A business website costs anywhere from $0 to $10,000 depending on who builds it and what it holds. This guide gives the ranges per method, the costs that never show on the quote and a simple way to compare two proposals.
The four ways to build a site, and what they cost
- Do it yourself (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress): $0 to $300 a year in licences, plus your evenings. The result depends on your time and your eye; most tradespeople’s sites built this way stay unfinished.
- Freelancer: $500 to $3,000 for a five-page business site, $1,500 to $6,000 for a store. Varies with experience, often without copywriting or photos.
- Agency: $3,000 to $10,000 for a business site, $8,000 to $30,000 for e-commerce, with strategy, meetings, mockups and project management.
- Subscription: $30 to $150 a month, site included, with no real ownership in most offers: stop paying and the site disappears.
Business site or store: what changes the price
A business site presents an activity and brings in an enquiry: call, form, WhatsApp. A store sells and takes payment: product pages, basket, checkout, shipping, order emails. The store costs more because it has more parts that must work together, and because it has to be filled with products. The guide business website or e-commerce helps you decide.
The costs that are not on the quote
- Domain name: $10 to $20 a year.
- Hosting: $0 to $300 a year depending on the technology; a well-built static site costs almost nothing to host.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, small changes. $30 to $100 a month at an agency, optional on a site without a database.
- Content: copy, photos, logo. Often “supplied by the client”, hence never supplied, hence a site that is never finished. Count $150 to $500 if you have it written.
- Paid tools: booking, payment, newsletter, chat. Each has its subscription.
Our prices, for reference
DYOU charges €490 to €990 for a business website depending on the number of sections and the trade tool to build, €790 to €1,790 for an online store, and custom builds on quote. The first year of hosting is included, the site is yours, and the price is written down before you commit to anything. Options: copywriting €150, logo €190, extra page €120, maintenance €39 a month if you want it.
How to compare two quotes
- Bring everything back to a three-year cost: site price plus hosting, domain, maintenance and licences over 36 months. A $79 a month subscription is $2,844 over three years, with no site at the end.
- Check who owns what: domain, files, logins. If it is not written, it is not yours.
- Look at what is included: copy, photos, form, basic SEO, mobile version, training.
- Ask for a site the provider delivered and test it on your phone: speed, readability, call button.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What happens if I do not like the mockup?
- How many revisions are included?
- Who writes the copy and who supplies the photos?
- Will the site be fast on mobile, and how do you prove it?
- Can I change host or provider later?
To prepare your content before the project starts, read how to prepare website content.
The essentials
- Compare over three years, not on the sticker price
- Check ownership of domain and files
- Content is hidden cost number one
- Business site: $500 to $3,000, store: $800 to $10,000