It is the first question, and rightly so: nobody buys blind. The trouble is that it has no single answer, and the ranges you find online mix up things that have nothing to do with each other.
Here is what really moves the price, in the order that matters.
What is expensive is not what you think
Most people price a site by its number of pages. That is the least useful unit. Once a template exists, the sixth page costs a few minutes more than the fifth.
What costs money is:
- The content. The words, the photos, the list of services, the opening hours. On a brochure site this is the line item that derails the most projects, and the one nobody budgets for. A site that is technically ready can sit waiting three months for its text.
- What the site has to do. Displaying is one thing. Taking a payment, tracking stock, booking an appointment against your real calendar, opening a customer area: each of those verbs is a project of its own.
- How bespoke the design is. A bought theme filled in, or a drawing made for you. The price difference is real, and so is the result, especially in a trade where every competitor bought the same theme.
- The back and forth. Two rounds of changes are planned for. Eight is a different budget. That is not a commercial trap, it is real time.
The real trap: the quoted price is not the cost
A website is not an object you buy once. It lives, and its life costs money every month whether that is written down or not:
- the domain name, every year;
- hosting, every month;
- platform updates, without which it eventually breaks or gets hacked;
- changes: a price moves, a service is added, the hours shift.
That last point decides everything. Plenty of trade websites have been frozen for four years, not because the owner stopped caring, but because every change meant an email, a quote and an invoice. After twice, you give up, and the site starts lying about its own opening hours.
An honest quote either prices those four lines or says clearly that they are included. A quote that never mentions them has not given you the price of your website.
Paying once, or paying monthly
Two models exist, and they suit different situations.
Paying in one go: you pay for the build, the site is yours, and afterwards you either manage it or pay for each intervention. That makes sense when you have someone in house who can take over.
A small build fee, then a subscription: you pay little up front, then a monthly amount covering hosting, the domain and upkeep. It reads better in a budget, and it aligns interests: the supplier only gets paid as long as you stay, so they have a reason to keep the site useful.
In both cases the thing to check is the same: what happens if you leave? Ask before signing, and ask for the answer in writing. A subscription with no fixed term, cancellable at any time, costs you nothing to try. A twenty-four month commitment is a decision of an entirely different kind.
Questions to ask before signing
Whatever quote you are holding:
- Is the domain name in my name?
- Are content changes included, and how far? Changing a price and adding a page are not the same gesture.
- What happens if I cancel?
- How long until launch, and what do you need from me to hold that date?
- Who writes the text?
If the answers are vague, so is the price.
And for your project, concretely
A number lifted from an article commits nobody and teaches you little: what a site costs depends on what yours has to do. The way to find out is to describe your situation in a few lines and get a written quote.
Tell us about your project and we will price it, with an answer within two working days. It is free and commits you to nothing.