Magento Pricing: The Total Cost of a Magento Website

Magento is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms, and for a good reason: it offers many features, scales very well, and is almost endlessly customizable. The open-source version is free to install, which is another reason for its popularity. 

However, the cost of the platform is not the only expense you need to make when starting an ecommerce store. 

It can be hard to figure out exactly how much you’ll need to pay to make a store using Magento. There are hidden costs, and it’s better to go into the development process knowing them beforehand. 

In this article, we’ll look at different groups of expenses and calculate the approximate price of starting a Magento store from scratch. 

Please note that it is impossible to predict the exact cost of your project without knowing the details. The price in any specific case will depend on many factors.

Magento Licensing Cost

There are several different versions of Magento, and the prices for them are different. 

Magento Open Source – is a self-hosted version of Magento that’s free to install.

Adobe Commerce (previously Magento Commerce) – is a paid version of Magento with some extra features added. One of the biggest bonuses is hosting – you get access to Adobe hosting and don’t need to set one up on your own.

For those who need certain Adobe commerce features but don’t require hosting, there is another version of the platform – Adobe Commerce On-premise. With it, you get all of the Adobe Commerce features minus the hosting. 

Generally, Adobe Commerce is targeted toward big companies and those working in B2B. If you want to read more about the differences between different versions of the platform, we wrote a blog post about it. 

Open Source vs Adobe Commerce Feature Comparison

Source: business.adobe.com

Now, let’s get into costs.

The official pricing of Adobe Commerce isn’t public knowledge, but it largely depends on your Annual Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Average Order Value (AOV). The cheapest version of Adobe Commerce, applicable to businesses with revenue of less than a million dollars per year, starts at around $22,000 per year for the on-premise version and grows to $40,000 per year for the hosted version. 

Below, we provide the approximate pricing for Magento Commerce before it was acquired by Adobe. This way, you can get a general idea about the prices. 

Total cost: Depends on your company and the version of the platform you choose, from $0 to $200,000 per year.

Have a Project in Mind?

Magento Development Cost

Magento is great in many aspects, but the setup process is definitely not user-friendly. If you don’t have extensive PHP knowledge, you will have to hire someone to develop a store for you. 

When it comes to the development process, the three main variables are:

• The level of customization your store will require;
• How many integrations you’ll need;
• Who’ll be doing the development. 

Depending on your vision for the project, you may require more or less customization (this includes anything from a theme to custom functionality). You may also want to add different integrations (for example, different payment gateways, a connection to your CRM, ERP, or other services). More customization or extensions needed = more working hours for the developers = higher price. Depending on how complex your store will be, you’ll need anywhere from 40 to 1000 hours (with 40 for a simple store that doesn’t require much customization and 1000 being a big store with many added features).

When calculating the price of the development you need to consider who’ll be doing the development. Here, you have three routes:

1. A development agency

Arguably the best option (and yes, we may be a bit biased). You get a team of experts specializing in Magento to develop a store for you, so you can be certain the result will be of high quality.

The prices here generally depend on the location of the development company. You don’t have to hire a company from your country, as long as you can communicate comfortably. 

In the pricier countries like the USA or Canada, the price can range from $100 to $275 per hour of work. Compared to that, Eastern European companies can work for $30-$100 per hour. 

If you want to go with this option, reach out to us, and let’s talk about your project in greater detail!  

2. Freelance developer 

While hiring an agency is the easiest solution, it can also be very pricey. Compared to that, hiring a freelance developer is more affordable. Depending on their location and experience, they can charge anywhere from $10 to $200 per hour. However, to be sure you’ll be satisfied with your store, be sure to do due diligence: while it may be tempting to hire a junior developer that can work for $10, entrusting them with an elaborate website can be risky. 

3. In-house team 

For large companies, hiring an in-house team can be preferable. It’s a great solution for those who know their store requires a lot of customization and will need constant changes.The price for this option depends on the salary of a PHP developer in your area. Assuming you are from the USA, it costs around $60,000 per year for a junior developer and up to $130,000 for a senior.   

Total cost: Depends on the complexity of your store and the location and experience of the developer, from $10 to $275 per hour of work.

Magento Themes and Extensions Cost

Continuing with the customization: apart from the development price, the customization itself also requires extra spending.

When you need something custom done, there are two choices: finding a finished solution on Magento Marketplace or paying for the dedicated development. We’ve already covered how much it costs to hire a developer, so let’s talk about how much it costs to get something from Magento Marketplace.  

If you want to buy a theme for your store, it can cost anywhere from $0 to $1000. Here you can choose a simpler theme (or even keep the default one) and pay a developer for customization or splurge on a more sophisticated product (for example, Hyvä Theme). Both options are valid and depend on your budget and how many changes you need. 

For extensions, the price varies even more.  Some are sold as a one time purchase, others are subscription-based.  If you look at Magento Marketplace you’ll see there are tons of free or very affordable extensions ($0-$50). Generally they solve simple problems or are made by companies to integrate their products (for example, Amazon Pay integration made by Amazon).

More advanced extensions can set you back $200-$500. The most expensive extension on Magento Marketplace is currently sold for $15,000.00, but prices like this are not common. 

With both themes and extensions you can go custom instead. This, however, is a more costly option. 

Total Cost: $0-$1000 for a theme, $0-$500 for one extension 

Magento Hosting Price 

If you are using Adobe Commerce, the hosting price is included in what you pay for the platform. For the users of Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce On-Premise however, the question of hosting is important. You may be tempted to get the cheapest one, but it’s not the best idea if you want your store to load fast and avoid downtime as much as possible. Before choosing a hosting, you also need to be sure its features are compatible with Magento. 

Total Cost: $10-$800 per month depending on the size of your store and the type of hosting you chose 

Domain Name Price

Compared to other categories on the list, this one is cheap, but still very important. 

Your domain name is what you will be remembered by your clients, so make sure it is a good one. The price for most domains will be around $10-$50 for a brand-new one or $20 – $500 for an expired domain. Some domain names can be very expensive, but buying them is not necessary. 

SSL Certificate

If you care about the security of your website and its ranking with search engines, you need an SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and makes your store more secure by transferring all data through a secure connection between the server and the website. The websites that have HTTPS in their address use SSL Certificates, and the ones that have HTTP don’t. 

Depending on the type of SSL Certificate, it can cost anywhere from $5 to $1,000 per year, but for an average store expect the price to be within the range of $50-$75 per year. 

Total Cost: $50-$1000 per year, depending on the type of certificate. 

Payment Gateways 

Your store needs to accept online payments. This is done by using payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe. These services take the cut from every sale, usually around 3%-5% per transaction.

Total Cost: Depending on a service, around 3%-5% + set up price in some cases 

Magento Support Price

Even after your store is live it still needs maintenance from time to time. There are updates to install, minor bugs to fix, small website changes that need to be done. 

You can hire the same developers responsible for the development of your store to maintain it, or switch to different ones. The price is usually the same as with the development, however there are support packs that include a certain number of hours and come with a discount.

Total Cost: from $10 to $275 per hour of work.

Summary

As you can see, it can be hard to predict the price without knowing the details of your specific case. Generally, the cheapest Magento store can be created for $15,000, and the price can increase to $2,000,000 for very complex and time-consuming projects. 

If you want to learn more, reach out to us with the details of your project, and we can offer you a more specific calculation of the development cost.