How Much Does an Ecommerce Website Cost? A Simple Breakdown

The cost of an ecommerce website depends on three things: the platform, how custom the design is, and how many products and features you need. A simple shop can cost a few hundred dollars to build. A large custom store can cost thousands. Here is how the money splits up.

The main costs

1. Build (one-time)

• Store setup: products, categories, tax, shipping and checkout.
• Design: a ready theme with your branding, or a fully custom design.
• Integrations: payment gateways, email, accounting, marketing tools.

For a freelance WooCommerce build, a small store can start from about $690. Cost grows with the number of products, product variations, custom features and migrations from another platform.

2. Running costs (monthly or yearly)

• Hosting: from about $5 to $30 a month for a small shop, more for a busy one.
• Domain: around $10 to $20 a year.
• Paid plugins or extensions where you need them.
• Payment fees: charged per sale by Stripe, PayPal or your bank, whatever platform you choose.
• Maintenance: updates, backups, security checks and support. See WordPress maintenance.

WooCommerce or Shopify?

WooCommerce is free software on top of WordPress. You pay for hosting and any extensions, you own everything, and you can customise almost anything. Shopify charges a monthly subscription, plus transaction fees if you do not use Shopify Payments, and is simpler to start but more limited to customise.

What pushes the price up

• Many products or complex variations (size, colour, bundles).
• Subscriptions, bookings or memberships.
• Multi-currency, multi-language or special tax rules.
• Custom checkout or integrations with other systems.
• Migrating products and customers from an old store.

How to keep it affordable

1. 1Launch with your best 20 to 50 products, not all 500.
2. 2Use a proven theme and customise the details that matter.
3. 3Add advanced features only when sales justify them.
4. 4Choose fast hosting. A slow shop loses sales.

Get a number for your shop

A clear quote needs a short list: how many products, which payment methods, where you ship, and any special features. Send me your brief and I will reply with a clear quote within 24 hours, or read about my WooCommerce service first.

Related reading: what a small business website costs in the USA.