</>
A Canadian e-commerce site in 2026 costs anywhere from CAD 1,500 (DIY Shopify starter) to CAD 80,000+ (custom headless build with multi-region, B2B, and ERP sync). The biggest cost drivers are platform (Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom), number of SKUs, integrations (POS, ERP, marketplaces), and whether you go headless. Canadian Shopify Plus partners (Vaayu, Diff, Brik) bill CAD 30K-150K; offshore senior teams deliver comparable work at CAD 8K-50K.
New D2C brands, small artisan stores, single-product launches
D2C brands doing CAD 200K-3M/year, growth-stage Shopify stores
Brands doing CAD 3M-20M, B2B+B2C hybrid, complex inventory
Brands doing CAD 20M+, omnichannel, international expansion
Shopify cheaper to build, easier to maintain. WooCommerce more flexible, more dev work. Custom = most expensive, only for very specific needs.
Under 100 SKUs: trivial. 500+: needs PIM or careful Shopify metafield architecture (+CAD 2K-8K). 5K+: needs ERP integration.
Shopify Plus checkout extensibility adds CAD 4K-15K. Fully custom checkout (non-Shopify) adds CAD 15K-50K and PCI burden.
Shopify Plus B2B feature: included. Custom wholesale pricing + quotes + net-30: CAD 5K-20K extra.
QuickBooks Online: CAD 800-2K. NetSuite / SAP: CAD 8K-30K. Bidirectional inventory sync hardest.
Shopify Markets: CAD 3K-8K setup. Custom multi-store federation: CAD 15K-50K.
Pure DIY on Shopify (Basic plan + free Dawn theme) costs CAD 51/month and works fine if you have time and a tolerance for "good enough" design. The minute you want a brand-quality store with custom blocks, app integrations, and conversion optimization, you need help. Canadian Shopify freelancers charge CAD 70-130/hr for theme work — fine for small jobs, risky for full builds (no QA, no PM, single point of failure). Canadian Shopify Plus partners deliver excellent work but at CAD 30K-150K. We deliver Plus-partner quality at CAD 6K-45K with a dedicated PM, Figma-first design process, and 50+ Canadian D2C builds behind us.
Canadian Shopify Plus partners typically bill CAD 150-220/hr. Our blended rate is CAD 35-55/hr for senior Shopify developers — Shopify Partner certified, App Store published. A custom Online Store 2.0 theme that Diff Agency quotes at CAD 28K-50K, we deliver at CAD 8K-16K. A headless Hydrogen build that Brik quotes at CAD 90K-160K, we deliver at CAD 28K-55K. Same theme structure, same Polaris admin apps, same checkout extensibility on Plus. The savings come from cost base, not corners cut.
Custom Shopify theme + Recharge subscriptions + Klaviyo + bilingual EN/FR
Headless Hydrogen + Algolia search + Klaviyo + ERP sync
Shopify Plus + Skio subscriptions + bilingual + loyalty
Shopify if you want speed-to-launch, low maintenance, and good Canadian payment integration (Shopify Payments uses Stripe Canada under the hood). WooCommerce if you need extreme customization, already run WordPress for content, or have complex B2B / membership rules WordPress handles well. For 80% of Canadian D2C brands, Shopify wins.
Shopify Basic (CAD 51/mo) works up to CAD 1M-2M GMV. Shopify (CAD 132/mo) covers most growing brands to CAD 3M-5M. Plus (USD 2,300/mo) is worth it when you need Checkout UI extensions, B2B catalog, scripts/functions, dedicated success manager, or higher API limits — usually CAD 8M+ GMV.
Starter: 2-3 weeks. Standard custom Shopify theme: 6-10 weeks. Pro Plus build: 10-16 weeks. Enterprise headless: 16-26 weeks. Product photography and content adds 2-6 weeks if not ready.
Shopify Tax handles federal GST + provincial HST/PST/QST automatically. For US sales from Canada, you need Stripe Tax, Avalara, or TaxJar. For B2B with tax-exempt customers, configure overrides at customer level. We set all of this up in every build.
Lean starter: Shopify CAD 51 + apps CAD 50-150 + photography over time = ~CAD 200-400/month. Growth-stage brand: Shopify CAD 132 + Klaviyo CAD 200 + Recharge CAD 60 + Yotpo CAD 100 + maintenance CAD 600 = ~CAD 1,100-2,500/month. Plus: USD 2,300 base + apps + payment fees + dev = CAD 5K-15K/month.