A Complete Breakdown Of E-Commerce Website Cost In Canada In 2026

We are stepping into 2026, and now building a successful e-commerce website in Canada is no longer about launching an online store. The report projects the Canadian e-commerce market to reach USD 66.89 billion by 2030, growing at a 9.86% CAGR from 2025.

Setting up an e-commerce website is all about staking your claim in a digital economy that is now growing much faster. Whether you are a small retailer moving online, a D2C brand levelling up, or any business aiming to reinvent its digital presence, you need to understand the actual cost of e-commerce development.

Be aware that most rational Canadian customers actually expect a seamless shopping experience, with a personalized approach, secure payment options, and quick performance. Now, figuring out how much an e-commerce website would cost feels scattered, confusing, or overwhelming.

Considering the situation, we have designed a guide to clear the air, with a detailed breakdown of how to create an e-commerce website in Canada in 2026.

A sneak peek into the rising demand for e-commerce

Canada is very much part of the growth curve surrounding the e-commerce market. Globally, e-commerce user penetration is expected to grow from 42.4% in 2025 to 49.1% by 2029, with revenue projected to approach USD 10 trillion by 2027.

According to market research estimates, the Canadian e-commerce market is valued at USD 41.79 billion in 2025, with a projection of USD 66.89 billion by 2030 (9.86% CAGR).

Another reliable dataset shows that online revenue in Canadian e-commerce reached US$63.9 billion in 2024, with mid-single-digit annual growth into 2025.

A realistic e-commerce cost breakdown is essential to help you plan confidently and avoid surprises, making your investment feel manageable and strategic.

A realistic e-commerce cost breakdown is never to be underestimated. According to Statistics Canada, retail sales are fluctuating month to month in 2025, with modest gains often followed by pullbacks as consumers respond to interest rates and inflation.

The scenario is a clear indication that businesses must invest strategically in the digital channels, deliberately refrain from budget overruns, and also prioritize ROI, and not just in getting a website. Hence, there is an apparent demand for a realistic e-commerce cost breakdown to ensure that all processes are well-planned, structured, and result-oriented.

How much does an e-commerce website cost in Canada in 2026?

According to a Canada-focused cost analysis, the approximate price range for custom e-commerce website development is $10,000 to $100,000 CAD. The costing depends on various attributes, such as integrations, complexity, and level of customization.

Another credible platform of GoDaddy's Canadian guidance suggests that for larger e-commerce websites, the cost is in the range of $9,000–$50,000+, excluding highly complex "Amazon-style" builds that can run into the hundreds of thousands. Note that the range given here is for one-time costs, but it is still important to budget for ongoing platform fees, payment processing, maintenance, and hosting to get a precise overall estimate.

One must understand that the same feature list can actually cost two different amounts depending on the hourly rate, tech stack, and level of customization and configuration.

Let us now have a closer look at the varied aspects that need consideration for estimating the website cost breakdown:

Level of complexity and features required

The most significant factor influencing your e-commerce development cost is the size and complexity of your store.

A simple catalogue with a few dozen products is nowhere near the effort required for a multi-storefront, multi-currency B2B platform with custom pricing structures.

Below is a 2026 complexity breakdown tailored for the Canadian market, based on standard pricing ranges used by Canadian development agencies and global industry benchmarks.

Reasons why the amount jumps so fast?

• Custom UX and frontend work naturally require more design time and frontend development hours.
• On the backend, features such as tiered pricing, subscription billing, or quoting workflows can significantly increase overall effort.
• Integrations with systems such as ERPs, accounting tools, shipping platforms, or marketplaces can also take up a substantial portion of the workload, often 20 to 40% of the total effort in advanced builds.

The exact business model: B2C vs B2B vs marketplace

The following important attribute that affects the cost estimate is the business model. Keep in mind that different business models demand different capabilities. For instance, a B2B distributor needs quoting and negotiation, whereas a C2C marketplace requires escrow and dispute-related tools.

These uplift percentages reflect the extra effort usually seen in marketplace and B2B projects compared to standard B2C stores in Canada and other mature markets.

Choice of platform

• Another key factor that affects the total cost of an e-commerce website in Canada in 2026 is the platform you choose. Some of the most common choices available are WooCommerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce.  Let us discuss all these to get a clear picture of how costing differs in each:
• Shopify: Shopify continues to be the top choice for Canadian merchants and is now a major global player, and recent reports show it powers about 12% of all U.S. e-commerce sales, helped by new AI tools like Shopify Magic.
  • As of mid-2025, Shopify's typical pricing in Canada is:
  • Basic: $49 CAD/month
    Grow: $132 CAD/month
    Advanced: $517 CAD/month
  • Plus:
  • Custom enterprise pricing
  • Payment processing fees usually range from 1 to 3% + a small fixed fee, depending on the plan and gateway.
  • Most stores also use add-on apps (subscriptions, advanced search, reviews, etc.), which can cost $20–$200+ per month.
• WooCommerce or WordPress:
  • WooCommerce is free to install, but you'll still need to budget for the following:
    Hosting: Around $20–$100+/month for a fast Canadian store
    Themes & plugins: Often $200–$1,000+ per year
    More dev time: security, updates, and maintenance take extra work compared to SaaS platforms

Many Canadian SMBs choose WooCommerce for its code-level control, but the real cost lies in ongoing upkeep.

• BigCommerce and other SaaS platforms:
  • BigCommerce targets mid-market and enterprise businesses.
  • Current pricing is as follows:
    Standard: from $39 USD/month
    Plus: from $105 USD/month (cheaper with annual billing)
    Pro: from $399 USD/month
    Enterprise: custom, based on annual sales
    Like Shopify, it includes unlimited products, unlimited bandwidth, and built-in PCI DSS security, helping reduce the need for separate infrastructure or security costs. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy also offer e-commerce plans starting at $25–$35 USD/month, but they're usually better suited for small catalogues or simple stores.
• Design and UX:
  • Another important factor includes design and UX. These work together without affecting your store's appearance, but they have a clear impact on conversion rate, bounce rate, and perceived level of trust.
• In Canada, the e-commerce design costs fall into these price ranges:
  • Template setup with light tweaks: $1,500–$5,000 CAD
  • Custom homepage plus core templates (PLP, PDP, cart, checkout): $5,000–$20,000 CAD
  • Complete design system including UX research and prototypes: $20,000–$40,000+ CAD

These price ranges closely match typical Canadian design/development rates and the 80–200+ hours typically required for solid UX work. Job Bank data shows that web developers earn around $38- $39 CAD/hour, with top talent above $57/hour, and senior UX designers often charge even more.

• Development team and the hourly rates:
  • Your project cost mostly comes down to how many hours the work takes × the hourly rate. According to Job Bank Canada, web developers earn $21 to $57/hour, with a median of $38 to $39/hour.
  • Indeed data for 2025 shows average salaries around $70,800 CAD/year, which works out to about $34/hour. Agencies charge more, usually $90–$200+ CAD/hour, because their rates also cover things like project management, QA, tools, and overhead.
  • That's why a typical mid-level Shopify or custom e-commerce build in Canada often ends up in the $25,000 to $60,000 range, even if the raw number of hours seems low at first.
• Testing and QA:
  • Skipping QA often leads to issues that hurt ROI once the site goes live. Bugs that slip through early can disrupt conversions, damage customer trust, and eventually cost far more to fix.
  • Industry research and Canadian agency benchmarks consistently show that an intensive QA phase typically adds 15-25% to the total development effort. This isn't merely padding; it's the time needed to ensure everything works smoothly across devices, browsers, and user scenarios.
• For a mid-level e-commerce build, QA usually includes:
  • Manual functional and cross-device testing: $3,000–$10,000 CAD (testing all core flows, browsing, cart, checkout on multiple devices)
  • Automated tests for critical flows: $5,000–$20,000 CAD (helps catch regressions faster during future updates)
  • Performance testing: $3,000 to $10,000 CAD (load, stress, and caching tests to make sure the site holds up under traffic)
  • Security / basic penetration testing: $3,000 to $15,000 CAD (checks for vulnerabilities before customers ever interact with the store)

If you're building for sensitive industries like finance and healthcare, suppliers expect higher costs due to stricter compliance and security requirements.

• Hosting, domains, and SSL are focused on Canada.
  • If you're using a SaaS platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, or Wix, hosting is already included. For self-hosted or open-source setups, budgeting must be done separately:
  • Domain Name (.CA)
    • CIRA reports that registering a .CA domain usually costs $10–$20 CAD/year, with occasional promo pricing.
  • SSL Certificates
    • Most platforms offer free Let's Encrypt SSL, but upgraded options vary. Industry sources show SSLs can range from free to ~$180/year, while wildcard or EV certificates for multi-subdomain setups can reach $200–$600+/year.
  • Hosting:
    • For WooCommerce or custom builds:
      • Managed WordPress/VPS for small stores: $20–$80 CAD/month
        High-traffic or cloud setups (AWS, Azure, GCP): $150–$1,000+ CAD/month
        Builders like Wix bundle hosting, templates, and basic e-commerce features starting around $29/month.
  • Ongoing support and maintenance:
    • Most global and Canadian hosting and development guides explain that ongoing care, which includes regular updates, security monitoring, fresh content, and minor feature improvements, usually costs about fifteen to thirty percent of the original project budget each year for a professionally built store.

In simple Canadian terms, you can expect the following:

• A basic maintenance package covering essential security patches and minor updates typically ranges from $3,000 to $8,000 per year.
• A standard retainer comprising maintenance plus steady monthly content changes or small feature additions usually ranges from eight thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars per year.
• An enterprise-level SLA with continuous monitoring, performance tuning, priority response, and ongoing roadmap support often lands between twenty-five thousand and 75 thousand dollars or more per year.
• Cutting back too much on maintenance can lead to serious issues, namely security risks, slower page performance that harms SEO and conversions, and broken integrations when third-party services update their systems.

Since page speed and user experience play a significant role in search rankings and sales performance, maintenance is better viewed as part of your long-term revenue strategy rather than a simple expense.

Pro tips to keep your e-commerce costs under control without harming ROI

Spending on your e-commerce build is not about choosing the cheapest option but about investing intelligently. To do that, it helps to focus on what truly matters early on.

• Begin with the must-have features that directly drive revenue, and save the nice-to-have elements, like gamification or advanced wishlists, for a later phase.
• Keep a simple roadmap so your team can build in a way that stays flexible for future improvements.
• Choose your platform carefully from day one, because research shows that Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce each suit different business stages. A poor choice can lead to an expensive migration within a couple of years or unnecessary spending on enterprise features you don't actually need.
• Make clever use of existing tools rather than building everything from scratch. Lean on native platform features and proven apps for things like reviews, loyalty programs, and basic search, and reserve custom development for the features that set your brand apart.
• Think in terms of total cost of ownership, not just your initial build budget. When you add your domain, SSL, hosting, or platform fees, apps, payment charges, and ongoing maintenance, a small Canadian store may spend around two thousand to eight thousand dollars per year, growing brands typically fall between eight thousand and thirty thousand, and complex B2B or enterprise setups often exceed thirty thousand annually. This includes not only hard costs, such as subscriptions and hosting, but also softer costs, such as maintenance and minor monthly updates.

Key Takeaways!

Understanding the real cost is the first step toward building a successful online store. If you want a clear, personalized breakdown for your project in Canada, request a custom estimate from Netclues today. A reliable partner will take the time to map your needs, suggest the right platform and architecture, identify smart cost savings, such as using apps instead of custom builds, and offer phased options rather than a single, all-or-nothing plan.

Here are a few pointers to help you stand out in 2026:

• Canada's e-commerce market is definitely growing quickly, rising from around 41.7 billion dollars in 2025 to an expected number of nearly 67 billion by 2030, making online investment worthwhile.
• Professional builds are not cheap, but highly predictable. Most of the Canadian e-commerce sites land between ten thousand and one hundred thousand dollars, and advanced B2B or marketplace projects can even go beyond that. In addition, the ongoing expenses can also add up well.
• Platform fees, apps, domains, hosting, SSL, and regular maintenance can add a few thousand dollars a year, but they are incredibly essential. And remember that cost is not the same as value. A low-cost store that fails to convert is ultimately more expensive than a well-built site that consistently brings in substantial revenue.

The right agency can help you save money in the long run by choosing the right platform, reusing proven components, and prioritizing features that actually move the needle. If you are comparing platforms or planning your budget, this is the perfect time to turn broad estimates into a detailed and practical roadmap.

Ready to Build Your Online Store? Explore Netclue's e-commerce services with a partner who understands the Canadian market, local regulations, and modern tech options, and can guide you from your first idea to a high-converting, scalable online store.

Frequently Asked Questions: E-Commerce Website Costs in Canada 2026

1. How can I get an accurate estimate for my e-commerce website in Canada?

Getting a clear, accurate estimate is simple. Just fill out the quote request form on our website, and our team will reach out to you with a personalized proposal based on your specific needs. It’s quick and transparent, so you’ll know exactly what to expect.

2. Can I receive a consultation to better understand the costs involved in building my e-commerce site?

Absolutely! We offer a free consultation where we can walk you through the entire process of building an e-commerce website. You’ll get a cost breakdown, understand your options, and know what investments will give you the best return.

3. Are there financing options available for building an e-commerce website?

Yes, we understand that building an online store is a significant investment, and that’s why we offer flexible financing plans. Whether you're a small business or scaling up, our team will help you choose a financing option that suits your budget.

4. Can I get a free audit for my existing e-commerce store to identify cost-saving opportunities?

Definitely! If you already have a site, our free audit will give you a comprehensive look at areas that could be optimized for better performance. We’ll suggest cost-saving opportunities and improvements to help your business grow.

5. What is the average cost of building an e-commerce website in Canada for 2026?

The cost varies depending on your needs, but generally, a custom-built e-commerce website in Canada will range from $10,000 to $100,000 CAD. Factors such as complexity, features, and platform choice will influence the final cost.

6. What factors affect the cost of building an e-commerce website in Canada?

Several things contribute to the cost, such as platform choice (Shopify, WooCommerce), the design complexity, the features you require (e.g., payment integrations, CRM), and the development team's hourly rate. Understanding these factors can help you plan your budget more effectively.

7. How do different platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce affect e-commerce website costs?

Shopify has monthly fees starting at $49 CAD/month, and offers an easy setup for small businesses. WooCommerce, while free, requires separate costs for hosting, plugins, and maintenance. BigCommerce starts at $39 USD/month, and typically suits businesses scaling up with more advanced features.

8. What are the typical ongoing costs for maintaining an e-commerce website in Canada?

Expect annual costs to include things like hosting, domain registration, payment processing fees, and security updates. On average, you might spend around $2,000 to $8,000 CAD per year for ongoing maintenance.

9. How do I choose the right platform for my e-commerce website?

Choosing the right platform depends on your business model and size. If you're a small business, Shopify is often the go-to. For businesses needing more customization, WooCommerce offers more flexibility. You can learn more about the best platform for your business on our E-Commerce Platform Guide.

10. Where can I find detailed cost breakdowns for Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce?

We’ve made it easy for you! Visit our E-Commerce Website Cost Breakdown Page, where we break down the costs of each platform and give you a clear idea of which one might be the best fit for your business.

11. How do I get started with building an e-commerce website in Canada?

It’s simple! You can start by reading our detailed step-by-step guide for building your e-commerce site. Or, if you’d prefer, schedule a free consultation with us to map out a tailored plan for your store.

12. What are the benefits of custom website design for my e-commerce site?

Custom website design allows you to create a unique user experience that resonates with your audience, enhancing your brand identity and boosting conversion rates. To explore how custom design can elevate your online store, visit our Design Services Page.

13. What is the average cost of building an e-commerce website in Canada for 2026?

The cost of creating a custom e-commerce website in Canada can range from $10,000 CAD to $100,000 CAD. This variation depends on things like the platform you choose, the features you want, and how customized the design is. For example, a simple store might cost less, but a more feature-rich or highly personalized website could push the cost toward the higher end.

14. What factors determine the cost of an e-commerce website?

Several key factors affect the price of an e-commerce site:

• Platform choice: Shopify, WooCommerce, or other platforms each have their own pricing structures.
• Design complexity: If you want a simple design or a fully custom user experience, the cost will differ.
• Functionality: Adding things like payment gateways, multi-storefront support, or custom checkout processes will increase the cost.
• Integrations: Features like integrating with your ERP, CRM systems, or marketing tools can also influence the cost.

15. How does the platform choice impact the e-commerce development cost?

The platform you choose plays a major role in the final cost. For instance, Shopify has a range of plans from $49/month to $517/month (plus additional transaction fees). It's a great choice for a straightforward setup. On the other hand, WooCommerce is free to install, but you’ll need to pay for hosting, themes, and plugins, which can add up if you need more advanced features or customizations. It’s a flexible choice, but can require more time and effort to maintain.

16. How do website features and complexity influence the cost?

The more advanced features you add to your site, the higher the price. For example:

• A custom user interface (UI) or a personalized user experience (UX) will require more design and development work.
• Advanced filtering options, multi-currency support, and integrations like B2B features or subscription billing all take time to implement and increase the cost.

As the complexity of the site grows, expect the cost to rise to $60,000 to $120,000 CAD for highly customized or feature-rich builds.

17. What are the recurring costs after the website is built?

Once your e-commerce site is live, there are ongoing costs that you’ll need to account for.

These include:

• Monthly platform fees (for platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.)
• Payment processing fees (usually a percentage of each sale)
• Hosting costs, SSL certificates, and domain registration to ensure your site runs smoothly and securely.
• Website maintenance (security updates, minor updates, content changes) These ongoing expenses typically range between $2,000 to $8,000 CAD per year, depending on the scale and complexity of your site.