What does a Shopware agency really cost?
Day rate, project budget, operations — what a specialised Shopware agency costs, with real numbers instead of agency fog.
"It depends" is not an answer.
Anyone quoting you a fixed price before the analysis either hasn't understood your project — or has priced in that you won't notice.
What you pay a Shopware agency consists of three blocks: the project (concept, design, development, migration), operations (hosting, maintenance, support SLA) and further development. On this page you'll find our numbers for each block — and the logic behind them, so you can compare quotes, including our competitors'. The Shopware licence is deliberately left out: it goes to the vendor, not to us. Which plan fits which shop is covered in our licence guide to Community, Rise, Evolve and Beyond, and what a plan amounts to per order at your revenue is shown by the Shopware cost calculator per basket. If the platform question is still open, our Shopware vs. Shopify comparison weighs TCO against TCO. And if the problem is not the cost but the agency behind it: how an agency switch works in three days maximum is covered on our switching page.
One rate. Three cost blocks.
Day rate — €950
One rate for every role, no junior tiering. Whoever advises you also builds — senior developers who know Shopware down to the core.
Project — from €25,000
Clear budget ranges upfront, a reliable number after the system audit. Custom features, B2B processes and ERP integration move the range upward — the audit makes it quantifiable.
Operations — from €1,000/month
Monitoring, security and Shopware updates, support with SLA — plannable as a retainer instead of a surprise timesheet.
Licence — advised independently
Which Shopware plan your shop actually needs, we clarify independently of the vendor. Often the Community Edition is simply the better deal.
What to budget for.
A professional Shopware 6 shop with standard processes starts in the mid five figures. Custom features, B2B processes and ERP integration move it upward — the audit makes it quantifiable.
Hosting, monitoring, security and Shopware updates, support SLA. Plannable as a retainer instead of a surprise timesheet.
Once the system stands, the return begins — conversion optimization and automation prioritized by impact, not gut feeling.
| Project type | Typical scope | Budget range |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Standard processes, clean theme, basic integrations | €25,000–40,000 |
| Growth | Custom features, ERP integration, performance focus | €40,000–80,000 |
| B2B / Complex | B2B processes, multi-channel, several integrations | €80,000–150,000 |
| Replatforming | Migration incl. data transfer and SEO preservation | from €30,000 |
Count days, not day rates.
What matters isn't what a day costs — it's how much system you get for a day.
A senior day is more expensive than a junior day in body leasing — and the result cheaper, because the same task is solved in fewer days, with less coordination and no rework. That's why every role has the same rate with us: €950 (as of August 2026). When you compare quotes, ask for the number of days to a working system, the senior share on the team and what operations cost afterwards. Three numbers that say more about the total budget than any hourly rate.
What actually makes Shopware projects expensive.
Processes cost, not pages
The budget isn't determined by the number of templates but by the business processes behind them — pricing logic, approvals, assortments, countries. Sharpening requirements saves more than haggling over hourly rates.
ERP is half the truth
Connecting ERP, PIM or CRM is often the largest single item — and the most underestimated. What decides the effort is data quality in the source system, not the interface itself.
Legacy data is effort
Inconsistent product data, duplicates, overgrown categories — whoever migrates pays for years of deferred housekeeping. Clean data lowers every quote you'll ever collect.
The price after the price
A shop built cheaply is operated expensively. Update capability, test coverage and documentation decide the follow-up costs — which is why they're our standard, not a surcharge.
Pricing and budget questions.
What does a Shopware agency cost? +
Our day rate is €950 (as of August 2026) — for every role, with no junior tiering. Projects start at around €25,000; ongoing support with an SLA starts at about €1,000 per month. Don't compare agencies by day rate — compare them by the number of days they need for the same result.
What does a Shopware shop cost? +
A professionally built Shopware 6 shop starts at around €25,000 in project costs. With custom development, B2B processes or ERP integration, projects typically range from €40,000 to €150,000. Add running costs from about €1,000 per month. Cheaper is always possible — you pay for it later.
Why one day rate for all roles? +
{ "Because only senior developers work with us — whoever advises also builds": { " Junior tiering lowers the day rate on paper and raises the number of days, the coordination and the rework": { " One rate makes quotes comparable": "count the days, not the roles." } } }
What monthly costs does a Shopware shop have? +
Hosting from around €100 depending on traffic and architecture, maintenance and support with SLA from around €1,000, plus the Shopware licence if your shop needs a commercial plan. A realistic operating range for a business-critical shop is €1,200 to €3,000 per month — before further development.
Which Shopware licence do I need, and what does it cost? +
The Community Edition is licence-free; the commercial plans Rise, Evolve and Beyond depend on revenue and feature needs and are paid to Shopware, not to us. Which plan fits which shop is explained in our licence guide; what it amounts to per basket is shown by the cost calculator. In the first call we advise independently.
Why don't most agencies publish prices? +
Because vague expectations help sell. We do the opposite — clear ranges upfront, a reliable number after the audit. If a project doesn't fit your budget, we say so in the first call, not in the third quote.
Boutique agency or large agency — which is cheaper? +
The answer hinges on overhead, coordination paths and senior share — not on the day rate. We have calculated both models over three years; model calculation, decision guide and risk assessment are in our TCO comparison whitepaper.
What does a Shopware migration cost? +
Replatforming projects — from Shopware 5, Magento or WooCommerce, for example — start at around €30,000 and scale with data volume, custom code and integrations. Details and the process are on our migration page.
What does Shopware hosting cost? +
Solid managed hosting for a mid-sized shop starts at around €100 per month; performance-critical or high-availability setups sit in the mid three figures. More important than the hosting price is the architecture on top — caching and clean code save more than any server discount.
Is Shopware worth it for small shops? +
Below roughly €500,000 in annual online revenue, a custom Shopware project is rarely the best calculation — cloud site builders are the more honest start. Once processes, B2B requirements or integrations outgrow the builder, the calculation flips. That threshold is exactly what we work through with you in the first call.
