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Self-Hosting for E-Commerce: Build Your Own Store

Shopify charges $39-399/month plus transaction fees. Self-hosted e-commerce gives you full control and dramatically lower costs.

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The Cost of Managed E-Commerce


Shopify

  • Basic: $39/month + 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  • Advanced: $399/month + 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction
  • Plus: $2,300/month

    • BigCommerce

  • Standard: $39/month
  • Pro: $399/month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

    • On $50,000/year in sales with Shopify Basic:

  • Monthly fee: $468/year
  • Transaction fees: ~$1,750/year
  • Total: ~$2,218/year

    • Self-Hosted Alternatives


    WooCommerce

    WordPress-based. Largest ecosystem of e-commerce plugins.

  • Best for: Existing WordPress users, extensive customization needs
  • Pros: 1,000+ extensions, massive community
  • Cons: PHP-based, can be slow without optimization

    • Medusa.js

    Modern, Node.js-based headless e-commerce.

  • Best for: Developers building custom storefronts
  • Pros: Headless architecture, modern stack, great DX
  • Cons: Smaller ecosystem, requires frontend build

    • Saleor

    Python/Django-based headless commerce.

  • Best for: Teams comfortable with Python
  • Pros: GraphQL API, dashboard included
  • Cons: Resource-heavy

    • Bagisto

    Laravel-based, full-featured out of the box.

  • Best for: Quick setup with minimal customization
  • Pros: Built-in multi-warehouse, multi-currency
  • Cons: Smaller community

    • Cost Comparison (Self-Hosted)


  • TinyPod server: $5/month
  • Payment processor (Stripe): 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  • No platform fees

    • On $50,000/year in sales:

  • Hosting: $60/year
  • Stripe fees: ~$1,750/year
  • Total: ~$1,810/year
  • Savings vs Shopify: ~$400/year

    • At higher volumes, the savings grow dramatically since there's no platform percentage.


    What You Give Up


  • One-click app store integrations
  • Managed hosting and scaling
  • Built-in customer support tools
  • Platform SEO optimizations

    • What You Gain


  • Zero platform fees
  • Complete customization
  • Data ownership
  • No vendor lock-in
  • Choose your own payment processor

    • Deploy Medusa or WooCommerce on TinyPod for a production e-commerce store at a fraction of managed platform costs.