How much does a website cost? The real cost items

"How much does a website cost?" is the most legitimate question in the world, and the one answered worst. The honest answer is: it depends on what you put into it — much like commercial premises or a work vehicle.

Rather than throwing out a figure that would mean nothing, here are the real cost items, what pushes the price up, and the questions to ask so you can compare two quotes on the same basis.

Why two quotes can differ fivefold

Two providers can offer "a five-page showcase site" at radically different prices without either one being dishonest. What differs are the assumptions behind the word "website".

The real drivers:

• Design: a purchased template lightly retouched, or a design adapted to your brand?
• Content: who writes the copy? Who supplies the photos? This is the most frequently forgotten item, and the leading cause of delay.
• Features: a contact form and a store with stock management are not the same job.
• Invisible quality: performance, accessibility, technical SEO, security. None of it shows in a screenshot, but all of it takes real time.
• What comes next: does the quote include fixes after launch, training, maintenance?

A cheaper quote is not necessarily worse. But it almost always covers a narrower scope. The point is knowing which one.

The cost items, one by one

1. Design and planning

This is where page structure, the visitor's journey and the visual identity are decided. It matters: a design mistake is far more expensive to fix after development.

It is also where you can legitimately save. Starting from an existing model and adapting it to your brand meaningfully reduces this budget without producing a "seen it before" site — provided the adaptation is real: your colours, your logo, your photos, your structure.

That is the approach we favour: our industry models serve as a starting point, then we adapt them entirely. A blank page stays reserved for projects that genuinely call for it.

2. Development

This is the build: turning the design into a working site, setting up the content management system, features, forms, connections to external services.

What makes this item vary:

• the number of different page templates (not the number of pages: thirty pages on one template cost less than five distinct templates);
• features: payment, user accounts, booking, search filters, private areas;
• connections to your existing tools: point of sale, accounting, CRM, supplier catalogue;
• multilingual support, which is not simply translation but an architecture to plan for.

3. Content

The most underestimated item. A beautiful site with sloppy copy does not convert, and projects regularly stall for weeks waiting on content.

Three scenarios:

• You provide everything: cheapest, but it takes your time. Count that time as a real cost.
• You provide the raw material and we structure and shape it. A good compromise.
• Professional copywriting: justified when the words directly drive the sale.

The same logic applies to photos: your own, a stock library, or a photographer. That is the subject of our article on product photos.

4. Hosting and domain name

The recurring costs, usually modest but unavoidable:

• the domain name, a few tens of euros a year;
• hosting, which varies widely with technology and traffic;
• the SSL certificate, generally included nowadays;
• optionally professional email on your domain.

One point of caution: these accounts should be in your name, even if we configure them for you. That is your guarantee of independence.

5. Maintenance

A website is not a one-off purchase. Browsers evolve, vulnerabilities appear, your needs change.

Without maintenance a site degrades silently: outdated version, vulnerable plugin, a broken form nobody notices. That is why we offer monthly plans covering updates, backups, security monitoring and small improvements.

It is a modest expense compared with the cost of recovering from an incident — or of an early rebuild because the site was never looked after.

What costs more than people expect

A few requests that sound trivial but represent real work:

• "We'd like to be able to change everything ourselves." A genuinely simple and safe admin area has to be designed and tested. It is very often worth it, but it is not free.
• "It needs to connect to our software." It all depends on the quality of that software's documentation. Sometimes quick, sometimes the heaviest item in the project.
• "We want the same effect as on this site." Some animations take minutes, others take days.
• "Let's add an English version too." That doubles the content and requires specific architecture so search engines handle both versions correctly.
• Taking over a poorly built existing site, sometimes more expensive than starting cleanly.

Conversely, some things cost less than people fear: responsive layout, basic technical SEO and accessibility. With us they are part of the standard job, not options.

How to compare two quotes honestly

Seven questions to ask, every time:

1. Who writes the copy and provides the photos?
2. How many different page templates are planned?
3. How many rounds of revisions are included, and at what rate beyond that?
4. Who owns the code and the credentials on delivery?
5. What happens after launch: included fixes, training, maintenance?
6. Are performance, accessibility and technical SEO included or billed extra?
7. What are the recurring costs, and who pays them?

Question 4 is the most important and the least asked. Some providers deliver a site you cannot take elsewhere. With us, the site is entirely yours: code, credentials, full ownership.

How we work

We do not publish a single price for building a site, because it would either be inaccurate or calibrated for the worst case — and therefore too high for most projects.

The process, however, is clear:

1. Discovery. We clarify your goals, your audience and your budget. This step is as much about ruling out what is unnecessary as defining what is needed.
2. A detailed quote, item by item, with no surprises. You see what you are paying for and what can wait for a second phase.
3. No work starts without your approval.

Our maintenance plans, on the other hand, are published openly on our pricing page: recurring amounts, so they are predictable.

A practical tip: state your budget in the first conversation. It is not a negotiating weakness — it is what allows us to propose the best possible site for that envelope, rather than an irrelevant quote.

A phased approach

On a limited budget, the best strategy is rarely to cut everything back, but to split the work.

A first solid, well-built version with the essentials: clear presentation, contact form, technical SEO, speed. Then you expand based on real results: store, client area, booking, blog.

The benefit is twofold. You are online sooner, so you generate feedback earlier. And you invest in the next stage according to what actually works, not assumptions.

This phasing is only possible if the foundation is properly built. Which is precisely why the foundations are not where to economise.

In short

The cost of a website spreads across five items: design, development, content, hosting and maintenance. Content is the most underestimated; maintenance the most often forgotten.

Compare quotes on scope, not just on the number — and always check who owns the site at the end.

Want a figure for your specific project? Describe it in a few questions and get a detailed quote within 48 business hours: start a project. Our maintenance plans are listed on the pricing page.