Shopware migration: when should you choose Shopware 6 or PrestaShop?
Compare requirements, data transfer and total costs to decide between Shopware 6 and PrestaShop.
Quick answer
The right choice depends on the features you need, existing integrations and total costs. Consider Shopware 6 if it can support your processes economically. Include PrestaShop in the comparison if you want to reassess your technical foundation, extensions and running costs. Neither platform is universally cheaper or better.
Is moving from Shopware 5 to Shopware 6 a normal update?
No. Shopware describes the change as a migration. Its migration process supports transferring products, customers and orders, among other data. Other elements require additional work: existing templates cannot be reused, Shopping Worlds are not transferred automatically and shipping costs must be configured again. Source: Shopware – what is migrated.
Even when staying within the same platform family, retailers should assess which features and content must be transferred, replaced or rebuilt.
Which criteria should retailers compare?
For a meaningful platform comparison, we recommend using the same requirements list for each option:
| Criterion | Key question |
|---|---|
| Consumer and business sales | How are customer groups, prices, discounts and required ordering processes implemented? |
| ERP and inventory management | Which data must move in which direction, and how often? |
| Modules and plugins | Which features and additional stored data must be preserved? |
| Product range | How are products, variants, filters and search features handled? |
| Operation | What are the subscription, extension, hosting and technical maintenance costs? |
| Ongoing development | How can planned changes be implemented and supported? |
A useful comparison considers the complete solution. A low base subscription offers little benefit if essential features require additional development or several extensions.
How much does a Shopware migration cost?
The migration price depends on the agreed scope. This may include data preparation, store design, replacements for existing plugins, integrations, redirects and testing.
Product count alone is not enough to calculate the cost. A large standard catalogue may need less custom work than a smaller store with individual pricing rules, configurators and special ordering processes.
To compare quotes fairly, separate one-off project costs from ongoing operating costs. Each quote should also state clearly which data and features are included.
When is a comparison with PrestaShop particularly worthwhile?
We recommend comparing platforms when a substantial rebuild is already necessary, or when keeping the existing store would require numerous changes. You can then assess whether PrestaShop meets the same requirements with a more suitable technical setup and overall budget.
Does a functioning store need to change platforms?
No. If the existing platform meets your requirements reliably and can be developed further at a reasonable cost, changing it is not automatically worthwhile. A relaunch should solve a specific problem or support a clearly defined goal.
From our experience: why a B2B retailer stayed with PrestaShop
PrestaShop is our main area of expertise at sjmedia. Before recommending a platform change, we want to understand what is not working: are features missing, is the store slow, or does the team lack confidence using it? Dissatisfaction calls for change, but not necessarily a different platform.
One B2B retailer wanted to move from PrestaShop to Shopify. The existing store was slow, and the team was unsure how to manage product data. A new employee had used Shopify at a previous company, so switching initially seemed an obvious solution.
After reviewing the situation together, we recommended improving the existing PrestaShop store. We updated the software and moved it from shared hosting to a managed server. In our subsequent assessment, the reported performance problems were resolved. A move to Shopify was not needed.
The software update and hosting change were implemented together, so we cannot separate their individual contributions to the improvement. The example shows why we consider software, hosting and daily store administration together. It does not establish that one platform is generally faster than another.
Sources & further reading
- Shopware: what is migrated · accessed on