How much a website costs: real prices and what drives them

What a website really costs for a small business, why quotes vary so much and which costs show up later. With my own published prices.

"How much does a website cost?" is the first question in almost every conversation, and the one almost nobody answers on their own site. You ask for three quotes and get 300 €, 2,000 € and 6,000 € for what you thought was the same thing.

It isn't that two of the three are ripping you off. It's that you're comparing different things that share a name. Here's what sits behind each figure.

Why quotes vary so much

Nearly all the difference between one quote and another comes from four things:

How many pages, which is the only thing people usually ask about. It matters least.
Who writes the copy. If you write it, the site is cheaper and faster. If I write it, that's copywriting, not design, and it's charged.
Whether it has to rank or just go live. A site that is "nice and online" and a site built to show up on Google are two different jobs. The second includes a structure per service, structured data, speed and, if you already had a site, not losing what you had.
Whether anything has to be migrated. A new site on a new domain is easy. Replacing one that already ranks requires a URL inventory and redirects, and that's where rankings get lost when it's done in a hurry.

The tiers, in practice

A template you set up yourself (0-100 €). Wix, Squarespace or a WordPress with a bought theme, built over a weekend. It works for having a presence, full stop. The problem isn't how it looks: it's that templates ship demo pages that end up indexed, load plenty you don't use, and tie you to a monthly fee. If your business doesn't depend on the internet to bring clients, it can be enough — and I'll tell you that even though I make a living from the alternative.

A small professional site (200-600 €). Three or four pages, your own copy, fast, with contact details and the Google listing properly wired in. This is the tier for a freelancer, a practice or a local shop that needs something solid to link to.

A site with SEO (1,000-2,500 €). This is where what gets you found lives: one page per service, a structure built around what people actually search, structured data, and a migration that keeps your rankings if you already had a site. It's the tier where a website stops being a brochure and starts bringing enquiries.

Online store or custom software (3,000 € and up). Catalogue, payments, stock, or an outright tool that can't be bought: an intranet, a dashboard wired to your ERP, an industrial catalogue with technical sheets.

My starting prices are published on services, with what each tier includes. It isn't a fixed rate card — the quote is agreed after seeing your case — but it does tell you which league you're in before writing to anyone.

What the quote doesn't include

This is the part that turns a cheap quote into an expensive one:

Domain: 10 to 15 € a year. Make sure it's in your name, not your web developer's.
Hosting: from 0 € on a static site to 10-30 € a month for decent WordPress hosting.
Maintenance: WordPress needs core, theme and plugin updates. Either you do it, or you pay for it, or you end up with a compromised site. A static site has almost nothing to update, which is why it usually works out cheaper over three years even if it costs more upfront. I compare both in detail in WordPress or a custom website.
Paid plugins: forms, multilingual, backups. They add 100 to 300 € a year without anyone warning you.
Copy and photos. What delays websites most isn't the building: it's the copy never arriving.

The three questions that save you money

Before accepting any quote, these three:

Will the domain and hosting be in my name? If the answer is no, switching provider later will cost you more than the site did.
What happens to my current Google rankings? If you already have a site and nobody mentions redirects or a URL inventory, they will vanish. It's the most expensive and most common mistake, and I walk through it in how to rebuild your website without losing rankings.
Will I be able to edit the text myself? Not mandatory, but knowing up front saves paying 40 € to change an opening time.

What I'd do on a small budget

If you have 300 € and a local business, don't spend all 300 on the website. Spend part of it on a small, honest site, and put the rest of your effort into your Google listing, which is free and on mobile decides more than the site does: I explain it with real data in Google listing and local SEO.

A mediocre site with a well-worked listing brings you more clients than a beautiful site with no listing. I've measured it on a real case: the same website had an average position of 9.9 on mobile and 27.4 on desktop. Those seventeen places came from the map.

Want the number for your case? I review your site and your competitors for free, then give you a fixed quote

Frequently asked questions

How much does a website cost for a freelancer?

In the 200-600 € tier there are perfectly respectable professional sites: few pages, fast, details properly set up and the Google listing connected. What drives the price isn't being a freelancer or a company, it's how many services have to rank.

Why do some people build it for 100 €?

Because it's a template set up in a few hours, with no original copy and no ranking work. It may be fine if you only need to exist online. It won't bring you clients through search, and it's no bad thing for someone to say so up front.

Is WordPress cheaper?

Upfront, almost always yes. Over two or three years, with maintenance, paid plugins and fixes when things break, usually no. Compare the total cost, not the first invoice.

Is it all paid at once?

The norm is half at the start and half at launch. On bigger projects, in phases.

What if I just want to know what's wrong with the site I already have?

That's what the audit is for, and it's free — plus the SEO checker, which gives you a first look in ten seconds without talking to anyone.