Building an online store in 2026: cost, process and examples

If you are weighing up building an online store, the first question is usually: how much does it cost and where do I even start? The honest answer is that a proper WooCommerce store in Estonia in 2026 starts at an absolute minimum of €1900 and typically runs from €1900 to a few thousand euros, depending on the number of products, payment and shipping integrations, and design. This guide gives you real numbers, walks through the process step by step, covers Estonian payments and delivery, and tells you plainly how much your type of store should cost and what you are actually paying for.

The short answer

If you only have time for one paragraph: a custom WooCommerce store in Estonia usually costs €1900-8000, depending on the catalogue size, integrations and design. Clicking together a store yourself on a subscription platform starts at €20-50 per month, but you pay platform rent for as long as the store exists and the design and features stay within the platform’s limits. Either way, hosting, a domain, payment fees and usually maintenance are added after launch. All figures in this article exclude VAT, as is standard for B2B services in Estonia.

Online store prices in Estonia 2026

The table below gives a realistic picture, not the marketing “online store from €99” that you never actually pay. Prices exclude VAT.

Option	Price	What you actually get
DIY (subscription platform or WooCommerce yourself)	€20-50/month + your time	Fast start, but template design, platform rent forever and limited room to grow
Freelance developer	€800-2500	Lower one-off price, but quality, deadlines and support vary by person
Small web studio (e.g. massruum)	from €1900	Custom WooCommerce, clean code, Estonian payments and delivery, speed and SEO built in
Larger digital agency	€6000-20,000+	Bigger team, project management and branding, higher overhead

Our own pricing is public and specific – see our online store prices and packages or read more about our WooCommerce store service.

DIY is a fit if…

You sell a small range, want to test quickly whether the idea sells at all, and can put together the design, copy and product photos yourself. A subscription-platform store is an honest start – problems appear when sales grow, you need custom features or Estonia-specific integrations, and you find the platform won’t bend to your business model.

A freelancer is a fit if…

Budget is limited but you still want a custom store. The risk is uneven quality and availability, especially after launch – always ask for previous stores and clients you can contact.

A small studio is a fit if…

You want a real store built to sell and to grow, without a large agency’s overhead. You get a direct line to the person building it, a clear process and a store whose code, content and data are entirely your own – the best value for most small and mid-sized Estonian merchants.

A larger agency is a fit if…

You need a large catalogue, several markets, ERP integrations and parallel marketing campaigns with a big team all at once. You pay for the project management and overhead, which doesn’t pay off for a smaller store.

What shapes an online store’s price the most

Two seemingly similar store enquiries can end up costing €1900 or €15,000. A few specific factors make the difference.

• Product count and catalogue complexity. Ten products is a different job from a thousand with variations, filters and stock. Catalogue size and structure is the single biggest price factor.
• Payments and delivery. Each payment solution (Montonio, Maksekeskus, Stripe) and delivery method (Omniva, DPD, Smartpost parcel machines) is a separate integration and setup.
• Design. A ready template is cheaper than a store designed custom for your brand and checkout UX.
• Integrations. Accounting (Merit, SimplBooks), inventory, CRM, newsletters, ERP – each connection is extra work.
• Content. Are product descriptions, photos and translations ready, or produced alongside the store? Product content is often a bigger cost than the technical build itself.
• Multiple languages and currencies. Selling beyond Estonia adds translations, currencies and cross-border shipping and tax logic.

The online store process step by step

A proper store doesn’t happen by accident. Our process is transparent, so you always know what is happening and what comes next.

• 1. Discovery and quote. We talk through your range, payments, delivery, integrations and goals. You get a concrete price range and timeline before we build anything.
• 2. Design and UX. We design the cart and checkout journey so visitors actually reach the purchase – fewer clicks, less drop-off. The design is done in Penpot and you approve it before the build.
• 3. Build. We build the store on custom WordPress and WooCommerce – clean code without a page builder or unnecessary plugins. Products, categories, filters and stock go live.
• 4. Payments and delivery. We set up Estonian payment solutions and parcel machines and test every purchase scenario so money and orders flow correctly.
• 5. Testing and launch. We check speed, mobile view, SEO basics and run a real test order. Only then does the store go live.
• 6. Handover and support. We show you how to manage products and orders yourself, and stay available after launch – so you are never left alone in an emergency.

Estonian payments and delivery

Estonian shoppers expect familiar payment and delivery options – without them the cart gets abandoned. The most common choices we set up:

• Payments: bank links (Swedbank, SEB, LHV, Coop) via Montonio or Maksekeskus, card payments and, if needed, Stripe for international payments.
• Delivery: Omniva, DPD and Smartpost parcel machines selectable right in the checkout, courier home delivery and local pickup.
• Invoices and accounting: automatic invoices and a connection to accounting software (e.g. Merit, SimplBooks) so orders don’t need manual re-entry.

Every integration is tested with a real order before launch, so your first customer isn’t your tester.

WooCommerce vs Shopify vs Wix – which is actually cheaper?

These platforms look cheaper with their monthly pricing (€20-50 a month, often plus a transaction fee) than a custom WooCommerce store. Short term, that’s true. Long term the maths is more complex: you pay platform and app rent for as long as the store exists, transaction fees eat your margin, and design and functionality stay within the platform’s limits. WooCommerce needs a bigger upfront investment, but the store is your own, you only pay a fee to the payment provider, growth is unlimited, and speed and technical SEO are entirely in your control.

An honest warning about WooCommerce too: a badly built store – a heavy page builder and thirty plugins – can be slow and painful to manage. The code makes the difference, not the platform name. That’s exactly why we build with clean code, without the bloat. Read why WordPress sites get slow and how we fix them.

Hidden costs quotes often leave out

Before you compare two store quotes, check what is and isn’t included. This is where unpleasant surprises appear after the contract is signed.

• Product content. Does the price include product description and photo work, or do you prepare everything yourself? For a large catalogue that is significant work.
• Payment and app fees. A payment provider’s monthly and transaction fees, and some plugins’ annual licences – these are added on top every year.
• Number of revisions. Cheaper quotes often say “1 round of feedback” – every further change is billed by the hour.
• Delivery setup. Each parcel-machine network and price zone is a separate setup that a cheap quote may quietly omit.
• Handover after the project. Who keeps the store running and updated when the developer finishes? Without an answer, you’re on your own during peak season.

One-off fee vs monthly costs

A store’s cost doesn’t end at launch. For an honest budget, separate two kinds of cost.

One-off costs

• The store build (from €1900 with us)
• Standalone web design, if you need it before the build (from €1000)
• Taking over or migrating an old store to WooCommerce (from €450-700)

Monthly / ongoing costs

• Hosting. A store needs more capable hosting than a regular site, usually €10-40 a month.
• Domain. Around €10-20 a year for a .ee domain.
• Payment fees. The payment provider’s monthly and/or transaction fee, which depends on turnover and provider.
• Maintenance. €140 a month with us – updates, backups, security monitoring and small fixes. More critical for a store than a regular site, because downtime means lost sales.
• SEO and growth. From €350 a month with us – technical SEO, content and rank tracking so the store actually gets found.

All prices here and in our price list exclude VAT, as is standard for B2B services in Estonia.

Why massruum isn’t the cheapest option – and why that’s deliberate

We’ll be honest about it: we are not the cheapest store builder in Estonia, and we don’t want to be. Our prices are higher than a freelancer’s and higher than a subscription-platform plan. In return you get custom-written vanilla code without a page builder or unnecessary plugins, a load time under a second and a store built to sell and to grow – not for three months, but for years. You pay more upfront and less over time: fewer maintenance problems, fewer broken orders, and results that show in sales and Google rankings, not just in how the store looks.

Frequently asked questions about building an online store

Want an exact quote for your store? See the full price list or get in touch – tell us in a couple of sentences what you sell and what you need, and we’ll reply within one business day with a concrete price range.