Short answer (TL;DR)
A basic WooCommerce store costs roughly $1,000 to $3,000 to build, then $350 to $800 per year for hosting, plugins, and maintenance. A Shopify store runs about $1,500 to $5,000 for setup, plus a subscription starting at $29 per month and a fee on every transaction. A custom build starts around $9,000 and only pays off at high volume or with unusual requirements. For most US small businesses the first choice is WooCommerce; if you want to launch fast and never think about servers, Shopify.
Why an online store makes sense in 2026
Online retail keeps taking share from brick and mortar, and shoppers now expect to find a small local brand online the same way they find a national one. Buying online is no longer a demographic quirk. It is the default research and purchase path for most product categories.
The interesting part is the gap. Consumer demand for online purchasing is far ahead of the number of small retailers actually selling online, especially in narrow niches. Plenty of categories still have no serious small competitor on page one. That gap is the opportunity for the merchants who move now instead of next year.
WooCommerce: the most control for the least money
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress and it powers more online stores than anything else on the web. The plugin is free. Everything around it is a real cost you should know about up front.
What it costs to build
A small WooCommerce store starts around $1,000 with most agencies and freelancers. A mid range store with custom design and up to a few hundred products runs $2,000 to $4,500. An advanced store with ERP integration, inventory sync, and B2B features lands between $5,500 and $11,000. On quote marketplaces the median build comes in around $2,200, with the cheapest providers starting near $850.
What it costs per year
Hosting that can actually handle a store runs $12 to $45 per month. Paid plugins for advanced shipping, inventory tracking, or invoicing add $120 to $550 per year. If you sell subscriptions or bookings, budget $700 to $1,000 per year for extensions alone. A typical small store therefore pays $350 to $800 per year, not counting a maintenance retainer with an agency.
The upside of WooCommerce is the one time build cost and low running costs. The downside is responsibility: security updates, backups, and outages are on you or your agency.
Shopify: renting a store with no technical worries
Shopify is a hosted platform. You install nothing, everything runs on Shopify's servers, updates happen automatically. In exchange you pay every month for as long as the store exists.
Subscription pricing in 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually | Who it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29/mo | beginners, up to roughly 50 orders per month |
| Grow | $105 | $79/mo | growing stores, better reporting |
| Advanced | $399 | $299/mo | larger stores, automations |
| Plus | from $2,300 | custom | enterprise and wholesale |
Prices are from Shopify's official 2026 pricing page. On top of the subscription come payment fees: on Basic, 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per online transaction through Shopify Payments. If you use an outside payment gateway, Shopify charges an extra fee on top. Paid apps from the App Store add up fast for growing stores, often $50 to $300 per month.
Setup
You can stand up a basic Shopify store with a ready made theme yourself in a few days. Agency setup runs $1,500 to $5,000. Migrating an existing store with a large catalog and customer history can reach $10,000.
The upside of Shopify is speed and reliability with zero technical overhead. The downside is a permanent monthly cost that grows as the store grows.
Custom builds: when to even consider one
Custom development means an agency programs your store from scratch, without WordPress or Shopify. Prices start around $9,000 and complex projects go past $28,000.
It makes sense in three cases. First, when you have processes existing platforms cannot cover, such as a product configurator or unusual pricing models. Second, when the store has to talk to your own ERP system or production floor. Third, when sales volume justifies the investment, generally above $500,000 in annual revenue. For a first store, custom development is almost always the wrong call.
Total cost comparison over the first two years
Run the numbers for a small store with about 100 products and 30 orders per month:
| Cost | WooCommerce | Shopify Basic | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | $2,200 | $2,200 | $11,000 |
| Subscription (24 months) | $0 | about $700 | $0 |
| Hosting (24 months) | about $530 | included | about $800 |
| Plugins and apps | about $450 | about $550 | included |
| Maintenance | about $650 | included | about $1,300 |
| Two year total | about $3,800 | about $3,500 | about $13,100 |
At small volume, WooCommerce and Shopify are very close on price. The difference shows up with growth. WooCommerce costs climb slowly, while Shopify gets noticeably more expensive once you move to Grow or Advanced and start stacking apps. An analysis by Swell (2026) puts the total annual cost of a serious WooCommerce store at $1,800 to $15,000, depending on volume and extensions.
Hidden costs nobody puts in the quote
Payment processing fees
Every payment processor takes a cut, typically 1.5 to 2.9 percent of the transaction plus a fixed amount. At $5,000 in monthly sales that is $75 to $145 every month. This cost grows with sales and cannot be eliminated, though you can lower it by shopping processors instead of taking the default.
Shipping and logistics
Connecting to USPS, UPS, or FedEx takes a plugin or an app. Budget $55 to $220 for setup and up to $20 per month. Without automatic data exchange you will print every label by hand, which is survivable at 30 orders a month and impossible at 300.
Product photos and descriptions
A store with bad photos does not sell. Budget at least $550 to shoot a small catalog, or the time to shoot it yourself. Product descriptions are also your SEO: unique descriptions with the right keywords pull buyers in from Google, copied supplier text does not.
Launch advertising
The most expensive mistake is a store with no visitors. A new store with no history in Google needs 6 to 12 months to build organic traffic. Reserve an advertising budget of at least $350 per month for the first months, or the store will sit empty.
Which platform is right for you
The decision is simpler than it looks. Choose WooCommerce if you want low running costs and you have an agency or a person handling maintenance. Choose Shopify if you want to launch fast, sell across markets, and never think about servers. Choose custom development only once an existing store has demonstrably hit the limits of its platform.
A common trap is the $500 store offer. At that price you get a default theme with no customization, no shipping integrations, and no tax setup. You will pay the difference up to a usable store later, and usually pay more for it.
When the investment pays back
Take a store with a $3,800 investment, a $65 average order, and a 30 percent margin. Every order brings in about $19.50 of margin. Paying back the investment takes roughly 195 orders. At 30 orders per month that is about 7 months, and realistically 12 to 18 months once you count advertising costs.
That math shows the main truth: the build price is the smaller part of the story. Success is decided by how many orders the store gets. A simple store with good marketing beats a perfect store nobody visits.
Want a straight answer on which platform fits your catalog and budget? [Talk to NovusAgency](https://novusagency.co/en/contact).