If you’ve Googled “how much does a Shopify store cost” you’ve probably found 50 articles dancing around the answer. We’ll cut to it.

A professional Shopify store in South Africa typically costs R20,000–R80,000 to build, plus around R600–R2,000 per month in running costs depending on apps and traffic. Let’s break that down properly.

The two cost buckets

There are really two costs to a Shopify store: the one-time build (or migration), and the monthly running costs. Let’s tackle each.

1. Shopify subscription (monthly)

This is what you pay Shopify directly, regardless of who builds your store. As of 2026:

• Basic Shopify — about $29/month (~R540). Good for most starting stores. Includes hosting, security, SSL, unlimited products, 24/7 support.
• Grow — about $79/month (~R1,470). For growing stores. Includes professional reports, lower transaction fees, multiple staff accounts.
• Advanced Shopify — about $299/month (~R5,560). For high-volume stores. Custom report builder, lowest transaction fees, third-party calculated shipping.
• Shopify Plus — from $2,000+/month. Enterprise-level. Only worth it at R10M+ annual revenue or for complex B2B.

Most SA stores start on Basic or Grow. Upgrade when the maths makes sense — once your transaction-fee savings on a higher plan exceed the price difference.

2. Build / setup cost (one-time)

This is the meat of the cost. Here’s our typical pricing for South African Shopify builds:

Some agencies charge R100k+ for what’s essentially a Startup Store. Watch out for that. Get itemised quotes from at least two providers.

3. Monthly running costs (apps, payments, etc.)

On top of your Shopify subscription, expect monthly costs for:

• Email marketing — Free up to ~1,000 subscribers with MailerLite. ~R300/month for 5,000 subs on Klaviyo.
• Reviews app — Free (Judge.me) to ~R400/month (Yotpo).
• SEO app — Free options exist. Paid apps R200-R500/month.
• Loyalty / referrals — R0-R800/month depending on app and features.
• Stock sync / POS — If you have a physical store, R200-R800/month.

Most stores end up paying R600-R2,000/month total in apps. Some run on R0 in apps for a long time.

4. Payment processing fees

Every transaction has a fee. Roughly:

• PayFast / Ozow — PayFast cards 3.2% + R2 per transaction (instant EFT cheaper: Ozow 1.5%, PayFast 2%)
• Peach Payments — about 2.95% + R1.50 per card transaction
• Shopify transaction fee — Shopify Payments isn’t available in South Africa, so Shopify adds its own fee on top of the gateway’s: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus

For a store doing R100,000/month in sales on Shopify Basic with PayFast cards (say 200 orders at R500), expect to pay about R5,600 in payment fees: R3,200 at 3.2%, R400 in R2 fees and R2,000 to Shopify.

5. Optional: Google Ads & marketing

If you want traffic from day one (not just SEO over time), you’ll need to budget for ads. Typical SA ecommerce ad spend:

• Small store — R5,000-R15,000/month ad spend + R6,000/month management = R11,000-R21,000/month total
• Growing store — R20,000-R75,000/month ad spend + R12,000/month management
• Mature store — R75,000+ /month, management custom-quoted

Good ads at the right time can double or triple your revenue. Bad ads can burn cash. See our Google Ads page for how we approach it.

Total cost example: a real SA store

Here’s what a typical small-to-mid SA Shopify store actually pays in year one:

• Build cost: R20,000 one-time
• Shopify Basic: R540/mo × 12 = R6,480
• Apps: R800/mo × 12 = R9,600
• Payment fees (R50,000/mo avg sales, assuming about 100 orders at R500, PayFast cards 3.2% + R2 plus Shopify Basic’s 2%): R2,800/mo × 12 = R33,600
• Optional ads: R10,000/mo × 12 = R120,000 (only if doing paid ads)

Year-one total without ads: ~R70,000 (R20k build + R50k running costs).
Year-one total with ads: ~R190,000 but typically generates R600,000+ in revenue.

How to keep costs down

If budget is tight, here’s what to do:

• Start on Basic Shopify. Don’t pay for a higher tier you don’t need yet.
• Pick free or freemium apps initially. MailerLite, Judge.me, free SEO tools.
• Skip Google Ads at first. Build organic traffic via blog, SEO, social. Add ads when you can afford to test.
• Get an honest agency quote. R20,000 builds exist and work fine — don’t pay R80k just because someone tells you to.
• Do your own product uploads. We’ll train you. Saves a chunk on the build.

Ready for a real quote?

If you want a clear, itemised quote for your specific situation — not generic ranges — fill in our quote form or WhatsApp Louw at +27 67 143 8596. We respond within 24 hours, no obligation.