It costs a minimum of $1,000 to launch a basic Magento website using the functionality offered with Magento Open Source. A fully customized Magento website can cost roughly $50,000 to $100,000 or more, excluding ongoing support and maintenance costs.
Let’s take a closer look at the exact costs involved in launching a Magento website.
Cost breakdown of launching a Magento website
Accurately estimating the costs of launching a Magento website is extremely difficult because of the number of factors involved.
However, to help you understand the costs involved in launching a Magento website, we’ll be estimating the cost of each component as per the lowest amount you could expect to spend for that aspect.
Website domain name
Registering a domain name for your new Magento store will cost approximately $10 to $12 or more. The pricing depends on the domain registrar you’ve chosen, the domain names you’re registering, the duration of registration, and any additional add-ons you may have included, such as DNSSEC at the time of purchase.
Cost: Approximately $12 for the first year.
Magento license
If you choose to use Magento Open Source, there won’t be any additional licensing costs as it’s distributed under the Open Software License 3.0, making it free to download and use. However, if you opt for Magento Commerce, the pricing starts at approximately $2,000 per month for the self-hosted version.
Cost: Free for Magento Open Source.
Magento hosting
Unless you’ve purchased one of the Magento Commerce Cloud plans or opt for free Magento hosting, you will require hosting. Magento performs best in a dedicated server environment with enough resources to fuel all of its supporting technologies.
A dedicated server with enough RAM and processing power to support a small Magento store will start at approximately $250 per month. Alternatively, you could opt for a VPS with a company like DigitalOcean, which would cost roughly $40 per month for an 8GB RAM, 2vCPU droplet capable of supporting a small store with limited traffic.
Cost: Starts from $40 per month.
SSL certificate
Using an SSL certificate is vital to the security of an online store. SSL certificates encrypt data between the server and client devices. This encryption protects sensitive information like credit card details from being intercepted by unauthorized individuals.
The cost of an SSL certificate starts as low as $7 per year for a single domain 256-bit SSL but can cost over $2,000 per year for a multi-domain Enterprise SSL. You could also install a free SSL issued by Let’s Encrypt on your server.
Cost: $0 for Let’s Encrypt SSL.
Magento Theme
All Magento installations come pre-packaged with a free theme called Luma, which is fully mobile-ready. You can customize its default theme by referring to Magento’s detailed theme development documentation or hire a Magento design agency to assist with customization.
Costs of custom Magento development start from $25 per hour and can go as high as $200 per hour. Alternatively, you can purchase a ready-to-use theme from the official Magento Marketplace or Themeforest for approximately $100 to $200.
Using premade themes isn’t recommended because they’re often bloated and slow. However, they can do the job when you’re on a budget and need something besides the default Luma theme.
Cost: $200 for a premade theme.
Website content
Website content creation includes website copy, blog posts, product images, videos, and other promotional material. If you’re on a budget, you could create all website content yourself without spending any money.
However, should you wish to hire a professional, it can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 or more to create unique content for your website.
Cost: $0 if you’re doing it yourself.
Extensions
Magento offers most of the functionality you would require when starting an ecommerce store. If you need something that isn’t provided out of the box, you could always purchase a third-party extension or get one custom-built for your store.
Ready-to-use Magento extensions usually cost around $100 to $500, depending on the functionality they offer. Custom development from scratch will cost around $25 to $200 per hour.
Cost: $500 if you’re using up to 2 ready-made extensions.
The total cost of launching a Magento website
Based on the above factors, it would cost you a minimum of $800 to $1,000 to launch a bare-bones Magento website from scratch. However, that is only possible when you’re familiar with the platform and have the technical skills required to set up hosting and configure the website.
A business looking to launch a fully customized self-hosted Magento Commerce website can expect to spend a minimum of $50,000 to $70,000, excluding ongoing support and maintenance costs.