In 2024 the ecommerce landscape is moving fast and launching an ecommerce website is a must for businesses to survive online.
But the question on every entrepreneurs and established businesses minds is how much does an ecommerce website cost?
In 2024 the cost of an ecommerce website can be anywhere from $1,000 to over $250,000 depending on your needs and scale.
A basic setup with platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce can cost between $1,000 to $5,000.ย
Mid range solutions with more customization and features will cost between $5,000 to $50,000.
Large enterprises with complex integrations and custom functionality will cost $50,000 and up and can go over $250,000 for the most advanced solutions.
The price range is due to the many factors that affect the cost, including the platform, design, number of products, custom features, security, mobile responsiveness and SEO. And donโt forget ongoing costs like hosting, payment processing fees and marketing.
In this post weโll go into more detail on these cost factors, the options at each price point and what to expect as you start your ecommerce journey in 2024.
In this post, Iโm going to discuss the many costs associated with launching an e-commerce website.
Letโs dive right into all things related to the total cost of an ecommerce website.
Ecommerce Website Costs Breakdown
Category | Cost Range | More info |
---|---|---|
Platform/Software | $0 – $3,000+ | Depending on the platform (e.g., WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento). |
Domain Name | $10 – $50 per year | The cost for registering a domain name. |
Hosting | $100 – $500 per year | Shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting plans. |
SSL Certificate | $0 – $200 per year | SSL certificates for secure transactions. |
Design and Theme | $0 – $5,000+ | Free or premium themes, custom design services. |
Extensions/Plugins | $100 – $1,000+ | Additional functionality through plugins or extensions. |
Payment Processing | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction | Fees charged by payment gateways (e.g., PayPal, Stripe). |
Custom Development | $1,000 – $20,000+ | Custom features, integrations, and development. |
Maintenance and Updates | $500 – $2,000 per year | Ongoing maintenance, updates, and support. |
Marketing and SEO | $500 – $5,000+ per year | SEO services, marketing campaigns, and social media management. |
Content Creation | $500 – $5,000+ | Product descriptions, blog posts, and other content creation services. |
Training and Support | $0 – $1,000+ | Training for staff, ongoing support packages. |
Regardless of the type of website – from an ecommerce store to a basic WordPress blog – there are two primary categories of expenses:
- Design and functionality: This is what people see when they visit your site, interact with your content, and make a purchase. For example, the layout of your website will impact how long people stay on your site and your conversion rate.
- Infrastructure: These are the many necessary expenses for building and powering your ecommerce store, but things that your audience doesnโt necessarily notice. Weโll dive into the details below but think about things such as buying a domain, setting up hosting, and search engine optimization.
Your success starts well before your website is live. It begins when you create a plan for building your site, which includes a list of expenses and a budget.
As I break down the question of ecommerce website cost, youโll notice that the following expenses come into play for almost everyone:
- Domain name
- Hosting
- Theme
- Custom design
- Web development
- Setup expert
- Marketing and SEO
- Payment processing
- Apps and plug-ins
Along with the above, there are many software programs and platforms you can use to create an ecommerce website. While I urge you to consider all your options, for the sake of this article Iโm going to focus on the following:
- Shopify (full Shopify reviews)
- BigCommerce (full BigCommerce reviews)
- Square Online Store (full Square Online Store review)
- WooCommerce (full WooCommerce review)
With all the basics out of the way, letโs take a closer look at the costs of building an ecommerce website.
1. Domain Name
You canโt have a website without a domain name. This is the permanent address of your online store, so itโs important to choose wisely.
How much you pay for a domain name depends on a variety of factors, including:
- The registrar you buy from
- The TLD of your domain name (.com is most common)
- If youโre buying a domain thatโs for sale on the secondary market
Generally speaking, you can expect to pay $10 to $20 for a domain name at a registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap.
Tip: some web hosting providers give you a domain name free of cost when you sign up for a new plan.
2. Hosting Costs
Hosting is the engine behind your online store. Itโs necessary to make your website accessible to outsiders.
You have two basic options:
- Self-host your ecommerce website
- Use an ecommerce platform (more on these below) that includes hosting (SaaS)
If you decide to self-host your store, which is the case if you use a platform such as WooCommerce, youโre responsible for buying your own hosting.
From budget hosting packages to those for more advanced and robust stores, thereโs no shortage of options. Some of our recommended hosting companies include:
- Dreamhost (full Dreamhost review)
- SiteGround (full SiteGround review)
- WP Engine (full WP Engine review)
Prices vary from company to company and plan to plan, but you should budget for between $5 and $20/month.
Tip: youโll save money when you pay for hosting six or 12 months in advance.
If you choose to build your store through a popular ecommerce platform, such as Shopify, your hosting is included along with a variety of other features. Shopify has three options:
There are pros and cons of both methods of hosting, as well as the potential that you may need to upgrade your plan as your e-commerce website grows.
3. Theme
In todayโs day and age, you donโt have to spend much – if anything – to secure an attractive design for your ecommerce store. Sure, you can pay thousands of dollars if you want and/or need to (more on this below), but itโs not a prerequisite of getting started.
Take for example an online store powered by WooCommerce. You can choose from hundreds of free WordPress themes, as well as premium options that will only set you back a handful of dollars.
If youโre on a budget, start with a free WordPress theme you can customize on your own. But if you have some money to spend, Astra, Divi, and Flatsome are worth your consideration. if you need more, check this roundup featuring 20 of the best ecommerce WordPress themes.
For those using an ecommerce platform, such as Shopify, expect to pay a little bit more if you want a premium theme.
We suggest starting your search on the Shopify Theme Store, as it lays out all your choices, both free and paid. A quick search shows that a budget of $160 to $200 will give you plenty of options.
So, when it comes to the cost of a theme for your online store, it ranges from free to roughly $200.
4. Custom Website Design Cost
Youโve done your research into free and paid themes and realize that you canโt get exactly what you want โout of the box.โ This leaves you with two options:
- Customize a theme on your own
- Hire a professional to customize a pre-existing theme
- Opt for a custom design from the ground up
If a unique look and feel are what youโre going for, a custom design is the best option. Itโs built specifically for your business, industry, store, and requirements, so the end result should check all your boxes.
The only thing potentially holding you back is the cost of a custom design. Cost varies based on the size and scope of the project, but expect to spend a minimum of $1,500 to $5,000. And if youโre more interested in an enterprise-level design, complete with a countless number of internal pages – such as for products and categories – your cost will easily reach $10,000 to $50,000.
5. Ecommerce Website Development Cost
Thereโs a difference between design and development. Sometimes these things come as a package, but sometimes they donโt.
Design is exactly what it sounds like (and outlined above). Itโs the actual design of your website. Itโs what people see when they visit your online home.
Development, however, encompasses many other services, some of which power your website behind the scenes.
Some of the things you may hire a developer or a web development company for include:
- Populating your online store with product descriptions and images
- Implementing and/or customizing the checkout system
- Creating a customย plug-in or app
- Customizing website code
The platforms weโve discussed thus far are all โout of the boxโ solutions. You donโt have to do any additional development, but you may want to for a more custom experience.
If you want to hire a web developer or a web development company, make sure you find someone experienced in ecommerce websites. Furthermore, double-check their experience with your platform of choice.
Rates vary based on experience, platform, project scope, and location. On the low end, expect to pay somewhere in the $15 to $30/hour range. But for more advanced projects, such as custom coding, $150+ is not out of the question.
Tip: you may be able to save some money by negotiating a set price for the project, as opposed to paying hourly.
6. Setup Expert
This person isnโt necessarily a designer or developer. Instead, theyโre an expert in setting up ecommerce websites from scratch. They know the many platforms inside and out, which allows them to provide guidance or complete the entire task on your behalf.
Your chosen platform has a lot to say about how you choose a setup expert for your ecommerce website. This is one of the biggest benefits of using Shopify, as they have a large directory of setup experts who are on call to assist you.
Expert assistance starts at $500 but it goes all the way up to $15,000+. You can search by budget, country/region, and languages spoken to narrow down your options.
Also, each provider has a profile that outlines their experience, services offered, number of jobs completed, and reviews. You can also request a custom quote for your project.
For a basic setup on Shopify, budget for $500 to $1,000. If your needs are more complex, itโll likely take $1,000 or more to get everything you want.
If youโre using a different platform or donโt want to use the Shopify marketplace, you can hire an independent setup expert, such as through Upwork or another freelancing platform. In this case, you can find someone for a similar cost as a developer, with a starting price of $15/hour.
Tip: donโt hire a setup expert until you first see if your developer can assist you. This person may be able to complete all the tasks of a setup expert, thus saving you money and the hassle of managing two individuals.
7. Marketing and SEO
You can create the greatest ecommerce website in your space, but it does you no good without traffic. You need people visiting your site, engaging with your brand, and sharing their positive experience with their network.
This is where marketing and SEO come into play. If youโre launching an online store or want to generate better results with the one you currently have, a marketing strategy is a must. This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
- Content marketing
- Blogging
- Social media
- Email marketing
- Word of mouth
- Pay per click (PPC)
- SEO
The more you experiment with each of these ideas, the more youโll understand what does and doesnโt work for your store. For example, there will always be people who shy away from PPC, because theyโre scared of their costs quickly escalating. However, if you find out how to do it right, you can generate a positive return on investment.
This is one of those categories thatโs impossible to attach a price to. You could spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring a world-class social media agency to do everything on your behalf. Or you could do everything yourself, from taking photos to producing video content to managing your profiles.
As you get started, search for tools that can help you achieve results without breaking the bank. For example, if you have a large email marketing list, check out Constant Contact. In addition to a free trial, there are two monthly plans to choose from:
When it comes to marketing and SEO, your results are tied more to your efforts and less to how much you spend. Here are some questions to help you decide what to do next:
- What areas of marketing and SEO have the best chance of a positive ROI?
- Can you or your team handle any aspects of marketing in-house?
- Are you okay with the idea of hiring a contractor or agency to help with some or all of your marketing?
Along with the above, you must set a budget. It doesnโt matter if itโs $100/month or $10,000/month, knowing what you can afford to spend will help you plan accordingly.
8. Payment Processing
If youโre selling online, payment processing fees canโt be ignored. This is an expense that eats into your profits, so itโs critical to plan in advance.
The manner in which you process payments depends largely on the platform you choose. Letโs examine how things align with a couple of the most popular platforms, starting with WooCommerce.
If youโre running a self-hosted store on WooCommerce, you can use any payment processor you want. So, if you want access to the largest selection – with hopes of securing the best deal – WooCommerce is the way to go.
Out of the box, WooCommerce provides support for both Stripe and PayPal, both of which allow you to easily accept credit card payments. However, there are plenty of other extensions available, granting you access to a larger selection.
As a brief overview, hereโs what you can expect in terms of costs:
PayPal and Stripe have almost the same arrangement, with the only difference being that PayPal charges more for purchases under $10.
If you opt for Shopify as your platform, you gain access to a unique payment processing solution known as Shopify Payments. Itโs the easiest to implement, but youโre not roped into using it. You can still choose from one of many other payment gateways.
Hereโs the way the costs breakdown:
- Shopify Payments: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Third-party payment services: The payment gateway fees plus a two percent additional fee per transaction
So, if you choose Shopify Payments, itโs the same cost as using PayPal or Stripe through WooCommerce. However, if you use Shopify and opt for a third-party service, an additional two percent fee comes into play.
When choosing a platform, consider your payment processing options. From a budgeting perspective, you can expect, on average, to pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
9. Apps, Plug-ins, and Extensions
It doesnโt matter if you call them apps, plug-ins, or extensions, thereโs a good chance youโll need a handful of these as you build out your ecommerce store. And the more of these you need, the more it factors into the overall ecommerce website cost.
You need apps, plug-ins, or extensions because the platform you choose probably wonโt give you everything you need. It can get you close, but from there itโs time to customize your store with these solutions.
On the plus side, all of the most popular platforms have a library you can search for the perfect solution to almost any problem.
WooCommerce is a leader in this space, thanks to thousands of extensions on top of the tens of thousands of plug-ins available for WordPress.
In general – with exception of free extensions – you can expect to pay anywhere between $10 and $300.
As for Shopify, itโs a bit more complicated, however, it does offer APIs for developers so you can customize your store via third-party apps. Youโll want to start your search
However, they do offer APIs for developers to integrate their own services and solutions into Shopify. These addons are available as third-party apps on the Shopify app store.
Some apps are free, with others costing $100 or more or charging a monthly fee.
Also, you can use Shopify to find a professional developer for a custom app, with prices typically $1,000 or more based on project scope and expertise.
BigCommerce is similar to Shopify with access to a large selection of apps.
There are hundreds of apps to choose from, ranging from free to paid to a monthly subscription.
You can also find a developer in the BigCommerce partner directory if you require a custom-built app, with fees starting at $1,000 and quickly climbing.
10. Shipping Costs
Shipping will only be an issue that you need to consider if youโre selling physical products. If youโre selling a service, like SEO google optimization, or a downloadable item like an eBook, you can skip this section.
If youโve got a particularly small business that only ships a few items every month, then you shouldnโt need to spend too much on shipping and order fulfillment. You might even decide to work with companies like FedEx and UPS directly. However, as your business and number of product pages continue to grow, your shipping costs will start to go up.
Thatโs when it makes sense to invest in a dedicated shipping solution. Here are some of the best shipping solutions you can consider.
Recommended Ecommerce Solutions
There are a countless number of ecommerce platforms to consider, with each one having its own set of pros and cons.
For the sake of this guide, weโre going to provide an overview of the cost associated with four of the most popular platforms for building an ecommerce website. Of course, youโll want to compare more than pricing, with a focus on all the details previously discussed.
Shopify
When it comes to building an ecommerce store, Shopify is the preferred platform of tens of thousands of companies.
Upon signing up for an account, you can set up your store for free and test out the platform for 3 days followed by the first month at just $1. Best yet, no credit card is required for the free trial. Itโs a fast and efficient way to get up and running.
In regards to pricing, Shopify has three options:
For $39/month, you get all the basics for starting a new online store. If youโre interested in more features for growing and scaling your business, the $105/month and $399/month packages are better suited.
If thereโs one thing youโll notice about the Shopify pricing structure, itโs that you get a lot of bang for your buck.
BigCommerce
Even though BigCommerce doesnโt have quite as large a following as Shopify, itโs still an industry-leading platform.
Itโs pricing structure is in line with Shopify, with three tiers also available (along with an enterprise option with custom pricing):
As you can see, each pricing level is only $.95/month more expensive than Shopify. However, if you want to save, you can do so by paying annually. This knocks 10 percent off the total.
BigCommerce also has a long feature list for each tier, so youโre not missing out on anything when you choose this platform.
Square Online
Square Online is on the up and up, with this platform becoming more popular among those seeking simplicity at a more competitive price.
With its free plan, hereโs what you get:
For those in need of more features, Square Online Store has three paid plans to choose from:
With itโs โpremiumโ plan topping out at $72/month, Square Online Store is much cheaper than both Shopify and BigCommerce on the top end.
As you compare the features of Square Online Store to its primary competitors, keep its lower price in mind. It may be the deciding factor.
WooCommerce
If free is what you want, free is what youโll get with this open source ecommerce platform built for WordPress.
With more than 87,000,000 downloads, WooCommerce is by far the most popular ecommerce platform for building an online store. A lot of this has to do with the fact that itโs free, but thatโs not the only reason.
WooCommerce is easy to use, packed full of features, and provides access to a robust extensions store to help you customize your store. On top of this, since WooCommerce runs on WordPress, you have access to thousands upon thousands of third-party plug-ins.
Here are a few of the many reasons why WooCommerce is trusted by millions:
Squarespace
Squarespace is another great ecommerce platform and content management system for businesses looking to get started online. Cloud-hosted for extra flexibility, Squarespace is easy to use โ like Wix, and has a ton of great integrations and extra features. You can even sell through social channels with SquareSpaceโs help.
Many business owners turn to Squarespace when they want help building a highly creative and eye-catching website. You get a lot of creative control with this product, including access to lots of image-based theme options. You can choose from a range of sleek templates for your eCommerce project, and work with professionals to make your website more special.
Squarespace ecommerce web design features include SSL certificates for security and free domain options. Thereโs a mobile optimized checkout with no transaction fees required. Unfortunately, there are some eCommerce functions lacking with this product compared to the likes of Shopify or WooCommerce.
Wix
Wix is one of the top choices for ecommerce development in the website-building world. Offering a range of features for a low price, Wix makes it quick and easy to build a site that can attract and retain your ideal customers.
One of the things that makes Wix so appealing is how easy it is to use. You can start building your online shop in no time with a drag-and-drop interface. There are hundreds of templates to get you started, and everything is mobile optimized.
Wix comes with access to plenty of payment options and secure checkout solutions. You can create beautiful product galleries with your in-store tools for business management. Plus, Wix helps with shipping and global tax calculations too. There arenโt as many shopping features on Wix as there is on things like Shopify, however.
Wix has some limitations compared to other more advanced website builders, but itโs very easy to use, with integrations with ERP and other tools to help you make the most of your store.
Further reading:
- The 60+ Best Ecommerce Websites โ Top ecommerce website designs.
- Magento Review – Read this review to learn about its features, pricing, and more.
- Squarespace review – 11 Pros and cons of using Squarespace.
- An In-depth Guide on Creating an Ecommerce Business Plan
- Best Inventory Management Software – Find out which are the best options for your specific needs.
Conclusion
By now, you should at least have a general idea of what an ecommerce website costs.
The key points to remember include:
- There are platforms, such as the four detailed above, that make it easy for anyone to build out an e-commerce website.
- The price varies based on a seemingly endless number of factors.
- To get started, create a scope for your project and set a budget.
If youโre tight on money, itโs possible to design and start your online store for less than $500. On the other hand, if youโre willing to spend big to get everything just right, itโs not out of the question for your costs to reach well into the five figures.
i would like to know the quotation of building a eCommerce website.
Thanks Sy. Not sure what you mean exactly. We really hope that our article answers your questions.