How Much Does a Website Cost in Pakistan in 2026? Honest PKR Ranges

A real business website in Pakistan in 2026 costs PKR 25,000–40,000 if it is custom. An online store starts around PKR 50,000. PKR 10,000–20,000 is a WordPress theme. WordPress hosting is PKR 16,000–35,000 every year after that. Shopify bills in dollars, the Basic plan alone is $19/month (about PKR 65,000 a year) before apps. Custom is the only option where you pay once and, on most builds, hosting is included for life.

I am Muhammad, a fullstack web & applied AI developer in Karachi. Many people come to me with three quotes for “the same site.” One is a theme. One is Shopify rent. One is custom. They all look like the same thing on WhatsApp, but they are not. Only the last one still makes sense in year two.

The problem is that most people only compare the first number they see. They do not ask what comes after launch. In this post I will put real PKR numbers next to each option, so you can see the full cost and not just the first payment.

If you want the site without a yearly hosting bill, that is custom web development. Most of those sites ship with lifetime free hosting.

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The honest ranges

Here are the ranges I see most often. Look at the second column first. The build price is only half of the story, and the right column is where the real money goes.

Under PKR 20,000 with “SEO, store, hosting, lifetime support” is a template. That many promises for that little money cannot be real, so you will pay again. Custom is the line where the meter actually stops.

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Why one person says 10k and another says 50k

They are not arguing about skill. They are selling different products. That is why the prices look so far apart, and why it feels confusing when you ask three people.

PKR 10,000–20,000 is WordPress + a paid theme + your logo. It is fast and it is cheap. But you start paying for hosting (PKR 16,000–35,000 a year) the day it goes live, and that bill does not stop.

PKR 25,000–40,000 is custom: your pages, your admin, WhatsApp, forms, SEO setup. On most sites I build, hosting is free for life. It takes three to six weeks, because the work is made for your business and not copied from a template. This is the one I tell people to buy.

PKR 50,000–80,000 is a custom store: products, COD, JazzCash, Easypaisa, bank transfer, order list. It is built for how your customers pay here. It is not a Shopify trial.

PKR 100,000+ is a complete platform or software: POS, CRM, multi-branch. This is a different kind of work, and it is not a website package.

Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad the stack changes the price, not the city. A developer in one city does not charge more just because of the city. What changes the price is what you are building. WordPress and Shopify keep billing you. Custom does not, if hosting is included.

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WordPress: cheap setup, then PKR 16,000–35,000 hosting forever

The WordPress website cost in Pakistan is not the setup fee. The setup fee is just the door. What you pay after you walk in is the real cost.

You buy a theme. Then Elementor. Then security. Then backup. Then WooCommerce add-ons if you sell. Each one looks small when you buy it, but they all add up. And when an update breaks the layout, someone has to fix it, and that someone sends you a bill.

Hosting for a real WordPress site is PKR 16,000–35,000 per year. It is not the PKR 3,000 shared plan they mention in the first chat. Cheap hosting is why those sites die, because the site becomes slow and then it stops working. A lot of “cheap” sites also sit on the developer’s hosting, so you pay them every year or the site disappears.

Let us look at the two-year WordPress bill. The setup is PKR 10,000 – 20,000. Hosting is PKR 16,000 – 35,000 per year, which is PKR 32,000 – 70,000 over two years. Paid plugins take another PKR 10,000 – 30,000. And fixes take PKR 10,000 – 30,000.

So you can spend more than a custom site and still be on WordPress. That is the trap. You thought you were saving money, but you were only paying later, in small pieces. WordPress is fine for a blog. It is a bad place to put a business.

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Shopify: dollars every month, and the bill does not stop

Shopify does not charge in rupees. You pay USD. This is the first thing many Pakistani shop owners forget, and it matters a lot when the dollar goes up.

The basic Shopify plan is $19/month. In Pakistani rupees, that comes to about PKR 65,000 a year for the plan alone before apps and transaction fees.

The plan alone is ~PKR 65,000 a year ($19/mo). And that is before anything else, because there are more costs on top. You need apps for JazzCash / Easypaisa, because they are not built in. You need a theme. You pay 2% extra when you use a local gateway, because Shopify Payments is not in Pakistan. And you need more apps for COD.

The first year easily crosses PKR 100,000+ once you add apps. In year two you pay the dollar bill again. And you do not own the shop. If they freeze the account, the shop is gone.

Shopify is rent. Custom is a purchase. For a Pakistani store, custom wins unless you have a reason to live inside Shopify. Most shops here do not.

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Custom: pay once, hosting included most of the time

This is the option I build, and the one I tell you to take. I tell you this because it is the one that costs the least after the first year, not because it is the one I sell.

You own the code. WhatsApp, JazzCash, Easypaisa, COD all built for how people here actually pay. There is no plugin tax, and there is no USD bill at the end of the month.

On most custom websites I ship, hosting is included for life. You still buy the domain (about PKR 3,000–5,000 a year for .com). That is it. Nothing else comes every year.

Now put the three side by side. WordPress hosting is PKR 16,000–35,000 every year. Shopify is ~PKR 65,000 every year in dollars for the plan alone. Custom, most of the time, is PKR 0 hosting.

Here is the two-year picture:

Day-one custom looks expensive in WhatsApp. That is true, and I will not pretend it is not. But year-two custom is the cheapest of the three. That is why I do not start clients on WordPress or Shopify unless they insist, and even then I tell them they will pay more later.

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What cheap quotes leave out

A cheap quote is cheap because some parts are left out. Most of the time nobody tells you what those parts are, so you only find out later. Here is what I usually see missing.

The hosting is not in the price. It is PKR 16,000–35,000 / year, or it is locked on their account. The domain is on their email, not yours. There is no admin for you, so every small change needs a phone call. The “SEO” is only Yoast. There is no JazzCash / Easypaisa / COD. And on Shopify, you are not told about the dollar bill. On top of all this, the support is just “message me.”

A cheap package is only cheap if you ignore hosting and Shopify rent. Custom with lifetime hosting is the quote that stays honest.

So ask three things before you say yes. Is it WordPress, Shopify, or custom? Who owns the domain and hosting? What do I pay next year? If hosting is not lifetime, write 16,000–35,000 next to their number yourself. Then you can see what the quote is really worth.

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If you already have a WordPress or Shopify quote, send it. I will add the yearly hosting or the dollar plan and show you the real total. Then we can price the custom version, most of the time with lifetime hosting included. Contact

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FAQ

How much does a website cost in Pakistan in 2026?
Custom business site: PKR 25,000–50,000. Custom store: from PKR 50,000. Under PKR 25,000 is a theme. Custom is the one worth paying for.

How much is website hosting in Pakistan?
WordPress: PKR 16,000–35,000 a year for hosting that does not fall over. Shopify: you are not paying “hosting,” you are paying a USD plan of $19/mo (~PKR 65,000 a year). Custom: on most of my sites, hosting is free for life.

How much does Shopify cost in Pakistan?
In dollars. Basic is $19/month, about PKR 65,000 a year for the plan only, before apps.

Is WordPress cheaper than custom?
In week one, yes. Then comes PKR 16,000–35,000 hosting plus plugins. Custom with lifetime hosting is mostly just the domain after launch. Custom wins.

Do I have to pay for hosting every year?
WordPress: yes, 16k–35k. Shopify: every month, in USD. Most custom sites I build: no. Lifetime hosting. Ask for it in writing.

What should I buy?
Custom. Unless you have a rare reason to live on Shopify or WordPress, you will spend more over two years and own less. Start here: web development.

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Muhammad, fullstack web & applied AI developer, Karachi. September 2026. Work.