How Much Does It Cost to Make an Online Product Catalog in 2026?

Most catalog websites cost from $1,500 to $12,500 and up at our studio. The number is set by three things: how many products you have, whether visitors need search and filters, and whether the site has to connect to your inventory or ERP software. A catalog website shows what you sell without taking payment, so visitors browse, compare and then email, message or request a quote. If you are a manufacturer, distributor or specialty retailer replacing a PDF price list or spreadsheet, this guide is for you. Our broader custom website cost guide covers fully custom business sites and stores, which cost more; catalogs are a narrower scope with no checkout.

The short version:

• Small catalog, up to about 100 products: $1,500-$3,000
• Searchable catalog, a few hundred products: $3,000-$5,000
• Large or B2B catalog, thousands of products: $5,000-$12,500 and up

The prices here are OxelLab's typical project ranges, not industry averages, and the final number depends on your scope. If you are asking what it costs to make a catalog, there are two answers: a printed or PDF catalog (design and print costs, which we do not cover) or an online catalog website, which is what this guide is about. A PDF is cheaper to start, but it is harder to search, cannot be found product by product on Google, and goes out of date as soon as prices change.

Catalog Website vs Online Store: Which Do You Need?

The difference is the checkout. A catalog website presents products and sends interested buyers to you. An online store also takes payment, calculates tax and shipping, and manages orders. If your customers are businesses that negotiate prices, or your products need advice before purchase, a catalog is usually the right start. If people can buy from a photo and a price, you want a store: see our guide to rebuilding an e-commerce store and our e-commerce service.

A catalog is not a dead end: depending on how it is built, it can often be extended with a cart and payments later.

The 3 Cost Tiers of a Product Catalog Website

Small catalog, up to about 100 products: $1,500-$3,000

A clean design, product category pages, individual product pages with photos and descriptions, an inquiry form, and basic search-engine setup. Products are typically loaded from a spreadsheet. This tier typically fits manufacturers, specialty retailers, distributors with a focused range, and anyone replacing a PDF price list.

Searchable catalog, a few hundred products: $3,000-$5,000

Typical additions, confirmed during scoping: on-site search, filters (size, material, price range, brand), related products, a "request a quote" list that bundles several products into one inquiry, and spreadsheet import for bulk updates. This is the right level when visitors need to narrow down a larger range quickly.

Large or B2B catalog, thousands of products: $5,000-$12,500 and up

Typical additions, confirmed during scoping: customer logins with their own price lists, inventory or ERP sync, multiple languages or currencies, product variants at scale, and performance work so large catalogs stay fast. Price depends heavily on the systems you already use, which is why this tier needs closer scoping: tell us what systems you run and we will flag integration risks before pricing.

Two illustrative examples, not client projects: a catalog of 2,000 products with public prices and no integrations sits near the low end of this tier. The same catalog with customer-specific price lists and a nightly sync from your ERP software sits toward the top.

Know your tier? Tell us your product count and what the site must do in a short written chat with our AI assistant, and we will send a fixed quote once the scope is agreed. Start your catalog quote.

What Drives the Cost of an Online Product Catalog

• Number of products and how clean your data is. A tidy spreadsheet with consistent categories is cheap to import. Photos scattered across email threads and descriptions in PDFs are not.
• Search and filters. Basic category browsing is simple. Filtering by several attributes needs your products to be structured consistently.
• Public prices or "contact for price". Public prices are easy. Customer-specific pricing needs logins and more careful work.
• Integrations. Syncing with inventory, accounting or ERP software can be the biggest swing factor, and the one most worth deciding up front.
• Content and photography. We build the site, but good product photos matter a great deal.
• Platform choice. Shopify and WooCommerce can run a catalog by hiding the cart and replacing the buy button with an inquiry form, usually with a plugin, app or theme change, which makes a later upgrade to selling online more straightforward. Very large or unusual catalogs can be simpler on a custom build when a platform's product limits or pricing rules get in the way. Our comparison of WordPress vs custom development covers the trade-offs.

Can I Just Build It Myself?

Sometimes, yes. If you have fewer than about 50 products with clean data and the time to set up a template, a do-it-yourself builder can be enough. What you pay a studio for is the work around the template: structuring and importing your product data, search and filters that match how customers look for your products, search-engine setup, an inquiry flow that reliably reaches you, and someone who owns the site when something breaks.

Ongoing Costs to Plan For

Beyond the build, expect hosting and a domain, plus a monthly fee if you use a platform like Shopify, and time for keeping products up to date. These costs vary by platform and provider and are separate from the build price, so ask for them to be itemized in any quote you compare. Typical running costs are covered in our guide to what a custom website costs.

How to Get a Fixed Quote for Your Catalog Website

You can get a firm price faster by preparing a few things first:

• Your product list in a spreadsheet, with names, descriptions, categories and prices if they will be shown (no need to clean it first, send it as it is)
• Your photos, or an honest note that they still need to be taken
• The approximate number of products and how many categories
• Whether prices are public, and how a customer should contact you
• Any software the catalog needs to connect to

We scope projects in a short written chat with our AI assistant (no phone calls needed) and send a fixed quote once the scope is agreed. Start your catalog quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does an online product catalog website cost?

A simple catalog of up to about 100 products usually costs $1,500-$3,000 at OxelLab. A catalog with search, filters and quote requests for a few hundred products is typically $3,000-$5,000. Large catalogs with thousands of SKUs, B2B price lists or inventory sync start around $5,000 and can reach $12,500 or more. Every project gets a fixed quote once the scope is agreed.

What is the difference between a product catalog website and an online store?

A catalog website shows products and lets visitors inquire or request a quote, but does not take payment. An online store adds a cart, checkout, payments, taxes, shipping and order management. If you do not need to sell online yet, a catalog is usually faster and cheaper to build, and it can often be extended into a store later, depending on how it is built.

Can I build a catalog on Shopify or WooCommerce?

Yes. Both can work as a catalog by hiding the cart and checkout and replacing the buy button with an inquiry form, usually with a plugin, app or theme change. This is a good fit when you may start selling online later. For very large catalogs or unusual B2B pricing, a custom build can be simpler to run when a platform's product limits or pricing rules get in the way.

Do I need to show prices on a catalog website?

No. Many catalogs show "contact for price" or request-a-quote buttons, especially for B2B. Public prices are simpler to build; customer-specific prices need logins and more careful work, which moves the project toward the larger tier.

What do I need to prepare before getting a quote?

A product list in a spreadsheet (names, descriptions, categories, prices if shown), your photos, the number of products, whether prices are public, and how customers should contact you. The more structured your product data is, the lower the setup cost.