How much does an online store website cost?
For a small shop the website is cheap and the photography is not, and the thing that grows with you is the fee on sales rather than the plan. Price it over a year of your real volume, not over the first month.
Prices read from the plans on every load; the judgement reviewed 8 November 2026.
One of the online store designs the plan price includes.
The short answer
A online store website has to run on its own domain and sell online. Priced three ways:
| Route | What you pay | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| A builder with it built in Webkio |
$64.99 a month Starter at $14.99 plus $50 as 2% on $2,500 of monthly sales; $779.88 a year |
The site and the features in one plan, edited by you, live the same day. Card processing is extra on every route. |
| A freelancer | from $1,930 to $3,860 as a floor 5 to 10 days at $386 a day, derived below |
Somebody's week. Then hosting, and an invoice for every change. |
| An agency | No published figure three quotes, and the questions below |
A team and a process. Right for a group with unusual needs; rarely for one location. |
The $2,500 a month through the site is an assumption for the table; put your own number in the calculator and the plan and fee recompute. A plan's percentage on sales is what makes the cheapest plan sometimes the dearest.
Year one, on a builder
What the first twelve months come to for a online store that builds it itself, at the assumption above.
| The plan (Starter), twelve months | $179.88 |
| The plan's 2% on $2,500 a month of online payments | $600 |
| Card processing | the processor's rate, on every route |
| Your domain name | from your registrar, typically a small yearly fee |
| Your time to set it up | an afternoon with the words and photos ready |
| Total of the lines with a figure | $779.88 |
Which route fits a online store
A builder, if
You have fewer than a few hundred products and want a store you run yourself, with the fee shrinking as you grow into the next plan.
A freelancer, if
Your catalogue has rules no store template handles - configurable products, B2B pricing tiers - and you can fund a developer's weeks.
An agency, if
You need warehouse, ERP or marketplace integrations and a team to manage them.
The same site on other builders
Published renewal prices, with the date each was read, for the cheapest plan that covers the same needs. "Not covered" means no first-party product for it.
| Builder | Cheapest plan that covers it | Per month, fee included |
|---|---|---|
| Webkio | Starter | $64.99 |
| Hostinger compare | Unlimited (read 2026-11-04, renewal rate on a 48-month term) | $16.99 |
| IONOS compare | Online store Starter (read 2026-11-04, renewal rate on a 1-year term) | $26 |
| Wix compare | Core (read 2026-11-04, billed yearly) | $29 fee not stated |
| WordPress.com compare | Business (read 2026-11-04, billed monthly) | $40 |
| Square Online compare | Plus (read 2026-11-04, billed monthly, per location) | $49 |
| Squarespace compare | Basic (read 2026-11-04, billed monthly) | $75 |
| Webflow compare | Ecommerce Standard (read 2026-11-04, billed monthly) | $92 |
What moves the price for a online store
Transaction fees
The line that grows with you. A plan's percentage on sales is small at the start and the whole cost later, which is why the cheapest plan can be the dearest one; the table below includes it.
How many products, and how many variants
Twenty products are an afternoon. Two hundred with sizes and colours are a project, on any system, and the plan limit on products is the thing to check.
Shipping rules
Flat rate is simple; by weight, by zone, with free shipping over a threshold is where custom builds charge and builders need configuring.
Photography
Three photos per product. The real cost of an online store is the photography, whoever builds it.
The costs that are not on the quote
- Marketplace fees. If you also sell on a marketplace, its fee per sale is the comparison that matters. The marketplace fee calculator puts your numbers on it.
- Card processing. The processor's percentage and fixed fee per order, on every platform, before anything reaches you.
- Returns. Not a website cost, but the cost a size guide and honest photos reduce. Budget time for them.
What a online store can skip
Money commonly spent on this kind of site that does not need spending.
- A theme or template bought separately; every store design here is included.
- An app for size charts, reviews or stock alerts; those are in the plan.
- A developer for a catalogue under a hundred products. Hire one when a warehouse or a marketplace feed has to connect.
Free things worth doing first
- Pick the twenty products you would be happy selling for a year and photograph them. Launch with those.
- Write your shipping and returns policy before building; the checkout needs it and so do buyers.
- Run your expected monthly sales through the calculator; the right plan changes with the number.
If you ask an agency
Agencies do not publish prices and we will not guess one. Ask each of three what is included and what is billed after, who owns the domain and the content, what a change costs after launch, what hosting and maintenance are per year, and whether you can edit the site yourself.
Where the freelancer floor comes from. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median web developer wage at $92,650 a year (Occupational Outlook Handbook), $386 a day over 240 working days. A freelancer charges more than a salaried day, so 5 to 10 days at that rate is a floor, not an estimate.
Guides for a online store deciding this
Questions
Can I start an online store for free?
You can build it for free; selling needs a paid plan on Webkio, which includes products, checkout, stock and order emails. The fee per sale is in the table.
Is a percentage fee or a higher monthly plan better?
Below a certain monthly sales figure the lower plan with the higher fee costs less; above it the reverse. The calculator finds the crossover for your number.
Do I need a developer for a shop?
For a small catalogue, no. For integration with a warehouse, an ERP or a marketplace feed, yes, and that is where a developer's days go.
What about taxes?
Tax settings are part of the store; you set the rates or the rules for your location. It is not an extra cost, but it is an hour of setup.
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