In short: building an online store in the Netherlands costs between €3,000 for a Shopify store on a customized theme and €50,000 or more for a headless or B2B store with ERP integration. Most small-business online stores cost €7,500 to €20,000 excl. VAT. On top come platform, apps, payment fees and maintenance: €250 to €800 per month.
Costs per platform: Shopify, WooCommerce, Lightspeed or custom
The platform sets more than your monthly bill: it decides how many build hours you need and what an integration costs later. These are the ranges we see in Dutch quotes in 2026, excluding VAT, content and photography.
| Platform | Build cost (one-off) | Platform and apps (per month) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify, customized theme | €3,000 – 8,000 | €21 – 78 plan + €30 – 150 apps | Starters, D2C brands, fast launch |
| Shopify, custom theme and integrations | €8,000 – 25,000 | €59 – 289 plan + apps | Growing stores, multilingual, light B2B |
| WooCommerce | €4,000 – 15,000 | €25 – 80 hosting + €30 – 120 plugins | Content-driven stores, full control |
| Lightspeed eCom | €3,000 – 10,000 | €49 – 189 | Physical stores with POS and online store |
| Headless or custom (Next.js with Shopify, Medusa or Saleor) | €25,000 – 75,000+ | €100 – 500 hosting and services | Large catalogs, several countries, custom logic |
| B2B online store, on any platform | €15,000 – 50,000 | depends on platform | Wholesale, dealer portals, tiered pricing |
Shopify's plans in the Netherlands (September 2026): Basic €28 per month or €21 billed annually, Grow €78 or €59, Advanced €384 or €289, Plus from €2,100 per month. WooCommerce is free as a plugin; you pay for hosting, premium plugins and your builder's hours. Lightspeed eCom costs €49 to €189 per month depending on catalog size.
One-off versus monthly: the 3-year cost
Comparing build costs without monthly costs is pointless. Always calculate the total over 3 years. An example for a store with 800 products, €300,000 in annual revenue and a €9,500 custom theme:
- Shopify Grow: plan €59 × 36 = €2,124, apps €60 × 36 = €2,160, build €9,500, maintenance and optimization €249 × 36 = €8,964. Total €22,748.
- WooCommerce: build €9,500, hosting €40 × 36 = €1,440, premium plugins €500 per year = €1,500, maintenance €249 × 36 = €8,964. Total €21,404.
The gap is small. The platform subscription is rarely more than 10% of your total; build and maintenance shape the picture. So choose on functionality, integrations and who will manage it, not on the license fee. How that choice plays out is in Shopify vs WooCommerce.
Add payment fees to both: at 6,000 orders per year, 70% iDEAL and 30% card, you pay roughly €3,300 per year to your payment provider.
Line items everyone forgets
- Payment provider. iDEAL costs €0.29 per transaction through Shopify Payments or Mollie, card payments 1.6 to 1.9% plus €0.25, Klarna and PayPal more. If you use an external provider such as Mollie on Shopify, Shopify adds 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow) or 0.6% (Advanced) per order.
- Wero. iDEAL is being folded into the European Wero wallet. Since the first quarter of 2026 the combined iDEAL | Wero logo is mandatory at checkout, from the fourth quarter of 2026 the first stores move to a Wero contract and by the end of 2027 the iDEAL name disappears. Check that your provider and plugin support it. More in iDEAL becomes Wero.
- Integrations. Exact Online or AFAS for accounting, Picqer or Sendcloud for fulfillment, Channable for bol.com and Google Shopping. Through an app €20 to €100 per month, as custom work €1,500 to €5,000 per integration. See integrations and automation and the worked example of an Exact Online integration.
- Product photography and content. €15 to €60 per product for packshots, plus copy per category. At 500 products that is €7,500 to €30,000, often more than the store itself.
- Accessibility. Since June 28, 2025 online stores run by companies with 10 or more employees or more than €2 million in revenue must comply with the European Accessibility Act (EAA). In March 2026 the Dutch regulator ACM tested the 100 largest Dutch online stores: on 61% a person with a disability could not place an order. Offenders get 3 months to fix it; fines can reach €900,000 or 1% of revenue. A WCAG audit costs €950 to €2,950, remediation €2,000 to €25,000. Read the European Accessibility Act checklist.
- Legal. Terms and conditions, privacy statement and a compliant cookie banner: €500 to €1,500 once, or through a trustmark such as Thuiswinkel Waarborg.
- Migration. Products, customers, orders and 301 redirects from the old store: €1,000 to €5,000.
- Email marketing. Klaviyo or Mailchimp grows with your list: €20 to €300 per month.
B2C or B2B online store?
A consumer store sells to everyone at 1 price. A B2B online store needs accounts with approval, customer-specific prices and tiers, reverse-charged VAT with VAT number validation, order lists, fast reordering, payment on invoice or by direct debit and an ERP integration. That costs €15,000 to €50,000. On Shopify, full B2B only lives in Plus (from €2,100 per month); below that you work with apps. WooCommerce handles it with plugins such as B2BKing, or with custom code. What a B2B online store really needs is covered separately.
What decides whether you pay €5,000 or €25,000?
- Catalog. 50 products without variants, or 5,000 products with sizes, colors, filters and a configurator.
- Design. A customized standard theme or a custom theme built from your brand.
- Integrations. None, 1, or 3 or more systems that need to talk in real time.
- Migration. Starting fresh or moving an existing store with its rankings.
- Multilingual and multi-currency. Shopify Markets or WPML, with content translated per language.
- B2B features. See above.
- Content. Who writes the copy and shoots the photos.
- Standards. Accessibility, speed and security as delivery requirements, or only after a complaint.
Rule of thumb: every extra 'yes' on this list moves you up one price bracket.
Example: an online store with an Exact Online integration
A home furnishings store with 800 products, selling to consumers and to 40 business customers, accounting in Exact Online, shipping through Sendcloud. The retail case we see most often. The quote:
- Shopify Grow, custom theme based on Horizon, 800 products, filters, NL and EN: €9,500
- Exact Online integration for orders, customers, VAT and stock: €3,950
- Sendcloud and Mollie through existing apps, setup and testing: €500
- Migration of the old store: products, customers and 301 redirects: €1,500
- WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility check and fixes in the theme: €950
Total €16,400 excl. VAT, live in 8 weeks. Ongoing: Shopify Grow €59, apps about €80 and maintenance €249, roughly €390 per month plus payment fees.
RABZI estimate: an online store from RABZI starts at €7,500 excl. VAT (Launch: Shopify or WooCommerce, tailored theme, payment and shipping integration), from €14,500 for Growth (custom theme, accounting and fulfillment integrations, B2B) and from €29,500 for Flagship (headless, ERP or PIM, multi-store). Live in 6 to 12 weeks at a fixed price. See online stores and e-commerce or the pricing.
How to compare online store quotes
- Which platform and plan, and why it fits your catalog
- Customized theme or custom theme, and how many design rounds
- Which integrations are included, by name, direction (1-way or 2-way) and frequency
- Payment methods, including Wero readiness, and who contracts the provider
- Migration of products, customers and URLs, with a redirect plan
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) and speed as delivery requirements
- Monthly costs after launch: plan, apps, hosting, maintenance
- Ownership of theme, code, data and accounts
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Shopify store cost to build? A Shopify store on a customized theme costs €3,000 to €8,000 excl. VAT. A custom theme with accounting and fulfillment integrations costs €8,000 to €25,000. On top you pay €21 to €289 per month for Shopify itself plus apps and payment fees.
How much does a WooCommerce store cost? WooCommerce itself is free. The build costs €4,000 to €15,000 excl. VAT depending on theme, catalog and integrations. Budget €25 to €80 per month for good hosting, €30 to €120 for premium plugins and a maintenance contract for updates and security.
What does an online store cost per month? An average small-business online store costs €250 to €800 per month: platform or hosting, apps or plugins, maintenance and email marketing. Payment fees come on top and scale with revenue, roughly 1 to 1.5% with a Dutch mix of iDEAL and card.
Should I build the store myself? For a test with 20 products a standard Shopify theme is fine and only costs you time. Once you need integrations, multiple languages, B2B or serious SEO, a professional build pays for itself in conversion and less manual work.
Conclusion
In 2026 an online store costs between €3,000 and €50,000, and most small-business stores land between €7,500 and €20,000. The platform subscription is the smallest item; build, integrations, content and maintenance make the difference. Calculate over 3 years, include accessibility and Wero, and compare quotes on what is included. Want a concrete estimate for your store? Book an intro call and receive a fixed price within 2 business days.