Magento Licensing Costs as of Dec 10, 2011
- Magento Community – Free – non critical websites
- Magento Go – $180 – $1500 per year (billed monthly) simple small business solution
- Magento Professional – $2995 per year (small business solution)
- Magento Enterprise $12990 per year (enterprise business solution)
Actual Magento Ecommerce Website Cost
The Magento licensing costs indicated above are only one small part of the pricing equation. You also need a Magento software development partner. But be careful here, that partner can save (or cost) you a tremendous amount of money, depending entirely on their skill level.
Chances are you have a list of features you would like to see implemented on your website. Your eCommerce developer should be able to guide you as to what can be built in a cost effective manner (and certainly how).
Magento Development Hourly Rates
Generally, Magento developers are paid in the range of $60 – $150 an hour. This is obviously based on skill level and experience.
Look for the middle ground in hourly pricing rates. On the lower side of hourly rates, there is a much greater risk of running into problems (or failure) during development. If they were that good they would charge more (to match their counterparts).
On the higher side of rates, you are typically paying a premium for something akin to “Name Brand Recognition” … which does not always relate directly to better performance or shorter development hours.
Total Magento Project Costs
Total Magento project costs are very hard to outline without knowing the particulars of your eCommerce project. Are you Amazon or just trying to sell two products online? Do you have many products, shipping and/or configuration options? These factors will all add to the cost of the building the solution.
Want the simple answer? Sure!…basic Magento based websites can cost as little as $5,000 for a developer to build and configure. On the complicated side (with all the options) you could be talking $100,000. Not including licensing.
What will Magento Cost Me … Ask a Developer!
The only true way to know your Magento costs will be to speak with an experienced developer. They need to fully understand your situation and project objectives. Then, assuming you have chosen the right eCommerce developer, they should be able to give you an accurate proposal and quote.
Who is this “right developer”, you might ask? I recommend getting a referral from someone in your professional network. Make sure they have worked with this person/company and can speak from direct experience about their abilities and professionalism. Seriously, avoid that old quip about, “Oh I think my brother’s girlfriend’s cousin might do Magento (or maybe that was Mahjong)!”. That’s not the type of referral I’m talking about.
If you can’t find anyone who can offer a quality referral, I would be happy to share a referral from my own network of talented and professional Magento developers. At the very least, I can speak directly to the past performance of these experts with whom I have prior business experience.
