Setting up an online store is easier than ever. With WordPress and WooCommerce, you can be up and running in a matter of days. However, there are a lot of hidden WooCommerce costs to running a store, which you might not realize until you’ve already sunk a lot of time into the project.
Knowing exactly how much you need to budget to launch your store will save you a lot of problems in the long run. Adding all the features you want might not be as cheap as you expected. However, if if you’re aware of the costs, you can prepare accordingly.
In this article, we’ll discuss how much it costs to set up a barebones WooCommerce store. Then we’ll go over some ‘hidden’ WooCommerce costs.
Let’s dig in!
Why setting up an online store might not be as expensive as you think
Setting up a website, in general, is much easier and cheaper than ever. You have access to plenty of advanced page builder tools and platforms, as well as incredibly cheap hosting.
The trend towards lower prices at the entry-level applies to eCommerce platforms too. The past few years have seen the rise of beginner-friendly eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and Squarespace.
We know it’s possible to set up an online store on a budget, but the question is whether the same applies to WordPress websites.
WooCommerce is the most popular tool to create an eCommerce store with WordPress, and the core WooCommerce plugin is 100% free.
In theory, this means adding eCommerce features to your website shouldn’t bring any additional costs. However, this isn’t always the case, as we’ll break down in a minute.
What are the basic WooCommerce costs for an online store?
We’re focusing on WooCommerce because it’s by far the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. More importantly, it has the broadest collection of features and add-ons.
This means it gives us an accurate representation of how much it costs to set up an online store using the CMS in general. First off, let’s discuss the costs that no WordPress website can avoid in general.
Domain name
Every website needs a domain name. Although you can sometimes find domain names for very cheap during sales, usually a .com URL will set you back around $10 per year:
Hosting
Hosting is where things get tricky for new sites. You have hundreds of options when it comes to providers, ranging from the very cheap to the bespoke.
In our collection of the best WooCommerce hosting, the cheapest hosts start at around $5-10 per month, while the more premium offerings go for $30-40 per month.
[…]
This article was written by John Hughes and originally published on ThemeIsle Blog.