„How much does an online store cost?” has an even wider range of answers than the price of a website — because a store isn’t just the look, but also products, payments, shipping, integrations and everything that happens after an order. Still, you can answer it concretely: show the paths, what the price is made of and what drives it up most. This piece is part of our cost series — alongside „How much does a business website cost”.
The short answer: four paths
| Path | Realistic starting cost | For whom |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS (Shopify, Shoper) | subscription from ~50–300 PLN/mo + fees | quick start, simple catalogue, no own back-office |
| Freelancer / ready theme | ~3,000–10,000 PLN | simple stores on a tight budget |
| Agency — WooCommerce | from 7,900 PLN net (our starting point) | companies wanting ownership, integrations and care |
| Custom build | usually from tens of thousands PLN | unusual processes, large scale, custom logic |
That’s the starting cost. The full picture also includes yearly costs (hosting, care, development) — below.
What the price is made of
Every honest quote is a sum of similar components — only their weight differs:
- Platform and build — choosing and configuring the engine (for us most often WooCommerce, less often PrestaShop, and for unusual logic a custom build on Laravel).
- Design and UX — category layout, product page, checkout path, cart. In a store, UX translates directly into conversion.
- Products — entering the catalogue, photos, descriptions, categories. Underestimated when the catalogue is large.
- Payments and shipping — payment gateways, courier integrations, delivery rules.
- Content and legal — terms, privacy policy, consents.
- Testing and launch — test orders, payments, edge cases.
What drives the price up most
This is where it’s decided whether a store costs 8k or 30k. In our experience, four things most often push the price up:
- Migrations — moving data from an old store (products, customers, orders, SEO redirects) is laborious and must be done carefully so nothing is lost.
- Integrations — connecting to company systems: ERP/warehouse, wholesalers, accounting, couriers, marketing. Each integration is a project within the project.
- Product configurators — when the customer assembles a product from options (dimensions, materials, add-ons), that’s logic to design and build.
- Variants — extensive variants (sizes, colours, combinations, separate prices and stock) can significantly increase the work on the catalogue.
If your store has simple products and no integrations, it’ll be closer to the lower bound. If it has a complex catalogue and must „talk” to a warehouse or wholesaler — closer to the upper.
SaaS, WooCommerce or a custom build?
- SaaS (Shopify, Shoper) — the fastest start and lowest entry barrier, but you pay a subscription and fees, have less control and can hit the platform’s limits. Good for testing an idea or a simple catalogue.
- WooCommerce — our default for companies: full ownership, huge integration flexibility, standard technology (anyone can take it over), no sales commission. It needs maintenance but gives independence.
- Custom build (Laravel) — when the store has unusual logic, large scale or processes that off-the-shelf platforms won’t handle. The most expensive, but tailor-made.
The choice isn’t ideological — it depends on scale, budget and how much the store must be „yours”. We help make it during the quote.
Costs after launch
A store’s costs don’t end on launch day. There’s hosting (heavier than for a website — a store is more demanding), an SSL certificate, a domain, technical care (updates, backups, monitoring, payment security) and development. We break this down in „What does website maintenance really cost” — in a store these costs are higher, because the stakes (working sales) are higher too.
How we do it at Invisio
We start stores from 7,900 PLN net, most often on WooCommerce — with design, build, basic payments and shipping, and care after launch. For unusual processes — or at the client’s request — we reach for PrestaShop or a custom build on Laravel. We say upfront what drives the quote up — migrations, integrations, configurators and extensive variants are priced separately, so you know what you’re paying for.
Wondering which range your store falls into? Start with a free cost audit — we’ll analyse the scope and come back with a concrete answer, instead of another „it depends”.