Platform choice / Cost model
Ecommerce platform costs: compare staying and migrating
Price the same requirements over twelve months.
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Compare the cost of improving your current store with the cost of moving it. Use the same twelve-month period, order volume, and operating requirements for both options. A platform recommendation becomes easier to assess when the assumptions sit beside the price.
Start with the work the store must support
Write down the requirements that could change the decision: subscriptions, wholesale pricing, inventory locations, payment methods, reporting, and the systems your staff use. Ask each provider to demonstrate the difficult workflow before pricing a rebuild.
A specialist can be a good fit when you have already chosen a platform and need deep experience in that ecosystem. If the platform choice is still open, ask for a priced stay-and-improve option as well as a migration proposal. Use the same acceptance criteria for both.
Build a comparable cost model
Separate cash payments from the value of internal staff time. Record who supplied each estimate, what it includes, and when it expires.
| Cost line | What to include | How to estimate it |
|---|---|---|
| Initial delivery | Discovery, design, build, data work, testing, training | Defined project quote and exclusions |
| Platform and apps | Required plan, extensions, subscriptions | Twelve months at expected usage |
| Payments | Processing and applicable platform or provider fees | Expected order value and payment mix |
| Operations | Hosting, monitoring, maintenance, support | Agreed coverage and recurring costs |
| Transition | Parallel systems, redirects, rehearsals, temporary support | Itemized migration plan |
| Internal time | Merchandising, reconciliation, administration | Hours per month × loaded hourly cost |
Check the current Shopify pricing and BigCommerce pricing against your market and payment setup. Payment-provider choices can affect charges beyond the headline subscription. Ask for dated assumptions instead of copying an old comparison table.
Work through one example
These are invented planning inputs in US dollars, not platform prices, a Devekko quote, or predicted results. The recurring cash line represents all included operating costs at the same assumed volume.
| Planning input | Improve current store | Migrate |
|---|---|---|
| Initial project | $6,000 | $18,000 |
| Monthly operating cash costs | $900 | $700 |
| Monthly internal time | 8 hours | 5 hours |
| Assumed value of an internal hour | $50 | $50 |
| First-year cash total | $16,800 | $26,400 |
| First-year internal time value | $4,800 | $3,000 |
| Combined first-year cost | $21,600 | $29,400 |
The migration saves $200 a month in operating cash and three staff hours under these assumptions. Its larger initial project still makes the first-year combined cost $7,800 higher. That difference needs an explicit reason: a required capability, a measurable benefit, or a longer planning horizon. Saved staff time only becomes a cash saving if spending actually falls.
Make the decision sensitive to uncertainty
Run a base case and a difficult case. Increase transaction volume, include a delayed integration, and test what happens when a key app needs a higher plan. Avoid assigning a precise probability without evidence.
Before choosing, write the requirement that justifies any extra cost and how you will verify it. If neither proposal can demonstrate that requirement, commission a small discovery or prototype first. Devekko's Digital Strategy Roadmap can define the comparison and the first project to price.
Your next step
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