Shopify development cost calculator. Priced by scope.
Five answers about the store you want on launch day. Back come a build range, a launch timeline and a year-one running cost, with every figure traced to a published source.
On this page
Five answers in. Three numbers out.
Answer for the store you want on launch day. The result updates as you go, and the breakdown under it shows which answer added what.
Build plus year one: $19,068 to $62,468
- Storefront: custom themeStarts you in the custom store band$15,000 to $50,000
- Shopify Basic plan, 12 months$468
- Apps, 12 months$2,400 to $7,200
- Third-party tools, 12 months$1,200 to $4,800
- Maintenance retainernot included
Planning ranges in US dollars. The method and the source of every figure are below.
How the estimate adds up.
The calculator does not multiply hours by a rate. It places your store on a ladder of price bands for whole projects, then adds the one piece of work that sits outside every band.
- Your storefront sets the starting band. A configured Theme Store theme starts at the bottom of the ladder; a Hydrogen storefront starts near the top.
- Each requirement names the band that can carry it. If that band sits above where you are, the estimate climbs to it and the breakdown shows the step in dollars. If it sits at or below your band, it is already covered and adds nothing.
- A platform migration is added on top. It is its own workstream, not a task tacked onto the end of a build, so it is never folded into a band. Its cost goes on top of the build, but the timeline shown is for the build alone.
The theme-based, custom, advanced or B2B, and Plus or enterprise bands carry the same prices as the project table in the Shopify development pricing guide written by our team, and every timeline on the ladder comes from that guide. The headless band is only half from the guide: the guide puts complex headless projects at $100,000 or more and gives no ceiling, so the $250,000+ top of the band is the Headless and Hydrogen tier this page published before. The same earlier figures fill the other gaps the guide leaves: the price of a reskinned theme, the migrations and the monthly running costs. Nothing else goes in.
The ladder
| band | build cost | time to launch | what puts you there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theme-based store | $5,000 to $15,000 | 2 to 6 weeks | A Theme Store theme, set up and configured |
| Reskinned theme | $6,000 to $15,000 | 2 to 6 weeks | A Theme Store theme reskinned with brand sections |
| Custom store | $15,000 to $50,000 | 6 to 12 weeks | A custom theme |
| Advanced or B2B | $50,000 to $100,000+ | 3 to 5 months | Complex catalog data, 3PL or warehouse sync, B2B accounts, custom checkout rules, a custom app or workflow |
| Headless | $100,000 to $250,000+ | 4 to 7 months | A Hydrogen storefront |
| Plus or enterprise | $100,000 to $300,000+ | 4 to 9 months | ERP or CRM sync, more than one storefront |
A plus sign means the band is open at the top, so the calculator carries the plus sign into your total. Every figure is in US dollars, and the bands taken from the pricing guide are US market ranges. The reskinned theme price and the $250,000+ headless ceiling come from this page's earlier figures, not the guide, and the reskinned theme uses the theme-based store's timeline because neither source gives it one of its own.
The steps between bands are large because the work behind them is. On this page's effort figures, a custom theme is 80 to 160 hours of design, Liquid and section building. Checkout extensions, Shopify Functions and B2B company accounts each add 60 to 200 hours. An ERP integration with NetSuite, SAP or Microsoft Dynamics takes 80 to 300 hours and is usually the single biggest line on a Plus build.
At the other end, a Shopify Theme Store theme costs $200 to $400 once plus 8 to 20 hours of setup, and a standard app such as Klaviyo, Recharge, Judge.me or Loox takes 2 to 8 hours to install. That is why installing them sits inside every band instead of appearing as an answer. Subscription logic that goes beyond the install is a different matter: the pricing guide rates it a moderate to high cost, and the calculator does not price it.
What rides on top
+$15,000 to $50,000
Assumes a 301 redirect plan and attribute mapping. Lower than Magento because WooCommerce data extracts more cleanly.
+$40,000 to $120,000
For a mid-market store with 5,000 to 50,000 SKUs moving to Shopify Plus
Not priced here
Needs a data audit first
The Magento figure is for a mid-market store with 5,000 to 50,000 SKUs moving to Shopify Plus. Both figures assume a real 301 redirect plan, attribute mapping and 90 days of search monitoring after launch, so the calculator flags those 90 days under the timeline. That timeline is for the build alone and leaves the migration workstream out. Any other source platform stays out of the total: until someone audits it, the platform and the quality of its data are the biggest unknowns in the project. Our Shopify migration service covers how that audit runs.
What stays out
- Transaction and payment fees. They depend on your sales, so they appear in the table below and not in the total.
- The revenue-linked part of Plus pricing, for the same reason.
- A migration from any platform other than WooCommerce or Magento.
- The time a migration takes. The timeline is for the build alone.
- Subscription logic that goes beyond installing a standard app.
- Content production such as product photography and copy, which has no line of its own here.
The monthly bill after launch.
The year-one figure takes the monthly lines for the plan you pick and multiplies them by twelve. Basic, Grow and Advanced use the standard plan column; both Plus terms use the Plus column. The retainer only counts if you tick it.
| item | standard plan | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify subscription | $39-$399/mo | $2,300/mo on a three-year term, $2,500/mo on one year (or 0.25%-0.4% of revenue) |
| Apps (Klaviyo, Recharge, reviews and similar) | $200-$600/mo | $800-$3,000/mo |
| Third-party tools (analytics, CDN, monitoring) | $100-$400/mo | $500-$2,000/mo |
| Maintenance retainer | $1K-$3K/mo (optional) | $5K-$15K/mo (typical) |
| Transaction fees (non-Shopify Payments) | 0.5-2% | 0.15% |
Transaction fees and the revenue-linked Plus fee scale with sales, so the calculator leaves them out of the year-one figure.
Before you trust the number.
How close will this range be to a real quote?
Close enough to budget with, not close enough to sign. The bands are planning ranges, and the pricing guide most of them come from says the same about its own figures. Most of the spread comes from things a form cannot see: how clean your product data is, how many rules your checkout carries, and how well your ERP's API behaves. A scoped quote replaces the range with one number once those are known.
Why does the calculator use price bands instead of an hourly rate?
Hours times a rate only works once the hours are known, and before scoping they are not. The bands are ranges for whole projects rather than for one developer's time, so the calculator assumes no hourly rate at all. Where this page quotes effort in hours, such as 80 to 300 hours for an ERP integration, it shows that as context for why a band costs what it does and never converts it into dollars.
What does the calculator leave out?
Transaction and payment fees, and the revenue-linked part of Plus pricing, because both depend on your sales. A migration from any platform other than WooCommerce or Magento, which needs a data audit before anyone can price it. The time any migration takes, since the timeline is for the build alone. Subscription logic that goes beyond installing a standard app. Content production such as product photography and copy. Everything the calculator does count is listed line by line under the result.
Why did one answer move the range so much?
Because some answers change which band your store belongs in, not just how much work sits inside it. Ticking ERP or CRM sync on a custom store moves it to the Plus or enterprise band, a step of $85,000 at the low end and $250,000 at the high end. If a requirement is not certain for launch, untick it to see how much of the range it accounts for, then decide with that number in front of you.
How do I get a fixed number for my store?
Book a 30-minute scoping call. Within two business days you get a written scope and a fixed-fee quote, with no retainer needed to scope. Bring the result from this page: it says which band you expect and which answers put you there, which gets the call to the useful questions faster.
Swap the range for a fixed fee.
One 30-minute discovery call. Within two business days, you get a written scope and a real fixed-fee quote. No retainer commitment to scope.
Why work with Digital Heroes
115 people across five studios in New York, Delhi, London, Sydney and Lucknow, shipping ecommerce, web, software and mobile work for founder-led brands. Senior engineers only, no account-manager relay, and the same team from kickoff to launch.
- Shopify Premier Partner, the tier Shopify reserves for agencies with a sustained delivery record on Plus builds
- Tier 1 registered supplier on the United Nations Global Marketplace, which requires audited company documentation
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