How much does an e-commerce website cost in 2026?
A Shopify or WooCommerce store costs US$8,000 to 40,000 from a small studio and US$1,500 to 8,000 from a freelancer. Platform fees, payment fees, drivers.
By Sohail Hussain29 October 20267 min read
As of October 2026, an online store on Shopify or WooCommerce costs US$8,000 to 40,000 from a small studio, US$1,500 to 8,000 from a freelancer and US$40,000 to 150,000 from a larger agency. A store with a bought theme, your products loaded and standard payments can be live for a few thousand dollars. A custom or headless store built on Next.js with a commerce backend starts around US$40,000 at a studio and passes US$150,000 at an agency.
On top of the build there are platform fees, payment fees and apps, which for a small store add US$100 to 1,000 a month. This guide sets out what each tier includes, what moves the price, what the platforms and payment gateways charge, and when the cheap option is the right one.
What does each type of online store cost to build?
| Store type | What it includes | Freelancer | Small studio | Larger agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theme-based Shopify store | Bought theme customised, products loaded, payments and shipping set up | US$1,000 to 5,000 | US$5,000 to 25,000 | US$25,000 to 80,000 |
| Theme-based WooCommerce store | Same on WordPress, with hosting and plugins configured | US$1,500 to 6,000 | US$6,000 to 30,000 | US$30,000 to 90,000 |
| Custom-designed store on Shopify or WooCommerce | Original design, custom theme, integrations, migration of existing products | US$4,000 to 15,000 | US$15,000 to 60,000 | US$60,000 to 200,000 |
| Headless or fully custom store | Next.js storefront on a commerce backend, custom checkout, complex catalogue | US$15,000 to 40,000 | US$40,000 to 150,000 | US$150,000 to 500,000+ |
The freelancer column is a theme install with your logo, products and a payment gateway. That is a legitimate purchase for a first store. The studio column adds design around how your customers actually shop, product and collection pages built for your catalogue, integrations with accounting and shipping, speed work and structured data for search. Our e-commerce development work sits there, on Shopify, WooCommerce or a headless Next.js storefront depending on the catalogue and the team. The agency column adds brand, strategy, conversion research and account management.
For how store prices compare with company sites, web apps and chatbots, see the main guide to how much a website costs.
What moves a store quote up or down?
Platform choice. A Shopify theme store is the cheapest to build because checkout, tax, inventory and the admin already exist. WooCommerce is close but needs hosting, security and plugin decisions. Custom means building or wiring up all of that. The guide to choosing an e-commerce platform covers the decision; Shopify versus WooCommerce covers the most common one.
Catalogue size and complexity. Fifty products with one variant each is an afternoon of data entry. Five thousand products with sizes, colours, bundles and supplier feeds is a data project with its own budget. Variants, bundles and configurable products are where theme stores run out of road.
Custom design. A bought theme with your colours is a day. Original product, collection and checkout page design is weeks, and worth it when your products do not fit the templates or when design is part of what you sell.
Integrations. Accounting (Tally, Zoho Books, QuickBooks, Xero), shipping and delivery partners, a marketplace feed, an ERP, a CRM, WhatsApp order notifications. Each is a day or two if an app exists and a week or more if it does not. Budget US$1,500 to 8,000 per integration at studio rates, as of October 2026. The guides to inventory sync with accounting and WhatsApp order notifications cover the two most requested.
Payments and regions. One gateway in one currency is standard. Multiple currencies, local payment methods such as UPI, Mada or Tabby, and tax rules across countries each add setup and testing. Selling internationally covers what changes.
Migration. Moving an existing store means products, customers, order history, URLs and rankings. A migration done badly loses the rankings the old store earned. How to migrate a store to Shopify covers the redirect work; budget US$2,000 to 15,000 for a medium catalogue.
What do the platforms and gateways charge?
The build is one-off; these are monthly and per order. As of October 2026:
Platform fees.
| Platform | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Entry plans from around US$30 to 40 a month; mid plans around US$80 to 105; advanced plans around US$300 to 400 | Discounts for annual billing; Shopify Plus for large stores is far higher; see Shopify's pricing page |
| WooCommerce | US$0 for the software | Hosting US$15 to 100 a month, plus paid plugins; see WooCommerce |
| Headless or custom | US$20 to 500 a month in hosting and services | Plus the commerce backend's fee if you use one |
Payment fees. Every gateway takes a percentage of each order plus, in some markets, a fixed fee. As of October 2026, domestic card rates are around 2 percent in India through Razorpay or PayU, around 2.9 percent plus a fixed fee in the US through Stripe, and 2 to 3 percent in the UAE and Saudi Arabia through local gateways, with international cards costing more. Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top if you use a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments, which is a real consideration in markets where Shopify Payments is not available. Our Shopify fee calculator, Razorpay fee calculator and Stripe fee calculator show what each order actually nets. The comparison in Razorpay versus Stripe versus PayU covers Indian stores and payment gateways in the UAE and Saudi Arabia covers the Gulf.
Apps and plugins. Reviews, email marketing, upsells, subscriptions, advanced shipping, returns. Each is US$0 to 100 a month. A Shopify store with ten apps at US$30 each is spending more on apps than on the plan. Be ruthless.
Maintenance. Shopify needs little; a few hours a month for theme and app updates. WooCommerce needs WordPress, WooCommerce and plugin updates, security and backups, which is US$100 to 500 a month on a retainer or your own time. How much website maintenance costs has the detail.
Added up, a small store spends US$100 to 1,000 a month on platform, apps, hosting and maintenance, plus two to three percent of every sale. Build those into your margins before you set prices; the profit margin calculator helps.
When should you spend less on a store?
- You have not sold anything yet. A theme store on Shopify, or a Salla or Zid store in Saudi Arabia, can be live for a few thousand dollars. Sell for six months, learn what customers do, then spend on custom design where it will matter.
- You sell a handful of products. Twenty products and a simple checkout do not need a custom build. Spend on photography and copy instead; they move conversion more than layout.
- Your sales come from a marketplace. If Amazon or Noon is where your buyers are, a basic store for brand and repeat customers is enough. Marketplace versus own store covers when to invest in your own.
- The budget leaves nothing for traffic. A beautiful store with no visitors earns nothing. If the whole budget is the build, build smaller and keep money for getting people to it.
Custom design and headless builds earn their price with large or complex catalogues, unusual checkout needs, B2B pricing and accounts, very high traffic, or when the brand is the product and the templates get in its way.
How do you get a store quote you can compare?
Send every supplier the same brief: platform preference if any, number of products and variants, payment methods and countries, shipping partners, integrations, whether this is a migration, and your budget range. The guide to writing a website brief has a template that adapts to stores with a few extra lines. Ask for the price with the list of exclusions, the apps and their monthly fees, and who owns the store account, the domain and the theme code.
For a rough number before you start, the website cost calculator includes e-commerce options and shows the assumptions behind its range. If a quote is far outside it, ask what the difference buys; sometimes it is a migration or an ERP integration you need, and sometimes it is a theme install with an agency's overhead on top. For how to structure the payment, read fixed price versus hourly.
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