From Bitrix24 to Kommo: Complete Data Migration Without Losing History

Moving from Bitrix24 to Kommo is a popular choice for companies that want to simplify their CRM and focus on messenger-based sales. Bitrix24 is feature-heavy, costly to maintain, and requires a dedicated administrator. Kommo is lighter, faster, and natively integrated with WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram. But migration via CSV or Albato only transfers flat current-state data — all activity history, notes, tasks, and conversations are lost. The team arrives in Kommo with “bare” contact cards and no context. Here is how to do the migration correctly.

Why Companies Move from Bitrix24 to Kommo

Typical reasons for switching that we encounter in projects:

• Interface overload — Bitrix24 includes projects, HR, disk, websites, and a storefront. For a sales team this is a constant source of context switching
• Cost — Bitrix24 pricing scales with users; Kommo is cheaper for smaller teams
• Messengers — Kommo natively integrates with WhatsApp Business API, Instagram, and Telegram; in Bitrix24 this requires additional setup and cost
• Speed — Kommo is faster and simpler for day-to-day manager work
• Digital Pipeline — automation in Kommo is more intuitive for sales processes

The Core Architectural Problem: Different Data Models

Before discussing migration tools, it is essential to understand the fundamental difference between Bitrix24 and Kommo that makes a simple transfer impossible.

Bitrix24 has two separate sales objects:

• Lead — an unqualified inbound contact
• Deal — a qualified opportunity with a pipeline and amount

Kommo has one object:

• Lead — combines both an inbound contact and a deal in the pipeline

Before any data transfer begins, the team must make a strategic decision: what becomes a Lead in Kommo — only Bitrix24 Deals, or both Leads and Deals together? This decision determines the entire mapping architecture.

Complete Object Mapping Table

Why CSV and Albato Are Not Complete Migration Solutions

CSV Export from Bitrix24

Bitrix24 allows exporting Contacts, Companies, and Deals to CSV. This option transfers only flat current-state data:

• ✅ Basic contact and company fields
• ✅ Current deal field values
• ❌ Note and activity history — lost entirely
• ❌ Tasks — not exported via CSV
• ❌ Object relationships — contacts are not linked to companies after import
• ❌ Stage change history — no record of deal progress
• ❌ Files and attachments — not transferred
• ❌ Open channel conversations — not transferred

Albato Migration Mode

Albato positions Migration Mode as a tool for transferring historical data from Bitrix24 to Kommo. Its actual capabilities are significantly more limited:

What Albato transfers:

• ✅ Contacts — current field values
• ✅ Companies — current field values
• ✅ Deals -> Kommo Leads — current field values
• ✅ Works in Migration Mode for historical periods

What Albato does NOT transfer:

• ❌ Notes and comments — no mechanism for bulk transfer of Notes from Bitrix24 to Kommo
• ❌ Tasks — no action for creating a task linked to a lead in Migration Mode
• ❌ Email activities and correspondence — no triggers for Bitrix24 email history
• ❌ Stage change history — deal progress timeline is not transferred
• ❌ Files and documents — card attachments are not transferred
• ❌ Open channel conversations — WhatsApp and other channel chats are not transferred
• ❌ Deduplication — re-running Migration Mode creates duplicates
• ❌ List-type custom fields — values are transferred as text without conversion to Kommo options

Conclusion: both CSV and Albato transfer only the data “skeleton.” The team receives cards without history — managers have no context on deals, and management cannot see what happened before the migration.

What the Business Loses Without History Migration

Losing activity history is not just a technical problem. It has operational consequences:

• Manager lacks context — when calling a client, there is no understanding of what was discussed at previous meetings, what objections were raised, or what was promised
• Deal losses in progress — active negotiations break down due to loss of context; some clients perceive this as unprofessional
• No analytics on historical data — it is impossible to analyze win and loss reasons for closed deals
• Compliance issues — in some industries, communication history with clients is a legal requirement

Step-by-Step Correct Migration Process

Step 1: Strategic Data Model Decision

The first and most important step — decide what to do with the two Bitrix24 objects (Lead + Deal):

Option A: Transfer Deals only
Bitrix24 Leads are ignored or transferred as a separate tag. Deals become Kommo leads. Suitable if Bitrix24 Leads were used only as a primary inbound contact and all qualified opportunities are already in Deals.

Option B: Combine Leads and Deals
All Bitrix24 Leads are transferred as Kommo leads at early pipeline stages. Deals — as leads at advanced stages. Suitable if Bitrix24 Leads contain active negotiations.

Option C: Separate pipelines
Bitrix24 Leads -> “Inbound” pipeline in Kommo. Deals -> main pipeline. Suitable for companies with a clear separation between qualification and selling processes.

Step 2: Audit Bitrix24 Data

Before starting the transfer — inventory via Bitrix24 REST API:

• Count of Leads, Deals, Contacts, Companies
• List of all custom fields and their types
• Count of notes, tasks, activities
• List of pipelines and stages
• Active integrations: open channels, telephony, email
• Date of the oldest object — determines the volume of historical data

Step 3: Prepare Kommo

Before data transfer begins, Kommo must be fully configured:

• Pipelines created with stages corresponding to Bitrix24
• Custom fields created for Leads and Contacts
• List field values populated — before data import
• Users created — bitrix_user_id → kommo_user_id mapping table ready

Step 4: Transfer via API

Extracted from Bitrix24 REST API:

crm.lead.list — all leads with custom fields
crm.deal.list — all deals with custom fields
crm.contact.list — all contacts
crm.company.list — all companies
crm.activity.list — all activities (calls, emails, meetings)
task.list — all tasks
crm.timeline.comment.list — deal notes

Created via Kommo API:

POST /api/v4/leads — create leads
POST /api/v4/contacts — create contacts
POST /api/v4/companies — create companies
POST /api/v4/leads/{id}/notes — transfer notes
POST /api/v4/tasks — transfer tasks
PATCH /api/v4/leads/{id} — update custom fields

Step 5: Transfer Activity History

This is the most labor-intensive stage — the one that neither CSV nor Albato performs.

Each Bitrix24 activity (call, email, meeting, comment) is transferred as a note in the Kommo lead card, preserving:

• Activity type (call / email / meeting)
• Date and time
• Activity author
• Content (email body, call result, meeting subject)

Conversations from Bitrix24 open channels (WhatsApp, Telegram) are transferred as structured notes with a chronological message log.

Step 6: Delta Migration

While the main transfer and data validation are underway, the team continues working in Bitrix24. Delta migration transfers objects created or modified after the main transfer — guaranteeing that no active deal is lost at the time of switchover.

Step 7: Validation

Before the team switches, a spot check is performed:

• 50 random leads: are all fields transferred correctly
• 20 contacts: are they correctly linked to companies and leads
• Activity history: are notes visible in the cards
• Tasks: are they assigned to the correct users
• Custom fields: do values match the originals

Common Issues in Bitrix24 → Kommo Migration

Bitrix24 Smart Processes have no equivalent in Kommo.
If the company used Bitrix24 Smart Processes for non-standard entities (real estate objects, contracts, requests) — these data points require an individual solution. Sometimes they are transferred as a separate Kommo pipeline, sometimes as custom lead fields.

Bitrix24 Business Processes vs. Kommo Digital Pipeline.
Automations in Bitrix24 are built on a visual business process designer. Kommo automation works through the Digital Pipeline with triggers and actions. Logic must be transferred manually — direct migration of business processes does not exist.

Duplicate contacts.
Bitrix24 allows multiple Contacts with the same email. Importing into Kommo without prior deduplication reproduces those duplicates. Pre-cleaning the data in Bitrix24 or deduplication at the mapping stage is required.

Users with blocked accounts.
Tasks and deals are assigned to users who no longer work at the company and are blocked in Bitrix24. During migration a decision must be made about who to reassign their objects to in Kommo.

Invoices.
Bitrix24 has an invoicing module. Kommo has no direct equivalent. Invoice data is transferred as notes on leads or into custom fields — depending on how the company plans to handle them in Kommo.

Real-World Case

Construction company, 15 managers, 4 years in Bitrix24, 12,000 deals, 8 pipelines.

The company used Bitrix24 with active open channels for WhatsApp and Instagram. The decision to switch to Kommo was driven by better messenger usability and Bitrix24 interface overload. First attempt via Albato: deals and contacts were transferred, but all conversation history and comments were lost — 4 years of client work disappeared from the cards. The team refused to switch.

Second attempt with a custom migration: full audit via Bitrix24 REST API, strategic data model decision (transfer only Deals as Kommo leads, Leads -> separate “Inbound” pipeline), transfer of all activities and comments as notes, partial transfer of WhatsApp conversations as structured notes, delta migration, two-week validation with parallel operation.

Result: 12,000 deals, 45,000 notes, and 8,000 tasks transferred. WhatsApp conversation history for the last 2 years preserved in the cards. The team switched over in one working day.

Which Companies Should Consider This Migration

Bitrix24 → Kommo migration is most relevant for small and medium businesses that use Bitrix24 primarily as a CRM and messenger integration — without using the HR, disk, websites, and project modules. If Bitrix24 is used as a full corporate platform, migrating only the CRM portion requires special care.

Especially relevant for companies with active messenger-based sales via WhatsApp and Instagram — where Kommo’s native messenger integration delivers a significant advantage in day-to-day manager usability.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Albato not a complete Bitrix24 → Kommo migration tool?
Albato transfers only current field values of objects — contacts, companies, deals. Notes, tasks, email activities, stage change history, and open channel conversations are not transferred via Albato. For a small database without critical history, Albato works. For companies where communication history is critical — a custom migration via Bitrix24 REST API and Kommo API is required.

What happens to WhatsApp conversations from Bitrix24 open channels?
Bitrix24 open channels store conversations inside the platform. There is no direct API for exporting chat history. Conversations are transferred via crm.activity.list as activities of type “Message” — they are written into Kommo cards as structured notes with chronology and participants. A full chat history is not reproduced, but the negotiation context is preserved.

Does the team need to stop working during migration?
No. Migration happens in parallel with the team working in Bitrix24. After the main transfer, a delta migration synchronizes new data. The team switches to Kommo on a single day after successful validation.

Can only part of the data be transferred — for example, only active deals?
Yes. Migration supports filtering by: deal status (active/closed), time period, assigned manager, pipeline. A typical approach — transfer all active deals completely and archive deals from the last 2 years without detailed history.

How long does a Bitrix24 → Kommo migration take?
Depends on data volume. A basic migration of up to 2,000 deals without deep history — 4–6 working days. A complete migration with activity history, tasks, and conversations for 10,000+ deals — 2–4 weeks including validation and delta migration. Exceltic.dev determines exact timelines after a data audit.

If you are planning a move from Bitrix24 to Kommo and want to preserve communication history — describe the task to the Exceltic.dev team. We will conduct a data audit and propose a migration plan.