How much does an online shop cost in the UK?

The honest answer to "how much does an online shop cost?" is: it depends on what kind of shop you want, how you want to build it, and how long you plan to run it. But that answer isn't very useful, so this guide gives you the actual numbers.

We'll cover every significant cost category - upfront and ongoing - across the three main routes for building a UK online shop: DIY platforms (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace), semi-custom solutions (WooCommerce), and bespoke builds from a professional designer.

The main cost categories

Whatever route you take, you'll encounter most of these cost categories:

• Domain name - the web address (e.g. yourshop.co.uk)
• Hosting - server space where your shop lives
• Design and build - the actual creation of the shop
• SSL certificate - the security certificate that enables HTTPS and card payments
• Payment gateway - the service that processes card payments
• Transaction fees - percentage taken on each sale
• Ongoing maintenance - updates, fixes, support
• Platform fees - monthly charges on subscription-based platforms

Not all of these apply to all solutions, and some are bundled together in ways that make comparison tricky. Let's go through them properly.

Domain name: £10-£30/year

A .co.uk domain name typically costs £10-£15/year. A .com is usually £10-£20/year. Specialist extensions (.shop, .store, .london) vary.

You can register a domain through almost any hosting company, or through a dedicated registrar like Namecheap or 123-Reg. Avoid paying more than about £15/year for a standard .co.uk - some hosting packages inflate this.

One important detail: whoever registers your domain controls it. Make sure you own it - don't let a web designer register it in their name. If the relationship ends, you want to be able to move it yourself.

Hosting: £100-£300/year

For a standalone online shop (not on a platform like Shopify), you'll need hosting - server space where the shop files and database live.

Shared hosting (one server shared between many customers) costs as little as £3-£8/month but is generally inadequate for a live ecommerce site - slow load times and unreliable uptime cost you sales. Managed hosting or a VPS (virtual private server) is better suited to ecommerce and typically costs £15-£50/month, or £180-£600/year.

Many professional web designers include hosting in their annual support fee. Futurestore's hosting and support costs £219/year after the first year - covering the server, SSL, software updates and direct support from the person who built the shop.

SSL certificate: usually included

An SSL certificate is what puts the padlock in the browser address bar and makes HTTPS work. Without it, browsers display security warnings, and card payment processors won't integrate with your site.

Historically these cost £50-£200/year from commercial providers. Today, most decent hosting packages include a free SSL certificate via Let's Encrypt. If a hosting provider is charging you extra for SSL in 2026, look elsewhere.

Design and build: £500-£15,000+

This is where the biggest variation exists. The cost of creating an online shop ranges from essentially zero (if you do it yourself on a free Wix plan) to tens of thousands for a large custom development. For most small UK businesses, the realistic range is £500-£5,000.

DIY platforms: £0-£200 upfront, but monthly fees apply

Platforms like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace handle the hosting, security, and infrastructure. You pay a monthly subscription and get access to a template library to customise. The "build cost" in the traditional sense is your own time.

The appeal is obvious: low barrier to entry, no technical knowledge required, get something live quickly. The limitations become apparent when you try to do something the template wasn't designed for, or when you start calculating what five years of monthly fees add up to.

WooCommerce: £0-£2,000 upfront depending on customisation

WooCommerce is a free ecommerce plugin for WordPress. It gives you more control than a hosted platform, but requires separate hosting, security management, plugin maintenance, and technical knowledge that most small business owners don't have.

The "free" starting point is misleading - you'll need a theme (£50-£200), hosting (£150-£500/year), and likely paid plugins for things that should be standard (advanced product options, better checkout flows, integrated accounting). And someone needs to keep it updated, because outdated WordPress/WooCommerce installations are a frequent target for hacking.

Bespoke build: £800-£5,000 for most small businesses

A bespoke online shop is built from scratch (or from a maintained proprietary framework) to suit your specific business. No templates, no platform constraints, no shared infrastructure.

The upfront cost is higher than DIY platforms, but the ongoing costs are lower - you're paying for hosting, not a platform subscription. The shop is designed for how your business actually works, rather than how a platform wants it to work.

Futurestore's current prices: Standard online shop £1,299, Designer online shop £2,599. These are fixed prices - no scope creep, no extras unless you ask for them.

Payment processing: 1.4-2.9% + 20-30p per transaction

Every card transaction through your online shop incurs fees. These are unavoidable - someone has to process the payment, and that service costs money.

UK transaction fees through major gateways typically look like this:

For most small UK businesses just starting out, Stripe is the sensible default: no monthly fee, competitive rates, excellent reliability, and straightforward integration.

On £50,000 of annual turnover, Stripe's fees amount to roughly £800-£900. That's a real ongoing cost to budget for, but it's the same whether your shop is built on Shopify or a bespoke system - payment processing fees are charged by the gateway, not the platform.

Platform fees: the hidden long-term cost

This is where the comparison between platforms and bespoke builds becomes most important - and most often misunderstood.

Shopify's pricing (as of 2026):

If you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional 0.5-2% transaction fee on every sale, on top of the gateway's own fees.

A bespoke shop at £1,299 with £219/year hosting costs £2,194 over five years - less than Shopify Basic. And you own the shop outright: if you stop paying hosting, you can move it. If you stop paying Shopify, the shop disappears.

Ongoing costs summary

Whatever solution you choose, here are the annual costs to budget for once the shop is live:

Which approach is right for your budget?

Here's a rough framework:

If your budget is under £500 and you need something live quickly, a DIY platform (Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify Basic) is the realistic starting point. Understand the ongoing fees and plan for the day you might want to move to something more capable.

If your budget is £500-£2,000, a bespoke build is within reach and often gives better long-term value than a platform subscription. Shops from studios like Futurestore start at £1,299 and include the first year's hosting.

If your budget is £2,000+, a bespoke build is almost certainly the better investment - both for design quality and long-term cost. The question shifts from "can I afford it?" to "who should I trust to build it?"

"The cheapest shop to launch is rarely the cheapest shop to run. Factor in five years of costs, not just the day-one number."

Questions to ask any builder before you commit

• What are the ongoing annual costs, including hosting and support?
• Who registers and controls my domain name?
• What happens to my shop if I stop paying?
• Are there any platform transaction fees on top of the payment gateway fees?
• What's included in the quoted price, and what costs extra?
• Can I take the shop to a different host if I need to?

Any reputable builder should answer all of these clearly. Vague answers to the cost questions are a red flag.