What a Shopify store costs: the build, the fees and the apps
A Shopify store built by JP Studio is step 04 on our ladder: EUR 3.500 to 7.500, over 6 to 12 weeks. It lands there because it takes payments, and a shop that takes payments is step 04 on any platform, a standard Shopify theme build included. Every step is set out on the packages page.
Shopify's own plan, payment processing fees, and any paid theme or apps come on top of that price. The plan and any recurring app charges continue for as long as you keep them, so they belong in the budget from the first conversation.
Why a Shopify shop is step 04
Shopify supplies the checkout, and that saves a great deal of work. The step pays for everything around the checkout that has to be right before the first order arrives.
- Catalogue structure: collections, product types, variants and options, and filters that match how your customers look for things.
- Product data: titles, descriptions, images, prices and stock, imported from a spreadsheet or another platform and checked.
- Design: the theme shaped around your brand and your range, with particular care for the product page, where the buying decision happens.
- Payments and checkout: payment methods switched on, and a real order placed and refunded before launch.
- Shipping and taxes: zones, rates and tax settings for the places you sell to.
- Order emails and policies: confirmation and shipping notifications that sound like your brand, and returns, terms and privacy pages published.
- Apps: the ones you need chosen and configured, matched to the design where the app allows it, and the ones you do not need left out.
Each of those is a place where a shop can lose a sale or a customer's trust: a filter that hides the right product, a shipping rate that jumps at checkout, a confirmation email that looks like spam.
What Shopify charges on top
These costs go to Shopify or to app developers, and none of them is part of the build price. Shopify changes its prices from time to time, so read the current figures for your country on Shopify's own pricing page before you commit.
| Cost | What it is | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan | Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus. Higher plans add features and lower some rates. | Subscription, billed by Shopify |
| Payment processing | The fee on each card or payment method transaction | Per order |
| Third-party transaction fee | Added by Shopify when orders are paid through an outside payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, with exceptions listed in Shopify's help centre | Per order |
| Theme | The Shopify Theme Store has free themes and paid themes | Free, or the theme's price |
| Apps | Functions the theme does not provide, added from the Shopify App Store | Set by each app: some free, some recurring |
Apps are the line to watch. A recurring app charge stays for as long as the app is installed, and a shop that adds one for every idea ends up paying for a stack of them. During scoping we check which functions your shop needs and whether the theme already covers them before an app goes on the list.
What moves the price inside step 04
- How products vary. A hundred simple products can be less work than twenty that come in sizes, colours, engravings and bundles.
- Where the data comes from. A clean spreadsheet imports quickly. A move from another platform brings product data to map and old product URLs that need redirects.
- How far the design goes. A theme adjusted to your brand sits lower in the range than collection and product pages designed section by section.
- Integrations. Connecting the shop to a stock, ERP or accounting system through an API is step 04 work, and it moves the quote up inside the step.
- Markets and languages. Selling in several countries or languages adds translations, currencies and settings to check.
Some requests take a project out of step 04 altogether. A headless or custom storefront, or an internal admin your staff work in all day, is step 05, from EUR 7.500, with the quote following discovery. Headless Shopify vs a standard theme sets out when that is worth it and when it is not.
Timeline: 6 to 12 weeks
- Scoping. What you sell, where you sell it, how it ships and what the shop connects to. The fixed quote follows scoping.
- Catalogue and content. Collections and filters are planned and product data is prepared. This is the part that waits on you: product photos, descriptions, and your shipping and returns terms.
- Design of the home, collection and product pages, for phone and desktop.
- Build and setup: theme, apps, payment methods, shipping, taxes and order emails.
- Test orders, paid and refunded, on real devices. Then launch.
Product data and integrations decide whether a shop sits near 6 weeks or near 12. How long a webshop takes breaks the calendar down further.
When a Shopify plan alone is enough
You do not need a studio to open a Shopify store. Shopify is designed so an owner can set one up alone, and for some shops that is the right call:
- you sell a small range of simple products, with no variation beyond a size or a colour;
- a free theme from the Shopify Theme Store looks close enough to your brand once your logo, colours and photos are in;
- shipping is simple, to one country or a few, at flat rates;
- you are still testing whether the products sell, and would rather spend on stock and photography than on a build.
In that situation, pick a plan, pick a free theme and set it up yourself. Do not hire us yet. The time to talk is when the theme stops fitting how you sell, when the catalogue outgrows a simple setup, or when the shop has to connect to other systems.
Shopify store questions
Is the Shopify plan included in EUR 3.500 to 7.500?
No. The Shopify plan, payment processing fees, paid apps and a paid theme, if you choose one, are separate from the build price. Check the current figures for your country on Shopify's pricing page.
Who hosts a Shopify store?
On a standard theme store, Shopify hosts the shop as part of its plan. A custom headless storefront at step 05, built outside Shopify, needs hosting of its own, which the studio can provide, agreed per project.
Should we use Shopify Payments or our own payment provider?
Compare the total, not one rate. With an outside provider you pay that provider's processing fees, and Shopify adds its third-party transaction fee on top, apart from the exceptions in its help centre. That fee is lower on higher plans, so the plan and the payment choice belong in the same calculation.
Can you move our shop to Shopify from another platform?
Yes. The migration is part of scoping the build. Product data is mapped and imported, and old product and collection URLs get redirects to their new addresses so existing links keep working.
When does a Shopify project become step 05?
When it needs a headless or custom storefront, or an internal admin your staff work in all day. Step 05 starts from EUR 7.500, and its quote follows discovery.
Tell us what you sell and where, and we will tell you whether you need a build from us or just a Shopify plan: contact the studio.
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JP Studio designs and builds websites, storefronts and product interfaces.