Updated April 2026 · 600+ projects · 6 markets

How much does a website cost?

A website costs between $300 and $50,000+ in 2026, depending on project type, platform, and whether you hire a freelancer or an agency. The most common ranges: landing page $300–$3,000, business site $1,000–$10,000, Shopify store $2,500–$25,000, WordPress site $1,200–$12,000, custom web app $10,000–$120,000+. Real prices below, by project type and platform.

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2026 website cost ranges by project type

Real 2026 pricing from 600+ projects in our calibration set. Numbers below are base ranges before market-rate adjustment (US agencies are ~1.45× the freelancer range; Eastern European freelancers run ~0.55× the base).

Type

Freelancer

Agency

Landing page

$300 – $1,500

$800 – $3,000

Portfolio / personal

$300 – $1,000

$700 – $2,500

Business / presentation

$800 – $4,000

$2,000 – $10,000

Blog / publication

$400 – $2,000

$1,000 – $5,000

WordPress (general)

$1,200 – $5,000

$3,000 – $12,000

Shopify store

$2,500 – $10,000

$5,000 – $25,000

WooCommerce store

$3,000 – $12,000

$6,000 – $25,000

Magento (Adobe Commerce)

$15,000 – $50,000

$25,000 – $100,000+

Marketplace

$8,000 – $40,000

$20,000 – $120,000+

Web app / SaaS

$5,000 – $40,000

$15,000 – $120,000+

Mobile app

$8,000 – $40,000

$20,000 – $150,000+

Website redesign

$2,000 – $10,000

$5,000 – $30,000

Ranges before market multiplier and feature scope. Run the website cost calculator to see your exact number across 6 geographic markets.

Website cost by platform

Platform choice is the second-biggest cost driver after scope. Same buyer outcome on a different platform can be 2–10× cheaper or more expensive.

WordPress

$1,200 – $12,000

Monthly: $5 – $50/mo

Content sites, business presence, blogs, simple ecommerce. Most flexible CMS, biggest plugin ecosystem.

Shopify

$2,500 – $25,000

Monthly: $39 – $399/mo (SaaS)

Easiest ecommerce setup. Best for stores under 200 SKUs. App costs add up at scale.

WooCommerce

$3,000 – $20,000

Monthly: $25 – $150/mo

WordPress + ecommerce. More flexible than Shopify, more setup work. Hosting upgrades at scale.

Magento (Adobe Commerce)

$15,000 – $100,000+

Monthly: $200 – $800+/mo

Enterprise ecommerce. Avoid below $5M revenue — overkill cost AND complexity.

Webflow

$2,000 – $20,000

Monthly: $23 – $235/mo (SaaS)

Designer-friendly visual builder. Great for marketing sites + simple ecommerce. Limited at scale.

Custom build (Next.js / Astro)

$10,000 – $250,000+

Monthly: $30 – $500/mo

When platforms can't do what you need. SaaS, marketplaces, complex apps, unique design.

Website cost by geographic market

Where your developer or agency is based dramatically affects price. Same scope, six different bills. The multiplier is applied on top of the base ranges in the table above.

Market

Multiplier

Hourly rate band

United States

1.45×

$80 – $250/hr

United Kingdom

1.30×

£60 – £180/hr

Western Europe (DE/FR/NL)

1.20×

€60 – €180/hr

Australia

1.15×

A$80 – A$200/hr

Eastern Europe (RO/PL/UA)

0.55×

€25 – €60/hr

South Asia (IN/PH/PK)

0.40×

$15 – $50/hr

Aggregate market data: /cost-index.

What goes into a website’s cost?

A website quote is rarely a single line item. The breakdown below is what drives the number in any honest quote.

Discovery & design

Wireframes, mockups, design system. 15–25% of total.

Development

Theme work, custom code, integrations. 40–60% of total.

Content

Copy, photography, video. Often forgotten — adds $500–$5,000.

Hosting & infrastructure

Hosting, CDN, backup, security. $0–$300/mo ongoing.

Maintenance

Updates, security patches, edits. $50–$500/mo ongoing.

Training & handover

Documentation + walkthroughs. $200–$2,000 one-time.

Project management

10–20% of all the above. Buried in agency quotes.

Contingency

5–15% scope change buffer. Honest agencies list it; sketchy ones bill change orders later.

Real website cost examples

Three actual projects from the calibration set, anonymised — same scope priced by both a freelancer and an agency.

Small business website (WordPress)

7 pages, premium template, contact form, basic SEO, GA4. Western Europe market.

Freelancer: $1,800 (freelancer, 3 weeks)Agency: $5,400 (agency, 4 weeks)

Shopify store (fashion DTC)

120 products, premium theme customised, Klaviyo, multi-currency for EU/UK, basic SEO. UK market.

Freelancer: $6,500 (freelancer, 7 weeks)Agency: $18,000 (agency, 9 weeks, full content production)

SaaS marketing site + dashboard (custom)

Custom Next.js, Stripe billing, role-based auth, analytics dashboard, 12 marketing pages. US market.

Freelancer: $28,000 (senior freelancer, 14 weeks)Agency: $78,000 (agency, 18 weeks, includes design system + branding)

Hidden website costs people forget

The line items that don’t appear in agency proposals but do appear on your invoice three months later.

!
Premium plugins & apps
WordPress: SEO, security, backup, forms = $200–$1,000/year. Shopify: review apps, email automation, upsell apps = $50–$500/mo.
!
Stock + custom photography
$200 (stock) to $5,000+ (custom shoot). Almost always omitted from initial scope.
!
Copywriting
"Bring your own copy" is standard. Real copywriting: $0.20–$1.00 per word.
!
SSL + domain renewal
$15–$50/year ongoing.
!
Email service
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or transactional email service: $6–$30/mo per user.
!
Compliance
Cookie consent banner, accessibility audit, GDPR DPA. $0–$2,000.
!
Performance optimisation
Core Web Vitals fixes after launch — typically billed as a follow-up SOW: $500–$3,000.
!
Post-launch bugs
Even with QA, expect 2–6 weeks of small fixes. Some agencies include a warranty period (30–90 days), most don't.

How to budget for a website (without getting overcharged)

1
Define what success looks like 6 months after launch.
Concrete: "200 leads/mo from organic search" or "10K orders/mo at $40 AOV". Vague: "look professional". Concrete budgets get accurate quotes; vague briefs get $5K–$50K spreads.
2
Run the calculator first.
Spend 2 minutes on the cost calculator before talking to any agency. You'll have a realistic number to anchor the conversation. Without it, you're negotiating blind.
3
Get 3 quotes minimum.
1 quote is a hostage situation. 2 makes you negotiate against the cheaper one. 3 is the minimum to spot outliers.
4
Run quotes through the Quote Analyzer.
Paste 3–5 quotes into our analyzer and get a red-flag report — lowball pricing, no warranty, 100% upfront, "unlimited revisions". $39 saves $1K–$5K on average.
5
Budget 15% contingency.
Scope creep is real. Hold 15% in reserve. If you don't need it, great. If you do, you're not panicking.
6
Forecast monthly cost too.
A $5K project that costs $300/mo for hosting + apps + maintenance = $5K + $3,600/year. Two-year total is $12,200, not $5K. Calculator returns full TCO not just one-time price.

Get your exact website cost in 2 minutes

Same data we used for the ranges above — calibrated against 600+ real projects. Free, no signup, no email gate.

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Website cost FAQ

How much does a website cost in 2026?

A website costs between $300 and $50,000+ depending on type, platform, and pricing tier. Concrete 2026 ranges: landing page $300–$3,000; business site $1,000–$10,000; WordPress site $1,200–$12,000; Shopify store $2,500–$25,000; custom web app $10,000–$120,000+. The exact price depends on your platform, geographic market, urgency, design complexity, and 30+ feature inputs.

How much does a small business website cost?

A small business website costs $1,000–$10,000 in 2026. The lower end ($1,000–$3,000) is freelancer + premium template work — fast launch, basic SEO, contact form. The higher end ($5,000–$10,000) is agency + custom design + content production + integrations like CRM and email automation. Most small businesses do best in the $2,500–$5,000 band: enough to look professional, not so much that it cuts into operating capital.

How much does an ecommerce website cost?

An ecommerce website costs $2,500 (Shopify, basic, freelancer) to $60,000+ (custom Magento, agency, multi-currency, multi-vendor). Shopify is the most common starting point at $2.5K–$25K. WooCommerce on WordPress runs $3K–$20K. Magento (Adobe Commerce) only makes sense above $5M annual revenue — below that, the build cost ($15K–$100K) and maintenance overhead destroys margins.

Why do website prices vary so much?

Three reasons. (1) Geographic market: a US agency at $150/hr versus a Bucharest freelancer at $40/hr is a 3.75× spread on identical scope. (2) Pricing tier: agency adds project management overhead, account exec, design oversight — typically 2–3× freelancer pricing for the same outcome. (3) Platform choice: WordPress vs Shopify vs Magento vs custom code is a 2–10× cost spread on the same buyer goal. The website cost calculator runs the math agencies don't show you.

Is a $500 website worth it?

Sometimes — for a single-page launch, a portfolio, or a one-off campaign landing page. Almost never for a real business presence. Below $1,000, the work is template + light customisation: no original design, no SEO setup, no integrations, no maintenance. If you need leads or sales from the site, budget $2,500+ minimum. Below that you're paying for a placeholder, not a business asset.

How much does a custom website cost?

Custom website cost ranges from $10,000 (single-developer custom Next.js or Astro build) to $250,000+ (full agency, design system, complex integrations, custom backend). Custom only makes sense when off-the-shelf platforms can't deliver what you need — SaaS dashboards, marketplaces, complex business logic, or unique design requirements that templates can't approximate. Most projects that think they need custom should start with WordPress or Shopify and migrate later.

How much does a website cost per month?

Monthly website cost ranges from $5 (basic WordPress hosting + free plugins) to $500+ (Magento + dedicated hosting + paid apps + maintenance retainer). Realistic monthly budget by stack: WordPress $20–$100/mo, Shopify $40–$300/mo, WooCommerce $30–$150/mo, Magento $200–$800/mo, custom build $50–$500/mo. The calculator returns your specific monthly cost across 13 line items including hosting, SaaS fees, plugins, maintenance, security, and CDN.

How much does it cost to redesign a website?

A website redesign costs $2,000 (template swap on existing CMS) to $30,000+ (full rebrand + replatform + content migration). The middle band $5,000–$15,000 covers most real redesign projects: design refresh, improved IA, mobile optimisation, performance fixes, SEO preservation. Replatform redesigns (e.g. WordPress → Shopify) typically cost 1.5× a same-platform redesign because of content migration + URL redirect work.

Written by

Florin Florea

Founder, Project Cost Estimator. 10+ years scoping web projects across Magento, WordPress, Shopify, and Next.js. Every formula in the calculator came from a real quote — written, paid, or argued over. More about Florin →

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