"How much does a website cost?" is like asking how much a building costs. A garden shed and an office block are both buildings. Understanding what drives website design cost helps you budget sensibly and compare quotes fairly.
How much does a website cost? Typical price ranges
| Website type | Typical scope | Indicative range |
|---|---|---|
| DIY template site | You build it with a website builder | Low hundreds per year in subscriptions and apps |
| Small professional site | 5 to 10 pages, template-based design, basic SEO | Low thousands |
| Custom marketing website | Custom design, 10 to 30+ pages, content support, integrations | Mid thousands to tens of thousands |
| Complex or enterprise website | Large content sets, multiple languages, advanced integrations, custom functionality | Tens of thousands and above |
These are broad indications; prices vary by market, provider and requirements. Use them to frame conversations, not as quotes.
What affects website pricing
1. Number and type of pages
More templates and unique layouts mean more design and development work. Ten pages built from two templates cost less than ten unique pages.
2. Design approach
Template-based design is cheaper; custom design with research, wireframes and multiple rounds of revisions costs more but fits your brand and goals.
3. Content creation
Copywriting, photography, video and illustrations are often underestimated. Strong content is essential for conversion and SEO.
4. Functionality and integrations
Forms connected to a CRM, booking systems, calculators, member areas, multilingual support, e-commerce and API integrations add cost. Our API and CRM integrations work covers this.
5. Platform
WordPress, Webflow, hosted builders and custom development have different cost profiles; see WordPress vs Webflow vs custom.
6. SEO, performance and accessibility
Technical SEO setup, performance optimisation and accessibility testing add effort but protect long-term results.
7. Who builds it
Freelancers, small studios, agencies and in-house teams have different rates and capabilities. Cheaper is not always lower total cost if work must be redone.
Custom website cost: what you are paying for
| Phase | Activities |
|---|---|
| Discovery | Goals, audience research, competitor review, sitemap |
| Content | Messaging, copywriting, content migration |
| Design | Wireframes, visual design, responsive layouts |
| Development | Build, CMS setup, integrations, tracking |
| Quality assurance | Testing across devices, accessibility, performance |
| Launch | Redirects, SEO checks, analytics verification |
| Training | Teaching your team to update content |
Ongoing website maintenance costs
Websites need ongoing care:
- Hosting and domain.
- Platform, plugin and security updates.
- Backups and monitoring.
- Content updates and improvements.
- SEO and performance reviews.
- Support for issues and small changes.
Budget for maintenance from the start; see our website maintenance checklist.
How to set a sensible website budget
- Define the website's business goals: leads, sales, recruitment, credibility.
- Estimate the value of those goals (for example the value of a qualified lead).
- List must-have features and nice-to-haves.
- Decide who provides content.
- Include maintenance and improvement budget for the first year.
A website that produces qualified leads can justify a larger investment than one that only needs to exist.
Questions to ask website providers
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
- Who writes the content?
- How will SEO be handled, including redirects from the old site?
- How is the site tested before launch?
- Who owns the website, code and accounts?
- What happens after launch, and what does support cost?
Common budgeting mistakes
- Forgetting content creation.
- Choosing the cheapest option and paying again to fix it.
- Ignoring maintenance and hosting.
- Not budgeting for integrations and tracking.
- No plan for improvements after launch.
If you want a clear estimate based on your goals and scope, our website design and development team can help, and our ways to work together page explains how projects are structured.
