Connect vs migrate
Shopify’s help docs often talk about migrating from Square. That project moves a catalog once, usually off Square Online and into Shopify, and then Square’s website is no longer the storefront.
Connecting is the other project. Square stays the POS. Shopify stays the online store. SquareFloww keeps products, stock by location, and customers aligned after the first day. Saturday’s in-store sales still need to show up in the online count. A migrate does not do that next Saturday.
If your search was “how to connect Square to Shopify” because someone sent you a migrate article, pause and pick a lane:
- Leave Square’s website and import once → follow Shopify’s migrate docs, then decide if the POS still needs a sync.
- Keep Square POS and sell on Shopify → connect Square and keep syncing.
See Keep Square POS and sell on Shopify and Does Shopify work with Square?.
Before you start
What you’ll need
You need Shopify admin access for the store you want to connect, and a Square account whose locations are already created. If “Main Street” exists only in someone’s head, create it in both systems before you map it.
SKUs or titles should be tidy enough to match. The same item should not have three spellings and two blank SKUs. You do not need a perfect catalog. You do need to recognize your own products.
Set aside a quiet window for the first sync. Do not start it in the middle of a sidewalk sale.
What will sync
Once connected, SquareFloww syncs:
- Products: title, description, price, and image
- Inventory for each location pair you map
- Customers, both ways
The product overview is the Shopify Square integration page.
Connection process
Work in this order. Each step makes the next one safer.
Install SquareFloww from the Shopify App Store
Open the SquareFloww listing and install it on the Shopify store that should stay connected. Approve the access Shopify asks for. You can start the 7-day free trial at install.
Authorize your Square account
Inside the app, connect the Square account that owns your POS locations. Sign in to Square and approve access. You are linking accounts, not transferring ownership. Your readers, staff logins, and Square locations stay where they are.
Map Shopify locations to Square locations
A location pair is one Shopify location tied to one Square location that shares the same stock. Downtown Shopify pairs with Downtown Square. The warehouse pairs with the warehouse. Do not pair two different stores onto one count unless they truly share a shelf.
Starter includes one pair. Growth includes three. Pro includes unlimited pairs. If you sell from more than one place, read Multi-location inventory with Shopify and Square before you pick a plan.
Choose your source of truth
Pick Shopify or Square as the store your team edits. Product and stock updates copy from that store to the other one. If the floor team edits prices on Square all day, choose Square. If the website team owns the catalog in Shopify, choose Shopify.
Link products by SKU or title
SquareFloww links items by SKU or by title. SKU is the cleaner match when both catalogs already use the same codes. Title matching helps when SKUs were never filled in, as long as names are consistent. Clean obvious duplicates first: two “Blue Mug” rows will not sort themselves out.
Field-level detail is on Sync Shopify and Square products.
Run your first sync (manual on Starter)
Starter syncs when you run it. After locations are mapped and the source of truth is set, run that first sync and check a short list: a known price, a known image, a known on-hand count, and one customer you recognize. If those four look right, widen the check. If they do not, fix the match or the source of truth before you sync again.
Turn on automatic sync (Growth or Pro) when ready
Growth and Pro can sync automatically. Turn that on after the manual check looks right, not before. Automatic sync is the wrong time to discover that two locations were swapped.
Choose the right plan for connecting
| Plan | Price | Products | Customers | Location pairs | Sync mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19/mo | 1,000 | 500 | 1 | Manual |
| Growth | $39/mo | 2,000 | 2,000 | 3 | Automatic |
| Pro | $79/mo | 10,000 | 10,000 | Unlimited | Automatic |
One location, and someone who can press sync: Starter is enough to connect and prove the setup. Two or three stores, or a team that will not babysit counts: Growth. More than three pairs, or a catalog heading toward 10,000 products or customers: Pro.
You can start the trial on a smaller plan and move up when the map needs more pairs. You do not need automatic sync on day one.
Common connection issues
These are setup problems, not mystery error codes.
A location will not pair. Check that the location exists in Square and in Shopify under the names you expect. A closed pop-up still sitting in one admin will confuse the map. Create or rename the location in the source system, then pair it.
Products do not link. The SKU is blank on one side, or the titles do not match. Fill the SKU on both, or align the title, then link again. Do not force a match on two different items that happen to share a word.
The wrong side overwrites a price or a title. The source of truth is set to the system you did not mean to trust. Change it before the next sync. A sync does what that setting says.
Stock still looks wrong after connect. Inventory only aligns for mapped pairs, and only for products that are linked. An unmapped back room will keep its own count. See How to sync Square inventory with Shopify.
After you’re connected
Connection is the start. The daily jobs split like this:
- Stock by location: Sync Square inventory with Shopify
- Titles, prices, and images: Sync Shopify and Square products
- Buyer profiles: Sync customers between Shopify and Square
- Plan and positioning: Shopify Square integration