Webshop
Starting a webshop: which e-commerce platform suits you?
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Lightspeed or CCV Shop? Compare webshop platforms by type, price and the costs you forget, with a worked example.
Cloud, open source or a platform for large catalogues: the webshop platform determines what you can do and what it costs. Compare Shopify, CCV Shop, Lightspeed eCom, WooCommerce and Magento, including the costs you easily forget.
Three kinds of webshop platforms
Anyone starting a webshop first chooses the platform it runs on. It is an important choice: your products, customers, orders and integrations live in it, and switching later takes a lot of work. Broadly, there are three kinds of webshop software:
- All-in-one in the cloud: you pay a subscription and the supplier takes care of hosting, security and updates. Examples are Shopify, Lightspeed eCom and CCV Shop.
- Open source on your own website: WooCommerce turns a WordPress website into a webshop. The software is free, but you arrange hosting and maintenance yourself.
- Platforms for large catalogues: Magento is made for webshops with many products, several shops or B2B, and is usually built by a specialist agency.
The platforms side by side
The prices below come from the suppliers' pricing pages and were checked on 1 October 2026. They may change; check them before you choose.
| Platform | Type | From | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Cloud | €21 per month with annual billing | Start-ups and growing brands that want to go live quickly |
| CCV Shop | Cloud | €36 per month plus €30 one-off | Dutch entrepreneurs looking for a simple start |
| Lightspeed eCom | Cloud | €68 per month | Shops that also use a Lightspeed till |
| WooCommerce | Open-source plugin | Free, plus hosting and extensions | Anyone who already has a WordPress site or wants to be able to customise everything |
| Magento | Open source or licence | Open Source free, Adobe Commerce on request | Large catalogues, several shops and B2B |
Shopify
Shopify is the quickest to set up: you choose a theme, add your products and receive payments through Shopify Payments, including iDEAL. According to the Dutch pricing page, Basic costs €21 per month with annual billing and €28 with monthly billing. With Shopify Payments you pay no extra transaction fees, but you do pay the payment costs themselves, such as €0,29 per iDEAL payment. If you choose another payment provider, Shopify charges an extra 2% on Basic. Many features come from apps, which often have their own monthly price.
CCV Shop
CCV Shop is a Dutch platform. According to the pricing page, Basic costs €36 per month for up to 50 products, Professional €59 for 7.500 products and Enterprise €129, each with €30 set-up costs and a one-year contract. You can try it free for 21 days.
Lightspeed eCom
Lightspeed is best known for its POS systems. If you have a shop with Lightspeed Retail, you share products and stock with the webshop. The plans start at €68 per month for 250 product variants; Advanced costs €120 and Professional, with B2B features, €259 per month.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is free, but not without cost. You pay for hosting, a domain name, possibly a theme, paid extensions and maintenance. On the other hand, you can customise everything and your webshop and content are in one place. Without your own WordPress knowledge you will need an agency or freelancer for updates and security.
Magento
Magento Open Source has no licence fees, but the paid version, Adobe Commerce, does; that price depends on your online revenue and is on request. The biggest costs are in building and maintenance by a development partner. For a small webshop that is usually too much; for a wholesaler with thousands of products and customer-specific prices it can be exactly right.
Costs you easily forget
The subscription is rarely the biggest cost. Also budget for:
- Payment costs: per transaction with your payment provider, and extra transaction fees on some platforms.
- Apps and extensions: for reviews, shipping, email marketing or an integration with your accounting.
- Theme and design: a paid theme or custom work by a designer.
- Hosting and maintenance: with WooCommerce and Magento you arrange and pay for this yourself.
- Your own time: entering products, taking photos and processing orders.
Fictional worked example: a webshop with 1.000 orders a year, all paid with iDEAL, on Shopify Basic with annual billing. The subscription costs 12 × €21 = €252. The iDEAL costs are 1.000 × €0,29 = €290. Two apps at a fictional €10 per month cost €240 together. The first year then costs €782, without a theme and without your own time. Do the same sum for every platform you are considering, with your number of orders.
Five questions that make the choice easier
- How many products and variants will you have in two years? Some plans have a limit.
- Do you also sell in a shop? Then a platform with its own till or a good till integration is useful.
- Who maintains the webshop? Without a developer you are better off with a cloud platform.
- Do you sell to businesses? Then look at customer groups, own prices and ordering on account.
- Which integrations do you need? Think of accounting, shipping and email marketing.
After the launch: bringing customers back
Putting a webshop live is the first step; bringing customers back is the next. For that you need email marketing and, in time, personalisation, so visitors find what suits them more quickly. Read how to approach that in personalisation in your webshop, or compare all components via e-commerce software.
