The price of a B2B platform depends not on the number of products or a nice design, but on how many of your trading rules it has to handle without a human. A B2B platform is an online store with logins for trade customers, individual pricing, credit limits and payment by bank transfer on deferred terms. In practice I see three budget levels: a B2B module bolted onto an existing store (the cheapest start), a subscription platform (a fixed monthly cost), and a custom build around your price list and your stock system. My fixed-bid projects usually fall in the 5,000-10,000 PLN net range, and for a wider scope the figure follows directly from the feature list - always in writing before the start.
Below I break it into parts: what actually costs money, what pushes the quote up hardest, and in what order to roll it out so you do not pay for everything at once.
Three options and their realistic brackets
The choice of option decides most of the cost. The rest is detail.
| Option | For whom | Start-up cost | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| A B2B module on WooCommerce | a company that already has a store or a WordPress site, usually up to a few hundred trade customers | the lowest of the three; usually fits my fixed-bid range | hosting + plugins + support |
| A subscription platform (SaaS) | a company that wants to launch fast and accepts the system’s rigid frame | low entry cost, paid configuration and data migration | a subscription growing with turnover and account count |
| A custom build | a distributor or manufacturer with an unusual price list, tiered discounts and ERP integration | the highest, billed in stages | hosting + support + development |
I deliberately do not quote other vendors’ price lists here. SaaS rates and plugin prices can change mid-year, and some plans are priced individually after a sales call - a number you read in an article can be out of date within a month. Check the current price list with the vendor on the day you decide, and compare annual cost, not monthly.
What pushes the quote up most
A quote grows from logic, not from the number of pages. Below is the feature list ordered from the most expensive to build:
- Integration with a stock system or ERP - usually the biggest single line. Prices, stock, trade customers and documents have to flow both ways, and every system has a different API and different traps. I wrote that up separately when covering wiring a platform into Subiekt, Comarch or enova
- Individual price lists and discounts - one price for everybody is free, a price list per customer is cheap, but tiered discounts depending on quantity, product group and purchase history are a calculation engine of their own
- Credit limits and deferred payment terms - the platform has to know a customer’s balance, block orders above the limit and watch for overdue invoices
- Multi-level accounts - one company, several buyers, an order approved by a supervisor before it is sent
- Fast bulk ordering - pasting a list of item codes, importing a cart from a file, recurring orders, order templates
- B2B and B2C on one engine - technically feasible and often worthwhile, but it requires separating net and gross prices, shipping and terms; I set out the conditions in the piece on running B2B and B2C in one store
- Trade customer registration and verification - checking VAT numbers, account approval by a salesperson, assigning an account manager; the details sit in the piece on verifying trade customers at registration
The rule I apply to every quote: count how many hours a month manual order-taking from email and phone eats today. A feature that does not shorten that time can wait for stage two.
What the price does not include but you will pay anyway
The implementation budget is not the whole cost. The fixed items look like this:
- Hosting - a B2B platform is heavier than a brochure site, because it calculates individual prices on every view. The cheapest shared account is usually not enough
- Plugin and module licences - in most models renewed annually; without renewal you lose security updates, not the feature itself
- Technical support - with me Basic from 1,000, Pro from 2,000 and Premium from 3,500 PLN net per month, depending on whether the platform just has to run or also to grow
- Changes after launch - the first weeks of real work by your sales team always produce a list of fixes. Better to reserve budget for them than pretend the rollout ends on launch day
- Work on your side - tidying up product records, images and price lists. You cannot buy that, it has to be done in-house, and without it the best platform will simply display your mess
Is there a free B2B platform
The software is free, the implementation is not. WooCommerce and WordPress cost nothing in licence fees, so formally you can build a B2B platform with no charge for the engine. You will still pay for hosting, for some B2B plugins, for the stock integration and for somebody’s time to put it together - and if you assemble it yourself, you pay with your own time, which is usually the scarcest resource.
Treat vendors’ free SaaS plans as a demo. They usually have an account limit, an order limit or no stock system integration - meaning they lack exactly the thing you build a B2B platform for. Fine for testing an idea, usually not for working with real trade customers.
Stages instead of one giant rollout
The cheapest B2B platform is the one that starts small and grows on the basis of orders rather than assumptions. The order I recommend:
- Stage 1 - login and price list. The customer sees their price, places an order, gets a confirmation. That change alone can take a large share of “please quote me for the same items as last time” emails off the office
- Stage 2 - stock and integration. Stock and prices flow automatically from the system, ending the mismatch between what the customer sees and what is on the shelf
- Stage 3 - payments and limits. Deferred terms, credit limits, blocks above balance, invoices issued on the accounting system side
- Stage 4 - convenience and scale. Fast ordering from a file, recurring orders, a panel for salespeople placing orders on a customer’s behalf, sales reports per customer
After every stage you have a working tool, not a building site. If the budget runs out after stage two, you are left with a working piece of a system, not an abandoned investment. What such a portal looks like from the trade customer’s side, I show in the piece on the B2B ordering portal.
What to ask before signing
Before you accept any quote, check five things:
- Who owns the platform after the rollout - do you get the code and database, or only access to an account you cannot take with you
- What happens when the vendor changes pricing - how much can the subscription rise and with what notice
- What exit costs - exporting trade customers, orders and price lists to a file, in a format that can be loaded elsewhere
- Who is responsible for the integration when the stock system changes version - the most common source of failures after a year
- How KSeF invoicing works - Poland’s structured e-invoicing system is already in force, so the document flow has to be closed off from day one, not bolted on later
No clear answer to any of those is not a detail, it is a risk priced into the deal.
How I quote this
I start with a free diagnosis: I look at your current store or site, at your stock system, and at how orders come in today. Out of that comes a feature list split into stages, with an amount next to every item. Fixed-bid projects usually fall in 5,000-10,000 PLN net; for a wider scope the figure follows from the feature list - always in writing and always before the start, so there is no situation where the cost grows along the way. I build and extend such systems under e-commerce implementations, and after launch the platform can stay under ongoing support so updates and integrations do not fall over overnight.
If you already have a list of needs, send it exactly as it is - even as bullet points in an email. The quote comes back within a day.
Frequently asked questions
What does a B2B platform cost for a small company? With a few dozen trade customers and a simple price list, the cheapest sensible route is a B2B module on an existing WooCommerce store - that scope usually fits the 5,000-10,000 PLN net range plus hosting and licence costs. The final figure depends mainly on whether a stock system integration is needed.
Does a B2B platform have to be integrated with a stock system? It does not, but without integration somebody in the company retypes stock and prices by hand every day. If you have more than a few hundred item codes, or prices change more often than once a quarter, count the hours manual retyping eats today - they settle whether the integration pays.
A subscription B2B platform or your own - which pays off more? A subscription wins on a fast start and typical trading rules; your own platform wins with an unusual price list and a long horizon. Work out the three-year cost of both options including account and transaction fees - over a longer perspective and with a growing customer count, the maths usually tips towards owning it.
How long does a B2B platform rollout take? The first stage - customer logins and individual pricing - is usually a matter of weeks, not months. What eats the most time is not coding but tidying data on the company’s side: records, price lists and product photos.
Running a store where something does not work the way it should? I build and rebuild WooCommerce stores - from a single fix to reworking the whole sales flow. Tell me what you are dealing with and I will send back a scope and a price.