Shopify Glossary Terms

A headless Shopify migration is the process of moving from a traditional Shopify theme (Liquid-rendered) to a headless architecture where a custom frontend (typically Hydrogen or Next.js) connects to Shopify via the Storefront API.

This is different from a platform migration (like Magento to Shopify Plus). Your commerce backend stays on Shopify - you're replacing the frontend rendering layer. The key decisions are framework choice, CMS selection (Sanity is our default), search infrastructure (Algolia vs native), and hosting (Oxygen vs Vercel).

The migration typically takes 12-20 weeks and costs $80K-$150K+ depending on storefront complexity and integration requirements. Not every store needs to go headless - read our guide on when headless makes sense before committing. Our headless Shopify service covers the full migration scope.

Think: not switching platforms — rebuilding the front door while keeping the engine.