What does an online shop really cost to run?
Eight ecommerce platforms priced by what a month actually costs at your sales level: the subscription, plus any cut of sales, plus the card fees. The card fees are the biggest part, and they're the part most comparisons leave out.
Last checked: 8 Nov 2026 · every price and card rate read off the platform's own page · subscriptions before VAT · no affiliate links
If you only need a site that takes a few payments, see what a website builder really costs.
Jump to: the short answer · how the totals are worked out
The short answer
Card fees, not subscriptions, are the real cost. At £10,000 a month in sales the card fees are £195 to £262.50 on every platform here, against subscriptions of £0 to £36 a month (BigCommerce's Scale, $399, aside). At £50,000 they are £887.50 to £1,300.
£1,000 a month: WooCommerce is lowest at £21.25, but that is before hosting (Woo's own estimate is $25–$350 a month) and before the 20% VAT WooPayments adds to its fees unless you're VAT-registered. Next are Big Cartel at about £31.21, on Stripe's card rate as Big Cartel quotes it, Square Online £40.25 and Wix £42 (both billed yearly). Of the month-to-month plans with their own payments, Squarespace Core is £50.25, BigCommerce Core about £50.64 and Shopify Basic £51.25.
£10,000 a month: Big Cartel about £211.21 (Stripe's rate) and WooCommerce £212.50 (before hosting), then Square Online £222.50 (billed yearly), Squarespace Plus £268.50, Wix £276 (billed yearly), Shopify Basic and Ecwid £287.50. BigCommerce is about £493.10, because shops over $100K of sales a year are moved onto its $399 Scale plan.
£50,000 a month: Square Online Premium £951.50 (billed yearly), Big Cartel about £1,011.21 (Stripe's rate), WooCommerce £1,062.50 (before hosting), Squarespace Advanced £1,151.50, Shopify Grow £1,227.50. BigCommerce is dearest at about £1,453.97, with its 0.9% fee on monthly GMV above $33,333.
Using another payment provider costs extra on two platforms: Shopify charges a 2% third-party transaction fee on Basic, and BigCommerce a 2% Open Payment Provider Fee on Core, on top of that provider's own fees.
Dearer plans pay for themselves through lower card rates. Squarespace Core beats Basic, which takes 2% of store sales, above £400 a month in sales; Plus beats Core above £4,000 and Advanced beats Plus above £26,500. Shopify Grow beats Basic above about £13,333, and Square Premium beats Plus above 440 orders a month.
Four pages open on yearly prices. Billed monthly, Shopify Basic is £25, not £19; Squarespace Core £24, not £17 before VAT; Ecwid Venture £35, not £29; BigCommerce Core $39, not $29. Shopify's intro offer is £1 a month for 3 months, then £25, and its £0 "Agentic" plan sells only in AI chat channels, not on a website.
Wix's 4% isn't on shop sales. Its plan table lists a 4% "Pricing Plans" fee on Core, but that is Wix's app for memberships and subscriptions; no fee on shop products is listed.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Foreign and premium cards cost more. Shopify charges 3.1% + 25p for international and Amex cards on Basic; Squarespace adds 1% for international cards; WooPayments adds 2% for international cards; Square charges 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards. A shop selling abroad pays more than these totals.
- Product limits differ. Big Cartel's Platinum holds 50 products and Diamond 500; Ecwid's Venture 100; Shopify, BigCommerce and Square Online don't cap them.
- WooCommerce is the most work. It runs on your own WordPress hosting, which you choose and pay for, and paid extensions are $29–$299 a year each.
- BigCommerce moves you up as you grow. Core runs to $30K of sales a year and Growth to $100K; past that a shop is moved onto Scale automatically.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each platform's pricing page and help centre in a real browser, picked monthly billing where the page offered it, and copied the sentence behind every price and card rate; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used, and worked out every total.
This page replaces an older list of ecommerce platforms on this site. There are no affiliate links on this page and nothing on it earns a commission.
How the totals are worked out
total a month = subscription + the platform's own transaction fee + its own UK online card rate, at £1,000 / £10,000 / £50,000 of sales a month and a £40 average order (25 / 250 / 1,250 orders)
- The shop rule: a plan counts only if it runs an online shop on your own domain, takes card payments online and lists at least 50 products.
- The plan: the cheapest qualifying plan at each sales level, so a dearer plan with a lower card rate wins at higher sales.
- VAT: subscriptions are before VAT (Squarespace shows its prices with VAT, so they are divided by 1.2; Shopify, Square and Big Cartel don't say); card fees are as each platform publishes them.
- Billing: month to month, except Wix and Square Online, which publish only yearly-billed prices.
| Platform | £1,000 a month | £10,000 a month | £50,000 a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Cartelno payment processor of its own; Platinum holds 50 products | £31.21Platinum $15 (about £11.21) + card fees £20 at Stripe's 1.5% + 20p, as quoted in Big Cartel's help centre | £211.21Platinum $15 (about £11.21) + card fees £200 at Stripe's rate, as Big Cartel quotes it | £1,011.21Platinum $15 (about £11.21) + card fees £1,000 at Stripe's rate, as Big Cartel quotes it |
| WooCommerceruns on your own WordPress hosting; paid extensions $29–$299 a year each | £21.25Free plugin + card fees £21.25 (WooPayments 1.5% + 25p). Hosting not included (Woo's estimate $25–$350 a month), and WooPayments adds 20% VAT to its fees unless you're VAT-registered | £212.50Free plugin + card fees £212.50. Hosting not included ($25–$350 a month), and 20% VAT on WooPayments fees unless VAT-registered | £1,062.50Free plugin + card fees £1,062.50. Hosting not included ($25–$350 a month), and 20% VAT on WooPayments fees unless VAT-registered |
| Square OnlinePremium's 15p fixed fee beats Plus above 440 orders a month | £40.25Plus £20, billed yearly, monthly not published (your own domain needs an annual plan) + card fees £20.25 (1.4% + 25p) | £222.50Plus £20, billed yearly, monthly not published + card fees £202.50 (1.4% + 25p) | £951.50Premium £64, billed yearly, monthly not published + card fees £887.50 (1.4% + 15p) |
| Squarespaceits page shows prices with VAT; these are before VAT | £50.25Core £24 before VAT (shown as £28.80 with it) + card fees £26.25 (2% + 25p); Basic, with its 2% store fee, would be £62.25 | £268.50Plus £36 before VAT (shown as £43.20) + card fees £232.50 (1.7% + 25p) | £1,151.50Advanced £89 before VAT (shown as £106.80) + card fees £1,062.50 (1.5% + 25p) |
| Wixits 4% 'Pricing Plans' fee is for memberships and subscriptions, not shop products | £42.00Core £16, billed yearly, monthly not published + card fees £26 (2.1% + 20p) | £276.00Core £16, billed yearly, monthly not published + card fees £260 (2.1% + 20p) | £1,316.00Core £16, billed yearly, monthly not published + card fees £1,300 (2.1% + 20p) |
| Shopifyanother payment provider adds 2% on Basic; intro offer £1 a month for 3 months, then £25 | £51.25Basic £25 + card fees £26.25 (2% + 25p, Shopify Payments) | £287.50Basic £25 + card fees £262.50 (2% + 25p) | £1,227.50Grow £65 + card fees £1,162.50 (1.7% + 25p); Basic would be £1,337.50 |
| EcwidStarter (£5) holds 10 products on a company.site address, so Venture is the first that counts | £60.25Venture £35 + card fees £25.25 (Lightspeed Payments 1.9% + 25p) | £287.50Venture £35 + card fees £252.50 (1.9% + 25p) | £1,297.50Venture £35 + card fees £1,262.50 (1.9% + 25p) |
| BigCommercepriced in dollars; another payment provider adds 2% on Core; card rates 'indicative, not guaranteed' | £50.64Core $39 (about £29.14) + card fees £21.50 (1.4% + 30p, a rate BigCommerce calls 'indicative') | £493.10Scale $399 (about £298.10): shops over $100K of sales a year are moved onto Scale + card fees £195 (1.2% + 30p) | £1,453.97Scale $399 + 0.9% of monthly GMV above $33,333 ($242.09, about £180.87) + card fees £975 (1.2% + 30p) |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 2026-11-06 (the latest published: 8 November 2026 is a Sunday and the ECB publishes on working days only): 1 EUR = 0.83415 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1165 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74711 GBP.
Left out: Etsy — a marketplace, not your own shop: a 6.5% transaction fee on price plus delivery, Etsy Payments at 4% + 20p, $0.20 a listing and 12% or 15% on Offsite Ads orders, about 10.5% + 20p of a £40 order; Shopify Plus — from £1,800 a month; BigCommerce Performance — from $1,499 a month, billed annually; Wix Enterprise — sold by demo, no published price; Square's custom plans — contact sales, for businesses processing over £200k a year.
There are no affiliate links on this page. Shopify, Ecwid, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace and Square run affiliate programmes; this site hasn't joined any of them. The research is done by AI agents reading each platform's own pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest ecommerce platform for a small UK shop?
Counting card fees, at £1,000 a month in sales WooCommerce is lowest at £21.25, but that is before hosting (Woo's own estimate is $25–$350 a month). Big Cartel is about £31.21 on Stripe's card rate, and Square Online £40.25 billed yearly. Of the month-to-month plans with their own payments, Squarespace Core is £50.25 and Shopify Basic £51.25.
How much does Shopify really cost per month?
Basic is £25 a month billed monthly (£19 billed yearly), plus card fees of 2% + 25p with Shopify Payments: about £51.25 in total at £1,000 a month in sales and £287.50 at £10,000. Above about £13,333 a month, Grow (£65, 1.7% + 25p) is cheaper: £1,227.50 at £50,000.
Does Shopify charge extra for using another payment provider?
Yes: a 2% third-party transaction fee on Basic, on top of that provider's own fees. BigCommerce charges a 2% Open Payment Provider Fee on Core.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The plugin is free with no subscription, but hosting isn't included (Woo puts it at $25–$350 a month) and paid extensions are $29–$299 a year each. WooPayments card fees are 1.5% + 25p, £212.50 at £10,000 a month in sales, and it adds 20% VAT to its fees unless you're VAT-registered.
Answers use the figures on this page, last checked 8 Nov 2026.