PrestaShop implementation pricing – why do agency quotes differ?

Key factors that affect the cost of PrestaShop implementation

How much it costs to build an online store depends primarily on the scope of the project. Choosing PrestaShop alone does not define the level of investment.

The cost of eCommerce development by an agency is affected mainly by:

• Functional scope – the more custom sales mechanisms, promotions, configurators, B2B processes or automation features are needed, the more hours are required for analysis, development and testing.
• UX and UI design – implementing a ready-made template will have a different cost than preparing custom wireframes, UX research, a design system and designs for multiple page types.
• Integrations with external systems – ERP, PIM, WMS, CRM, accounting software, marketplaces, payment providers or logistics systems can significantly increase the project scope.
• Data migration – transferring products, customers, orders, categories, purchase history, URLs or custom data from the previous platform requires separate analysis and testing.
• Number of products and variants – it is not only about the number of records. Product structure, attributes, combinations, categories and data sources also matter.
• B2B sales – individual price lists, credit limits, multi-level company accounts, sales representatives or different payment terms may require additional functionality.
• Multistore and international sales – multiple stores, languages, currencies, domains and different product offers increase the complexity of the entire solution.
• Performance and infrastructure – a store handling several hundred orders a month has different requirements than a platform with a large catalogue, high traffic and complex integrations.
• Testing – the more complex the system, the more scenarios need to be verified before launch.
• Project management and analysis – some quotes include the work of an analyst, project manager, tester and architect, while others cover almost only the developer’s time.

This is why searching for phrases such as “online store development price” can lead to very different offers. At first glance, all of them refer to an online store, but the actual scope of work behind that term may be completely different.

Comparing quotes from different agencies – what should you look at?

The biggest mistake when comparing offers is looking only at the final price.

If one agency prices the project at PLN 60,000 and another at PLN 110,000, it does not automatically mean that the second offer is more expensive. For services such as online store development, the price only makes sense when you compare the same scope of work and a similar level of contractor responsibility.

First, you need to check whether both companies have actually priced the same project.

One offer may include pre-implementation analysis, UX/UI design, data migration, environment configuration, integrations, testing, deployment and a post-launch stabilisation period.

The other may assume mainly development, while some of the remaining work will be billed additionally.

That is why it is worth analysing the offer according to several criteria.

Checklist for comparing agency quotes

• Does the offer clearly describe the functional scope?
• Does it indicate which elements are outside the scope?
• Does it include business and technical analysis?
• Does it include UX and UI design?
• Has data migration been priced?
• Have integrations been described separately?
• Has the agency included testing?
• Does the quote include production environment configuration?
• Has post-launch monitoring been planned?
• How will scope changes be billed?
• Does the offer include module licences?
• Who is responsible for configuring external services?
• Is technical support planned after implementation?
• What experience does the agency have with similar projects?
• Can it show projects of a similar scale and level of complexity?

It is also worth paying attention to the contractor’s portfolio and specialisation.

An agency that regularly delivers PrestaShop projects has probably already dealt with many problems related to updates, performance, integrations or data migration.

Experience does not mean that no problems will appear during the project. However, it increases the chance that the contractor will identify potential risks before development begins.

Why can two agencies price the same store differently?

Differences in quotes often come from the way the brief is interpreted.

Let’s assume the client includes the following requirement:

“Integration of the store with ERP.”

For one agency, this may mean:

• product import,
• price synchronisation,
• stock level synchronisation,
• sending orders to ERP.

Another agency may additionally include:

• handling synchronisation errors,
• retrying failed operations,
• communication logging,
• alerts for administrators,
• handling returns,
• order statuses,
• partial order fulfilment,
• mechanisms for operating when the ERP is unavailable.

On paper, both companies are pricing “ERP integration”.

In reality, however, they are pricing two completely different solutions.

The same can happen with product filtering, search, checkout, B2B, promotions or data migration.

That is why the question “what does an online store quote depend on?” should be expanded with another one: what assumptions were made when preparing this quote?

Hidden eCommerce implementation costs – what should you expect?

Some additional costs do not result from the contractor trying to increase the project value. They appear because certain elements were not properly identified at the beginning.

This is exactly why, when comparing offers for online store development, price should not be the only criterion. It is equally important to understand how thoroughly the agency has analysed the project scope and potential risks.

Migration is a good example.

At first, the assumption may be: “we are moving products from the old store”.

After analysis, it may turn out that:

• some products have incomplete data,
• attributes are stored in different formats,
• some images do not exist,
• categories need to be rebuilt,
• URLs need to be properly redirected,
• customers have additional fields that standard PrestaShop does not support.

All of this means additional work and can affect the final implementation cost.

Similar costs may appear with modules. Buying an add-on is often only the beginning. A module may require configuration, adjustment to the graphic design, changes in how it works or integration with other store elements.

Costs worth asking about before signing the contract

It is worth checking whether the budget includes:

• hosting and infrastructure,
• modules and their later updates,
• external services and subscriptions,
• data migration,
• SEO redirects,
• analytics implementation,
• a test environment,
• integration maintenance,
• post-launch updates,
• technical support,
• further platform development.

Launching a store is the beginning of its lifecycle, not the last cost related to the platform.

How to estimate the budget for online store implementation

A good online store budget should not start with the question: “how much can we spend?”, but with defining what the platform is supposed to do.

1. Start with business processes

First, it is worth describing how the company actually sells.

How are prices created? Where does product data come from? Where is availability information stored? Who handles the order? How does the store communicate with ERP? How are returns handled?

This is much more valuable information than a simple list of expected features.

2. Prioritise requirements

Not all features need to be included in the first version of the store.

A good approach is to divide requirements into:

• must have – features without which the store cannot start selling,
• should have – important features that can be implemented in later stages,
• nice to have – solutions that improve convenience but are not required at launch.

This helps control the project scope and avoid spending a large part of the budget on solutions that are not needed on launch day.

3. Identify the biggest risks

The greatest uncertainty usually comes from integrations, data migration, custom processes and older external systems.

These areas should be analysed before actual development begins.

4. Separate the implementation budget from the development budget

You should not assume that after launch the platform will remain unchanged for the next several years.

After go-live, user data, new business needs, further integrations and ideas based on real customer behaviour will appear.

That is why it is worth planning a separate budget for development from the very beginning.

5. Leave a reserve

Even very detailed analysis will not predict everything.

A good practice is to leave part of the budget for unexpected situations and changes that may appear during the project.

Depending on the level of complexity, you can consider a reserve of around 10–20% of the implementation budget.

The most common mistakes when pricing an online store

Comparing only the final price

The cheapest offer may actually be the most beneficial one.

However, it may also contain the smallest scope.

If some work later appears as additionally paid tasks, the initial difference between the offers may quickly disappear.

Pricing before analysing processes

The more complex the project, the harder it is to prepare an accurate price based on a short brief.

It is especially risky to estimate complex integrations without knowing the API documentation, data structure and the company’s real processes.

Trying to recreate the old store 1:1

Migration is a good moment to assess which solutions are still needed.

Automatically recreating every feature from the previous system can significantly increase the project cost, even if some of those mechanisms no longer bring business value.

Skipping testing

Reducing the scope of testing may lower the initial quote, but it increases the risk of costly problems after launch.

The order process, payments, delivery, integrations, prices and how the store works on mobile devices should be checked especially carefully.

No budget for the post-launch period

A company may spend its entire available budget on implementation and have no funds left for improvements and development after launch.

Meanwhile, the first weeks and months provide a lot of information about real user behaviour.

Example: a cheap integration that later needs rebuilding

Imagine a store where ERP integration is the most important part of the project.

The first version sends orders and synchronises stock levels. The cost is relatively low.

After launch, however, it turns out that the integration does not have proper logs, does not inform employees about errors and does not automatically retry failed operations.

When the ERP does not respond for an hour, some data stops synchronising and the team only finds out about the problem from customers.

The cheaper integration met the basic specification, but it did not reflect how the system actually works in production conditions.

Rebuilding it later may cost more than designing the mechanism properly during the first implementation.

Why is it worth choosing an experienced eCommerce agency?

A professional agency should not be just a contractor executing a list of features.

Its role is also to identify risks, dependencies and problems that the company ordering the store may not be aware of.

An experienced team should be able to ask questions about areas such as:

• data sources,
• order fulfilment process,
• performance,
• security,
• SEO during migration,
• error handling in integrations,
• solution scalability,
• future platform development.

This is why a more detailed offer may be more expensive at the beginning.

It includes work that is not yet visible in a simpler quote.

Based on our experience in eCommerce projects, the biggest budget problems rarely come from one large feature. Much more often, they result from many small assumptions that no one clarified earlier.

An example may be an integration where error handling was omitted during pricing, migration without prior analysis of data quality, or a feature described in the brief in one sentence that in practice includes several different business processes.

That is why a good agency should not only answer the question how much does PrestaShop implementation cost, but also explain what the price is based on.

This allows the client to consciously decide which elements are needed immediately, which can be postponed, and where reducing the budget can genuinely save money — and where it will only create an additional cost in the future.

Summary

There is no single universal PrestaShop implementation price list suitable for every project.

The price depends on the functional scope, UX/UI design, data migration, integrations, level of customisation, infrastructure, testing and the way the entire project is managed. That is why for services such as online store development, price should always be analysed together with the scope of work and the contractor’s responsibility.

When comparing offers, it is not worth asking only:

“Which agency is cheaper?”

A much better question is:

“Have both agencies priced exactly the same thing?”

The difference between an offer of PLN 50,000, 80,000 or 150,000 may result not from the contractor’s rate, but from a completely different scope of responsibility.

A well-prepared online store quote should clearly indicate the scope, assumptions, additionally paid elements and the biggest project risks.

This allows the company to realistically plan its online store budget and compare offers based on value and scope, not only the final price.