It’s the first question most people ask, and the honest answer is that it depends on what the website needs to do. That isn’t a dodge. A five-page brochure site and an online shop with hundreds of products are very different jobs, and the price follows the work.
This guide explains what you’re paying for, the costs people forget, and how to get a quote that means something.
The short answer
As a rough guide, there are three routes, and each sits in a different price bracket.
- Do it yourself. Website builders charge a monthly subscription. The cost in money is low, and the cost in your own time is usually higher than people expect.
- A freelance developer. A professionally designed and built website, typically starting in the hundreds of pounds for a simple site and rising with size and features.
- An agency. A team of specialists, with prices that usually start in the thousands and climb for larger projects.
My own prices sit in the freelance bracket. A brochure website starts from £299 and an eCommerce website from £399. Bespoke software is different enough from project to project that I quote each one individually. You can see what’s included on the pricing page.
What pushes the price up or down
Four things account for most of the difference between one quote and another.
Size
More pages means more design, more content to place and more testing. A site with five pages is quicker to build than one with forty.
Design
A design created around your brand takes longer than fitting your logo into a ready-made template. It also tends to look like your business, not like everyone else who bought the same template.
Features
Contact forms and maps are simple. Online payments, bookings, member areas and connections to other systems each add work, and some need ongoing maintenance.
Content
Someone has to write the words and supply the images. If you provide them, the cost stays lower. If you need them written or sourced, allow for that.
The costs people forget
The build is a one-off. A few things carry on afterwards, and a good quote will mention them.
- Domain name. Renewed every year.
- Hosting. Where the website lives. Paid monthly or yearly.
- Email. Addresses on your own domain are often a separate service.
- Updates and security. Software needs keeping up to date, whoever does it.
- Changes. New pages and edits after launch, if you don’t make them yourself.
None of these are hidden charges. They’re simply the running costs of having a website, and it’s better to know about them at the start.
Is the cheapest quote the best value?
Not always. A very cheap website can turn out expensive if it’s slow, hard to update, or has to be rebuilt in a year. When you compare quotes, compare what’s included: the number of pages, who writes the content, whether you can edit it yourself, and what happens after launch.
It’s also worth asking who will own the website and whether you could move it elsewhere. If the answer is vague, treat that as a warning.
How to get a quote you can trust
You’ll get a more accurate price, more quickly, if you can answer a few questions up front:
- What does the business do, and who are the customers?
- Roughly how many pages do you need?
- Do you need to sell online or take bookings?
- Do you have a logo, photos and text, or do you need help with those?
- Is there a deadline?
You don’t need a technical brief. A short conversation is usually enough to work out what’s sensible and what it will cost.
In summary
A website costs what the work involves. Decide what the site has to achieve, ask what’s included, and budget for the running costs as well as the build.
If you’d like a price for your own project, get in touch and tell me what you have in mind.