It is the first question every business asks and the one most agencies dodge. The honest answer: it depends on what the website has to do — but the factors that move the price are completely predictable. Here is how to think about them.
What actually drives the cost
Four things decide most website budgets: the number of unique page designs, the functionality beyond reading (forms, booking, payments, logins), the content work (who writes, photographs and structures it), and the quality bar for performance and SEO. A five-page brochure site and a fifty-page site with a store are different products that happen to share a browser.
Typical ranges you will encounter
At the entry level, template-based builds by freelancers cost little but usually skip the unglamorous work — speed, schema, security updates — that decides whether the site ever earns its keep. Mid-range custom builds on WordPress with proper design, editable sections and SEO foundations are where most small and medium businesses get the best return. Application-grade builds — customer portals, marketplaces, heavy integrations — are priced like the software projects they are.
Beware of quotes that look identical for very different scopes. A real proposal itemises pages, features, content responsibility and post-launch support, so two vendors can be compared line by line.
The costs people forget
- Hosting and domain — recurring, and cheap hosting quietly taxes you in lost speed.
- Maintenance — updates, backups and security monitoring keep the asset alive.
- Content — copywriting and photography often cost more time than the build.
- Marketing — a website without traffic is a brochure in a locked drawer.
How to keep the budget honest
Define the one job the website must do — generate enquiries, sell products, book appointments — and spend in proportion to that job. Ask every vendor what is excluded from the price, who owns the code and content, and what happens after launch. Clear answers predict a good project better than any portfolio.
Planning a build? See our website and CMS development services or request a free, itemised quote — no obligation, no surprises later.
