Shopify Website Development Cost in India (2026): Rs.1.5 Lakh Launch, Rs.3 Lakh Custom, Rs.8 Lakh Plus, and What It Costs to Run
The Indian price bands for a Shopify store, what each of our three published tiers buys, and the running costs that outgrow the build fee in the first year.
Saurabh Nishad
Founder, The Mediaverse and Mediaverse Digital · Mediaverse Digital · prices published, no fluff
A Shopify store in India costs Rs.20,000 to Rs.60,000 from a freelancer on a stock theme and Rs.1.5 to 5 lakh for a custom theme. Mediaverse Digital publishes three tiers: Shopify Launch at Rs.1,50,000, Shopify Custom from Rs.3,00,000 and Shopify Plus or headless from Rs.8,00,000, one-time, plus GST and monthly running costs.
Key takeaways
- Typical Indian bands: a stock theme store Rs.20,000 to Rs.60,000 from a freelancer, theme customisation with integrations Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,50,000, a custom theme Rs.1.5 to 5 lakh, Shopify Plus projects Rs.5 to 15 lakh.
- Our published tiers: Shopify Launch Rs.1,50,000 for up to 100 products, Shopify Custom from Rs.3,00,000 for 500 plus products, Shopify Plus or headless from Rs.8,00,000. With 18 percent GST that is Rs.1,77,000, Rs.3,54,000 and Rs.9,44,000.
- Launch works out at Rs.1,500 per product at its 100 product cap and Custom at no more than Rs.600 per product at 500, on our arithmetic.
- Running costs outgrow the build fast. At about 2 percent per transaction, gateway fees alone pass the Rs.1,50,000 Launch fee within a year once a store sells about Rs.6.25 lakh a month.
- Shopify Plus is roughly Rs.1.75 lakh a month paid to Shopify, about Rs.21 lakh a year, 2.6 times the Rs.8,00,000 build. Our page puts the case for Plus at around Rs.1.5 to 2 crore of monthly revenue.
A Shopify quote in India can read Rs.25,000 or Rs.12 lakh for what sounds like the same thing, an online store. The gap is mostly integrations, catalogue size and checkout work, and the build fee is only the first cost a store brings. This guide sets the typical Indian bands against our three published Shopify and ecommerce development tiers, then does the arithmetic most quotes skip: what each tier costs per product, what the store costs to run, and when Shopify Plus pays for its subscription.
How much does a Shopify website cost in India in 2026?
The bands below are the typical market ranges published on our ecommerce page, not our rate card. They overlap because the work inside them differs: a stock theme with a logo swapped in and a store wired for UPI, cash on delivery, courier rates and GST invoices can both be called a Shopify store.
| Build | Typical price | What that usually buys |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Shopify store from a freelancer | Rs.20,000 to Rs.60,000 | A stock theme, products loaded, a payment gateway switched on |
| Theme customisation from a small agency | Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,50,000 | A reworked theme with the main integrations |
| Custom theme | Rs.1,50,000 to Rs.5,00,000 | Bespoke UX, larger catalogues and system integrations |
| Shopify Plus project | Rs.5 lakh to Rs.15 lakh | Checkout extensibility, B2B, multi-store, deeper integrations |
| WooCommerce build | Rs.50,000 to Rs.4,00,000 | Depends on how much the plugins cannot cover |
| Tier | Price | Go-live | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Launch | Rs.1,50,000 (about $3,000) | 3 to 4 weeks | Premium theme customised to the brand, up to 100 products, Razorpay or Cashfree plus COD, Shiprocket or Delhivery, a GST invoicing app, WhatsApp order alerts, SEO basics with GA4 and Pixel, 2 weeks of training |
| Shopify Custom | From Rs.3,00,000 (about $6,000) | 6 to 10 weeks | Custom Liquid theme from wireframes, 500 plus products with filters and variants, subscriptions or bundles, conversion-led product and checkout pages, ERP, CRM or marketplace sync, 30 days of support |
| Shopify Plus or headless | From Rs.8,00,000 (about $16,000) | Typically 10 to 16 weeks | Checkout extensibility, B2B or wholesale pricing, multi-store or multi-currency, a Hydrogen or Next.js headless option, ERP and OMS integration, migration with URL mapping |
What does each Shopify tier cost per product?
Dividing the fee by the catalogue it is built for is a quick way to see what the tiers are really priced on. At its 100 product cap, Launch is Rs.1,500 per product. Custom is built for 500 plus products, so at 500 it is no more than Rs.600 per product, and less as the catalogue grows. This is our arithmetic on the published figures, and it points to the real difference: Launch is priced on setup and integrations, Custom on catalogue scale and custom design.
It also explains the most common mismatch. A brand with 40 products does not need Custom, and a brand with 900 SKUs and an ERP will spend the Launch budget working around a theme. The written platform recommendation in every scope is there to catch this before any money moves, and we recommend the cheaper option when it fits.
What does a Shopify store cost to run after launch?
Four lines, all billed by vendors to your own accounts: the Shopify plan, which starts at a few thousand rupees a month on standard plans; payment gateway fees of about 2 percent per transaction; courier charges per shipment; and apps, typically Rs.3,000 to Rs.15,000 a month once reviews, WhatsApp, invoicing and bundles are installed. Agency maintenance, if you want it, runs Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000 a month in India.
| Line | Basis | Year one |
|---|---|---|
| Build, Shopify Launch | Published one-time fee | Rs.1,50,000 |
| Payment gateway | About 2 percent of Rs.60 lakh in annual sales | About Rs.1,20,000 |
| Apps | Rs.3,000 to Rs.15,000 a month | Rs.36,000 to Rs.1,80,000 |
| Optional maintenance | Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000 a month | Rs.0 to Rs.2,40,000 |
| Shopify plan and couriers | Plan from a few thousand rupees a month; couriers per shipment | Not totalled: depends on the plan and order count |
| Total of the priced lines | Build, gateway and apps, without maintenance | Rs.3,06,000 to Rs.4,50,000 |
The gateway line is the one that grows with success. At about 2 percent, a year of gateway fees equals the whole Rs.1,50,000 Launch fee once the store sells about Rs.6.25 lakh a month. From that point on, the build is the smaller cost, and pruning apps and negotiating the gateway rate matter more than squeezing the build quote.
Whose name are the accounts in?
Yours. The Shopify account, the payment gateway, the courier account and the domain are opened in your name on every tier, so payouts go straight to your bank and the store stays yours if you change agency. Ask any vendor to confirm this in writing before the first payment.
When is Shopify Plus worth its subscription?
Our page puts Plus at roughly Rs.1.75 lakh a month paid directly to Shopify. Over a year that is about Rs.21 lakh, 2.6 times the Rs.8,00,000 starting build fee, which is why the build price is the wrong number to judge Plus on. It earns its place when a brand needs something the standard plans cannot do: checkout customisation, B2B or wholesale price lists, several stores or currencies under one admin, or volume where its lower payment fees offset the subscription. The rule of thumb on our page is around Rs.1.5 to 2 crore of monthly revenue.
| Line | Basis | Year one |
|---|---|---|
| Build, Shopify Plus or headless | Published starting fee | From Rs.8,00,000 |
| Plus subscription | About Rs.1.75 lakh a month to Shopify | About Rs.21,00,000 |
| Subtotal | Before gateway, apps, couriers and GST | From about Rs.29,00,000 |
Headless is a separate decision. A Hydrogen or Next.js storefront on a Shopify backend removes theme limits and can be very fast, but every feature a theme gave for free has to be built and maintained. Our page recommends it above roughly Rs.50 lakh of monthly revenue, or when a specific experience cannot be built on a theme, and says a custom Liquid theme gets about 90 percent of the speed at a third of the cost.
What does a Shopify build cost with GST, and how long does it take?
| Tier | Fee | With 18 percent GST | Go-live | Support after launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Launch | Rs.1,50,000 | Rs.1,77,000 | 3 to 4 weeks | 2 weeks, with training |
| Shopify Custom | From Rs.3,00,000 | From Rs.3,54,000 | 6 to 10 weeks | 30 days |
| Shopify Plus or headless | From Rs.8,00,000 | From Rs.9,44,000 | Typically 10 to 16 weeks | Scoped in the document |
The clock starts when the product data arrives, not when the contract is signed. A clean spreadsheet with images, prices, variants and descriptions saves about two weeks on almost every project, and the scope, platform recommendation and fixed quote come within 3 working days of a 45-minute scoping call.
Why does cash on delivery belong in the build budget?
Because it is a margin line as much as a conversion feature. Our page puts return-to-origin rates on unconfirmed COD orders at typically 20 to 40 percent in India. Every Launch build includes pin-code serviceability checks and a COD confirmation message over WhatsApp before dispatch, which cut those losses without switching COD off. If the store will send order updates and abandoned-cart reminders at volume, our WhatsApp marketing cost guide prices the messages themselves.
Which Shopify tier fits which brand?
| Situation | Tier | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Selling on Amazon and Instagram DMs, under 100 products, wants a store of its own | Shopify Launch | Payments, COD, courier, GST invoices and WhatsApp alerts are the work; the catalogue is small |
| A freelancer-built store converting under 1 percent | Launch or Custom, as a rebuild | Product and checkout pages rebuilt around Indian buying; Custom if the catalogue or integrations are large |
| 500 plus SKUs, subscriptions or bundles, an ERP or marketplace sync | Shopify Custom | Catalogue scale and integrations are what the tier is priced on |
| Around Rs.1.5 to 2 crore a month, B2B pricing or several stores | Shopify Plus | The subscription is justified by what standard plans cannot do |
Our earlier ecommerce website cost guide covers the decision between Shopify and a fully custom store. Once the store is live, it becomes the landing page for every campaign: Meta ads management starts at Rs.25,000 a month and Amazon or Flipkart advertising at Rs.30,000 a month, and every fee here is also on our published pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rs.1,50,000 too much for a Shopify store when freelancers charge Rs.30,000?
It depends on what the Rs.30,000 includes. A freelancer's stock theme store typically has products loaded and a gateway switched on. Our Rs.1,50,000 Launch tier adds a customised premium theme, up to 100 products, Razorpay or Cashfree with COD, Shiprocket or Delhivery, a GST invoicing app, WhatsApp order alerts, GA4 and Pixel, and 2 weeks of training. Compare the integration list, not the headline.
What are the monthly costs of running a Shopify store in India?
Four lines, billed to your own accounts. The Shopify plan, from a few thousand rupees a month on standard plans. Payment gateway fees of about 2 percent per transaction. Courier charges per shipment. And apps, typically Rs.3,000 to Rs.15,000 a month. Optional agency maintenance adds Rs.5,000 to Rs.20,000 a month. At Rs.5 lakh a month in sales, gateway fees alone come to about Rs.1,20,000 a year.
How much does Shopify Plus cost in India in a year?
Our page puts the Plus subscription at roughly Rs.1.75 lakh a month paid to Shopify, about Rs.21 lakh a year on our arithmetic. Our Plus or headless build starts from Rs.8,00,000, so the first year is from about Rs.29 lakh before gateway fees, apps, couriers and GST. The page suggests Plus starts to make sense around Rs.1.5 to 2 crore of monthly revenue.
How many products can a Shopify Launch store include?
Up to 100 products loaded and structured, with variants, collections, filters and size charts set up. That makes the Rs.1,50,000 fee about Rs.1,500 per product at the cap, on our arithmetic. Custom builds start from Rs.3,00,000 for 500 plus products, which is no more than Rs.600 per product at 500, and also add a custom Liquid theme, subscriptions or bundles and ERP, CRM or marketplace sync.
Is GST charged on Shopify development in India?
Yes. GST at 18 percent is added to the project price for Indian clients, which makes our published tiers Rs.1,77,000 for Launch, from Rs.3,54,000 for Custom and from Rs.9,44,000 for Plus or headless. Shopify plan fees, app subscriptions, gateway and courier charges are billed separately by those vendors to your account and are not part of the build fee.
How long does it take to build a Shopify store in India?
On our published timelines, Shopify Launch goes live in 3 to 4 weeks, Custom in 6 to 10 weeks, and Plus or headless typically in 10 to 16 weeks. The clock starts when product data and brand assets arrive. A clean spreadsheet of images, prices, variants and descriptions saves about two weeks, and the written scope and fixed quote come within 3 working days of the scoping call.
Sources
- Mediaverse Digital ecommerce and Shopify development (the Rs.1,50,000 Launch, from Rs.3,00,000 Custom and from Rs.8,00,000 Plus or headless tiers, the Indian market bands, running costs, the Plus and headless thresholds, timelines and exclusions)
- Mediaverse Digital published pricing (every fee quoted here, fixed in the scope document before payment)
- Shopify India pricing (current plan fees, billed by Shopify to the store owner)
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