How much does an artist website cost in 2026?

The range: $432.60 to $2,819.88 over three years

Using only prices vendors publish, an artist website costs $432.60 to $2,819.88 over three years, before sales fees. That’s about $12 to $78 a month, including a domain and one business email inbox.

• Build it yourself on WordPress: $432.60 on Bluehost Starter, with a free WooCommerce store.
• An artist portfolio builder: Format from $660.24 (Basic, no store) to $1,224.96 (Pro Plus billed yearly) or $1,596.24 (Pro Plus billed monthly); Cargo $804.24, or $1,002.24 with its Commerce add-on.
• A simple store: Big Cartel Platinum $840.24 or Diamond $1,380.24.
• A general builder with a store: Squarespace Basic $972.96 plus a 2% store fee, Squarespace Core or Wix Core $1,332.96, Shopify Basic $1,344.24.
• Adobe Portfolio: $731.88 to $2,819.88, depending on the Creative Cloud plan it comes with. The top figure pays for Adobe’s full app lineup, not just a website.
• Not a website, but cheaper: Fine Art America Premium is $90 over three years, and Saatchi Art is free to list with a 40% commission.

For most artists, sales fees matter as much as the plan. The worked example below shows why.

What you pay for

An artist website cost has up to seven parts.

• The site. From $3.99 a month for WordPress hosting on a 36-month term to $69.99 for the Creative Cloud Pro plan that includes Adobe Portfolio.
• The store. Built into Squarespace, Wix Core, Shopify, Big Cartel and Format Pro; an add-on on Cargo ($5.50 a month billed yearly); free with WooCommerce.
• Platform fees on sales. 0% on most store plans, 2% on Squarespace Basic, and 40% of an original’s price on Saatchi Art. See our transaction fees entry.
• Card processing. Stripe’s standard US rate is 2.9% + 30 cents per domestic card, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion. Format, Cargo and Pixpa pass Stripe or PayPal fees through.
• Domain. Your domain name: Namecheap’s .com is $11.28 the first year and $18.48 a year after. Format includes a free first year on annual Pro and Pro Plus plans and lists domains at $30 a year.
• Email. One Google Workspace Business Starter inbox is $7 a month on Google’s annual plan. Format sells branded email for $100 a year.
• Protecting your work. US copyright registration online is $45 for a single work by one author, $55 for a group of photographs, $65 on the standard form, or $85 for a group of unpublished works.

True 3-year cost, route by route

Notes on each route

• Format. Basic shows $10 a month billed yearly next to “normally $14/month,” so we give both. Pro and Pro Plus are $17 and $26 a month billed yearly, or “normally” $24 and $36 a month billed monthly. Codes PROINTRO and PROPLUSINTRO, redeemed by October 31, 2026, cut the first year to $12 and $15 a month billed yearly; the table uses the regular prices. The free first-year domain comes only with yearly Pro and Pro Plus plans (Format pricing).
• WordPress. Bluehost’s $3.99 price needs a 36-month term and renews at $9.99 a month, or $119.88 a year from year four. A free theme is assumed. WooCommerce estimates its own extensions at $29 to $299 a year each if you need extra store features.
• Squarespace. Core billed monthly at $39 comes to $1,704.24, because the free first-year domain comes only with yearly plans. Core also includes one Google Workspace account free for the first year, so your email cost may be lower.
• Shopify. Billed monthly at $39, Basic comes to $1,704.24. We couldn’t confirm a free domain, so the full domain cost is counted.
• Adobe. Prices are for annual plans billed monthly. Creative Cloud Pro has an intro price of $34.99 a month for three months for new subscribers; the table uses the regular $69.99. Adobe Portfolio has no store, so add one elsewhere if you sell.
• Artwork Archive. If you add it to track inventory and editions, it is $9, $18 or $36 a month, which adds $324, $648 or $1,296 over three years. WordPress plus the Professional plan, which embeds into WordPress, comes to $1,080.60.
• Big Cartel. We used the monthly prices on its pricing page; its yearly prices weren’t readable there.

Our website cost calculator handles the plan, domain and email lines.

Store fees: a worked example

This is an example, not a quote. Say you sell $6,000 of art online in a year: 4 originals at $1,000 and 40 prints at $50, so 44 orders. Here’s what each fee model costs, using published rates and domestic cards.

The first row fits Squarespace Core, Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments, WooCommerce with Stripe, and Format or Cargo with Stripe. For comparison, the same 4 originals sold on your own store cost 2.9% x $4,000 + 4 x $0.30 = $117.20 a year in card fees, against $1,600 on Saatchi Art.

Three things the table doesn’t show:

• What the marketplace does for you. Saatchi Art brings collectors who have never heard of you, and arranges courier pickup; the collector pays shipping and you pay only for packaging.
• Print-on-demand. Fine Art America prints and ships for you, and you earn the markup you set. Its own example: a 24×36 canvas with a $50 base price and a $25 markup sells for $75, and you earn $25.
• Outside gateways. Shopify adds 2% on Basic if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, on top of that provider’s fees.

Contracts and the cost of leaving

• Adobe. On an annual plan billed monthly, you get a full refund within 14 days. After that, cancelling early costs 50% of the remaining contract, or 30% of the annual commitment in California (Adobe terms). On a $19.99 plan with six months left, that’s $59.97.
• Format. Its help center says hosted video can’t be downloaded, and page and product text must be copied by hand (Format export help).
• Pixpa. Its terms say you keep full ownership of your content, but on cancellation your account and content are queued for deletion.

The bigger cost of leaving is usually the rebuild. Wix scores 3/10 on our exit score, Squarespace and Shopify 5/10, WordPress.com 8/10 and self-hosted WordPress 10/10; compare them in our exit scores tool. Whatever you use, keep your original image files outside the website.

Hidden costs to ask about

• Domain renewals. Format lists domains at $30 a year after the free first year, more than Namecheap’s $18.48 renewal. Cargo charges $2 a month billed yearly for each extra domain.
• International buyers. Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion. On a $1,000 original sold abroad, that’s $15 more before conversion.
• Store limits. Format Pro allows up to 15 products and Pro Plus up to 1,000, so a growing print shop may force an upgrade.
• Sales tax. Once you pass a state’s threshold, such as $100,000 or 200 transactions in Ohio, you have to register and collect there. The Streamlined Sales Tax program offers free registration and, for qualifying remote sellers, free tax collection through certified providers (SST).

How to keep the cost down

1. Use what you already pay for. If you have Creative Cloud, Adobe Portfolio is included.
2. Pick a 0% store plan once you sell regularly. Squarespace Core costs $120 a year more than Basic billed yearly, and Basic’s 2% fee costs $120 a year at $6,000 in sales, so Core pays off above that.
3. Pay yearly when it’s cheaper. Cargo is $14 instead of $19 a month; Squarespace Core $29 instead of $39.
4. Own your domain at your own registrar, so a platform change doesn’t cost you your address.
5. Use trials. Format has a 14-day trial with no card, Pixpa 15 days, and Artwork Archive 14 days.

What to do next

• Start at our artist website builder guide for the options and the rules for selling art online.
• See what to build with our best artist websites roundup.
• Compare builders in our best portfolio website builders and best online store builders.
• Read our general website cost guide for prices outside the art world.

Website costs in other industries: Real estate, Law firms, Dental, Medical, Therapists, Contractors, Electricians, Restaurants, Schools, Salons, Churches, Events, Vacation rentals, Nonprofits, Creators and courses. All industries.