Ask three agencies what a website costs and you may get three very different answers. That is not always because someone is overcharging. A website can mean anything from five simple pages to a custom online shop, so the price depends on what you actually need.
What drives the price
- Size. More pages means more design, more content and more testing.
- Custom design or template. A design made around your brand takes longer than a ready-made theme, and usually looks and performs better.
- Features. Contact forms are simple. Online shops, booking systems and member areas are not.
- Content. Who writes the words and takes the photos? If it is us, that is extra work.
- Search visibility. A site built to be found takes more care than one that just looks nice.
What things typically cost
Prices vary widely, but as a rough guide: simple template-based sites can cost a few thousand dollars or less, custom small-business sites from independent studios often land in the low thousands, and larger agencies frequently quote $7,000 to $15,000 or more. Ongoing care and hosting plans commonly run around $100 to $500 a month, and local SEO retainers commonly run $1,000 to $3,000 a month, with anything much under $500 rarely enough to move the needle. Treat these as ballparks, not promises.
The costs people forget
The build is not the whole story. Budget for hosting, your domain name, security updates and any ongoing SEO. A cheap build with no hosting care often turns into an expensive problem later.
How to compare quotes fairly
Ask each provider the same questions: How many pages are included? Is the design custom? Who owns the site afterwards? Is hosting included? What happens if something breaks? A quote that answers those clearly is worth more than a cheaper one that does not.
Get a ballpark first
Our cost estimator gives you a rough figure in under a minute, and we always confirm a fixed quote before any work starts.