In short: in Italy a small or mid-sized online shop usually costs €2,500–6,000 with a freelancer and €6,000–15,000 with an agency, excluding VAT; B2B shops or shops with complex integrations easily go past €20,000. That’s the cost of building it. Then there are the costs of keeping it running: platform subscription or hosting, apps and modules, payment fees, maintenance. They vary a lot between Shopify, WooCommerce and a custom build, and it’s worth adding them up before you choose.
How much it costs to build
The starting price is similar on every platform, because the bulk of the work is the same: designing the shop, setting up the catalogue, payments and shipping, and connecting it to your systems. What pushes the price up:
- the number of products and variants, and how complex they are (sizes, colours, configurable products);
- the design: an adapted theme costs less than one designed around your products;
- the languages and countries you sell in, with different prices and shipping;
- the integrations with your ERP, warehouse, couriers and marketplaces, often the biggest item;
- special features: B2B with dedicated price lists, subscriptions, bookings.
If the shop already exists and needs moving to another platform, there’s also the migration: you can move just the data or rebuild the store too.
How much it costs to keep running
This is where the platforms really part ways.
|
|
Shopify |
WooCommerce |
Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Build |
similar to WooCommerce |
similar to Shopify |
more, after an analysis |
|
Every month |
subscription and apps |
hosting and plugins |
servers |
|
Platform fees |
yes, if you don’t use Shopify Payments |
no |
no |
|
Servers and updates |
handled by Shopify |
need regular maintenance |
need regular maintenance |
|
Control over code and data |
limited |
full |
full |
Shopify
You pay a monthly subscription, which goes up with the plan, plus the paid apps you need (reviews, filters, invoicing) and the payment fees. If you don’t use Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a fee on sales. In return there are no servers to manage and no updates to test. Current prices are on Shopify’s pricing page, to be read with VAT and the exchange rate in mind, because price lists are often in dollars. We cover this on the page about Shopify development.
WooCommerce
The software is free, but you need hosting suited to an online shop, a few paid plugins and maintenance: tested updates, backups, security. There are no platform fees on sales, only those of your payment provider. The details are on the page about WooCommerce development.
Custom
An ecommerce site written from scratch costs more up front and only makes sense when the platforms aren’t enough: very particular processes, deep integrations, high volumes. Afterwards you pay for servers and maintenance, with no subscriptions or platform fees.
Which one makes sense
- Shopify if you want to start quickly and not think about servers and updates, and the fees don’t eat into your margins.
- WooCommerce if you want full control of code and data, already have WordPress or need features that on Shopify would turn into lots of apps.
- PrestaShop if you already have a PrestaShop shop that works, or a large catalogue with many variants.
- Custom if the way you sell doesn’t fit any platform.
For your case we’ll tell you after a chat, not before: it depends on your catalogue, your volumes and who will run the shop day to day.
The costs people forget
- Product photos and copy: if they don’t exist, someone has to make them.
- Privacy, cookies and terms of sale: you need correct texts, usually from a consultant or a dedicated service.
- Marketing: a new online shop doesn’t get visitors on its own. Advertising, newsletters and SEO are a separate budget.
- The time of whoever runs it: orders, returns, customer service.
In our quotes you’ll find, item by item, what’s included and what isn’t, and what it costs the year after. You’ll find how we work on the page about ecommerce development.
