Magento to Shopify Migration 2025 (Free Guide, No Plugins)

If you’re moving from Magento to Shopify in 2025, you’ll quickly notice a problem: most guides online are outdated or recommend pricey migration apps.

The truth is, you don’t need plugins. Shopify’s CSV importer is now powerful enough to handle bulk product data and metafields — something you couldn’t do before. With Google Sheets and a bit of patience, you can migrate your products for free.

This guide walks you through the process I’ve used for real client migrations.

Table of Contents

• Step 1. Export Products from Magento
• Step 2. Load Magento Data into Google Sheets
• Step 3. Download Shopify’s Product CSV Template
• Step 4. Set Up Your Mapping Sheet
• Step 5. Transform and Clean Your Data
• Step 6a. Add Metafields
• Step 6b. Format Metafields Correctly
• Step 7. Test a Sample Import
• Step 8. Import Your Full Catalog
• Troubleshooting
• Conclusion

Step 1. Export Products from Magento

In your Magento Admin:

• Go to System → Data Transfer → Export
• Select Products
• Set file format to CSV
• Apply filters if needed (to export a subset)

Download the file — this is your raw product data. Expect it to be messy: Magento includes a lot of system fields, internal IDs, and deeply nested categories.

Step 2. Load Magento Data into Google Sheets

Open Google Sheets and create a new spreadsheet.

• Rename the first sheet Raw Product Data
• Import your Magento CSV

This sheet is your untouched source data. Keep it as-is, and do all cleaning in new sheets so you can always roll back if something breaks.

Step 3. Download Shopify’s Product CSV Template

From Shopify Admin:

• Go to Products → Import → Download sample CSV

This template is updated regularly, so always grab the latest. It shows you exactly which columns Shopify accepts in 2025.

Create a new sheet in your Google Sheet called Shopify Product Data, and paste in the Shopify headers.

Step 4. Set Up Your Mapping Sheet

Shopify Product Data is where you’ll build clean, Shopify-ready product rows using formulas that reference your raw Magento export.

Each column will either:

• Pull Magento data directly
• Transform data into Shopify’s expected format
• Add new information (like metafields)

If you need to standardize categories or attributes, create a Lookup Table sheet as a reference.

Step 5. Transform and Clean Your Data

This step is where most of the work happens — and it’s where many migration tools fall short. Doing it manually gives you a chance to clean, consolidate, and enrich your catalog.

Normalizing Titles

Magento exports can be inconsistent: WHite-trainer → White Trainer

=ARRAYFORMULA(PROPER(SUBSTITUTE('Raw Product Data'!B2:B,"-"," ")))

Converting Categories to Tags

Shopify doesn’t use nested categories, so convert paths into tags:

=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(LEN('Raw Product Data'!E2:E), SUBSTITUTE('Raw Product Data'!E2:E,"/",","),""))

Men/Shoes/Trainers → Men,Shoes,Trainers

Enriching Tags with Lookups

Want to add depth? Build a lookup table for extra tags:

Brand	Extra Tag
Adidas	Sportswear
Nike	Sportswear
Birkenstock	Summer

=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(A2:A<>"", 'Raw Product Data'!E2:E & "," & VLOOKUP('Raw Product Data'!F2:F, Lookup!A:B, 2, FALSE), ""))

Now Adidas products also get the Sportswear tag.

This is the stage to:

• Merge overly granular categories
• Standardize inconsistent naming
• Add SEO-friendly attributes (like “Organic”, “Waterproof”)

Handling Prices & Inventory

Prices:

=ARRAYFORMULA(TEXT('Raw Product Data'!H2:H,"0.00"))

Inventory policy:

=ARRAYFORMULA(IF('Raw Product Data'!I2:I>0,"continue","deny"))

Step 6a. Add Metafields

In 2025, you can now import metafields directly via CSV. Add them to your Shopify Product Data sheet like this:

Metafield: custom.material

Then map values from your raw data.

Step 6b. Format Metafields Correctly

Shopify is strict about formatting:

• Text → Cotton
• Multi-value lists → Red,Blue,Green (no spaces)
• Numbers → 100 not 100.0
• Booleans → true or false
• URLs → https://example.com/file.pdf

This was previously only possible with paid tools — now you can handle it natively.

Step 7. Test a Sample Import

Never import everything at once.

• Copy the first 10–50 rows (with headers) into a new sheet called Shopify Test
• Export as CSV
• Import into Shopify

Check:

• Do products display properly?
• Did tags and metafields load?
• Are prices and stock correct?

If not, fix your formulas before scaling up.

Step 8. Import Your Full Catalog

Once the test works, export the full Shopify Product Data sheet as CSV and import it into Shopify.

Large imports can take hours:

• 1,000 products → ~1–2 hours
• 10,000 products → overnight

Keep your browser open during the import.

Troubleshooting

• Images not importing? Ensure URLs are public.
• Duplicate handles? Use =UNIQUE() or =COUNTIF() to spot duplicates.
• Metafield errors? Watch for extra spaces, wrong delimiters, or invalid booleans.

Conclusion

With Shopify’s improved CSV importer, you can now migrate products and metafields from Magento without paying for plugins. The process is free — but not effortless. It involves careful formula work, data cleaning, and patience with trial and error.

If you’re comfortable in spreadsheets, this guide gives you everything you need. If you’d rather skip the hours of setup, testing, and troubleshooting, I handle migrations like this as part of my freelance work at UX Websites.

Either way, the key takeaway is that in 2025, you finally have full control of your data — without needing third-party migration tools.