Every platform quotes you the number that makes them look cheapest. The real cost lives in what’s missing from that number — hosting, apps, transaction fees, the seat you didn’t know you’d need. Below is what small businesses are actually paying in 2026, platform by platform, with a comparison table for each.

Prices reflect each platform’s standard published rate, generally the discounted rate for annual billing where one is offered. Month-to-month billing typically runs 25 to 40 percent higher unless noted.

Self-Hosted WordPress

Shared hosting looks cheap up front, but that’s an introductory rate that jumps sharply at renewal. Managed WordPress hosting is the realistic baseline for a small business: reliable infrastructure, automatic updates, and support that can actually help when something breaks.

Hosting Tier Monthly Annual Add-ons & Extra Costs
Shared Hosting $12–18 (renewal rate) $150–215 Theme, security & backup plugins
Managed WordPress Hosting $20–30 $240–360 Theme ($50–100 one-time), security & backup plugins

A well-run small business WordPress site lands at $300 to $800 a year all-in, before any custom design or development work.

Hosted Website Builders

Wix

Plan Monthly Annual Add-ons & Extra Costs
Light $17 $204 No ecommerce; custom domain included
Core $29 $348 Entry-level ecommerce; minimum plan for selling
Business $39 $468 Advanced ecommerce features
Business Elite $159 $1,908 Unlimited storage & bandwidth

Squarespace

Plan Monthly Annual Add-ons & Extra Costs
Basic $16 $192 Selling allowed, standard transaction fee
Core $23 $276 Waives Squarespace’s own transaction fee
Plus $39 $468 Lower payment processing rate (2.7% + $0.30)
Advanced $99 $1,188 Lowest processing rate (2.5% + $0.30)

Webflow

Webflow overhauled its pricing in May 2026. Site plans cover the build; a separate Workspace seat is required for anyone who needs to edit the site.

Plan Monthly Annual Add-ons & Extra Costs
Basic (Site) $15 $180 Requires a Workspace seat to edit
Premium (Site) $25 $300 Requires a Workspace seat to edit
Full Workspace Seat $39 $468 Needed per full editor/collaborator
Limited Workspace Seat $15 $180 Needed per reviewer with limited access

For a solo owner, the seat cost is a rounding error. For a team of three editors, it’s an extra $500 to $1,400 a year that never shows up on the pricing page.

eCommerce: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

Shopify

Plan Monthly Annual Add-ons & Extra Costs
Basic $29 (annual) / $39 (monthly) $348–468 2.9% + $0.30 processing; apps typically add $1,440–3,600/yr
Grow $105 $1,260 1% transaction fee + processing; apps extra
Advanced $399 $4,788 0.6% transaction fee + processing; apps extra
Plus From $2,300 (3-yr term) From $27,600 0.2% transaction fee + processing; enterprise app stack extra

Shopify Payments avoids the extra transaction-fee surcharge. Skip it for PayPal or another processor and Shopify adds 0.2% to 2% on top of that processor’s own fees.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce itself is free, but Shopify’s price bundles things WooCommerce sells separately: hosting, SSL, a CDN, PCI-compliant checkout, shipping labels, tax calculation, and abandoned cart recovery. The honest WooCommerce total has to include all of it.

Component Monthly Annual Notes
WooCommerce-Optimized Hosting $11–40 $132–480 Scales with traffic
Payment Processing (WooPayments/Stripe) Free extension — 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, same as Shopify Payments
Shipping Labels & Live Rates ~$8–10 $100–120 Free tier covers basics; live rates cost extra
Automated Multi-State Tax ~$17+ $200+ Needed for sellers with multi-state nexus
Security Plugin ~$8–25 $100–300 Wordfence, Sucuri, or similar
Backups ~$6 $70 UpdraftPlus Premium or similar
Full Plugin Stack (feature parity with Shopify) — $800–2,000 Combined total of the extensions above

The Real Comparison

At small scale, Shopify is faster to launch and the all-in cost is predictable: platform fee, processing, a handful of apps. WooCommerce takes more setup work but is typically cheaper once it’s running. Past $500K in annual revenue, the gap widens to roughly $4,800 to $9,600 a year on Shopify versus $2,400 to $5,400 a year on WooCommerce including hosting. The trade is control and cost against convenience and speed — neither answer is wrong, but the sticker price on either platform is never the real number.

Bottom Line

The advertised price is a starting point, not a budget. Hosting renewals, transaction fees, required seats, and the plugins or apps needed to match built-in features can double or triple what a platform looks like it costs on the pricing page. Budget for the whole stack, not the headline number.