E-commerce website cost in Kenya
From KES 40,000
An e-commerce website in Kenya starts from KES 40,000 to build, with the final price set by catalogue size, payment setup and integrations. Budget from KES 25,000 more in year-one running costs for hosting, domain, gateway fees and maintenance. Bare template stores start near KES 15,000 but rarely survive real trading volume.
3 to 4 weeks
start to launch, by package
Every store carries its own timeline, agreed before work starts.
One fixed price
after a short scoping call
The number you're quoted for your exact scope doesn't move; changes are quoted separately.
M-Pesa, tested live
on every store, every time
Every store ships with Daraja integration tested against real transactions before launch.
What each level costs
Each level is a fixed price for that scope, cheapest first. The figure shown is the starting point; your own number is fixed after a short scoping call.
Starter online store
From KES 40,000
Core catalogue, checkout and standard payments to start selling.Focused store · 3–4 weeks
Bespoke ecommerce website
From KES 150,000
Improved product structure, M-Pesa setup and SEO foundations.Stronger store · 3–4 weeks
Most chosenAdvanced ecommerce website
From KES 300,000
Advanced catalogue logic, delivery rules and integrations.Larger build · 3–4 weeks
Not sure which level fits?
Tell us what the site has to do and we will say which level covers it, with a fixed price before any work starts.
| Band | Typical price (KES) | What you get | What breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template / freelancer | From 25,000 | Pre-built theme, plugin-based payments, minimal customisation | Checkout under load, mobile performance, ownership and handover |
| Small agency WooCommerce | From 100,000 | Customised theme, working M-Pesa, basic delivery logic | Page speed, faceted navigation, scaling past a few hundred SKUs |
| Established agency custom | From 300,000 | Bespoke design system, tested integrations, SEO architecture | Usually nothing structural, this is where most serious Kenyan stores should sit |
| Headless / custom commerce | From 800,000 | Next.js, Medusa or headless Shopify, ERP integration, custom logic | Nothing, but most SMEs do not need this yet |
Read the band, not the quote. A KES 60,000 quote and a KES 400,000 quote are not competing offers for the same thing. They are different products. If three agencies quote wildly different numbers, ask each one which band they are building in and what specifically their price includes.
What actually moves the price
Product count is the factor everyone asks about and the one that matters least. Here is what actually drives cost, in order.
Whether your product content exists. This is the largest hidden cost in Kenyan e-commerce and almost nobody prices it honestly. Two hundred products need two hundred sets of photographs, descriptions, specifications and attribute data. If that does not exist, someone has to make it. Product photography in Nairobi runs from KES 300 per SKU depending on styling; two hundred products is a photography budget on its own, and it is the reason most stores launch late.
Catalogue complexity, not catalogue size. Five hundred simple products cost less to build than fifty products with size, colour, material and bundle variants. Variants multiply the data model, the filtering logic and the inventory rules.
Payment architecture. Direct Daraja integration is cheaper to run and more expensive to build. An aggregator is faster to ship and costs more on every transaction, forever. The right choice depends entirely on your monthly volume (see the fees table below).
Delivery logic. “We deliver countrywide” is a sentence. Turning it into zone-based pricing, courier handoff, rider assignment and tracking is a build. Nationwide zone logic with a courier API is materially more work than flat-rate Nairobi delivery.
Integrations. Connecting to existing inventory, an ERP, accounting software or eTIMS-compliant invoicing is where custom commerce budgets go. Each integration is a project with its own testing surface.
Number of unique templates. A store with 5,000 products using eight templates costs less than a store with 40 products where every category page is bespoke.
Running costs: what you pay after launch
The build is the one-off. These are forever.
| Cost | Typical range (KES) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
.co.ke domain | From 1,000 / year | Renews annually at the same rate |
| Hosting (shared) | From 3,000 / year | The bottom of this range is not adequate for a transacting store |
| Hosting (VPS / cloud) | From 30,000 / year | Where a Bespoke ecommerce website or above should sit |
| SSL certificate | Often free | Free via Let’s Encrypt on most stacks; only buy one if you have a specific reason |
| Shopify subscription | From 3,500 / month | Only if you are on Shopify. WooCommerce and custom builds have no platform fee |
| Premium plugins / extensions | From 4,000 / year | WooCommerce stores only |
| Maintenance and support | From 8,000 / month | Security patching, backups, updates, uptime monitoring, small changes |
Year-one running total for a typical Bespoke ecommerce website, domain, hosting and gateway overhead only: from KES 60,000, excluding transaction fees, advertising and any maintenance plan you add on top.
Full detail: Website maintenance cost in Kenya →
Payment gateway fees: the cost nobody quotes
Every sale you make is taxed by your payment stack. Over a year this is often larger than your build cost, and it is almost never mentioned in a web design quote.
| Method | Typical rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Direct M-Pesa (Daraja API) | From ~1.0% per transaction | Kenya-only stores where most customers pay by M-Pesa. Cheapest to run, requires a developer and your own Paybill or Till |
| Aggregator, M-Pesa | From ~2.5% per transaction | One integration covering M-Pesa, cards and bank. Faster to launch, more expensive per sale |
| Local card payments | From ~2.5% + KES 20 upwards | Rates vary meaningfully between providers, compare before committing |
| International cards | From ~3.8% per transaction | Only relevant if you sell outside Kenya |
| Pay on delivery | 0% gateway fee, but real losses | Returns, refusals and rider time. Budget for a refusal rate and build fraud controls |
Do the arithmetic before you choose. On KES 500,000 of monthly M-Pesa sales, the difference between a 1.2% direct integration and a 3.2% aggregator is KES 10,000 a month, KES 120,000 a year. That gap pays for the more expensive build inside the first year. Below roughly KES 150,000 monthly volume, the aggregator is usually the better commercial decision because the integration saving never catches up.
A note on Stripe. Stripe does not officially support payment acceptance for Kenyan businesses. Workarounds via foreign entities exist and carry compliance risk. If an agency proposes Stripe for a Kenyan store, ask them to explain exactly how.
Settlement matters too: M-Pesa typically settles to your bank in one to three business days, cards in three to five. Weekends and public holidays do not settle. Plan working capital accordingly.
Where Kenyan e-commerce budgets go wrong
- Spending everything on the build and nothing on demand. A store with no traffic is a warehouse with no door. If your entire budget goes into the build, you have bought a beautiful asset nobody will visit. Reserve at least 30% of your first-year budget for getting customers to it.
- Paying for a store you do not need yet. If you sell fewer than ten products and take orders over WhatsApp successfully, a well-built site with a structured order flow may serve you better and cost a third as much. We will tell you this in discovery if it is true. Web design cost in Kenya →
- Launching before fulfilment is ready. A store that takes orders you cannot deliver damages your brand faster than having no store at all. The build is not the constraint, your logistics are.
- Not owning your assets. Confirm in writing who owns the domain, who holds the hosting account, and what happens to your site if you stop working with the agency. This is where a surprising number of Kenyan businesses discover they have been renting something they believed they owned.
- Accepting a quote with no scope document. If the quote is a single number with no itemised scope, you cannot compare it to anything and you have no basis for a dispute later.
Shopify or WooCommerce, and what each costs to run
| WooCommerce | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | None | From KES 3,500 / month |
| M-Pesa | Clean direct integration | Not native, requires a third-party gateway or custom app |
| Build cost | Comparable | Comparable |
| Ongoing technical involvement | Higher, you own updates and security | Lower, Shopify manages the platform |
| Best for | Kenya-focused stores, M-Pesa-heavy, cost-sensitive at volume | Fast launch, minimal technical involvement, international selling |
Over three years the Shopify subscription alone is from KES 126,000. That is not an argument against it, it is an argument for doing the comparison with your actual numbers rather than a general preference.
We build both and have no incentive to push either. Shopify development → · WooCommerce development →
Next steps
Pricing questions
How much does an e-commerce website cost in Kenya?
Starts from KES 40,000 for a professionally built store, with the final price set by catalogue size, payment architecture and integrations. Bare template-based stores start around KES 15,000 but generally do not hold up under real trading volume. Budget from KES 60,000 more for year-one running costs.
What is the cheapest way to sell online in Kenya?
A marketplace listing or a social commerce setup costs almost nothing to start. You trade margin, customer data and brand control for that. Our own Starter online store starts at KES 40,000 and holds up far better than a bare template if you have few products and modest volume.
How much does M-Pesa integration cost?
Direct Daraja integration is part of the build cost in all our packages, not a separate line item. As a standalone piece of work on an existing site it typically runs from KES 45,000 depending on the platform and how the existing checkout is structured. The recurring cost is the transaction rate, from roughly 1.0% direct.
Do I need a Paybill or Till number?
Yes, for direct M-Pesa integration. You register it with Safaricom. We guide you through the process if you do not have one. Aggregators can route around this, at a higher per-transaction rate.
How long does it take to build an online store in Kenya?
Three to four weeks depending on the package. Product content is almost always the bottleneck, not development. If you arrive at kickoff with clean product data and finished photography, you will be live faster.
Should I sell on Jumia or build my own store?
Both, ideally. A marketplace gives you immediate traffic but takes commission, owns the customer relationship and constrains your brand. Your own store costs more upfront and requires you to generate your own demand, but the margin and the customer data are yours. Most successful Kenyan sellers use marketplaces for reach and their own store for margin.
Do I need to charge VAT and issue eTIMS invoices?
If you are VAT-registered, yes, eTIMS compliance applies to online sales. We build invoicing that supports it. Confirm the specifics with your accountant; we build to the requirement, we do not provide tax advice.
What ongoing costs should I expect?
Domain, hosting, maintenance, payment gateway fees and any platform subscription. For a typical Bespoke ecommerce website, from KES 60,000 in year one excluding transaction fees and advertising.
Can I pay in instalments?
Yes. Our standard terms are 50% at kickoff, 30% at design sign-off, 20% at launch. Advanced ecommerce projects are milestone-billed.
Why is your price higher than a freelancer's?
Because we build in a different band. We do not use page builders, we hold enforced performance budgets, and we test on the mid-tier Android hardware your customers actually use. If your requirements genuinely fit the freelancer band, we will tell you; we would rather lose a KES 25,000 job than take one we cannot do well.
Get a fixed quote for this.
Send your requirements. You'll get a scope and a number, with no back-and-forth.
Prefer to talk now?
Message us on WhatsApp or call. We reply within one working day.
No obligation. Fixed scope and price before any work starts.
