The Short Answer
E-commerce websites range from $29/month on Shopify to $50,000+ for a fully custom build. For a small to mid-size business, a professionally built custom e-commerce site typically costs $5,000 to $15,000.
Your Options
Shopify - $29 to $299/month
The dominant hosted platform. Handles payments, inventory, and shipping. Fast to launch, reliable, no developer needed for basic setups. Downsides: recurring platform fees forever, transaction fees on top of payment processing if you do not use Shopify Payments, limited customization, and you do not own the platform.
WooCommerce (WordPress)
Free software that turns WordPress into a store. More customizable than Shopify, no platform fees. Downsides: requires technical maintenance, poor performance without significant optimization, constant security attention needed.
Custom Build - $5,000 to $50,000+
Your store built from scratch for your specific business. No platform fees, no transaction fees beyond Stripe, no feature ceiling, you own everything. Makes sense when you have complex product variants, custom fulfillment workflows, subscriptions, or when Shopify fees over 3 years would exceed the build cost.
What Drives Cost
- Number of products and catalog complexity
- Subscription or complex billing rules
- Fulfillment integrations (Printful, ShipBob, custom warehouse)
- Real-time carrier rate shipping
- User accounts with order history and saved addresses
- Admin dashboard complexity
The ROI Math on Custom vs Shopify
Shopify at $79/month = $948/year in platform fees. At $5,000 in annual Shopify fees, a custom build pays for itself in 2 to 3 years - and custom Next.js stores load 2 to 3x faster than Shopify, which directly improves SEO rankings and conversion rates.
Vaylo Studios builds custom e-commerce stores starting at $5,000. Every store includes Stripe checkout, inventory management, order tracking, and an admin dashboard.
