What an E-commerce Website Really Costs in India (2026)

A lean store with working checkout starts around ₹15,000–₹30,000. Bigger catalogues and custom features run ₹50,000–₹1,50,000. The number most people get wrong is the running cost, which this guide breaks down in full.

The honest first question: do you need a store yet?

If you have not sold to 20 people yet, you probably do not need a store.

That sounds blunt. It will save you money.

Instagram plus UPI plus a WhatsApp order flow costs ₹0. You post photos, you take orders on DM or WhatsApp, you collect payment on UPI, you ship by courier or hand delivery. It is manual. It is also enough to prove the one thing that matters, which is whether strangers will pay for what you sell.

A store built before demand exists is the most common waste of money in this category. The pattern is always the same: a founder pays for a full catalogue, payment gateway, shipping setup and homepage banners, then finds out the product needs more work. The store sits idle while domain and platform fees keep billing.

Start with the manual path. Sell to 20 people. Then sell to 50. When the DMs become hard to manage, when you lose orders because you reply late, when customers ask for a proper checkout link, that is the signal to build.

This is not theory for us. It is the same advice we give in our guide on whether you need a website or Instagram alone. If Instagram is working, keep it. Add a store when it stops being enough.

There are clear signs you are ready. You have repeat orders. You have final photos, final prices and a clear shipping method. You can name your best 20 to 30 products without guessing. You spend more than an hour a day just managing order messages.

There are also clear signs you are not ready. You have not decided final pricing. You have no product photos yet. You are still changing what you sell every week. You want a store mainly to feel serious. In each of those cases, wait.

A store does not create demand. It handles demand. If demand is not there, the cheapest store is still too costly.

If you have that demand, keep reading. The rest of this guide helps you pick the right type of store and avoid paying for the wrong one.

The four real options

You have four practical ways to sell online in India. Each has a fair place. None suits everyone.

Option	Upfront cost	Ongoing cost	You own it	Best for
Instagram plus WhatsApp plus UPI	₹0	₹0	Your audience, not a store	First sales, testing demand
Shopify or similar hosted platform	₹0–₹40,000 setup	₹2,000–₹7,000+ per month, plus transaction fees	No, you rent the storefront	Quick launch, small team, no tech care
WooCommerce on WordPress	₹25,000–₹80,000	₹10,000–₹30,000 per year for hosting, plugins and upkeep	Yes, with plugin dependence	Content plus shop, mid-size catalogue
Custom-coded store	from ₹60,000	Hosting plus optional maintenance	Yes, fully	Custom pricing, custom logic, scale

Instagram plus WhatsApp plus UPI is the zero-cost start. You need a phone, a UPI ID and a courier tie-up. You do not get automatic checkout, stock control or branded invoices. You do get speed and zero fixed cost. For handmade goods, home food, single-category sellers and test launches, this is often enough for months. Two free tools make this setup look less improvised: a UPI QR code generator that prints one fixed-price QR per product, and a WhatsApp link generator for the order button in your Instagram bio.

Shopify or a similar hosted platform is the fast rented shop. You pay a monthly fee and you get hosting, security, checkout and support included. Setup can be nearly free if you do it yourself with a standard theme, or ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 if a freelancer or studio sets up products, theme changes, gateway and shipping for you. The trade-off is rent. You pay every month whether you sell or not. You also do not own the storefront code. If you stop paying, the shop closes.

WooCommerce on WordPress sits in the middle. You buy hosting, you install WooCommerce, you add plugins for payments, shipping and invoices. Upfront cost in the Indian market is often ₹25,000 to ₹80,000 for a clean setup with a payment gateway, basic shipping rules and a working theme. You own the site and the data. You also own the upkeep. Plugins need updates. A plugin conflict can break checkout. You will need someone for care, even if only a few hours a year.

A custom-coded store is built for you from scratch. At Widox this sits in web app territory, from ₹60,000. You own everything, code, domain and hosting accounts. Ongoing cost is mainly hosting plus optional maintenance. It costs more at the start. It gives you full control over checkout flow, pricing logic and speed. It makes sense when your selling logic does not fit a standard plugin.

Be fair to each option when you choose. If you want to launch this week with no tech work, a hosted platform is sensible even with rent. If you want full ownership and low fixed cost after year one, WooCommerce or custom is sensible even with higher upfront cost. The wrong move is to pick based on upfront price alone.

Think about team as well. Who will add products. Who will handle a plugin update that breaks payments. Who will answer a customer when checkout fails at 10 pm. A hosted platform shifts much of that to the platform. Self-owned stores keep it with you or your maintenance partner.

What actually drives the price

Most quotes confuse buyers because they talk about pages. Stores are not priced by pages. They are priced by logic and readiness.

Number of products and variants matters, but less than people think. Uploading 50 simple products with one photo and one price each is straightforward. Uploading 50 products with size, colour, fabric, combo packs and different prices for each mix is far more work. A saree store with five colours and blouse options takes more setup than a book store with 200 titles. Catalogue size adds data entry. Variants add logic.

Simple pricing versus calculated pricing matters far more. Simple means one fixed price per item. Calculated means price changes by weight, size, date, city, add-on, fabric, printing, or order volume. A tiffin service with veg and Jain options is simple. A label printer where price depends on size, material, quantity and lamination needs custom logic. That is the difference between a standard store and a custom build. If your price list needs a sheet to explain, tell your developer early.

Payment gateway setup is another driver. One gateway, such as Razorpay, with UPI, cards and netbanking, is standard. Razorpay is commonly used in India for this, alongside other Indian gateways. Two gateways, split payments, part advance and part cash on delivery, or international cards add testing and reconciliation work. COD itself adds order confirmation and cancellation handling.

Shipping logic and courier integration comes next. Flat shipping across India is simple. Different rates by zone, free shipping above ₹999, cash on delivery charges, or live courier rates need rules and testing. If you need pickup from warehouse, delivery date choice, or integration with a specific courier partner, that adds days. Many small stores start with flat or free shipping to keep this simple.

GST invoicing is often missed in quotes. Once you are registered, your store must issue proper GST invoices with the right fields, rates and number series. A basic PDF invoice plugin is enough for many sellers. Businesses with different GST slabs, B2B buyers who need GST input, or export orders need more care. Check with your CA on what applies to you. Then ask your developer to match that exact format.

Inventory sync with an offline shop adds real cost. If you sell from a physical store and online from the same stock, someone must keep both in sync. Manual sync works at low volume. Automatic sync with billing or stock software needs integration and testing. This is where many projects grow from a simple store into a web app.

Content readiness is the quiet driver. Developers wait on photos, descriptions, prices, sizes, return terms and policies. A store with ready photos and a final price sheet can launch in two to three weeks. The same store with pending photos can take two months. Content delay is the most common reason for late launches. It has nothing to do with code.

When you ask for a quote, share these seven points upfront. Product count and variants. How pricing works. Which gateway you want. How shipping works. What your invoice must show. Whether online and offline stock must link. Whether content is ready. You will get a far more accurate fixed quote.

The running costs nobody puts in the quote

Most quotes cover the build only. You live with the running costs. Ask for both before you agree.

Cost item	Typical range in India	Notes
Domain	₹700–₹1,500 per year	Your own name, renewed yearly
Hosting	₹0–₹15,000 per year	Included in hosted platforms, separate for owned stores
Payment gateway	Roughly 2% per transaction plus GST	Razorpay is one commonly used option, others charge in a similar band
Platform subscription	₹0 on custom, ₹2,000–₹7,000+ per month on hosted	Paid whether you sell or not
Plugins and apps	₹0–₹25,000 per year	Extra features, shipping, invoices, offers
Maintenance	₹0 to ₹5,000+ per month	Updates, fixes, small changes, optional but wise

A domain is small and fixed. Keep it in your own account. Never let it sit in a developer or agency account.

Hosting depends on your route. On a hosted platform, hosting is inside your monthly fee. On WooCommerce or custom, you pay for hosting separately. A small store often runs well on basic hosting in the lower half of that range. A busy store with heavy images or sale traffic needs better hosting.

Payment gateway fees scale with you. The rate is roughly 2% per transaction plus GST, with small differences by gateway and plan. That sounds small until you do the maths. At ₹5 lakh of monthly sales, 2% is ₹10,000 a month. That one line often decides which platform is cheapest for you. Fixed fees hurt at low sales. Transaction fees hurt at high sales.

Platform subscription is rent. Add it up for a year before you compare. ₹3,000 a month is ₹36,000 a year. ₹6,000 a month is ₹72,000 a year. That yearly total is the right number to compare against a higher upfront build cost.

Plugins and apps creep up quietly. One plugin for offers, one for shipping labels, one for advanced invoices, one for reviews. Each is small alone. Together they can reach ₹10,000 to ₹25,000 a year. Ask which plugins are paid and what each renews at.

Maintenance is optional with Widox, never a condition of getting the website. Still, budget for it. Stores need updates, stock changes, offer banners and fixes. Even ₹5,000 a month is worth it if it keeps checkout working during your busy season.

Always ask for two totals. What will I pay to launch. What will I pay per year if I sell nothing and if I sell well. A good studio will give you both without hesitation.

Shopify vs custom: the five-year maths

The fair question is not which is better. It is which is cheaper for your volume and for how long.

Take a small store doing modest monthly sales. Keep numbers round and honest. Say hosted platform cost is about ₹4,000 a month all in for plan plus basic apps. Setup is ₹30,000 with help. Gateway fees apply in both cases, so keep them aside for a moment.

Year one on hosted looks like this. Setup ₹30,000 plus ₹48,000 for 12 months of fees. Total about ₹78,000 before gateway charges. A custom store at, say, ₹80,000 to ₹1,20,000 to build, plus ₹12,000 for hosting and domain, lands around ₹92,000 to ₹1,32,000 in year one. Hosted wins year one. That is normal.

Year two changes the picture. Hosted pays rent again, about ₹48,000. Owned pays only hosting and basic care, perhaps ₹12,000 to ₹20,000. The gap narrows.

By year three to year five, owned is often ahead in total cash paid, because rent keeps billing while owned stays flat. The crossover for a small store often sits somewhere in year two to year three, not in month three and not in year ten. The exact point moves with your plan tier, app spend and order volume.

At higher volume the maths tilts faster. If transaction-linked fees or higher plans push your hosted cost to ₹7,000 or more a month, rent alone is ₹84,000 a year. A custom build can pay back sooner. At very low volume the hosted route usually wins, because you avoid the upfront build cost and the upkeep while you are still proving the business.

Custom does not always win. If you change your range often, need many built-in sales tools, or have no one for even basic care, the rent buys you peace. If your store logic is standard and your volume is modest, renting for years can still be the right call.

Ask your developer to show this table for your own numbers. A two-line quote hides this. A one-page total for five years shows it. Do not accept a precise crossover month as fact. Treat it as a range. Your sales will move it.

Where the money is usually wasted

Paying for a huge catalogue import before anything sells. Start with 20 to 30 best items. Add the rest after they earn their place.

Buying a custom design when a clean template would convert the same. Shoppers care about clear photos, honest prices and fast checkout. They do not pay more because your banner moves.

Adding a mobile app before the website converts. An app adds build cost, store approvals and upkeep. If your mobile website does not yet sell, an app will not fix it.

Paying for SEO on a store with no products live yet. SEO needs real pages, real stock and real buying intent. Build the shelf before you pay to promote it.

Paying for features you might need later. Multi-warehouse stock, loyalty points, subscriptions and marketplaces can wait. Launch lean. Add what sales ask for.

For a plain view of what websites cost without shop logic, read our breakdown of website cost in India. It helps you see which costs belong to the site and which belong to selling online.

What you should insist on, whatever you build

A checkout that works on a mid-range Android phone on patchy mobile data. Most of your buyers will come this way. Test with a real phone, not only a laptop. If checkout needs more than a few steps, simplify it.

A payment gateway in your own name. Settlements should come to your bank account. You should hold the login. Never route customer money through someone else.

GST-compliant invoices. Match the format your CA wants. Show GSTIN, breakup and invoice series correctly. Fix this before launch, not after a buyer asks.

Product pages that load fast. Compress images. Keep one clear photo first. Add price, sizes and delivery time near the top. Do not bury the buy button under long text.

Your own domain and hosting accounts. You should own the domain, the hosting login and the store admin. At Widox, clients own everything at the end, code, domain and hosting accounts. No lock-in. Insist on this wherever you build.

A clear export of your product and customer data. You should be able to download products, orders and customer lists as a file any day. If a platform blocks export, that is rent with no exit.

Fast support when checkout breaks. Ask who fixes a failed payment page and how soon. A store that misses orders on a sale day loses more than the fix costs.

We will say plainly what we have and have not done here. Widox has built product-led sites and custom systems that handle pricing, stock and payments — including an order, costing and invoicing system for a manufacturer, and an admission portal with integrated payments. We have not yet shipped a public storefront with a live checkout. If you sell physical products, our notes for e-commerce businesses lay out how we think about catalogues, checkout and stock, and we would rather tell you that than dress up a café website as an online store.

What Widox charges

Websites from ₹15,000 in about 10 days. That covers a clean, fast site with working basics. See what is included in website development, or get a range for your own store from the website cost calculator.

A store with custom logic sits in web app territory, from ₹60,000 over 3-5 weeks. That covers custom pricing, stock logic, integrations and checkout flows that plugins cannot handle well. See what is included in web app development.

Fixed quote agreed upfront. Never hourly. You own everything at the end. Maintenance is always optional, never a condition.

If a template store fits you better than custom, we will say so. We would rather point you to the cheaper right option than sell you a build you do not need.

Share your product list, variants and shipping method. We will give you a fixed quote for your exact catalogue. Start with a chat on book a call and we will tell you plainly whether you need a store yet.