An ecommerce store built by HBS in 2026 costs from EGP 85,000 or SAR 6,000 for a ready store on Shopify or WooCommerce, and from EGP 470,000 or SAR 34,000 for a fully custom build. What separates those two numbers is the platform you choose, what you pay it every month and on every sale, and how many special rules your business needs. This guide gives you HBS 2026 prices in Egyptian pounds and Saudi riyals, a direct comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom, the local payment gateways in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the costs that start after launch, and the red flags and questions to raise before you sign.
How much does an ecommerce store cost in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in 2026?
An ecommerce store with HBS costs from EGP 85,000 or SAR 6,000 for a platform setup, from EGP 185,000 or SAR 13,500 for a custom-designed store on a platform, and from EGP 470,000 or SAR 34,000 for a fully custom build. Whether you plan an online store in Egypt or one in Saudi Arabia, these are HBS 2026 prices, and all of them are starting prices:
| Package | From (Egypt) | From (Saudi Arabia) | Typical timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform setup (Shopify or WooCommerce, ready theme customized to your brand, payment and shipping setup) | EGP 85,000 | SAR 6,000 | 2 to 3 weeks | A business starting to sell online with a clear catalog that wants to launch fast |
| Custom-designed store on a platform | EGP 185,000 | SAR 13,500 | 4 to 6 weeks | A brand that wants a storefront that looks like it and product pages designed to raise conversion |
| Fully custom store build | EGP 470,000 | SAR 34,000 | 3 to 4 months | Special selling logic: wholesale pricing, subscriptions, multiple warehouses or deep ERP integration |
Your final quote comes after a free discovery call where we learn your catalog, how you sell and how you deliver. Prices exclude third-party costs: the Shopify subscription, hosting, domain, paid themes, apps and plugins, payment gateway fees, courier rates, ad spend and stock media. Taxes are not included. Prices are valid as of October 2026.
What does ecommerce store design include and what does it leave out?
An HBS store price covers everything your store needs to take its first paid order, and leaves out what you pay other companies to run it.
| Included in the price | Not included in the price |
|---|---|
| Platform setup or store build, depending on the package | Monthly or yearly Shopify subscription |
| Theme customization or a storefront designed from scratch, depending on the package | Paid themes, apps and plugins |
| An Arabic storefront that runs right to left | Hosting and domain |
| Payment gateway connection and shipping methods and zones | Payment gateway fees and courier rates |
| Category setup and product page templates | Product photography and copy for a large catalog |
| Handover of the dashboard and every account in your name | Ad spend and taxes |
Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom: which one fits your store?
Choose Shopify for the fastest route to selling with the lightest technical load, WooCommerce for more ownership of the code and hosting, and a custom build when no ready theme serves the way you sell. This comparison covers the lines that decide your real cost, with platform prices as shown on their official pages on 10 October 2026:
| Item | Shopify | WooCommerce | Custom build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build cost with HBS | From EGP 85,000 or SAR 6,000 for setup, and from EGP 185,000 or SAR 13,500 for custom design | The same two packages | From EGP 470,000 or SAR 34,000 |
| Recurring platform cost | A subscription from USD 19 to USD 399 a month depending on plan and billing, and Plus starts at USD 2,300 a month | The core plugin is free with no subscription; you pay for hosting and paid extensions | No platform subscription; you pay for cloud hosting and maintenance |
| Transaction fees | 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus when you use a third-party payment provider, on top of the gateway fee | No WooCommerce fee; you pay the gateway fee only | Gateway fee only |
| Flexibility | Wide within the platform and its apps; a fully customizable checkout is listed under the Plus plan | Wide because the code is open; every extension means updates and compatibility testing | Complete; you set every selling rule and every screen |
| Arabic and right-to-left layout | The latest Horizon family themes support it; confirm any other theme before you buy | Depends on the theme and plugins; test the whole checkout | Built your way from day one |
| Local payments and shipping | Through apps from the Shopify App Store | Through gateway and courier plugins | Direct API integration with any gateway or courier |
| Ownership and lock-in | Your store runs on Shopify infrastructure for as long as you subscribe, and a paid theme is licensed only to the store it was bought for | You own the code and data and choose your own host | You own all the code if the contract says so |
Why do you pay transaction fees on Shopify in Egypt and Saudi Arabia?
Because Shopify Payments is not available in either country. Shopify's list of supported countries includes neither Egypt nor Saudi Arabia, and Shopify states that if your country isn't listed you need to use a third-party payment provider. When you do, the transaction fees on the Shopify pricing page for Egypt and for Saudi Arabia apply, and the provider charges its own rate separately, as the Shopify Help Center explains. Example: a store on the Basic plan selling EGP 200,000 a month by card and wallet pays Shopify about EGP 4,000, before the gateway's own fee. The gap between Basic and Grow on monthly billing is USD 45, so once your gateway sales pass roughly USD 4,500 a month, Grow costs less. One exception matters for Egyptian stores: manual payment methods such as cash on delivery carry no third-party transaction fees.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The core plugin is free; running a store is not. The WooCommerce pricing page describes the platform as free with no monthly subscription, estimates hosting at USD 25 to USD 350 a month for most stores, and paid extensions at USD 29 to USD 299 a year each. WooCommerce takes no cut of your sales, so you pay the gateway fee only. Its own gateway, WooPayments, is not available in Egypt or Saudi Arabia according to its supported countries list, so your store relies on a local gateway plugin.
When is a custom build worth the price?
When the way you sell is itself your advantage: different pricing for each wholesale customer, recurring subscriptions with special rules, or stock spread across branches and tied to an ERP. You pay more up front, drop the platform subscription and its fees, own the code, and in return need a team to maintain and develop the store. Whichever option you pick, structure your product data cleanly, because agentic commerce favors stores that machines can read easily.
Which local payment gateways can you connect to an online store in Egypt and Saudi Arabia?
Both countries have local gateways with ready apps and plugins for Shopify and WooCommerce, so accepting cards, wallets and installments does not require a custom build. Here is what we verified on official pages:
- Paymob (Egypt and Saudi Arabia): the WooCommerce plugin published by Paymob lists cards, wallets, bank installments, kiosk payments and buy now pay later providers in Egypt, and cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, STC Pay, Tabby and Tamara in Saudi Arabia. Its Shopify app is free to install, names mada and Meeza cards, and fees follow your agreement with Paymob.
- Fawry (Egypt): the FawryPay developer portal offers plugins for WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento 2, and supports a payment request with a reference number the customer pays at FawryPay retail points, which matters for buyers who do not pay by card.
- mada (Saudi Arabia): the national payment network owned by the Saudi Central Bank lets mada cards pay at online stores with an extra step that verifies the cardholder. You accept it through a gateway that supports it.
- Tabby (Saudi Arabia): has a Shopify app and a WooCommerce plugin, currently operates in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and processes payments in SAR and AED.
- Tamara (Saudi Arabia): its Shopify app is free according to its official page, it has a WooCommerce plugin, and settlement is the order value minus the Tamara fee.
These pages do not publish a flat fee, because your agreement with the gateway sets it. Get it in writing before launch, add it to your margin per order, and remember that Shopify's fee sits on top. Shipping follows the same rule: ask your courier for its official plugin for your platform or an API for direct integration, because without one every order is typed in by hand.
What are the monthly costs after your online store launches?
After launch you pay for the platform or hosting, apps and plugins, payment fees, marketing and maintenance, and in Saudi Arabia e-invoicing where it applies to you. Count them before you compare build quotes:
- Platform or hosting: Shopify starts at USD 19 a month for Basic billed yearly, or USD 27 billed monthly. With WooCommerce or a custom build you pay for hosting, and the bill grows with traffic.
- Apps and plugins: most stores need tools for reviews, filtering, shipping and reporting. On Shopify, app subscriptions run on a billing cycle separate from your plan, so put them all in one sheet before launch.
- Payment fees: the gateway fee on every transaction, plus Shopify's fee if you are on Shopify with a third-party gateway.
- Marketing: your customer is online, and so is your competitor. DataReportal counts 98.2 million internet users in Egypt at the end of 2025, a penetration of 82.7%, and 34.4 million in Saudi Arabia, a penetration of 99.0%. A store with no traffic budget is a shop on an empty street. See Google Ads cost and how to set your budget and SEO pricing in Egypt.
- Maintenance: plugin updates, security and backups on WooCommerce, app and theme upkeep on Shopify, and a development team for a fully custom store.
- E-invoicing in Saudi Arabia: the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has rolled out its integration phase in waves since 1 January 2023; if it covers you, budget for connecting your store's invoices to ZATCA's systems.
What pushes the cost of an ecommerce store up or down?
The number of special rules in how you sell moves the price most, followed by catalog size and the integrations you need:
- Platform and design level: a ready theme on a platform costs less than a custom design, and a custom design costs less than a full custom build.
- Catalog size and variants: 50 products with no sizes are a different job from 3,000 products with sizes, colors and separate stock for each variant.
- Language and direction: an Arabic and English store needs double the content and testing in both directions on every page, the checkout and automated messages.
- Payment methods: every extra gateway and installment option means integration and testing, and cash on delivery needs rules to confirm orders before they ship.
- Shipping: a flat rate is simpler than rates by governorate or region and weight, and automatic courier integration raises the build cost while saving daily operations time.
- Integrations: connecting the store to an ERP, accounting, inventory or CRM system is priced by what APIs the other system offers.
- Data migration: moving from an existing store means transferring products, customers and orders, and redirecting old URLs so you keep your search rankings.
What are the red flags in cheap online store design quotes?
The first red flag is a final price before anyone asks about your catalog, payment and shipping. You will see quotes far below ours, and this is what usually goes missing:
- The store sits on the developer's account: the Shopify account, hosting or domain is registered to the provider instead of you. Ask for ownership from day one.
- Unlicensed themes and plugins: they cut the price and cut you off from updates and support; Shopify states that unlicensed themes are not eligible for support or updates.
- Payment fees ignored: a quote that compares Shopify and WooCommerce without transaction fees and gateway fees compares only half the cost.
- A gateway "to be connected later": opening a gateway account needs documents and review, and delaying it delays your first sale.
- No test order in Arabic: ask to see a full test order on mobile in Arabic, from cart to confirmation message.
- Guaranteed sales: nobody can guarantee sales for a new store; sales come from the product, the price and the traffic.
What should you ask any company before signing your online store contract?
Ask these seven questions and get the answers in writing inside the proposal:
- In whose name will the platform, hosting, domain and payment gateway accounts be registered?
- Which paid theme, apps and plugins do you propose, and what do they cost per month or year?
- Which payment gateways and shipping methods will you connect, and who handles opening those accounts?
- Is the Arabic storefront tested right to left on the checkout and automated messages?
- How many products does the initial upload cover, and who writes descriptions and supplies photos?
- What happens after launch: support period, updates and monthly maintenance cost?
- Can I move the store to another developer or platform later, and what do I receive at handover?
How do you get an exact price for your ecommerce store?
Prepare three things before you get in touch: your approximate number of products, the payment and shipping methods your customers prefer, and any system the store must connect to. See our web and store development service or our WordPress and WooCommerce development service if WooCommerce is your choice. Want to know what your store will cost? Contact us for a free discovery call where we recommend the platform and package before you commit to anything.
