How much does an online store cost in 2026? Real figures
3 min read Updated July 29, 2026
“How much does an online store cost?” — as with any quote, the honest answer starts with “it depends”. But since “it depends” doesn’t help you plan a budget, below you’ll find concrete ranges, the running costs few people mention up front, and a few pitfalls that push the price up after the fact.
In short: a small online store built with a Polish studio in 2026 costs around €700–1,900 net, a store with integrations (BaseLinker, Allegro, couriers, invoicing) €2,000–4,500, and a custom e-commerce platform starts from about €4,500. On top of that come monthly costs: hosting, payment fees and technical care.
What drives the price of a store
- The number and unusualness of features. A catalog, cart, payments and shipping are standard. Product configurators, variants with separate stock levels, wholesale prices for B2B — every one of those adds hours of work.
- Integrations. A store that issues its own invoices, syncs stock with BaseLinker and prints courier labels saves hours of work every day — but every connection to an external system has to be built and tested.
- Design. An adapted template is cheap; a design built from scratch for your brand costs more and makes sense when the look genuinely sells (fashion, interiors, cosmetics).
- Product count and migration. Moving 50 products takes hours; moving several thousand with variants, descriptions and order history is a real sub-project.
Realistic price ranges — concrete figures
| Store type | What it covers | Indicative cost (net) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small store | catalog, cart, online payments, shipping setup | €700 – 1,900 | 3–6 weeks |
| Store with integrations | + BaseLinker, Allegro, courier APIs, automatic invoicing | €2,000 – 4,500 | 4–8 weeks |
| Custom e-commerce platform | non-standard sales process, B2B, large scale | from €4,500 | from 2 months |
These are orders of magnitude — a concrete figure can only be given once the scope is agreed. Be wary of “store for €250” offers: they usually cover nothing beyond installing a template.
Costs to remember after launch
Unlike a brochure site, a store has ongoing operating costs:
- Hosting: €10–70 per month at small to mid scale.
- Payment fees: providers (ING Pay, Przelewy24, Stripe) typically charge around 1–2% per transaction.
- Domain and certificate: from about €15 to over €50 a year depending on the registrar (SSL is usually included with hosting).
- Technical care: updates, backups, small changes — billed per task or as a fixed monthly plan.
If you’re considering a subscription platform (SaaS), compare fairly: there you pay a fixed subscription plus often a commission on sales, and non-standard features can be impossible to add.
When to start with a small store
For exactly the same reasons that a web application is best started as an MVP: first the smallest version that actually sells, then expansion based on data. A small store for a few hundred euros that goes live in a month will tell you more about your market than three months of planning the perfect platform.
Summary
The price of a store follows from its scope: a small store is €700–1,900, integrations raise the budget to €2,000–4,500, and a custom platform starts from €4,500. Add the monthly costs on top — hosting and payment fees. The scope is best set so the store starts selling quickly and further development is funded by sales.
Want to know what your store would cost? See how we build online stores, or tell us about your product range right away — we’ll come back with a concrete proposal within 1 business day.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small online store cost?
A small store with a product catalog, online payments and shipping setup typically runs €700–1,900 net with a Polish studio. The price depends mainly on the number of non-standard features and on whether the design is created from scratch.
How much do integrations with BaseLinker, Allegro or couriers cost?
A store with a package of sales integrations (BaseLinker, Allegro, courier APIs, automatic invoicing) is typically €2,000–4,500 net in total. A single integration added to an existing store usually costs from around a hundred euros to several hundred or more, depending on the API.
What are the monthly costs of running an online store?
Plan for hosting (€10–70/month), payment provider fees (roughly 1–2% of the transaction value), a domain (€15–60/year depending on the registrar) and optional technical care. Your own store, on the other hand, has no platform subscription — which on SaaS can grow along with your sales.
Which is better: a subscription store (SaaS) or your own store?
A subscription (for example, an off-the-shelf store platform) is good for a quick start and testing the market. Your own store pays off once sales grow, you need non-standard features, or the platform's fees and limits start to pinch. Migrating later is possible — but a good decision at the start is cheaper.
How long does it take to build an online store?
We usually launch a small store in 3–6 weeks and a store with integrations in 4–8 weeks. The most common bottleneck is product content and photos — it's worth preparing them in parallel with the build.