You will be excited to find that both WordPress and WooCommerce are completely free to use. They do not carry any fees to download and run. Although to make your WooCommerce store run there are costs that need to be paid either monthly or a one time fee.
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What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free plugin that enables eCommerce functionality on your WordPress website. It is one of the most popular eCommerce software and is currently being used by millions of website owners.
How much does it cost to run a WooCommerce store
You must be wondering if both WordPress and WooCommerce are free to use then why would it still cost you money to run the store. Below are various costs that are associated with running a WooCommerce store.
Hosting and Domain
To run a WooCommerce store the first thing you will need is a hosting service and a domain name. The cost of hosting plans will change depending on the kind of traffic you are expecting on your store. But since in the start the traffic will be low you can start for as cheap as $3/month on a shared hosting plan.
If money is not an issue then you should go with a VPS plan for hosting as it is more secure then a shared hosting plan. Although it will cost almost double what a shared plan costs and the prices usually start from $7/month on most hosting services.
A dot com domain usually costs around $10/year on most domain name providers. If you are on a tight budget then you can also get a few tlds for as cheap as a dollar. Most providers also give free Whois privacy with their domains.
Themes
When it comes to themes you have two options, either you can go with a free theme which looks okayish or choose a premium theme which will look professional for your eCommerce store.
Premium themes are available for as cheap as $10 per theme up to $150 per theme. This is usually a one time fee and you will have the license for the theme for lifetime.
Extensions
To make the store functional you will need extensions for payment, shipping and sales.
For accepting payments WooCommerce has its own service WooCommerce Payments which is available for $0/month and a transaction fee is charged on your sales.
WooCommerce offers live shipping rates in it’s dashboard, but for advanced features such as shipping rates based on distance, tracking shipments and setting shipping rates based on different parameters you will need an extension. The extensions for such can range from $50-$100/year.
There are also various extensions available for sales such as pre-ordering products, subscription service and many more. The extensions can be costly and are usually upwards of $100/year.
Plugins
There are a few plugins that you can install for various functionalities on your store such as analytics, rewards and SEO.
The Google analytics plugin for WooCommerce is available for free. Whereas if you want a SEO plugin then Yoast WooCommerce SEO is a good option and costs around $69/year.
Conclusion
You can set up a basic WooCommerce store for as low as $100/year. But your store will not be up to mark and will have very basic features. If you want a fully professional store then the cost can run upwards of $300/year taking into account a VPS hosting plan, a dot com domain name, premium theme, various extensions and plugins.