Cheapest Ecommerce Platforms Compared
Why Monthly Price Is the Wrong Way to Compare
Every ecommerce platform advertises a monthly subscription price, and most people pick the cheapest number they see. That approach ignores the costs that actually determine what you pay: transaction fee surcharges, payment processing fees, app and plugin costs, theme costs, and hosting fees (for self-hosted platforms). A platform that charges $17 per month but requires $80 in apps costs more than a platform that charges $39 per month but includes those features natively.
The only honest comparison is total cost of ownership, everything you pay in a year to run your store. This includes the platform subscription, hosting (if applicable), domain name, theme, apps or extensions, and transaction fee surcharges. Payment processing fees (the 2.9% plus 30 cents that Stripe or PayPal charges) are roughly the same across all platforms, so they do not change the relative ranking.
Total Annual Cost Rankings
Tier 1: Under $100 Per Year
WooCommerce on shared hosting: $60 to $120 per year. The WooCommerce plugin is free. Shared hosting from providers like Hostinger or Bluehost costs $3 to $7 per month when you pay annually. Most shared hosting plans include a free domain for the first year and a free SSL certificate. Free WordPress themes like Astra, Kadence, and Storefront provide professional-looking storefronts. Free plugins handle payments (Stripe, PayPal), SEO (Yoast), security (Wordfence), and caching (WP Super Cache). The total first-year cost with shared hosting, a free theme, and free plugins is $36 to $84 for hosting plus $10 to $15 for a domain if not included.
The tradeoff at this price point is performance and support. Shared hosting is slower than managed hosting, which affects page load times and Core Web Vitals scores. Free themes offer fewer customization options than premium alternatives. And you are responsible for WordPress updates, security monitoring, and troubleshooting, with community forums as your primary support resource.
Square Online free plan: $0 per year. No subscription, no hosting fee, no domain cost (you use a square.site subdomain). The only cost is payment processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction through Square. The free plan supports unlimited products, inventory tracking, and Instagram selling. The limitations are a Square-branded URL, limited design customization, Square-only payment processing, and no abandoned cart recovery.
Tier 2: $200 to $600 Per Year
Wix Business Basic: $204 per year ($17/month). This is the cheapest paid plan from a major hosted platform that includes ecommerce. You get a custom domain connection, 50 GB storage, payment processing through Wix Payments, abandoned cart recovery, and automated tax calculation. Free templates are included. Most stores do not need paid Wix apps, so the subscription is close to the total cost. Add $10 to $15 for a domain name if you do not already own one.
Big Cartel Gold: $120 per year ($9.99/month). Supports up to 50 products with five images each, inventory tracking, discount codes, and Google Analytics. Payment processing through Stripe, PayPal, or Square. Big Cartel is designed for artists and makers with small catalogs. The $120 annual cost is low, but the feature set is limited compared to Wix or Shopify.
WooCommerce on managed hosting: $180 to $500 per year. Managed WordPress hosting from SiteGround ($15/mo), Cloudways ($14/mo), or Nexcess ($21/mo) provides faster performance, automatic updates, daily backups, staging environments, and better support than shared hosting. A premium theme adds $50 to $130 (one-time). Two to three paid extensions add $100 to $300 per year. Total first-year cost: $280 to $600, with subsequent years slightly lower as you do not repurchase the theme.
Squarespace Basic Commerce: $432 per year ($36/month). No transaction fee surcharges, customer accounts, checkout on your domain, and access to all Squarespace templates. The all-inclusive nature of Squarespace means few additional costs. Most stores do not need third-party extensions. A domain name adds $10 to $15 if not transferred from an existing registrar.
Tier 3: $500 to $1,500 Per Year
Shopify Basic: $468 per year ($39/month). The subscription alone is $468, but the real cost depends on your app usage. A minimal Shopify store using only free apps and a free theme costs $468 to $500 per year. A typical Shopify store with five to ten apps costs $1,100 to $2,000 per year. The wide range exists because Shopify's app ecosystem is both its strength and its biggest cost variable. A store that needs email marketing ($20/mo), reviews ($10/mo), SEO tools ($20/mo), and a page builder ($30/mo) adds $960 per year in app costs alone.
BigCommerce Standard: $468 per year ($39/month). BigCommerce includes more features natively than Shopify, which means fewer paid apps. Real-time shipping quotes, faceted search, customer groups, and product filtering are built in. A typical BigCommerce store with two to four marketplace apps costs $700 to $1,200 per year. The revenue cap of $50,000 on the Standard plan is a cost consideration for growing stores, as exceeding it forces an upgrade to the Plus plan at $1,260 per year.
Hidden Costs That Change the Ranking
Transaction Fee Surcharges
Shopify charges a surcharge if you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, 0.6% on Advanced. On $100,000 in annual revenue, the Basic surcharge adds $2,000 per year to your costs. Squarespace charges a 3% surcharge on the Business plan ($33/month), which is why the Basic Commerce plan ($36/month) is the real starting point for serious ecommerce. WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, and Square Online charge no transaction fee surcharges.
Theme Costs
Free themes are available on every platform, but premium themes can significantly improve your store's appearance and conversion rate. Shopify premium themes cost $180 to $350. BigCommerce premium themes cost $150 to $400. WooCommerce premium themes cost $50 to $130. Squarespace includes all templates for free on every plan. Wix includes all templates for free.
App and Extension Costs
This is where platform costs diverge the most. Shopify stores typically spend $50 to $200 per month on apps, adding $600 to $2,400 per year. BigCommerce stores spend less on apps because more features are built in, typically $20 to $100 per month ($240 to $1,200/year). WooCommerce extensions are usually annual subscriptions of $50 to $300 each, with typical stores using three to six paid extensions ($150 to $1,800/year). Squarespace and Wix have minimal app costs because they rely on built-in features.
Cost Comparison by Revenue Level
Stores Doing Under $25,000 Per Year
At this revenue level, keep costs as low as possible because your margins are thin. WooCommerce on shared hosting ($60 to $120/year) or Square Online free plan ($0/year) are the most cost-effective choices. Wix at $204 per year is a good middle ground if you want managed hosting without technical responsibility. Avoid Shopify at this stage unless you specifically need its app ecosystem, because the $468 base cost plus likely app costs represent a significant percentage of your revenue.
Stores Doing $25,000 to $100,000 Per Year
At this level, platform features start to matter more than raw cost. WooCommerce on managed hosting ($300 to $600/year) offers the best value with strong features. BigCommerce Standard ($468/year plus minimal apps) is the best hosted option because of its built-in features and zero surcharges. Shopify Basic ($468/year plus apps) is viable if you need specific Shopify apps but will cost more overall.
Stores Doing Over $100,000 Per Year
At higher revenue levels, transaction fee surcharges become the dominant cost factor. On $500,000 in annual revenue, Shopify's 2% Basic surcharge (if using an external gateway) costs $10,000 per year. BigCommerce's zero surcharge saves that entire amount. WooCommerce's zero surcharge does the same. At this volume, BigCommerce or WooCommerce typically offer the lowest total cost. Shopify competes only if you use Shopify Payments exclusively and the lower card processing rates on higher plans offset the subscription increase.
The Cheapest Path for Each Situation
Absolute lowest cost: Square Online free plan. Zero subscription, sell immediately, limited features and branding.
Lowest cost with a real store: WooCommerce on shared hosting. Under $100 per year for a fully functional store you own and control.
Lowest cost without technical work: Wix Business Basic at $17 per month. Simple, managed, affordable, limited growth ceiling.
Best value for growing stores: BigCommerce Standard at $39 per month. More built-in features mean lower total costs than Shopify at the same subscription price.
Cost matters, but the cheapest platform is not always the best investment. A platform that costs $200 more per year but converts 10% more visitors into buyers earns you far more than the savings. Choose the cheapest platform that meets your business needs, not the cheapest platform available.