Ecommerce Website Cost by Platform in 2026 — Complete Breakdown

Building an online store? The platform you choose determines 50-70% of your total cost. Here's what each platform actually costs in 2026, based on our analysis of 600+ real projects:

PlatformFreelancer BuildAgency BuildMonthly CostBest For

WooCommerce$2,000 – $12,000$5,000 – $25,000$30 – $200Flexible, content-heavy stores
Shopify$3,000 – $15,000$8,000 – $30,000$39 – $399Fast launch, D2C brands
Magento 2$15,000 – $50,000$30,000 – $80,000+$350 – $1,000Enterprise, 10K+ products
BigCommerce$3,000 – $12,000$8,000 – $25,000$39 – $399B2B, no transaction fees
Wix$500 – $3,000$2,000 – $6,000$27 – $59Simple stores, <100 products
Squarespace$500 – $3,000$2,000 – $6,000$33 – $65Beautiful product showcase
PrestaShop$2,000 – $10,000$5,000 – $20,000$50 – $200European SMB ecommerce

These are realistic 2026 ranges for Western Europe / US markets. Eastern European rates are typically 40-55% lower.

Want your exact number? Our free calculator factors in your specific platform, features, market, and timeline.

Build cost: $2,000 – $25,000
Monthly: $30 – $200 (hosting + plugins)
Platform overhead: 1.1x (slightly more complex than Shopify)

WooCommerce is WordPress + a free plugin. Its strength is flexibility — you can build anything from a simple digital downloads store to a complex multi-vendor marketplace. The catch: "free" WooCommerce needs paid plugins for most business-critical features.

Typical plugin costs (one-time or annual):

• - Payment gateways: $0 (Stripe/PayPal free)
• Advanced shipping: $79-199/year
• Subscriptions: $199/year
• Multi-currency: $79-129/year
• SEO (Yoast/RankMath): $0-99/year

When WooCommerce wins: Content-heavy stores (blog + shop), stores needing specific WordPress plugins, developers who already know WordPress, tight budgets with DIY capability.

When it loses: Stores needing enterprise support, high-volume stores (WooCommerce can get slow at 10K+ products without optimization), non-technical owners who need reliable out-of-box features.

For a detailed WordPress vs Shopify comparison, see our dedicated guide.

Build cost: $3,000 – $30,000
Monthly: $39 – $399 (plan + apps)
Platform overhead: 0.85x (fastest to build)

Shopify is the most popular ecommerce platform for a reason: it works out of the box. Cart, checkout, payments, shipping — all included. You're paying for convenience and reliability.

What's included in every plan:

• - SSL certificate
• Payment processing (Shopify Payments)
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Basic analytics
• Mobile-responsive themes

What costs extra (apps):

• - Email marketing (Klaviyo): $20-60/month
• Reviews (Judge.me/Loox): $10-30/month
• Upsells (ReConvert): $10-30/month
• Subscriptions (Recharge): $99/month+

Our Shopify cost guide breaks this down in full detail with tier-by-tier pricing.

The Shopify trap: App costs stack up. A mid-range store with 8-10 apps pays $200-500/month in app subscriptions ON TOP of the Shopify plan. Budget for this.

Build cost: $3,000 – $25,000
Monthly: $39 – $399
Platform overhead: 0.9x

BigCommerce is often overlooked but has two major advantages over Shopify: zero transaction fees on every plan, and more built-in features (multi-currency, B2B pricing tiers, product filtering — all free).

BigCommerce vs Shopify build cost: Nearly identical. Both use template-based development, both have extensive APIs. BigCommerce developers are slightly less common, which can make freelancer rates 5-10% higher due to scarcity.

When BigCommerce wins: B2B ecommerce (tiered pricing, quote system, company accounts), stores wanting to avoid transaction fees, multi-channel sellers (Amazon, eBay, Instagram integration built-in).

When it loses: Shopify has a bigger app ecosystem, more themes, larger developer community. If you need a very specific niche app, Shopify probably has it and BigCommerce probably doesn't.

Wix & Squarespace are drag-and-drop builders. Perfect for simple stores with under 100 products where design matters more than advanced features.

• - Wix Ecommerce: $27-59/month. Build cost: $500-3,000 (often DIY). Platform overhead: 0.5x.
• Squarespace Commerce: $33-65/month. Build cost: $500-3,000. Platform overhead: 0.5x.

Both lack: Multi-currency (Squarespace has limited support), advanced inventory management, B2B features, custom checkout flows. If you need any of these, you'll outgrow these platforms quickly.

PrestaShop is the European alternative — open-source like WooCommerce, popular in France/Spain/Italy. Build costs are similar to WooCommerce ($2,000-$20,000) but the developer pool is smaller outside Europe.

Our calculator supports all these platforms with accurate, platform-specific pricing and hourly rates.

Every ecommerce platform has costs that don't show up in the "pricing" page:

1. 1. Payment processing: 2.4-2.9% + $0.30 per transaction across ALL platforms. On $10K/month revenue, that's $240-$290/month.
2. Photography: Professional product photos cost $25-100/product. 200 products = $5,000-$20,000.
3. Copywriting: Product descriptions at $10-50 each. 200 products = $2,000-$10,000.
4. SEO setup: Proper category structure, meta tags, schema markup — $1,000-$3,000.
5. Email marketing: Klaviyo/Mailchimp for abandoned carts, post-purchase flows — $50-300/month.
6. Returns/refund management: Software + process = $50-200/month.
7. Annual SSL/domain renewal: $10-50/year.
8. PCI compliance: Free on hosted platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce). $200-1,000/year on self-hosted (Magento, WooCommerce).

For a full ongoing cost breakdown, try our budget mode calculator — it shows monthly running costs alongside the build estimate.