Starting an online store typically costs between $100 and $500 in the first month for platform and setup costs alone. A lean WooCommerce setup can launch for well under $100, while a Shopify or BigCommerce store with a paid theme and a couple of apps usually lands closer to $200 to $450 before inventory or marketing spend.
This breakdown covers real platform costs, not marketing copy. Every figure below is grounded in current published pricing rather than rough industry averages, so you can build a realistic number for your own situation instead of relying on a generic estimate.
If you haven’t picked a platform yet, our how to start an eCommerce store guide walks through that decision first, and our eCommerce vs. retail comparison covers how these costs stack up against opening a physical location.
Total Startup Cost by Platform
Here’s a realistic first-month budget on each major platform, covering platform fees and basic setup only:
| Platform | Monthly Plan Cost | Setup Extras | First-Month Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Starts at $39 | Theme, apps | $60-$260 |
| WooCommerce | Free plugin | Hosting, domain, extensions | $15-$80 |
| BigCommerce | Starts at $39 | Theme, apps | $60-$260 |
| Wix eCommerce | Starts at $29 | Minimal | $29-$50 |
| Squarespace | Starts at $36 | Minimal | $36-$60 |
These figures cover platform and setup costs only, based on each platform’s current published pricing. Per Wix’s pricing page, the Core plan includes no transaction fees through Wix Payments, and per Squarespace’s published rates, the same applies to its Commerce plans. Inventory, product photography, and initial marketing spend are separate line items covered later in this guide.
Shopify Costs Broken Down
According to Shopify’s official pricing page, the platform offers three core plans billed monthly, with annual billing reducing the effective rate by around 25%. The Basic tier is the entry point most beginners start on.
Beyond the subscription, most stores add a paid theme as a one-time purchase and at least one or two paid apps for email marketing, reviews, or upsells. Transaction fees apply unless you use Shopify’s own payment processor, which waives them.
A realistic first-month Shopify budget for a small store combines the base plan, an optional theme, and a couple of light app subscriptions, landing in the low hundreds of dollars before any inventory or ad spend. Most founders find that the subscription itself is rarely the deciding cost factor; the theme and app choices move the number around far more.
WooCommerce Costs Broken Down
According to WooCommerce’s official site, the core plugin itself carries no license fee, but it requires WordPress hosting to actually run. Hosting costs vary widely depending on whether you choose budget shared hosting or a premium managed WooCommerce host such as Kinsta or WP Engine, both of which publish their tiered pricing directly on their sites.
Add a domain registration, a free SSL certificate through most hosts, and a handful of extensions for payments or shipping, and the true first-year cost for a basic WooCommerce store still comes in well below a comparable Shopify setup. The trade-off is more hands-on technical management.
A realistic first-month WooCommerce budget for a bare-bones setup is the lowest of any major platform covered here, which is why it remains the default recommendation for tightly budgeted founders.
BigCommerce Costs Broken Down
BigCommerce mirrors Shopify’s pricing tiers closely, but with one structural difference worth knowing before you choose: according to BigCommerce’s pricing page, no plan charges a transaction fee, regardless of which payment gateway you use.
Each plan also carries an annual sales threshold that forces an upgrade once you exceed it. Data from BigCommerce’s own plan comparison page confirms this, a detail many comparison articles skip. For a small store, the realistic first-month cost mirrors Shopify’s, but you avoid the ongoing per-transaction fee Shopify charges outside of its own payment processor.
Cost by Business Model
Your business model changes your cost structure more than your platform choice does.
- Dropshipping: Lowest upfront cost since you don’t purchase inventory until a customer orders, but margins run thinner. Our how to start dropshipping guide covers the model-specific costs in detail.
- Print-on-demand: Similarly low upfront cost, with per-unit production cost built into each sale instead of bulk inventory purchase.
- Traditional B2C with held inventory: Requires the most upfront cash, since you’re purchasing stock before you’ve made a single sale, but typically carries better margins per unit once you do.
- Digital products: Often the cheapest model overall, since there’s no inventory or shipping cost at all, just platform fees and the cost of producing the product itself.
Hidden Costs Most Beginners Miss
The platform subscription is rarely the full story. These costs catch first-time founders off guard most often:
- Apps and plugins that add up monthly: A handful of small subscriptions stack quickly and are easy to lose track of
- Theme customization beyond the template: Custom design tweaks from a freelancer or agency add real cost if your needs go beyond what a template offers
- Product photography: Outsourced photography for a full catalog is a meaningful line item if you’re not shooting it yourself
- Payment processing fees on every sale: According to Stripe’s published processing rates, a typical card transaction carries a percentage fee plus a small fixed amount per transaction, which doesn’t show up as a fixed bill but adds up at volume
- Shipping and packaging: Often underestimated until the first batch of orders goes out; our guide on reducing shipping costs covers ways to control this once you’re live
- Email and SMS marketing tools: Free tiers exist, but most growing stores eventually pay for a paid plan once their contact list grows
How to Build Your Own Launch Budget
Rather than relying on generic averages, build a budget specific to your situation in four parts.
First, lock in your platform cost based on the plan tier you actually need, not the cheapest one if it lacks a feature you’ll need on day one.
Second, price out a theme and the two or three apps you truly can’t launch without, ignoring the dozens of optional extras platforms try to upsell during setup.
Third, get a real quote or estimate for your first inventory order, photography, and packaging, since these vary more by product than by platform.
Fourth, set aside a starting ad or marketing budget, even a modest one, since a store with zero promotion plan often sits with zero traffic for months.
Adding these four numbers together gives a far more accurate launch budget than any single average figure, including the ranges in this guide.
Write the four numbers down before you sign up for anything. It takes fifteen minutes and prevents the most common version of budget creep we see with new store owners: adding “just one more app” repeatedly until the monthly bill is double what was originally planned.
Year One Costs Beyond Launch
Launch-month costs are only part of the picture. Across a full first year, most stores also spend on ongoing app subscriptions, seasonal inventory restocking, paid advertising to sustain traffic once the initial launch buzz fades, and occasional design or development help as the store evolves.
None of these costs are unique to eCommerce, they’re simply easier to overlook when all of your attention is focused on getting the store live in the first place.
Founders who only budget for the launch month are often caught off guard by month three or four, once free trials expire and the first round of paid ads has run its course. Building a rough year-one budget, even a loose one, before you launch helps avoid this gap.
| Cost Category | Typical Range (Year One) |
|---|---|
| Platform subscription | $0-$1,260 (free WooCommerce to $105/month Shopify) |
| Apps and software | $0-$600 |
| Hosting (WooCommerce only) | $60-$840 |
| Inventory (varies by product) | $500-$10,000+ |
| Paid advertising | $500-$5,000+ |
| Photography and content | $0-$1,000 |
According to current platform pricing pages and typical small-business ad spend reported by marketing platforms, these ranges are intentionally wide because business type drives the actual number more than platform choice does.
A digital product seller might spend almost nothing on inventory or photography, while a physical goods brand will spend heavily in both categories regardless of platform.
How to Start Lean
If budget is tight, the lowest-realistic-cost path is a WooCommerce store on budget hosting, a free theme, and manual product photography using a phone camera and natural light. This can launch for a small fraction of what a fully-loaded Shopify setup costs.
If you’d rather trade a bit more monthly cost for less technical setup, a Shopify or BigCommerce Basic plan with a free theme and zero paid apps is the next-cheapest fully managed option. For setup-specific guidance once you’ve picked a platform, see our Shopify setup guide or WooCommerce setup guide.
Either path lets you validate demand before committing to bigger spend on inventory, paid ads, or premium apps. The goal in month one isn’t a perfect store, it’s a working one that lets you start learning from real customers instead of guessing from a spreadsheet.
Once you have a few weeks of real order data, you’ll have a far better sense of which costs are worth increasing and which were never necessary in the first place.
FAQ’s
Below are the questions we hear most often from founders trying to pin down a realistic launch number before they commit to a platform.
What is the cheapest way to start an online store?
A free WooCommerce plugin on budget hosting with a free theme is typically the cheapest path, often launching for well under $100 total in the first month.
Does Shopify have hidden fees?
According to Shopify’s published fee structure, the platform is transparent about its plan pricing, but transaction fees apply unless you use Shopify Payments, and most stores end up paying for at least one or two paid apps beyond the base subscription.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The core WooCommerce plugin carries no license fee, but you still need to pay for WordPress hosting, a domain, and likely some paid extensions. The realistic annual cost for a basic store stays well below a comparable Shopify setup.
How much should I budget for inventory when starting an online store?
This varies enormously by product category, from a small batch of handmade goods to a larger wholesale purchase. Dropshipping and print-on-demand models avoid this cost almost entirely since you only pay after a customer orders.
Do I need to pay for ads when I launch?
Not necessarily on day one, but most new stores need some paid traffic or an existing audience to generate early sales, since organic SEO traffic typically takes months to build. According to data from major ad platforms’ own small-business guidance, modest daily test budgets are usually enough to validate a product before scaling spend.
Which platform has the lowest total cost of ownership?
WooCommerce generally has the lowest total cost over time since there’s no mandatory subscription, but it requires more hands-on management. Shopify and BigCommerce cost more monthly but include hosting, security, and support in the price.
Should I budget separately for year one or just the launch month?
Both. Launch-month costs cover getting the store live, while year-one costs include ongoing app fees, restocking inventory, and sustained advertising once the initial launch traffic fades. Founders who only plan for launch month are often surprised by month three or four.