Both Altera and Matrixify are Shopify apps for importing and exporting data via spreadsheets. Altera offers additional data types (like Catalogs and Metafield Definitions), enhanced features such as running multiple jobs simultaneously and automatic data transformations, plus support for additional fields like customer store credit and payment terms.

For a complete comparison, read our differences between Altera and Matrixify article.

Altera supports the following data types:

Export-only data types:

Altera works with:

Yes! Altera can import data from any platform as long as you can export it to a supported spreadsheet format. You may need to adjust column headers to match Shopify's requirements, but the app provides guidance during the upload process. Additionally, we are developing an API connector with WooCommerce to avoid the need to reformat a spreadsheet.

No, Altera only imports files that are formatted in the Altera/Matrixify spreadsheet format. We do not support importing:

If you need to transform data from a custom format or sync inventory from supplier feeds, consider using these apps:

These apps specialize in importing data from various sources and formats. Once your data is in Shopify, you can use Altera to export it in the correct format for bulk updates and advanced data transformations.

For spreadsheet reformatting for exports, see our Data Transformations feature.

Yes - Altera is "Built for Shopify". We meet Shopify's app quality standards for usability, performance, and security. You'll see the Built for Shopify badge on our Shopify App Store listing and within the app. For you, this means a faster, more reliable, and secure experience that feels native to Shopify. We proactively track API changes to keep your workflows stable.

Yes! We can comfortably process jobs over a million records. Altera runs imports and exports in parallel whenever possible, which means multiple items are processed at the same time instead of one by one. For example, updating inventory levels for 10,000 products took under 10 minutes in our tests. Your results may vary depending on which fields you're updating, your Shopify plan, and other factors.

And we don't throttle processing speed based on your plan. Whether you're on our free Community plan or a paid plan, your jobs run at the same speed.

If you need faster imports, try including only the fields you need to update. Fewer fields means less data to process. If you're still running into speed issues, reach out to us and we'll help optimize your workflow.

After each import, Altera provides a detailed results file that shows:

Altera processes imports row by row, so if some rows fail, the successful ones remain in your store. You can download the results file to see exactly which items failed and why, then fix the issues and re-import just the failed rows.

Yes! If your spreadsheet includes a Handle or ID column with existing product identifiers, Altera will update those products instead of creating new ones. This is perfect for bulk price updates or inventory adjustments.

Altera can handle files with thousands of rows. For very large imports the process may take a while but you can monitor progress in real-time on the job detail screen. Currently file uploads are capped at 250mb but contact us if you need to import larger files.

Sample files for some data types are available in our knowledge base. Within the app, you'll find links to relevant knowledge base articles that include sample files and formatting guidance for supported data types. For data types without existing samples, contact support for specific examples.

Yes! You can schedule imports to run automatically. The scheduling options depend on your import source:

For file uploads (one-time scheduled imports):

For remote sources (FTP/SFTP/URL - recurring scheduled imports):

Scheduling is available on paid plans.

If you archive a job that has a schedule enabled, it will stop running automatically. This prevents archived jobs from continuing to run in the background when they're not visible in your jobs list.

To prevent issues with overlapping data, Altera will not start a new scheduled run if the previous run is still processing. The scheduled instance will be skipped, and the job will run again at the next scheduled interval. This ensures data integrity and prevents conflicts when importing or exporting large datasets that may take longer than your scheduled interval to complete.

If you notice your scheduled jobs are frequently being skipped, consider:

You can export data as often as needed - there are no limits on export frequency. Each export captures your current store data at the time you run it.

Yes! You can schedule exports to run automatically at specified intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) or as one-time scheduled jobs. This feature is available on paid plans.

To schedule an export:

If you archive a job that has a schedule enabled, it will stop running automatically. This prevents archived jobs from continuing to run in the background when they're not visible in your jobs list.

When you create a recurring export, the field groups and columns you select are fixed for the lifetime of that export. This ensures consistency in your export files across all runs.

The field columns you configure when creating the export will remain the same for all future runs. If we add new fields to the app later (for example, adding a new variant field to Altera's field configuration), those new fields will not automatically appear in your existing recurring export. To include new fields, you would need to create a new export with the updated configuration.

The exception to this rule is metafield columns. Metafield columns are dynamically generated each time the export runs, based on the metafield definitions currently configured in your Shopify store and any unstructured metafields that exist on your objects (products, variants, customers, etc.).

Metafield columns always appear at the end of your export file, which means they can change from one export run to another as you add or remove metafield definitions or unstructured metafields in your store.

If you need to ensure that all columns (including metafields) appear in exactly the same order every time, contact us to set up a data transformation. Data transformations can be configured to run automatically after each export to ensure the columns match exactly, including maintaining a consistent order for metafield columns across all export runs.

When Altera creates an export, it stores the output file at a secure URL. By default, this URL is private - even if someone knows the exact URL, they won't be able to download your data without proper authentication.

However, there are situations where you might want to make the export URL publicly accessible. For example:

Important security notes:

For most users, keeping URLs private (the default setting) is recommended unless you specifically need external access to the export files.

Yes! When setting up an export, you can apply filters to export only the data you need. For example, you can export only products from a specific vendor, customers from a certain location, or orders from a particular date range.

Yes! Altera offers Data Transformations (currently in early access) that allows you to automatically restructure your exported spreadsheets. Contact support to request access and we'll enable it for your account. With data transformations, you can:

To get started with data transformations:

If, at any time, you are not satisfied with Altera, you can cancel your subscription and receive a refund for the last month's charges. Contact our support team to initiate the refund process.

Shopify provides us with two methods to refund app charges:

App store credits can be used against any app charge on your Shopify invoice and can be processed within a business day. Note that we do not offer app store credit as a refund for your first month's bill unless that invoice has already been completely paid.

When we refund an individual charge, it can take up to 3-4 business days for the money to appear in your account.

Unfortunately we cannot remove pending charges from a Shopify invoice but we can refund them after they have been paid.

The developer plan is a free plan for Shopify development stores and trial accounts. It provides unlimited imports and exports with no restrictions and the same priority as paid plans. The only limitation is that scheduled/recurring jobs are not available. When your store transitions to a paid Shopify plan, you'll need to switch to a different Altera plan.

Visit our Developer Plan page for more details.

The community plan is a free plan for all Shopify stores. It provides unlimited imports and exports with no restrictions and the same priority as paid plans. The only limitation is that scheduled/recurring jobs are not available. When your store transitions to a paid Shopify plan, you'll need to switch to a different Altera plan.

Visit our Community Plan page for more details.

The pro plan is a paid plan for stores that need higher capacity and automation. It provides unlimited imports and exports with no restrictions and the same priority as paid plans. The only limitation is that scheduled/recurring jobs are not available. When your store transitions to a paid Shopify plan, you'll need to switch to a different Altera plan.

Visit our Plans Overview page for more details on the different plans.

When you uninstall the app your subscription is cancelled immediately however a difference between the app's billing cycle and Shopify's billing cycle may result in a charge on your Shopify invoice. If you were charged unexpectedly, please reach out to us and we'll refund the charges.

Yes, you'll need Altera installed on both stores - one to export the data and one to import it. However, there are several ways to keep costs down:

Development stores are completely free

If either of your stores is a Shopify development store, you can use Altera with no limits and no subscription. There's no cap on how many rows you can export or import.

The Community Plan offers generous free limits

Our Community Plan (free tier) allows you to work with up to 100 objects per file. This is significantly higher than comparable apps, which typically limit you to 10-50 items on free plans. For smaller catalogs or testing your migration, this might be all you need.

Two paid subscriptions can still be more affordable

Even if you need paid plans on both stores, two subscriptions at $15/month each ($30 total) is often cheaper than alternatives like Matrixify, especially for stores with moderate data needs. You only need to maintain both subscriptions during your data migration period - once complete, you can cancel the subscription on the old store.

Tips for cost-effective migrations:

Order and product exports from Shopify's admin are formatted differently than the import format Altera expects. If you try to upload these files directly, the import may fail or only partially succeed because critical fields are missing or structured differently.

Solution 1 - Export directly from the source store (Recommended):

If you still have access to the original Shopify store, install Altera on that store and export the data directly. This ensures the file is in the correct format for importing to another store.

Solution 2 - Use Data Transformations:

If you already have a Shopify admin export and can't access the original store:

Learn more about Data Transformations.

Common reasons include:

The results file will show specific error messages for each failed import.

Large imports naturally take time to process. Altera shows real-time progress, so you can see items being processed. If an import appears stuck without progress for more than 10 minutes, contact support.

Jobs may be terminated after 10 days, though most jobs complete far faster than that. If your job is taking an unusually long time, we recommend:

If you're regularly working with very large datasets, reach out to us and we'll help you find the most efficient approach for your specific use case.

If your job appears to be stuck in the pending state, this is likely a temporary issue due to a high volume of jobs being processed simultaneously. Jobs are processed in the order they are received, so during busy periods, there may be a queue of jobs waiting to start.

This is normal behavior and your job will begin processing once the jobs ahead of it in the queue are completed. Please be patient - your job should start and complete successfully without any action needed on your part.

First of all, we're sorry the didn't complete successfully. If your job shows an 'error' status, it means something unexpected prevented the job from completing successfully. This can happen for several reasons:

When a job shows an 'error' status, please try the following steps:

Yes! You can cancel an import while it's running. You can monitor real-time progress on the job detail screen and stop the import if needed. Any items that have already been processed will remain in your store.

Altera doesn't have an automatic undo feature, but you can:

Unfortunately, it's not possible to export metaobject entries created by the Shopify Forms app through the Shopify API. While you can see these metaobjects in your Shopify admin, they are marked as read-only and their definitions are not accessible via the API that Altera uses to retrieve data.

This is a limitation imposed by Shopify, not Altera. According to discussions in the Shopify developer forums, Shopify Forms metaobject definitions used to be returned by the API but are no longer available. This means that apps like Altera cannot access form submission data through the standard API endpoints.

Yes! You can include product images by:

Product variants should be on separate rows in your spreadsheet. Include:

Yes! Altera supports exporting translations for products, collections, pages, metaobjects, and other Shopify resources. The exported files are compatible with Shopify's native translation import, plus we include extra columns (like handles and parent resource info) to help you identify what you're translating.

You can filter exports by locale, resource type, and for product-related content, by product status, tag, or creation date.

Translation imports are planned for a future update. For now, you can edit exported files and import them directly into Shopify's admin at Settings > Languages.

See our Translations reference for full details on available fields and filters.

No, Altera doesn't currently support importing or exporting shipping profiles. Shipping profiles allow you to configure different shipping rates and options for different products in your store, but this data isn't available through our import/export process yet.

If this is a feature you need, contact us and we can notify you when we add support for shipping profiles.

Altera exports phone numbers exactly as they're stored in the Shopify API. The Shopify admin applies additional formatting code to display phone numbers in a standardized, human-readable format - but this formatting isn't part of the raw data.

As a result, a phone number that appears as +1 (555) 123-4567 in the Shopify admin might export as '+15551234567 or +15551234567 in your spreadsheet.

If you want your exported phone numbers in a standardized format, you can enable phone number formatting in the Advanced Options section when creating an export. The available formats are:

When formatting is enabled, Altera uses the country code from the associated address (customer address, shipping address, etc.) to accurately parse and format the phone number.

By default, we keep all uploaded files and exported data for 180 days from the date they were created. This gives you plenty of time to download exports and review import results. If you need longer retention for compliance or business reasons, contact us to discuss extended retention periods.

All files are permanently deleted within 48 hours after you uninstall Altera, in accordance with Shopify's data protection policy. Make sure to download any important files before uninstalling - once deleted, we cannot recover them.

Yes! If you want files removed before the standard retention period, just contact our support team and we'll delete them immediately.