How Much Does It Cost to Start Dropshipping in 2026?

Are you considering starting your own dropshipping business but unsure of the costs?

You're not alone.

With so many factors to consider, it can be hard to calculate dropshipping startup costs.

In this article, we aim to give you an honest look into the cost of starting dropshipping in 2026.

Key takeaways

Verdict: Dropshipping is cheap to start but not free. Plan for about $150 to $700 in one-time costs and roughly $150 to $4,300 a month, mostly depending on your ad budget.
Main costs: Business registration, your ecommerce platform (Shopify runs $39 to $439 a month), a domain, store setup, product research, advertising, supplier fees, and payment processing.
Keep startup low: A domain is only $8 to $20, and you can use free product-research tools, so most of your early spend is optional.
Watch out: Advertising is the highest and least predictable cost, swinging from $0 with free traffic up to thousands a month, so set an ad budget you can afford to test with.
Next step: Add up the one-time costs first, start lean, and reinvest profits before scaling your spending.

If paid ads are part of your budget, use our free calculator below to work out how much you can realistically put toward testing each product:

Total ad-test budget (USD) Selling price (USD) Landed and other variable cost per order (USD) Include product, shipping, packaging, fulfillment, and an expected returns reserve. Enter payment fees separately below. Payment fee percent Fixed payment fee (USD) Desired post-ad profit margin percent

Let's go more in-depth now!

How Much Does It Cost to Start Dropshipping?

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What are the different costs of starting a dropshipping business?

When starting your dropshipping business, you have to account for a range of costs, including:

Startup costs like business registration
Shopify-related costs like apps, monthly plans, and themes
Setting up your dropshipping store
Payment processor fees with platforms like PayPal
Fees from the dropshipping supplier, like Spocket
Domain and hosting costs
Any advertising expenses

Let's go through each of the above and see how much they cost.

This can help you plan your own dropshipping startup budget!

Breakdown of the total cost for starting dropshipping in 2026

If you want to see a detailed overview of the total costs involved when starting a dropshipping business, take a look at the following sections:

Business startup costs. Startup costs range from $132 to $320.
Ecommerce platform costs. Shopify costs range from $39 to $439 a month.
Domain name costs. Domain name costs range from $8 to $20 per year.
Creating your dropshipping store costs. Creating a dropshipping store costs from $0 to $440 per store.
Product research costs. Product research costs range from $0 to $39 a month.
Advertisement costs. Advertisement costs range from $0 to $4,000 a month.
Supplier costs. Supplier costs range from $0 to $40 per month.

So, what does that end up costing in total?

Let's break the costs down:

One-time costs. Before you can start dropshipping, you can expect to pay between $150 and $700 to register your business, buy a domain, and build your store. If you do this yourself, you can save significantly.
Monthly payments. To run a live dropshipping store, you can expect to pay between $150 and $4,300 monthly. This includes platform costs, themes, apps, product research, advertising, and supplier costs.

Tip: Looking for an all-in-one article about everything you should know about dropshipping? If so, check out our dropshipping guide!

Let's go more in-depth now:

1. Business startup costs

To do dropshipping legally, you need to consider initial expenses, especially those related to setting up your business.

How much does that cost?

In the US, the average cost of forming an LLC is around $132. In Europe, the average cost of starting your business is around 300 euros.

You can get started with other parts of dropshipping, but you need to establish your business once sales start rolling in.

Costs of forming an official business: $132 to $340, depending on where you live.

2. Ecommerce platform costs

One of the first things that come to mind when discussing dropshipping is that you need an ecommerce platform to sell your products.

That comes with a cost.

We recommend Shopify for most people, especially beginners, because of its excellent customer service, extensive app store, and long trial.

Plus, Shopify offers free hosting, so you don't have to worry about that.

So, what costs are involved with having a Shopify store?

Shopify monthly payment

The first cost with Shopify is the monthly payment.

Shopify has five plans in total, three of which suit dropshippers best.

The three plans suitable for dropshippers are:

Basic plan ($39/month + 2.9% and 30¢ USD per transaction). Shopify's Basic plan has everything you need to get your dropshipping store off the ground. It's the right option for most dropshippers starting out.
Grow plan ($105/month + 2.7% and 30¢ USD per transaction). The Grow plan is a good option if you're already making sales and want to take your store to the next level with lower credit card rates and more staff accounts.
Advanced plan ($399/month + 2.5% and 30¢ USD per transaction). If you run a dropshipping business doing over a million in sales per year, the Advanced plan is a good solution.

The best part of these plans is the trial.

Shopify offers a free trial for eligible plans. Trial length and promotional pricing can vary, so check the current offer before signing up.

That's some great savings!

This means that you can get started with an investment of $3 for your first 3 months, and after that, the minimal paid plan suitable for dropshipping starts at $39/month.

When calculating the total cost, keep in mind that Shopify charges 2.9% and 30¢ per transaction. However, that comes only into play after you start making sales.

We recommend you read our article on Shopify pricing plans if you want to learn more about the topic:

Shopify Pricing Plans Guide: Which One Is the Best? (2026)

Shopify apps

Shopify apps extend the functionality of your dropshipping store and, when used right, increase the sales of your Shopify store.

While most Shopify apps are paid, you can get started with minimal investment, and some are even free.

For more in-depth information, we've provided a detailed breakdown in our article on the best Shopify apps for dropshippers.

However, here's an overview of various Shopify apps, both free and paid, that we recommend:

What you can use it for	Best free option	Cost	Best paid option	Cost
Processing dropshipping orders	DSers (for dropshipping with AliExpress)	$0/month	AutoDS (for dropshipping with multiple suppliers)	$12.90/month
Social proof (sales notifications)	Proof Bear	$0/month	Prove Source	$29/month
Social proof (reviews)	Judge.me	$0/month	Loox	$9.99/month
Social proof (trust badges)	ShopClimb	$0/month	TrustedSite	$39/month
Selling internationally (currency converter)	BUCKS Currency Converter	$0/month	BEST Currency Converter	$9.95/month
Building urgency (countdown timer)	TimexBar	$0/month	Hextom	$9.99/month
Building FAQ page	HelpCenter	$0/month	Zendesk	$49/month
SMS marketing	SMSBump	$0/month	SMSBump (paid plan)	$19/month
Email marketing	Klaviyo	$0/month	Klaviyo (paid plans)	$20/month
GDPR compliance	Consentmo GDPR Compliance	$0/month	Consentmo GDPR Compliance (paid plan)	$8/month

As you can see, you can even get started for free by selecting the free app options.

That's the beauty of Shopify apps.

You definitely get more features with paid apps, but if you're starting out, you can save a lot by choosing the free plans.

Shopify themes

Shopify offers both free and paid themes.

A free theme will go a long way for people just starting out with dropshipping. If you're interested in checking the best free themes there are in Shopify, then check out our article on that topic:

12 Best Free Shopify Themes in 2026 for Online Stores

Paid themes like Booster Theme or Turbo Theme can greatly boost your conversion rates. Both of these themes have one-time payments of around $400.

If you're looking for a paid theme you can pay for monthly with a free plan, we recommend Debutify. After the free plan, Debutify costs between $29 and $149 a month.

Instead of paid themes, you can also use a landing page builder like PageFly, available in the Shopify App Store.

PageFly offers a free plan, and paid plans cost between $24 and $199 a month.

Shopify monthly costs: $39 per month for Shopify's monthly payment, but you can get started with an investment of $1 for the first month (Shopify's trial).
Shopify transaction fees: 2.9% and 30¢ USD per transaction with the Basic plan. This only matters after you start getting sales.
Shopify apps: $0 to $200 monthly, depending on whether you select the free or paid apps.
Shopify themes: $0 to $200 monthly, depending on whether you use a free or paid theme.

Total ecommerce platform cost: Between $39 and $439 per month. For the first month, you can get started as low as $1 per month.

3. Domain name costs

A good domain name is crucial because it helps potential customers trust you.

Would you buy from a website with the domain name bestdealsguaranteedfreetrial.com?

Probably not.

Shopify offers a free default domain for your site (such as dogbeds.myshopify.com). However, we don't recommend using this default domain for selling because it can sound untrustworthy.

It's well worth investing in a custom domain name, such as amazon.com, which adds credibility to your online presence.

Extra tip: After you purchase your domain, you can link it to Zoho to get a free professional email address. We've made a tutorial here on how to get it!

Luckily, domains are not that expensive. You can expect to pay between $8 and $20 annually for a new domain name.

You can visit Namecheap to purchase your domain.

Domain cost: $8-$20 per year, depending on the platform you buy from, the extension (e.g., .com, .net, or .org), and if there is a discount or a special deal.

4. Setting up your dropshipping store

Someone taking product images with a camera

Setting up your dropshipping store involves many parts. Here are key tasks to consider:

If you have skills in these areas and want to save money, we highly recommend doing them yourself.

Building your online store is a skill that pays off in the long run.

However, if you choose to outsource these tasks, there are some costs involved.

Here's how much you can expect to pay when hiring freelancers from platforms like Fiverr:

Logo design. Hiring someone to create a logo for your dropshipping site costs anywhere between $5 to $20.

Designing your dropshipping store. When you look at the cost of designing and building an entire dropshipping store, it can range from $70 to $200. In most cases, this also includes other things, like speed optimization.

Speed optimization. If you only need help optimizing your site speed, it costs around $20 to $60.

Creating product pages. If you need help with tasks like product descriptions and product photos, Fiverr freelancers can assist, with costs ranging from $20 to $150.

There are other tasks involved in building your online store, but you can do most of them for free.

For example, you can often source product photos from your dropshipping supplier.

And once sales start coming in, you can order the product to your home and take your own custom photos.

If you don't mind using AI to create your store, Storebuild.AI is a platform you can check out:

This platform uses its advanced AI technology to design a store customized to your product.

And the costs?

It's completely free! You'll just have to cover your Shopify subscription.

Creating your logo: $0 to $20, depending on whether you outsource it or make it yourself.
Designing a dropshipping store: $0 to 200, depending on whether you build the store yourself or outsource the creation process to someone else.
Optimizing your store for speed: $0 to $70, depending on whether you do basic-level optimization with free Shopify speed optimization apps or outsource it.
Creating product pages: $0 to $150, depending on whether you outsource it or do it yourself.

Total cost: Between $0 and $440 to create your dropshipping store.

5. Product research costs

Someone searching for a niche for their business

You can nail everything else, but if your product doesn't appeal to your target audience, it won't work.

Fortunately, both free and paid product research tools are available, each with its own advantages.

We've curated articles on the best free and paid product research tools, which we recommend you explore:

Let's review a couple of our favorite free and paid product research tools.

AliExpress Dropshipping Center

AliExpress Dropshipping Center is a free product research tool and one of our favorites for finding winning products.

The products in AliExpress DS Center are divided into different categories. Under each category, you can find hundreds of best-selling dropshipping products.

AliExpress dropshipping center categories

You can also analyze specific products by providing a link to AliExpress products.

Best of all, this tool is free!

Koala Inspector

Another product research tool you can use is Koala Inspector.

This free Chrome extension lets you look inside any Shopify store. You can see its best-selling products and estimated sales, plus the apps and theme it runs on.

Yes, you can spy on the best-selling products of other Shopify stores!

Checking a store's best sellers and the apps it uses is always free. The free plan also gives you 15 tokens a month for extras like traffic analysis, and the Premium plan costs $22/month for 220 tokens.

Sell The Trend

Sell The Trend is a paid product research tool with a 14-day free trial, which you can cancel anytime.

Even though it's a paid tool, it's reasonably priced ($29.97 / $49.97 / $99.97 a month) for its features.

If you want to learn more about Sell The Trend, we have a more detailed review of the platform here:

Sell The Trend Review 2026: Pricing, Features & Verdict

Product research cost: $0 to $39 monthly, depending on whether you use free or paid product research tools.

While some product research tools are more expensive, you don't need to make huge investments in them when you're just starting.

Many of the best ways to find winning products are free.

Check out this article from us if you want to learn more about some of these ways: How to Find Winning Dropshipping Products (13 Research Methods)

6. Advertisement costs

While it's hard to estimate, you should consider advertising costs when calculating the total expense of starting a dropshipping business.

There are three main options for advertising:

The cost for each is different, so let's break them down:

Based on our product testing experience with paid ads, you can expect to pay $150 to test a new product for your online store.

For example, this might involve a three-day testing period with a $50 daily budget for Facebook Ads.

Realistically, you could test four products a month, bringing the total monthly cost to $600. However, this cost may vary depending on how quickly you identify a profitable product.

For organic traffic, the cost is technically $0.

If you do TikTok or Instagram videos, for example, you may still need to pay someone to make the videos for you.

In addition, if SEO is your chosen strategy, you may need to invest in a keyword research tool.

The cost of advertising your product with an influencer can vary significantly, with the biggest differentiator being the influencer's audience size.

As a general guideline, you can expect to pay anywhere between $1 and $5,000 for a sponsored post.

Paid ad costs: $600 per month for paid advertising if you test four products with an investment of $150 per product.
Organic traffic costs: $0 to create traffic from organic sources like TikTok or Instagram Reels. Other costs may include video production. If SEO is your strategy, you may have expenses like keyword research tools and different writing tools.
Influencer marketing: Depending on the influencer's size, you can expect to pay anywhere between $20 and $1,000 for a sponsored post on your product.

Total advertising cost: $0 to $4,000 per month.

7. Supplier costs

When a new customer orders in your online store, the next step is getting the product into their hands.

This is where suppliers come in, and they involve costs.

When it comes to suppliers, you have different options:

AliExpress product fulfillment platforms, like DSers
Product fulfillment platforms with direct Shopify integration, like Spocket
Product and supplier directories, like SaleHoo
Print on demand supplier platforms, like Printful

Each platform has its own pros, cons, and costs.

Prices may vary, but if you're starting out, you can even begin for free with certain platforms or with an investment of less than $50 per month.

Supplier costs breakdown

AliExpress fulfillment platform (DSers): $0 per month for the free plan
Local dropshipping supplier app (Spocket): $39.99 per month for the cheapest paid plan.
Dropshipping directories (SaleHoo): $9 per month billed annually, or $299 for lifetime access.
Print on demand supplier (Printful): $0 per month

You can also use a private dropshipping agent, and their service prices vary.

8. Payment processor fees

To accept customer payments, you must add a payment processor to your online store.

The most popular options for dropshippers are:

Each payment processor has their own fee setup. Again, these only come into play once you start getting orders, so it's not something you should worry about.

Payment processor fee breakdown

PayPal: 3.49% + $0.49 fee per transaction.
Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30 fee per transaction.
Shopify Payments: 0.15% fee for every transaction

As you can see, Shopify Payments has the lowest fees among these platforms. However, it has some downsides, the biggest being that it's unavailable in certain countries.

If you want to learn more about Shopify Payments and the best alternatives for it, we recommend these articles from our blog:

FAQs about dropshipping

Here are a few FAQs related to the cost of starting a dropshipping business.

How much does it cost to start dropshipping in 2026?

Based on our calculations, you can start your dropshipping store with an investment of between $150 and $700. After that, you can expect to pay between $150 and $4300 monthly to keep your store running and test new products.

Can I start dropshipping for free in 2026?

Technically, you can start dropshipping for free. However, we do not recommend this approach. If you want the highest chances of succeeding with dropshipping, you need to have an appealing store, do proper marketing and advertising, and fulfill orders, all of which involve costs.

Can you make money with dropshipping?

Absolutely, you can generate income through dropshipping. Remember, it's not a get-rich-quick scheme like many gurus make it sound. To make money with it, you have to be ready to invest money in it. (Here's more information about this)

What should you do next?

Before you spend anything, use our tool below to check whether the costs and commitment involved in dropshipping make sense for your situation:

Conclusion

It's a wrap for our article!

As you can see, you can start your dropshipping journey cost-effectively by planning your budget, choosing the right plans and free resources, and using smart marketing and advertising strategies.

If you're starting with a small amount of capital, we recommend having a steady income from other sources so you can keep up with your monthly dropshipping payments.

That way, you won't lose all your money while you're getting started.

Did we miss any costs involved with dropshipping?

Let us know in the comments, and we will do our best to add them to the article!

Good luck!

Want to learn more about dropshipping?

Here's what we'd pick up next:

New to dropshipping? We cover what it actually takes in our guide on how to start dropshipping here.

How Much Does It Cost to Start Dropshipping in 2026?

What are the different costs of starting a dropshipping business?