Online shop costs at a glance
The cost of an online shop varies dramatically — from a Shopify starter setup to a custom headless commerce solution. The decisive factor is not the price tag, but the total cost of ownership over several years.
The ongoing costs are easy to underestimate: transaction fees, app subscriptions, agency fees for changes, and hosting add up quickly. We show you the full picture.
Benchmark: a professional online shop with custom design and checkout starts at 8,900–25,000 € upfront. Shopify setups start cheaper, but ongoing costs grow with revenue.
Costs by platform: Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Headless
Shopify (monthly subscription, no setup fee)
- Several plans with monthly or annual billing
- Prices and transaction fees per plan: see the Shopify pricing page
On top of that: app subscriptions, theme, and agency fees for setup and customizing.
WooCommerce
- Plugin free, but ongoing costs for hosting, premium plugins, and maintenance and updates
- Agency fees for custom work: expensive due to WordPress complexity
Headless Commerce with Next.js
- Upfront: 8,900–25,000 € (one-off)
- Hosting: 50–200 €/month
- No shop-platform transaction fees
- Minimal maintenance thanks to a modern stack
All cost factors in detail
Design & UX
Professional shop design with product pages, cart, and checkout optimization: 2,000–8,000 € one-off.
Product management & CMS
An intuitive backend for products, pricing, and inventory: 1,000–3,000 € in development.
Payment integration
Stripe, PayPal, Klarna: 500–2,000 € setup, depending on the number of providers and complexity of the payment flows.
Logistics & shipping
Carrier integration (DHL, DPD), shipping calculation, and tracking integration: 1,000–3,000 €.
SEO & analytics
Product schema, sitemap, Google Shopping feed, and GDPR-compliant analytics: should be included in the build.
Tip: always calculate the total cost of ownership over 3 years. Shopify looks cheaper, but transaction fees grow with revenue — plus subscription, apps, and agency fees.
Ongoing costs after launch
Hosting
Shopify is managed hosting included. Headless needs its own hosting: from 5 €/month on Hetzner Cloud (GDPR-compliant, German servers) — significantly cheaper than US cloud providers.
Transaction fees
With Shopify without Shopify Payments, a fee applies per transaction; the rate depends on the plan (Shopify pricing page). Sounds small, but it adds up with revenue.
Payment provider fees
Regardless of platform, Stripe, PayPal, or Klarna fees apply — a percentage plus a per-transaction amount, according to the providers' price lists.
Maintenance and updates
Minimal with Shopify (managed). High with WooCommerce (plugins). Low with headless (no plugin overhead).
Marketing and SEO
Not directly a shop development topic, but tightly linked. A technically clean shop is the foundation for Google Shopping, SEO, and performance marketing.
When does a professional shop pay off?
Whether an investment in a headless commerce shop pays off depends mainly on two items:
1. Transaction fees: without Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a per-transaction fee depending on the plan; with headless there is none. The higher your revenue, the bigger the difference.
2. Agency costs: custom work on headless systems costs less than complex Shopify customizing projects with Liquid templates.
Bottom line: run both items with your own revenue figures over three years.
Verified quality. GDPR-compliant. Made in Germany.
- ISO 9001
- Made in Germany
- GDPR-compliant
- EU hosting
- DPA included
- Verified performance
Frequently Asked Questions
The cheapest real online shop: Shopify on its smallest plan with a free theme. Upfront cost is practically zero, but: a transaction fee with third-party payments, limited customizing, and US data storage. Fine for market validation, but not a long-term foundation as revenue grows.
There is no fixed revenue threshold. Shopify charges a subscription depending on the plan and — without Shopify Payments — transaction fees (Shopify pricing page), plus app subscriptions. A headless shop costs 8,900–15,000 € upfront but has almost no ongoing platform costs. We calculate the total cost over three years with your figures.
The most common hidden costs: Shopify transaction fees (often underestimated), app subscriptions for features that are built in on headless, agency fees for Shopify customizing with Liquid templates (more expensive than expected), image optimization apps, tax calculation plugins, and email marketing integrations. Before project start we always produce a full TCO overview.
That depends on your shop's margin, traffic and running costs; a blanket timeframe cannot be given in good faith. The full cost overview before the project starts is the basis for estimating it with your own figures.
Shopify: intuitive admin UI, no developer needed for product maintenance. WooCommerce: similar, but slower and more error-prone. Headless with Payload CMS: tailored admin UI, CSV bulk import, API integration with ERP for automatic updates. For large catalogs (500+ products), ERP integration is the decisive cost factor.
Regardless of platform, gateway fees apply — at Stripe, PayPal, and Klarna a percentage plus a per-transaction amount, according to the providers' price lists. These costs apply on every platform. With Shopify, without Shopify Payments, the platform transaction fees come on top — with headless they do not.
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