PrestaShop Upgrade Service

PrestaShop Upgrade: How Our All-in-One Service Works

There are two ways to upgrade a PrestaShop store: update the existing installation, or migrate store data to a new installation running a newer version. LitExtension’s All-in-One service focuses on the second route. Our team plans and manages the data migration, tests the result, and helps you prepare for cutover. This can be a better fit for an older or heavily customized store when an in-place update would leave you with incompatible themes, modules, or overrides.

The scope matters: migrating products, customers, and orders does not automatically upgrade your theme, rewrite custom modules, reproduce every setting, or move your hosting. We assess these items before work begins and agree on what is included. PrestaShop also distinguishes updating an existing store from migrating data to a fresh installation, particularly for major-version changes.

Step 1: Review the current store and target version

We review your current PrestaShop version, catalog, customers, orders, languages, multistore setup, and any custom data you need to retain. We identify the target version and check how the source records should map to it. Theme compatibility, third-party modules, custom overrides, and integrations are assessed as separate work items rather than assumed to carry over with store data.

Step 2: Prepare a compatible target store

We confirm the destination PrestaShop installation and the access needed for migration. Its server must meet the requirements of the exact target release, including a supported PHP version and required extensions. For example, PrestaShop’s version 9 compatibility chart lists different recommended PHP versions for 9.0 and 9.1; a general rule such as “PHP 8.1+” is not enough to choose a production configuration. Hosting changes, theme installation, and module development are scoped separately if required.

Step 3: Run a Demo Migration and review actual records

Our team transfers a sample of the selected data to the target store. You can check representative products, combinations, images, categories, customer records, and order relationships before approving the full migration. For multistore or custom data, we confirm the supported mapping and any necessary customization rather than promising identical behavior across versions.

Step 4: Migrate the agreed data

After the demo is reviewed, we run the full data migration to the new store. Depending on the project, the source storefront can remain available while the bulk transfer runs. We agree on how to handle transactions created afterward and plan a controlled cutover; uninterrupted selling throughout every part of the launch cannot be guaranteed.

Step 5: Validate the target store

We compare record counts and inspect migrated products, combinations, customer details, and orders against the source. Your launch review should also test account access, checkout, payment and shipping modules, tax rules, emails, and storefront behavior. A data migration does not itself establish theme or module compatibility, so issues with these components must be addressed within the agreed project scope.

Step 6: Reconcile changes before cutover

If the source store received new orders or customers during migration, we assess whether LitExtension’s Recent Data Migration is appropriate. Smart Update serves a different purpose: it updates eligible records that changed on the source. These options are subject to the data type, platform setup, and service terms; inventory, order status changes, and other updates must be verified case by case.

Step 7: Complete the launch checklist

Before switching traffic, confirm the final data, store settings, key product and category URLs, and any required 301 redirects. Test an end-to-end purchase on the new installation and keep a rollback plan. DNS changes are relevant only if the domain or hosting destination is changing. The precise cutover, monitoring, and post-migration support responsibilities should be documented in your project scope.

Planning a major PrestaShop upgrade? Contact LitExtension for an assessment with your current version, desired target version, approximate record counts, and any custom modules or multistore requirements.

How to Upgrade PrestaShop Yourself with Update Assistant

For a self-managed upgrade of an existing installation, PrestaShop recommends its official Update Assistant, formerly called 1-Click Upgrade. You can use it from the back office or command line. This is an in-place update, not the same process as migrating data to a separate new store. If you mean a manual PrestaShop upgrade without any module, treat direct file and database changes as a developer project; the supported Update Assistant workflow is the practical starting point for most store owners.

Step 1: Check the upgrade path and compatibility

Record the current version and select a supported target version. Check the target release’s server requirements, including PHP, database, and extensions. Audit your theme, payment and shipping modules, custom modules, and overrides before scheduling the update. Older installations may need an intermediate upgrade: the Update Assistant project documents a two-stage path from PrestaShop 1.6 to version 8 or newer, via 1.7.

Step 2: Back up and rehearse on staging

Make an independent backup of the database and store files, including images, modules, and configuration. Confirm that you can restore it. Clone the store to a staging environment and test the target version there first; PrestaShop recommends staging tests and compatibility checks before updating a production store. Keep new orders on the live store until the production update window, and avoid restoring an older staging database over current orders.

Step 3: Install or update Update Assistant

Install the current Update Assistant release from an official PrestaShop source. In the module, choose the target version, review its pre-update checks, and configure the options for your store. Do not assume that custom themes and third-party modules will become compatible automatically; follow their developers’ version-specific guidance. For a large store or an update that runs into web-request limits, consider the module’s documented command-line route with an administrator or developer.

Step 4: Take a fresh production backup and run the update

Schedule a low-traffic window, prepare maintenance mode, and take a fresh recoverable backup of production files and database. Update Assistant can create its own backup, but PrestaShop also recommends an independent manual backup. Run the update and read the progress and error logs. If it fails, use the tested restore path; do not repeatedly rerun the process against an unknown partial state.

Step 5: Test before reopening the store

Follow the module’s post-update checklist. Check back-office access, products and combinations, customer login, cart, checkout, payment, shipping, taxes, emails, search, and key URLs. Clear or rebuild caches where the new version or your hosting setup requires it, and review server logs for errors. Reopen the storefront only after these critical flows pass.

Which route should you choose? Use Update Assistant when your existing installation, server, theme, modules, and upgrade path are compatible and you can test a restore. Consider a fresh-store migration when a major-version change or accumulated customizations make an in-place update impractical. Ask LitExtension to assess the data migration and identify any theme, module, or launch work that needs separate handling.