Ecommerce Website Cost in Nepal 2026: Full Price Guide

TL;DR: how much does an ecommerce website cost in Nepal?

Most online stores in Nepal cost NPR 50,000 to NPR 300,000 to build. A small store with about 10 products starts near NPR 50,000. A store with 50 products and proper features is around NPR 130,000. A larger custom store with 100+ products, filters, accounts and integrations is near NPR 300,000, and a multi-vendor marketplace can pass NPR 1,000,000.

The build is not the whole bill. Every sale also costs a payment gateway fee, and the store needs hosting, maintenance, product photos and delivery management.

First-year totals include domain, hosting, email, maintenance, product photography, integrations and VAT on the build. The worked budgets below show the arithmetic.

Six things worth knowing before you ask for a quote:

1. Payment fees are a running cost, not a build cost. Published figures for Nepal's wallets range from about 1% to 3.5% per transaction, depending on the provider and your agreement.
2. Local payments decide conversion. A store without eSewa, Khalti or Fonepay loses buyers who never use cards.
3. Cash on delivery still matters. It builds trust, but it adds return and cash-handling costs.
4. Shopify is not automatically cheaper. The monthly plan is small. Third-party gateway fees and apps add up.
5. Photos and product data are real work. Budget for them early.
6. Own your accounts. Domain, hosting, store admin and payment merchant accounts must be in your name.

Table of contents

1. How much does an ecommerce website cost in Nepal?
2. Cost by type of store
3. Platform choices: WooCommerce, Shopify, custom or marketplace
4. AlpineRoot's ecommerce packages
5. Payment gateways in Nepal and what they cost
6. Cash on delivery, delivery and returns
7. Cost of common store features
8. Product photos, descriptions and data
9. Running costs after launch
10. VAT and invoicing for online stores
11. Three worked store budgets
12. How many orders do you need to break even?
13. Own store or marketplace listing?
14. Red flags in cheap store quotes
15. Questions to ask before you hire
16. How to lower the cost of your store
17. Related guides
18. FAQ
19. How we put this guide together

How much does an ecommerce website cost in Nepal?

The range is NPR 50,000 to NPR 300,000 for most stores, with simple stores below that and marketplaces far above. It is wider than a brochure site because stores add features that behave like software: carts, stock, orders, payments, accounts and notifications.

Where you land depends on five things.

A quick guide by budget:

If you think in lakh, NPR 100,000 is 1 lakh. We write amounts like our pricing page, for example NPR 129,999.

Cost by type of store

Prices below combine published Nepal price guides, quotes we see in the market and our own project history. They are ranges, not fixed prices.

Two points that save beginners money.

Start with the store, not the app. A mobile-friendly website reaches everyone, indexes in Google and costs a fraction of an app. Apps make sense once you have repeat customers.

Do not build a marketplace to sell your own stock. Multi-vendor software costs several times more than a single-brand store. If you sell your own products, you want a store, not a platform.

Platform choices: WooCommerce, Shopify, custom or marketplace

Four routes dominate in Nepal. Each costs differently, in different places.

What Shopify costs

Shopify's list prices in 2026 are about USD 39 a month for Basic (USD 29 on annual billing), USD 105 for Grow (USD 79 annually) and USD 399 for Advanced (USD 299 annually). At roughly NPR 152 per dollar, that is:

The catch for Nepali merchants is the last column. Guides to Shopify pricing list a surcharge on sales processed through gateways other than Shopify's own, and local wallets such as eSewa and Khalti are not Shopify's own. On a store processing NPR 1,000,000 a month through third-party methods on the Basic plan, a 2% surcharge is NPR 20,000 a month, before the gateway's own fee. Check Shopify's current terms and which payment methods your account can use before committing.

Shopify is excellent software. It suits brands that sell abroad and use international cards. For domestic Nepali stores, WooCommerce usually fits local payments and local costs better.

What WooCommerce costs

WooCommerce itself is free. You pay for the build, hosting, a good theme, the payment integration and maintenance. The WordPress side of that bill, including plugin prices and hosting tiers, is in our WordPress cost guide.

Custom stores

A custom-built store costs more up front. It makes sense when your logic does not fit a plugin: complex pricing, unusual delivery, heavy integrations, or traffic that WordPress hosting cannot serve cheaply. See custom website design in Nepal for that path.

AlpineRoot's ecommerce packages

We publish our ecommerce prices. These come from our pricing page as of 2 November 2026, in NPR. They may change, so check the page before you plan around them. Service details: ecommerce development in Nepal.

What these prices do not include: hosting, domain, business email, product photography, copywriting, payment gateway merchant fees, delivery costs and ongoing maintenance. Those are separate lines, and the budgets below show them.

If you want a real example, a client reviewing our work on Clutch described us building the website and online store for Lunera from brief to launch, covering design, development, ecommerce and SEO. Client reviews are the client's view, not an independent audit. Browse more in the portfolio.

Payment gateways in Nepal and what they cost

This is the part of ecommerce cost most guides skip. It matters because you pay it on every sale.

The main options

Fees: what published sources say

Published fee figures for Nepal vary, because each merchant agreement is negotiated.

Our advice: plan with 2% to 3% in your spreadsheet, then replace it with the real figure from your merchant agreement. Do not rely on any blog post, including this one, for the number that will be on your contract.

Rules that affect your checkout design

• No wallet surcharges. Khalti's merchant terms say merchants must not charge customers extra for using the wallet or set minimum transaction limits for it. Plan your pricing so the gateway fee comes out of your margin.
• Do not store credentials. Merchants must not keep customers' wallet credentials in logs or databases. Your developer should never ask for them.
• Do not split sales. A single order should stay one transaction.
• Test mode first. Every gateway has a sandbox. Do not go live until a full test order works end to end.

What it costs to integrate

Onboarding usually needs business registration documents and a bank account, and it can take days or weeks. Start the merchant application while the store is being built, not after.

Developers who build for Nepal offer several ways in. Some WooCommerce plugins support eSewa, Khalti and Fonepay through one checkout page, which can reduce setup time. A plugin is not a substitute for a merchant agreement, though. You still need your own approved merchant account.

Cash on delivery, delivery and returns

Digital payments are growing in Nepal, but cash on delivery (COD) is still important for trust, especially with first-time buyers. Digital shops that drop COD often lose first-time customers.

COD costs money in ways the build quote never shows.

A sensible hybrid: offer digital payment with a small, visible incentive such as free delivery, and keep COD for local, repeat or low-value orders.

Delivery costs

Courier rates depend on weight, distance, whether the destination is inside or outside the Kathmandu Valley, and your volume. They change, so we do not print a rate card. What to budget for:

Get written rates from two or three couriers before you finalise your free-delivery threshold.

Cost of common store features

This is where quotes diverge. Indicative add-ons on top of a base store:

These are estimates from typical scoping, not a rate card.

A note on mobile. Most of your customers will reach the store on a phone. Ask your developer to test checkout on real phones, over slower connections, with the payment apps installed. A checkout that looks fine on a laptop can fail on a phone.

Product photos, descriptions and data

A store with weak product content does not sell, however good the software is. Budget for it early.

If you sell something with a strong visual story, such as crafts, fashion or food, photography may be the biggest line after the build. Exporters should also look at our handicraft industry page for international selling notes.

Running costs after launch

A store has higher running costs than a brochure site, because more of it breaks.

Domain and hosting basics are covered in more depth in our website development cost guide. Stores need better hosting than brochure sites, because slow pages and downtime directly cost sales.

For store maintenance, ask what is covered: updates, backups, uptime checks and payment-gateway monitoring should all be on the list.

VAT and invoicing for online stores

Tax details change, so use this section as a checklist for your accountant, not as advice.

For the general VAT and TDS picture, see VAT, TDS and invoices in our main guide.

Three worked store budgets

These are complete year-one budgets using our published packages and the tables above. Assumptions:

• Prices are in NPR and exclude VAT, except the VAT line.
• VAT is shown on the base package only, to keep the arithmetic simple.
• Photography, integrations, hosting tier and maintenance level are assumptions, not quotes.
• Payment gateway transaction fees, delivery and marketing are not included.

Budget 1: starter store with 10 products

Budget 2: store with 50 products

Budget 3: established store with 100 products and integrations

The pattern: the build is roughly half of year-one spend, and the running cost in year two is still NPR 51,000 to NPR 148,000. Add gateway fees and delivery on top, and you can see why stores need real sales volume to make sense.

How many orders do you need to break even?

A store is a business, not a brochure. Here is a simple way to test whether the numbers can work. This is a hypothetical, not a forecast.

Take Budget 2 (store with 50 products). Assume:

Contribution per order is gross margin minus the gateway fee, packaging and any ad cost per order. Dividing each target by it, and rounding up to whole orders, gives the figures in the table.

The conclusion: a store with sensible margins and 25 to 35 orders a month can recover its year-one cost within the year. A store with thin margins, heavy discounting or high return rates needs far more. Test your own numbers before you commit to a build.

This ignores staff time, returns, stock holding and refunds, all of which cut contribution further.

Own store or marketplace listing?

Many Nepali sellers start on a marketplace, then build their own store. Both routes are legitimate, and many brands use both.

Marketplace fees vary by category. Published seller guides quote commission anywhere from low single digits to above 15%, depending on the category, and a payment handling fee and shipping charges are typically deducted separately, with VAT on those fees. Check the current fee table in your Seller Center before you price anything.

A sensible path for many brands: list on a marketplace to test demand, build an own store to capture repeat customers, and use SEO and social content to bring buyers to it directly.

Red flags in cheap store quotes

A healthy payment structure is milestone-based: a deposit, a payment on design approval, a payment after successful test orders, and a final payment on launch. Agree the exact split in writing.

Questions to ask before you hire

Vague answers now tend to mean surprise bills later. If you are comparing companies, see our comparison of web development companies in Nepal.

How to lower the cost of your store

Savings figures are indicative.

Spend on the product pages, checkout and delivery experience. Save on sliders, animations and features nobody asked for.

Related guides

This guide sits inside our series on what digital work costs in Nepal.

Services behind these guides: website development in Nepal, ecommerce development, WordPress development and SEO services.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an ecommerce website cost in Nepal?

Most online stores in Nepal cost NPR 50,000 to NPR 300,000 to build. A starter store with about 10 products is at the low end, a 50-product store is around NPR 130,000, and a custom store with 100+ products and integrations is near NPR 300,000. Marketplaces cost far more. Add hosting, maintenance, product photos and gateway fees.

What is the cheapest way to start selling online in Nepal?

A social-commerce page on Facebook or Instagram with manual orders costs almost nothing but needs a lot of manual work. A basic WooCommerce store from a beginner can cost NPR 15,000 to NPR 40,000. Our published entry package, the Starter Store, is NPR 49,999 with up to 10 products and a basic payment gateway.

How much does a WooCommerce store cost in Nepal?

A small WooCommerce store with up to 50 products typically costs NPR 50,000 to NPR 180,000. Larger stores with filters, custom design and integrations run NPR 250,000 to NPR 400,000. WordPress-specific costs are in our WordPress cost guide.

How much does a Shopify store cost in Nepal?

Shopify's list prices are about USD 39 a month for Basic, or roughly NPR 5,900, and USD 29 a month on annual billing. Setup by a developer usually costs NPR 30,000 to NPR 100,000. Remember the surcharge Shopify lists for third-party gateways, 2% on Basic, which applies to local wallets. Check current terms before you commit.

Is Shopify or WooCommerce better for Nepal?

For domestic Nepali stores, WooCommerce usually fits better, because local payment methods like eSewa, Khalti and Fonepay have plugin and custom integration support, and you avoid platform surcharges. Shopify suits brands selling mainly to international customers with international cards.

How much does it cost to integrate eSewa or Khalti?

Developer setup is typically NPR 8,000 to NPR 25,000 per gateway. On top of that, the provider charges merchant fees. Khalti's merchant terms mention a one-time API fee, an annual account charge from the second year and a percentage per transaction. Published transaction fees range from about 1% to 3.5%, depending on agreement and volume.

What are the payment gateway fees in Nepal?

Published guides report roughly 1% to 2% for eSewa and Khalti, and up to about 3.5% in some sources, with high-volume merchants negotiating down to about 0.5%. Your merchant agreement sets the real figure. For planning, use 2% to 3% until you have your contract.

Do I need cash on delivery?

For most Nepali stores, yes, at least at first. Cash on delivery builds trust with first-time buyers. It also adds refused parcels, return shipping and cash settlement delays, so budget for them and confirm orders before dispatch.

How long does it take to build an ecommerce website in Nepal?

A starter store takes about three to five weeks. A 50-product store takes four to eight weeks. Larger custom stores take six to twelve weeks, and marketplaces take three to six months or more. Payment gateway approval and product data are the most common causes of delay.

How much does it cost to run an online store each year?

Plan for NPR 50,000 to NPR 150,000 a year for hosting, domain, email, maintenance and licences, plus gateway fees on every sale, packaging and delivery. The worked budgets above show NPR 51,000, NPR 88,000 and NPR 148,000 as year-two running costs for three store sizes.

Do I have to charge VAT on an online store?

If you are VAT registered, your invoices must include VAT, and your store should issue proper VAT invoices. Registration depends on your turnover and business type, so confirm with a qualified accountant. VAT also applies to your developer's invoice if they are registered. See VAT, TDS and invoices.

How many products can a small store hold?

Technically thousands. Cost grows with product count because of photography, data entry and testing. Starter packages usually include 10 products, mid-tier packages around 50 and larger ones about 100 with bulk upload support. Extra products are usually priced separately.

Is it better to sell on Daraz or build my own store?

Many sellers do both. A marketplace gives instant buyers but charges commission and payment fees and owns the customer relationship. An own store costs more up front and needs marketing, but you keep customers, brand control and margin. See the comparison above.

Can I accept international payments?

Possibly, but it is harder than domestic payments. Options include international card gateways through a bank, or payment services that support Nepal-based merchants. Each has onboarding rules, fees and foreign exchange handling. Raise this at the start of the project, not at launch.

Do I need a mobile app for my store?

Usually not at first. A mobile-friendly store reaches every customer and costs a fraction of an app. Consider an app once you have strong repeat purchase behaviour. See mobile app development cost in Nepal.

How do I make my store appear on Google?

Set up clean URLs, unique product and category titles, fast pages, product schema and analytics during the build, then keep publishing useful content. A store does not rank automatically. See SEO services in Nepal and SEO pricing in Nepal.

Who owns the store after it is built?

You should. Get in writing that the domain, hosting, store admin, design files and payment merchant accounts are in your name. Never let a developer hold your merchant account.

Can I start small and add features later?

Yes, and it is often the smartest route. Launch with a focused catalogue, one gateway plus cash on delivery and the essential features. Add filters, loyalty, courier integration and more languages as orders grow. Ask your developer to build with that roadmap in mind.

What is included in AlpineRoot's ecommerce packages?

Starter Store at NPR 49,999 includes basic WooCommerce setup, up to 10 products, a basic payment gateway and 15 days of support. Standard Store at NPR 129,999 adds a premium ecommerce theme, up to 50 products, coupons, email notifications, inventory setup, on-site SEO for 5 pages and 1.5 months of support. Premium Store at NPR 299,999 adds custom design, up to 100 products, shipping and inventory integrations, filters, customer accounts and loyalty, and premium support. Hosting, domain, photography, gateway fees and maintenance are separate. Details are on the pricing page.

How do I get an accurate quote for my store?

Send your product count, payment methods, delivery plan, languages and deadline through the contact page. Standard packages give a starting point, and custom features are scoped and quoted separately.

How we put this guide together

Sources and method. Market ranges combine published 2026 Nepal price guides, our own package prices and what we see in project scoping. Where sources disagreed, we widened the range instead of choosing one. Payment fee figures come from published 2026 Nepal payment guides and Khalti's published merchant terms, and are not a substitute for your own merchant agreement. Shopify prices are list prices reported in 2026 pricing guides. Currency conversion uses about NPR 152 per USD, the market rate in mid-October 2026. Daraz fee structure comes from seller-guide summaries, which vary, so we do not give one commission number. Tax details are summarised in our main cost guide.

What the numbers are not. They are indicative ranges, not a rate card or a promise. Add-on estimates, the break-even example and the savings percentages are our estimates from typical scopes. Gateway rules, platform prices and exchange rates change, so verify before you budget.

Reviewed: November 2026. We update this guide when prices or rules change materially. If you spot something out of date, tell us through the contact page.

Get a clear quote for your online store

Tell us what you want to sell and how customers will pay, and we will come back with a scoped, itemised price.

• See AlpineRoot pricing
• Explore ecommerce development in Nepal
• Read the full website development cost guide
• Talk to the team