how much does a website cost? bands, hidden lines, picking rule

business · 2026-10-13 · 5 min

the short answer: 0 to 20000+, and the spread is information — each band buys a different product. the full bands with what each includes, what hides outside the quote, and the rule for picking yours.

the bands, with contents

DIY builder: 0-300/year (your evenings, their subdomain or your domain, template look). template + hired help: 300-1000 (setup, tweaks, content entry done for you). freelance showcase: 1500-5000 (design, copy guidance, launch, training). agency: 5000-20000+ (strategy, custom design, integrations, project management). shop: add 1000-3000+ to the matching band (products, payments, shipping, tax). each band's product differs in thinking, not just pixels.

what's never in the quote

domain (10-20/year), content (your photos and words, or their production cost), changes after launch (hourly or care plans), licenses (premium plugins, fonts, stock), the redo in 3-5 years. quotes compare wrong without these — normalize with how do i compare two quotes fairly. the five-year view: the total cost of owning a website.

the picking rule

spend in proportion to what the site must produce: brochure validating referrals (lean), machine generating quotes (mid), shop carrying revenue (serious). then verify the seller: how do i find a good web designer. never spend more than one good customer's yearly value on version one — the site earns its upgrades.

FAQ

why do quotes differ 10x?

because the products differ 10x: hours of thinking, custom vs template, who writes content, what happens after launch. identical-looking quotes often describe different scopes — compare scopes, not sums.

cheapest acceptable for a real business?

owned domain + simple site you can edit + contact that works: low hundreds with DIY help, low thousands hired. below that lies the false economy of free tiers that cap you exactly where growth starts.