Answers that mention BigCommerce

If your priorities are self-hosting, ownership of the database, and a migration that doesn't become a giant custom-development project, I'd shortlist these:

My pick: WooCommerce

For a migration where you want full control without making the migration itself a major software project, WooCommerce is probably the safest choice. Product data lives in your WordPress database, and WooCommerce provides built-in CSV import/export plus WordPress-level migration options. WooCommerce

The enormous WordPress/WooCommerce ecosystem also means you're much more likely to find an existing importer for whatever hosted platform you're leaving.

If you're a larger/complex business: Shopware 6

I'd choose Shopware 6 Community Edition over WooCommerce if you have complex catalogs, multiple sales channels, B2B requirements, sophisticated pricing, or substantial integrations.

Shopware explicitly supports self-hosting with local data storage and extensive customization. It also has a dedicated Migration Assistant and migration documentation covering customers, orders, products and other store data. Shopware Shopware

One nice characteristic is that Shopware's migration process can be run iteratively against a staging store, allowing you to test and correct mappings before going live. Shopware

If you want maximum technical control: Medusa

Medusa is interesting if you have developers and want an API-first/headless architecture rather than a traditional all-in-one storefront.

Its current migration tooling specifically supports importing products, variants, prices, images, inventory, collections/categories, and potentially orders/customers from other platforms. Its API-based approach can be idempotent, resumable, and rerunnable, which is excellent for a complicated migration. Medusa Docs Medusa Docs

The tradeoff is that you'll be building more yourself. I wouldn't choose it just because you want to escape SaaS.

Bottom line

• Want the easiest migration + huge ecosystem: WooCommerce
• Want serious commerce capabilities + self-hosting: Shopware 6
• Have a strong development team + want an API/headless platform: Medusa
• Want something simpler and lightweight: OpenCart

One important distinction: "I own my data" and "I control my infrastructure" aren't quite the same thing. If your goal is genuinely to eliminate vendor dependency, I'd favor a platform where you can directly access the database, files, backups, and application code—not merely a platform that offers a "self-hosted" deployment.

If you tell me what hosted platform you're migrating from (Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, etc.), approximate product/order count, and whether you need subscriptions/B2B/multiple stores, I can narrow this to one recommendation and explain exactly how I'd approach the migration.

If you're a larger/complex business: Shopware 6

I'd choose Shopware 6 Community Edition over WooCommerce if you have complex catalogs, multiple sales channels, B2B requirements, sophisticated pricing, or substantial integrations.

Shopware explicitly supports self-hosting with local data storage and extensive customization. It also has a dedicated Migration Assistant and migration documentation covering customers, orders, products and other store data. shopware.com docs.shopware.com

One nice characteristic is that Shopware's migration process can be run iteratively against a staging store, allowing you to test and correct mappings before going live. docs.shopware.com

If you want maximum technical control: Medusa

Medusa is interesting if you have developers and want an API-first/headless architecture rather than a traditional all-in-one storefront.

Its current migration tooling specifically supports importing products, variants, prices, images, inventory, collections/categories, and potentially orders/customers from other platforms. Its API-based approach can be idempotent, resumable, and rerunnable, which is excellent for a complicated migration.

The tradeoff is that you'll be building more yourself. I wouldn't choose it just because you want to escape SaaS.

Bottom line

If your priority is full control over data and a manageable migration from a hosted ecommerce platform, I’d usually shortlist these:

SwingIntel Open Source Groups## My practical recommendation

Choose WooCommerce if you want the smoothest exit from a hosted platform

WooCommerce is often the easiest migration path because it has mature import/export tooling and a large ecosystem. You can host it anywhere, own the database, and directly access products, customers, orders, content, and media. WooCommerce WooCommerce

Good choice if you have:

• Fewer than ~10,000 products (or a catalog that is not extremely complex)
• A marketing/content-heavy site
• A team comfortable managing WordPress
• A desire to avoid a large engineering project

Watch out for:

• Too many plugins creating maintenance issues
• Performance tuning as traffic and catalog size grow

Choose PrestaShop if you want a "real ecommerce system" without Magento complexity

PrestaShop is a standalone ecommerce application rather than a CMS plugin. It is a good middle ground for merchants who want product/catalog/order management built around commerce from the start. Elogic Commerce Datafirefly

Good choice if you have:

• Multiple languages or regions
• A traditional retail catalog
• A need for more ecommerce-native workflows

Choose Magento Open Source if your business is already complex

Magento gives the most flexibility, but the migration and ongoing operations are significantly more demanding. It makes sense when you need things like:

• Large catalogs
• Multiple stores
• Advanced pricing rules
• B2B purchasing workflows
• Heavy customization

It is usually not the "easy migration" choice. SwingIntel

Migration approach I’d use regardless of platform

1. Export everything first

• Products and variants
• Categories
• Customers
• Orders
• Discounts
• Reviews
• Images/files
• SEO URLs and metadata
• Run both systems temporarily

• Build the new store privately
• Import and validate data
• Test checkout, payments, emails, tax, shipping
• Preserve URLs

• Map old URLs to new URLs
• Keep redirects
• Monitor search traffic after launch
• Keep your data portable

• Use your own database backups
• Avoid storing critical business logic only in proprietary plugins
• Prefer open APIs and documented schemas

A simple rule of thumb

• Solo/small team → WooCommerce
• Growing retail brand → PrestaShop or Shopware
• Enterprise/B2B → Magento Open Source
• Engineering team wanting a custom stack → Saleor or Medusa

If you tell me what hosted platform you’re leaving (Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, etc.), your product count, and whether you need subscriptions/B2B/multistore, I can narrow this down considerably.