Shop systems 2026: what we recommend when
A custom shop with AI support or Shopify? Why we build new shops ourselves today, when Shopify is enough and why WooCommerce is no longer part of it.
We have worked on over 500 websites. Today we build with AI. That is why the first draft is ready after days, not weeks, and afterwards an AI agent maintains the site when you write to it.
What has stayed the same costs the same. What AI has taken over costs less. That is why a website today costs less than in 2019, but not zero.
Same scale: one week is equally wide in both rows.
The conversation, the decision, the design and the checks by people have stayed the same. Draft, code, translation and redirects are faster with AI, and we check them.
A website for 20'000 to 30'000 is a project with 8 roles, from consulting to operation. One person at 100 percent can cover 2 of them. We bring all 8, for the duration of the project, and afterwards as much as you need.
The 8 roles in a website project
One full-time person covers 2 of 8Cross-Link covers all 8 of 8
Nobody leaves. 3 people at our company know your website, and we keep looking after it after launch.As much as you need. After going live you pay for maintenance and changes, not for a position.Independent, also from us. Open source, the code belongs to you, and any other agency can continue the work.
More and more tools promise a finished website in minutes. We work with AI every day, so we say openly where the difference lies.
Looks good at first glance. Behind it, what a website needs in daily operation is usually missing.
Thinking and deciding stay with people. AI makes drafts, routine and checks faster.
AI shortens the build. A draft that took us weeks in 2019 is ready in days today. So the money goes less into manual work and more into planning, content, checking and support. A website built with AI costs less than in 2019, but not nothing, because the part that counts still comes from people.
To the AI agent for your websiteTo the post built by AI, built with AI
«Seit 2008 haben wir vielerlei Projekte zusammen realisiert und können Cross-Link als Spezialisten jederzeit empfehlen!»

Beatrice Suter
Geschäftsführerin, KommunikationsWerkstatt GmbH
A custom shop with AI support or Shopify? Why we build new shops ourselves today, when Shopify is enough and why WooCommerce is no longer part of it.
How we rebuilt the MDM home page with Next.js and achieved 100 points in the PageSpeed test documented in this project.
Why domain renewals get missed, what can happen next and which account details and renewal options deserve attention.