Migrating from Shopify to BigCommerce represents a strategic move between two powerful hosted SaaS platforms. In 2025, with Shopify's transaction fees, BigCommerce's no-transaction-fee model, and different feature sets, many merchants are making the switch for better pricing or specific BigCommerce capabilities.

This comprehensive technical blueprint covers Shopify's REST Admin API structure, field mappings to BigCommerce's REST API, and step-by-step migration execution.

1. The Strategic Pivot: Why Leave Shopify?

💰 Transaction Fees

The Shopify Pain: Shopify charges transaction fees (0.5%-2%) unless you use Shopify Payments. This can add up significantly for high-volume stores.

The BigCommerce Gain: BigCommerce has no transaction fees on any plan, regardless of payment gateway. More predictable costs for high-volume merchants.

🚀 Built-in Features

The Shopify Pain: Many features require paid apps. Abandoned cart recovery, advanced SEO, and gift cards often need subscriptions.

The BigCommerce Gain: Many features are built-in: abandoned cart recovery, advanced SEO tools, gift cards, and customer segmentation included in base plans.

🛠 Sales Volume Limits

The Shopify Pain: Shopify plans are fixed pricing regardless of sales volume. No automatic upgrades based on revenue.

The BigCommerce Gain: BigCommerce has sales volume tiers, but many merchants prefer this model for predictable scaling costs.

⚡ API & Headless

The Shopify Pain: Shopify's API is robust, but some headless commerce features require Shopify Plus.

The BigCommerce Gain: BigCommerce offers strong headless commerce capabilities and API access on all plans, making it attractive for custom frontends.

2. The Pre-Migration Architecture Audit

Both Shopify and BigCommerce are hosted SaaS platforms with REST API access, making migration more straightforward than to self-hosted platforms.

Shopify Plan: Are you on Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Plus? API rate limits differ by plan.
API Access: Shopify provides REST Admin API. Generate API credentials in Shopify admin.
BigCommerce Setup: Ensure BigCommerce store is created. BigCommerce provides REST API (V2 and V3) and GraphQL API.
Product Structure: Shopify and BigCommerce products map well. Both use similar variant structures.
Images: Shopify images are on Shopify CDN. Need to be downloaded and re-uploaded to BigCommerce CDN.

3. Exact Data Mapping: The Blueprint

Shopify's REST Admin API structure maps well to BigCommerce's REST API.

🛍 Product Data Mapping

Shopify Field (Source)	BigCommerce Field (Target)	Notes & Logic
`Product.id`	`product.id`	BigCommerce generates new IDs. Use SKU for mapping.
`Product.title`	`product.name`	Direct string transfer.
`ProductVariant.sku`	`product.sku`	Shopify SKU is at variant level, BigCommerce at product level.
`ProductVariant.price`	`product.price`	Price per product in BigCommerce.
`Product.body_html`	`product.description`	HTML content. Images need re-uploading to BigCommerce CDN.
`Collection`	`category.name`	Shopify collections become BigCommerce categories.
`Product.options` and `ProductVariant`	`product_options`, `product_option_values`	Shopify variants map well to BigCommerce product options.

👥 Customer Data Mapping

Shopify Field	BigCommerce Field	Critical Logic
`Customer.email`	`customer.email`	Unique identifier.
`Customer.password`	`customer.password` (on create)	Requires password reset. Shopify and BigCommerce use different hashing. Customers must reset passwords.
`CustomerAddress`	`customer_address`	Shopify addresses map to BigCommerce customer addresses.

📦 Order Data Mapping

Shopify Field	BigCommerce Field	Mapping Logic
`Order.name` (order number)	`order.id`	Preserve Shopify order number in BigCommerce order ID or custom field.
`Order.financial_status`, `Order.fulfillment_status`	`order.status`	Map Shopify's dual status system to BigCommerce order statuses.
`Order.total_price`	`order.total_inc_tax`	Direct mapping with currency conversion if needed.

4. The Toolkit: Selecting Your Vehicle

Option A: Automated Cloud Migration (Recommended)

Tools: Migration Shop, LitExtension, Cart2Cart

Specialized tools that connect via Shopify Admin API and BigCommerce REST API.

✅ Pros: Handles API complexity, preserves relationships, creates redirects.
❌ Cons: Cost scales with data ($200 - $500).

Option B: Custom Script

Tools: Shopify Admin API + BigCommerce REST API

✅ Pros: Full control, can customize mapping.
❌ Cons: Requires developer ($100-$200/hr), 30+ hours.

5. Execution Protocol: Step-by-Step

Phase 1: Environment Preparation

1.1. Prepare Target (BigCommerce):
Create BigCommerce store. Generate API credentials in BigCommerce admin (Advanced Settings > API Accounts).

1.2. Prepare Source (Shopify):
Generate API credentials in Shopify admin. Create private app with read permissions for products, customers, and orders.

Phase 2: The Connection Setup

2.1. BigCommerce API Access:
Create API account in BigCommerce with read/write permissions.

2.2. Shopify API:
Use Admin API access token from Shopify. Migration tool authenticates via Shopify REST Admin API.

Phase 3: Migration Execution

Use Automated Tool: Recommended for handling Shopify and BigCommerce API rate limits.
Create 301 Redirects: Critical for SEO preservation.

Phase 4: Post-Migration

4.1. Customer Communication:
Notify customers about the migration. They'll need to reset passwords.

4.2. Verify Products:
Check all products migrated correctly. Verify images, prices, and variants.

6. Financial Breakdown: Cost of Migration (2025)

Custom Script

$3,000+

Developer Time

Automated Cloud

$249

Average Cost

Agency Service