Website pricing is one of the most confusing topics in digital services. You can get a quote of $500 from a freelancer on Fiverr and a quote of $50,000 from an agency for what sounds like the same thing. The variance isn't random — but understanding why requires understanding what actually drives cost.
What Actually Drives Website Cost
The three primary cost drivers are: (1) design complexity — how custom vs template-based the visual design is; (2) development complexity — how many custom interactions, integrations, and back-end requirements exist; and (3) content requirements — how much copywriting, photography, and video is needed. Everything else is secondary.
01. Simple Landing Page: $800–$3,000
A single-page site with a clear CTA, contact form, and basic SEO setup. This is appropriate for a specific campaign, a product pre-launch, or a freelancer building their first web presence. At the high end, you're getting custom design, performance optimisation, and analytics setup. At the low end, you're getting a template with your content dropped in.
02. Business Website (5–10 pages): $4,000–$12,000
This is the most common investment range for service businesses and small-to-mid brands. At $4,000–$6,000 you'll get a well-designed, custom WordPress or React site with CMS, SEO foundations, and a decent performance score. At $8,000–$12,000 you're adding more pages, more custom interactions, a stronger design process, and potentially a more experienced team building it.
03. E-Commerce: $8,000–$30,000+
E-commerce complexity varies enormously. A 50-product Shopify build is very different from a 5,000-SKU custom storefront with inventory integrations, subscription billing, and multi-currency. Budget accordingly. Don't underinvest in a store that processes significant revenue — the CRO cost of a poorly built checkout flow will dwarf the savings from going cheap on build.
04. What to Be Sceptical Of
Any quote below $1,500 for a "professional" multi-page business website. Anything on a builder platform (Wix, Squarespace) presented as custom development. Quotes that are vague about what's included — a good agency will itemise exactly what you're getting. And any agency that won't show you their previous work.
Our Model
We build your site first and charge you only if you love the result. Our standard business website sits in the $4,500–$7,000 range on approval. If that sounds like a fair trade for zero upfront risk, let's talk.