WooCommerce pricing: How much does a WooCommerce store cost?

Setting up a WooCommerce store can cost anywhere from $50 for a basic setup to several thousand dollars per year for larger stores. These expenses come from essentials like hosting, domain registration, premium themes, and plugins or extensions that add functionality to your store.

The total ultimately depends on the size of your store and your specific business needs.

Cost componentPrice range (annual)
Hosting$3-500
Domain registration$10-20
Premium themes$2-500
Plugins and extensions$2-1,000+

The good news is that the WooCommerce plugin itself is completely free. The costs come from the tools and services needed to run a fully functional and professional online store.

How much does WooCommerce website development cost?

The cost of developing a WooCommerce website depends largely on the scale of your store. A small-scale store with a few products and basic features can typically be set up for $75 to $920/year. A mid-sized store with more products, additional plugins, and customizations may cost $1,420 to $6,550/year. For a large-scale store with hundreds of products, advanced functionality, and extensive integrations, the cost can range from $6,450 to $30,700/year.

Let’s break down those costs so you have a better idea of what to expect.

WooCommerce pricing for a small-scale store

This type of store typically has around ten products, a small number of pages, and low traffic. For a small-scale WooCommerce store like this, the total estimated cost ranges from $75 to $920/year.

Here’s the cost estimation for building a small-scale WooCommerce store with basic functionality.

Cost factorDescriptionEstimated cost
Hosting serviceShared hosting for basic WooCommerce stores$3-25/month
Domain nameAnnual registration fees for one domain$0-20/first year
Premium themesFree or basic premium themes$2-50/year
Premium pluginsEssential plugins for basic functionality$2-200/year
Payment gateway feesIn-person transactions with cash and local payment methods0% to 3% per transaction
SecuritySecurity plugins with core features and basic SSL$0-100/year
Website developmentDIY using page builder plugins$0-350
Website maintenanceSelf-maintenanceFree (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated CostExcluding transaction and renewal fees$40-1,020/year

Cost-saving tips

Instead of choosing a basic shared hosting plan with limited resources and features, consider WooCommerce hosting. This type of hosting offers optimized performance, security, and support specifically designed for WooCommerce stores at a similar price.

For small businesses, Hostinger’s WooCommerce website hosting plans offer excellent value for money.

In addition to free domain registration and email, this hosting service allocate resources for up to 100 websites and 200,000 monthly visits. Starting at $3.79/month, it gives your ecommerce store plenty of room to grow.

Also, consider starting with free themes and plugins to keep your initial costs low. While free options may have fewer features than paid ones, they still provide the essentials for launching your new store.

This approach helps save your budget for other important areas like security and marketing. As your business grows and your needs expand, you can gradually invest in premium or custom solutions.

WooCommerce pricing for a mid-sized store

This type of store usually offers a larger product range, has more pages, and handles moderate traffic levels. You can set up a mid-sized WooCommerce store for $1,420-6,550 annually.

The following table estimates the cost of setting up a mid-sized WooCommerce store.

Cost factorDescriptionEstimated cost
Hosting serviceVPS or cloud hosting for advanced WooCommerce stores$10-200/month
Domain nameAnnual registration fees for 3-10 domains$10-200/first year
Premium themesPremium themes with advanced customization options$50-150/year
Premium pluginsAdvanced plugins for additional functionality$200-500/year
Payment gateway feesLocal and international payment methods2% to 3% per transaction
SecurityAdvanced security plugins and multi-domain SSL certificates$100-400/year
Website developmentPage builder combined with developer assistance$500-2,000
Website maintenanceProfessional maintenance services$50-150/month (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated CostExcluding transaction and renewal fees$1,420-6,550/year

Cost-saving tips

Both VPS and cloud hosting services are popular among many mid-sized ecommerce sites. However, cloud hosting is a better option for non-technical business owners as the web host handles server and website maintenance.

Hostinger offers two cloud hosting plans optimized for WooCommerce stores: Startup ($7.99/month) and Professional ($15.99/month). Both plans can support up to 100 websites, but the Professional plan provides more resources to handle up to 300,000 monthly visits— 100,000 more than the Startup plan.

Reduce your WooCommerce cost even more by purchasing Hostinger’s domain bundle to secure your website name with popular extensions. Our automatic domain renewal makes sure you don’t lose ownership of your domains due to human error.

WooCommerce pricing for a large-scale store

Large-scale WooCommerce stores typically feature hundreds of products, many pages, and high traffic. They often require advanced features, custom integrations, and strong security, which makes the estimated cost $6,450 to $30,700/year.

Here’s the cost breakdown for building a large-scale WooCommerce store.

Cost factorDescriptionEstimated cost
Hosting serviceVPS or dedicated hosting for high-traffic WooCommerce stores$20-500/month
Domain nameAnnual registration fees for 12-25 domains$250-1,500/first year
Premium themesCustom-built themes$200-500
Premium pluginsSpecialized plugins for advanced functionality$500-1,000+/year
Payment gateway feesInternational payment methods2% to 3% + additional fees per transaction
SecurityComprehensive security solutions and multi-domain SSL certificates$300-1,100/year
Website developmentCustom development by developers$2,000-10,000
Website maintenanceFull maintenance services$400-1,500/month (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated CostExcluding transaction and renewal fees$6,450-30,700/year

Cost-saving tips

For large-scale WooCommerce stores that have outgrown cloud hosting, Hostinger offers VPS hosting with more server resources to handle high traffic. This hosting type provides an outstanding cost, performance, and control balance compared to dedicated hosting.

Our VPS hosting plans are self-managed and include Hostinger’s AI assistant, Kodee, to streamline maintenance and troubleshooting. Ranging from $4.99 to $19.99/month, you also receive free automatic backups and snapshots for quick restoration, VPS templates for WordPress and other software installations, and advanced security measures.

By selecting a data center near your target audience from multiple global locations, your online store can deliver content faster, ensuring a better customer experience.

WooCommerce cost factors

The cost of a WooCommerce store depends on several factors: hosting, domain name, themes, plugins, payment gateway fees, security, development, and ongoing maintenance. Not every store will incur all of these costs; it depends on the type and size of the website.

Hosting service

Web hosting costs vary depending on the provider, type, and features offered. Shared hosting, the most cost-effective option for small to medium WooCommerce stores, typically costs $3-25/month. Cloud hosting, which provides high uptime and scalability, is better suited for websites expecting high traffic and ranges from $10-$200/month.

Hosting stores your website’s files and provides essential resources like storage, bandwidth, CPU, and RAM, keeping your WooCommerce store running smoothly even during peak hours. Cloud hosting ensures consistent performance and easy scalability as your store grows.

If you’re new to building websites, Hostinger’s WooCommerce hosting, recommended by WordPress.org, makes setup easier and less stressful.

For $3.79–$15.99/month, our plans include features to help you launch and manage your store efficiently:

  • One-click WooCommerce setup. Set up your new online store confidently, thanks to our user-friendly AI-powered onboarding process. Our AI website builder for WordPress can handle layout, design, and content so you don’t have to start from scratch.
  • Free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Encrypt customer data and comply with PCI DSS standards to keep credit card information safe during transactions.
  • Free email. Build customer trust and expand your reach with email marketing. Easily integrate with the Hostinger Reach email platform using the Reach plugin and sync subscribers from your website in real time.
  • Free content delivery network (CDN). Deliver your website content faster worldwide with our in-house content delivery network, improving performance without third-party services.
  • Smart WordPress auto-updates. We keep your website running on the latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions for optimal performance and security.
  • Daily and on-demand backups. Protect your data and simplify the recovery process for your website when technical problems occur.
  • Enhanced security measures. Includes DDoS protection, a firewall, a malware scanner, and secure access manager.
  • 24/7 support. Our Customer Success Team is available at any time via live chat and email.

Purchasing any WooCommerce hosting plan for a 48-month term gives you three extra months, saving you more than 70%. You can always upgrade as your store grows. Every plan also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try all features risk-free.

Domain name

The average domain name costs around $10-20/year, while premium domains can be significantly more expensive. A domain is the address of your website on the Internet, like yourstore.com, and is essential if you want to create an online store with WordPress. It helps customers find your site, improves brand credibility, and makes your business more memorable.

To further safeguard your brand and increase visibility, consider securing multiple versions of your website address in different top-level domains (TLDs), such as .com, .net, .org, or country-specific domains like .co.uk or .com.au. This way, customers can find your store even if they type a different extension and prevents competitors from registering similar domains, which can hurt your brand and SEO.

Hostinger makes it easy to secure your domains. When you purchase an annual WooCommerce hosting plan, you can claim a free domain for the first year. Alternatively, look up the name you want with our domain finder and opt for a bundle of three popular TLDs to save costs while protecting your brand.

Don’t forget to renew your domain annually to avoid disruptions to your store and email, and to prevent someone else from taking your address.

Premium themes

Premium WooCommerce themes typically cost $2-200/year, depending on features, customization options, and the developer’s reputation. Fully custom themes with tailored designs and advanced functionality can be even more expensive.

Choosing the right WooCommerce theme is crucial, as it determines your store’s look, navigation, and overall style. It helps create a professional impression and improve the customer experience.

While there are many free themes available, paid themes offer significant benefits. They tend to include pre-built checkout pages, enhanced ecommerce functionality, extensive customization options, and dedicated support. Premium themes are also regularly updated to stay compatible with the latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions and to address potential security vulnerabilities.

Let’s compare two of the best WooCommerce themes to give you a better idea: Botiga and Artemis.

Botiga offers a yearly subscription at $63/year or a one-time lifetime payment of $199. Features such as multiple website usage or additional tools may increase the price. Meanwhile, Artemis provides two license options: a regular license for $59/website for personal projects, with extended support for an additional $17, or an extended license for developers to use in commercial projects priced at $3,550.

Premium plugins

Premium plugins can range in cost from as little as $2 to around $1,000/year. Pricing options vary from one-time fees to monthly or annual subscriptions. The total cost depends on how many plugins you use; most stores install between five and 30.

Plugins add functionality to your WooCommerce store, helping with tasks like managing inventory, processing payments, and improving SEO. WordPress and WooCommerce provide an extensive library of free and paid plugins and extensions to scale your website. Free plugins offer basic functionality, while premium ones include extra tools, regular updates, and technical support.

See our picks for the best WooCommerce plugins to assess features for your online store and budget your expenses.

Payment gateway fees

Payment gateways usually charge 2% to 3% of each transaction plus a small fixed fee. Transaction fees can vary based on your chosen gateway and your sales volume. Some gateways offer discounted rates for businesses with high sales, while others have plans tailored to your needs.

Let’s look at two of the most popular WooCommerce payment gateways to give you an idea. PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per local transaction for U.S.-issued cards. Meanwhile, Square uses a subscription system and reduces the fees to 2.6% + $0.30 per online transaction for users on its highest-tier plan.

Online stores that accept credit cards, debit cards, or digital wallet payments must cover transaction fees, which are the costs associated with securely processing these payments.

Security

The cost of securing your WooCommerce store can range from $8 to $2,400 per year based on your preferred level of protection. This covers SSL certificates, security plugins, and website backups.

Although WordPress and WooCommerce include built-in security features, these may not be sufficient to protect against all online threats, such as hacking and data breaches. So, it’s worth investing in these critical areas for better WordPress security.

SSL certificates

Some SSL certificates with more advanced validation and features can range from $8 to $1,000/year. However, many hosting providers bundle SSL certificates with their hosting plans.

With Hostinger, you automatically receive unlimited free SSL certificates for all your domains and subdomains when purchasing any WooCommerce hosting plans.

An SSL certificate confirms that your website is authentic and encrypts any data shared between you and your visitors, such as passwords or payment information. Check out our guide for a complete breakdown of SSL certificate prices.

WordPress security plugins

Popular WordPress security plugins like Wordfence and Sucuri often offer free and premium versions, with the latter costing between $10 and over $1,000/year.

Security plugins add features such as firewall protection, login monitoring, and regular security scans to protect your online store from malware, brute force attacks, and unauthorized access. 

Some plugins have additional security functions that affect pricing, such as maintenance mode, which restricts access during updates, automatic fixes for common issues, and scheduled scans.

Website backups

WordPress backup and migration plugins like UpdraftPlus and Solid Backups cost $99 to $400/year. However, just like SSL certificates, many hosting providers include this service in their plans.

Hostinger provides free backups on all hosting plans, with backup frequency varying from weekly to daily and on-demand based on the plan.

Website backups safeguard your WooCommerce store against data loss caused by hacking, server failures, or accidental removal. Regular backups let you restore your site quickly, preventing potential traffic and sales loss from prolonged downtime.

Website development

Website development costs can range from $20 to $350/year if you use plugins, or reach hundreds to thousands of dollars if you hire a web developer. These costs cover creating and customizing your WooCommerce store’s design, functionality, and overall user experience.

Using page builder plugins

Many page builder plugins have free versions, but premium features are available through paid plans ranging from $20 to $350/year. Some plugins also offer one-time purchase options.

Popular WordPress page builder plugins like SeedProd and WPBakery offer drag-and-drop functionality, templates, and widgets for customizing themes and creating pages without writing a single line of code. They allow users of all skill levels to modify the look of their WooCommerce store, making them ideal for a do-it-yourself approach.

One of the key advantages of using open-source software like WordPress is access to its source code, allowing advanced customization for those who know how to code. At the same time, even if you’re not tech-savvy, page builder plugins and custom WooCommerce themes let you design a unique, professional-looking store without touching any code.

Hiring a WordPress developer

Building a small to medium-sized WooCommerce store with a custom design can take several days or even weeks. With the average rate for a WordPress developer in the U.S. around $41/hour, you should budget $1,000-5,000/project.

Location, skill set, and experience determines developer rates. As Chris Lema, the creator of the WooCommerce store project calculator, notes, “There will be lower estimates and higher ones, because every developer, freelancer, and agency is different”.

Hiring a WordPress developer costs more than using third-party tools, but it gives you a custom solution tailored specifically to your store’s needs, with design and functionality you won’t get with plugins or pre-built themes.

Website maintenance

Professional website maintenance services can manage your WooCommerce store for $50–$1,500 per month, covering tasks like software and plugin updates, backups, performance optimization, SEO, and security monitoring.

If you opt for managed hosting, many of these tasks are handled automatically by your host, so you don’t need to hire separate maintenance services.

For example, Hostinger offers a Smart WordPress auto updates feature, which monitors your WordPress core, plugins, and themes for changes and allows you to roll back to a specific version using backups – all without accessing the WordPress dashboard.

Hostinger also provides the AI Troubleshooter, which automatically detects and fixes critical website errors. This tool is perfect for users without technical expertise, saving both time and money.

To optimize your store for search engines, the WordPress AI Content Creator helps you create SEO-friendly content for landing pages, product pages, and blog posts, while suggesting relevant images to enhance your content.

Extra features like the WordPress compatibility checker and vulnerability scanner are included on all WooCommerce hosting plans, minimizing technical issues that could disrupt your business.

For custom-built websites, hiring a professional is usually recommended. Unique features and custom code often require an expert for updates and fixes, helping business owners focus on growing their store. However, professional services can be expensive, so consider your store’s complexity and budget when deciding.

Tips to control WooCommerce cost

Follow our tips to reduce your WooCommerce costs and maximize your investment:

  • Choose a hosting provider that offers a free domain with its plans. With Hostinger, you can save on domain registration fees for the first year and easily manage both your hosting and domain services in one place.
  • Use free WooCommerce extensions. Explore free trials before committing to paid plugins.
  • Consolidate plugins. Consider all-in-one solutions to avoid investing in numerous plugins, which can slow your website down. For example, JetPack provides security tools, performance optimization, and backup features, saving you from installing additional plugins for those tasks.
  • Look for alternative TLDs. If you have a limited budget for domain names, explore various combinations of keywords and domain extensions to reduce costs. Choosing less common TLDs can often be a more cost-effective option.
  • Plan your purchases around major shopping events. Many companies offer significant discounts on web services during major sales events like Black Friday and New Year.
  • Regularly review subscriptions. Cancel subscriptions you no longer need or use to avoid paying for unused services.
  • Start with free themes. As your business grows and its needs expand, you can invest in paid or custom-built themes.

Can you build a WooCommerce store yourself?

Of course. With the right tools, you can build a WooCommerce store yourself, even if you’re not a developer.

Start by installing WordPress on your hosting account. Most hosting providers, including Hostinger, offer one-click WordPress installation. Once WordPress is ready, install the WooCommerce plugin and run the setup wizard. This will guide you through basic settings like store location, currency, and preferred payment methods.

After that, set up payment gateways, configure shipping, and add your products to create your catalog. Finally, customize your store’s design with a WooCommerce-compatible theme and install essential plugins to add all the functions your store needs.

Here are several recommended readings to help you build your WooCommerce store:

All of the tutorial content on this website is subject to Hostinger's rigorous editorial standards and values.

Author
The author

Jordana Alexandrea

Jordana is a Senior Content Writer at Hostinger with a background in Information Systems. She has over five years of experience in WordPress and is casually dabbling with PHP and MySQL. Her passion for writing and technology drives her to create tutorials for anyone wanting to build their online presence. Follow her on LinkedIn.

Author
The Co-author

Marco Chiesi

Marco Chiesi is the Head of WordPress at Hostinger, with over 20 years of experience as a software engineer in the web industry. He specializes in open-source technologies and the WordPress ecosystem, where he has contributed in different areas: Plugin Developer (with over 10 million downloads), WordCamp speaker and organizer, Meetup organizer, Translator, and Core Contributor. He is passionate about leading his team to create innovative solutions for Hostinger's web hosting product, which hosts over 5 million WordPress installations. Follow him on LinkedIn.