How Much Does Online Business Software Actually Cost?
Between a website, email marketing, funnels, a course platform, and automation tools, a “simple” online business can quietly accumulate $100–300/month in subscriptions — often before it makes its first sale. Use the calculator below to estimate what your stack would cost with separate tools versus one consolidated platform.
Pricing basis: September 2026, official pricing pages and published entry/mid tiers. All figures are estimates, not quotes.
What do you need for your business?
Select everything your business needs. We'll estimate what it typically costs as separate tools versus one consolidated platform.
Pricing basis: September 2026, from official pricing pages (Systeme.io, ClickFunnels, Teachable, GoHighLevel, Kajabi) and published entry/mid-tier pricing for common tools. Prices change — verify before purchasing.
What Drives Online Business Software Costs
Typical monthly ranges for each category, based on entry-to-mid tier pricing in 2026. Most businesses don’t need every category — that’s exactly why this calculator exists.
| Software need | Typical monthly range | Common examples |
|---|---|---|
| Website / hosting | $15–35/mo | Wix, Squarespace, managed WordPress |
| Email marketing | $0–120/mo | Free tiers early; scales with list size |
| Landing pages / funnels | $30–100/mo | ClickFunnels, Leadpages |
| Online courses | $30–90/mo | Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi |
| Membership platform | $15–40/mo | MemberPress, Circle |
| Automation / integrations | $20–50/mo | Zapier, Make — priced by tasks |
| Selling products | $0–30/mo | Gumroad free tier; Shopify Starter ~$5+ |
| Affiliate program tools | $25–60/mo | Rewardful, FirstPromoter |
When Consolidating Actually Saves Money — and When It Doesn’t
Consolidation tends to help when
- • You need several categories at once (e.g., email + funnels + courses)
- • You’re pre-revenue and every subscription hurts
- • Your needs are standard, not highly specialized
- • You’re paying for multiple tools you barely use
Dedicated tools may still be worth it when
- • You need advanced CRM or agency-grade features
- • One category is central to your business and you’ve outgrown all-in-one depth
- • You rely on integrations an all-in-one doesn’t offer
- • You already have proven workflows you’d have to rebuild
A note on transaction fees
Payment processing (Stripe/PayPal) charges transaction fees on every platform — consolidated or not — so those fees don’t belong in a platform comparison. But watch for platform transaction fees: some course platforms take a percentage of each sale on top of payment processing, which can cost far more than the subscription itself at volume. See our Teachable comparison for the exact numbers.
How This Calculator Works
Inputs. You select the software categories your business needs and a rough email-contact count. Contact count matters because email pricing is almost always list-based.
Separate-tools estimate. We sum typical entry-to-mid tier pricing for each selected category from published 2026 rates. The range reflects the real spread between the cheapest usable plan and a comfortable mid-tier plan.
Consolidated estimate. We show the Systeme.io plan that covers your contact count (Free, $17, $47, or $97/month). We use Systeme.io because it’s the all-in-one this site specializes in — and because its free tier makes the comparison meaningful even at $0.
What we deliberately don’t do. We don’t claim guaranteed savings, we don’t hide cases where dedicated tools are the better choice, and we don’t count payment-processing fees in either column. If the honest answer is “your needs don’t fit an all-in-one,” the calculator says so.
Affiliate disclosure: We may earn a commission if you sign up through links on this site. This doesn’t affect our estimates or recommendations.