When a business asks, "How much does an online store cost?", it usually gets a starting price. That price is useful, but incomplete. The true cost of an e-commerce store is measured over time: setup, hosting, payment methods, apps, maintenance, updates, acquisition, content and internal time. Two solutions advertised at very different prices can end up much closer once all these items are added together.

The platform price is only one line

A SaaS solution may charge a monthly subscription, then extra for certain apps and themes. An open source solution may advertise a free core, but require hosting, extensions and maintenance. A more technical platform may need an agency or an in-house team. None of these models is bad. The problem starts when you compare only the first line of the invoice.

The invisible cost of a store is often the time spent keeping it running.

Count the cost of decisions too

Every extension you add means choosing a vendor, understanding its pricing, checking its compatibility and learning a new interface. Every theme or version change can mean new checks. Every incident ties someone up. That time has value, even if it never generates an outside invoice. For a small business, a few hours of technical management each month can weigh more than a €50 gap between two subscriptions.

Payments and sales have their own economics

Payment fees are unavoidable on almost every solution. Some ecosystems can also add fees when you use a third-party payment provider. Conversely, some open source platforms take no platform percentage, but leave you to negotiate with and connect your own providers. So compare the scenarios that actually match your business, not a theoretical rate.

Maintenance is a commercial expense

An update is not just an IT task. A store that is down, an incompatible module or a failed payment has a direct impact on revenue. Maintenance should therefore be seen as protection for your sales tool. The more an architecture depends on many extensions, the more important it is to know who monitors the whole thing and who steps in.

  • Setup: design, configuration, catalog import, content and launch.
  • Infrastructure: hosting, domain, CDN, backups and monitoring.
  • Features: apps, modules, connectors and external services.
  • Payment: provider fees and any platform fees.
  • Maintenance: updates, testing, fixes and security.
  • Operations: team time, training and support.
  • Growth: SEO, advertising, content and conversion optimization.

Why UNYX talks about scope rather than a catalog of options

The UNYX approach is to define the expected result before piling on building blocks. The project price then corresponds to a clear scope: what must be created, configured and delivered. If a monthly support plan is chosen, it corresponds to an equally clear role: monitoring, improving and helping you decide. That does not make every project cheaper than on another platform. Above all, it aims to make the cost easier to read and to cut the time the merchant spends coordinating tools.

A profitable online store is not the one that costs the least. It is the one where every cost has a reason.

To compare UNYX, Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop or Adobe Commerce, ask for the cost over twelve or twenty-four months, but also for who does what. Who sets it up? Who updates it? Who answers when payment stops working? Who optimizes a product page? Who monitors performance? Once these answers are put in black and white, the price becomes much easier to read.