Online store cost calculator - how much does e-commerce really cost

The budget for an online store is one of the most underestimated costs in a business plan. Companies plan for a modest build and end up spending four times as much - or vice versa: they overpay for features they never use.

The difference stems from one thing: e-commerce is not just a website with products. It's a platform, integrations with warehouse and couriers, payments, SEO, analytics and logistics - each of these elements has a price tag that you don't see in the first offer.

This calculator breaks down the budget into its first parts. Based on data from more than 50 e-commerce projects completed by Digital Vantage - from simple stores on SaaS platforms to complex headless B2B platforms with ERP integrations.

Online store cost calculator - how much does e-commerce really cost

E-commerce projects - 20 years on the market - ERP integrations, marketplace, payments - Own server infrastructure

Cost calculator

E-commerce Cost Calculator

E-commerce implementation cost estimate for your business

Where do these numbers come from?

E-commerce is one of the areas where the price range on the market is the largest. We have seen quotes for an online store that differed a hundredfold - and both could be fair, because they described completely different projects. The calculator helps to understand these differences, not hide them.

Data basis

The price ranges in the calculator are based on e-commerce projects implemented by Digital Vantage: B2C and B2B stores, multi-language platforms, migrations between platforms, and integrations with ERP and marketplace systems. The data is updated annually - technology prices and labor rates change faster than in other IT industries.

What the calculator takes into account

' Platform deployment and environment configuration
' UX/UI design (depending on the level selected).
' Implementation of selected integrations (payments, couriers, marketplace)
' Basic technical SEO configuration
' Testing and commissioning the project with documentation

What the calculator doesn't take into account

' Product imports - priced separately depending on the source of the data and its quality
' Copywriting of product and category descriptions
' Product photography
' Configuration of advertising campaigns (Google Ads, Meta).
' Migration of data from the old store (orders, customers, history)
' Dedicated ERP modules - each integration priced individually

⚠️ Margin of Accuracy

The calculator gives indicative ranges with a margin of +/-25%. E-commerce has a high coefficient of valuation volatility - our calculator prices a standard ERP integration at PLN 12,000, but a seemingly simple ERP system can cost a fraction of that or several times more, depending on the quality of the API and the number of business exceptions. Treat the result as a starting point for conversation.

Which platform is right for your store?

Choosing a platform is the most important decision in an e-commerce project. It determines the cost of implementation, the cost of maintenance, the possibility of development and, if you make a mistake, the cost of migration in 2 years.

Platform	When to choose	What to watch out for
SaaS store builder	Startup up to 12 months, a small launch budget (from PLN 5,000 in our calculator), catalog up to 500 SKUs, no specific technical requirements	Limited control over the code. Subscription costs increase with scale. Difficult to migrate when growing.
WooCommerce	You already have WordPress, need plugin flexibility, team knows PHP; implementation from PLN 15,000 in our calculator	Performance drops with a large directory without optimization. The cost of maintaining premium plugins can surprise you.
Shopify	Quick start on the international market, multi-currency sales; implementation from PLN 18,000 in our calculator	Commission on transactions if you don't use Shopify Payments. Limited checkout control on lower plans.
Headless / Next.js	Large catalog (1,000+ SKUs), B2B requirements, integrations with ERP, international plans; implementation from PLN 75,000 in our calculator	Most expensive to implement. Requires a mature technical team on the client side or an agency with headless experience.

💬 Digital Vantage expert commentary
The most common mistake we see: a company chooses an entry-level SaaS store builder because it's cheaper to start, outgrows the platform after a year and pays more for the migration than the savings. The rule of thumb is simple - if you have ambitious growth plans or B2B requirements, start with a platform that will carry those plans. E-commerce migration is one of the most expensive projects in the industry, because you are moving not only code, but customer data, orders, SEO and integrations.

What does your result mean?

The result of the calculator is the sum of one-time implementation and monthly maintenance cost. Both are equally important - a store that is cheap to launch but runs on a subscription with a high monthly fee can cost more after 3 years than a store with a higher build cost on its own server.

Budget tier	What you get	What to watch out for
Entry level	Store on a SaaS store builder with basic integrations of payments and couriers. Up to 200 SKUs, B2C standard.	Check the terms of subscription and sales commissions. Make sure that you can export product and customer data for possible migration.
Mid-market	WooCommerce or Shopify with custom design, integrations and a basic B2B module. Typical SME scope.	Ask about the cost of maintaining and updating plugins. WooCommerce with 20+ premium plugins adds a noticeable monthly licence bill - list every paid plugin and its renewal price.
Upper mid-market	Shopify Plus or WooCommerce with extensive ERP/marketplace integrations, custom UI, advanced SEO.	In this regard, data architecture is key. A poorly designed category and attribute structure is very expensive to fix later.
Enterprise	Headless or dedicated platform, B2B with per-customer pricing, full ERP integrations, multi-language, CDN.	Require phasing and a buffer budget (min. 15%). Projects of this scale regularly uncover undocumented requirements during implementation.

How much does the store really cost for 3 years?

The one-time cost of implementation is only part of the truth. An online store generates costs throughout its existence. Here's the full TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) picture for typical scenarios:

Position	SaaS platform	WooCommerce + VPS
Deployment (one time)	lower	higher
Platform subscription (per year)	monthly fee, grows with plan and scale	none (open source)
Hosting / server (per year)	by subscription	VPS, billed monthly
Premium plug-ins (per year)	no	annual licences
Technical care (annually)	minimum	ongoing retainer
Total cost after 3 years	comparable	comparable

^{The difference in TCO between platforms blurs after 2-3 years. The key question is not which one is cheaper to start with - but which one will bear your growth and how dependent you want to be on an outside provider.}

E-commerce projects - benchmarks

Benchmarks that help you assess whether your valuation is realistic.

Indicator	Value
Cost of a B2C store	Depends mainly on the platform and integrations - see the platform table above
Entry-level SaaS store in our calculator (no custom work)	from PLN 5,000
B2B module in our calculator (discounts, credit limits)	PLN 25,000 on top of the platform
Average lead time for a B2C store	6 - 12 weeks
The most common reason for exceeding the budget	Underestimation of ERP integration and data imports
The cost of migration between platforms	40 - 80% of the cost of the original implementation
Budget to reserve for the first 3 months after launch	10 - 15% of the implementation value

Three hidden costs that no one prices upfront

' Product import - with 500 SKUs from Excel is 2-4 days of work. With 5,000 SKUs from the wrong data source - it's a separate project in its own right.
' Certifications and compliance - GDPR, terms and conditions, return policy. A lawyer plus the implementation of marketing consent is a real cost that is not included in the agency's quote.
' The first 3 months after the launch - conversion optimization, UX fixes, live payment testing. Plan a service budget of 10-15% of the value of the implementation.