How Much Does an eCommerce Website Cost in 2026?

The honest answer

An eCommerce website can cost anywhere from a few hundred pounds a year to well over £20,000, and — like a normal website — the range isn't because some agencies overcharge. It's because "an online shop" covers everything from a DIY Shopify store you build over a weekend to a custom platform handling thousands of orders, stock sync and integrations.

The difference from a standard brochure site is that a shop has more moving parts: product management, payments, shipping, tax, security, and the running costs that come with taking money online. So the useful question isn't "what does an eCommerce site cost" — it's "which type of shop do I need, and what does that one cost to build and run." This guide covers both, honestly, including the running costs most quotes go quiet about.

We build eCommerce sites, so full disclosure: we sit in the agency tier below. But plenty of shops don't need that tier, and we'll say so — the aim is to help you spend the right amount, not the most.

Route 1 — DIY (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace)

You build the shop yourself on a hosted platform. Sign up, pick a template, add products, connect a payment method, publish.

• What it is: an all-in-one hosted store you run yourself. Hosting, security and the checkout are bundled into the monthly fee.
• Cost: roughly £300–£1,500 a year all in — a Shopify or Wix plan (~£25–£75/month), a theme, and a few apps. No big upfront build fee.
• Right for: a new venture testing whether people will buy, a small or simple product range, or a business selling online as a side line rather than the main event. Genuinely the sensible starting point if you're not yet sure the shop will fly.
• The catch: it looks templated, you do all the work, and — the number people forget — platform transaction fees on many plans take a percentage of every sale unless you use the platform's own payment system. Fine at low volume; a growing tax as you scale.

Route 2 — A template shop built for you

A freelancer or small agency sets up a shop for you on a bought theme (Shopify or WooCommerce), configures your products and payments, and hands it over. More polished than pure DIY, without a full custom project.

• What it is: a pre-made theme, set up with your catalogue by someone else. Still fundamentally a template — assembled for you.
• Cost: roughly £1,500–£5,000 one-off to build, plus running costs (hosting, plan fees, apps) on top. Watch bundled "monthly" deals — over three years they quietly total a lot, and you may own nothing at the end.
• Right for: an established small business with a manageable product range that wants a tidy, working shop without an agency budget, and isn't relying on a distinctive store to win against bigger competitors.
• The catch: it'll resemble every other shop on that theme, page-builder bloat can slow the site (which costs sales), and unusual requirements often hit "there's an app for that, at £30/month." It does the job of selling; it rarely does the job of standing out.

Route 3 — A bespoke agency build

A studio designs and builds your shop from scratch, around your products, your brand and how you actually operate — no template underneath. This is our tier, so treat the rest as informed but interested.

• What it is: a custom eCommerce site — strategy, design, build, testing — engineered to convert and to fit your operation, not a theme with your logo on it. Usually WooCommerce or Shopify, chosen to fit the business.
• Cost (our real band): eCommerce £6,000–£12,000 +VAT, depending on catalogue size, custom functionality and integrations. Staged, not paid up front — a standard 30% deposit, 40% before launch, 30% on go-live.
• Right for: an established business where the shop is a real revenue engine, where looking credible against competitors directly affects sales, and where custom functionality or integrations (stock systems, subscriptions, bespoke checkout) matter. If a modest lift in conversion or a chunk of saved admin would cover the difference, bespoke pays for itself.
• The catch: more upfront and longer than a template, and genuine overkill for a simple shop that only needs to exist. The value is only real if the agency is good — a bad expensive shop is worse value than a good cheap one.

Where bespoke earns its money is that the shop does a measurable job. Training ByteSize, an accredited training provider, saw a 65% improvement in manual admin-task efficiency once we built the workflow properly on WooCommerce — at this tier the store can run part of the operation, not just take payments. We build on Shopify too — Nantwich Pet Centre's shop runs on it — so the platform follows the business, not the other way round. That's the standard behind our eCommerce websites: built to convert, and built to fit how the business actually works.

Route 4 — A custom eCommerce platform

The top tier: bespoke software with a shop attached. High-volume stores, complex catalogues, deep integrations with ERP, stock or fulfilment systems, multi-currency or multi-region setups, or unusual selling models. Engineering as much as design.

• What it is: a custom-built commerce platform where the "shop" is the front of something much larger — real infrastructure built and maintained by a specialist team.
• Cost: £20,000+, often well into six figures for true scale, plus ongoing maintenance and support.
• Right for: businesses where the store is the business at serious scale — where downtime costs real money and the platform must integrate, scale and stay secure under load. If that's you, you already know it.
• The catch: cost, complexity, and a long-term commitment to maintaining a real system. Never buy this tier because it sounds impressive — only when the volume and functionality genuinely demand it.

The running costs nobody warns you about

The build price is only half the picture with eCommerce. Unlike a brochure site, a shop has ongoing costs baked in — budget for these from the start:

• Platform / plan fees: £0 for self-hosted WooCommerce software, up to ~£300/month for higher Shopify tiers.
• Transaction fees: the big one. Payment processors (Stripe, PayPal) take roughly 1.5–3% + a small fixed fee per sale. Some platforms add their own fee on top unless you use their payments. On real turnover this is your largest ongoing cost — model it before you choose a platform.
• Hosting: £100–£400/year for a WooCommerce shop (bundled into the fee on Shopify).
• Apps and extensions: subscriptions, advanced shipping, reviews, email — easily £20–£100+/month stacked up.
• Maintenance and security: a shop taking payments needs keeping updated and secure. Budget for a care plan or an in-house hand.

The trap: a "cheap" shop with high per-sale fees can cost more over three years than a pricier build with lower running costs. Look at the total, not just the sticker.

How to choose — a simple framework

Ignore the price tags for a moment. Three questions decide it:

• 1. How central is selling online to the business? A side line testing an idea? DIY or a template is plenty. Your main revenue engine, competing hard? Agency territory. The whole business at scale? A platform.
• 2. What's your honest volume — now and soon? Low volume favours a simple, cheap start where fixed fees don't bite. Real volume makes transaction fees and conversion rate the numbers that matter, which is where a better build pays back fast.
• 3. What's your budget, honestly — build and run? Include the running costs. A shop you can build but can't afford to run properly is a false economy.

A rough rule: if the shop is a nice-to-have, spend the least that sells respectably. If the shop is how you make your money, spend what it takes to convert better than the competitor whose store the customer will see right after yours. And you can move up as you grow — plenty of solid shops start on Shopify, prove the model, then commission a bespoke build once the numbers clearly justify it.

The four routes at a glance

If you skim one thing, skim this. Same four routes, side by side, so you can see where you honestly sit before anyone quotes you.

Two shops at the same sticker price can cost wildly different amounts over three years once the running costs land — which is the part most quotes stay quiet about, and the next section deals with head-on.

WooCommerce or Shopify?

Almost every shop below the custom-platform tier comes down to these two, and the choice quietly sets your running costs for years. Shopify bundles hosting, security and the checkout into a monthly fee and takes an extra cut unless you use its own payments — beautifully simple, with a tax that grows as you scale. WooCommerce is self-hosted and open, so there are no platform transaction fees, but you own the hosting, updates and security.

There is no universally right answer — only the right fit for your catalogue, volume and how hands-on you want to be. We break the decision down properly in WooCommerce vs Shopify. If your needs run past a standard shop — subscriptions, deep stock or ERP sync, an unusual selling model — you are drifting into a custom platform or portal, which is priced on a different page for a reason.

Red flags in an eCommerce quote

A shop takes money, so a cheap-looking quote can hide expensive gaps. Before you sign, check the quote is honest about:

• Transaction fees. If payment processing and any platform cut are not mentioned, they have been left off the number you are comparing — and on real turnover they are the biggest cost of all.
• “Unlimited products” that quietly need apps. Reviews, advanced shipping, subscriptions, bundles — each often arrives as a £20–£100/month add-on. Ask what is included and what is an extra.
• What you own at the end. Bundled “£X a month forever” deals can total a lot over three years and leave you owning nothing. Get the ownership position in writing.
• No performance or speed commitment. A slow shop loses sales on every visit. If there is no word on load speed, assume it was not a priority.
• No plan for stock, tax or fulfilment. The admin behind the shop is where the real time goes. A quote that only prices the storefront has priced half the job.

What it costs if you’re in Cheshire

The price of a shop is set by the build and the running costs, not the postcode — a bespoke eCommerce build costs much the same in Crewe as it does in London. What a good local studio adds is context: someone who understands your market, sits in the same time zone as your busy season, and can meet you face to face when a project matters. That is the standard we bring to web design in Cheshire, shops included.

If you are still weighing up whether a shop is even the right first move — versus a brochure site that sells over the phone — our companion guide to what a website costs in Cheshire walks the full range, from DIY to bespoke, in the same honest terms.