How much does an online shop cost in 2026?

A store on an off-the-shelf platform, with payments and a sensible design, costs roughly €3,100–6,550 net (excl. VAT). A store with customer accounts, filters and a newsletter — €5,650–12,100 net. A large one, with an admin panel and a link to your warehouse — €9,450–21,000 net. Below we show which blocks make up the online store cost, what a store costs over a year and what KSeF changes.

Euro amounts converted at the NBP mid-market rate of 14 September 2026 (€1 = 4.3391 zł) and rounded. We invoice in PLN.

Price ranges for 2026

We count in hours: development €46/h net, design €35/h net. The three most common sizes look like this:

These are price ranges, not a price list. Two stores with the same number of products can differ by a hundred hours, because one sells T-shirts in three sizes and the other made-to-measure furniture with a surcharge for the fabric and a delivery date that depends on the supplier.

Off-the-shelf platform or a store built from scratch

In nine cases out of ten the answer is: an off-the-shelf platform. WooCommerce, PrestaShop or Shopify already have the basket, taxes, coupons and integrations with payment providers and couriers written for you — you pay for the design, the configuration and the integrations, not for reinventing the basket.

A store built from scratch makes sense when your sales do not look like an ordinary basket:

• a product configurator — the customer builds an order from options and the price is calculated from a formula;
• customer-specific prices — wholesale with individual discounts, credit limits and deferred payment;
• sales tied to production — the date depends on free capacity, not on stock levels;
• order as a request for a quote — the basket is in fact an enquiry.

The difference in cost is noticeable: what takes a few hours of configuration on an off-the-shelf platform can take several weeks in a store built from scratch. When custom online store development is really needed, we described in the article MVP or full product.

We build stores on ready-made engines as part of our online stores service — from the visual design through to launch and post-launch support.

What makes up the price: blocks and hours

Instead of “packages” we count blocks — each can be added or left out:

The base hours grow with the catalogue: a mid-size store is about 1.7× the base, a large one about 2.6×. That is why five hundred products in twenty categories cost more than fifty in three, even if the design is the same. You can price up your own scope in the cost calculator — you will see the price range and the timeline straight away, without giving an e-mail address.

Costs that are easy to forget

The launch estimate is one thing, running the store is another. Over a year, count on:

• domain — €14–28;
• hosting for a store — €140–550; a store needs a more powerful server than a brochure site, and with Shopify you pay a subscription instead of hosting;
• payment gateway commission — roughly 1–2% per transaction plus a small fixed fee of a few cents; the rate depends on your contract and turnover, so with higher sales you simply negotiate it;
• product photography — the most often underestimated item; a shoot usually costs €180–580 and pays for itself faster than another feature in the store;
• technical support — platform and plugin updates, backups, fixes: 5–15 hours a month, i.e. €230–690 net.

The last item is not optional. A store on an off-the-shelf platform means a dozen or so plugins that update independently of each other; without support, the first failed update stops your sales in the middle of the day.

KSeF in a store: what and from when

If you sell as a business, invoices go into KSeF, Poland's National e-Invoicing System. The deadlines are the same for everyone, whether the store runs on an off-the-shelf platform or is built from scratch:

• from 1 February 2026 — all businesses receive invoices in KSeF;
• from 1 February 2026 — companies with sales above PLN 200 million in 2024 issue them;
• from 1 April 2026 — all other VAT payers issue them;
• from 1 January 2027 — the smallest businesses, and at the same time the penalty-free period ends.

In practice this means two things for a store. On the sales side — an invoice for a business must be created in the KSeF structure and receive a KSeF number; receipt-based sales to private individuals are a separate matter and are covered by the fiscal cash register. On the purchasing side — supplier invoices now arrive only through KSeF, and an invoice is deemed received on the day the KSeF number is assigned, regardless of when anyone downloads it.

If your store runs on a popular platform, check the ready-made module first — sometimes that is enough. When an API integration is needed and how much it costs, we set out in the articles KSeF integration with your own system, store or ERP and importing purchase invoices from KSeF. Deadlines and the level of penalties — in the article KSeF penalties from 2027.

Integrations: warehouse, couriers, accounting

A store is rarely an island. The most common connections and the approximate effort involved:

• warehouse system or ERP (Subiekt, Comarch, BaseLinker) — 16–44 h; without it someone retypes stock levels by hand and sells goods you do not have;
• couriers (InPost, DPD, DHL) — the label and tracking number are generated automatically and the customer gets a tracking link;
• accounting and invoicing — an order turns into a document without retyping;
• Allegro (Poland's largest online marketplace) and other marketplaces — one stock level for all sales channels.

We describe the scope and price ranges for these connections separately: system integration and the article how much automation and integration cost.

How long it takes

• small store — 5–8 weeks;
• mid-size — 7–12 weeks;
• large, with an admin panel and warehouse integration — 10–17 weeks.

We work out timelines from hours, not from a wish-list calendar. What usually causes delays is not the development work but the data: product descriptions, photos, variants, size charts and terms and conditions. That is why we give you the list of what needs preparing at the start, not in the launch week.

Where not to cut corners

• Product photography. In a store it is the only thing the customer touches before buying.
• Handling a failed payment. A customer who paid but did not return to the store still has to receive the order and a confirmation. That single case can cost more than the whole search function.
• Speed on mobile. Most store traffic is mobile; a heavy home page eats into sales without warning.
• Accessibility. Readable contrast, keyboard operation and image descriptions — this is both a requirement for stores and simple courtesy towards the customer.
• Backups. A store without backups is one failed update away from stopping sales.

How to prepare for an estimate

The more that is known at the start, the narrower the range. Before we talk, it is worth gathering:

• the number of products, categories and variants (size, colour, bundles);
• where the product data comes from: a wholesaler, your own warehouse, a supplier file;
• whether you sell to businesses, to private individuals, or to both;
• the delivery and payment methods you need from day one;
• the systems the store has to connect to: warehouse, accounting, couriers, marketplaces;
• whether you need language versions and currencies;
• who will run the store day to day — that determines how much work goes into the admin panel.

To find out the approximate figure for your store, start with the cost calculator. We will prepare a detailed estimate with a timeline free of charge within 2–3 working days, and you can describe the details in the project brief.