A complete guide to Prestashop pricing in 2025

So, you’ve probably heard that Prestashop is a "free" e-commerce platform and are thinking about using it for your online store. It’s a tempting idea, for sure. Who doesn't love free? But when you're building a business, "free" usually comes with a few strings attached. While the core Prestashop software won't cost you a penny to download, getting a professional, fully working store off the ground is a whole other story.

This guide is here to give you the straight-up, no-fluff breakdown of Prestashop pricing. We'll walk through every possible cost, from the obvious stuff to the things that tend to sneak up on you later. The goal is to help you build a realistic budget and decide if it's the right platform for you, without any nasty surprises. Let's get into it.

First off, what exactly is Prestashop?

Before we talk money, let's quickly cover what Prestashop is. It's a powerful, open-source e-commerce solution that gives you a ton of flexibility to build the store you're picturing in your head. The term "open-source" is the key here. It just means the source code is out there for anyone to download, use, and tweak as they see fit.

On one hand, this is awesome because it gives you total control. On the other hand, it means you're in the driver's seat for everything. Unlike all-in-one platforms like Shopify, with Prestashop, you have to find and pay for your own web hosting, handle security, and install any add-ons (they call them modules) you need. This is where the costs start trickling in.

The core components of Prestashop pricing

The real cost of Prestashop comes from everything you build around its free software. Think of it like being handed a free car engine. It's a fantastic start, but you still need to buy the chassis, wheels, and seats if you actually want to go anywhere. Let's break down what these parts are for your store.

1. Web hosting and a domain name

Since Prestashop is self-hosted, the very first things you’ll need to buy are a web hosting plan and a domain name. You can't skip this part. It’s the plot of land your store sits on and its address on the internet.

Hosting comes in a few different flavors, each with its own price tag:

• Shared Hosting: This is the cheapest route, where your site shares server space with other websites. It’s perfectly fine for brand-new stores, but it can get sluggish if you suddenly get a rush of traffic. Expect to pay around $5-$20 a month.

• VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: This is a step up. You still share a server, but you get your own dedicated slice of it. That means better performance and security. This usually runs between $20-$80 a month.

• Dedicated Hosting: The top-tier option where you get an entire server all to yourself. It's blazing fast and super secure, but it’s also pricey, making it best for big, established stores. Prices typically start at $80+ per month.

Your domain name (like yourstore.com) is a yearly cost, usually somewhere between $10-$20.

2. An SSL certificate for security

An SSL certificate is what encrypts the data flowing between your customer's browser and your website. It’s what adds the "s" in "https://" and puts that little padlock icon in the address bar. For any e-commerce store, this is an absolute must. It keeps sensitive info like credit card numbers safe and is a huge part of building trust with your shoppers.

The good news is that many hosting providers now include a free SSL certificate with their plans (from places like Let's Encrypt). If yours doesn't, you'll have to buy one, which can cost anywhere from $50 to $200 a year.

3. Themes and design costs

How your store looks really matters for making a good first impression. Prestashop comes with a default theme, but most businesses choose a professional theme to stand out from the crowd. You can find thousands of options on the Prestashop Addons Marketplace and other sites. A solid, pre-made theme will usually cost a one-time fee of about $80-$200.

If you have a very specific vision and a bigger budget, you could hire a developer to build a custom design from scratch. This gives you total creative freedom but also costs a lot more, easily running into the thousands.

4. Essential modules and add-ons

Right out of the box, Prestashop is pretty bare-bones. You’ll need to install modules to add important features, and most of the good ones will cost you. These are usually one-time purchases, though some might have optional fees for ongoing support.

Here are a few types of modules you'll almost certainly need to budget for:

Module Type	Purpose	Average One-Time Cost	Notes
Payment Gateway	To accept credit cards (e.g., Stripe, PayPal)	$50 - $200	Some payment processors also take a small cut of each transaction.
Shipping & Logistics	For calculating shipping rates and managing carriers	$70 - $250	A must-have for any store selling physical goods.
SEO & Analytics	To help you show up on Google and track visitors	$100 - $300	Key for getting found and understanding how people use your site.
Legal & Compliance	For things like GDPR and cookie consent	$50 - $150	Helps you display privacy policies and cookie banners to stay out of trouble.

The hidden costs of Prestashop pricing

Just getting your store launched is one thing. As your business grows, you'll run into ongoing costs that can catch you off guard if you haven't planned for them.

Maintenance and development costs

One of the best things about open-source software,its flexibility,can also be its biggest headache. Unless you're a developer, you’ll probably need to hire one for the initial setup, any customizations, and ongoing maintenance.

When Prestashop or one of your modules releases an update, things can sometimes get a little wonky. A simple update could create a conflict that takes down a part of your site, and fixing that requires someone who knows what they're doing. It’s smart to have a budget for a developer, whether you keep them on retainer or just pay for help as you need it ($50-$150+ per hour).

Advanced modules and long-term costs

As your store gets bigger, your needs will get more complex. You might want to add a customer loyalty program, set up automated marketing emails, or get better analytics on customer behavior. Each of these will likely mean buying another paid module, and those costs can add up over time.

Customer support costs

This is a big one that a lot of new store owners don't think about. As your sales increase, so does the number of customer questions. People will want to know about their orders, shipping status, product details, and return policies.

At first, you might be able to handle it all yourself. But pretty soon, you'll find yourself spending hours every day answering the same questions again and again. The old-school solution is to hire a customer support agent. That’s great, but it also adds a major recurring expense: salaries, training, and benefits. As you get busier, you need more people, and your support costs grow right along with your revenue.

How you can control those operational costs with AI

That exact problem,support costs growing with sales,is where modern tools can make a real difference. Instead of immediately adding another person to your payroll, you can use AI to handle the common, repetitive questions that eat up most of your team's day.

Think about having an AI chatbot on your site that can instantly answer "Where is my order?" or "What’s your return policy?" 24/7, even while you’re asleep. This frees up your human team members to deal with the tricky, high-value conversations that actually need a person's touch.

Platforms like eesel AI make this really easy. An AI Chatbot can be trained on your store’s FAQ page, help articles, and even product info. It learns your business from the inside out so it can give customers accurate, helpful answers that sound like they're coming from you.

Unlike the sometimes-clunky setup for Prestashop modules, you can get an AI chatbot live on your site in a few minutes. It's a self-serve platform, so you don't have to sit through a sales demo just to try it out. Best of all, it has transparent, predictable pricing. Instead of watching your support costs explode as you hire more staff, you get a fixed monthly cost that helps you scale your support without scaling your headcount.

This video provides a helpful tutorial on creating and applying price rules within Prestashop, demonstrating how merchants can manage and strategize their product Prestashop pricing effectively.

So, what is the true Prestashop pricing?

Let's circle back to the main question: is Prestashop free? Nope. Is it a flexible platform with a lot of potential? Absolutely. The "free" download is just the starting line. The true cost depends entirely on your needs, your tech skills, and your business goals. A simple store can be run pretty cheaply, but a highly custom, high-traffic store is going to be a real investment.

To give you a clearer idea, here’s a rough estimate of what you might spend in your first year.

Cost Category	Basic Store (Annual Estimate)	Advanced Store (Annual Estimate)
Hosting & Domain	$120 - $300	$300 - $1,000+
SSL Certificate	$0 - $70	$0 - $200
Theme	$80 - $200 (One-time)	$200 - $1,000+ (Custom)
Essential Modules	$200 - $500 (One-time)	$500 - $1,500+ (One-time)
Development/Maintenance	$0 - $500	$1,000 - $5,000+
Total Year 1 Est.	$400 - $1,570	$2,000 - $8,700+

At the end of the day, Prestashop is a great pick for merchants who want total control and either have the technical chops to manage their own site or the budget to hire someone who does.

Start scaling your support, not your costs

As your e-commerce business grows, keeping a lid on operational costs like customer support becomes a huge challenge. Every successful sale brings a new wave of questions, and you need a plan to handle that without your expenses getting out of hand.

This is a chance to work smarter, not just harder. By automating your frontline support, you can give customers instant, 24/7 service that they'll love, all while keeping your overhead low.

Ready to get ahead of the support curve? Try eesel AI today and see how an AI agent can transform your customer service without breaking the bank.