- 10919 Stancliff Rd, Apt 4107 Houston, TX 77099
- [email protected]
Office Address
10919 Stancliff Rd, Apt 4107 Houston, TX 77099
10919 Stancliff Rd, Apt 4107 Houston, TX 77099
Prices checked: October 2026. An ecommerce website costs anywhere from a few dollars a month for a basic builder to well over $50,000 for a fully custom build, and your figure depends on which route you take. The table below groups four routes. Every number is a market range taken from a published guide, and each guide comes from a company that sells something, whether a platform, hosting or development work. Treat the ranges as a frame for comparison, not a quote. None of them is a Nexi Bloom price.
| Route | What it means | Published market range |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted builder | A subscription platform, a stock theme, and you do the setup | About $29 to $299 a month on standard plans, plus $10 to $30 a year for a domain (Shopify guide) |
| Template store | A ready-made theme installed and tuned, often by a developer | Themes free to $300 (Hostinger guide); template-based design work of $1,000 to $5,000 (Monocubed guide) |
| Custom store | Design and features built around your catalogue and workflow | $2,000 to $20,000 or more (Shopify guide); $1,000 to $50,000 or more (Hostinger guide); $25,000 to $100,000 or more for fully custom design (Monocubed guide) |
| Enterprise or headless | Large catalogues, many connected systems, a separate front end | Shopify Plus at $2,300 a month (Shopify and Hostinger guides); $200,000 to $500,000 or more for a store above 2,000 products (Monocubed guide) |
Why do the sources disagree so sharply? Shopify and Hostinger mostly describe what you pay when you build the store yourself, so their numbers are small. Monocubed prices agency projects, so its numbers are larger. A $29 monthly plan and a $5,000 agency template build are different purchases made by different buyers, and neither source is wrong. The useful question is which of those buyers you are.
Seven things move the price more than anything else. Two stores with the same number of products can sit far apart in cost because they differ on just a few of these, so look at each one before you ask anyone for a number. They also interact. A custom design on a platform with many apps costs more to build and more to maintain than either choice alone would suggest, which is why a quote that ignores one of the seven is usually incomplete.
Platform choice shapes both the setup bill and the monthly one. The table lists published figures for four options. We describe Shopify and BigCommerce here only from their public pricing, so you can compare them fairly. Our own build work is WordPress and WooCommerce development, and for the cost side of that choice our article on WordPress versus custom development costs goes further. Figures come from the Shopify and Hostinger guides, checked October 2026.
| Option | Plan or licence | Hosting | Themes and apps | Build effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | $29, $79 and $299 a month on yearly billing; Plus at $2,300 a month | Included in the plan | Themes $0 to $500; paid apps about $10 to over $100 a month each | Low for a small catalogue you set up yourself |
| WooCommerce on WordPress | Plugin is free to download | Separate, from about $1.99 to $18.99 a month for shared hosting | Premium themes $50 to $200; plugins $40 to $200 | Moderate, plus regular updates |
| BigCommerce | About $29.95 to $299.95 a month | Included in the plan | Themes and apps vary by plan | Low to moderate |
| Custom build | No licence; you pay for development | Varies with traffic and design | Built to order | High: $2,000 to $20,000 or more, backend work $10,000 to $50,000 or more |
The sources do not agree on every line. Hostinger's own FAQ gives a different Shopify starting price from the one in its body text, and Monocubed lists BigCommerce up to $399 a month. That is why we show ranges and name the source. Which option suits a small store versus a large one depends less on the monthly fee than on how many apps, integrations and custom features you will add over the next two years.
Two cost patterns are worth naming. A hosted platform charges you every month for as long as you sell, so a plan at $79 a month comes to $2,844 over three years before apps, themes or card fees. A self-hosted store usually asks for more at the start, because someone has to install, configure and test it, and then costs less per month in fees but more in upkeep. Neither pattern is a mistake. They fit different owners. If you enjoy tinkering and sell a modest range, the hosted pattern keeps the work small. If you want control of the design, the data and the hosting, the self-hosted pattern gives it to you, and you pay for that control in maintenance. Ask any provider to show you the three-year total, not only the first month.
Owners often budget for the build and forget that a store keeps costing money after launch. Splitting the two makes the plan clearer.
One-time costs are the things you pay for once, or once per redesign:
Ongoing costs repeat every month or year:
A simple formula keeps the picture honest: first-year cost equals one-time setup plus twelve months of running costs plus a contingency of 10% to 20% (the range Hostinger recommends). As an illustration only, a $5,000 setup with $200 a month in running costs comes to $7,400 before contingency, and the buffer adds $740 to $1,480 on top.
One habit helps more than any formula. Keep a single list with two columns, one for money you will spend once and one for money that repeats, and ask every vendor to fill in both. A quote that shows only the build price hides half the story. When two providers give you very different totals, the difference often sits in the repeating column, such as hosting, maintenance or apps that one of them left out. Put the three-year total at the bottom of each list and compare those numbers side by side.
Card fees surprise new owners because they are not part of the build. They are a cut of each sale. Stripe's published US pricing lists 2.9% plus 30 cents for each successful domestic card payment, and the Shopify guide gives a general market range of 1% to 3.5% plus up to 50 cents. On a $100 order at Stripe's standard rate, the fee is $3.20. Your processor, volume and card mix change the real figure, so read the current price list before you decide.
Some hosted platforms add their own transaction fee when you use an outside payment provider, and the Hostinger guide notes that WooCommerce does not charge one on top of the processor. Check this line on any platform you consider, because a percentage taken from every sale can outweigh a lower monthly plan once volume grows.
Sales tax is a separate duty, and it is yours as the seller. In Texas, the Texas Comptroller guidance for remote sellers explains that out-of-state sellers with no physical presence must collect once their Texas revenue passes $500,000 in the prior twelve months, and that a business with a physical presence in Texas is not treated as a remote seller. Rules differ for other states you ship to. This is general information and not tax advice. Confirm your own duties with an accountant before you set tax rates inside the store.
Two smaller topics sit nearby. Chargebacks happen when a customer disputes a payment with their bank, and most processors charge a fee for each one, so clear product descriptions and a visible returns policy protect you. Card security rules, known as PCI compliance, apply to anyone who takes cards. A hosted checkout from an established processor keeps card numbers off your own server, which makes the duty much lighter than if you handled card data yourself.
These scenarios are illustrations built from the ranges above. They are not quotes, and no store matches them exactly. Use them to see how choices stack up, then replace the numbers with your own.
About 20 products, a template and a hosted platform. Doing the setup yourself, the Shopify guide puts a solo seller at $30 to $100 a month, with a domain at $10 to $30 a year and a theme that can be free. If an agency handles the template design, add roughly $1,000 to $5,000 (Monocubed guide). This route suits a business testing demand before it commits more money.
About 200 products, custom design touches and a few integrations such as shipping and email. The Shopify guide lists $2,000 to $20,000 or more for custom development, while Monocubed prices a medium store at $25,000 to $75,000. Running costs for a growing merchant run $100 to $500 a month on the Shopify guide. Expect the build figure to depend on how much is truly custom.
A large catalogue linked to inventory, accounting or an ERP. Hostinger's guide lists backend development at $10,000 to $50,000 or more, integrations at $50 to $5,000 each, and managed maintenance at $500 to $2,000 a month. Monocubed puts fully custom design at $25,000 to $100,000 or more. Plan a contingency of 10% to 20% on top.
Three lessons come out of these scenarios. First, the build price grows faster than the catalogue does, because features and integrations, not products, drive the bill. Second, running costs rise with each step, so a larger build also commits you to a larger monthly figure. Third, the ranges overlap. A strong starter store can look better than a rushed custom one. If your own numbers land outside these ranges, that is not a warning sign. It usually means your project differs from the average, so a scoping conversation will tell you more than a table can.
Request a free SEO review and we will show you what we find, with clear next steps.
All three routes work. They differ in cost, speed, risk and what you are left holding afterward.
When is DIY the right answer? When your catalogue is small, your needs are standard and you enjoy the work. Bring in help when you hit custom features, a migration or a launch date you cannot miss.
Whichever route you pick, ask a few plain questions. Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code once the project ends? What is included after launch, and for how long? How are changes to the scope priced? Hourly rates vary enormously, so ask for a written scope and compare total cost, not the hourly figure alone. A cheaper rate that needs twice the hours is not cheaper.
The listed price rarely covers everything. These are the items that most often turn up after the budget was agreed.
Hostinger's guide suggests reserving 10% to 20% of the total as a contingency. We think that is sensible, because scope changes and integration surprises happen on almost every store. If the money is not needed, you keep it. A simple habit also helps: when a new cost appears, write down whether it is one-time or repeating, so the monthly figure never grows unseen. Many owners are surprised not by one large cost but by six small recurring ones added over a year.
Saving money and cutting quality are not the same thing. These moves lower the bill while keeping what shoppers notice.
None of this means choosing the cheapest option every time. It means spending where a customer would notice and saving where they would not. If you are unsure which is which, look at where shoppers drop off. A confusing checkout deserves attention before a homepage animation does, and a clear photo of the product is worth more than another plugin.
Time is a cost too, and it depends on the route. We cannot promise a date without a scope, and published guides give little reliable detail, so we describe the pattern instead.
A hosted store with a stock theme and a small catalogue is the quickest route, because most of the structure already exists and your main task is adding products. A template build by an agency takes longer, since design changes, content and testing all need review rounds. A custom store with integrations takes the longest, and its schedule is usually measured in months, not weeks.
What causes delays is rarely the code. Late product photos, unclear shipping rules, decisions that wait for a partner to approve, and new features requested halfway through all stretch a project. A written scope and an agreed approval process remove most of that.
When we scope a build, we give a timeline in writing after we understand the catalogue, the integrations and how fast you can supply content, and we flag early any step that depends on your side.
One practical point: build time and approval time are different things. A team can finish a design in a few days and then wait weeks for feedback. If you can name one person who approves each stage and reply within a set number of days, you will usually finish sooner than a store with the same scope and five people reviewing every page.
Nexi Bloom is a web agency in Houston, TX. Our website development service covers WordPress sites and WooCommerce stores, and we can also host them. We do not publish a price list for stores here, because a fair price depends on the scope.
A scoping conversation covers your product count and variants, who supplies photos and copy, which payment and shipping methods you need, the systems the store must connect to, whether you are moving from another platform, and your launch date. We then write down what is included and what is not, and only then do we put a price on it. The written scope also lists the assumptions behind the price, such as the number of products we will load and the number of design rounds, so a change later is a conversation about the document, not an argument. If something falls outside it, we tell you before the work starts.
You can make the conversation quicker by bringing a few things: a list or spreadsheet of products, examples of stores you admire, your shipping and returns rules, any systems the store must connect to, and a rough budget range. None of it needs to be polished. A messy spreadsheet is still a better starting point than a blank page, and a stated budget helps us suggest options that fit instead of options that do not.
Our pricing page covers our general service packages, while store builds are quoted separately after scoping. You can also read client reviews on independent platforms and judge the work for yourself.
A new store has no visitors on day one, so budget for how people will find it. Search engine optimization starts at build time, with clean category pages, unique product descriptions, fast loading and clear page titles. Each product page should answer the questions a shopper has before buying: what it is, what it costs, whether it is in stock, how it ships and how returns work. Pages that skip those answers lose sales and give search engines little to read. Product pages can also carry structured data, extra code that tells Google a page is a product with a price and availability. Google's product structured data guidance explains what is supported.
Ongoing SEO is a separate line. Hostinger's guide puts do-it-yourself SEO tools at $0 to $500 a month and a freelance specialist at $500 to $2,000 a month, so it is a choice you can scale. If you want help, see our ecommerce SEO service, and our guide on what SEO costs shows how agency pricing is structured. We do not guarantee rankings or sales, and no honest provider can.
Before launch, run through a short checklist: place a test order and a test refund, confirm the redirects from any old addresses, check that pages load quickly on a phone, make sure analytics records sales, and read the shipping and returns pages as a customer would. Google Merchant Center is also worth a look, because it lets you submit product data so items can appear in Google's shopping results. None of this is expensive, but skipping it is.
Our reviews live on independent sites and describe our web and SEO work in general.
Reviews are shown as posted by customers on each platform. We do not edit them. Ratings and counts are taken from each profile on the date shown.
Tell us what you plan to sell, roughly how many products you have, which tools the store must connect to and when you hope to launch. We will reply with questions and a written scope before any price. There is no pressure to hire us, and a conversation with our team costs nothing. If you only wanted a realistic budget, this page may already have given you one.
Share your details and we will reply with clear next steps.
