How much does a Shopify website cost?

Often, the cost estimates of a Shopify site are grossly oversimplified online. For example, some resources will just look at the subscription cost of running a Shopify site plus the domain registration fee.

And yes – at its most basic – you can set up a Shopify site with a monthly subscription as low as $29.99, use a free theme, and pay your domain fee every year, and you’ll have a Shopify site.

But Shopify sites are meant to function and grow as an eCommerce store. This means dealing with issues like traffic growth, abandoned carts, email sequences, SKU customization, social media marketing, SEO, and more.

All of this requires more than just a monthly subscription fee.

When you’re trying to figure out how much a Shopify website will cost, you can break it down into three buckets:

Recurring charges (domains, hosting, etc)
Design and development (often a one-time fee, but the most substantial part of your investment/budget)
Marketing and optimizing your Shopify site (SEO, PPC, and CRO)

In this post, we examine each factor in more detail to help illustrate the overall cost of a Shopify website. But first, let’s look at how we at SwiftOtter can help you set up your Shopify site.

Using SwiftOtter to Develop Your Shopify Site

At SwiftOtter, we help B2B, manufacturing, and outdoor sporting goods companies set up, maintain, and grow their Shopify sites. We can help you migrate your existing site into the Shopify platform or build a site with you from the ground up.

We offer various customizations, use vetted third-party apps, and have two different processes to help accommodate all types of sites.

First, our accelerator program that starts at $20,000. The goal of this is to get you a live and functioning site that is ready to start attracting and closing customers. This includes the essentials (domains, hosting, security features, themes, design, dev).
Second, our more comprehensive development. This option is for sites that want more advanced customization—unique landing pages, PDP pages, etc. These projects tend to start around $50k. Again, these are estimates; your actual quote may be higher or lower depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.

When you work with SwiftOtter, we offer a flexible, five-stage process for developing the best Shopify storefront for your business.

Stage One: Discovery

We prefer to start with discovery, though we can, in specific cases, proceed without it. But this stage is important as it helps us:

Better understand your business and target customers
Understand how big this site development project will be, including whether we need to engage third-party experts (like an SEO expert) to help us do it right.

Stage Two: Developing and Presenting a Strategy

Once we’ve completed stage one, we will develop and present a strategy and roadmap for your Shopify site.

This includes transparent information about the deliverables we will give to you and a timeline for each part of the project.

Of course, sometimes projects change, and timelines are thus adapted. But these changes are always made clear and in partnership with our clients. These changes usually come about during the design and user testing part of the process, when we might learn something unexpected or find a better way to structure your site, which we discuss next.

Stage Three: Design and User Testing

First, we design low-fidelity wireframes and other templates to show you the design as planned based on what we think will work best for your site. Generally, we’re working within a theme and your own visual guidelines and brand, so there’s not a lot of room for miscommunication. Instead, we look to improve/customize the theme to your industry and target audience.

Then, we can do real-time user testing with more high-fidelity prototypes. This simulates what it’ll actually be like for your customers to use your site.

Here, if we do discover any opportunities – better ways to design something or parts in the user mapping that aren’t working as well as hoped – then we can adjust the design and test again.

Stage Four: Feature & Theme Development

Once we have tested and vetted the design, we work on bringing it to life by developing the theme and the third-party apps/integrations required to make your site fully functional.

We use Shopify's APIs, Liquid templating language, and front-end technologies like JavaScript to build and integrate the new feature seamlessly into the existing store. As we proceed, we will test each part of the process.

Once tested, we deploy the feature to the live site and monitor results.

Final Stage: Post-Launch Testing and Monitoring

When you work with SwiftOtter, we offer post-launch testing and performance monitoring.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Software updates and security patches. Shopify often releases new updates and security patches that need to be installed to keep your site functional.
Theme and app updates. Similar to the above – your site is going to be using non-native apps and plugins. They themselves will go under updates or will be affected by Shopify’s updates.
Training and knowledge transfer. You’re likely working with a development agency because you don’t have developers who can handle it, either they’re lacking the skill set or simply the availability. Either way, you want to make sure your internal dev team understands your new site. This empowers you to make choices that are in the best interest of your Shopify store without being tied to a single agency.

To learn more, contact us at SwiftOtter today.

You can also keep reading for a more a la carte breakdown of what a Shopify website will cost you, if you were to break it down line by line.

How Much Does a Shopify Website Cost (A Breakdown)

Shopify build cost estimates range from $500 to $50k (or more, depending on requirements). How is the difference between the highs and lows so significant?

To help explain that, we break down the costs of a Shopify website into:

Recurring charges (domain, hosting, etc)
Design and development (typically a one-time fee, but a much bigger investment)
Growing your Shopify site (there’s a lot of variance here, depending on your niche and what type of channels you’re trying to use to promote your Shopify store)

Recurring Charges (Domains, Hosting, Security, Etc)

On the low end, recurring charges can be about $370 to $415 a year, and on the high end, $5,500 to $5,800.

These charges are often overlooked in Shopify cost estimates, but they shouldn’t be. These are constant and recurring charges that need to be included in your website’s budget.

They include:

Domain Name

If you already have your own domain name, you can skip this part. But remember that domain names need to be renewed, so you want to factor in that price however often yours is renewed, whether annually or biannually.

If you’re still deciding on your domain name, you need to make an initial purchase. Often, this can be very inexpensive, with domain names available for cheap from sites like Name.com and Gandi.net. But sometimes, depending on your niche or preferred name, domains can be highly-priced.

Overall, if you need to buy a domain name, you have two options: buying through Shopify or a third-party domain registrar.

If you buy through Shopify:

Prices range from $11 to $15 each year (depending again on the specific domain and the domain extension, such as .com or .net).
It’s very easy to set up your Shopify site with your domain name bought through Shopify, including making sure it’s renewed each year.

If you buy through third-party domain registrars, like GoDaddy and NameCheap:

Prices tend to be cheaper than Shopify (though not significantly so).
You have more control over your domain settings, such as access to DNS settings so you can point your domain towards different servers, domain locking, and the ability to manage multiple domains easily.
However, you must manually connect your domain from this third-party register to your Shopify site. It’s simple enough to do, but some would rather skip this completely.

Keep in mind both methods involve recurring costs, as you need to renew your domain to keep ownership of it.

Other things to consider:

Does your domain registrar charge extra for WHOIS privacy? Shopify usually includes this. When deciding whether to buy from Shopify or a site like Namecheap, check to make sure your third-party domain seller doesn’t charge an extra fee.
Transfer fees. Make sure you can easily (and affordably) transfer your domain, whether you’ll one day transfer it to Shopify or transfer it away from Shopify. You don’t want to lose your domain ownership.

For most sites, getting your domain through Shopify makes the most sense. But if you already have your domain purchased through a registrar, you can easily still use it with your Shopify site.

Hosting Options

You can host your site directly through Shopify, a fully hosted eCommerce platform. So, when you pay for a Shopify subscription, you’re paying for hosting.

As of this writing, Shopify subscription plans range from $29/month (Basic) to $299/month (Advanced), billed monthly or annually.

With these plans, you get:

Managed hosting: Shopify takes care of all server maintenance, security updates, and scaling issues.
SSL certificate: A secure socket layer (SSL) certificate is provided for free, giving your store the "https://" prefix and a lock icon in browsers, which helps build customer trust.
PCI compliance: Shopify's hosting is PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant, which is crucial for accepting credit card payments online.
Unlimited bandwidth: You don't have to worry about bandwidth limits or additional charges for high traffic.
Regular backups: Shopify automatically backs up your store data.

There are some tradeoffs to using Shopify as your host, though for small businesses, these trade-offs are generally worth it.

For example, if you’re running a self-hosted site (that uses Shopify simply as an eCommerce front), you can choose the operating system and web server software that you want. You can also install any software packages, libraries, or modules that you need.

As an example, if you want to integrate a custom analytics tracking tool on your eCommerce site – something that goes beyond or simply just works differently than whatever Shopify and its apps offer, then you could do that with a self-hosted setup. But with Shopify as your hosting provider, it really wouldn’t be possible.

Again, for most small businesses, these are fair trade-offs. Shopify makes running a site simple via its native features and available third-party apps, like popular analytics tools.

However, some sites will need more customization. If you’re not sure if that’s you, contact us, and we can help you figure out the best way to set up your Shopify site.

Alternative Ways to Host Your Website (While Still Using Shopify Store)

If you don’t want to use Shopify to host your entire store, you can set up blog hosting. Some merchants choose to host their blog separately (e.g., on WordPress) and then integrate it with their Shopify store with an app like Post Bridge. This is optional and depends on your specific needs.

But no matter what option you choose, you should factor in hosting your site, domain renewal, and security as recurring costs.

Other Recurring Costs of a Shopify Site:

While we're discussing recurring costs, it's worth mentioning other expenses you'll encounter:

Shopify subscription: Plans range from $29/month (Basic) to $299/month (Advanced), billed monthly or annually.
Transaction fees: If you don't use Shopify Payments, there's an additional transaction fee (0.5% to 2%, depending on your plan) on top of the credit card processing fees.
Apps: Many Shopify apps have monthly subscription costs, which can add up quickly if you're not careful.

Design and Development

Using a Design and Dev Agency

Above, we looked at how SwiftOtter can be used to design and develop your Shopify agency. Our lower-end offerings start at $20k. This is our accelerated program and it gets you a fully transactional and functional site. This accelerated program takes about 4-6 weeks, from discovery to post-launch review.

The process can take longer for more advanced design and development. It simply depends on what you need from your Shopify site.

Themes

Theme costs vary and if you’re working within a dev and design agency, their rate will include the theme costs. But if you’re trying to build a Shopify site on your own, then there are:

Free themes, which offer limited customization.
Premium themes, which are typically a one-time purchase of $100-$300. With a premium theme, you’ll have more control over layouts/colors/designs. You’ll also have enhanced features, like product search and improved checkout process. Most of the time, a premium theme is a way to go. Not because a premium theme means you won’t need a custom code – it just means it’s easier for developers to customize your code and Shopify store.

Third-Party Integrations

One of the biggest benefits of setting up a Shopify site is the ability to improve its functionality through third-party integrations.

Here are just a few examples of common integrations – and estimates on what they can cost.

Email Marketing Integrations: These integrations allow you to capture email addresses and build internal lists to which you can send email marketing campaigns. They are great for capturing leads who bounced off your site before making a purchase or upselling leads who did make a purchase.

Here are some example integrations: Klaviyo, Omnisend, Privy. It’s hard to estimate the price of these integrations as they tend to vary based on how big of an email list you’re going to create.

Social Media Integrations: These integrations are a must if you plan to sell or promote your products via social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. The good news is that plenty of these integrations will be free.
Reviews Apps: You can use review apps to help build your social proof by getting and displaying customer reviews on your Shopify store.

These include review platforms like Yotpo, Judge.me, and Ali Reviews

Shipping/Fulfilment Apps: These integrations can make it easier to give your customers shipping information, as well as handle returns (with label tracking and printing).

Some examples ShipStation, Shippo, EasyShip

Abandoned Cart Recovery: When running your Shopify site, you want to increase your conversion rate. One way of doing this is targeting customers who abandoned their cart.

There are specific integrations for this, like Carthook, where your site will automatically follow up with customers who abandon their carts before checking out.

These are just some examples. There are several other types of integrations, like search/navigation apps, upsell apps, accounting + ERP integrations, and more.

The costs can vary quite a bit—some apps have free plans, while others may charge $10- $50+ per month, depending on the features needed. Shopify has an App Store where you can browse options and pricing.

Again, if you work with a design and dev agency, the cost of acquiring these integrations is often built into the statement of work.

Growing Your Shopify Site

When you’re building your Shopify site, you should also factor in the cost of attracting traffic and optimizing the user experience.

Traffic to your site can be generated through several methods, including word of mouth or other types of grassroots marketing.

But two typical methods are SEO marketing efforts and PPC/online ads. Both of these cost money, whether it’s money you’re paying an agency or expert or if it’s the money you’d be paying yourself by taking the time to do either of these strategies.

Want to Work with Us or Learn How to Implement Our Shopify Development Strategy?

Hopefully, now you can better see why there are such discrepancies in how much a Shopify website costs.

You can technically get a basic Shopify plan, use a free theme, and only use minimal integrations to set up your Shopify website for $500 a year or so.
But in our experience, most businesses need more from their Shopify site than what that will cover. At SwiftOtter, our accelerated program – to get a fully transactional site within 4-6 weeks – starts at $20k. More advanced sites can run up to 50k or more.

If you’re interested in partnering with us to develop or enhance your Shopify store, you can learn more about our Shopify development services and how we can help you achieve your e-commerce goals.