Magento Migration Guide (Step-by-Step Process + Checklist for 2026)

Online stores often face financial losses and security breaches due to basic eCommerce platforms. Migrating stores to a secure, PCI-compliant platform like Magento 2 provides better scalability and regular security patch updates. Magento is one of the best service providers for data storage, offering robust security features.

Magento 2 migration is a critical process that requires detailed planning to avoid unnecessary downtime and compatibility challenges. In 2020, Adobe officially discontinued support and services for Magento 1, the predecessor to Magento 2. Adobe’s decision to discontinue support forced stores to switch to Magento 2.

In this article, we will provide you with a detailed Magento migration guide to help you migrate your data from various platforms to Magento 2.

What is Magento Migration & Why It Matters in 2026?

Magento migration is a process of moving online stores from other platforms or Magento 1 to Magento 2. This process involves the transfer of digital products, customers, and services. Themes are restructured and evaluated to improve social visibility, better security, and functionality.

Stores still using Magento 1 face a high risk of data breaches, as Adobe no longer provides security patches, which also results in a loss of PCI compliance.

While Magento 1 is vulnerable without security, Magento 2 offers better security features, faster response times, and improved scalability for handling high traffic. Businesses that pay monthly subscriptions or use basic models to run their online stores should migrate to Magento 2. It does not have monthly subscriptions and offers clear benefits and better results.

Types of Magento Migration

Before moving to the Magento migration process, let’s understand the types of migrations. There are basically five types of Magento migration, and they are:

Data Migration 

When stores migrate data from other platforms to Magento 2, the data architecture undergoes a significant change. A data migration tool is required to ensure the complete and accurate transfer of products, customer data, promotions, and key metrics.

Theme Migration

Themes also undergo significant changes during migration, as each platform has a different setup. The theme consists of a specific layout that is transformed and enhanced during the migration. Direct migration of any theme to Magento 2 is not possible, creating an opportunity for stores to update and optimize their layouts more efficiently.

Extension Migration

Like themes, extensions are not migrated directly to Magento 2. Stores need to rewrite their code before migrating it to Magento. Several tools are available in the market for code migration, assisting with restructuring basic code.

Pre-Migration Analysis

This refers to analyzing and considering all the factors beforehand to avoid potential errors or issues during the migration process. Before starting the migration, an analysis of extensions and themes is performed to verify whether the code is restructured in accordance with Adobe guidelines.

It is a crucial part of the analysis migration, ensuring server requirements and compatibility to avoid errors during the process. During infrastructure analysis, PHP extension changes are made and verified to ensure compatibility with PHP versions 7.1.3 and 7.2.0.

Magento Migration Checklist for Pre, During & Post-Migration

Magento migration services involve several steps to ensure a successful outcome. Any small error can cause a huge financial loss for the stores. We have provided a thorough checklist below for each stage of the migration to help avoid potential errors.

Pre-Migration Checklist for Magento 2

The pre-migration stage consists of planning and determining the content that needs to be processed.

1. Teams should finalize what they want to migrate and which parts will require restructuring and detailed upgrades.
2. Go through your old records, files, and data, and determine what needs to be migrated and what can be discarded.
3. You also need to finalize the budget and timeline for when you want your data to be fully migrated and functioning properly.
4. Discuss the responsibilities with the service provider and make sure everything aligns smoothly.
5. Keep the timelines realistic and achievable to improve efficiency and understanding.

During the Migration Checklist for Magento 2

Once planning is complete, you can proceed with the migration.

Set Up the Magento Environment

Before starting the process, ensure it is stable and ready to receive the store data. Most teams skip this step, leading to major errors and requiring them to redo the whole process. Also, make sure your server environment meets Magento’s requirements to ensure proper sync between systems.

Perform Magento 2 Data Migration

The migration process starts with core data transfer. You need a clear understanding of your core data, as incorrect input can disrupt the final setup of Magento 2. Core data includes products, customer records, categories, and order history.

Migrate the Theme or Redesign the Storefront

Once you have migrated the core data, you can proceed with migrating your theme. If you want to redesign and upgrade the entire setup, you can do so beforehand and then migrate it to Magento 2.

Migrate Extensions and Integrations

In line with the theme, you can migrate your extensions and integrations once they are restructured to meet Magento 2 requirements.

Rebuild Custom Functionality

Teams often overlook restructuring custom functionality, leading to errors during migration and impacting the customer experience upon deployment. If your old setup completely relies on custom modules, you need to rebuild them to meet the requirements of the Magento 2 environment.

Post-Migration Checklist for Magento 2

Once the migration is completed, you will need to run QA before going live with customers. Testing for Magento needs to be developed as a full store acceptance process to verify the actual customer experience. Make sure to test and verify products, categories, order history, and customer details.

Also, run tests through the post-purchase process, like refunds, cancellations, exchanges, and invoice generation. By now, you are aware of the detailed checklist for Magento 2 migration. This checklist will help you avoid errors and last-minute mistakes.

Let’s start with the detailed step-by-step guide for Magento migration.

Step-by-Step Magento Migration Guide

Magento migration consists of several steps, and teams performing the process must be aware of the details for each step.

Step 1: Audit Your Existing Store

Before starting the process, you will need to audit your existing store to plan and set timelines. You will need to thoroughly study your current store, including its core data, extensions, and theme. Decide whether you want to completely migrate your store or just specific sections. Also, finalize a definite timeline and allocate internal and external resources required for the migration.

Step 2: Define Migration Strategy & Goals

Migration can only be impactful when you have a complete strategy and clear goals. Always decide on your goal before starting the migration and plan things accordingly. Migration planning will become easier once you are clear about your goals, such as scalability, better features, or improved performance.

Step 3: Backup Your Core Data

Before migration, keep a backup of your data. Teams often forget to keep a backup of their old data, which can lead to financial loss. Magento 2 has repeatedly rejected the old data, disrupting your existing platform. This situation can be easily handled with a backup database.

Step 4: Set Up Magento 2 Development Environment

Teams should set up a separate Magento 2 development environment to perform the migration and make the required changes without affecting the live store. The separate environment allows teams to make changes without any risk.

Step 5: Magento 2 Data Migration

Once you have created a separate environment, migrate the core data to Magento 2. Core data basically refers to products, categories, customer profiles, and order history.

Step 6: Theme Migration or Redesign

After core data, you will need to migrate themes. Either you can completely redesign and update the themes, or just restructure them to meet Magento 2 requirements for a smooth setup.

Step 7: Extensions & Integrations Migration 

Similar to themes, extensions & integrations also require an update. They cannot be migrated directly to Magento 2 due to differences in layouts and environments.

Step 8: Custom Functionality Migration 

You will need to assess and update custom functionalities before migration. Old custom functionalities need to be updated to have compatibility with the Magento 2 environment.

Step 9: Testing & Quality Assurance

For quality assurance, you will need to configure Magento 2 according to your business model, including payment methods, shipping details, tax information, and other settings. This will help you assess the real-time customer experience.

Step 10: SEO Migration (URL Mapping, Redirects, Metadata)

Redirect the old website’s URLs to the corresponding pages on Magento 2 to preserve your SEO ranking and maintain domain authority. Verify and update meta details in Magento 2 to improve and accelerate optimization.

Step 11: Go Live (Deployment)

Once you have completed all the steps mentioned above, launch your migrated store on Magento 2. Going live will reflect the changes on your online store.

Step 12: Post-Migration Monitoring & Optimization

You will need to monitor your website closely post-migration to ensure seamless function. Monitoring will also help you analyze if the goals are achieved within the defined timeline or if you are facing similar issues.

Magento Migration Cost & Timeline

Magento migration does not have a definite cost and timeline. It depends entirely on the business’s needs and specifications. The timeline and costs vary as per the resources and work required to complete the process.

Key Factors Affecting Cost

Factors that will affect the Magento migration cost for companies are:

1. Store Size and Complexity: Migration cost depends directly on the store size and migration complexity. Consider that if your store doesn’t have properly structured core data, it will require more features and more time to integrate with the development environment, increasing costs fully.
2. Number of Products, Customers, and Orders: Some stores cater to a small group of customers and deal with niche products. Fewer products, customers, and orders make the data easier to process and organize, reducing overall migration costs.
3. Custom Development and Integrations: If a company doesn’t have any custom functionality or integrations, it will cost less than a company that handles several customizations and integrations.
4. Extensions and Theme Requirements: Similar to integrations, fewer extensions and theme requirements will cost less, while a large number will increase the cost.

Estimated Magento Migration Cost

The migration cost varies for small, mid-sized, and large stores. We have listed the estimated cost for each company below.

• Small Stores – Cost ranges from $8,000 to $20,000
• Mid-Sized Stores – Cost ranges from $20,000 to $50,000
• Adobe eCommerce – Cost ranges from $75,000 to $250,000
• Minor Migration – Cost ranges from $200 to $3,000

Typical Migration Timeline (Small vs Medium vs Enterprise Stores)

The migration timeline depends entirely on the amount of work required and the complexity of the features. We have provided a rough estimate of the migration timeline for small to enterprise stores below.

• Small Stores: Migration for these types of stores with basic, small data takes around 8 to 12 weeks.
• Medium Stores: These stores have larger catalogs and advanced workflows. Migrating these stores takes around 12 to 20 weeks, depending on the requirements.
• Enterprise Stores: These stores have multiple locations, a wide variety of products, and a large number of customers, resulting in a large, highly complex database. Migration for enterprise stores can take more than twenty weeks.

Magento Migration Challenges & Best Practices

Stores must be aware of the challenges associated with Magento migration and the best practices to overcome them.

Common Challenges

• Data Loss or Corruption: There is a high chance of data loss and corruption in the existing file during migration.
• Extension Incompatibility: Many extensions are not compatible with the Magento 2 environment, which can increase tasks for the internal team.
• SEO Ranking Drops: Many stores face a sharp decline in their SEO ranking after migration. Teams often need to add meta details manually.
• Downtime Risks: It is one of the major concerns during migration to Magento 2. Many stores often become partially or fully inaccessible to their customers.

Best Practices

Teams can follow these practices to overcome or avoid the challenges.

• Use the Staging Environment: Stores should create a staging environment for migration to avoid any negative impact on the original database or real-time errors in the store.
• Clean and Optimize Data Before Migration: Several extensions are incompatible with the Magento 2 environment. These extensions need to be restructured and updated before the migration process.
• Plan SEO Migration: The team needs to create a proper plan for SEO migration. It requires internal resources, such as manually linking and redirecting to corresponding pages in Magento 2, to help retain SEO rankings after migration.
• Test Thoroughly Before Launch: Run the data through quality assurance before deployment. It helps reduce downtime risks and enhance the customer experience.

Conclusion

Migrating a store from other platforms to Magento 2 is a complex, time-consuming task, but it also improves scalability and overall performance. In this Magento Migration guide, we detail every aspect of migrating your store to help you reach your goal as quickly as possible. The time and cost associated with migration will seem worthwhile once the store starts showing positive results.

Frequently Asked Questions