A business website's cost is driven by scope, not by page count. A do-it-yourself brochure site can cost only the price of a template and hosting; a professionally designed company website with custom pages and content is a mid-range project; an ecommerce store or a custom web application costs more again because it involves logic, integrations and testing. The ranges below are broad market ranges to help you plan a budget — they are not quotes, and real prices differ by country, agency and requirements.
The short answer
As a planning guide, a simple do-it-yourself website often costs little more than a template and hosting; a professionally built brochure or company website is a mid-range investment; and ecommerce sites or custom web applications cost significantly more because they add functionality, integrations and quality assurance. Ongoing costs — hosting, maintenance, content and marketing — are separate and continue after launch.
What moves a project within and between those bands is the amount of custom design, the number of unique page templates, the volume of content to be written, and whether the site needs features such as bookings, payments, logins or system integrations.
Four broad project types, lowest to highest cost
- DIY / template site — lowest cost, your time replaces design and build fees
- Professional brochure or company website — custom design, several page templates, copywriting
- Ecommerce website — catalogue, checkout, payments, shipping, tax
- Custom web application — user accounts, business logic, integrations, testing
What determines the price
Two websites with the same number of pages can differ several times over in cost. The real drivers are how much of the design is bespoke, how many distinct page layouts have to be built and made responsive, how much content needs research and writing, and how much custom functionality sits behind the pages. Migrations from an old site, multilingual versions, accessibility requirements and tight timelines all add to the total.
| Cost driver | Keeps cost down | Pushes cost up |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Adapted template, one style | Fully bespoke UI, multiple layouts |
| Page templates | 4–6 reusable templates | Many unique, one-off pages |
| Content | You supply final copy and images | Research, copywriting, photography |
| Functionality | Contact form, newsletter | Bookings, payments, logins, portals |
| Integrations | None | CRM, ERP, payment, shipping, APIs |
| Languages | Single language | Multiple localised versions |
DIY website vs professional development
Website builders and templates lower the upfront price and can be right for a very early-stage business that mainly needs an online presence. The trade-offs are your time, a design that resembles other template sites, and limits once you need custom functionality or serious search performance.
Professional development costs more upfront but buys a site shaped around your positioning, built to load fast and rank, and structured so it can grow. For most established businesses the deciding factor is whether the website is expected to generate revenue. If it is, template limitations usually cost more in lost enquiries than they save in fees.
Basic business website
A basic professional site typically covers a homepage, a handful of service or product pages, an about page and a contact page, using a small set of custom-designed, responsive templates. It includes on-page SEO basics, analytics, a contact form and a content management system so you can edit text and images yourself.
This is the right scope for a service business that needs to look credible, be found for its main searches, and collect enquiries — without bookings, payments or logins.
Professional company website
A larger company website adds depth: a page per service and often a page per industry, richer content, case descriptions, team profiles, and more considered design. It may include a blog, multilingual versions, and light integrations such as a CRM connection on the contact form.
This is where structured internal linking between services, industries and articles starts to pay off, because there is enough content for search engines and buyers to navigate. See company website design for how that scope is put together.
Ecommerce website
An online store adds a product catalogue, cart and checkout, payment processing, shipping and tax rules, order management and customer accounts. Cost scales with the number of products, the complexity of pricing and shipping, and any connections to inventory, accounting or fulfilment systems.
Whether you build on a hosted platform or an open-source stack changes the cost profile — hosted platforms trade a monthly fee for less setup, open-source platforms trade more setup for lower ongoing licensing. Our ecommerce website development page covers the options.
Custom web application
When the “website” is really software — a booking system, a client portal, a quoting tool, an internal dashboard — you are paying for design, development, testing, security and documentation of custom logic. These projects are scoped by feature and are best estimated after a short discovery phase. The related guide on web application development cost goes into this in detail.
Ongoing costs after launch
Budget for these separately from the build
- Hosting and domain — modest and predictable for most brochure sites; higher for applications and stores
- Maintenance — updates, backups, security patches, small fixes
- Content — new pages, articles, product updates, photography
- Marketing — SEO, ads and email that turn the site into a channel
- Tools — email service, CRM, analytics, any paid integrations
How to set a website budget
Work backwards from the outcome. Estimate what one new customer is worth to you, then how many extra enquiries a year would make the project clearly worthwhile. That number frames how much bespoke design, content and functionality is justified. Get two or three detailed proposals, make sure they are quoting the same scope, and check what is included in support after launch.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a small business spend on a website?
Enough to cover a small set of custom-designed responsive templates, properly written content for your core services, on-page SEO and analytics. Frame the budget around what a new customer is worth: if the site needs to generate revenue, template limitations usually cost more in lost enquiries than they save in fees.
How long does a business website take to build?
A focused brochure or company website commonly takes a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on how quickly content and feedback are provided. Ecommerce stores and custom applications take longer because of catalogue setup, integrations and testing.
Is a cheap website worth it?
For a very early-stage business that just needs to exist online, a template site can be a reasonable start. For an established business that expects the website to bring in work, a low-cost template often underperforms on speed, search visibility and conversion — the gap shows up as fewer enquiries rather than a broken site.
What is usually included in website development?
Typically: discovery and planning, design of the page templates, front-end and back-end development, responsive testing, on-page SEO basics, analytics setup, a content management system, and a support period after launch. Content writing, photography, ongoing maintenance and marketing are often priced separately.
Want a realistic figure for your project
Send us the scope — pages, features, timeline — and we will come back with a clear estimate and what is included.
