What does a website cost? The 6 things that set the price

The spread in website prices is confusing. The reason is that the phrase "a website" describes very different things.

1. Template, or designed from scratch?

This is the biggest difference. Buying a ready-made theme and dropping your text into it takes a few days. Building a design specific to your brand takes weeks.

Templates aren't bad — on a tight budget they're a sensible start. But the result resembles the thousands of other sites using that theme.

2. Number of pages

A five-page brochure site and a forty-page corporate site are not the same job. Every page means design, content placement and mobile checking.

3. Is your content ready?

If your copy and images are ready, the process shortens. If not, copywriting and image production are added as separate items. This is the single biggest influence on budget and the one least often discussed.

4. Custom functionality

Booking systems, member areas, calculators, a connection to accounting software — each of these sits outside a standard site and is priced separately.

5. Number of languages

Each extra language isn't just translation; it means language-specific URLs, menus and SEO settings. If you supply the translations, the cost drops noticeably.

6. What happens afterwards

When comparing quotes, always ask: what happens after delivery? Is there a month of support? Will you be able to update the site yourself? Are the files handed over to you?

A quote that looks cheap becomes expensive over time if you have to go back to the developer for every small change.

Three questions to ask any quote

1. What is included in this price, and what isn't?
2. Whose name will the domain and hosting be registered under?
3. Who can update the site after delivery?

A quote with clear answers to those three is usually cheaper in the long run, even if the number is a little higher.

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