If you've ever asked "website banate koto taka lage?" — how much does an ecommerce website cost in Bangladesh — you've probably gotten wildly different answers. One agency quotes ৳30,000. Another quotes 3 lakh. A freelancer says they'll do it for ৳8,000 but the project stalls halfway. Meanwhile a friend swears WooCommerce is "free."
None of those answers are lies, exactly. The cost of an ecommerce website in Bangladesh genuinely ranges from a few thousand taka to several lakh — because "a website" can mean very different things. This post breaks down each route honestly, with the recurring bills nobody mentions in the first quote, and where ৳0 fits in.
The Three Ways to Get an Ecommerce Website
There are really only three paths, and they cost very differently:
- Hire an agency or freelancer — they build a custom site for you, you pay upfront.
- Build it yourself on WooCommerce (WordPress) — the software is free, everything around it is not.
- Use a hosted platform like Banikh — you sign up and add products; hosting, payments, and couriers are built in.
Let's price each one with real ranges. Where a number shifts a lot from project to project, we'll say so rather than pretend there's one fixed price.
Option 1: The Agency / Freelancer Route (৳20,000–3,00,000+)
This is what most people picture when they think "ecommerce website." You describe what you want, an agency designs and builds it, and you pay a one-time fee.
In Bangladesh, an agency-built ecommerce site commonly runs ৳20,000–3,00,000 one-time. That's a wide range, and where you land in it depends on the build:
- Simpler stores sit toward the lower end of that range.
- Mid-size stores with more products and design work sit in the middle.
- Complex, fully custom, or app-style builds push toward the upper end — and a very bespoke project can go beyond it.
Treat it as a wide range, not a fixed price — the final number depends on design, features, and how much custom development your payment and courier integrations need. Always ask for an itemised quote.
The part that surprises people is what isn't in that one-time price:
- Hosting — a recurring bill, separate from the build.
- Domain — a yearly renewal.
- Maintenance — many agencies offer a recurring monthly retainer for security updates, fixes, and hosting management. The rate varies by agency, so ask up front what's included and what it costs.
- Changes — want to add a payment method or tweak the checkout next year? That's usually a new quote.
So an agency site isn't just a one-time cost. It's an upfront cost plus an ongoing relationship you have to keep paying for. That's fine if you have the budget and want something fully bespoke — but for a seller just starting out, it's a lot of money committed before your first order.
Option 2: WooCommerce / WordPress ("Free" — Until the Bills Start)
WooCommerce is genuinely free software. That's the part people repeat. The part they skip is everything you have to pay for around it.
If you hire someone to set up a WooCommerce store, the one-time build is its own quote (it varies a lot by who you hire and how custom it gets — ask for a current rate). And even if you do it all yourself, you still take on:
- Hosting — a recurring monthly or yearly bill, and a slow host means a slow store.
- Domain — yearly renewal.
- Plugins — getting bKash and Nagad working usually means SSLCommerz or a custom plugin. Courier integration for Steadfast, Pathao, or RedX often needs more setup or paid plugins.
- Maintenance — agencies offer WooCommerce retainers for security updates, hosting, fixes, and SEO (the monthly rate varies — ask for a current quote). If you self-manage, you're the one patching plugins and chasing the site when it goes down.
WooCommerce gives you full ownership and unlimited flexibility, and that's real. But "free software" is not the same as "free store." For a non-technical seller, the time and recurring cost add up fast — and an unmaintained WordPress site is a security problem waiting to happen.
Option 3: Banikh (Free Forever for 25 Products)
Here's the honest pitch, with no markup language: Banikh's Free plan lets you build a real ecommerce store with up to 25 products, forever, with no credit card.
That's not a 14-day trial that expires. It's a free tier you can run a small store on indefinitely. And the things that cost extra everywhere else are already included:
- bKash, Nagad, and COD — native, no plugin, no separate gateway purchase.
- Steadfast, Pathao, and RedX — built in. Book a shipment from your order dashboard.
- Phone-OTP checkout — to cut down on fake/ghost COD orders before they reach the courier.
- Your own subdomain (
yourshop.banikh.com) free, or connect a custom domain. - Hosting, security, and updates — fully managed. You don't patch anything.
When you outgrow 25 products, the paid plans are flat and predictable:
- Plus — ৳499/mo (or ৳4,990/yr)
- Pro — ৳1,599/mo (or ৳15,990/yr)
No commission on your sales — ever. Banikh is subscription-only. When a customer pays via bKash or Nagad, the money lands in your own merchant wallet, not a platform escrow. COD is remitted straight to you by the courier. We don't hold your funds or take a cut of any order.
To skip the one-by-one product entry, you can build your whole catalog in a Google Sheet, download it as a CSV, and bulk-import it. No developer needed, and you can be live quickly.
So, What Should You Actually Pay?
Here's the honest summary:
- If you need a fully bespoke, custom-designed store and have the budget — an agency build (৳20,000–3,00,000+ one-time, plus hosting and maintenance) makes sense.
- If you have a developer and want total control — WooCommerce is a solid choice, as long as you accept the recurring hosting, plugin, and maintenance cost.
- If you're a local Bangladeshi seller who wants to start now without a big upfront bill — Banikh's free tier gets you a real store with native bKash, Nagad, and couriers, at ৳0.
The biggest mistake new sellers make is paying agency money before they've proven the business. Start free, get your first orders, and upgrade only when growth — not a sales pitch — tells you to.
Ready to Start?
Create your free store today — 25 products free forever, no commission on sales, no credit card required.
