Hiring a Shopify development agency is one of the bigger decisions a growing brand makes. The right partner turns a theme and an app stack into a fast, reliable store; the wrong one leaves you with custom code nobody can maintain. This list is for brands that need real development work, such as custom themes, migrations from Magento or BigCommerce, Shopify Plus checkout extensions, ERP connections and ongoing support, rather than a one-off template setup.
Every firm below was checked on its own website for a live Shopify development practice, its Shopify partner status where published, its location, and concrete details such as founding year, team size, leadership and named clients. Agencies that only resell apps, firms without verifiable Shopify work, and brands that have been absorbed into other companies were excluded. Rankings reflect that review, not payment.
Top Shopify Development Agencies In 2026
| Company | Best For | Headquarters | Core Services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanky | International Shopify Plus brands and subscriptions | United Kingdom, with teams in Australia and France | Shopify Plus builds, migrations, growth support |
| Eastside Co | Full-service Shopify Plus builds with SEO | London, United Kingdom | Shopify Plus design, development, marketing |
| Ask Phill | European fashion, lifestyle and beauty brands | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Shopify Plus migrations and rebuilds |
| Anatta | Enterprise brands from 50 million to 2 billion dollars | Austin, Texas, USA | Enterprise Shopify consulting and engineering |
| Arctic Grey | Shopify experts for D2C, B2B and POS projects | Silicon Valley, California, USA | Custom builds, migrations, ERP integration, apps |
| Netalico | Senior in-house team for DTC Shopify Plus stores | United States (distributed) | Shopify Plus development, CRO, retainers |
| Realm | One team for everything Shopify, from startup to enterprise | Minnesota, USA | Custom themes, apps, migrations, SEO |
| Velstar | UK brands that want build, CRO and paid media together | Liverpool, United Kingdom | Shopify Plus development, CRO, performance marketing |
| Electric Eye | Lifestyle DTC brands and migrations | Columbus, Ohio, USA | Shopify design, development and migration |
| Underwaterpistol | Bold, design-led Shopify Plus stores | London, United Kingdom | Shopify Plus design, development, migration |
1. Swanky
Swanky was founded in 2010, has worked exclusively on Shopify since 2012, and in 2016 was one of the first three agencies in Europe to earn Shopify Plus Expert accreditation. It became a Shopify Platinum Partner in 2025 and operates across the UK, Australia and France.
The agency typically works with mid-market and enterprise businesses in the UK, US, Europe and APAC, and says it is best known for direct to consumer subscription brands, particularly in food and drink, pet care, and health and wellness. Its published case studies cover Recharge migrations, Shopify 2.0 upgrades and Shopify Plus internationalization, so it suits brands expanding into new markets as much as those replatforming. Ask its team about recurring revenue tooling and multi-currency setup early, since those are the areas where its experience is most concentrated.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus design and development, migration to Shopify and Recharge, internationalization, composable and headless commerce, long-term growth retainers.
2. Eastside Co
Eastside Co was established in 2012 and is based in London, with offices in Birmingham, New York and Hamburg. It is a Shopify Platinum Partner and describes itself as a fully in-house team of more than 70 designers, developers, project managers and marketers, with no freelancers or outsourcing.
Recent work on its site includes a Magento to Shopify Plus migration for Gold Collagen that unified more than 15 international markets, a bespoke Shopify Plus build for F1 Authentics, the official Formula 1 memorabilia brand, and a full-funnel SEO program for DJI Hasselblad in the UK. That combination of build and marketing makes it a strong pick for brands that want one team after launch. Brands that want a single partner across design, development and organic growth, rather than separate agencies for each, will find the model straightforward to manage.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus design and development, platform migration, custom apps, SEO and AI search, paid media and ecommerce marketing.
3. Ask Phill
Ask Phill is a Shopify Platinum Partner based in Amsterdam that focuses on Europe’s fashion, lifestyle and beauty brands. The agency reports more than 10 years on Shopify, over 200 stores launched and a team of more than 60 experts.
It specializes in large-scale Shopify Plus migrations and rebuilds, starting each project with a discovery audit that maps the existing stack and locks the architecture before development begins. Its own guidance is unusually candid, noting that Plus tends to pay off above roughly 3 million euros in annual revenue and that smaller merchants without custom requirements are often better served on Advanced. That kind of honest scoping is valuable for brands deciding how much to invest. Fashion and beauty brands in Europe will also benefit from a team that already understands their seasonal launch cycles and multi-market catalogs.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus migration, store design and development, multi-store and multi-region setups, checkout extensibility, retention and CRO.
4. Anatta
Anatta is a Shopify Platinum Partner with an address in Austin, Texas, and a team of more than 120 specialists. It describes itself as an enterprise Shopify consultancy for brands with roughly 50 million to 2 billion dollars in annual revenue, and says it has supported more than 100 brands.
The firm pairs senior commerce architects with agentic engineering, using AI agents for routine development while its team handles architecture and growth decisions. It cites a Shopify Plus launch timeline as short as 31 days, works across health and beauty, food and beverage, CPG, fashion and home goods, and publishes a Dollar Shave Club success story along with testimonials from the co-founders of Rothy’s and BRUNT. Its pitch is built around speed to launch without cutting corners on architecture, so it fits brands that have outgrown a smaller agency and need enterprise-grade governance.
Services and expertise: Enterprise Shopify Plus builds and migrations, commerce architecture, funnel engineering, ongoing development and optimization.
5. Arctic Grey
Arctic Grey began in 2015, joined the Shopify Plus ecosystem in 2017 and is now a Shopify Platinum Partner headquartered in Silicon Valley, with locations across North America and Europe. Co-founders Jake Amos and Anthony Spallone lead the firm, which reports more than 80 staff, over 1,000 Shopify stores supported and more than 550 five-star reviews.
Its services span new store builds, migrations from Salesforce, Magento and BigCommerce, ERP integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP and NetSuite, custom Shopify apps and POS rollouts. Named clients include Lids, Bark, EBY by Sofia Vergara and Lancer Skincare. A useful feature for buyers is its try-before-you-buy model, which offers a concept design or prototype before a contract is signed. The firm also runs a bulk hours model for smaller tasks, which helps merchants who need a mix of project work and ongoing fixes from the same Shopify experts.
Services and expertise: Custom Shopify and Shopify Plus development, migration, ERP integration, Shopify app development, POS setup, A/B testing.
6. Netalico
Netalico is a Shopify Plus Premier Partner founded by Mark W. Lewis, solving client ecommerce challenges since 2011. It runs a fully in-house senior team with nothing subcontracted, and lists work across New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.
The agency says it manages more than 150 million dollars in client revenue for brands including Oatly and Big Green Egg, and was featured on Shopify’s enterprise blog for its approach to AI-assisted migration. Beyond builds, it offers fractional Shopify CTO services, hourly retainers and migration paths from Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace and Volusion, which suits brands that want senior judgment without a full-time hire. It also runs an AI search and generative engine optimization practice, useful for brands thinking about how their products appear in AI shopping answers.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus development and design, platform migration, CRO and speed optimization, Klaviyo, fractional Shopify CTO, maintenance retainers.
7. Realm
Realm is a Minnesota-based Shopify agency that has been rated as a top Shopify partner since 2012 and is now celebrating 15 years in business. It positions itself as one company for everything Shopify, covering creative, custom themes, apps, marketing, SEO, content and support.
The agency works with clients from startups to Fortune 500 companies, and its pitch centers on conversion: it notes that most Shopify stores convert at 2.5 to 3.5 percent and builds with the aim of beating that benchmark. For brands that want design, development and post-launch marketing from a single Shopify-only team, Realm is a practical, well-rounded choice. Its service menu runs from simple Shopify setups to complete turnkey sites, so it can scale with a brand rather than forcing an enterprise engagement too early.
Services and expertise: Custom Shopify themes, app development, migration to Shopify, Shopify SEO and content, ongoing support.
8. Velstar
Velstar is a Shopify Platinum Partner registered in Liverpool, with hubs across the UK and North America and more than 21 years of ecommerce heritage. It works with both direct to consumer and trade brands.
Over the last three years it has added WeTeachCRO, We Influence and Yatter, which means conversion optimization, performance marketing and paid social sit in-house beside the development team. For brands that want a Shopify development company accountable for results after go-live, rather than handing off to separate marketing vendors, that structure is a real advantage. Its trade capability also means brands that sell to stockists as well as consumers can keep both channels with one Shopify development company.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus design and development, integrations and headless builds, CRO, paid social and performance marketing.
9. Electric Eye
Electric Eye is a Shopify Premier Partner founded in 2016 and based in Columbus, Ohio. The team reports more than 100 Shopify stores built and is one of a small group of trusted Matrixify partners, the data import tool widely used for platform migrations.
Its typical clients are direct to consumer lifestyle brands in fashion, home goods and accessories. Alongside design and development, it offers a Shopify Diagnostic that identifies the highest value improvements in an existing store, a sensible entry point for brands that are unsure whether they need a rebuild or targeted fixes. As a smaller, tight-knit team, it tends to suit brands that want direct access to the people building their store rather than layers of account management.
Services and expertise: Shopify design and development, migration to Shopify, store diagnostics, conversion optimization.
10. Underwaterpistol
Underwaterpistol is a Shopify Plus Partner based on Wardour Street in London, with more than 20 years of designing, building and optimizing ecommerce stores. Shopify Plus sits at the center of its technology stack.
The agency pitches itself at challenger brands that want distinctive creative work rather than safe templates, and it handles migrations to Shopify Plus as well as optimization of existing stores. It suits brands for whom design quality and brand expression matter as much as technical delivery. Its long history in ecommerce, predating Shopify Plus itself, also means it has seen most migration pitfalls before.
Services and expertise: Shopify Plus design and development, Shopify Plus migration, app ecosystem integration, ecommerce optimization.
How To Choose A Shopify Development Agency
Do You Need Shopify Plus Or A Standard Plan? Before shortlisting Shopify experts, settle which plan you are building for. Plus unlocks checkout extensibility, expansion stores and B2B features, but it changes the budget materially. Our Shopify pricing guide breaks down plan fees and real monthly costs, and a good agency should be willing to tell you if Plus is not yet worth it.
Is Their Partner Status Verifiable? Shopify ranks partners by tier, and claims are easy to check. Look the agency up in the official Shopify Partner Directory, compare the listed services and reviews with what the sales deck says, and ask who on the team will actually write the code. If you are specifically shortlisting enterprise partners, our list of top Shopify Plus agencies covers that tier in more depth.
How Do They Handle Performance? Custom sections, heavy apps and third-party scripts are the usual causes of slow Shopify stores. Ask how the Shopify development company tests speed before launch, which metrics it reports, and how it limits app bloat. Google’s Core Web Vitals guidance sets out the thresholds that affect both search visibility and conversion.
What Does Migration Really Include? Moving from Magento, BigCommerce or WooCommerce means more than copying products. Confirm how customer accounts, order history, URLs and redirects, reviews and subscriptions will be handled, and whether the agency runs a full test migration before cutover.
Who Supports The Store After Launch? Most brands need a Shopify agency long after go-live for app updates, theme changes and seasonal campaigns. Ask about retainer structures, response times, and whether you keep full ownership of custom code and private apps.
Conclusion
Swanky, Eastside Co and Ask Phill lead this list for brands that want an experienced Platinum partner with deep Shopify Plus migration experience, each with a clear regional and vertical focus. Anatta and Arctic Grey are the stronger fits for larger enterprise or complex D2C and B2B builds, and Netalico gives growing brands senior, in-house expertise with flexible retainers.
Realm, Velstar, Electric Eye and Underwaterpistol round out the field with distinct strengths in all-in-one Shopify service, post-launch marketing, migrations for lifestyle brands and design-led builds. Whichever Shopify development agency you shortlist, verify partner status, insist on a clear migration plan, and agree support terms before work begins.
If you want to add your company to this list, drop us a line or submit a form in the Best Choices section. After a thorough review, we’ll decide whether it’s an appropriate addition.
