How much does an ecommerce website cost in Ireland?
A clear breakdown of what an Irish ecommerce site actually costs to build and run in 2026 — platform fees, design, payments, the lot.
By Harvey Kubath, Agentic Builds · 29 May 2026 · Updated 23 September 2026
Ecommerce quotes in Ireland swing wildly. One agency quotes €1,800 for a Shopify setup. Another wants €18,000 for the "same thing." Both are technically valid — they're just selling very different things. Here's how the numbers actually break down.
The three real price bands
€500–€1,500: DIY-assisted
You pick a Shopify or Squarespace template, someone helps you set it up, add 10–30 products, configure shipping and payments. Looks like every other Shopify store. Fine for testing demand. Hard to differentiate from competitors.
€2,000–€4,000: properly designed small store
Custom homepage and product templates, brand-aligned design, proper SEO setup, Stripe + standard Irish shipping providers wired up, abandoned cart emails. This is where most Irish SMEs should land — including our €2,250 ecommerce package.
€8,000–€25,000+: agency or bespoke
Custom-built on Shopify Plus or headless commerce, deep integrations (ERP, warehouse, B2B pricing tiers), heavy brand work. Worth it once you're doing real volume — overkill for a side-hustle store.
The ongoing costs nobody quotes
- Platform fee — Shopify Basic is €24/month billed yearly (€32 monthly), Grow is €69 (€92 monthly), plus apps you'll inevitably add.
- Transaction fees — Stripe charges 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards, more for international.
- Domain — €15–€25/year for a .ie.
- Email marketing — Klaviyo or Mailchimp, €0–€50/month at small scale.
- Apps — reviews, upsells, shipping calculators add up fast, €5–€30/month each.
Realistic year-one budget for an Irish SME
Build: €2,250–€4,000. Platform + apps + email: €600–€1,200. Payment processing: roughly 1.5–2.5% of revenue. Domain and admin: €50. So €3,000–€5,500 in year one to launch and run a proper Irish ecommerce site — before marketing.
Where Irish businesses overpay
- Buying Shopify Plus before they need it (from €2,100/month).
- Custom-coded checkouts on Shopify (almost never worth it).
- Paying agencies retainers for tasks they could do in 20 minutes via Shopify admin.
- Stacking 15 apps for features the theme already supports.
Where the grant helps
An Irish ecommerce build can fit inside the Trading Online Voucher — half your build cost, up to €2,500, can be reimbursed. The Grow Digital Voucher covers off-the-shelf software such as an ecommerce platform subscription, not custom builds. Worth applying before you commit.