How Much Does a Prestashop Store Cost?

More than one built on WooCommerce, and less than one developed on Magento. Of course, this assumes that we are implementing an identical e-Commerce store on each platform. However, this will not be the case in most scenarios because each technology offers slightly different capabilities. So, what is the price of a Prestashop store? How much will you pay for implementing an e-Commerce site on this engine? How Much Does a Prestashop Store Cost?

No implementation agency (at least a reliable and solid one—like ours 😉) will answer this question without receiving a detailed brief. We also won’t provide you with an exact Prestashop implementation cost here. However, we will show you what influences the price of building your online store on this platform, the starting price Prestashop agency offers, and why it’s not worth cutting corners on such an implementation.

PrestaShop Store – What Affects the Price?

An online store built on PrestaShop is a popular solution for entrepreneurs who want to sell online. According to builtwith.com, nearly 17,500 e-Commerce stores in Poland are built on this platform, while there are over 200,000 globally—quite a significant number.

Since PrestaShop holds such a large share of the e-Commerce platform market, it cannot be an astronomically expensive solution (though that doesn’t mean it’s incredibly cheap either). Its popularity may stem from a pretty good price-to-quality ratio. After all, it is a solid platform that offers plenty of possibilities at an affordable price.

However, the cost of an online store on the PrestaShop platform depends on many factors. Choosing the right extensions and services can significantly impact the total investment cost. Therefore, understanding what influences the final price of a PrestaShop store implementation is crucial for effectively planning your budget.

Functionalities You Want to Implement

The more advanced e-Commerce you want, the more you will have to pay. That’s obvious. You must be prepared for a significant investment if you want to build a store with advanced functionalities, multiple sophisticated configurators, and custom integrations with external systems. After all, your developers must spend at least several hundred (if not thousands) hours implementing all these features.

However, if you plan to build a simple e-Commerce store based on a ready-made template, the cost of a PrestaShop store will be significantly lower.

At this point, additional modules you can implement in your online store are also worth mentioning. These extensions allow for integrating more advanced functionalities without developing them from scratch. This shortens the development time of your e-Commerce and reduces the project’s overall cost.

However, not all PrestaShop modules are free. In fact, we would even say that all the better ones come with a price tag. Some require a one-time payment, while others operate on a monthly subscription basis. Regardless of the payment model for the extensions you choose, you need to account for these costs in your budget, as they can significantly increase both the initial implementation cost and the long-term maintenance expenses of your store.

Graphic Design of Your Store

This is also a significant portion of your e-Commerce budget. You have two options: using a ready-made template or designing everything from scratch. You can probably guess that a custom design is usually much more expensive than using a pre-existing template. However, there are exceptions, e.g., when you excessively modify a purchased template.

Templates are meant to be customized to fit your needs, but if the cost of customization exceeds the cost of designing from scratch, something has gone wrong.

The final price of the graphic design for your PrestaShop store can vary significantly depending on your needs. Template prices start at €66. You must also account for the cost of hiring a designer to customize and adjust the template to your specific requirements.

On the other hand, the cost of a fully custom design depends on the number of hours required to create it and the designer’s hourly rate. Therefore, we can’t provide you with an exact figure. The more complex your store, the more you will pay. It’s as simple as that. 😉

Integrations with External Systems

This is another crucial factor that significantly impacts the cost of a PrestaShop store. An e-Commerce store must be integrated with ERP systems, payment gateways, courier services, WMS (Warehouse Management Systems), PIM (Product Information Management) tools, marketplaces, and other solutions necessary for seamless online store operations. A sales platform without any integrations is practically useless.

After all, what’s the point if a customer places an order but you still have to manually send them a proforma invoice or payment details, check if the payment has arrived, and then update stock levels after shipping? That sounds more like a task for Oedipus than for a modern e-Commerce business. Integrations are a necessity. Some stores require more, others fewer, but they always play a role.

Among the most essential integrations are payment systems such as PayU, Przelewy24, and PayPal. Logistics is just as necessary—connecting with courier companies (InPost, DPD, DHL) and order management systems like BaseLinker or WMS allows you to automate shipping and efficiently manage inventory. These integrations should be implemented without hesitation.

If you plan to sell on Allegro, Amazon, or other marketplaces, you must synchronize your store’s product listings and orders with these platforms to ensure smooth operations.

Integrations significantly simplify store management, but their costs can be high. External systems can be connected to e-Commerce in several ways. Some of them have ready-made modules that can be used (and this is highly recommended) to quickly and correctly connect the online store, for example, with a payment gateway. Others offer extensions, but specific customizations are needed so they can work correctly. There are also those that do not have ready-made modules. Such integrations must, therefore, be written from scratch.

You can probably guess that the last option is the most expensive, as it consumes the most developer time. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to determine precisely how much you will pay for such integrations, as many factors influence the final cost of those (what kind of system it is, whether it has a ready-made module, whether the module is paid, whether it needs customization, how complicated the integration is, etc.). However, it is worth carefully analyzing the available solutions and their prices before implementing them. Only in this way will you choose the systems whose integration with your e-store will be worthwhile.

Management and Maintenance of the Platform

We are now slowly moving into recurring costs—expenses that you will incur not only during the implementation phase but throughout the entire operation of your online store. These include modules with monthly subscription fees, hosting, SSL certificates, and technical support.

Since we discussed modules earlier, we will not elaborate on them again. Instead, let’s move on to the remaining aspects.

Hosting is the server space required for your store to function. This is a cost that cannot be avoided. There are several types of hosting solutions. Shared hosting is one option for sharing resources with other users, while VPD hosting provides a dedicated and independent server portion. The specifications and pricing of these options vary significantly, so choosing a hosting solution that ensures optimal performance for your store without draining your budget is essential. The cost of a server also depends on parameters such as processor type, RAM, disk space, and the number of IP addresses. The price of a good hosting service for a PrestaShop store typically starts at around 50–150 PLN per month, but larger stores may require significantly more expensive solutions.

There is also a third option—a dedicated server. In this case, you must purchase and manage your own hardware. Depending on the amount of server space required, this investment can start at several thousand PLN. Additionally, there are ongoing costs for staff responsible for maintaining such an infrastructure, which means at least another several thousand PLN. This option is generally suitable only for large-scale businesses.

An SSL certificate is one of the fundamental elements ensuring an online store’s security. Its primary function is to encrypt data transmitted between the user and the server, protecting customers from data theft and increasing their trust in your e-Commerce. Moreover, Google considers SSL a ranking factor, meaning that websites without this security measure may be ranked lower in search results.

A basic SSL certificate can be obtained for free (e.g., Let’s Encrypt), but its implementation and configuration may require the assistance of a specialist. It is worth considering paid certificates if you need more advanced features, such as financial guarantees or enhanced protection against attacks. Their cost ranges from a few hundred EUR per year, depending on the level of security and, of course, the provider.

Marketing and SEO for Your Store

Even the best PrestaShop store won’t start selling independently if no one knows about it. This is where marketing and SEO come into play—strategies that help drive traffic to your e-Commerce and ultimately increase sales.

The first crucial element is optimizing your store for SEO. Search engine optimization is a long-term process, but it is essential if you want your store to rank high in Google search results (and, of course, you do 😉). You need to ensure the proper structure of URLs, fast page loading speed, unique product descriptions, and well-crafted meta descriptions. Implementing technical SEO may require the support of a specialist, which means an additional cost. You can also use ready-made SEO modules for PrestaShop, but the best ones are often paid. Make sure to include this expense in your budget.

However, SEO alone is not enough to generate sales. You also need advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads and Meta Ads. Search engine ads allow you to reach customers instantly, but their effectiveness depends on the proper budget and well-optimized campaigns. You can manage them yourself, but if you lack experience, hiring a specialist or a marketing agency is a better option. The cost of such cooperation usually starts at a few hundred EUR per month but can reach several thousand for more extensive campaigns.

Let’s not forget content marketing, which supports SEO and builds customer trust. Regularly publishing valuable content on your store’s blog improves search engine visibility and increases user engagement. If you don’t have time to create content yourself, you must hire a copywriter. Rates for blog articles or product descriptions vary depending on quality and length. According to the Content Write platform, a blog post of 1,000 characters (including spaces) costs between 12 and 70 PLN net.

Additional costs may include marketing tools. If you plan to send newsletters, you’ll need an email marketing system such as MailerLite, MailChimp, or GetResponse, which typically operates on a subscription model. Want to analyze customer behavior? Tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg will help optimize conversions but also come with a monthly fee.

All these costs must be considered when calculating the budget for your PrestaShop online store.

Development Work

Finally, we have the cost of developers’ work. Whether you hire a freelancer, collaborate with an agency, or employ specialists within your organization, you must pay someone to code your PrestaShop online store. And this will undoubtedly be the most significant part of your budget.

Implementing an online store on PrestaShop largely depends on labor costs, meaning the work of developers, designers, and other specialists responsible for creating and launching your e-Commerce platform. If you plan to build a simple store based on a ready-made template, costs will be lower (which doesn’t necessarily mean it will be cheap). However, with custom solutions, extensive integrations, and unique designs, the price of a PrestaShop store can rise quickly.

Developers consume the most significant portion of the budget. Freelancer rates start at around 30 EUR per hour, whereas PrestaShop agencies typically charge 50–150 EUR per hour. If store implementation takes several hundred hours, it is easy to calculate that labor costs alone can amount to tens of thousands of EUR. It is also essential to consider graphic designers—rates for designing a dedicated store interface start at 25 EUR per hour, and for more advanced projects, they can exceed 100 EUR per hour.

The final cost depends on the project’s required hours and whether you hire freelancers or work with an agency. Agency collaboration is more expensive but usually provides comprehensive support and a more structured implementation process.

Maintenance and Technical Support

This is another recurring cost associated with running a PrestaShop store. Every online store requires regular maintenance, so your budget must include platform upkeep and servicing costs. Software updates, bug fixes, performance optimization, and adapting the store to changing regulations are all tasks that must be performed continuously. If you lack technical knowledge, you must hire a specialist or collaborate with an agency, which will naturally result in ongoing expenses.

There are several options for technical support. You can use one-time developer services to fix bugs or change your website. However, in our opinion, it is better to establish a long-term partnership to prevent technological debt from accumulating too quickly. An e-Commerce agency (like ours) can maintain your PrestaShop store based on an hourly billing model, meaning you will be invoiced for the number of hours programmers have spent on technical support for your e-Commerce in a given month. Some agencies also offer maintenance subscription plans, though the cost-effectiveness of such agreements varies.

Regardless of the service model you choose—whether it’s one-time assistance, hourly billing, or a subscription—it is always worth investing in regular technical support. This is the only way to minimize the risk of sales disruptions and potential losses caused by store downtime.

PrestaShop Store Prices Start at 25,000 EUR

This cost can increase significantly depending on the project’s complexity, the number of additional functionalities, custom graphic solutions, and technological advancement. More advanced stores with multiple integrations and a personalized design can cost several hundred thousand EUR.

As is often the case in e-Commerce, we can only say… IT DEPENDS. 😜

Why You Shouldn’t Cut Costs When Building a PrestaShop Store

Saving money on building a PrestaShop store may seem like a good idea initially, but it can lead to more losses than benefits in the long run. Cheap solutions often mean relying on ready-made templates (which, while sometimes high-quality, can still be limiting), reduced functionality, and lack of proper technical support. As a result, such a store may suffer from performance issues, security vulnerabilities, and poor scalability, negatively affecting user experience and potentially leading to customer loss.

It’s also important to remember that cheap development services often result in more errors and frequent fixes, which, unfortunately, generate additional costs over time.

Investing in better solutions from the beginning ensures higher store quality, better SEO optimization, and more tailored functionalities that make store management easier. Professional technical support and regular updates help minimize the risk of failures and enhance customer data security. While the initial investment may be higher, it enables you to avoid technological debt, expensive fixes, and operational issues that could hurt your business in the long run.