How much an eCommerce site costs in 2026, item by item

Ask how much an eCommerce site costs and you usually get "it depends", or a number with no explanation. In this article we go through the items one by one, with the prices we have published and three shops we have built. An eCommerce site with us starts at €699, paid once. Below is what that figure covers and what makes it go up.

If you already have the shop in mind, message us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034 with what you sell and how many products you have. We reply within one working day.

What a €699 eCommerce site includes

The starting price covers a complete shop, with a catalogue of normal size and content that is ready. It includes:

• a design built on your brand, from the home page to checkout;
• the catalogue with product pages, variants, categories and search;
• payments by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, plus bank transfer or cash on delivery if you want them;
• shipping calculated by zone, by weight or with a free-shipping threshold;
• technical SEO: page structure, speed, data for search engines;
• a training session on managing products, orders and discounts from the admin panel.

The code, the data and the customers are yours. If you change supplier one day, the shop goes with you.

What makes the quote go up

The price goes up for four reasons. We clear them up on the first call, before we write the quote.

The catalogue. Thirty products and three thousand products are two different jobs. If the products come from a tidy file, loading them is quick. If they have to be entered by hand one at a time, it takes longer.

Integrations. If you already use business software or a stock program, the shop can read stock and orders from it. Each connection has to be designed and tested, and has its own cost.

How you sell. Selling to consumers and selling to retailers follow different rules. B2B needs per-customer price lists, minimum quantities and quick reordering.

Photos and text. If the product photos and descriptions don't exist yet, they have to be made. We can take care of it as a separate item.

Then there are running costs: hosting and domain. You pay them directly to the provider, a few tens of euros a year, with no mark-up from us.

Three shops, three scopes

Il Sole del Sud makes artisan preserves in Sicily. The shop splits the catalogue into the four product lines of the house, flags gluten-free products and runs in Italian and English. It ships with SDA in Italy and Crono across Europe, with free shipping above a spending threshold. Compared with a basic shop, the extra work is in European shipping and the second language.

Propell is a company in Catania that sells leather goods and accessories to shops. Its eCommerce site runs on PrestaShop with a custom theme. Retailers find the products they usually order and repeat the order in a few minutes. Here the cost is in the wholesale logic.

Olma di Longhitano sells gardening supplies in Catania and has been online since 2022, on PrestaShop. In 2025 the company changed its brand. We redid the shop's design and features without taking it offline for a single day. A rebuild like this is quoted separately, because the work happens on a shop that sells every day.

The three-year sums with Shopify

Shopify is the first alternative people look at when they open an online shop. It works and it is quick to start. To compare it with a shop you own, you have to look at three years, not the first month.

On the Italian price list of July 2026 the Basic plan costs €27 a month, or €19 a month if you pay for the full year. Over three years that is €684 to €972 in subscription fees alone. On top of that come paid apps for features the plan doesn't include and, if the free theme isn't enough, a premium theme.

Then there are transactions. On the Basic plan each online payment costs 1.9% plus €0.25. An example with round numbers: €20,000 of sales in a year, with an average order of €40, is 500 orders. The cost is €380 in percentage plus €125 in fixed fees, so €505 a year.

A shop you own also pays the payment provider. Stripe and PayPal have their own rates, published on their websites. To us, though, you pay no subscription and no percentage on sales. The comparison to make is between €699 plus hosting, paid once, and a fee that lasts as long as the shop stays open.

Shopify makes sense if you need to launch in a few days, have a small catalogue and are happy with a template. If that is your case, we tell you on the first call.

What an eCommerce quote should state in writing

Before you sign, check that the quote answers these questions:

• how many products are included and who loads them;
• which payment methods and which couriers are set up;
• how many languages the shop has;
• whose name the domain, the code and the customer data are in;
• what it costs every year after delivery, item by item.

Our quote is fixed and arrives in writing after the first call. It doesn't change while we work. The starting price, what it includes and the full comparison with Shopify and Wix are on the eCommerce development page.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an eCommerce site cost per month after delivery?

You owe us nothing mandatory. Hosting and domain remain, paid to the provider, plus the payment provider's rates. Ongoing support, if you want it, is a separate contract.

Can I start with a few products and grow later?

Yes. You start with the catalogue you have today. Products, languages and integrations are added when you need them, and the work already done stays.

Can the quote change during the work?

No. We write it after the first call, with the scope defined. If you need a new feature halfway through, we quote it separately before building it.

Ask for a quote for your shop

Send us three things: what you sell, how many products you have and where you ship. Message us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034 or use the contact form. We reply within one working day and, after a call, you get a fixed quote in writing.