If you are wondering, yes. It is possible to automatically migrate Magento to PrestaShop.
No, there isn’t a one-click solution that will automatically import Magento to PrestaShop. We have yet to find one.
What exactly am I talking here?
In truth, however, I will be introducing you a new type of tool. Although it’s not an all-in-one solution, it can migrate your online store quickly from Magento to Prestashop by using an automated data transfer process. It takes only a few clicks through the user-friendly wizard to get your online store up and running in no time. It will handle all the data migration for you.
Does this sound familiar?
Okay, let’s get to the point. Remember our Cart2Cart review?
Guess what? It facilitates data transfers between many ecommerce platforms, including the Magento to PrestaShop Migration. You could also use it to automate the PrestaShop-to Magento migration.
We’ll get to that in a moment. Let’s now focus on how to import Magento to PrestaShop.
Before I show you how to migrate Magento from PrestaShop using Cart2Cart let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Is it worth the effort to migrate Magento to Prestashop?
Magento vs PrestaShop
Although we have thoroughly reviewed each platform several times, it is still difficult to decide between PrestaShop and Magento. You get more confused about Magento and PrestaShop the further you dig.
Why?
One, PrestaShop and Magento are both great ecommerce platforms. They are actually quite good. They are the best in the business. These products have all the necessary features to help you get your online business started and grow it over time.
Each theme can be customized to your liking. You can integrate them with your online store by using a variety of pre-built themes or add-ons. This is how their majority of users can personalize their ecommerce websites through design and specialized functions.
But that’s not all. It doesn’t end there. Magento is an open-source, free ecommerce platform. PrestaShop is a similar platform, but it’s not well-known.
Yes, that’s right. Prestashop is free to install. It runs on an open-source framework, which is even better. This means that if you are disappointed by the themes or add-ons available, you can easily reconfigure it. PrestaShop lets you modify its source code in the same way as Magento.
These two are not that different, at least from what I can see. Both seem to be doing well as open-source ecommerce platforms. PrestaShop has a smaller market share than Magento, but many people would argue that it is ultimately up to you to choose between them.
It does, however.
But I disagree. Although PrestaShop and Magento may be in the same category of ecommerce solutions, they have some distinct differences. This means that you can expect different online store capabilities.
It is not personal preference where your ecommerce business will be based over the long-term. It all depends on what your business needs are.
Let me tell you about the disadvantages of Magento import to PrestaShop.
Magento’s Drawbacks
There are many features that Magento offers, but one feature stands out.
You’re probably wrong if you think you know what “free pricing” means. Free isn’t really that special anymore. You can do a quick Google search to find many free options for your online shop.
You’ll find very few ecommerce platforms that can match Magento’s flexibility. Magento’s open-source platform, which is extensible and customizable, is undoubtedly the best. WooCommerce is the only one that can challenge this.
Here’s the catch. It is not only my favorite Magento feature, but it is also the platform’s greatest weakness.
Okay, let’s forget about Magento’s shortage of hosting resources. Although that is an issue, Magento’s customization approach poses a bigger challenge.
Why?
Think about it. Think about it. When was the last time that you were able to configure the platform’s functions? Most likely never.
Magento is not the platform that you would describe as easy-to-use. Magento is only for experienced developers with advanced technical skills. They can at least customize its modules and tools.
It’s an entirely different game for non-coders and beginners. Many users have complained that Magento is becoming more complicated, particularly when it comes to personalization.
But, don’t get me wrong. Magento is not only for programmers. Not at all.
Magento has not done enough to simplify its core functions for users. It still has a lot of work to do. Even the new Magento 2 interface has its challenges.
If you are optimistic and believe that Magento will soon change this, then I am sorry but it is unlikely. Magento’s fluid, dynamic framework is what causes most of these problems. This, ironically, makes it a platform that is extremely powerful.
While we are all in agreement that Magento can do many things and is free, it was built for large businesses. These are the ones who require a lot power and flexibility. They can also afford to hire skilled developers for platform maintenance.
Small-to-medium-sized businesses, on the other hand, would be better off elsewhere. PrestaShop is a great alternative.
Enter PrestaShop
PrestaShop offers many of the same benefits and features as Magento but without all the complications associated with Magento’s user interface.
PrestaShop is the platform to choose if you are looking for a great ecommerce platform with open-source privileges, permanent-free pricing and a variety of pre-built themes and integrations.
This is what you should do. PrestaShop’s user interface is not the only thing that makes it easy to use. It simplifies everything, from the software installation through the subsequent steps of setting up your online shop, customizing the elements and then gradually expanding it with time.
PrestaShop has been a blessing for me personally over the years. It powers three websites from my small portfolio of ecommerce testing sites. PrestaShop’s simple system has allowed me to keep them up to date and not need to hire a developer.
The platform was built by its developers in a slow manner. They were able to strike a balance between flexibility and usability, which allowed for greater intuitiveness. The platform is easy to install, launch, and configure without the need for any technical skills.
PrestaShop’s dashboard is easy to use and provides direct access to many tools. These include the ability to create and organize your products, personalize your website and its ecommerce functions, build and manage content, market your store across multiple channels, optimize your web pages for search engines and track orders. You can also capture and follow up on customer data. All of these features add up to over 500.
You know what? The possibilities don’t stop there. You can also integrate any additional modules from PrestaShop’s Add-ons Marketplace. You can download the modules to your local storage and then install them using your store’s back-end system. It’s easy and quick.
While this is the most common way to enhance your system’s capabilities it allows you to customize the code underneath. PrestaShop’s source code can be accessed by skilled programmers who can rework it to improve the platform’s capabilities beyond its default limits.
This is how many online businesses go when they need to align their platform with their complex processes. PrestaShop makes it easy to do this without making it less user-friendly.
PrestaShop had limited customization capabilities in order to reach this level of user-friendliness. PrestaShop doesn’t have as many configuration options than Magento.
PrestaShop is a great option for small businesses, and it provides enough support to handle the lowest end of the enterprise scale. It should take you no time to master the basics and then use the easy-to-use tools that allow you to customize and manage your store.
Magento is a better choice for large online stores or franchises that require more power, unlimited platform flexibility, and scalability. As long as they are able to manage the headaches that come with the platform’s configurations, Magento is a good choice.
Regardless, which one of these two groups are you really part of?
Magento is best for large enterprises. PrestaShop is worth looking into if your business falls within the small- to medium-sized business category. PrestaShop’s user-friendly design isn’t just great for convenience. It can also help improve your business efficiency.
You can find more information about both platforms in our full Magento 2 review and PrestaShop review. These platforms offer many additional features that could influence your final decision.
In the meantime, let’s move on to the Magento to PrestaShop Migration process.
Let’s start by looking at all options available to import Magento into PrestaShop.
PrestaShop to Magento Migration Options
PrestaShop to Manual Magento Migration
This is the most common thing you think of when trying to figure out how to migrate Magento to PrestaShop.
I am referring to the manual process of lifting all data from Magento and then transferring it to PrestaShop.
Okay, so that’s the basic way to describe it. Make no mistake about this. It’s not as easy as copying and transferring data. It’s far more complicated than that.
The manual Magento to PrestaShop conversion is technically complex because it requires multiple complicated configurations on both target and source carts. It is necessary to analyze the Magento store structure and find a way for PrestaShop to program the same thing while also transferring store data.
This is the old-school method of importing Magento into PrestaShop.
However, not everyone can do it. Only a few Magento store owners have the necessary technical skills.
However, even then, it is not always easy. You could spend days tweaking PrestaShop and Magento to create a typical ecommerce website. To make things worse, one error or omission can ultimately ruin everything.
This is not a viable option for serious online businesses. Because it is less risky, they prefer to use the assisted Magento-Prestashop migration option.
Assisted Magento To PrestaShop Migration
The name is not to be taken in by surprise. This method of data migration is not fancy.
The assisted option is just another way to manually import Magento to PrestaShop. Only difference is that you won’t be responsible for data transfer. Instead, the entire process is managed and controlled by a group of developers hired to do it.
This procedure basically involves outsourcing the burden of this task to third-party professionals.
It’s fair enough that a business owner doesn’t have the skills to perform manual migrations.
It’s not something I would recommend. Let’s face the truth, leveraging a team is more efficient and causes fewer problems. You will pay a substantial amount. Because it is labor-intensive, you can expect to spend well over $1,000.
This is what you should do. Your team of developers may not bother to move your site data manually. Instead, they could offer an automated Magento to PrestaShop migration, and charge you for it.
You can work around this by setting up your own automated data transfer process.
PrestaShop to Magento Automated Migration
The automated Magento to PrestaShop Migration process is not controlled by humans, unlike the other two. It’s managed and executed by a specialized tool that analyzes your Magento store and mirrors the relevant entities on your PrestaShop target site.
It shouldn’t be difficult to find such a tool, since there are so many available online. Only a few of these tools have been tested and proven to work.
From all the options I have tried, Cart2Cart is my favorite for an automated Magento to PrestaShop conversion.
Curious as to why?
These are the main reasons…
Cart2Cart is a great way to import Magento to PrestaShop
The first thing to remember when you think about the Magento to PrestaShop Migration is that you are not moving an existing website. It’s a complete transfer of an online store. This simply means that there is a lot at stake.
Without a track record, it’s not a good idea to trust your business’ hard work to a migration company. The whole process of data transfer could become a game of Russian Roulette. You’d be essentially taking on all the risk and not knowing what you might get.
However, if you have a highly-experienced tool, you will be able to achieve an error-free and accurate migration. Cart2Cart is the best option if it has a proven track record.
Cart2Cart has been involved in shopping cart migration for more than ten years. It has been able to expand its support platform portfolio beyond Magento and PrestaShop.
It was already over 85 at the time this article was written. Guess what? Cart2Cart makes it easy to transfer data from one online store to another.
You might be worried about it being a costly process. Installing the Cart2Cart Magento-PrestaShop migration tool is free.
But that’s not all. Once you have registered an account, you can further configure and set up your data transfer settings free of charge.
The whole setup is simple and straightforward. Cart2Cart presents all options through a clear wizard that acts as a guide for how to migrate Magento to PrestaShop.
This is what you will see. You can eventually import Magento to PrestaShop partially without having to commit anything thanks to a free demo migrator offer.
Cart2Cart moves some of your Magento store entities and then sets up a live store on PrestaShop. This is a preview of what you can expect.
Don’t be too excited. Demo migration is the most expensive of the freebies. You will need to pay extra for full migration of all store entities.
However, the cost will not be prohibitive. Cart2Cart strives to be fair and maintains adjustable competitive rates that are usually based upon the number of entities being moved.
What should you be prepared to pay?
Imagine this. The same Magento to PrestaShop migration process should take less than an hour, though it all depends on how many entities you have. In just minutes you can have a complete PrestaShop store with all the associated entities.
What do you do while Cart2Cart does its job?
It depends. Cart2Cart can still transfer your data even if you close the browser’s migration window. You can also choose to get back to your business or process orders while you wait.
How is that possible?
It turns out Cart2Cart doesn’t disrupt your normal website activities. While the tool migrates your data, everything is still online. As your data is being mirrored between Magento and PrestaShop, your business operations should not be disrupted.
Cart2Cart is a good tool that anyone can use without technical knowledge. It’s also quite affordable at $69 per 1,000 items, 500 orders and 500 customers. It’s a great deal, if you think about it.
Let’s move on to the actual procedure of migrating Magento to PrestaShop using Cart2Cart.
Cart2Cart: How to Migrate Magento to PrestaShop
Step 1: Create your PrestaShop Online Store
You will need a PrestaShop-based website to migrate from Magento to PrestaShop. This will serve as your target shop. This is where your data will be directed.
However, finding the right hosting solution is key to creating a beautiful PrestaShop website.
Google gives you a lot of choices. You can do a quick search and find a variety of options. These should be evaluated based on their performance, features, cost, scalability, location, etc. For a better idea of what you can expect from the top web hosting solutions, check out our reviews.
A great PrestaShop hosting solution should include an easy-to-use installer for the ecommerce platform. This should suffice to install the PrestaShop default system with all its entities and core tools.
PrestaShop will then prompt you to create an online store while it continues to install. Now, enter your shop details and configure the site settings. Finally, attach the domain name to activate the entire thing.
As you work on your site, limit the customization. At this stage, you should avoid installing fancy themes or additional modules. The default features of a target store are important. Also, PrestaShop Cart2Cart is a must-have.
Cart2Cart will not migrate sites if you have more than that. Cart2Cart is best suited for basic target stores.
Step 2: Create Cart2Cart accounts
The first thing you need to do when you launch the Cart2Cart migration module from your PrestaShop or land on the Cart2Cart main website is create a valid user account.
The system will offer you the following options, regardless of which method you choose. If you already have an account, you can sign up to the system by entering your details.
Once you are logged in, you can get an estimate of the final cost and then go straight to the Start free Demooption. The migration wizard will be launched by clicking on it.
Step 3: Fill in your Magento Source Cart details and create its Connection Bridge
This window displays the Source Cart section. Here you can define the ecommerce platform that you want to migrate from, attach your store URL details, then create the corresponding connection bridge.
Select Magento as the source cart, as you will be importing Magento from PrestaShop. Next, enter your Magento store’s details in the Source cart URLfield.
Next, you will need to set up a connection bridge. This is meant to link your Magento target store with the Magento source store. Cart2Cart will eventually make use of it to transfer data between the two platforms.
To create it, click on the link to download the.zip file. Once you have it downloaded to your local storage, extract the contents and then paste them to your Magento root folder using an FTP panel.
Click on the Check Connectivity button to confirm that the connection bridge is valid.
Step 4: Enter Your Target Source Cart Details
Following the Source Cart details, the Target Cart section is next. Just as you did with the source cart details, continue to provide the details for your PrestaShop Target store.
Select PrestaShopas your target cart, and then enter your PrestaShop URL,aswell as the Admin emailplus the admin password.
Cart2Cart will create a connection to your PrestaShop store and then install the plugin that includes the connection bridge.
Step 5: Choose the Entities That You Would Like to Migrate
Cart2Cart lets you define the elements that you want to transfer from Magento to PrestaShop.
These options will usually be displayed next to their respective checkboxes. Click on the checkbox to choose any entity.
Cart2Cart allows for the transfer of product information as well as the associated entities, including product categories, manufacturers and taxes, customers, orders, coupons and product reviews. You have the option to choose. If you’d rather transfer everything, you can click on the Select alloption. This should cover most of it.
Step 6: Configure the Additional Magento To PrestaShop Migrator Options
Cart2Cart won’t leave you behind just yet. You can customize the entities by adding additional migration options, multi-store setup, currency mapping, and orders status mapping. This is the place where you can tell the system what information you would like to transfer data.
For example, you could have the system transfer your invoices from the source store to the target store or keep the original customer ID and product ID.
You might also want to change the product quantity to 100 in your PrestaShop shop, move images from product descriptions, category descriptions and blog posts description to PrestaShop, create 301 redirects to PrestaShop store following migration procedure, transfer products SEO URLs, skip the migration of product thumbnail images, and clear all data on PrestaShop prior to migration.
Cart2Cart offers only a few options for customization to keep things simple. Store owners who don’t have the technical skills to develop web sites would be disappointed.
Cart2Cart’s other migration options are not good news. Only a small fraction of these options are free. Rest of them are available as add-ons that cost between $19 to $59 per option.
You will need to pay $59. If you wish to transfer your SEO URLs, then expect to pay $59. Maintaining the original customer IDs costs $49.
This is why you need to think strategically about how to approach it. Prioritize the options according to their importance and urgency.
Step 7: Run a Free Demo Migration
We’ve already discussed that Cart2Cart offers unlimited demo migrations for free. They are free, but they won’t be required to proceed. Demo migrations are not required. Cart2Cart makes it possible to skip the entire process and move straight to full migration.
But I would advise you to do the opposite. You can skip the step and continue the demo migration. Cart2cart will take control and transfer some entities from your Magento-based shop. This process will take you about 30 minutes, which is a small sacrifice when you consider the enormous benefits it offers.
The free demo migration acts more as a pre-migration test. This demo migration transfers the primary store entities and gives you an idea of what to expect when your Magento to PrestaShop conversion is complete.
This allows you to not only analyze the frontend of your target store, but also its backend structure.
Step 8: Perform a complete migration
If you are satisfied with the results of the demo migration, you can move on to the full migration.
At this point, Cart2Cart will bill you for all services before you start the Magento to PrestaShop migration. Data transfer fees will be calculated based on how many entities you intend to migrate. Additional costs are calculated based upon the specific supplementary options that you select.
Only after you have paid the total price, Cart2Cart will let you continue with the complete Magento to PrestaShop conversion. Once you have settled the payment, click the Start Full Migration button.
Cart2Cart will then transfer all the entities you have selected from Magento to PrestaShop. The entire process will take several hours, depending on how much data is involved.
More to You
Cart2Cart will send you an email notification once the entire Magento to PrestaShop migration is complete. Your new PrestaShop store will then be ready for business.
But not so quickly. Be sure to thoroughly analyze all aspects of your PrestaShop target store before you start processing transactions. You should review the entities, data variables and functionalities as well as the overall structure.
You can contact Cart2Cart’s technical support team if you have a problem. They are available 24/7 to assist you with any problems and show you how to migrate Magento from PrestaShop using Cart2Cart.
