A large Adobe Commerce store with dedicated hosting, custom themes, integrations, and ongoing developer support can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, you can build a Magento open source store with 1 year of managed hosting, a ready-made theme, and 2 extensions for just $1,500.
It seems too good to be true, but is it? it’s not.
Read the rest of the guide to understand the factors that affect Magento pricing, how Magento pricing plans work in 2023, and how to build a Magento store on a budget.
Let’s start with the basics.
Why choose Magento for your store?
Here are five reasons to choose Magento.
1. Intuitive catalog management function
Magento provides a guided product creation workflow that allows you to create configurable products with thousands of variations in minutes. Additionally, it supports multiple product inventory sources, allowing you to fulfill orders from different warehouses.
2. Effective sales and marketing tools
Magento has a set of marketing tools that support various inbound and outbound strategies.Can increase product awareness and sales Use price rulesnewsletters, and analysis tools.
3. Customizable and scalable codebase
Magento’s architecture is modular and fully customizable. Additionally, it uses a scalable and resilient Model-View-Controller framework. This allows you to use extensions to extend different parts of your store without compromising the core application.
4. Reliable security features
Magento takes a multifaceted approach to e-commerce security. It provides features such as:
- Secure framework.
- Encryption of sensitive and non-sensitive data.
- Protection from cross-site scripting and cross-site request forgery.
- Two-factor authentication and advanced administrative security measures.
Additionally, Adobe offers Magento users a free security scanning tool that allows them to test their store for over 21,000 known exploits.
5. Future-proof architecture
Magento has continuously evolved to meet the changing needs of e-commerce businesses around the world. Over the years, Adobe has introduced tools such as PWA Studio projects to help users adopt new technologies.
More recently, Adobe has been working to transform Magento into a microservices-based framework that enables merchants to achieve SaaS-like upgrades.
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Factors that affect Magento costs
Now that you understand why you should choose Magento, let’s take a look at the factors that affect the cost of a Magento website.
1.Magento hosting cost
Magento is available in two editions: Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce. Both are self-hosted software. However, Adobe also offers paid hosting services for Adobe Commerce starting at around $40,000 per year.
The cheapest way to host Magento is with a provider like Amazon Web Services or DigitalOcean. You can host Magento on your server for just $24 to $48 per month. However, you need to optimize, maintain, and protect your servers.
Another option is to use a managed Magento hosting service like Nexcess. Magento hosting with Nexcess starts at around $59 per month before discounts and provides a fully optimized and secure hosting environment.
With the Magento hosting you need, you won’t have to worry about performance issues and will have 24/7 technical support. This will help you when building your online business.
2. Domain name
In addition to hosting, you also need a domain name. The average domain name costs about $10 to $20 per year. However, a premium domain name can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The cost of a domain name is usually determined by factors such as:
- top level domain: The last segment of a domain name (.com, .net, .co.uk, etc.).
- domain name length: Shorter domain names generally cost more.
- add-on service: Some registrars may charge fees for additional services such as domain privacy or long-term registration.
Once you have shortlisted a domain name for your brand, you can purchase it from: domain registration service provider Like necessity.
The advantage of purchasing a domain name from Nexcess is that there are no additional fees for renewals. You will pay the same amount as you paid in the first year.
Plus, you don’t have to manage multiple logins to different accounts. Easily set up your website and subdomains from your Nexcess account.
3. Magento store development
Developing a Magento store can cost hundreds of dollars for minor modifications to tens of thousands of dollars for advanced UI/UX customizations. Factors that affect Magento development costs include:
- Custom design and functionality requirements.
- Certifications, experience, and location of Magento development agency or freelancer.
If you’re comfortable using the command line and don’t need any customization, you probably don’t need to budget for Magento development. However, if you’re not tech-savvy, you’ll need some help setting up your store.
Hire a Magento developer It can cost anywhere from $25 to more than $200 per hour.Data collected Salary dot com shows that the average hourly wage for a US-based Magento developer is approximately $59. Use this number to estimate the cost of developing your Magento store.
Assume that it takes 100 hours of effort to develop a custom module, tweak its design, and optimize its performance. In that case, Magento development could cost around $6,000.
4. Magento themes and extensions
The easiest way to save on custom development costs is to choose ready-made Magento themes and extensions. Ready-to-use solutions can help you improve the look and feel of your store on a budget.
Magento Marketplace We offer free and paid themes ranging from $0 to $499. Magento themes can also be purchased from third-party marketplaces such as: theme forest and template monster In a similar price range.
Like themes, Magento extensions can be purchased for anywhere from $50 to $2,000 depending on the extension. You can find thousands of Magento extensions in marketplaces like: code canyon We handle everything from custom shipping settings to checkout optimization.
5. Marketing budget and SEO
Launching a store is the first step to building a successful online business. You also need website traffic to increase sales.
E-commerce is a highly competitive industry. Therefore, if you have no experience in marketing or his SEO, you should seek the help of an agency or freelancer.
data from payslip shows that the average hourly wage for SEO experts is around $20 per hour. However, a successful SEO strategy can take weeks or even months.
Therefore, you should initially budget at least 10 to 20 hours for tasks such as:
- Comprehensive SEO audit.
- Keyword research and strategy.
- Website optimization.
You should also set aside at least $300 to $1,500 per month to drive traffic using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising until your SEO investment starts to pay off. Choose a budget that you can afford and try to use social media to drive traffic to your website.
Pricing for various Magento plans
Magento pricing varies by edition. Here is an overview of his three main pricing plans for Magento, as well as a detailed breakdown of the initial costs.
Magento 2 and managed hosting
The open source version of Magento 2 is available for free download. You don’t have to pay a monthly license fee for Magento, but you do need a hosting plan to use it. Here are the costs you might incur to build an online store with Magento 2:
cost | minimum cost | average cost |
Magento open source license | $0 | $0 |
Managed Magento hosting (1 year) | $720 | $10,000 |
Domain name | $20 | 200 dollars |
custom development | $0 | $6,000 |
Magento theme | 100 dollars | 500 dollars |
Magento extensions (2) | $350 | $2,000 |
Marketing, PPC, SEO (1st month) | 300 dollars | $5,000 |
Total initial cost | $1,490 | $23,700 |
You can build a Magento store for as little as $1,500 without any custom development. However, you must use ready-made themes, purchase up to two paid extensions, and stick to a lean marketing budget.
You don’t have to worry about hosting Magento 2, although you’ll spend more time setting it up yourself first. A managed hosting provider will handle that for you.
A larger budget allows you to outsource development, marketing, and SEO tasks. Initially, you will have easy access to customizations and integrations. Plus, you can invest more to drive traffic to your store and generate sales from day one.
adobe commerce
Adobe Commerce, also known as Magento Commerce and Magento Enterprise, is a paid version of Magento open source. It provides all the features included in the open source version, plus:
- visual merchandising.
- AI-powered product recommendations.
- Advanced inventory management.
- Improved analytics and reporting.
- Gift card support and other customer loyalty tools.
You can also get support for the core application from the Adobe team, but you must host the application yourself. Therefore, it is only suitable for companies with larger budgets and advanced needs.
Here’s a breakdown of the costs of building an online store using Adobe Commerce.
cost | minimum cost | average cost |
Adobe Commerce License | $22,000 | $125,000 |
Managed Magento hosting (1 year) | $15,000 | $39,000 |
Domain name | $20 | 200 dollars |
custom development | $0 | $20,000 |
Magento theme | 500 dollars | $1,000 |
Magento extensions (2) | $1,000 | $5,000 |
Marketing, PPC, SEO (1st month) | $2,000 | $10,000 |
Total initial cost | $40,520 | $200,200 |
Adobe does not advertise Adobe Commerce prices on its website. We provide pricing on a case-by-case basis based on your business’s total product value and average order value.
The license prices listed above are estimates only. Actual costs may vary depending on your business. However, it’s safe to say that you can expect to invest anywhere from $40,000 to $200,000 or more to build an online store with Adobe Commerce.
adobe commerce cloud
Adobe Commerce Cloud (also known as Magento Cloud) Magento Commerce Cloud, a cloud-hosted version of Adobe Commerce. Available in two plans with different infrastructure.
- starter: For small stores with simpler needs.
- Professional: For large companies.
Both plans include managed hosting for Adobe Commerce, PCI compliance assistance, and 24/7 technical support. Only Pro users receive premium services such as dedicated hosting and a dedicated pre-launch technical advisor.
In addition to these plans, Adobe offers managed services for Adobe Commerce Cloud Pro users. This gives you access to application-level SLAs, a dedicated customer success engineer, and software upgrades and development assistance.
Here’s a breakdown of the costs of building a store using Adobe Commerce Cloud.
cost | minimum cost | average cost |
Adobe Commerce Cloud License | $45,000 | $200,000 |
Managed Magento hosting (1 year) | $0 | $0 |
Domain name | $20 | 200 dollars |
custom development | $0 | $20,000 |
Magento theme | 1000 dollars | $1,000 |
Magento extensions (2) | $1,500 | $5,000 |
Marketing, PPC, SEO (1st month) | $3,000 | $10,000 |
Total initial cost | $50,520 | $236,200 |
Adobe provides quotes for cloud-hosted versions on a case-by-case basis. However, if you want to build your store using Adobe Commerce Cloud, you should expect to spend at least $50,000.
Summary: Magento pricing depends on your needs
We have discussed the factors that affect the cost of Magento and shared various Magento pricing plans to help you estimate your initial startup costs. Here’s a quick summary of the minimum upfront costs for each Magento plan:
- Magento 2 and managed hosting:Over $1,500.
- adobe commerce:Over $40,000.
- adobe commerce cloud: Over $50,000.
It’s worth remembering that these are rough estimates. The exact numbers may vary depending on your business goals and needs.
The best way to keep costs low is to use a managed Magento hosting provider like Nexcess. This simplifies installing, optimizing, and securing Magento so you can focus on growing your business.
Ready to build your store with Nexcess? See our Magento hosting plans Get started today.