A skincare brand doing around $6 million a year moved off WordPress onto Shopify last year and asked us for a hosting quote. There wasn't one to send. Not because we'd left it off the proposal, but because Shopify doesn't issue a hosting bill the way their old provider did, with a server tier, a monthly invoice and a renewal date to track down every March.
That trips up a lot of established NZ businesses moving onto Webflow or Shopify for the first time. "Web hosting" used to mean something specific: a company running servers somewhere, charging rent on the space and leaving you to sort out everything that ran on top of it. Webflow and Shopify replaced that model years ago. The platform is the hosting.
What you pay for now is a platform fee to Shopify or Webflow directly, and separately, the cost of keeping the site itself managed and current. Those are two different purchases billed in two different ways, and most of the confusion around hosting quotes in New Zealand comes from comparing the first one against a supplier who is really selling the second.
What "hosting" meant before Webflow and Shopify
On a WordPress site, the software and the server are two separate things you buy from two separate places. WordPress itself is free. It has to live somewhere, so you rent space from a hosting company, whether that's basic shared hosting from around $15 to $40 a month, or a managed WordPress package with backups, security patching and a support line built in, running anywhere from $150 to $400 a month depending on traffic and the provider.
You then buy an SSL certificate, or the host bundles one in. You buy backups, or you find out too late that you didn't. You manage plugin updates yourself or pay someone to do it, because a WordPress site left unpatched for six months is a security incident waiting for a Tuesday. Every one of those is a line item, from a different vendor, on a different renewal cycle.
Why Webflow and Shopify are already the hosting
Build on Shopify or Webflow and none of that shopping list exists. You're not renting server space and then installing software on top of it. The monthly fee you pay to Shopify or Webflow already includes the servers, the global content delivery network, the SSL certificate and an uptime commitment that a small NZ hosting reseller has no realistic way of matching on its own. There's no separate host to compare quotes from, because Shopify and Webflow are the host.
This is the part that catches business owners out when they ask three suppliers for "hosting pricing" on a Shopify or Webflow build. Two of them will quote you a markup on the platform fee dressed up as a hosting package. The third will tell you plainly that there's nothing to mark up, because the platform already runs its own infrastructure and nobody in between is hosting anything.
What the Shopify platform fee actually costs
Shopify's own published plans, converted to NZD, run roughly like this at today's rates:
- Basic: around $51 a month
- Shopify (the standard tier): around $132 a month
- Advanced: around $517 a month
- Shopify Plus: from around $2,700 a month for high volume operations
On top of the plan fee, Shopify charges a transaction fee of roughly 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per order through Shopify Payments, higher again if you route payments through an external gateway. We've broken the full cost picture down, including apps, themes and transaction fees, in the true cost of running a Shopify store. None of that figure is Skyrocket's to set. It goes straight to Shopify, whichever plan you're on and whoever built the store.
What the Webflow platform fee actually costs
Webflow's site plans sit lower for content-driven sites without a full checkout, from around $30 a month on Webflow's entry paid tier up to roughly $50 a month on the plan most CMS-heavy business sites need, cheaper again on an annual contract than paying month to month. Ecommerce on Webflow starts from around $49 a month on top of that. We keep a fuller breakdown current in Webflow pricing in NZ, because Webflow adjusts these tiers from time to time and a number printed once tends to go stale.
Either way, this fee is the platform doing its job: keeping your site online, fast and secure. It has nothing to do with who updates your homepage banner next month or fixes a broken form field.
The cost nobody puts on the hosting quote
Platform fees keep a site running. They don't keep it current. Someone still needs to make the small changes a growing business generates every month: new product pages, updated pricing, a swapped hero image, a Shopify app update that shifts how a page renders, a Webflow CMS field that needs restructuring so a layout elsewhere on the site keeps working the way it should.
That work sits entirely outside the platform fee, and it's the part most NZ businesses underestimate when they budget for "hosting" after launch. A site with nobody assigned to it drifts. Content goes stale, integrations fall out of sync with whatever system changed on the other end and small technical issues sit unresolved because nobody owns them.
Why we bundle the platform fee into one support fee instead of selling it separately
We could invoice you for a Shopify or Webflow subscription and leave you to manage it, then send a separate invoice for support work. Plenty of studios do exactly that. We don't, because it splits a business's attention across two accounts, two logins and two people to chase when something needs sorting, for a saving that doesn't actually exist since the platform fee is fixed by Shopify or Webflow either way.
Instead, our website support and maintenance plans cover your Shopify or Webflow platform fee on your behalf and roll it into one monthly fee alongside the work of managing the site: updates, small changes, technical care and someone accountable when something needs attention. It isn't a hosting product, because there's no separate infrastructure underneath it to sell you. It's a management fee with the unavoidable platform cost passed through inside it, so you get one invoice and one number to plan around instead of two suppliers to reconcile.
Support plans run from around $300 to $2,500 a month ex GST, depending on the platform, how actively the site changes and what's included in scope. We've set out the full range and what drives it in website maintenance cost in NZ. A Webflow build needs less ongoing attention than a high-volume store, so its fee sits toward the lower end of that range. A Shopify store running active promotions and app management climbs toward the higher end, because there's more happening on the site each week that someone needs to watch.
What that monthly fee actually buys you
A support plan built this way covers a specific, practical set of things rather than a vague promise to "look after the site":
- Your Shopify or Webflow platform subscription, paid on your behalf so it's never a separate bill you have to remember
- Content updates and small design changes as the business needs them
- Technical monitoring and fixes when something on the platform shifts underneath your site
- Oversight of any third party integrations connected to the site, such as Xero, Klaviyo or a freight partner, so a change on their end gets caught and scoped rather than discovered by a customer
For a business weighing up a new Shopify build or a Webflow site, the practical way to budget is to add the platform fee and the support fee together and treat that combined number as your real monthly running cost, rather than pricing the platform fee against a traditional hosting quote that was never solving the same problem.
Common questions
Do I need to buy hosting separately for a Shopify or Webflow site?
No. Shopify and Webflow already include hosting, a global content delivery network, SSL and uptime as part of the platform fee you pay them directly. There's no separate server to rent and no separate hosting invoice to source.
What's the actual difference between a platform fee and a support fee?
The platform fee is what Shopify or Webflow charges to keep your site online and secure. The support fee is what covers the ongoing work of managing that site: updates, changes, technical care and someone accountable for it. Skyrocket's support plans pass the platform fee through at cost and add the management fee on top, so you see one number instead of two.
Why doesn't Skyrocket sell hosting as its own product?
Because there's no separate infrastructure to sell. Shopify and Webflow run their own servers and charge for that directly. Reselling it with a markup on top would mean charging you for something we don't run and can't improve on.
How much does Shopify cost to run each month in NZ?
Shopify's own plans convert to roughly $51 to $517 a month in NZD depending on the tier, before transaction fees of around 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per order. Shopify Plus starts from around $2,700 a month for higher volume stores. The full breakdown, including apps and transaction costs, is in our Shopify cost guide.
How much does Webflow cost to run each month in NZ?
Webflow's paid site plans start from around $30 a month, with CMS-heavy business sites sitting closer to $50 a month and ecommerce plans starting from around $49 a month. Current tiers and NZD conversions are kept up to date in Webflow pricing in NZ.
What happens if I stop paying my monthly support fee?
Your Shopify or Webflow subscription would need to be paid directly by you instead, since that platform cost doesn't disappear when the support arrangement ends. You'd also take back responsibility for updates, changes and technical care that the support fee was covering.
If you want a clear number for what your site should actually cost to run each month, on the platform and the management side, our website support and maintenance team can walk you through it against your own site. Get in touch and we'll give you a straight answer.
