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The independent website cost estimate.

A standard business site costs $5,500 at the median. The full range runs $300 to $50,000+.

Start free estimateHow the number is built
The full calculator: project type, platform, features and market entered step by step

See a real number before you start.

Pick the project type, the developer’s location, and freelancer or agency. The figure comes from the same 9 engines as the full calculator, and your picks carry into it.

Project type

5 to 15 pages, template design, contact form, basic SEO

Developer location
Built by

Estimated cost, business site

WordPress, 2 wk, 42 h

$3,750

budget $2,650premium $5,250
Start free estimate

Your picks carry over. The full calculator adds every other input; the target band is ±18% of real market quotes.

Cost Calculator

The full estimate, free. Platform, timeline, risk level and a line-item breakdown, in about two minutes. No signup.

Results & report

One number, its band, and the line items behind it. Cost, timeline, platform and risk on one page; the $29 dated PDF is the same report under our name, or every report on the Pro plan at $19/mo.

$300$1k$3k$10k$50k+$5,500median business site
budget
$4,510
estimate
$5,500
premium
$6,490

Quote Analyzer

Enter 3 to 5 quotes. Each is scored against the reference estimate for your scope, with red flags listed and a recommendation. $49.

Rate database

Hourly rates by platform, market and tier, the same rows the engine reads. Free to fetch, CC BY 4.0.

Cost index

Seven project types on one scale, freelancer minimum to agency maximum. The PCE Index: $5,500, August 2026.

  1. Landing page
  2. Presentation site
  3. Portfolio
  4. Blog
  5. Ecommerce store
  6. Marketplace
  7. Web application

Expert review

Florin Florea, the founder, reads your scope and quotes and returns a written report within 24 hours. $129.

Start with the free estimate. The paid tools apply once a real quote is on the table.

What websites cost, by type and by market.

Seven project types on one log scale; six markets as hourly bands, median marked. South / SE Asia builds at 0.30× the Western Europe baseline, the United States at 1.28×, a 4.27× swing for identical scope. Every figure is the one the calculator uses, calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks.

Full table on the cost index
By project typefreelancer min to agency max
  1. Landing page$300 to $3,000
  2. Presentation site$300 to $3,000
  3. Portfolio$300 to $2,500
  4. Blog$400 to $3,500
  5. Ecommerce store$800 to $12,000
  6. Marketplace$3,000 to $40,000
  7. Web application$2,000 to $50,000

Western Europe rates; basic template build to full custom build. The freelancer and agency split, timeline and platform per type are on the cost index.

By marketfreelancer $/hr, median marked
  1. South / SE Asia$12 to $470.30×
  2. Eastern Europe$22 to $720.51×
  3. Western Europe$50 to $1301.00×
  4. United Kingdom$58 to $1451.10×
  5. Australia$58 to $1451.10×
  6. United States$65 to $1751.28×

Identical scope swings 4.27× across the six markets. The multiplier is the market’s median rate against the Western Europe baseline. Every platform and tier is on the rate database.

The dataset behind both charts is public, licensed CC BY 4.0: JSON at /api/cost-data, mirrored on Hugging Face and Kaggle, documented at the API docs.

We estimate websites. We don’t build them.

One brief, three agencies, three quotes: $4,000, $11,000 and $18,000. None of them was wrong; without a reference number, a fair quote and a padded one look the same. This is the reference number, from a company with no build to sell.

Florin Florea

Founder and lead engineer, 10+ years scoping web projects

He built the calculator after ten years scoping Magento, WordPress, Shopify and Next.js projects. Every formula in it started as a quote he wrote, or one he paid for. Replies to any email from us reach him directly.

About the founder

The estimate is free. Paid tools for when quotes arrive, and a plan if you price projects every month.

Everything the calculator computes is free, with no signup. The paid tools apply once a real quote is on the table; the Pro plan covers all of them for a month.

Pricing in full
  1. Free

    The full estimate

    Platform, timeline, risk level and a line-item breakdown. No signup.

    Start free estimate
  2. $29

    The estimate as a dated PDF

    The full report, emailed as a dated PDF under our name. A third-party reference to forward, or to put in front of an agency.

    Get the PDFSee a sample
  3. $49

    Quote Analyzer

    Enter 3 to 5 quotes. Each is scored against the reference estimate for your scope, with red flags listed and a recommendation.

    Analyze quotes
  4. $129

    Expert Review

    Florin Florea, the founder, reviews your scope and quotes and returns a written report within 24 hours.

    Book a review
  5. $19/mo

    Pro plan

    For anyone pricing more than one project a month: every report and PDF, unlimited Quote Analyzer runs, unlimited saved estimates, the same scope priced in all 6 markets. Cancel any time.

    See the Pro plan

For agencies and freelancers: the Agency plan, $49/mo puts this calculator on your site and sends you the quote requests it produces, or Embed Pro alone, $29/mo.

Questions buyers ask before signing.

The quote checklist

How much does a website cost in 2026?

A website costs $300 for a landing page to $50,000+ for a custom web app in 2026, depending on platform, project type and market. A basic 5-10 page business site runs $1,200-$5,000 with a freelancer or $3,000-$12,000 with an agency.

Freelancer vs agency: what is the price difference?

Agencies typically charge 2-3x more than freelancers because of overhead: office, project managers, QA teams. A $5,000 freelancer project often costs $10,000-$15,000 at an agency.

How much does an ecommerce store cost to build?

Ecommerce stores range from $2,500-$15,000 with a freelancer to $6,000-$35,000 with an agency, depending on product count, payment gateways, and features such as filtering or wishlists.

What should be included in a web development quote?

A complete quote itemizes discovery and planning, design (mockups and revisions), development, content migration, testing and QA, launch, and post-launch support. A single number with no breakdown is a reason to ask for one.

Are cheap websites worth it?

Websites under $500 typically use a basic template with minimal customization and no strategy. They work for personal projects but rarely pay back for a business; $2,000-$5,000 buys a professional site built to convert.

How do developer rates vary by country?

US and UK developers charge $75-$200/hour, Western Europe $50-$150/hour, Eastern Europe $30-$80/hour, and South Asia $15-$50/hour. Quality varies within every region.

Every calculator and guide.

Calculators by project type and industry, and the guides readers open most. For freelancer pricing, see freelance web developer rates.

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Cost, timeline and platform in about two minutes. Free, no signup.

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