Ecommerce Website Cost: Definitive Guide for 2025

What does it cost to own an ecommerce website in 2025? Get the entire cost estimate in this guide.

You can create an online store in two ways: hire an ecommerce website designer or a web design firm. Depending on your decision, it impacts your cost for an online shop.

Ecommerce site builders are typically the most affordable way to start an online shop. Conducting business on a free, open-source website may seem appealing, but you are essentially paying for hosting, templates, plug-ins, and even the services of a programmer if you have unique needs—all of which can contribute to your bottom line.

Ecommerce site builders are perfect for:

• Those with limited technical expertise
• Those who have to create a website in a hurry

Price for online stores is determined based on features you need and whether or not you have physical stores.

Average Cost for An Ecommerce Site

Standard cost for an ecommerce site will be about $39 a month for new stores. Prices vary depending on a number of variables like design, customizations, and platform used.

Here’s the approximate cost of developing an ecommerce website:

Registration of domain name: $10–$30 annually
Web hosting: $5–$250 monthly (depending on the plan and provider)
SSL certificate: $0 (with some web hosting providers) to $200 annually

Ecommerce platform:
Hosted platforms like Shopify: $20 to $300 monthly, depending on features and plan
Open-source platforms: Downloadable at no charge, but there may be charges for extensions, plugins, and themes

Development and design of website:
Premade themes: $0–$200
Custom design and build: $2,000–$20,000+, varying by feature, function, and level of complexity needed

Extra charges
Payment gateway fees: Varying by provider (PayPal, Stripe, Shop Pay) and number of transactions
Digital marketing and advertising: Varies by budget and strategy
Support site and maintenance: Varies by extent of support required

6 Ecommerce Website Expenses found on most sites

1. Hosting

Website hosting costs vary, from a minimum of $2.49 a month up to over $1,000. The cost is determined by many factors, such as how much traffic your store will receive and whether you will need further services such as automatic backups.

Regardless, all websites need to be hosted in order to accommodate their files. You will also need a domain name, which is basically the electronic address for your ecommerce company.

There are two types of web hosting most ecommerce companies employ: self-hosting and SaaS platform hosting.

SaaS ecommerce platform hosting

Shopify-style ecommerce sites don’t require you to host, maintain, or install a domain yourself. Everything that you need is included in your monthly fee.

Secure hosting is included with all Shopify plans, including:

• Unlimited bandwidth, so you do not have to pay extra if you get more traffic
• Level 1 PCI compliance, protecting customer information
• Super-high-speed servers and real-time updates, so you never miss a step of the latest features
• An SSL certificate to prevent fraud and gain consumer trust
• A robust content management system to handle site content
• Infinite email forwarding

You will need to buy and register a domain name separately. You can try for available domains using Shopify’s domain name generator and get your business up and running quickly.

Domain prices are approximately $15 per year but as much as $81+ per year, depending on what top-level domain you select.

Self-hosted ecommerce website

There are some ecommerce website platforms such as WooCommerce (WordPress plug-in) and Magento that are free. You must, however, have an account with an ecommerce host company where you will host your files and also buy a domain.

Some of the expenses you’ll be faced with when you self-host your website are:

• An ecommerce hosting package that starts from $7.99 per month
• A domain name, which will cost around $15 per year
• An SSL certificate, starting at $69 per year

Some web hosts like Bluehost also provide plans with a free domain name and an SSL certificate for $2.75 per month.

The only catch is that if your store becomes popular, you will need to switch the hosting plan so you can support traffic surges. Self-hosting a high-traffic website will cost between $1,000 to $2,000 a month.

Hosting estimates:

SaaS-hosted: From $39/month with unlimited hosting.
Self-hosted: $2.75 to $2,000 per month with step-up upgrades.

2. Payment processing

Payment processor refers to a company that handles payment so that your consumers can buy your products. Every online business requires one to accept debit cards, credit cards, and other smart pay options.

Fees on processing differ depending on the plan you have set with your online business. For example, Shopify Basic charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for credit card sales made online. It’s 2.4% for Advanced Shopify. If you’re collecting payment at a retail location, it’s lower because there is minimal risk of fraud.

Shopify Payments comes with all Shopify plans so you can get started selling right away. When you turn it on, Shopify Payments lets you accept credit card and other accepted payment forms like Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and G Pay.

Accepting Shop Pay as a checkout payment simplifies checkout for customers by allowing them to checkout with pre-stored shipping and payment details.

3. Ecommerce web design prices

Did you know it takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for a person to make an opinion about your site? And not only that, but humans buy on the basis of trust, and your brand can create it in a split second.

Ecommerce websites like Shopify also offer templates that you can easily apply on your site. They are a fast and cost-effective way to get started. Shopify Themes offer intrinsic functionalities for appearance, color, style, and other configurations.

They come pre-loaded with all you require to open up your shop:

• Homepage
• Product pages
• Shopping cart
• Checkout page
• FAQ
• About pages

Shopify Themes offers over 100 free and paid themes to help you choose the best appearance and feel for your shop. You are able to filter themes by category like video and 3D products, big images, big inventories, simple design, playful and fun, etc.

4. Custom development

In other instances, you will need help to get your store to look as you want. This involves complete design overhauls and custom back ends.

Custom ecommerce website development cost is typically linked to the development of, hosting, and maintenance of your store for the purpose of satisfying certain business needs. You, store owners, can work with developers in terms of creating custom storefronts or customizing Shopify themes.

Their charges vary with the services you need. Some development agencies like OuterBox will pay you over $100,000 for a customization project. Other well-known Shopify agencies will pay you between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on the type of project.

Your best bet? Check out Shopify’s Partners marketplace if you need custom development or design services. You can outsource freelancers and agencies that offer custom theme development for lower than paying an in-house developer.

5. Add-ons and extensions

It is nearly impossible for one ecommerce software to satisfy all the needs of all ecommerce businesses. You’ll probably want to extend some functionality to your site.

The top ecommerce software allows you to add applications to your store so that it can increase its ecommerce features and functionality and user experience. Some of them are completely free and some are not free but have a cost aspect, which may add to the amount of money required to construct your online store.

Shopify App Store has more than a thousand apps to choose from, and there are several free Shopify apps to install. You may need email marketing, sell on social networking websites, add social proof to your store, or boost the SEO of your website, and there is an app for it.

The price of the paid app differs. They all are available on a monthly plan. You can also get private apps, which are custom developed for your store. They are hosted and run on another server, yet you can generate Shopify API keys and allow the app to access.

Custom apps can cost more than $5,000, depending on the level of expertise in your developer as well as his/her charge.

6. Business costs

Budget never hurts. You can have an ecommerce website for $100 or less, but you’re likely going to end up spending more than that to get your business off the ground.

According to our latest figures, the typical small business owner spends around $40,000 in the first year, of which 9% is spent on online business activities. (Shopify merchants spend an average of $38,000, and non-Shopify merchants spend around $41,000.)

Profit with an online business is a matter of time. So, choose an ecommerce site that will not deplete your whole budget and give you the tools to succeed.

Consider where your company currently is and where you want it to be in the future. Then find an ecommerce platform that will get you there.

Create a successful ecommerce business today

An ecommerce website is not expensive.

After you buy a domain name for your online store, you might just need to shell out $39 monthly for a simple online store from Shopify. If you have additional custom features or you add paid applications, it could make it pricier.

Shopify lets you choose how much you need to spend initially, so you can start making profits.

Ecommerce website cost FAQ

Q. How much does ecommerce cost on a website?
An ecommerce website may range from $20 to $10,000 or even more. It varies according to numerous factors including the platform, design complexity, products, custom features, etc.

Q. How much does a website cost per month?
The cost of a site per month will depend on the kind of website you have, the design complexity in the website, and what services you require. A basic site with hosting, security, and some additional services can cost between a $5 to $50 monthly fee. Advanced sites with customized design and development will cost between $500 to $5,000 per month.

Q. What is the cheapest ecommerce site?
Shopify is the cheapest web solution for ecommerce that only charges you up to $39 per month. You have an SSL certificate for free and a theme ready to use. Prices can be tremendous if marketing and apps are added in.

Q. How much does an ecommerce site cost?
To build an ecommerce site, the cost can be in the couple of hundred dollars for a turn-key site with basics to tens of thousands of dollars for completely customized, feature-laden site.