Website pricing: what does it depend on, and what is realistic?
What does the price of a website consist of?
Behind every quote there are four items, no matter how the developer breaks it down:
- Design. Recoloring a template, or an identity created for this company. This is the biggest one-time difference between two quotes.
- Development. How many different page types (home page, service page, portfolio, blog, contact), and how much custom functionality is in them.
- Integration. Forms, email sending, invoicing, booking, payment, CRM. Every connection is separate work and a separate point of failure.
- Handover. Measurement, documentation, handing over access, training. The part many leave out — and that's why they seem cheaper.
What does a given amount cover?
| Magnitude | Typically this fits in |
|---|---|
| $250–500 | Template page, set up, with your own text and images. Enough for a digital business card. |
| $350–1,300 | Custom design and code, a few page types, protected contact form, technical search engine optimization, measurement report. |
| $1,300–5,000 | More page types, custom logic (quote request, calculator, booking), one or two integrations, content structure built for search. |
| Above $5,000 | Web store with a custom product model, connecting multiple systems, admin interface, migration from an old system. |
These are orders of magnitude, not a price list. The exact amount depends on the scope — and once the scope is clear, a fixed price can be given for it.
Fixed price or hourly rate?
There are two ways to settle, and the difference is not the price, but who bears the risk of the estimate.
- Fixed price: if the developer underestimated the work, that is their loss. In return, before the quote it has to be clarified exactly what is included — this means more questions and a more thorough alignment discussion.
- Hourly rate: more flexible, in return the final total only becomes clear in the middle of the project. For research-type tasks that cannot be scoped in advance this is the right form; for a website with a finished scope, however, it shifts the risk onto the client.
For websites and web stores I give a fixed-price quote, and for automation — because there the task often becomes clear along the way — an hourly-rate framework or a fixed price, depending on the nature of the task.
The hidden costs
What the quotes often don't include, but you will pay for:
- Hosting and domain. For a static site $10–20 a month, for a web store typically $30–70. This is the provider's invoice, in your name.
- The annual fee of paid extensions — with template systems typically several line items.
- Maintenance. Updates, bug fixes. Ask in advance what is free and for how long.
- Copywriting and photos. Most quotes don't include this, even though it is the most common reason projects slip.
- The cost of delay. If the site goes live half a year later, the missed inquiries are a cost too.
How do you compare two quotes?
Ask both developers these same six questions, and the answers tell you more than the final total:
- Who will own the source code and every access after handover?
- Fixed price or estimate? If estimate, what happens if it overruns?
- What is NOT included in the price?
- What do we measure at handover, and will I get a written report of it?
- What system is it built on, and how many developers could take it over?
- For how long do you fix free of charge whatever doesn't work as described in the quote?
If one quote is half the amount but has no answers to these questions, then it isn't cheaper — it is less.
Where do I stand?
My starting prices are public, and so is when I say you shouldn't choose me: prices. As for the decision about the system, I walk you through it here: WordPress or a custom website.
Frequently asked questions
Why does nobody give an exact price for their website?
Because the word "website" covers fifty different scopes. What can honestly be displayed is the starting price and what pushes it upward — mine is out there.
Is the cheap quote always bad?
No. If the task really is a template page, then the cheap quote is the right quote. The problem is when you get a twofold difference for the same task — then the two don't contain the same thing.
When do you have to pay?
The payment schedule is part of every quote, so before placing the order you see when you have to pay what. This, too, belongs to the set of questions worth asking with every quote request — if a quote doesn't spell it out, ask for it to be spelled out.