Updated July 2026 · 600+ project quotes · 6 markets

How much does a website cost?

Florin Florea···Based on 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks

Quick Answer

How much does a website cost in 2026?
A website costs between $300 and $50,000+ in 2026, depending on project type, platform, and whether you hire a freelancer or an agency. Typical 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+. Most small businesses land at $2,500–$5,000, calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks.
Why do website prices vary so much for what looks like the same deliverable?
Geographic market swings price 3.75× (US agency $150/hr vs Eastern Europe $40/hr), pricing tier adds another 2–3× (agency vs freelancer), and platform choice (WordPress vs Shopify vs Magento vs custom) is a 2–10× cost spread on the same buyer goal.
What is the monthly cost of running a website?
Realistic monthly stack cost ranges from $20–$100/mo on WordPress, $40–$300/mo on Shopify, $30–$150/mo on WooCommerce, $200–$800/mo on Magento, to $50–$500/mo on custom builds — covering hosting, SaaS fees, plugins, and maintenance, calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks.
Calculate my exact costUse the full cost calculator

Website cost by project type (2026, freelancer min → agency max)

Website cost by project type (2026, freelancer min → agency max) — Landing page $300 to $3K (typical $1.5K); Business site $800 to $10K (typical $4K); Ecommerce store $2.5K to $25K (typical $10K); Web app / SaaS $5K to $120K (typical $40K)Landing page$300 – $3KBusiness site$800 – $10KEcommerce store$2.5K – $25KWeb app / SaaS$5K – $120K
Base 2026 ranges calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks, before geographic market multiplier. Tick marks the typical mid-range build.
Website cost by project type (2026, freelancer min → agency max). Landing page $300 to $3K (typical $1.5K); Business site $800 to $10K (typical $4K); Ecommerce store $2.5K to $25K (typical $10K); Web app / SaaS $5K to $120K (typical $40K).

2026 website cost ranges by project type

Real 2026 pricing from 600+ project quotes 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). For the long-form version with platform pricing and worked examples, read our guide to how much a website costs in 2026.

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.

Freelancer vs agency — mid-range build cost by project type (2026)

Midpoint of each freelancer and agency range in the table above; the agency tier bills roughly 2.2× freelancer for equivalent scope.

Freelancer vs agency — mid-range build cost by project type (2026) — Landing page — freelancer $900; Landing page — agency $1,900; Business site — freelancer $2,400; Business site — agency $6,000; Ecommerce store — freelancer $6,250; Ecommerce store — agency $15,000; Web app / SaaS — freelancer $22,500; Web app / SaaS — agency $67,500Landing page — freelancer$900Landing page — agency$1,900Business site — freelancer$2,400Business site — agency$6,000Ecommerce store — freelancer$6,250Ecommerce store — agency$15,000Web app / SaaS — freelancer$22,500Web app / SaaS — agency$67,500
Source: our estimation engine — multipliers published in the open dataset (/api/cost-data).
Freelancer vs agency — mid-range build cost by project type (2026). Landing page — freelancer $900; Landing page — agency $1,900; Business site — freelancer $2,400; Business site — agency $6,000; Ecommerce store — freelancer $6,250; Ecommerce store — agency $15,000; Web app / SaaS — freelancer $22,500; Web app / SaaS — agency $67,500.

Email me these 2026 cost ranges — your reference numbers when the quotes come in

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The math behind the business-site band

The table gives you the band; here is how the engine builds one number inside it. Hours come straight from the engine’s own hour tables, then multiply by a market rate:

Worked example: business site, US freelancer

Base build (5–10 pages, CMS setup, responsive)30h
Page count uplift (5–15 pages)6h
Contact forms (basic)2h
SEO setup (basic)4h
Analytics setup (basic)3h
Total45h
× $80/hour (US freelancer, low end of the $80–$180 band)
= $3,600

Hours are the engine's baseline values for these features. At $80/hr the build lands at $3,600 — inside the $800–$4,000 freelancer band for a business site in the table above. Estimate your project →

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 — for store builds specifically, our ecommerce cost comparison by platform puts Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento side by side. The build ranges below are ours; the platform fees are public — WordPress itself is open-source software with no license fee, while Shopify’s published plan pricing runs $39–$399 a month before apps.

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. For the full picture — every market with real project bands across 5 platforms — see our website cost by country breakdown.

MarketMultiplierHourly rate band
United States1.45×$80–$150/hr
Australia1.3×A$90–A$150/hr
United Kingdom1.15×£55–£90/hr
Western Europe1×€60–€100/hr
Eastern Europe0.55×€25–€50/hr
South Asia0.35×$15–$45/hr

Multipliers come straight from the engine config (published in the open dataset). 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. Note that two of these — hosting and maintenance — keep billing after launch; we itemised what website maintenance costs per year so you can budget the ongoing side too.

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. If your project looks like the first one, the small business website budget bands get a deeper treatment in the dedicated guide.

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)

Two more from the project files — one about contract structure, one about integration scope. Both patterns cost real clients five figures.

From our project files

Brooklyn law firm — the fixed-price change-order spiral

$24,000 fixed price · +$9,500 change orders · $33,500 vs $20,500 T&M

What drove the cost

  • Three weeks in, the client added a custom intake form, multilingual support, and a member portal — every change order is a renegotiation, often at 130–180% of the original rate
  • Vendors price fixed-price work at 115–125% of expected T&M cost to cover their risk
  • Same vendor, same scope, $13,000 apart — the pricing model made the difference, not the work

What to demand in the quote

  • The change-order rate in writing before signing — this is where fixed-price projects fall apart
  • Fixed price only when you can write a one-page spec you will not change
  • If scope might move, T&M with a not-to-exceed cap (+5–12% over pure T&M) buys the same ceiling without the spiral

Anonymized project from our scoping files — part of the 600+ project quotes behind the engine.

From our project files

Shopify → NetSuite payment reconciliation

$4,200 billed · "easy" quote: $1,500 · 3 customers double-charged

What drove the cost

  • Webhooks for charge events, refund handling, tax mapping, and idempotency — everything the $1,500 "easy Stripe integration" quote left out
  • The first agency's cheaper build double-charged 3 customers; the client paid the difference twice
  • Payment gateway integrations run $1,200–$7,000 depending on depth — hosted checkout is the floor, not the norm

What to demand in the quote

  • Error handling and idempotency as named line items — 6–15 extra hours that eliminate 90% of post-launch fires
  • Refund and tax-mapping scope spelled out, not folded into "Stripe integration included"
  • Treat any bid far below the $1,200–$7,000 band as missing scope, not savings

Anonymized project from our scoping files — part of the 600+ project quotes behind the engine.

Not sure which model fits your project? Try the fixed price vs time and materials chooser →

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Ready to build? Three ways to do it

The right path depends on budget, not preference. These bands come from our own published cost data.

Do it yourself

$0–$500

A builder like Hostinger or Wix — enough for a simple site you maintain yourself.

Try Hostinger→Try Wix→

Hire a freelancer

$500–$5,000

Custom design and setup without agency overhead — the sweet spot for most small-business sites.

Browse Fiverrdevelopers →

Custom project

$5,000+

Scope it properly before you talk to anyone — our calculator prices your exact feature list so quotes can't inflate.

Price my project →

Disclosure: some links above are partner links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Recommendations come from our cost data, not from who pays us.

Get your exact website cost in 2 minutes

Same data we used for the ranges above — calibrated against 600+ scoped project quotes and rate benchmarks. Free, no signup, no email gate.

Calculate my website cost

Want a senior dev to review your scope manually? Expert Review $99 →

Average cost of a website in 2026

“Average” hides more than it reveals — a few $100K builds drag the mean far above what most people actually pay. That’s why we quote medians. Here is the website price picture from the 600+ project calibration set, mean vs median:

Site typeAverage (mean)Median (typical)
Landing page$1,400$900
Small business site$4,800$3,200
WordPress site$5,600$3,800
Ecommerce store$12,500$7,000
Custom web app$48,000$28,000

Use the median as your anchor when comparing quotes — half of real projects land below it. The mean only matters if your scope genuinely sits in the top decile. And if the number itself gives you pause, we ran the payback math in whether paying for a website is worth it.

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.

How much is a website?

A website is $300–$3,000 for a landing page, $1,000–$10,000 for a business site, $2,500–$25,000 for an online store, and $10,000–$120,000+ for a custom web app. The single number most small businesses should anchor on: $2,500–$5,000 buys a professional site that generates leads. Below $1,000 you get a template placeholder.

How much does a website cost per year?

A website costs $240–$1,200/year to run for a typical WordPress business site (hosting, domain, plugin licenses, light maintenance), $500–$3,600/year on Shopify (platform + apps), and $2,400–$10,000+/year for Magento or custom builds with a maintenance retainer. Rule of thumb: budget 15–20% of the original build cost per year to keep the site healthy.

How much should a website cost?

It should cost roughly what one month of the revenue you expect it to generate is worth. A site meant to bring $5,000/month in new business justifies a $2,500–$7,500 build; a $50K/month ecommerce operation justifies $15,000–$40,000. If a quote is more than 3–6 months of expected site-driven revenue, the scope is wrong — cut features, not quality.

Is it cheaper to hire a freelancer or an agency to build a website?

A freelancer is cheaper — typically 40–55% of an agency price for the same scope. A business site that runs $2,000–$4,000 with a freelancer runs $5,000–$10,000 with an agency, because agencies carry project managers, designers, and account staff that add a 2–3× markup. Pick a freelancer for budgets under $15,000 in a single specialty; pick an agency for multi-stakeholder, compliance-heavy, or complex custom builds.

How much does a 5-page website cost?

A 5-page website costs $800–$4,000 with a freelancer and $2,000–$10,000 with an agency in 2026. A premium-template WordPress build with a contact form and basic SEO sits at the low end ($1,000–$2,500); custom design, copywriting, and integrations push it toward the top. Market matters too — the same five pages cost roughly 0.55× in Eastern Europe and 1.45× in the US versus the baseline.

How much does a WordPress website cost?

A WordPress website costs $1,200–$12,000 in 2026. A brochure or business site with a premium theme runs $1,200–$5,000 with a freelancer; a custom-designed WordPress build with plugins and integrations runs $3,000–$12,000 with an agency. WordPress itself is free, open-source software — the cost is design, development, and setup. Budget $5–$50/month for hosting plus $200–$1,000/year for premium plugins.

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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Related guides

Website Costs 2026: The Data Report — every key number, one page →Full website cost breakdown — 2026 edition →Small business website cost in 2026 →Hidden website costs to budget for →Website redesign cost — 2026 data →Vercel cost in 2026 (most-read guide on the blog) →Web project cost index — full 2026 data →SEO services cost in 2026 →

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