Ecommerce Website Development Cost in India (2026): Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Custom
What it really costs to build and run an online store in India in 2026: build prices for Shopify, WooCommerce and custom stores, Shopify's plan fees, monthly running costs at real sales volumes, and the questions to ask before you sign.
In this article
- How much does an ecommerce website cost in India?
- Shopify website cost in India
- WooCommerce development cost in India
- Custom ecommerce development cost
- Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom: side by side
- Monthly running costs after launch
- What moves the price up or down
- Checklist: questions to ask before you accept an ecommerce quote
- How Nexgeno scopes an ecommerce build
- Frequently asked questions
Quick answer
Ecommerce website development cost in India in 2026 runs from ₹60,000 to ₹1.5 lakh for a lean Shopify launch, ₹1.5 to ₹4 lakh for a customised Shopify or WooCommerce store, and ₹4 to ₹8 lakh or more for a custom build. Budget another ₹8,000 to ₹40,000 a month for platform, apps, payment fees and upkeep.
Key takeaways
- The build is a one-time cost. Platform fees, apps and payment charges repeat every month and usually overtake the build cost within two years.
- Shopify is the fastest route to a working store. WooCommerce is cheapest to run at volume. Custom is for stores whose logic no platform handles.
- On an external gateway, Shopify's Grow plan pays for itself over Basic at about ₹4.1 lakh in monthly sales.
- Product data is the most underestimated line item: photos, descriptions, variants and GST details.
- Compare quotes on the same written scope, and ask who owns the store, the theme code and the domain.
How much does an ecommerce website cost in India?
There is no single price because "an online store" can mean a 20-product Shopify theme or a multi-vendor marketplace with its own app. Your online store cost depends on which of five bands the project falls into. These are typical 2026 ranges from Indian metro agencies, excluding 18% GST.
| Store type | Build cost | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean Shopify launch (stock theme, under 50 products) | ₹60,000 to ₹1,50,000 | 2 to 4 weeks | New D2C brands testing a product line |
| Customised Shopify store (premium theme, up to 500 SKUs) | ₹1,50,000 to ₹4,00,000 | 5 to 8 weeks | Growing brands that need a distinct look and integrations |
| WooCommerce store (WordPress, up to 500 SKUs) | ₹1,20,000 to ₹3,50,000 | 5 to 8 weeks | Content-led brands and stores that want full control |
| Custom or headless store (Magento, Next.js, B2B pricing) | ₹4,00,000 to ₹8,00,000+ | 10 to 16 weeks | Large catalogues, dealer logins, ERP sync |
| Marketplace or multi-vendor platform | ₹8,00,000 to ₹25,00,000+ | 4 to 8 months | Platforms with sellers, commissions and payouts |
Ranges are market estimates for budgeting, not a Nexgeno rate card. For a general business site, see our guide to website cost in Mumbai. For a scoped figure, talk to our ecommerce website development team.
Shopify website cost in India
Shopify has two costs: the agency's build fee and Shopify's own subscription. The subscription prices below are from Shopify India's published plans in November 2026.
| Plan | Price per month | Third-party payment fee | Staff accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ₹1,994 monthly or ₹1,499 billed yearly | 2% | Owner only |
| Grow | ₹7,447 monthly or ₹5,599 billed yearly | 1% | Up to 5 |
| Advanced | ₹30,164 monthly or ₹22,680 billed yearly | 0.6% | Up to 15 |
| Plus | From ₹1,75,000 | 0.2% | Unlimited |
The line most owners miss is the third-party payment fee. When you collect payments through an external gateway such as Razorpay or PayU, Shopify charges its own percentage on top of what the gateway charges. On Basic that is 2% of every order.
When should you upgrade your Shopify plan?
You can work out the break-even from the published prices. The Grow plan costs ₹4,100 a month more than Basic on yearly billing and cuts the third-party fee by one percentage point. So Grow pays for itself once your store sells about ₹4.1 lakh a month. Advanced costs ₹17,081 more than Grow and saves a further 0.4 points, so it breaks even on fees alone at about ₹43 lakh a month.
Build costs on Shopify come from four things: theme choice (free, premium at roughly ₹15,000 to ₹35,000 one-time, or custom), the number of custom sections, app setup, and catalogue loading. If you need extra hands for a migration or a custom theme, you can hire Shopify developers by the month.
WooCommerce development cost in India
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. There is no subscription and no platform fee on your orders. You pay for everything around it instead.
- Build: ₹1.2 to ₹3.5 lakh for a customised store with up to 500 products.
- Hosting: ₹6,000 to ₹40,000 a year for managed WordPress hosting. Busy stores need a cloud server at ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 a month.
- Premium plugins: ₹10,000 to ₹40,000 a year for subscriptions, shipping, invoices, filters and backups.
- Maintenance: WordPress needs regular core, theme and plugin updates. Skipping them is the most common cause of hacked stores. Our website care plans start at ₹1,999 a month.
WooCommerce suits brands that publish a lot of content, need unusual checkout rules, or want to own every file. It asks more of you technically. A good WordPress developer on call is part of the real cost.
Custom ecommerce development cost
Custom means Magento (Adobe Commerce), a headless storefront on Next.js, or a store written from scratch. Expect ₹4 to ₹8 lakh for a focused custom store and well above that for marketplaces.
Choose custom when the platform is blocking the business, for example:
- Dealer or distributor logins with customer-specific price lists.
- Live stock and order sync with an ERP such as SAP, Tally or Zoho.
- Catalogues above roughly 10,000 SKUs with complex filters.
- Multiple sellers, commissions and payouts.
- Made-to-order products with configurators.
If none of these apply, a platform will get you to revenue sooner. For large catalogues on Adobe Commerce, you can hire Magento developers from our team.
Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom: side by side
| Shopify | WooCommerce | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build cost | ₹60,000 to ₹4 lakh | ₹1.2 to ₹3.5 lakh | ₹4 lakh and up |
| Platform fee | ₹1,499 to ₹30,164 a month | None | None, or a licence |
| Fee on each order | 0.6% to 2% plus gateway | Gateway only | Gateway only |
| Hosting and security | Included | You arrange and maintain | You arrange and maintain |
| Time to launch | 2 to 8 weeks | 5 to 8 weeks | 10 weeks and up |
| Flexibility | High inside the platform's rules | Very high | Unlimited |
| Technical upkeep | Low | Medium | High |
Monthly running costs after launch
Here is what a store selling ₹5 lakh a month typically pays to stay open, before marketing.
| Cost at ₹5 lakh monthly sales | Shopify (Grow) | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Platform or hosting | ₹5,599 | ₹2,500 |
| Shopify third-party fee (1%) | ₹5,000 | None |
| Payment gateway (about 2% plus GST on the fee) | ₹11,800 | ₹11,800 |
| Apps or premium plugins | ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 | ₹1,500 to ₹3,500 |
| Maintenance and fixes | ₹1,999 and up | ₹3,999 and up |
| Approximate total | ₹27,400 to ₹32,400 | ₹19,800 to ₹21,800 |
Add shipping (₹40 to ₹120 per order through aggregators), cash-on-delivery handling and returns. Then add marketing, which is the largest line of all. A store with no traffic plan does not sell, whatever it cost to build. Most of our store clients start SEO and paid campaigns in the launch month.
What moves the price up or down
- Catalogue size and data quality. Fifty products with clean photos load in a day. Two thousand with variants and missing descriptions take weeks.
- Design depth. A premium theme with your branding is the efficient choice. A fully custom theme adds ₹1 to ₹2.5 lakh.
- Integrations. Payment gateway, shipping aggregator, WhatsApp, GST invoicing, accounting and ERP each add ₹8,000 to ₹80,000.
- Migration. Moving products, customers, orders and SEO redirects from an old store costs ₹25,000 to ₹1.5 lakh.
- Selling abroad. Multi-currency, duties and regional storefronts add complexity and often a higher plan.
- Speed and SEO work. Category structure, product schema and Core Web Vitals are cheap to build in and costly to retrofit. Google explains why speed matters in its Core Web Vitals guide.
Nexgeno insight
The item store owners underestimate most is product data. In our builds, preparing photos, descriptions, variants and GST details regularly takes longer than design and development together. Start the catalogue spreadsheet the day you sign, not the day the theme is ready.
Checklist: questions to ask before you accept an ecommerce quote
- Which platform and plan do you recommend for my sales volume, and why?
- How many products will you load, and who prepares the data and images?
- Which apps or plugins does the quote assume, and what do they cost each month?
- Which payment gateway and shipping partners will be integrated and tested?
- Are GST invoices, HSN codes and state-wise tax set up?
- Will the store pass Core Web Vitals on mobile at launch?
- Is product and breadcrumb schema included, and are old URLs redirected?
- Who owns the store account, the domain and the theme code?
- What does support cost after launch, and what is the response time?
- Can I see two live stores you built and speak to those clients?
How Nexgeno scopes an ecommerce build
We start with a free 30-minute call about your products, expected order volume, margins and the systems you already use. You then get a platform recommendation with the reasoning, a fixed build price, a written list of inclusions and an honest estimate of monthly running costs.
Every store we ship is mobile-first, schema-marked and tested end to end with real payments and a real shipment. See the stores we have built in our case studies, or read how we help brands scale after launch on the D2C growth strategy page.
Get your store costed in one call
Tell us what you sell and how much. We will send a platform recommendation and a fixed quote within one working day.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an ecommerce website cost in India?
A lean Shopify store costs ₹60,000 to ₹1.5 lakh to build, a customised Shopify or WooCommerce store ₹1.5 to ₹4 lakh, and a custom store ₹4 to ₹8 lakh or more. Running costs add roughly ₹8,000 to ₹40,000 a month depending on sales volume.
Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper in India?
Shopify is usually cheaper to launch because hosting and security are included. WooCommerce is usually cheaper to run at higher volumes because there is no platform fee on orders. The crossover depends on your monthly sales and how much technical upkeep you can handle.
How much does Shopify cost per month in India?
In November 2026 Shopify India lists Basic at ₹1,994 a month (₹1,499 billed yearly), Grow at ₹7,447 (₹5,599 yearly) and Advanced at ₹30,164 (₹22,680 yearly). Apps and a 0.6% to 2% third-party payment fee are extra.
What are the payment gateway charges for an online store in India?
Most Indian gateways charge about 2% per domestic transaction plus 18% GST on that fee, with higher rates for international cards and some EMI options. High-volume stores can negotiate lower rates.
How long does it take to build an ecommerce website?
A lean Shopify store takes 2 to 4 weeks, a customised Shopify or WooCommerce store 5 to 8 weeks, and a custom build 10 to 16 weeks. Catalogue readiness is the factor that most often delays launch.
Do I need GST registration to sell online in India?
In most cases yes. Selling goods through an online store or marketplace generally requires GST registration, and payment gateways ask for it during onboarding. Confirm your specific position with a chartered accountant.
Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify later, or the other way?
Yes. Products, customers and orders can be migrated in both directions, and URL redirects protect your search rankings. Budget ₹25,000 to ₹1.5 lakh depending on catalogue size and custom features.
Sources and further reading: Shopify India pricing (plan prices and third-party payment fees, checked 6 November 2026) · Razorpay pricing · WooCommerce · web.dev, Core Web Vitals · IBEF, Indian ecommerce industry. Build and running-cost ranges are estimates based on Indian metro agency quotes seen by the Nexgeno team in 2025 and 2026. Break-even figures are calculated from Shopify's published yearly-billing prices.
Written by
Tamir Khan · CTO & Co-Founder, Nexgeno Technology
Tamir leads technology at Nexgeno, a Mumbai web design and digital marketing company. He has scoped and shipped hundreds of business, ecommerce and enterprise web projects since 2014 and writes about what they really cost and why.
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