WooCommerce pricing in 2024: How much does a WooCommerce store cost

WooCommerce itself is free, but setting up a store comes with costs like hosting, domains, themes, plugins, and keeping things running, usually ranging from $200 to $1,500+ a year, depending on what you go for.

Keep reading as we examine the key costs of building and running a WooCommerce store and share some tips on how to reduce these expenses.

Cost factors of WooCommerce

Here’s a quick rundown of the must-have services needed to get a WooCommerce site up and running.

Hosting service

Web hosting is a service that stores your website’s files and makes them accessible online. It provides essential resources like storage and bandwidth to keep your WooCommerce store running smoothly and efficiently.

Web hosting costs vary depending on the provider, type, and features offered. 

Shared hosting is the most cost-effective option for small to medium websites, typically costing between $1 and $15/month. Cloud hosting provides high uptime and excellent scalability for $10 to $200/month. It’s more suitable for websites expecting high traffic volume than shared hosting, keeping your business running smoothly during peak hours.

Plus, cloud hosting provides dedicated CPU, RAM, and storage, ensuring consistent performance and painless scalability for your store’s size and product listings.

If you’re new to building websites, Hostinger’s WooCommerce hosting—recommended by WordPress.org itself—can make setting up your store much more manageable and painless.

For RM13.99–RM52.99/month, we offer the following features to help kick-start your online business:

• One-click WooCommerce setup. Set up your new online store confidently, thanks to our user-friendly AI-powered onboarding process.
• Free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This service is essential for encrypting data and ensuring your online store complies with a set of security rules (PCI DSS) designed to protect credit card information and prevent fraud during transactions.
• Free email. Build customer trust, communicate with customers directly, and expand your audience base with email marketing. 
• Free content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a network of servers spread across the globe that helps deliver your website’s content faster, no matter where your visitors are. Our in-house solution improves store performance and reduces hosting costs without needing third-party integration.
• Smart WordPress auto-updates. We ensure your website runs on the latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions for optimal performance and security.
• Daily and on-demand backups. Protect your data and simplify the recovery process for your website when technical problems occur.
• Enhanced security measures. These include DDoS protection, a firewall, a malware scanner, and a secure access manager.
• 24/7 support. Our Customer Success Team is available 24/7 to assist and answer any questions through live chat and email.

Purchasing any WooCommerce hosting plan for a 48-month term gives you three extra months, saving you more than 70%—plus, you can always upgrade your plan as your store grows without being locked into the same one for all four years.

Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try all the features at no risk.

Domain name

You’ll also need a domain name to create an online store with WordPress. Your domain name is the address of your website on the Internet, something like yourstore.com. It allows customers to discover and access your WooCommerce store. 

A good website name can also enhance your brand credibility and make your business more memorable. Hostinger provides a free domain name valued at $9.99 when you purchase an annual WooCommerce hosting plan. 

To further enhance brand visibility, consider buying a domain bundle to secure multiple domains for your business. Owning multiple domains with different top-level domains (TLDs) can protect your brand from competitors, improve SEO, and prevent losing traffic from people typing the wrong domain.

To increase your brand’s visibility and security, consider buying a domain bundle, which includes different versions of your website address, such as yourwebsite.com, yourwebsite.net, yourwebsite.org or country-specific domains like .co.uk, .ca, or .com.au. 

This helps customers find your site even if they type in the wrong address and prevents competitors from using similar names to confuse your visitors or harm your brand’s reputation.

Here’s how Hostinger’s domain bundle can help reduce WooCommerce pricing. Buying yourwebsite.com alone costs $4.99 for the first year. The bundle adds two more popular TLDs, totaling $26.97 for all three domains.

If you claim a free domain with your hosting plan, you’ll get your website name with three different TLDs—a total of four domains.

Hostinger’s domain finder lets you check if your chosen name is available and explore bundle options. Our AI domain generator can also suggest alternative names to help you lower costs even further.

Keep in mind that domain ownership isn’t permanent. Don’t let your domain expire—renew it to avoid any hiccups with your store and email and prevent someone else from grabbing it.

Premium themes

A theme is a collection of templates and design elements that determine how your WooCommerce store looks and how customers navigate it, including layouts, colors, fonts, and overall style. 

Giving your site a polished, professional look creates a strong impression on visitors and enhances their experience, which can lead to increased sales and higher conversion rates.

There are many free themes to choose from, but opting for a paid WooCommerce theme offers several benefits.

Paid WooCommerce themes often include advanced features like pre-built checkout pages, enhanced eCommerce functionality, extensive customization options, and dedicated support to help you create a unique and seamless shopping experience. 

They’re also updated regularly to stay compatible with the latest WooCommerce and WordPress versions as well as address any potential security vulnerabilities.

Premium theme pricing ranges from $2 to $200/year, depending on the level of customization, built-in features, and the developer’s reputation. The cost for custom themes with features and styles tailored to your needs can be significantly higher.

Let’s compare two of the best WooCommerce themes to give you a better idea—Botiga and Artemis.

Botiga, a freemium eCommerce theme, offers a yearly subscription starting at $59 or lifetime access for a one-time payment from $199. The number of websites using the theme and additional tools like a white label plugin can increase the price to over $199/year.

In comparison, Artemis offers two types of licenses based on the theme’s use. Those using the theme for personal projects can purchase the regular license for $59/website, with extended support available for an additional $17. Developers looking to use it in their projects and sell them must get the extended license for $3,550.

Premium plugins

Plugins are add-ons that enhance your WooCommerce store, allowing you to add features and optimize performance. They help with various tasks, such as managing inventory, processing payments, and improving SEO.

WordPress and WooCommerce provide an extensive library of free and paid plugins and extensions to scale your website. Free plugins offer basic functionality, while premium ones include extra tools, regular updates, and technical support.

Premium plugins can range in cost from as little as $2 to as much as $1,000/year. Pricing options vary from one-time fees to monthly or annual subscriptions. The total cost for plugins varies based on how many you install, with most business websites typically using between five and 30 plugins.

See our picks for the best WooCommerce plugins to assess features for your online store and budget your expenses.

Payment gateway fees

Online stores that accept credit cards, debit cards, or digital wallet payments must cover transaction fees, which are the costs associated with securely processing these payments.

Payment gateways usually charge 2% to 3% of each transaction plus a small fixed fee. Transaction fees can vary based on your chosen gateway and your sales volume. Some gateways offer discounted rates for businesses with high sales, while others have plans tailored to your needs.

Let’s look at two of the most popular WooCommerce payment gateways to give you an idea. PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per local transaction for U.S.-issued cards. Meanwhile, Square uses a subscription system and reduces the fees to 2.6% + $0.30 per online transaction for users on its highest-tier plan.

Security

Although WordPress and WooCommerce include built-in security features, these may not be sufficient to protect against all online threats, such as hacking and data breaches.

Enhancing your store’s security ensures that sensitive information, like credit card details and personal data, remains safe. A secure store also helps prevent potential financial losses and damage to your brand’s reputation.

Consider investing in these critical areas for better WordPress security.

Download WordPress security checklist

SSL certificates

An SSL certificate confirms that your website is authentic and encrypts any data shared between you and your visitors, such as passwords or payment information.

Fortunately, many hosting providers bundle SSL certificates with their hosting plans. With Hostinger, you automatically receive free lifetime SSL certificates for all your domains and subdomains when purchasing any WooCommerce hosting plans.

Some SSL certificates with more advanced validation and features can range from $8 to $1,000/year, depending on the type and level of validation. Check out our guide for a complete breakdown of SSL certificate prices.

WordPress security plugins

Security plugins add features such as firewall protection, login monitoring, and regular security scans to protect your online store from malware, brute force attacks, and unauthorized access. 

Some plugins have additional security functions that affect pricing, such as maintenance mode, which restricts access during updates, automatic fixes for common issues, and scheduled scans.

Popular WordPress security plugins like Wordfence and Sucuri often offer free and premium versions, with premium plans costing $30 to $1,000/year.

Website backups

Website backups safeguard your WooCommerce store against data loss caused by hacking, server failures, or accidental removal. Regular backups let you restore your site quickly, preventing potential traffic and sales loss from prolonged downtime.

Many hosting providers offer backup services as part of their hosting plans. Hostinger provides free backups on all hosting plans, with backup frequency varying from weekly to daily and on-demand based on the plan.

Alternatively, you can invest in WordPress backup and migration plugins like UpdraftPlus and Solid Backups for $50 to $400/year.

Website development

Website development costs cover creating and customizing your WooCommerce store’s design, functionality, and user experience. You have two main options—using a page builder plugin or hiring a WordPress developer.

Using page builder plugins

One of the benefits of using open-source software like WordPress is that you can access and modify its source code to fit your needs. However, even if you’re not tech-savvy, page builder plugins and custom WooCommerce themes can help you design unique websites without coding.

Popular WordPress page builder plugins like SeedProd and WPBakery offer drag-and-drop functionality, templates, and widgets for customizing themes and creating pages without writing a single line of code. They allow users of all skill levels to modify the look of their WooCommerce store, making them ideal for a do-it-yourself approach.

Many page builder plugins have free versions, but premium features are available through paid plans ranging from $20 to $350/year. Some plugins also offer one-time purchase options.

Hiring a WordPress developer

You can tweak the source code without any coding know-how, but having a professional developer on board for a more elaborate website with advanced custom features can make a big difference. 

This is especially handy for business owners who want a more customized solution and just don’t have the time to build or manage it themselves.

The salary range for web developers varies based on location, skill set, and experience. To give you a better idea, the average salary for a WordPress developer in the U.S. is $41/hour. 

Building a small to medium-sized WooCommerce store with a custom design can take days or even weeks. Based on this, hiring a WordPress developer could cost hundreds to thousands of U.S. dollars, depending on their hourly rate and the project’s complexity.

Website maintenance

With WordPress being a self-hosted platform, some back end tasks like software updates, performance monitoring, security checks, and search engine optimization (SEO) usually need attention to keep a WooCommerce site running smoothly. 

The good news? If you’re using our Managed WooCommerce hosting, we take care of these tasks for you, so you can focus on growing your business.

Maintaining a WooCommerce store by yourself might require some technical knowledge, which can be intimidating for non-technical business owners. Fortunately, plugins and tools provided by web hosts can simplify and even automate many maintenance tasks.

For example, Hostinger offers a Smart WordPress Automatic Updates feature that allows you to roll back to a specific version using a backup. This feature monitors the WordPress core, plugins, and themes for any changes, all without needing to access the WordPress dashboard.

Hostinger also equips its WordPress users with the AI Troubleshooter, automatically detecting and fixing critical website errors. This tool leverages AI to help users without technical expertise troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly, saving valuable time and money.

Optimize your eCommerce store for search engines by using Hostinger’s AI Content Creator to create SEO-friendly content for landing pages. This tool, accessible to Hostinger clients on the Business plan and above, can also suggest images to accompany the content—perfect for product pages and blog posts.

Hostinger also offers a WordPress compatibility checker and a vulnerability scanner on all WooCommerce hosting plans, minimizing technical issues from disrupting your business operations.

For custom-built websites, hiring a professional is usually a good idea since the unique features and code often require an expert to handle updates and fixes. It also relieves business owners’ burdens, letting them relax and focus on other things. However, these options can get quite pricey.

How much does it cost to build and maintain a WooCommerce store

To better understand WooCommerce pricing, we’ll explore the costs of building different website sizes. This should help you plan your budget more effectively and make informed decisions about the tools and services that align with your goals.

WooCommerce pricing for a small-scale store

Here’s the cost estimation for building a small-scale WooCommerce store with basic functionality. This type of store typically has around ten products, a small number of pages, and low traffic.

Cost factor	Description	Estimated cost
Hosting service	Shared hosting for basic WooCommerce stores	$1-$15/month
Domain name	Annual registration fees for one domain	$0-$20/first year
Premium themes	Free or basic premium themes	$0-$50/year
Premium plugins	Essential plugins for basic functionality	$0-$200/year
Payment gateway fees	In-person transactions with cash and local payment methods	0% to 3% per transaction
Security	Security plugins with core features and basic SSL	$0-$100/year
Website development	DIY using page builder plugins	$0-$350
Website maintenance	Self-maintenance	Free (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated Cost	Excluding transaction and renewal fees	$75-$920/year

Cost-saving tips

Instead of choosing a basic shared hosting plan with limited resources and features, consider WooCommerce hosting. This type of hosting offers optimized performance, security, and support specifically designed for WooCommerce stores at a similar price.

For small businesses, Hostinger’s WooCommerce Business hosting plan offers excellent value for money.

In addition to free domain registration and email, this plan provides resources for up to 100 websites and 100,000 monthly visits for only RM13.99/month, giving your eCommerce store plenty of room to grow.

Additionally, consider starting with free themes and plugins to keep your initial costs low. While free options may have fewer features than paid ones, they still provide the essentials for launching your new store.

This approach helps save your budget for other important areas like security and marketing. As your business grows and your needs expand, you can gradually invest in premium or custom solutions.

WooCommerce pricing for a mid-sized store

The following table estimates the cost of setting up a mid-sized WooCommerce store. This type of store usually offers a larger product range, has more pages, and handles moderate traffic levels.

Cost factor	Description	Estimated cost
Hosting service	VPS or cloud hosting for advanced WooCommerce stores	$10-$200/month
Domain name	Annual registration fees for 3-10 domains	$10-$200/first year
Premium themes	Premium themes with advanced customization options	$50-$150/year
Premium plugins	Advanced plugins for additional functionality	$200-$500/year
Payment gateway fees	Local and international payment methods	2% to 3% per transaction
Security	Advanced security plugins and multi-domain SSL certificates	$100-$400/year
Website development	Page builder combined with developer assistance	$500-$2,000
Website maintenance	Professional maintenance services	$50-$150/month (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated Cost	Excluding transaction and renewal fees	$1,420-$6,550/year

Cost-saving tips

Both VPS and cloud hosting services are popular among many mid-sized eCommerce sites. However, cloud hosting is a better option for non-technical business owners as the web host handles server and website maintenance.

Hostinger offers two cloud hosting plans optimized for WooCommerce stores: Startup (RM36.99/month) and Professional (RM52.99/month). Both plans can support up to 300 websites, but the Professional plan provides more resources to handle up to 300,000 monthly visits—100,000 more than the Startup plan.

Reduce your WooCommerce cost even more by purchasing Hostinger’s domain bundle to secure your website name with popular extensions. Our automatic domain renewal ensures you don’t lose ownership of your domains due to human error.

WooCommerce pricing for a large-scale store

Here’s the cost breakdown for building a large-scale WooCommerce store. Online stores of this size usually display a large number of products and pages and anticipate high traffic volumes.

They often include advanced features, custom integrations, and enhanced security measures to meet the demands of a growing business.

Cost factor	Description	Estimated cost
Hosting service	VPS or dedicated hosting for high-traffic WooCommerce stores	$20-$500/month
Domain name	Annual registration fees for 12-25 domains	$250-$1,500/first year
Premium themes	Custom-built themes	$200-$500
Premium plugins	Specialized plugins for advanced functionality	$500-$1,000/year
Payment gateway fees	International payment methods	2% to 3% + additional fees per transaction
Security	Comprehensive security solutions and multi-domain SSL certificates	$300-$1,100/year
Website development	Custom development by developers	$2,000-$10,000
Website maintenance	Full maintenance services	$400-$1,500/month (excluding renewal fees for subscription-based tools and web services)
Total Estimated Cost	Excluding transaction and renewal fees	$6,450-$30,700/year

Cost-saving tips

For large-scale WooCommerce stores that have outgrown cloud hosting, Hostinger offers VPS hosting with more server resources to handle high traffic. This hosting type provides an outstanding cost, performance, and control balance compared to dedicated hosting.

Our VPS hosting plans are self-managed and include Hostinger’s AI assistant, Kodee, to streamline maintenance and troubleshooting. Ranging from RM23.99 to RM89.99/month, you also receive free automatic backups and snapshots for quick restoration, VPS templates for WordPress and other software installations, and advanced security measures.

By selecting a data center near your target audience from multiple global locations, your online store can deliver content faster, ensuring a better customer experience.

Tips to control WooCommerce cost

Follow our tips to reduce your WooCommerce costs and maximize your investment:

• Choose a hosting provider that offers a free domain with its plans. This will save you domain registration fees for the first year and make managing both services easier.
• Use free WooCommerce extensions. Explore free trials before committing to paid plugins.
• Consolidate plugins. Consider all-in-one solutions to avoid investing in numerous plugins, which can slow your website down. For example, JetPack provides security tools, performance optimization, and backup features, saving you from installing additional plugins for those tasks.
• Look for alternative TLDs. If you have a limited budget for domain names, explore various combinations of keywords and domain extensions to reduce costs. Choosing less common TLDs can often be a more cost-effective option.
• Plan your purchases around major shopping events. Many companies offer significant discounts on web services during major sales events like Black Friday and New Year.
• Regularly review subscriptions. Cancel subscriptions you no longer need or use to avoid paying for unused services.
• Start with free themes. As your business grows and its needs expand, you can invest in paid or custom-built themes.

Conclusion

WooCommerce is a robust option for creating an online store. While it is often advertised as free, setting up a WordPress site as its foundation will require a carefully calculated budget.

The cost of WooCommerce varies based on the size and complexity of the store you want to build. If you’re just starting out or on a tight budget, focus on obtaining essential web services like web hosting and a domain name and scale up as your business grows.

One of the benefits of using WooCommerce is that it’s self-hosted and open-source, allowing you to extend its functionality and appearance as needed. 

We hope this article helps you better understand WooCommerce costs and decide if it’s the right platform for your online business. If you still have questions, check out the FAQ section or leave a comment below.

WooCommerce pricing FAQ