Cost Ledger — what the launch costs
Every launch cost, sorted: the free critical path, usage-based fees, optional tooling, and paid growth.
Nearly every launch-critical task — Search Console, GA4, sitemaps, schema, SSL, Merchant Center free listings, an interactive map under the free cap — costs nothing. The paid items below are optional tooling plus per-sale fees. Block C is your build-your-own stack reference.
$0 / mo to launch
The free tiers in Block A cover the whole launch checklist. Block B scales with revenue (no fixed bill at zero sales). Block C is opt-in. Block D is pure marketing spend — only turn it on once the funnel converts on free traffic.
Block A — Free: the whole critical path
These cover the launch checklist's must-do items. None of them require a card to do properly at your stage.
| Item | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools | Verification, sitemap submission, indexing, Core Web Vitals, query data. Both 100% free, forever. | Free |
| Google Analytics 4 + Tag Manager | Full ecommerce event tracking, funnels, conversions. GA4 360 is enterprise-only and irrelevant. | Free |
| SSL certificate | Let's Encrypt auto-renewing certs. Never pay for a basic DV cert. | Free |
| Technical + on-page SEO work | Sitemap, robots.txt, canonicals, JSON-LD schema, hreflang, titles/meta, alt text. Pure dev time — no tools needed. | Free |
| Google Merchant Center + free listings | Organic Shopping exposure with no ad spend. Only Shopping ads cost money (Block D). | Free |
| AI / LLM search (GEO) foundations | Unblocking AI crawlers, SSR, answer blocks, schema, fresh content, manual citation checks in ChatGPT / Perplexity / Gemini. All free — it's effort, not spend. | Free |
| Cloudflare CDN · UptimeRobot · Sentry · WhatsApp Business app · cookie banner | Each has a free tier that's plenty at launch: Cloudflare free CDN, UptimeRobot 50 monitors, Sentry ~5k errors/mo, WhatsApp Business app, and free consent-banner options. | Free |
Block B — Usage-based: free now, scales with sales
No fixed subscription. You pay only past a free threshold or per transaction. Set budget alerts so none of these surprise you.
| Item | Note | Price |
|---|---|---|
Payment processing feesessential | Stripe ≈ 2.9% + $0.30 per card sale (rates vary by country); Whish Money has its own per-transaction fee; COD has none. This is the unavoidable cost of taking money — it comes out of each sale, not a monthly bill. | Per sale ~2.9%+ / txn |
| Google Maps Platform | SKU-based since the March 2025 change: Essentials SKUs (Dynamic Maps, Geocoding) get ~10,000 free events/mo, then $2–$40 per 1,000. Lock the API key to your domain and set a daily cap — an unrestricted key is the classic surprise bill. | Free then usage |
Off-site database backupsessential | Object storage like Backblaze B2 ≈ $6 / TB / mo — literally pennies for a young store's dumps. Don't keep backups only on the same VPS. | ~$1–6 /mo |
| Email / abandoned-cart (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Brevo) | Free under a contact/send cap (Brevo 300/day, Mailchimp ~500 contacts, Klaviyo ~250). Paid only once your list grows. | Free then ~$20+/mo |
Domain renewalessential | ~$10–15 / year for a .com. Tiny, but it takes the whole store offline if it lapses — autorenew + calendar reminder. | ~$12 /yr |
VPS / hostingessential | Your Hostinger box — already in your budget. Listed for completeness (~$5–15/mo typical). | ~$5–15 /mo |
| WhatsApp Business API (only at scale) | The free Business app is fine for a micro-merchant. The Cloud API bills per message/conversation — only worth it once you automate at volume. | Free app free |
Block C — Optional paid tools: reference stack
Each tool has a free alternative noted. This is a static reference — it starts at $0 on purpose. You can launch without any of these.
Prices shown are the lowest published tier as of June 2026. Verify before buying.
| Tool | What it is + free alternative | From |
|---|---|---|
SEO suite optionalSEO | Keyword, rank & backlink research. SE Ranking ≈ $52/mo · Ahrefs Lite $129 · Semrush Pro $140. Free: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (your own site) + Google Keyword Planner. | $52/mo |
Screaming Frog crawler optionalSEO | Unlimited crawl + JS rendering. £199/yr ≈ ~$22/mo equivalent. Free: up to 500 URLs — enough for a small catalog. | $22/mo |
AI / GEO citation monitoring optionalAI | Otterly / Peec / Profound ≈ $20–100+/mo to track mentions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini. Free: run your top queries manually each month. | $30/mo |
Product reviews app optionalECOM | Judge.me / Loox ≈ $15/mo for photo reviews + review schema. Free: Judge.me has a free tier; or build a simple reviews table yourself. | $15/mo |
Cookie consent / CMP optionalLEGAL | Consent Mode v2 — Cookiebot / iubenda ≈ $10–40/mo for managed consent. Free: Cookiebot under 50 subpages, or an open-source banner — fine unless you need audited EU compliance. | $10/mo |
Pro uptime monitoring optionalOPS | BetterStack / UptimeRobot Pro ≈ $7–29/mo for 1-min checks + on-call alerts. Free: UptimeRobot free (5-min checks) covers the basics. | $7/mo |
Cross-browser / device testing optionalQA | BrowserStack ≈ $29/mo to test real iOS/Android + RTL on devices you don't own. Free: test on the physical phones you have — usually enough early. | $29/mo |
CDN Pro — Cloudflare Pro optionalPERF | ≈ $20/mo for image optimization (Polish), WAF, better caching rules. Free: Cloudflare's free tier already gives you a global CDN + SSL. | $20/mo |
Block D — Paid growth: you set the budget
Pure marketing spend, not infrastructure. Start at $0 and only switch on once the funnel converts on free traffic.
| Channel | Note | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google Shopping / Search Ads | You choose the daily budget. Pairs with the free Merchant Center feed from Block A. | Your call |
| Meta / Instagram & TikTok ads | Most relevant for the skincare brands. Budget-controlled. | Your call |
| Digital PR / earned mentions for GEO | Getting cited on Reddit, YouTube, comparison roundups is the strongest AI-visibility lever — and it's earned, not bought. Paid PR is optional acceleration. | Optional |
Bottom line: launch on Block A for $0. Block B grows with revenue — no surprise bills at zero sales. Block C is entirely opt-in; every item has a free alternative. Block D is marketing spend you control.
Prices are indicative for June 2026 — confirm on each vendor's page before buying.
Prices are indicative for June 2026 — confirm on each vendor's page before buying.