What does a marketplace cost? The four possible budgets, no rounding

You came for a number, so here it is first. Custom development starts around €80,000 and often passes €300,000, for 9 to 18 months of work. A no-code builder costs between €83 and €249 per month, plus a commission on each transaction, and you are live within days. A platform delivered customised requires setup fees from €500, then €99 to €249 per month depending on traffic, for a go-live in 2 to 4 weeks. And doing the work by hand costs zero.

These four numbers do not describe four quality levels: they describe four different decisions. Most people searching for “what does a marketplace cost” think they are asking for a price when they are looking for a route.

Custom development is justified in one precise case: when the technology is itself your competitive advantage. A proprietary matching algorithm, a transaction mechanic that exists nowhere else, a regulatory constraint specific to your sector. In those cases, everything off-the-shelf will be a compromise, and paying €100,000 is a rational investment.

If, on the other hand, your value comes from the quality of your supply, your network of sellers or your knowledge of a market — which covers the vast majority of projects — you will spend €100,000 and 12 months rebuilding features that already exist, while a competitor signs your sellers.

A no-code builder is the right route for testing an idea before committing. You are live within days, with no significant upfront cost, and you can change everything yourself. The trade-off is twofold: the customisation remains your work — or that of a developer you pay on top — and a commission is almost always added to the subscription on every transaction.

Between the two extremes sits the already-built platform delivered to you customised. Concretely: setup fees from €500, then a monthly subscription based on your usage. The features are the same everywhere: only the usage limits change.

Hosting, database and maintenance are included, and none of these tiers takes a commission on your transactions. Let us be clear about the model: the platform is hosted and maintained by the provider, and it is yours to use for as long as you subscribe — with your own instance, your data and your domain.

Here is the advice that earns nobody anything: if your concept is mostly about matching people, and you can do that yourself by phone or email, do not pay for anything yet. A spreadsheet and manual work are enough to find out whether people actually want your service. Several marketplaces running today started exactly like that.

Buy a platform when the manual work becomes the bottleneck — not before. You will lose less money waiting than automating demand that does not exist.

The price of a platform is almost never the price you pay. Six line items appear after signature and nobody announces them.

Added together, they routinely amount to several hundred euros a month, or the equivalent in time if you carry them yourself. When you compare two quotes, the only question that matters is: which of the two includes these six lines? A €99 all-inclusive subscription and a €99 subscription excluding hosting are not the same product.

There is a seventh item, and it is the most insidious because it is invisible at the start: the commission on every transaction. Most builders take one, on top of the subscription. While your volume is low, you do not feel it. The moment your platform works, it becomes a tax on your growth.

Do the maths before signing: at €20,000 of monthly transactions, even a modest percentage far exceeds the gap between two subscriptions. Above all, check whether the percentage is added to the subscription or replaces it: many platforms bill both at once. On the subscription tiers described here, no commission is taken: you keep 100% of your transactions, minus only your payment provider’s fees — those exist everywhere, whatever solution you choose.

So should you prefer commission-based pricing or a fixed subscription? The two models answer two situations, not two quality levels. With no transactions yet, paying per transaction is mechanically safer: a month with no activity produces a proportionally small invoice, whereas a fixed subscription lands whatever your revenue.

The trade-off reverses as soon as volume rises, because a percentage has no ceiling while a subscription does: past a certain monthly volume, the flat fee becomes the cheaper option, and that is the moment to switch.

Above all, remember this when comparing offers: a percentage should replace the subscription, not be added to it. Many platforms bill both at once. Here, the subscription tiers take no commission, and the option without a fixed subscription, currently in preparation, will work instead of the subscription — never on top. The rate will be announced at launch, and the setup fee remains due in both cases.

On a platform delivered customised, setup fees cover the work that happens before you receive anything: applying your visual identity, creating your business categories, configuring your operating rules, and the actual go-live. From €500, up to €1,500 depending on complexity.

It is a one-off payment, distinct from the monthly subscription — adding them together would produce a figure nobody ever pays. Compared with the €80,000 of custom development delivering the same scope, it is the difference between building and receiving.

Three questions are enough to eliminate three routes out of four.