“How much will a website cost?” is the first question almost every client asks us, and the honest answer is: it depends on what the site needs to do. A five-page brochure site and a store with 2,000 products are both “websites”, but they are very different projects.
This guide explains what drives the price, gives realistic ranges for common types of site, and lists the running costs that are easy to forget. Use it to plan a budget and to compare quotes fairly.
What drives the cost of a website
Most of the price comes down to time: how many hours of planning, design, development and testing the project needs. These are the factors that move that number the most.
- Number of unique page layouts. Twenty pages that share three templates cost far less than ten pages that each need a custom design.
- Custom design or a template. A tailored design built around your brand and customers takes longer than adapting a ready-made theme, but it usually converts better and is easier to keep fast.
- Features and integrations. Booking systems, member areas, CRM and email marketing connections, payment gateways, multi-language content and custom calculators each add real development time.
- Content. If copywriting, photography or migrating hundreds of old pages is part of the job, budget for it separately.
- Performance and SEO work. A site that is properly optimised for speed, structured data and search costs a little more to build and a lot less to fix later.
Typical price ranges by type of website
These are rough market ranges for professionally built sites from an experienced freelancer or small studio. Large agencies charge more; template marketplaces and DIY builders charge less but leave the work to you.
| Type of site | What it usually includes | Rough range (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | One focused page for a product, offer or campaign | $500 to $2,000 |
| Small business website | 5 to 10 pages, contact form, blog, basic SEO | $2,000 to $6,000 |
| Custom marketing website | Bespoke design, CMS, integrations, advanced SEO | $6,000 to $20,000 |
| Online store | Catalogue, checkout, payments, shipping, emails | $4,000 to $25,000+ |
| Web application or SaaS MVP | Accounts, dashboards, database, custom logic | $15,000 and up |
If a quote is far below these ranges, ask what is not included. If it is far above, ask what you are getting for the extra cost. Both questions are reasonable.
The running costs most quotes leave out
Launch day is not the last bill. Plan for these ongoing costs from the start:
- Domain name: usually a small yearly fee.
- Hosting: from a few dollars a month for basic shared hosting to much more for managed or high-traffic hosting. Cheap hosting is the most common reason a site is slow.
- Premium plugins or apps: forms, SEO, backups and store extensions often have yearly licences.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, security monitoring and small changes. Many businesses use a monthly care plan so this is handled for them.
- Marketing: content, ads and SEO work that bring visitors to the site.
How to get an accurate quote
The more clearly you describe the project, the more accurate (and comparable) your quotes will be. Before you contact a developer, write down:
- The main goal of the site, such as more enquiries, online sales or bookings.
- The pages you think you need, and any features beyond a contact form.
- Two or three sites you like, and what you like about them.
- Who will write the content and supply images.
- Your deadline and a budget range, even a rough one.
A good developer will use this to suggest where to spend and where to save. A fixed-price proposal with a clear scope protects both sides: you know the total cost, and the developer knows exactly what “done” means.
Is a cheaper website ever the right choice?
Yes. If you are testing an idea, a simple landing page or a well-chosen template can be the smart move. The key is to choose a platform you can grow from, so you are not paying to rebuild everything six months later.
If you want a fixed price for your project, tell us what you are planning. We will send you a written scope and quote.