What does it cost to build an app like Shopify?
Sample range · freelance
$50k–$114k
An agency would be $89k–$200k for the same scope. This is a pre-computed sample, not your estimate. Your version is probably smaller.
Where the money goes
Why this kind of app is expensive
This is a platform, not an app — every merchant gets an isolated storefront, catalog, and checkout, so multi-tenancy has to be correct from day one or one merchant's bug becomes everyone's outage.
A storefront builder is a small CMS in its own right, built for non-technical merchants to customize without breaking.
Payment processing has to support many merchants' payout accounts, not one company's revenue.
An app marketplace for third-party plugins means a stable public API and permission model layered on top of the core product.
The cheapest honest version of this idea is one fixed theme, no app marketplace, manual merchant onboarding. That lands nearer $31k–$70k.
Your app is not Shopify. Get the range for what you are actually building.
Not open yet
Launching this weekend.
The free range, the $79 spec and the $199 execution pack all open then. Nothing to sign up for — come back and paste your idea.
Same maths, other archetypes