Ecommerce Website Cost in 2026: Build Prices and Monthly Fees
Updated October 2026 by the Cliffex team. Prices are in USD. Platform and card-fee examples use US pricing unless stated otherwise; check local rates and taxes.
Short answer: a Shopify store built by Cliffex starts at about $4,500. The final quote depends on the catalog, design, payment and shipping rules, and integrations; complex stores can cost substantially more. On top of the build you pay running costs: Shopify Basic costs $39 a month billed monthly in the US (Shopify, 2026), while WooCommerce itself is free but needs hosting that WooCommerce puts at $25 to $350 a month for most stores (WooCommerce, 2026), plus payment processing. For example, the US standard online-card rate on Shopify Basic is 2.9% + 30 cents; rates vary by card, provider and merchant location.
Many cost guides quote ranges like “$500 to $150,000”. That spread is so wide it doesn’t help you budget. This guide breaks the cost into the build, the platform and the fees, with a worked example and the questions that decide where your store lands.
Ecommerce website cost at a glance
| Type of store | Build cost | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself on a hosted builder | Your time, plus the platform plan (Shopify Basic from $39 a month) | Days to weeks | Testing a small product range before investing |
| Professionally built Shopify store | From about $4,500 with Cliffex | 4 to 12 weeks as a planning range; confirmed after scope review | Brands selling physical products who want to run the store without a developer |
| Online store with custom features or a large catalog | Quoted individually from the required features, catalog and integrations | Agreed after reviewing the scope and migration requirements | Bundles, subscriptions, migrations, integrations with inventory or accounting systems |
| Fully custom commerce build | Quoted individually as custom software; the general app starting price is not a quote for a complete commerce platform | Varies with scope | Checkout logic, marketplaces or business rules that a platform can’t handle |
Cliffex starting prices and planning ranges come from our pricing page and our website cost calculator. Every build includes 30 days of post-launch support, and your quote is your price unless the scope changes.
A worked example: an online clothing store with 200 products
In a saved calculator run on October 9, 2026, we entered “an online store for my clothing brand with about 200 products”, with the website and growth-stage options selected. The estimate came out at $5,300 to $6,800 with a timeline of 4 to 6 weeks. The first version included:
- Product catalog pages, search and filters
- Cart and checkout, with shipping and tax rules
- Brand-matched design and the core brand pages
- Customer accounts and order tracking emails
- Product, stock and order management
- Product import from a spreadsheet
- Email marketing signup
The estimate assumed physical products only, sizes and colors set up as variants of each product, a standard card and wallet payment provider, and simple stock counts with no warehouse system integration. Change any of those and the price moves. This is an illustrative calculator estimate, not a delivered client result or a fixed quote. Results for a similar store can differ; confirm the scope and timeline with Cliffex before committing.
Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom: what each costs to run
The build is a one-time cost. The platform you choose decides most of what you pay every month after launch.
| Cost | Shopify | WooCommerce | Custom build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | Basic $39, Grow $105, Advanced $399 a month billed monthly; $29, $79 and $299 a month respectively when billed yearly | Free core plugin, no platform subscription | No standard platform subscription for bespoke code; licensed services may add fees |
| Hosting | Included in the plan | $25 to $350 a month for most stores (WooCommerce’s estimate) | Billed by your cloud provider; depends on traffic |
| Standard online card fees (US merchants) | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow, 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced with Shopify Payments | Base card rate 2.9% + $0.30 with WooPayments; additional fees can apply | Your payment processor’s rate |
| Extra fee for another payment provider | 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced where applicable; exemptions apply | No extra WooCommerce core transaction fee; provider or extension fees may apply | Depends on your processor, integrations and contracts |
| Add-ons | Shopify apps, often billed monthly | $29 to $299 a year per paid extension (WooCommerce’s estimate) | Built or licensed as needed |
| Who keeps it updated | Shopify updates the platform | You or your developer update WordPress, WooCommerce and plugins | You or your developer |
Sources: Shopify pricing; WooCommerce pricing and WooPayments fees, all checked in October 2026. These are US examples, not worldwide rates. Premium or international cards, currency conversion, disputes, subscriptions and other services can add charges. WooPayments lists an additional 1% for orders containing subscriptions that use its Stripe Billing engine. Confirm eligibility, tax and current account rates before signing up.
For most brands selling physical products, we recommend Shopify because it handles payments, shipping, tax and inventory without server upkeep. WooCommerce suits businesses that already run on WordPress or want full control of hosting and data. Consider custom development when platform extensions cannot meet your requirements at an acceptable ongoing cost. Compare the cost of building, operating and maintaining each option. Our WordPress website cost guide covers WordPress hosting and plugin costs in more detail.
What moves the price up or down
- Catalog size and setup. Twenty products entered by hand is a different job from 2,000 products imported from a spreadsheet or supplier feed, with variants, collections and filters.
- Design. A customized theme costs less than a fully brand-matched design with custom product and collection page templates.
- Shipping and tax rules. Flat-rate domestic shipping is simple. Carrier rates, free-shipping thresholds, local pickup and selling across several countries add configuration and testing.
- Custom features. Build-your-own bundles, subscriptions, product personalization and wholesale pricing often need custom Liquid development or paid apps.
- Integrations. Connecting inventory, accounting, ERP or warehouse systems is often the biggest single cost driver after the catalog.
- Migration. Moving products, customers and order history from another platform, and mapping and redirecting relevant old URLs to reduce search disruption, adds time. See our website redesign cost guide for the redirect and SEO checks.
- Languages and currencies. Each extra market adds translated content, currency settings and checks on tax and shipping.
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?
For a US merchant on Basic using Shopify Payments, a $100 charge eligible for the standard online-card rate costs $3.20 in processing fees (2.9% + 30 cents). That leaves $96.80 before the plan fee, product cost, shipping, taxes and any other charges. On Grow the same sale costs $3.00, and on Advanced $2.80.
Where Shopify’s third-party transaction fee applies, it adds $2 to a $100 transaction on Basic, $1 on Grow or 60 cents on Advanced, on top of the processor’s fees. Exemptions include manual payments; PayPal transactions are exempt when Shopify Payments is the primary provider. Check the rules for your payment setup rather than assuming every alternative method carries the surcharge.
Costs after launch
| Item | How it’s billed | Who you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Yearly | Your domain registrar |
| Platform plan or hosting | Monthly or yearly | Shopify, or your web host for WooCommerce |
| Card processing | A percentage plus a fixed fee per sale | Your payment provider |
| Apps and extensions | Monthly or yearly, only if you need them | The app or plugin developer |
| Fixes and changes | 30 days of support included; then $25 to $49 an hour, estimated before we start | Cliffex |
You may see a rule of thumb that maintenance costs 10% to 20% of the build price every year. That percentage is not how Cliffex quotes maintenance. Your real cost depends on how often you change the store and how many plugins or apps need updating. Budget from a list of the changes you expect to make, not a percentage.
Do you need an ecommerce app as well?
A separate app is not a prerequisite for launching a store. A fast, mobile-friendly store covers shoppers on phones. An app starts to make sense when you have repeat customers who buy often and would use features like saved carts, loyalty or push notifications. Our guide on when you need a custom ecommerce app walks through that decision.
How to get an accurate quote
- Count your products and variants. Note where the product data lives today: a spreadsheet, a supplier feed or another store.
- List where you ship and sell. Countries, currencies, local pickup, and any tax rules you already know about.
- Name the systems the store must connect to. Inventory, accounting, email marketing, reviews or a warehouse.
- Separate launch features from later ones. Bundles, subscriptions and loyalty programs can often wait for a second phase.
- Ask what’s excluded. Platform plans, paid apps, hosting and domains are usually paid by you directly, as they are with us.
Describe your store in the website cost calculator for an indicative price range and timeline, see what a Shopify project with Cliffex includes, or request a fixed quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an ecommerce website cost?
Cliffex Shopify stores start at about $4,500. The final quote depends on products, payment and shipping rules, design and integrations; there is no fixed $10,000 ceiling. Stores with large catalogs, custom features or integrations are quoted on scope. Platform plans, hosting and card fees are paid separately.
How much does an ecommerce website cost per month?
In the US, Shopify Basic is $39 a month billed monthly or $29 a month billed yearly, plus card fees and any paid apps. WooCommerce has no platform fee, but hosting runs $25 to $350 a month for most stores by WooCommerce’s own estimate, plus card fees and paid extensions.
Is Shopify cheaper than WooCommerce?
It depends on your store. WooCommerce has no platform fee, but you pay for hosting, extensions and the time to keep WordPress updated. Shopify includes hosting and updates in its monthly plan. Compare both over two or three years, including card fees, rather than the first month.
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?
For a US merchant on Basic using Shopify Payments, a $100 charge at the standard online-card rate has a $3.20 processing fee (2.9% + 30 cents). Other card categories and services may cost more. Where applicable, an alternative provider also attracts Shopify’s 2% third-party fee on Basic, with exemptions for some methods.
How long does it take to build an online store?
Cliffex’s Shopify service gives a planning range of 4 to 12 weeks. The agreed schedule depends on the catalog, custom features, integrations, migration and how quickly product data and content are ready. Larger scopes may take longer.
Can I build an ecommerce website myself?
Yes. Hosted builders like Shopify let you launch with a theme and no code, which is a sensible way to test demand. Bring in a developer when you need a brand-matched design, a large product import, custom features or a migration with URL mapping, redirects and search checks.