Platform
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Shopify Headless (Hydrogen)
Framework
Shopify Headless (Hydrogen)
Shopify Headless (Hydrogen) is Shopify's framework for building custom storefronts on Shopify commerce, with Oxygen as its hosting. It suits development teams that want full control of the frontend while Shopify runs products, cart and checkout.
Checked on 2026-11-02. Always confirm on the official website.
QUICK ANSWER
Good for developer teams building a custom Shopify storefront; weak without developers or a built-in CMS.
From
Oxygen hosting free on paid Shopify plans, starting with Starter
Moving in or out
Medium
Take your site with you
Yes, storefronts can be deployed to other JavaScript runtimes outside Oxygen
Best for
Development teams and agencies that want a custom storefront frontend on top of Shopify's products, cart, customer accounts and checkout.
Not a fit if
Small shops without developers, and anyone who wants a built-in page editor or general-purpose CMS out of the box.
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Facts
Platform at a glance
Price
From
Oxygen hosting free on paid Shopify plans, starting with Starter
Features
CMS
No native general-purpose CMS; metaobjects or third-party headless CMS tools
Online store
Yes, via Shopify's Storefront API, cart, checkout and customer accounts
AI
Official skills and setup guidance for coding agents to build storefronts
Moving in or out
Migration difficulty
Medium
Can you take your site with you
Yes, storefronts can be deployed to other JavaScript runtimes outside Oxygen
Checked on 2026-11-02. Always confirm on the official website.
parnii take
04
Migration
Moving to or from Shopify Headless (Hydrogen)
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Migration
Shopify Headless (Hydrogen):
common questions
What is Shopify Hydrogen?
Hydrogen is Shopify's headless framework for building custom storefronts with Shopify commerce. Oxygen is Shopify's global hosting platform for deploying Hydrogen storefronts. Together they are Shopify's recommended stack for headless commerce.
Does Shopify Hydrogen cost extra?
Oxygen hosting is included at no extra charge on paid Shopify plans: Starter, Basic, Grow, Advanced, Plus, Pause and build. You still need one of those paid plans to use it.
Does Hydrogen include a CMS?
No general-purpose CMS is built into Hydrogen. Shopify offers metaobjects for dynamic content sections, and Hydrogen integrates with third-party headless CMS tools if you need more editing features.
Where is Hydrogen store data stored, and is there a GDPR DPA?
New European merchants default to storage at rest in Europe (EEA, UK and/or Switzerland). Data is rebalanced across Google Cloud regions, and regions are not selectable for Hydrogen or Oxygen. Shopify offers a GDPR DPA.
Can I move a Hydrogen storefront to another host?
Yes. Hydrogen can be deployed outside Oxygen to hosts such as Node, Deno or Cloudflare Workers, or another compatible JavaScript runtime. Shopify URL redirects are returned as 301 responses, so old links can keep working.
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Magazine
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