Website prices

Website price guide 2023

What elements make up the overall cost of a website?

• Domain
• Web hosting
• Web design and development
• Technical updates and maintenance

Web design and development make the most significant chunk of the cost of a website; hence we focus on these cost elements only in our price guide.

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Website design and development is a complex process with many technical details. Some of these details are visible even for a non-expert, whereas others are behind the scenes. It isn't easy to judge how realistic the quote you have received is.

Below you can read about website prices depending on their different types and features.

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Website price definitions

• Irrealistically low:
  No matter how simple a website may seem, it is impossible to do a professional job without investing the right amount of time. There is no exception. It can look nice, but some vital technical elements will be missing or will not be appropriately managed. Typical issues: security, speed, mobile compatibility, bugs, errors.
• Reasonable:
  It is possible to produce a good quality website within the given limits. Lower prices naturally mean a simpler website with fewer pages and simpler functionality.
• Unreasonably high:
  Extremely high prices do not necessarily mean either poor or very high quality. 'Unreasonably high' means that a website with similar quality and features will likely be available at a lower price.

Factors that influence the price

Hundreds of factors can influence the price. Let's see the major ones:

• Technical complexity:
  A website which looks simple is not necessarily simple technically. However simple the layout and design may seem, it could require more work than you think.
• Required functions, data structure:
  Most people use websites daily, so we are familiar with website functions as users. However, just because we know how easy it is to use these functions does not necessarily mean it is easy to build them.
• Inappropriate planning:
  Brochure websites and basic small business websites don't require much technical planning. However, more complex ones need a pre-built concept because, due to lack of proper planning, the project may face twists that have a massive impact on the price.

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Website prices by website types

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Landing page

• Purpose: An ideal landing page has only one purpose: Trigger an action you want your website visitors to do.
• Number of pages: 1 page
• Functions: Shows basic information, a contact form and a call-to-action button.
• Required working hours: 6 - 20 hours.

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One-page website

• Purpose: Its purpose is similar to a landing page but has more information. A single-page website could have menu items, but as its name suggests, it has only one page where you can scroll up and down.
• Number of pages: 1 page
• Functions: Shows some information. It may also have a contact form, images and descriptions of you and your business.
• Required working hours: 6 - 20 hours.

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Brochure website

• Type: "Brochure website" expression shows the website's size, and its role in the business.
• Number of pages: max. 8-10 pages.
• Functions: Informational pages, Contact form, simple blog.
• Required working hours: 20 - 50 hours.

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Small business website (basic)

• Type: A basic "small business website" covers a wide range of options, but it is still relatively simple.
• Number of pages: typically 8-20 pages.
• Functions: Informational pages, Contact form, simple blog function. It can also have some other database connected functions such as simple sign-up functions, client data management, etc.
• Required working hours: 40 - 100 hours.

"Small business" refers to the size of the business but not the complexity of the website.

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Small business website (advanced)

• Type: An advanced 'small business website' covers a wide range of options, and can have many different functions.
• Number of pages: hard to estimate. Typically 20-40 pages.
• Functions: Informational pages, Contact options, blog function. Database connected functions, sign-up functions, client data management, newsletter, booking functions, payment functions, etc.
• Required working hours: 60 - 200 hours.

As a website becomes more complex and the number of features increases, the "reasonable" price range will also widen.

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Ecommerce website

• Purpose: Showing and selling products or services.
• Number of pages: hard to estimate, it depends on the number of products.
• Functions: Search and filtering functions, online payment, cart functions, discount management, etc. It also includes informational pages and contact options.
• Required working hours: 60 - 200 hours.

An ecommerce website could also have other functions which can modify the price.

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Multi-functional business website

• Purpose: It depends on the business. Businesses from the same business sector may need different websites and online functions.
• Number of pages: Not possible to estimate.
• Functions: Depends on the need of the business.
• Required working hours: min. 200 hours.

It is not possible to estimate the price of a multi-functional website. Web designers and developers need to know every detail of the required functions for a precise price quote.

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Website prices by technical platforms

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Website builder systems

1. Ongoing cost

The ongoing cost of using a website builder system is higher than of a bespoke or CMS (WordPress) website.

The typical cost of using a website builder is £5 - £25 per month (£60 - £300 per year).

The price depends on

• Which one you choose;
• Which package or plan you need.

2. Cost of website design by using a website builder platform

Option 1

You can hire a professional web designer who builds your website.

Using a website builder system mostly does not require any programming skills. However, it needs some experience. The cost of hiring a web designer depends on how complex the task is.

Option 2

You can build your website for free if you can learn how to use the system. Don't forget, that you still have to pay the ongoing cost.

How easy is to build your own website with a website builder system?

Although website builder systems do not require programming skills, you may face difficulties. In theory, you can do it yourself. However, our experience says that it is strongly recommended to hire a professional.

Read more about How to choose the right technology and platform for your website.

Pros and cons of website builders.

Pros:

• Low or zero start-up costs
• Low monthly fees.
• If your website content fits nicely into the chosen template, you can have a nice website quickly.

Cons:

• You have less freedom: You can only choose and use the features and functions the provider has created. If you need a bespoke function which isn't in the system already, you can't have it.
• Bespoke solutions are impossible; You can't turn a website like this into a bespoke system later.
• Although, in theory, you, as a non-expert, can edit and manage the website, my experience is that most "non-techy" people struggle with it because they are quite complex.
• You cannot move them to another web hosting provider.

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Website prices with a CMS

What are CMS?

A CMS is a system developed to make it relatively easy for users to edit and change their websites. A significant difference compared to website builders is that website builders are tied to a specific company and hosting server. On the other hand, you can transfer your website that was built with CMS to another hosting provider anytime.

Most popular CMS: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal

Website prices with WordPress

The price of a professional website built in WordPress can be 10-20% lower than the ones described above. The reason is that creating a nice WordPress website with no programming skills is possible. However, a WordPress system offers many features and options, so it requires some technical expertise to build a website in WordPress.

The pricing structure of a WordPress site is different and needs some explanation: