How much does an ecommerce website cost in 2024?

As online shopping continues to evolve and become more accessible for small businesses and individuals alike, it has become more important for businesses to get online in the ecommerce world.

In the past, this might have been difficult or expensive, requiring technical expertise and experience. This can still be the case but, fortunately, a range of ecommerce website builders have been developed to simplify the process.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the costs involved in launching an online shop, including sections on ecommerce website builders, as well as on more traditional web-building routes.

Ecommerce website builder vs website development

Website builders have become a mainstay of the online world in recent years. Before they were an option, building a website would often involve a lot of time and effort, with experience and expertise required. This was even more true for users trying to build an online store. You can visit our what is an online shop page if you want a more general introduction to ecommerce.

Thankfully, website builders were put on the market, providing an easier approach to web design. Over time, these platforms were developed to allow for ecommerce functionality to be added to a range of platforms with relative ease.

In a nutshell:

Website development is a good choice for experience users with expertise in the development process. It’s often cheaper, and allows a higher level of customisation.
An ecommerce website builder, on the other hand, is easy-to-use and does not require development expertise. You pay a monthly fee, depending on the features you need, and can customise your site experience based on what your chosen website builder allows.

In the first section of this page, we will provide some ideas as to how much different types of ecommerce website builders will cost you or your business, with some ideas about the features you can expect.

Basic ecommerce website costs
Mid-range ecommerce website costs
Top-tier ecommerce website costs

You can click on the options in the list above to skip ahead.

Basic ecommerce website costs

In the table below, we’re comparing just a few of the cheapest plans from some of the best ecommerce website builders on the market.

Brand	Plan	Cost
Shopify	Starter	£25/month
BigCommerce	Standard	$29/month
Wix	Core	£16/month

The plans above range in price and offer a mixture of features to get you started. It’s likely that these plans will be more suitable for users who are just getting started in the ecommerce world.

Perhaps you’re building a business from scratch, or trialling an online portal for an existing business. In either case, it is likely that spending less in the short term will be a good way to test the viability of your online space.

Mid-range ecommerce website costs

The table below compares a selection of mid-range plans from the same providers as we’ve included above.

Brand	Plan	Cost
Shopify	Shopify	£65/month
BigCommerce	Plus	$79/month
Wix	Business	£25/month

The mid-range plans above will typically offer a more advanced range of features, compared to the basic plans above them. Depending on which brand you choose, you will have access to a range of functions and features unavailable for less.

The prices vary considerably, with Wix being the cheapest – though it is worth bearing in mind that Shopify and BigCommerce are primarily ecommerce platforms, whereas Wix is a bit more of an all-rounder.

The difference between mid-range and basic plans will vary. Sometimes the mid-range offers better on-site functionality, whereas it may also mean a change in the cost of transaction fees you’d be expected to pay. We’d recommend going for this level of plan once you know you want to invest in your online business more; if you have proved the concept, this is a natural next step for businesses and individual users.

Top-tier ecommerce website costs

The table below compares some of the top-tier plans on offer from the same range of ecommerce website builders.

Brand	Plan	Cost
Shopify	Advanced	£344/month
BigCommerce	Pro	$299/month
Wix	Business Elite	£119/month

Given the relatively high price, it is likely that the top-tier plans will be most suitable for well-established businesses that are very confident in their online activity, and also keen to see it grow. The majority of these plans provide access to features such as abandoned cart retrieval, along with other marketing tools that can be useful for retaining and engaging customers.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that, above the top-tier plans shown here, many ecommerce builders also offer enterprise plans with bespoke features and price tags.

Ecommerce website cost: Factors

The sections above relate specifically to ecommerce website builders. If you are planning to take the more traditional website development route, using CMS platforms with additional tools added, then this section will be more relevant for you.

The cost of your online shop will depend on several factors though, most importantly, it will depend on the range of functions and features you want to include on your site, or not. For example, some ecommerce stores will require just basic features, such as the option to display products and make payments. Others will require features such as an abandoned cart function, which may increase the complexity – and therefore cost – of a website.

Feature	Description
Platform or CMS	Are you using a ready-built ecommerce website builder or a custom platform?
Web design & functionality	How much unique design is needed? How it is deployed?
Features & functionality	What sort of features do you need, and which ones would you like?
Customisation & integrations	What third-party tools do you need on your site?
Security & compliance	How secure are you? And how secure are your users?
Ongoing maintenance	Are you on top of your site performance, and can you maintain it in the long-term?

The table above provides a few factors to consider. In the sections below you can find out a little more about each.

You can click on any heading from the list below if you’d like to skip ahead.

Platform and CMS
Website design and development
Website features and functions
Customisation and integrations
Security and compliance
Maintenance and support

Platform and CMS

Choosing the right platform of CMS for your online store is the first step, and one of the most important too.

The first choice for you is to choose whether you want to use an open-source platform like WooCommerce or Magento, which can be added to other CMSs, such as WordPress. These operate as tools or plugins that provide advanced customisation, but may also require more advanced development than some of the other options.

On the other hand, you may decide to use Shopify or BigCommerce, which are all-in-one ecommerce website builder platforms. These are easier to use but may be less customisable than the alternatives mentioned above.

£ 25 Monthly

Popular all-round ecommerce web builder

$ 29 Monthly

Value-for-money ecommerce web builder

If you choose WooCommerce or Magento, then your cost will be based on the initial cost of the platform itself – between $39 and $79/month for WooCommerce – as well as on the cost of development to get it live. If you can do it yourself, then your costs will be less.

If you were to choose an ecommerce website builder, on the other hand, then your cost will be based on the monthly cost of the total website builder plan. The cheapest option from Shopify is £5/month while the most expensive offering is £344/month.

It’s possible that you could end up paying less for more functions with one of the platforms added to a CMS such as WordPress. However, that is reliant on you being able to either complete the development work yourself or factor in that cost. Whereas the ecommerce builders will require monthly payments for the whole time you have a plan, using a plugin like WooCommerce may only require a one-off payment to get it set live, with occasional updates needed in the future.

Website design and development

The design and development of your site is one of the biggest cost factors to consider.

A more complex site will usually be much more expensive than a less complex site. This could be influenced by the number of pages you need, the number of elements you want on those pages, and what sort of support you get to complete this work.

If you choose to use an ecommerce website builder then the design and development costs will be factored into the overall cost of your plan. If you are using a CMS, such as WordPress, with an ecommerce plugin, such as Magento, then your cost will be tied to the development resource you use.

This means that, if you can do the development work yourself, your costs will probably be lower. If you can’t, then they may be higher.

Website features and functions

The cost of an ecommerce website or online shop will depend largely on the range of features and functions you need to be included.

More basic features, such as product listings, search functionality, shopping carts and payment processing will be essential, and so will require a basic level of expense. Other more advanced features, such as customer review, integration, product recommendations, advanced analytics and abandoned cart functionality may be viewed more as nice-to-haves.

To work out the cost, you should pull together a list of everything you absolutely need to provide a foundation, and then consider the things you might like to add that aren’t essential. Approaching it in this way will allow you to make the most of your budget, without sacrificing any vital functionality.

Bear in mind that, the cost overall will be based on whether you use an ecommerce website builder or a CMS with an ecommerce plugin. In either case, your cost might be dictated by the price of the plan you choose.

Customisation and integrations

Custom branding, bespoke functions, and third-party integrations to enable inventory management or shipping; all of these things will add complexity to your website and will, therefore, increase the cost. Especially if you take the web development route.

As with other features and factors on this page, the overall price of customising your site and enabling integrations will depend on the route you take to get online. Website development might cost more in the short-term, unless you can do the work yourself, but may be cheaper in the long-term if you don’t require ongoing support. An ecommerce website builder, on the other hand, may continue to cost the same amount each month, even if no work is needed.

Security and compliance

Ecommerce websites handle sensitive information regularly; this includes credit card information and user details, including names and addresses, for example. Storing and handling this information requires strong security.

Implementing SSL certificates on your site, making use of secure payment processing gateways and being compliant with data protection regulations will be vital.

Of course, this is often handled by ecommerce website builders, which typically are at the correct standard by default. A CMS platform with ecommerce functionality added by a plugin, on the other hand, may be less cut and dry. With that said platforms like WooCommerce and Magento will often provide the support or tools you need to make sure you are on track.

As always, the cost will be driven, primarily, by the route you have taken. Ecommerce website builders will automate a number of the features you need to bear in mind; a developed site may require more regular maintenance to stay on track.

Maintenance and support

It is rare that an online shop will be completed all in one go. More often, it is an ongoing process that will continue for as long as you have your ecommerce store live.

With a store built using an ecommerce website builder, this maintenance is simplified in some ways, with technical updates often handled behind the scenes by the brand you are paying to be live. With a CMS site, you might need to be a little more on the ball to make sure things stay on target.

Beyond technical maintenance, you should also factor in the cost of updates to your website’s stock and content. Whatever route you’ve taken to get online, you will need to keep an eye on your inventory to ensure everything works correctly (and is in stock) as well as on your marketing materials. The cost of this activity will vary by business; if you manage the online store yourself then your cost is whatever you deem your time to be worth. If someone manages it for you, then their salary is the cost. The answer is the same for the content and marketing you do.

How much does an ecommerce website cost? Final thoughts

How much your online store costs depends on so many factors that giving a single answer is tricky.

However, this is simplified if you choose an ecommerce website builder. In this case, you could be paying as little as £5 a month, and as much as hundreds a month. Over a year, this can mean the difference between £60 and several thousand pounds. How much you choose to pay can be based on how much you’re willing to spend.

A more complex site, or one built using more web development, will be costed in a way more tied to the support you pay for. If you have development experience, or some other form of online expertise, then you can likely reduce costs to just the price of hosting, paying for a CMS platform, and paying for an ecommerce plugin. You could be looking at as little as £40-£50 a month for a WordPress site with WooCommerce functionality, meaning an annual cost of, perhaps, £600.

However, the same route could be a great deal more expensive if you need to hire development support to keep things on track. Potentially, this could raise your price exponentially, depending on the prices quoted to you by the developer you plan to work with. At the same though, this work may be short-term rather than ongoing.

Looking at it in this way should give you some ideas as to the cost to expect. Ecommerce website builders can seem cheaper in the short-term and are certainly easier to get started. However, if you have the expertise, the opposite might be true.

Above all, and while cost is an important factor to consider, you also need to strike a balance between that and the features you want. If an ecommerce website builder doesn’t offer everything you need, then it might not be the right choice for you. If it does, you could be in luck.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

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