How Much Does It Cost to Hire Shopify Expert in 2025

Shopify is one of the most prominent ecommerce platforms in the world. It holds a sizable market share and caters to the needs of millions of merchants around the globe. Shopify stores have achieved a historic landmark in e-commerce – about $1 trillion in sales. If you are a business seeking an e-commerce presence or shifting its e-commerce to Shopify, there are several things you need to know about the platform. However, you can get around this learning curve if you hire Shopify expert. The process might be more comprehensive than when you simply hire Shopify developers, and it is more akin to hiring a Shopify agency.

Intro To Hire Shopify Expert

Before you dive into the process of hiring, it’s important to understand what a Shopify expert is. An overarching definition would be a professional (usually a developer) who understands Shopify as a platform, the technical and logistical nuances of building and managing a Shopify store, and can help you set up a solid e-commerce presence on Shopify. When you work with an agency or even a Shopify website development company, they give you access to a range of experts specializing in different areas of Shopify and e-commerce. However, it’s also possible to hire Shopify experts working solo who can help you leverage the full potential of the platform.

Several factors go into making the right choice, but the most prominent ones are likely to be your e-commerce or more specifically your Shopify needs and the cost of hiring such experts.

Why Do Online Businesses Need to Hire Shopify Experts?

Both traditional and online businesses may need to hire Shopify experts, albeit for different reasons. Traditional businesses may need them when they are establishing their online presence and e-commerce stores. They require the creation of dedicated websites and Shopify stores and connect everything from marketing to logistics into a comprehensive whole. They primarily need to hire Shopify developers.

However, businesses that may already have an online presence might need to hire Shopify expert if they are migrating their own e-commerce store to the Shopify ecosystem. This can be a significant task, especially if the goal is to ensure minimal disruption to the existing clientele and business activity.

An online business may also need to hire Shopify design agency if they are expanding or overhauling their online presence. Such projects may include building e-commerce stores from scratch, integrating marketing channels and customer management platforms, or even leveraging the power of AI.

Another reason an online business might need to hire Shopify experts is to maintain and manage their Shopify stores, automate the routine tasks, and train the businesses in managing Shopify stores by themselves (and anything in between).

Types of Shopify Experts

From a development perspective, Shopify experts can be divided into three categories.

Frontend Developers

Shopify frontend developers focus on the part of a Shopify website or store that the customers directly interact with. They design what’s called User Interface and User Experience, i.e., the functionality that a user needs to browse and make a purchase from a Shopify website. But it’s much more than just about the functionality. A good front end is critical to keeping the customer hooked as they travel from the awareness stage to actually making a purchase. That’s what Shopify frontend developers specialize in – creating attractive Shopify websites that simplify and streamline the customer journey.

Backend Developers

A business may hire Shopify expert specializing in the backend when it needs to build, manage, modify, or expand the underlying functionality and logic behind a Shopify store. The backend is the part that the user might not see, but it’s still crucial to their online engagement with the business. This may include things like how online orders are processed, how warnings are generated, how receipts are sent, how customer data is handled, how information about the product is retrieved, how feedback is managed, and hundreds of other things. Backend developers may also look into integrations of the Shopify store with other software like analytics tools, inventory management, logistics platforms, etc.

Fullstack Developers

Fullstack developers combine frontend and backend expertise and might be ideal hires for Shopify stores that may not require dedicated backend and frontend expertise. Fullstack Shopify expert developers may be able to develop complete Shopify stores on their own. However in larger projects, even multiple fullstack Shopify expert developers may naturally divide themselves into frontend and backend roles.

Different Hiring Models for Shopify Experts

There are a number of different ways you can hire Shopify experts.

Hourly Rate

When you hire individual freelancers or even a Shopify website development company, they might charge you an hourly rate. For a company, that rate will usually be multiplied by the number of developers they have on your project. However, it’s more common when you hire Shopify developers to work as freelancers.

In house

You can also hire Shopify expert to join your team as permanent members. It’s preferred for businesses with extensive Shopify development, management, and modification needs. An in-house developer will naturally develop expertise in the specific types of stores the business needs, making them more efficient and productive in further development and management. The overall cost of hiring in-house Shopify expert developers can be both higher and lower than outsourcing the task, and it’s influenced by your Shopify needs. If you only need this expertise for a development project, it might not be feasible. But if you require this expertise long-term or repeatedly, then in-house experts might be more economical.

Agencies

You can hire a Shopify design agency or a Shopify expert agency for everything from conceptualization and market research to actual development and marketing of your Shopify store. These agencies typically cost much higher than individual freelancers but they also offer a wider breadth of expertise.

Project-based Pricing

Whether you are hiring freelancers or a Shopify expert agency, they may offer you different pricing options. An hourly rate is common with freelancers, but some individual experts and most agencies prefer project-based pricing. They will charge you a lump sum amount for the completion of the project. The payments may be offered in advance or in pieces throughout the project. A project-based pricing structure may be beneficial for the business if the scope is well defined and everything goes smoothly because if it doesn’t, the developer or agency may renegotiate the price. An hourly or time-based payment system can accommodate projects that go beyond the scope or with flexible scopes.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire A Shopify Expert?

The Shopify expert cost can be just as varied as the different hiring modes. If you are hiring a Shopify expert on Upwork, one of the largest freelancing platforms in the world, it may cost you somewhere around $15 to $29 per hour on average. From a skill-level perspective, the experts, i.e., top professionals, may cost around $95 an hour.

Shopify’s partner directory is another great source for finding developers/development agencies and getting an idea about their pricing. The range is massive. For example, from a simple build, agencies from some corners of the world might charge as little as $50, while some top-rated experts may charge thousands for one project. However, even the top experts in that directory may not charge more than $100 an hour, and $25 to $50 per hour may be a reasonable range for top talent.

The cost also varies based on what you want to hire Shopify experts for. A complete rebuild or fresh build is usually the costliest. Shopify migration is typically slightly cheaper. Modification might cost less than both, especially if there is little to no custom work.

Factors Affecting The Cost Of Hire A Shopify Expert

Several factors influence Shopify expert cost, including but not limited to:

Talent

The quality of talent you are working with can be the most significant cost factor, though it’s the hardest to gauge (unless you have seen and interacted with their work). If you want to hire Shopify expert at the top of their field, you may have to pay a premium price. They often keep their prices higher intentionally and might still have preferences on what kind of work they do. Modest talent might come at a modest cost, but realistically speaking, it is usually enough for most projects, especially if you are in the experimental phase.

Experience and Reputation

The more experienced a Shopify expert or agency is, the more they may charge. The ability and history to complete complex projects allow them to inspire more confidence in potential clients. It also allows them to charge a higher price. The reputation can be gauged from online reviews on various platforms and from word of mouth.

Expertise

The number of Shopify expertise a professional Shopify developer or an agency might be able to offer can also influence the cost. If they can handle complex projects end-to-end and have all the expertise under their banner, they might be able to charge a premium. Ironically, if they only have expertise in one area like design, backend, or frontend, but they are among the best in that domain, it might also allow them to charge a higher price. So, both the level and range of expertise influence the cost.

Nature and Scope of the Project

This is arguably the most significant factor influencing Shopify Expert’s cost. The nature of the project, whether it’s migration, modification, or fresh build can have a significant impact on the length of the project, the expertise needed, and project’s overall scope. Changes in the scope of the project can also impact cost, whether you are paying your experts hourly or by the project.

Demand

Lastly, market dynamics also play an important role. If several businesses start migrating to Shopify at once, the demand for Shopify experts might skyrocket, allowing them to charge higher prices. However, if people start moving to different platforms, Shopify experts might charge less to attract customers.

Tips To Hire Shopify Experts

A few tips that might help you hire Shopify expert smoothly and get the most out of this investment are:

• Make sure you have clarity on what you want. It can help you define the proper scope of the project and clearly communicate your needs to Shopify experts.
• Research the platform to ensure that it’s the best fit for your e-commerce needs. This includes everything from the cost of using Shopify to its ecosystem of supporting apps.
• Choose the right mode of hire and identify whether you can get by with one expert or multiple or need the services of a whole Shopify design agency. You may need to reach out to a few experts and agencies to determine that.
• Look for Shopify experts with a decent amount of experience. If they have worked with several projects of a varied nature, they would have faced and solved a wide range of problems.
• Pick experts who are transparent in their communication, from determining the scope of the project to sending you a quote.
• Be open and clear about your needs and requirements, and look for experts who are interested in understanding your project before quoting a price. They might give you the least trouble.

How Programmers.io Helps You Hire Shopify Expert

Programmers.io is a well-respected and well-reputed software development company specializing in a number of areas and technologies, including Shopify. Their experts have developed over 2,000 e-commerce stores and have expertise in a range of frontend and backend technologies. Most importantly, they can help you hire Shopify experts in any mode you are comfortable with – project-based, integrated into your team (remotely), experts charging hourly, etc. They offer a complete range of Shopify services, from store builds and migrations to integrations and developing custom themes.

Conclusion

Cost might be one of the most significant factors to consider before you hire Shopify expert. The amount of money you are willing to invest in this avenue might be critical to determining the success of your Shopify store and, by extension, your e-commerce business. But before everything else, you should have clarity about your e-commerce goals and platform choice. This will ensure that you make optimal hiring decisions.