1
The job the site does
One sentence: what should a visitor do after landing on it? Call, book, buy, or get in touch.
💰 Straight answer
How Much Does a Website Cost?
The honest answer is that it depends — but "it depends" is useless on its own. So this page sets out exactly what it depends on, so you can work out roughly where your own project sits before anyone quotes you.
- The seven things that genuinely move the price
- What you pay once, and what you pay every year
- How the main options really compare
- What to prepare so any quote you get is accurate
📊 What moves the number
Seven factors, in order of impact
Two sites with the same number of pages can differ enormously in price. This is why.
| Factor | Why it costs | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Functionality | A page that displays information is straightforward. Payments, bookings, user accounts, or anything that has to talk to another system means logic, edge cases, and testing. | Very high |
| Custom design | A layout designed around your business costs more than adapting an existing one — and looks like nobody else's. | High |
| Content readiness | The most commonly underestimated line. If text and photographs need writing or producing, that is real work whoever does it. | High |
| Number of unique page types | Twenty pages built from three templates is a small job. Six pages that are all structurally different is a larger one. | Medium |
| Migrating an existing site | Mapping old addresses to new ones and preserving rankings is careful work. Skipping it is what makes traffic disappear. | Medium |
| Integrations | Booking systems, CRMs, mailing lists, payment providers. Each one is another moving part to connect and keep working. | Medium |
| Revisions after build | Changing direction once pages are built costs far more than changing it at the design stage. Agreeing scope in writing is what keeps this near zero. | Variable |
The practical takeaway
If a budget is tight, cut functionality first and page count last. A well-built five-page site with one clear action beats a twenty-page site with a half-working booking system, and it costs considerably less.
🔁 Once vs every year
The costs people forget
A website is not a single purchase. Knowing the recurring side up front stops unpleasant surprises in year two.
Paid once
- Design and build of the site itself
- Writing or restructuring the content
- Photography or illustration, if it's needed
- Migrating and redirecting an existing site
- Initial setup of hosting, domain, and email
Paid every year
- Domain registration — small, but never zero
- Hosting, which scales with traffic and complexity
- Any third-party service the site depends on
- Security updates, if the site runs on a platform that needs them
- Changes as your business changes — the healthy kind of cost
Why we build the way we do
A site with no third-party dependencies has almost nothing in the second column. That is not only a privacy decision — it is the difference between a site that quietly costs you money every month and one that just works. See secure website migration for what that looks like in practice.
🧭 Your options
Four ways to get a website
All four are legitimate. They differ in what you spend, what you get, and what you give up.
| Option | Best when | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself | You have time, a simple need, and don't mind learning the tool. | Cheapest in money, most expensive in hours. The monthly fee never stops, and the result usually looks like the template it came from. |
| Buy a template, get it assembled | You need something presentable quickly and the design doesn't have to be distinctive. | Fast and affordable. You inherit whatever the template does — including its page weight and its third-party scripts. |
| A custom build | The site is a real part of how you get work, and it needs to do something specific. | Higher up-front cost, and you own the result outright with no platform fee attached to it. |
| Ongoing retainer | The site changes constantly — campaigns, listings, new content every week. | Predictable monthly cost. Worth it only if there is genuinely monthly work; otherwise you're paying for capacity you don't use. |
📝 Before you ask anyone
How to get a quote you can rely on
Bring these five things and any competent developer can give you a real number instead of a range. This works with us or with anyone else.
2
A rough page list
Not final — just what you think you need. It tells us how many distinct layouts are involved.
3
Any must-have feature
Bookings, payments, logins, multiple languages. These change the price more than anything else on the list.
4
What content exists
Text written? Photos taken? Logo done? Be honest here — it is the most common cause of a quote drifting.
5
Your budget range
Saying it doesn't cost you money — it lets an honest developer design something that fits instead of quoting something you'll decline.
Three things that should worry you in any quote
A firm price given before anyone asked what the site must do. A quote with no written scope attached, so "included" is decided later by whoever is arguing hardest. And a promise of a specific Google ranking — nobody can sell that, because nobody controls it.
❓ FAQ
Website cost questions
Why won't you just put prices on the page?
Because a number without a scope is meaningless, and we'd rather be useful than look decisive. Two sites of the same size can differ several times over in price depending on functionality and content. We give you a fixed written quote after one short conversation — and it doesn't move afterwards.
What is the cheapest way to get a decent website?
Reduce functionality, not quality. One well-built page that clearly says what you do and makes contact easy costs a fraction of a site with bookings and accounts — and it often converts better, because there is nothing to get lost in.
How long does a website take to build?
Most of the projects we take on run 2–4 weeks from first conversation to launch; a single-page site can be quicker and a large or feature-heavy one takes longer. The usual delay is content, not code.
Do I pay monthly or once?
The build is a one-off. What genuinely recurs is your domain, your hosting, and any third-party service you choose to use. We build sites with as few of those dependencies as possible, so the recurring side stays small.
Is a website builder cheaper than hiring someone?
Up front, yes. Over several years the subscription adds up, and the time you spend building and maintaining it is real too. The deciding question is usually whether the site is something you tick off a list, or part of how you actually get work.
Can you work to a fixed budget?
Yes, and it's the easiest way to work. Tell us the figure and we'll design the best site that fits inside it, or tell you honestly if what you're describing can't be done well at that level.
Get a real number
Bring the five things above — or just describe what you're after in your own words. You'll get a fixed written quote, and an honest answer if we think the money is better spent elsewhere.
Free consultation • No obligation • Fixed price in writing