee, which starts at $2,500 USD a month on a 1-year term or $2,300 USD on a 3-year term (Shopify Plus pricing, October 2026).
- Cutover lands at least a full quarter clear of peak season, as Deploi's replatforming record advises (Deploi decision record, October 2026).
WaitSend the quote back when
- Development arrives as one number, which leaves nothing to phase when the launch date moves.
- Order history, checkout logic or an active subscription program is missing, so each returns later as a change order.
- The quote is silent on the Plus fee, the theme purchase and third-party apps.
Basis: WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Should You Replatform?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored BUY.
What does each line item in a Shopify Plus migration quote buy?
Each line item in a Shopify Plus migration quote buys its own deliverable: discovery a scope; design templates; development the components, integrations and data migration; quality assurance (QA) test evidence; training a handover; and support a response window.
| Line item | What it produces | What moves its price |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Scope, data map, integration inventory | Systems touching the store |
| Design | Design system and templates | New work versus re-skinning |
| Development | Storefront components, integrations, data migration | Component count, integration depth |
| Quality assurance (QA) | Test matrix and evidence it ran | Payment methods, markets, business-to-business (B2B), subscriptions |
| Training | Merchandiser and operations handover | Team size, custom features |
| Post-launch support | Defined window, response commitment | Length, severity terms, billing basis |
Shopify charges nothing for the move: "Shopify doesn't charge you to migrate, but paid services are available to accommodate custom needs" (Shopify Plus pricing, October 2026). So every line item is paid services work. In our experience, discovery is the line buyers question most, so whether a paid discovery phase is normal has its own answer.
Which line items in a migration quote can be priced as one block?
Discovery, design, training and post-launch support can each be priced as one block, because each is an activity with a known shape. Nobody wants a discovery invoice itemized by interview. Quality assurance (QA) is an activity too, but how to size a checkout QA budget has its own answer.
Development is different, because development is not one thing. It is a set of storefront components, and each one has its own scope, its own risk and its own ability to be cut. A quote that gives one number for development gives you nothing to negotiate with and nothing to phase.
What should the development line of a migration quote break down into?
A Shopify Plus migration quote's development line should break down into five to eight named components, each priced on its own.
| Component | What it covers | What moves its scope |
|---|---|---|
| Art-directed hero and banner system | Separate desktop and mobile art for heroes and banners | Layouts and campaigns |
| Collection merchandising | Product rails, category tiles, in-grid promo tiles | Templates and merchandising rules |
| Filters and faceted navigation | Facet filters over Shopify Search & Discovery | Catalog size, facet count |
| Design system and component library | Shared code snippets, style settings and icons | New work versus re-skinning |
| Integrations | Enterprise resource planning (ERP), reviews, loyalty | System count, sync direction |
| Data migration | Products, customers, orders, redirect map | Record counts, sources, history depth |
Each component can be cut or delayed alone, so the quote can be phased against a launch date, not renegotiated. Deploi's replatforming record puts most of a mid-market migration's cost in data and integrations, not the theme (October 2026). Selling in several markets re-runs some of these components and adds new ones, such as market price lists, so check what multi-market selling adds to a Plus quote.
Which work do Shopify Plus migration quotes usually leave out?
Shopify Plus migration quotes usually leave out three pieces of work: order history, checkout logic and subscriptions.
- Order history. Shopify imports products and customers from comma-separated values (CSV) files, but historical orders need a migration app or the Order and Transaction APIs (application programming interfaces) (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). So decide where order history will live before cutover, not after.
- Checkout logic. Shopify Scripts, small pieces of code that customized discounts, shipping and payment options, stopped running on 30 June 2026 (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). So logic from Scripts gets rebuilt as Shopify Functions, and checkout customizations from the old platform as Functions or checkout user interface (UI) extensions. That makes checkout logic a development line priced per integration, not a configuration line.
- Subscriptions. An active subscription program is a separate project, not a row inside the migration, so plan the subscription migration on its own timeline.
Which costs sit outside an agency's Shopify Plus migration quote?
In our experience, three costs sit outside most agency quotes for a Shopify Plus migration: the Plus platform fee, a theme purchase and third-party apps. Plus starts at $2,500 USD a month on a 1-year term or $2,300 on a 3-year term, "or a variable platform fee for more complex business structures" (Shopify Plus pricing, October 2026). Shopify's Plus pricing page lists the other optional costs as "one-time theme purchases and any third-party apps you need" (Shopify Plus pricing, October 2026). Deploi's replatforming record adds that extensions become app subscriptions, and a stack of them can quietly exceed the plan itself (October 2026). So ask whether a quoted total includes all three. A quote that leaves them out is not cheaper: it moves them into your first months on Plus.
How do you test a Shopify Plus migration quote before you sign?
Test a Shopify Plus migration quote by asking the agency to re-issue the development line as five to eight named components, with hours against each. An agency that has built these components before can do it the same day. An agency that cannot is quoting from a template, and you will find out which during the build. Then check whether the price follows your scope or your size with the two-quote test for revenue-based pricing.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- What we’ve seen
- Buyers negotiate hardest on discovery, which is usually the smallest line and the one that most affects the accuracy of every other line. The bargaining power sits in the component list, not in the phase totals.
- Where we disagree
- The industry norm is to price a migration as a project. We think the honest unit is the component, because that is the unit that gets cut when the date moves, and every migration date moves.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Shopify changes the Plus starting fee ($2,500 USD a month on a 1-year term, $2,300 USD on a 3-year term as of October 2026), or starts charging to migrate.
- Shopify adds historical order import to the admin's spreadsheet tools, which would shrink the data migration line.
- Shopify retires another checkout or theme surface, which adds a rebuild line to every migration quote.
- Deploi re-scores its replatforming record, or the record's illustrative $75,000 to $400,000 migration estimate moves.
- Your scope gains a market, an enterprise resource planning integration or a subscription program after the quote is issued.
Follow-up questions
What's inside the number
- Does agency pricing scale linearly with store GMV/complexity, or is there a flat baseline cost regardless of a mid-market brand's specific size?
Agency pricing tracks scope, not gross merchandise value (GMV).
- How much does adding international/multi-market complexity (Managed Markets setup, multi-currency) typically add to a Shopify Plus project quote?
Shopify Managed Markets, the cross-border service with Global-e as merchant of record, adds a per-transaction fee to Shopify Plus projects, not a build line.
- What's a reasonable QA budget or time allocation, as a percentage of total dev time, for checkout testing on a mid-market Shopify Plus store?
Checkout quality assurance (QA) is budgeted by test matrix, not as a percentage of development hours.
Common objections
- Is it normal for agency pricing to include a discovery/audit phase as a separate line item, or should that be free as part of the sales process?
A paid discovery phase is normal, but only discovery that hands you documents another agency can act on is worth paying for.
Related questions
- What does a Checkout Extensibility migration actually cost for a mid-market Shopify Plus store with 5-10 custom checkout integrations?
No published price exists for a Checkout Extensibility migration of 5 to 10 integrations, because cost follows each integration, not the store.
- Should we migrate to a Shopify-native subscription setup, or keep our subscription app (Recharge/Skio) completely separate from the core platform migration timeline?
Subscription billing belongs on its own timeline, not inside the core platform migration.
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing
- Shopify Help Center, Migrate to Shopify
- Shopify Help Center, Shopify Scripts and the Script Editor app
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Should You Replatform?
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Build or Buy Catalog Import & Migration Tooling on Shopify?
- Deploi Shopify Builds, Art-Directed Hero and Banner Systems on Shopify
- Deploi Shopify Builds, Collection Merchandising: Rails, Tiles and In-Grid Promotion on Shopify
- Deploi Shopify Builds, Filters, Faceted Navigation and Progressive Grid Loading on Shopify
- Deploi Shopify Builds, Design Systems and Component Libraries on Shopify