Turnkey Online Store: Ready-Made Platform vs Custom Development – How Much Does

In Brief

A ready-made platform like Shopify or WooCommerce is faster and cheaper to get started with. Shopify starts at $39/month on the Basic plan. WooCommerce itself is technically free, but once you factor in hosting and a basic set of extensions, the actual cost typically comes to $120–$2,500+ in the first year. Custom development requires a larger upfront investment — from €3,000 to €15,000+ as a one-time cost based on our rates in Moldova — but there are no platform subscription fees or hidden payment processing surcharges. There is one particularly important consideration for businesses in Moldova: Shopify Payments is not available here. Moldova is not on the list of supported countries, although neighboring Romania is. This means that any Moldova-based Shopify store has to use a third-party payment gateway and pay Shopify an additional transaction fee on top of the gateway’s own processing fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced. This is not a one-time charge — it is a percentage of every sale for as long as you use the platform. With custom development, local payment systems (maib, Victoriabank, and other local acquiring providers) can be integrated directly, without this additional markup. Integration of one payment system starts at €300.

Three Options That Are Often Confused

• Shopify — a SaaS platform where your store is hosted on Shopify’s servers. You pay a monthly subscription plus transaction fees. It offers a quick launch and requires minimal technical maintenance, but flexibility is limited and your business remains dependent on the platform’s terms and pricing.
• WooCommerce — an open-source WordPress plugin that runs on your own hosting. It offers more flexibility than Shopify and does not charge a mandatory platform fee on sales, but you are fully responsible for updates, security, and extension compatibility.
• Custom development — an online store built specifically around your business requirements using a backend framework (for example, PHP/CodeIgniter, which is what we use). You have full control over the business logic, integrations, and data, with the development cost agreed upfront.

How Much Does It Cost? A Breakdown by Option

1. Shopify — Subscription Plus Transaction Fees

Shopify offers four main plans: Basic — $39/month ($29/month when billed annually), Grow — $105/month ($79/month when billed annually), Advanced — $399/month ($299/month when billed annually), and Plus — starting at $2,300/month for larger businesses. Payment-related fees come on top of the subscription, and the amount depends on whether Shopify Payments is available in your country. It is not available in Moldova (see the section below), so in addition to the standard fee charged by a third-party payment gateway, Shopify charges an extra 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, or 0.6% on Advanced for every transaction. This is an ongoing operating cost that cannot be eliminated by upgrading to any plan below Plus.

2. WooCommerce — Open Source, Self-Hosted

WooCommerce itself and its basic theme are free. Payment plugins for providers such as Stripe and PayPal are generally free as well, although the payment processors still charge their standard transaction fees. The real costs come from everything around the platform. Shared hosting typically costs $5–$15/month, while a VPS costs around $25–$80/month. Managed WordPress/WooCommerce hosting ranges from $35 to $200+/month. Premium extensions for features such as subscriptions, bookings, or advanced shipping typically cost $60–$260/year each. According to independent estimates, a basic DIY store on shared hosting can cost around $120 in its first year. A store with managed hosting and a couple of premium extensions is more likely to fall in the $700–$2,500+ range. From the second year onward, you can expect another $600–$900/year for hosting renewals, domain registration, email services, and security.

3. Custom Development — One-Time Investment, No Platform Subscription

Based on our experience in Moldova, custom online store development — including a product catalog, shopping cart, payment functionality, and customer accounts — typically costs between €3,000 and €15,000, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the integrations. Advanced logistics or unique business processes can push the budget toward the upper end of this range or beyond it. After launch, the main ongoing expenses are hosting (€50–€250/year), payment processing fees (typically 1.5–3% per transaction — these are independent of the platform and apply in any case), and any additional development work you may need later. There is no platform subscription, and the price includes a two-year warranty covering development bugs.

The Main Catch for Moldova: Local Payments

This is not a hypothetical risk — it is a documented limitation. Shopify Payments is available in Romania but not in Moldova. As a result, any Moldova-based Shopify store has to use a third-party payment gateway and pay Shopify’s additional transaction fee — 2%, 1%, or 0.6%, depending on the plan — on top of the gateway’s own processing fee. There is another complication. Several years ago, Shopify restricted third-party access to its payment integration platform. Today, payment processing apps can only be created by approved, invited Payment Partners. Developers who spent years trying to add support for Moldovan banks have still not been granted access. With WooCommerce, the situation is different. Its open plugin ecosystem already supports integrations with Moldovan acquiring providers. One independent developer of these plugins alone serves more than 340 Moldovan WooCommerce stores on a daily basis. With custom development, this issue essentially disappears. maib, Victoriabank, and other local acquiring providers can be integrated directly into the code, without an intermediary and without an extra fee simply because the store operates in Moldova. Integration of one payment system starts at €300.

When a Ready-Made Platform Is the Right Choice

• You have a relatively small catalog of up to 50–100 products, with no complex logistics or inventory management requirements.
• You want to test demand for a product quickly before investing in full-scale custom development.
• Your main customers and payments are outside Moldova, in markets where Shopify Payments or local WooCommerce-compatible payment providers work without restrictions.
• You do not have the resources for ongoing technical maintenance. Shopify handles much of this for you, while WooCommerce gives you access to a large pool of WordPress specialists.

When Custom Development Makes More Sense

• You need to accept payments through Moldovan banks without paying a permanent additional fee simply because your store is based in Moldova.
• You need integrations with inventory management systems, 1C, CRM platforms, or logistics solutions — something we have already implemented in projects beyond standard e-commerce, including apps for EV charging stations and parking payment solutions.
• Your store needs to grow with your business without having to be rebuilt on a new platform in two or three years.
• SEO and AI visibility are part of your long-term strategy. With a custom platform, you have full control over your data and content structure rather than being restricted by a website builder’s templates and architecture.

Abandoned Carts and Why the Platform Is Not the Deciding Factor

According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate in e-commerce is 70.22%, based on 50 independent studies. This is not an argument for or against any particular platform. Whether you use Shopify, WooCommerce, or a custom-built solution, the checkout experience can be fast and intuitive — or slow and frustrating. What this figure really shows is that the quality of the checkout process usually matters more than the underlying technology. That said, the platform still sets certain boundaries. The fewer unnecessary steps and redirects there are — for example, sending customers to an external payment gateway because a local integration is unavailable — the lower the risk of losing a customer at the final stage of the purchase.

How ilab.md Chooses the Right Approach

Our technology stack is PHP/CodeIgniter and MySQL, and we use the same stack to build custom online stores. This gives each project a single codebase without any dependency on third-party platform licenses or subscriptions. If a client has a small product catalog, no specific local payment requirements, and speed to market is the priority, we are upfront about the fact that WooCommerce or Shopify will be faster and less expensive. There is no reason to push a client toward custom development when an off-the-shelf solution can do the job. We recommend custom development when local payments, specific integrations, or long-term growth make the limitations of a ready-made platform more expensive over time than the one-time investment in your own code.

Sources

• Shopify Pricing
• How Much Does a WooCommerce Store Cost?
• Cart Abandonment Rate