The Complete Guide to OpenCart to BigCommerce Migration
Switching platforms doesn’t have to mean losing your product catalog, order history, or search rankings. This guide walks through every way to move from OpenCart to BigCommerce — automated, fully managed, or manual — so you can pick the path that fits your store.
OpenCart vs BigCommerce – Why Should You Migrate
First, BigCommerce removes the burden of self-hosting. OpenCart requires you to manage your own server, apply security patches, and handle scaling as traffic grows. BigCommerce, on the other hand, is fully hosted and PCI-compliant out of the box, so none of that maintenance falls on you.
On top of that, BigCommerce builds in features that OpenCart needs plugins for. Abandoned cart recovery, advanced SEO controls, and native multi-channel selling to Amazon, eBay, and social platforms come standard on BigCommerce. Meanwhile, on OpenCart, most of this depends on third-party extensions that add cost and maintenance overhead.
Finally, BigCommerce scales without extra developer work. OpenCart’s self-hosted architecture means performance under high traffic often requires manual server tuning. By contrast, BigCommerce’s infrastructure handles traffic spikes and catalog growth natively, without needing a developer on call.
What to Prepare Before the OpenCart to BigCommerce Migration
Before starting your OpenCart to BigCommerce migration, get these items in order to avoid delays or data loss:
- OpenCart admin access: Confirm you have full admin credentials and, if using an automated tool, API or FTP access enabled.
- BigCommerce account set up: Create your BigCommerce store and select a plan that matches your catalog size and order volume.
- Full data backup: Export or back up your OpenCart database (products, customers, orders) as a safety net before any transfer begins.
- Data audit: Identify custom fields, product options, or extensions with unique data structures that need special mapping.
- App and theme inventory: List any OpenCart extensions or custom modules with BigCommerce equivalents that you’ll need to reinstall.
- Downtime-sensitive tasks paused: Pause bulk order processing or major catalog edits during the migration window to prevent data mismatches
How to Migrate OpenCart to BigCommerce with LitExtension Automated Tool
If your OpenCart store runs on a straightforward, standard database, with no heavily customized fields, no complex B2B pricing logic, and no unique workflows, LitExtension Automated Migration Tool lets you handle the entire OpenCart to BigCommerce migration on your own, no coding or technical background required. Our tool will walk you through connecting both stores, selecting your data types, and running a free demo before executing the full transfer, all through a simple dashboard interface.
This method is fast and cost-effective for merchants with clean, uncomplicated data, but if your store relies on custom attributes or specialized configurations, the expert-assisted service outlined above is the safer route to avoid mapping errors during transfer.
Step 1. Set up Source Cart and Target Cart
Head to app.litextension.com, log in or create a free account, and click Create New Migration. Select OpenCart as your Source Cart, enter your store URL, then download and install the LitExtension connector file to your store’s root folder — wait for the “Connector was successfully installed” confirmation before continuing.
For your Target Cart, select BigCommerce and enter your store URL along with your API Path, API Token, and Client ID. If you’re unsure where to find these, hover over the field for inline instructions or contact LitExtension’s support team. Once both platforms show as connected, click Next: Configure Your Migration.
Step 2. Select data to migrate
In this section, tick the entity types you want to transfer — Products, Categories, Customers, Orders, Manufacturers, Coupons, Reviews, CMS Pages, and Blog Posts are all available for this pair, or you can click Select All to migrate everything.
Below the entity list, enable any Additional Options you need, such as Create 301 Redirects or Strip HTML Tags — hover over each for a quick explainer. If your store uses custom order statuses or multiple languages, map those to their BigCommerce equivalents here. When you’re ready, run a free Demo Migration to preview the result, or skip straight to checkout.
Step 3. Perform full migration
Once you’ve reviewed the demo (or skipped it), LitExtension runs the full migration on its own cloud infrastructure — no need to keep your computer on or put OpenCart into maintenance mode. Your store stays open for business the whole time. You’ll get an email notification when it’s done, plus a Check Result button to review exactly what transferred.
How to Migrate OpenCart to BigCommerce with LitExtension All-in-One Migration Service
On the other hand, the All-in-One migration service hands the entire migration to LitExtension’s team — a strong fit if your OpenCart store is large, relies on custom extensions, or you’d simply rather not touch the technical setup yourself. It might có more than the Automated Tool, but every Additional Option is included at no extra cost, along with expert QA testing and a dedicated Personal Assistant for the duration of the project.
Step 1. Technical consultation with LitExtension experts
Your OpenCart to BigCommerce migration begins with a one-on-one technical consultation led by a LitExtension migration expert. This conversation is where the team gets a real picture of your OpenCart store — its size, structure, and any business-specific requirements that a generic migration tool wouldn’t catch on its own.
During this call, the team reviews your existing data across products, orders, customers, and any custom fields or third-party extension data your OpenCart store depends on. If you’re running non-standard product attributes or plugin-generated content, this is flagged and documented early, so nothing gets lost or misaligned once your data lands on BigCommerce. By the end of this step, you’ll have a migration strategy that’s actually built around your store, not a generic template.
Step 2. Pre-migration setup
Once the consultation wraps up, LitExtension’s team turns to preparing both platforms for an accurate transfer. They’ll confirm your OpenCart store (Source Cart) and your BigCommerce store (Target Cart) are both ready, gathering store URLs, connector or API credentials, and any technical settings needed to establish a secure connection between the two.
From there, the team moves into data mapping — aligning your OpenCart product categories, customer groups, and order structures with BigCommerce’s format. If your store has custom fields or specific business rules (a non-standard tax setup, for instance, or a customer segmentation structure unique to your business), those get adapted here so they transfer cleanly rather than defaulting to generic values on BigCommerce.
Step 3. Demo migration running
Before touching your full store, LitExtension runs a demo migration — a small sample of your OpenCart data, migrated to your BigCommerce store so you can see exactly how it will look before committing to the full transfer. This step exists specifically to catch formatting or field-mapping issues while they’re still cheap to fix.
The team reviews the demo results internally first, checking that products, customers, and orders display correctly on BigCommerce. Any inconsistencies get resolved at this stage — before the full migration runs, not after.
Step 4. Perform full OpenCart to BigCommerce migration
Once you’ve reviewed and approved the demo, LitExtension proceeds with the full transfer — every entity type you’ve selected is migrated in full to your new BigCommerce store, following the plan built during the earlier consultation and mapping stages.
Your OpenCart store keeps running throughout. The full migration executes on LitExtension’s secure cloud system, so there’s no need to pause sales, put your site into maintenance mode, or keep any local software running while the data moves. Once it’s done, you’ll be notified so you can begin reviewing your new BigCommerce store.
Step 5. Migration results testing
After the full migration completes, LitExtension’s team moves into a dedicated testing phase — confirming that everything transferred accurately and that your new BigCommerce store reflects your original OpenCart data structure.
This includes a thorough review of products, categories, customer accounts, and order history. Any missing fields, formatting issues, or inconsistencies get fixed immediately, and once everything checks out, you’ll receive a detailed project outcome report covering the full results.
Step 6. Post-migration tasks
Because your OpenCart store stays live and sellable during the migration, it may continue to collect new orders, customer sign-ups, or product changes while the transfer is underway. To keep your BigCommerce store current, LitExtension includes a set of post-migration sync services, free during your Technical Support window:
- Unlimited Recent Data migration, if the new data is under 5% of your original migration volume
- Two Re-migrations, in case you need to run the full transfer again
- Unlimited Smart Update, to refresh already-migrated data without duplicating it
Step 7. Customer support post migration
Migration support doesn’t end at delivery. For up to 60 days afterward, LitExtension’s dedicated Customer Support Team is available to answer questions, resolve issues, and help you get comfortable with your new BigCommerce setup — whether that’s a technical question or just reassurance that something migrated correctly.
Manually Transfer Data from OpenCart to BigCommerce
Migrating manually means exporting your OpenCart data, reformatting it to match BigCommerce’s import structure, and uploading everything yourself with zero cost beyond your own time. It works, but it’s labor-intensive, prone to formatting errors, and risky for stores with large catalogs, custom fields, or complex order histories — a single mismatched column can break product listings or drop customer records entirely.
If your OpenCart store is small and simple, manual transfer is a viable option; for anything beyond a basic catalog, LitExtension’s automated migration remains the safer, faster alternative.
- In OpenCart, go to Catalog → Products. OpenCart doesn’t include a native full-store export — you’ll need a CSV export/import extension installed first to generate your product file.
- Repeat for Catalog → Categories and Sales → Customers using the same or a similar extension, since OpenCart’s core admin doesn’t expose bulk export for these either.
- In BigCommerce, go to Products → Export to check your target field format, then use Products → Import to upload your OpenCart CSV, mapping each column to BigCommerce’s fields.
- For customers, go to Customers → Import in BigCommerce and upload your exported customer CSV.
- Orders generally can’t be bulk-imported into BigCommerce through the standard admin — this is typically where merchants get stuck doing it manually.
- Manually rebuild your 301 redirects in BigCommerce’s Storefront → Redirects using your old OpenCart URLs, or your SEO rankings will take a hit.
Post-migration Checklist for OpenCart to BigCommerce Migration
- Verify product data: Check that product titles, descriptions, prices, images, and variants are transferred correctly and display properly on BigCommerce
- Confirm customer accounts: Make sure customer profiles, saved addresses, and login credentials are migrated intact so shoppers can log in without issues
- Review order history: Spot-check past orders to confirm order status, line items, and totals match your original OpenCart records
- Test checkout flow: Run a full test purchase to confirm payment gateways, shipping rules, and tax settings are configured correctly on BigCommerce
- Set up 301 redirects: Redirect old OpenCart URLs to their new BigCommerce equivalents to preserve SEO rankings and avoid broken links
- Reinstall apps and integrations: Add BigCommerce equivalents for any OpenCart extensions you relied on, such as marketing tools or shipping calculators
- Update DNS and go live: Point your domain to BigCommerce once testing is complete, then monitor the store closely in the first 24-48 hours
Best Practices for A Successful OpenCart to BigCommerce Migration
A successful OpenCart to BigCommerce migration comes down to preparation, testing, and follow-through — skipping any of these steps increases the risk of data loss, broken listings, or lost search rankings. Keep these best practices in mind at every stage of the process:
- Run a demo migration first: Test a sample of your data before committing to the full transfer, so formatting or mapping errors get caught early
- Keep your OpenCart store live during migration: Avoid pausing sales or switching to maintenance mode, since this prevents revenue loss and missed orders
- Test on a staging environment: Verify checkout, shipping rules, and tax calculations on BigCommerce before pointing your live domain to the new store
- Set up 301 redirects: Map old OpenCart URLs to their BigCommerce equivalents to preserve SEO rankings and prevent broken links
- Audit custom fields and extensions early: Identify OpenCart-specific data structures or modules that need manual mapping or BigCommerce equivalents
- Back up your full database: Export your OpenCart data as a safety net before migration begins, regardless of which method you choose
- Monitor closely post-launch: Check order processing, customer logins, and site performance during the first 24-48 hours after going live
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