Most Shopify quotes in India fall between ₹10,000 and ₹3 lakh — and both ends of that range are usually wrong for you. The real cost of a Shopify store depends on 4 variables most agencies hide until contract day: the development scope, the Shopify plan you choose, the apps your operations require, and the payment gateway taking a cut of every order.
This post breaks all four down with actual numbers, so you can walk into any vendor conversation knowing what you should pay.
The total cost of a Shopify store in India
Running a Shopify store in India is not a one-time expense. It has a setup cost (development) and an ongoing monthly cost (platform + apps + gateway fees). Most businesses treat these as separate decisions — and that is a mistake.
A rough monthly baseline for a mid-sized D2C store:
| Cost line | Monthly estimate |
|---|---|
| Shopify Basic plan | ~₹3,300/mo ($39/mo) |
| Essential apps | ₹2,000 – ₹8,000/mo |
| Payment gateway fees | 1.9% – 2.5% per order |
| Total running cost | ₹6,000 – ₹15,000/mo |
That is before development. The development cost is what most people ask about — and it is covered in detail below.
Development cost: Standard, Pro, and Ultimate
At Vellumarc, we offer three fixed-scope development tiers. Fixed scope means no surprise invoices and no scope creep negotiations mid-project.
Standard — ₹20,000
Best for: first-time store owners, D2C brands validating a product, small retailers moving online.
- Shopify store setup from scratch
- Theme customization (colour, fonts, logo, layout)
- Up to 50 products uploaded and configured
- Payment gateway integration (Razorpay or equivalent)
- Mobile-optimized across all pages
- Basic shipping configuration
This tier gets you a professional, functional store without paying for features you do not need yet.
Pro — ₹50,000
Best for: growing brands, stores migrating from WooCommerce or Wix, businesses that want to rank on Google from day one.
Everything in Standard, plus:
- Fully custom theme design (built to brand, not template-matched)
- Unlimited product catalogue
- App integrations (reviews, email, upsell)
- Full store migration with data preservation
- On-page SEO optimization across collections and products
- 3–6 months of post-launch support
This is the most popular tier for D2C brands in India that already have some revenue and are making their first serious platform investment.
Ultimate — ₹1,00,000+
Best for: high-volume stores, wholesale operations, brands with complex automations or custom feature requirements.
Everything in Pro, plus:
- Custom Shopify app or private app development
- Advanced automation (inventory sync, ERP integration, custom checkout flows)
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO audit + implementation)
- 1 year of dedicated support
See the full Vellumarc Shopify pricing breakdown including what each tier covers in detail.
Shopify plan comparison: which plan fits your business
Shopify's own plan tiers determine your transaction fees, staff account limits, and advanced feature access.
| Feature | Basic ($39/mo) | Shopify ($105/mo) | Advanced ($399/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction fee (non-Shopify Payments) | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
| Staff accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Inventory locations | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Shipping discounts | up to 64% | up to 72% | up to 88% |
| Reporting | Basic | Standard | Advanced |
| 3rd-party calculated shipping | No | No | Yes |
For most Indian stores starting out, Basic is the right call. Move to the Shopify plan when your monthly revenue crosses ₹5–6 lakh — at that volume, the 1% vs 2% transaction fee difference saves more than the plan upgrade costs.
Payment gateway costs in India
Since Shopify Payments is unavailable in India, you need a third-party gateway. Here is how the major options compare:
| Gateway | Setup fee | Transaction fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Razorpay | Free | ~2% | Best-in-class dashboard, instant settlement options |
| Cashfree | Free | ~1.75% | Competitive rates, strong COD support |
| PayU | Free | ~2% | Established, good enterprise support |
| Stripe | Free | 2% + ₹0.80/txn | Best for INR + foreign currency stores |
For a store doing ₹5 lakh/month in revenue, a 2% gateway fee costs ₹10,000/month. Cashfree's slightly lower rate saves ₹1,250/month — roughly ₹15,000/year. Worth comparing.
Add the Shopify Basic plan transaction fee (another 2%) on top of the gateway fee, and the effective cost per order is close to 4%. At higher volumes, upgrading to the Shopify plan (1% transaction fee) makes financial sense.
App stack: what you actually need
Most Shopify stores do not need 20 apps. A focused stack of 4–6 well-chosen apps handles 90% of growth requirements.
Essential paid apps and estimated monthly costs:
| App | Purpose | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|
| Judge.me (Pro) | Product reviews and UGC | ~₹1,200/mo |
| Klaviyo | Email and SMS marketing | ₹1,500 – ₹4,000/mo |
| ReConvert | Post-purchase upsells | ~₹1,500/mo |
| Loox | Photo reviews | ~₹1,000/mo |
| Gorgias | Customer support helpdesk | ₹2,500 – ₹5,000/mo |
Budget ₹2,000/month minimum for a lean stack, and ₹6,000–₹8,000/month once you add email automation and a review platform. These are not optional costs for a serious store — they directly impact conversion and retention.
Our Pro tier at ₹50,000 includes initial app integrations so you are not setting these up blind.
Theme: free vs premium vs custom
Shopify's free themes are legitimate. Dawn, Sense, and Craft are well-built and fast. For a store testing product-market fit, starting on a free theme is the right call.
| Theme type | Cost | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Dawn, Sense) | ₹0 | Validating, first store, tight budget |
| Premium Shopify theme | ₹8,000 – ₹15,000 (one-time) | Established brand, specific feature needs |
| Custom theme design | ₹30,000 – ₹80,000+ | Brand-differentiated stores, high-conversion focus |
A custom theme is not about aesthetics. It is about conversion architecture — how product pages, cart flows, and collection layouts are built to move buyers forward. If you are generating over ₹10 lakh/month, a custom theme typically pays back its cost within 60–90 days.
Migration from WooCommerce, Magento, or Wix
Migration is one of the most underestimated line items. A "just move the products" approach breaks SEO, loses order history, and corrupts customer data.
A proper migration covers:
- Product data, variants, and metafields
- Customer accounts and order history
- URL redirects (301s) to preserve SEO ranking
- Image optimization and re-upload
- Payment and shipping reconfiguration
Realistic migration timelines and costs:
| Platform | Products | Estimated timeline | Migration cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | up to 500 | 1–2 weeks | Included in Pro tier |
| WooCommerce | 500–5,000 | 3–4 weeks | ₹15,000 – ₹30,000 additional |
| Magento | any | 4–8 weeks | Custom quote |
| Wix / Squarespace | up to 200 | 3–5 days | Included in Pro tier |
For detailed migration scope, see our Shopify development services page.
SEO: what is included vs what costs extra
On-page SEO is not a nice-to-have for e-commerce. It is the cheapest long-term customer acquisition channel.
What our Pro tier includes:
- Title tags and meta descriptions for all collection and product pages
- Image alt text and file name optimization
- Schema markup (Product, BreadcrumbList)
- Canonical URL configuration
- Sitemap submission and Search Console setup
What costs extra (ongoing):
- Content marketing and blog strategy
- Link building
- Technical SEO audits (quarterly)
- Keyword-targeted landing pages
If you want to compare full Shopify platform strategies, the Shopify vs custom e-commerce breakdown covers how SEO investment compounds differently on each platform.
Custom Shopify apps vs existing app stack: the ROI math
Off-the-shelf apps cover 80% of use cases. The other 20% — the workflows specific to your business — often cost more in stitched-together app subscriptions than a custom private app.
Example: A wholesale brand paying for a B2B pricing app (₹3,500/mo), a custom form app (₹1,200/mo), and a net terms app (₹2,000/mo) is spending ₹81,600/year on apps that barely talk to each other. A custom private app handling all three costs ₹60,000–₹80,000 once, integrates cleanly, and reduces support overhead.
The break-even point for custom app development is typically 12–18 months. For stores with 3+ years on the platform, it is almost always the better financial decision.
Key takeaway
The total cost of a Shopify store in India is development (₹20,000 – ₹1,00,000+) plus monthly running costs (₹6,000 – ₹15,000/mo for platform + apps + gateway fees). Development is a one-time investment. Running costs are permanent. Calculate both before committing to a scope.
What to ask any agency before signing
- Is the development cost fixed or hourly?
- Does migration include 301 redirects and SEO preservation?
- What is covered in post-launch support, and for how long?
- Are app subscription costs included in the quote or separate?
- Who owns the Shopify store — you or the agency?
You should own your store outright, with admin access from day one. Any agency that retains access as leverage is a red flag.
For full pricing transparency, see our Shopify development packages.