How much does an e-commerce website cost in the UK in 2026? Realistic ranges in 2026: £1,999 to £5,000 for a specialist build, £5,000 to £15,000 from a UK mid-tier agency, and £20,000+ for complex multi-region or B2B platforms. The figure mostly depends on product count, the level of customisation, and which payment and inventory systems you need to integrate.
This is the practical UK e-commerce website pricing guide. We’ve built shops for D2C brands, beauty retailers, food and drink, fashion, and B2B suppliers across the UK. Below is what each price tier delivers, the platform decisions that drive cost, and the hidden monthly fees that catch most UK shop owners by surprise.
Quick answer
A typical UK e-commerce site with under 50 products costs £1,999 to £5,000 to build. Shopify shops average £100 to £300/month all-in. WooCommerce on WordPress averages £30 to £80/month after build. Custom platforms start at £15,000 and rise with complexity.
UK e-commerce pricing by build tier
| Tier | Build cost | Right for | What’s included |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY Shopify | £0 build + £25/mo | Solo founders, under 20 products, simple shipping | Templated theme, basic apps, you do everything |
| Specialist UK agency | £1,999 to £5,000 | SMEs, 20 to 500 products, growth-stage brands | Custom theme, Stripe/Klarna integration, mobile-first, SEO, payments, shipping |
| Mid-tier UK agency | £5,000 to £15,000 | Established brands, complex catalogues, custom UX | Strategy phase, custom development, integrations, training, post-launch support |
| Enterprise / B2B | £15,000 to £100,000+ | Wholesale, multi-region, ERP integrations | Custom platform, B2B pricing tiers, ERP/inventory sync, multi-warehouse |
Platform choice drives 70% of the cost
Before any agency, the platform decision sets the budget. Three main routes for UK e-commerce:
1. Shopify (£25 to £300+/month)
- Best for: D2C brands, solo founders, low-friction launch, drop-shipping
- Pros: Fastest to launch, payment processing built-in, vast app ecosystem, reliable
- Cons: Transaction fees (2% if you don’t use Shopify Payments), app costs add up, customisation requires Shopify-specific developers (£60 to £120/hour)
- Realistic UK monthly cost: £25 plan + 3 to 5 apps (£10 to £40 each) = £100 to £300/month all-in
2. WooCommerce on WordPress (£30 to £80/month)
- Best for: Brands that want full control, content-heavy SEO, complex pricing, no transaction fees
- Pros: 100% owned, no transaction fees, infinitely customisable, better SEO ceiling
- Cons: More setup work, you need a host who can handle e-commerce traffic, premium plugins occasionally needed
- Realistic UK monthly cost: £15 to £40 hosting + £20 to £40 in plugin licences = £30 to £80/month
3. Custom-built platforms (£15,000+)
- Best for: B2B with complex pricing tiers, regulated industries, multi-region requirements, unique workflows
- Pros: Exactly fits your business; no platform compromises
- Cons: Build time 4 to 12 months, ongoing development costs, harder to find replacement developers
- Realistic UK cost: £15,000+ build, £500 to £3,000/month ongoing dev retainer
What you get from us for £499
Our own e-commerce build starts at £499, with larger catalogues and subscription stores priced above that. We work online only, with no account managers and a fixed build process, which is why our price sits below the agency range above rather than inside it. Every store includes:
- Custom-designed WooCommerce shop on WordPress (full ownership)
- Up to 50 products configured with categories, attributes, variations
- Payment gateway integration: Stripe, PayPal, Klarna, ApplePay, GooglePay
- Shipping rules by location, weight, or product class
- Tax setup for UK VAT, including digital VAT compliance if applicable
- Mobile-first responsive design — mandatory for UK e-commerce (60%+ of traffic is mobile)
- Customer accounts with wishlists, order history, saved addresses
- Email transactional flow: order confirmation, shipping, abandoned cart recovery
- SEO foundation covering schema, sitemaps, page speed optimisation, meta tags
- WordPress training, so you can add products and update content yourself
What pushes you to higher tiers: more than 500 products, multi-currency, B2B pricing tiers, custom integrations (CRM, ERP), bespoke checkout flows, or non-WooCommerce platforms.
Hidden ongoing costs for UK e-commerce
The build is half the story. Year-one running costs catch most UK shop owners:
On Shopify (typical small brand)
- Shopify Basic plan: £25/month = £300/year
- Apps (typically 3 to 6 essential ones): £30 to £120/month = £360 to £1,440/year
- Transaction fees (2% × £30k turnover): £600/year
- Theme licence (one-off or upgrade): £200
- Premium support / customisation hours: £200 to £1,000/year
- Realistic Year 1 total: £1,660 to £3,540 in platform costs alone
On WooCommerce (typical small brand)
- Managed WordPress hosting: £25/month = £300/year
- Premium plugins (e.g. WooCommerce Subscriptions, Stripe Pro, Advanced Shipping): £150 to £500/year
- SSL: free with most UK hosts
- No transaction fees beyond Stripe/PayPal’s 1.4 to 1.9% + 20p
- Maintenance (DIY or light agency): £200 to £600/year
- Realistic Year 1 total: £650 to £1,400 in platform costs alone
WooCommerce is cheaper to run; Shopify is cheaper to manage. The right call depends on whether your bottleneck is cash or time.
E-commerce cost by product type
| Product type | Typical build cost | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Physical goods, simple SKUs (under 50) | £1,999 to £3,500 | Straightforward catalogue, standard checkout |
| Fashion / variant-heavy (sizes, colours) | £2,500 to £5,000 | Variation handling, swatches, stock per variant |
| Food & drink (perishable, age-gated) | £2,500 to £6,000 | Cold-chain delivery rules, age verification, traceability |
| Subscription boxes | £2,999 to £6,500 | Recurring billing, customer accounts, pause/skip features |
| Made-to-order / customisation | £3,500 to £10,000 | Configurators, custom checkout fields, longer delivery flows |
| Digital products (courses, downloads) | £1,500 to £4,000 | License keys, gated downloads, no physical fulfilment |
| B2B wholesale | £5,000 to £20,000 | Tiered pricing, MOQs, trade accounts, EDI integration |
| Marketplace / multi-vendor | £10,000 to £50,000 | Vendor onboarding, payouts, dispute handling |
Red flags when getting UK e-commerce quotes
- “£500 full e-commerce site” — usually a template with no customisation, or work being subcontracted at a loss to a low-cost market
- No mention of payment gateway. Stripe vs PayPal vs Klarna integration is essential and should be explicit in the quote
- Locked-in hosting — some agencies build on platforms only they can host; you’re stuck
- No SEO baked in: schema markup, sitemap, page speed optimisation should all be in the base quote, not “extras”
- VAT handling not mentioned. UK shops above the £85k threshold need proper VAT setup including digital VAT compliance
- No training: if you can’t add products yourself, every change costs you
Why how it is built matters more than what it cost
The number on the invoice tells you very little on its own. What decides whether a shop earns is how it is built:
- A poorly built shop typically converts at 0.5 to 1.5%
- A properly built shop converts at 2 to 4%
- On 1,000 monthly visitors at £40 average order, that’s £200 to £600/month vs £800 to £1,600/month in revenue
- That revenue gap is worth more in one quarter than the entire difference between a budget quote and an agency quote
Add SEO performance (better page speed and schema means more organic traffic) and the gap widens further.
Price and build quality are not the same axis. Plenty of expensive builds convert badly, and a properly specified store does not have to cost five figures. Judge a quote on the checklist above, not on the number at the bottom of it.
What to do next
For most UK e-commerce businesses:
- Decide between WooCommerce and Shopify based on your cashflow vs time constraints
- Plan for around £100 to £200/month in running costs after build
- Expect £1,999 to £5,000 from most specialist UK agencies, and less where the build is scoped tightly and the agency works online only
- Insist on training so you can manage the shop yourself
- Confirm SEO foundations are included, not extra
For the full UK website pricing breakdown across all site types, see our complete UK website cost guide.
UK e-commerce websites from £499
WooCommerce or Shopify, fully owned, properly built, with payment, shipping, and SEO baked in.
Related guides
Shopify vs WooCommerce: the real cost at different revenue levels
Headline pricing is misleading. Below: total annual cost at four revenue levels.
| Revenue / month | Shopify (Basic) | WooCommerce (managed) | Saver |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000 | £420/yr + 2.4% fees = £708 | £400/yr build + £300/yr hosting = £700 | ~tied |
| £5,000 | £420/yr + 2.4% fees = £1,860 | £300/yr hosting + 1.4% Stripe = £1,140 | WooCommerce by £720 |
| £20,000 | £840/yr (Shopify upgrade) + 2.1% = £5,880 | £400/yr hosting + 1.4% Stripe = £3,760 | WooCommerce by £2,120 |
| £50,000 | £3,588/yr (Shopify Advanced) + 1.8% = £14,388 | £800/yr hosting + 1.4% Stripe = £9,200 | WooCommerce by £5,188 |
Crossover point: ~£3,500-£5,000/month revenue. Below this, the platforms are roughly tied; above it, WooCommerce wins meaningfully on cost-per-sale.
UK VAT and tax considerations
Shopify Tax (UK)
Shopify Tax handles UK VAT automatically and accurately for 2026. It also handles MOSS (the system for EU customers) — though MOSS only applies to digital goods and B2C cross-border sales over thresholds.
WooCommerce + WP-Lister / Avalara / similar
WooCommerce needs a VAT plugin (free options exist; paid for advanced scenarios). Manual VAT setup is possible but error-prone.
VAT registration threshold
£90,000 UK turnover in a rolling 12-month period. Once you cross this you must register; many SMEs register voluntarily earlier to reclaim input VAT.
When neither WooCommerce nor Shopify is right
You’re selling a single product on subscription
Look at Cratejoy, Bold Subscriptions, or a custom-built site with Stripe Subscriptions. WooCommerce Subscriptions works but the overhead may not justify the cost.
You’re selling digital downloads only
Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, or Stripe direct. Avoid the e-commerce platform overhead for downloads.
You’re selling at high volume with custom logistics
BigCommerce, Magento Commerce, or custom builds become worth the investment above ~£500k/year revenue.
You’re selling B2B with complex pricing
Custom WooCommerce build with B2B-specific plugins (Wholesale Suite, B2BKing) typically outperforms Shopify B2B for UK businesses below enterprise scale.
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Sources & Further Reading
- Stripe guides: selling online in the UK, Stripe
- Online & distance selling rules, gov.uk
- UK GDPR for organisations, ICO
- UK retail sales bulletin, Office for National Statistics
Frequently asked questions
How much does a UK e-commerce website cost in 2026? +
For a typical UK shop with under 50 products, £1,999 to £5,000 from a specialist UK agency. Mid-tier agencies charge £5,000 to £15,000. Larger catalogues or custom integrations run £15,000+.
Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper for a UK business? +
Shopify is faster to launch but typically costs £100 to £300/month all-in including apps. WooCommerce on WordPress runs £30 to £80/month after build but requires more setup. Over 3+ years, WooCommerce is usually cheaper.
What ongoing costs should I budget for a UK e-commerce site? +
Hosting (£15 to £40/month), SSL (free), domain (£15/year), premium plugins (£100 to £500/year), maintenance (£30 to £200/month), payment gateway fees (1.4 to 2.9% per transaction).
How long does building a UK e-commerce site take? +
Small catalogues: 4 to 6 weeks. Larger catalogues or complex requirements: 6 to 10 weeks. Custom platforms: 12 weeks to several months.
Do I need a logo before building an e-commerce site? +
It helps. The logo sets the colours and fonts the shop design is built around, and marketplaces, packaging and social profiles all need it too. A shop built first and branded later often needs redesigning.
